The Dinner Party

One More Chapter

an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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London SE1 9GF

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First published in Great Britain in ebook format by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

Copyright © R. J. Parker 2019

Cover design by Andrew Davis © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

Cover photograph © Shutterstock.com

R. J. Parker asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © October 2019 ISBN: 9780008358914

Version: 2019-09-02

To Carole and Dave Whiteley, who know how to throw a dinner party.

Thanks for the support, guys!

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Six

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Eight

Chapter Forty-Nine

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty-One

Chapter Fifty-Two

Chapter Fifty-Three

Chapter Fifty-Four

Chapter Fifty-Five

Chapter Fifty-Six

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Chapter Sixty

Chapter Sixty-One

Chapter Sixty-Two

Chapter Sixty-Three

Chapter Sixty-Four

Chapter Sixty-Five

Chapter Sixty-Six

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Chapter Sixty-Eight

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Chapter Seventy

Acknowledgements

About the Author

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

Ted awoke and felt like he’d been in a deep sleep. But as the bare leg he was clinging to slithered away from his sticky bloody fingers, the events that had left him sprawled on the kitchen floor crashed in. He’d blacked out for precious seconds and couldn’t afford to again.

‘Let go!’ the owner of the leg spat.

He gripped the limb harder, dug his nails into their warm calf and skated forward on his front through the smeared blood on the granite tiles. If he relinquished the leg, he knew what would happen.

Their bodies thrashed around on the floor and noisily scattered metallic utensils. He tried to rise, but the object stuck in his back wouldn’t allow him. It was a long stainless-steel prong, the type with a digital thermometer attached for testing the temperature of cooked meat. The acute pain along his spine severed his breath.

How deeply had it been planted in him? Was he paralyzed? He could still move his arms.

A scream.

It tugged his eyes open again. Consciousness was as slippery as his grasp on the leg, which jerked from under him as a bare foot caught him full in the face. The harsh impact deadened his hearing, warm blood filled his left nostril and darkness closed on his thoughts like a snare.

Wake up!

But his internal voice scarcely penetrated the barrier his brain was erecting against the assault.

Wake up.

No urgency in the muffled command now. He was withdrawing, leaving physical sensations far behind. Oblivion beckoned.

‘Ted!’

His eyelids shot open. The return to the kitchen was as painful as the injuries to his body.

His hand was empty. They’d got free. The consequences of that rushed into him as fast as the room.

‘Ted!’

CHAPTER TWO

THREE DAYS EARLIER

‘Ted!’

Ted was halfway up the stairs when the doorbell went.

‘That’ll be Evie and Jakob!’ Juliette yelled from the bathroom.

The couple were always half an hour early. He and Juliette – after nightmare train journeys home – hadn’t been in for longer than ten minutes. Ted descended the stairs and trotted up the hallway to the front door. Behind its frosted pane two figures stood in the dark. He switched on the outside light.

‘Do you want us to drive around the block?’ Evie apologized as soon as he opened up.

Ted could only see the middle of their faces in their scarves and hats. ‘Come in before you freeze to the doorstep.’ He gestured them in and lightly kissed Evie’s cheek.

‘The traffic was surprisingly clear for a Friday night,’ Jakob mitigated. He’d lived in the UK since his mid-teens, but his Norwegian accent had never been watered down. He rubbed his palms as he entered.

‘I’ve just lit the wood burner.’ Ted shook Jakob’s freezing hand. ‘You know where to hang your coats.’ He made his way back to the candlelit kitchen dining room at the rear of the house. He’d been looking forward to tonight all week. And had taken the coming Monday to Wednesday of next week off work to redecorate. He loved his career as an independent assessor, but he was looking forward to having zero foster care compliance forms to process for a whole five days. ‘Alexa, play my dinner party music.’ He wondered if his guests would like his playlist. They all had strong opinions about music, so certain artists had to be avoided.

The device on the counter between the kitchen and the dining area glowed blue, but nothing happened. He could hear Evie remonstrating with Jakob that he’d made them leave too early. Jakob hated being late as much as he did though. He waited for them to hang their coats on the banister then led them into the dining area. ‘We’re doing Negronis for those who aren’t driving.’ He indicated the bottles assembled on the counter.

Evie’s flushed complexion brightened. Even with her auburn curls in disarray after removing her claret beret, she looked really well. She’d been in remission for a good few months, but she and Jakob hadn’t told anybody about their ordeal. They’d dropped off the social radar for a while, but everyone’s lives were so busy it hadn’t really registered. It was so good to see them both. ‘I can’t believe it was last May since we all got together.’

Evie nodded and focused on the bottles. ‘Have you got Aperol instead of Campari? I’ll be flat out after one otherwise.’

‘Got some here somewhere.’ Ted went to the cupboard the other side of the counter. ‘Jakob?’ He’d tried to call him Jake in the past but, after a few beers one night, Jakob had made it clear he didn’t appreciate it.

‘Nothing at the moment, I’ll have some wine with my food.’

Which meant the usual. Jakob would abstain for half the evening, have a glass, quickly polish off a whole bottle and then call them a cab. Ted turned to him with a wry smile. ‘Sure?’

‘Positive.’ Jakob nodded earnestly.

Not even a glimmer that Jakob knew exactly how the evening would unfold. Until he had that first glass, it would be strait-laced Jakob. After alcohol, the louder, red-faced and indiscreet version would appear. Ted was looking forward to him.

‘What’s bubbling in there?’ Jakob eyed the slow cooker.

‘Venison haunch in red wine, since this morning.’

Jakob nodded his approval and flattened the blonde wisps of hat hair that stuck out from the right side of his head. ‘I’m starving.’ His hand scrabbled in the bowl of peanuts on the counter.

‘Warm yourselves up.’ Ted nodded to the tubular burner in the old fireplace but noticed it had gone out.

‘Don’t worry. I’ll see to that.’ Jakob fisted some nuts into his mouth and went to stoke it.

Jakob had put on a few pounds since they’d last met. He was over six feet and thickset, but he had a definite paunch developing. All the couples coming were around the same age as he and Juliette. Ted had a good metabolism, but even running hadn’t shifted his extra Christmas weight. Did he really have another five years grace until he was forty? His older work colleagues assured him that was when everything started to conform to gravity.

‘Smells really good.’ Evie tugged the sleeves of her black sweater over her pale hands, leaned on the counter and fixed him with her green eyes.

He was slightly relieved to have the counter between them and felt as he always did when it suddenly seemed like it was just the two of them. He’d never told Evie, but she reminded him of a ginger-haired classroom assistant he’d had a crush on at school. And she frequently made him feel like he was back in the playground. Particularly as, like Jakob, she was a teacher. ‘Trip to the fjords still happening this year?’ Ted knew it was an ongoing saga.

She pursed her lips. ‘No. It’s all about money and time … and still money.’

Jakob hadn’t been home to see his family for years. They were spread all over Norway and a trip had been on the cards since Ted could remember. He felt for Jakob but understood the limits of a teacher’s salary.

‘Do you have any more kindling?’ Jakob turned from where he was crouching at the burner.

‘Should be some in the bucket.’

Jakob shook his head at Ted and inverted the metal pail for good measure.

‘Why haven’t our guests got drinks in their hands?’ Juliette was standing in the kitchen doorway.

It was miraculous. Only minutes ago, she’d got home from logging traffic pollution samples in Woolwich, windswept and exhausted, and now she was made up. Her silver-grey bob was immaculate, and she was wearing the olive-green woollen dress he’d bought her for her birthday. Juliette never took longer than ten minutes to get ready in the bathroom, but always looked like she’d spent hours there. Ted was glad to see her smile. Her father had passed away the previous September and she’d seemed very preoccupied over the last few weeks.

Evie embraced her, and Jakob quickly made his way over to give her a bear hug.

‘It’s been months since we’ve seen you.’ Jakob crushed then released her. ‘When was it?’

‘Last May,’ Evie reminded him.

Ted went to fix the cocktails. ‘Alexa, play dinner party music.’

The device glowed blue again but still didn’t obey.

CHAPTER THREE

Ted used the downstairs bathroom, zipped himself up and checked his reflection in the mirror over the sink. Even in the bright light his complexion appeared pale and grubby, his blue eyes tired. He threw some water in his face and dried it with the hand towel, running his fingers through his straggly hazel hair and deciding it looked even worse. It didn’t bother him that much, but he didn’t want to let Juliette down. He headed back down the rear passage to the kitchen. Juliette was just opening a bag of ice. Orla and Connor had arrived. Now they were just waiting for the last two latecomers. ‘Just going to check on Georgie.’

‘He’s not himself.’ Juliette dropped some of the cubes into glasses.

‘The usual?’

‘I think so.’

Ted headed upstairs to Georgie’s room. He’d only seen him briefly today as he’d been too busy getting things ready for the evening, but he always tucked him in. When he opened the bedroom door his six-year-old son was in his pyjamas, his fair hair dark and wet and combed straight. He sat cross-legged on top of his SpongeBob duvet, wearing headphones that were plugged into a tablet. Ted gestured for him to remove them and he did so. ‘Hope we’re not too noisy, scout.’

‘No. I know you’ve all got to let off some steam.’

Ted smiled. Georgie had an unerring knack of absorbing adult phrases and using them in exactly the right context. ‘Had a shower?’ It was Georgie’s new thing: he took a shower most nights and spent at least half an hour in there. Ted was concerned about the water consumption, but Juliette wanted to encourage his interest in hygiene. ‘Everything OK at Peta’s house today?’ But Ted knew the childminder wasn’t the problem.

‘Fine.’ Georgie wriggled on his behind uncomfortably.

Ted crossed the room and sat on the bed. ‘What about at school?’ Georgie breathed heavily through his nose and Ted could see his distress building. ‘Is it Jolian again?’

Georgie swallowed hard and his ears twitched. They protruded and it made him an easy target for name-calling. ‘Not just Jolian.’

‘Who?’

‘Tyrone, Yash … Brendan.’

‘I thought Brendan was your best buddy.’

Georgie nodded and narrowed his eyes at the screen. Ted could see how anxious he was. ‘So has Jolian been getting them to gang up on you again?’

Georgie nodded.

‘Then they’re not worth your time.’ What could he say when, as far as Georgie was concerned, his universe had ended? ‘I know school’s hard but, believe me, you’ll find real friends soon. Proper ones. You thought these boys were but sometimes people aren’t what they seem. Sometimes they have what we call ulterior motives.’

‘What are they?’ Georgie clearly liked the sound of the phrase.

‘Stuff they want from you but don’t tell you to your face.’

‘Like my Xbox games?’

‘That sort of thing. Point is, if your friends do exactly what Jolian says and turn on you, then they’re really not worth knowing, are they?’

Georgie looked up at him, anguish in his eyes. ‘But I’ve still got an invite to Brendan’s party.’

‘When is it?’

‘March the sixth.’

‘That’s nearly two months away.’ Two months was a long time in the social life of a child. ‘You can decide whether you want to go then.’

Georgie straightened his back in mortification. ‘But I do want to go.’

‘But remember Brendan will want to come to yours the month after. That’s when you decide whether he’s been a good enough friend.’ They’d had Brendan around a few times. He was spoilt, so Ted knew what was coming next.

‘His party will be better than mine.’

‘Why d’you say that?’

Georgie seemed to know why but clammed up.

Ted knew it was wrong, but he didn’t like Brendan. Didn’t like a six-year-old boy who still had to grow up. He was a bad influence on Georgie. Had already told him that Santa didn’t exist. At six! ‘We can do anything here you could do at Brendan’s.’

‘Yeah … I know.’

But Georgie was sparing his feelings. Brendan’s parents had a huge Georgian house with a games den. Georgie only had a playroom in the garage and that was damp and full of junk. It would be a big expense to make it properly habitable. ‘Look, I’ve got to get back to the guests now, but we’ll talk about this in the morning. OK?’

‘There’s nothing to talk about. I’ll be OK. Really.’

Ted could feel his heart starting to break. ‘It’s Friday. Two whole days of no school. Try not to worry. If you show them that what they say doesn’t bother you at all, they’ll move on to somebody else. And if they don’t, we’ll both figure out a way of making them stop. Deal?’

‘How about I take a kickboxing class?’

Ted smirked. ‘I don’t think we need to do anything that drastic. Come on, it’s past lights out.’

‘But I’ve only just started my screen time.’

‘We’ll roll it over to tomorrow.’ Ted gestured for him to climb into bed and he scrambled under the duvet. ‘We’ll work it out.’

The doorbell rang.

‘Who’s that?’

‘And don’t play for time. Football training in the morning.’ Ted kissed his hair and it smelt like he’d used too much shampoo. ‘Don’t worry about a thing, scout. It’ll be a different story this time next week.’ It probably would be, but he guessed that Jolian and Brendan were going to be the topic of many more conversations to come.

‘Night, Dad.’

He’d only recently started taking the DY off Daddy and Ted wasn’t sure he liked it. ‘Sleep tight.’ Ted got up, closed the door quietly and went downstairs. He met Juliette in the hallway. ‘Half an hour’s not too bad for the Driscolls.’

It was ‘KathRhys’ at the door. At least that was how they signed their greetings cards as a couple. The others all shared history, but Kathryn and Rhys had only moved to Basildon in 2017. Rhys worked for a petrochemical company that had relocated there and Kathryn was a recruitment consultant. Even though they lived the closest, only a five-minute drive away, they were always the last to arrive.

This rankled with Ted and more so with Jakob, even though Jakob had been instrumental in recruiting them to the dinner group. When they held up everyone else’s evening, they never apologized for being late, so Ted had taken to inviting them an hour early to exert some damage limitation. ‘Here they are!’ he exclaimed, diplomatically, when he opened the door.

‘Hope you haven’t started without us.’ Rhys’s breath clouded around his dark bearded face. He was thirty-four, a year younger than Ted but his frameless spectacles gave him an avuncular appearance.

Tall Kathryn had her dark hair in a bun on top of her head and her usual dyed Mallen Streak forelock swept across the top of her fringe. She thrust a bag containing wine bottles into Ted’s hands as if it was their ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card and kissed him on the cheek.

‘Some interesting ones in there.’ Rhys nodded at the bag.

Ted didn’t have a clue about wine, but he’d worked out that Rhys didn’t either. Rhys was enthusiastic about whichever acidic consignment he’d been sent by his wine club, but Ted always put them on the rack to gather dust. At their next visit Rhys would forget that he’d brought them previously and examine the labels with vague disdain. Ted didn’t dislike Kathryn and Rhys. They just weren’t his favourite people. They didn’t really fit in with the rest of the group, but they were Evie and Jakob’s friends and had assumed one invite to join them all for dinner in 2017 meant lifelong membership.

But when Juliette’s father died, Kathryn and Rhys had been incredibly supportive. Both spending time with her because they’d both lived through the same bereavement. More time than any of their other friends. After that Ted’s perception had changed. They were at odds with the others, but Ted couldn’t forget the sensitive side they’d shown his wife when she’d really needed it.

‘The girls are sleeping over at a friend’s, but they didn’t want us to leave,’ Kathryn said to Juliette.

Kathryn and Rhys had twins of Georgie’s age. It had taken them five years of IVF treatment to bring them into the world, so Ted understood why they handled their girls like antique china.

He took Kathryn’s dark teal cashmere shawl and it smelt overpoweringly of perfume. ‘Come through.’ That was everybody. The evening was now officially underway.

CHAPTER FOUR

‘It’s a trust game.’ Evie gauged seven people’s reactions and didn’t seem surprised by them: attentiveness from the women and uncomfortable suspicion from the men.

‘Alexa, turn off,’ Juliette said without shifting her attention from Evie.

Ed Sheeran was cut off mid-angst. That pleased Ted, but he was still baffled as to why Alexa only seemed to obey Juliette. The sudden silence committed everyone to listen and he studied Orla’s and Connor’s expressions. Evie attempting to reconcile them was part of every get-together.

Orla and Connor were a passive aggressive couple, their Northern Irish accents noticeably stronger when they were tossing cutting remarks at each other. But now they sat among the others like two singletons. Juliette liked to mix everyone up so nobody was sitting with their partner. They’d never been that tactile but now the only giveaway that they were actually together was the occasional barked remonstration from Orla when Connor rested his elbows on the table or slouched in his chair.

Connor’s look was always the same – wiry, sweaty and harried, with three buttons opened down from the collar, his tight black curls looking as coiled as he was. But today Ted could see a shadow of something in Connor’s eyes. Orla was as skinny and tall as Connor and her straight fringe of mousy hair came exactly down to her eyebrow line. She was a pale and beautiful woman, but Ted thought the style made her look slightly deranged. Juliette had told him her eyebrows had fallen out because of a childhood trauma and that she’d always been self-conscious about them. She’d never wanted to augment them with eyeliner or get them tattooed, however, even though a large percentage of her arms were covered in ink. Ted thought she looked more frazzled than usual.

‘My work colleague is seeing a counsellor at the moment,’ Evie continued. ‘She said that after twelve years of marriage she didn’t believe anyone outside of it was ever going to be able to help her.’

There was that ‘work colleague’ again. Ted wondered if she really existed. Evie was always advocating therapy, even though she and Jakob had had only a handful of sessions some years ago. They were a solid couple, but boredom was their enemy. Evie often looked for problems where there weren’t any. They should have had children; it had been talked about at one point, but Juliette said the subject was now strictly out of bounds.

‘He got them to play the trust game. It’s especially for couples who have been married longer than seven years.’