“What do you think happens?” Feather asks. “We get drunk.” She pauses. “Drunker.”
“Was Merritt drinking?”
“I assume so?” Feather says. “Don’t quote me on that because, remember, she had a queasy stomach. After a while, Thomas’s wifey called him upstairs and I figured the party was breaking up. But Tag is a night owl and he seemed game to keep going awhile longer and Merritt asked for water. I got it for her, actually.”
“You got Merritt a glass of water?” Nick says.
Feather nods.
“Did you put ice in the water?” Nick asks.
Feather’s eyes roll skyward, as if the answer to that question is written on the ceiling. “I can’t recall. I’m sorry. Is that important?”
“Did anything else happen while you were inside getting the water?” he asks. “Did you see anyone? Do anything?”
Feather nods. “I took a piss.”
“You went to the bathroom,” Nick says. “Was that before you poured the water? Or after?”
Feather stares at him. “After,” she says. “I left the water on the counter. I mean, I didn’t bring it into the loo with me.”
“But you didn’t see anyone else in the kitchen?” Nick asks.
“No.”
“Did you hear anyone?”
“No,” Feather says. “Fan was on. In very posh houses, you know, they don’t listen to one another tinkle.”
“No one followed you in from outside?” Nick asks.
“No,” Feather says.
“And when you brought Merritt the water, did she drink it?” Nick asks.
“Drank it down like she’d eaten a pound of rock salt.”
“Do you remember clearing her glass?” Nick asks. “Because the water glass wasn’t on the table this morning. But the shot glasses were.”
Feather shakes her head. “I’ve got no memory of clearing the glass or not clearing the glass. If I had to guess, I’d say I left it there, thinking the housekeeper would get it in the morning.”
Nick makes a note: Housekeeper?
“And how did the party finally break up?” Nick asks.
“We ran through the bottle of rum,” Feather says. “Tag said he was going to his study for another. Right after he left, Merritt said she was going to bed. So I was in the tent by myself for a while… then I decided I’d better skedaddle. I didn’t want to stay up late drinking with just Tag.”
“Why not?”
“It wouldn’t look good,” Feather says. “If Greer caught us…” Feather pauses. “I’m terrified of that woman.”
“Are you?”
“Everyone is terrified of her,” Feather says. “She says one thing but you can just tell by looking at her that in her mind she’s thinking something else. Novelists are notorious liars, you know.”
“Are they?” Nick asks.
“Aren’t they?” Feather says. “They lie for a living. They make up stories. So it stands to reason that this tendency runs over into their personal lives.”
Nick is intrigued by this answer. “Did you see Greer around at all, even for an instant, after the party? Did you see her in the kitchen pouring herself a glass of champagne?”
“No,” Feather says. She gasps. “Why? Do you think Greer had something to do with what happened?”
“You didn’t see her?” Nick asks.
Feather shakes her head.
“Did you see Merritt again that night?”
“No,” Feather says.
“So the last time you saw Merritt was when she left the tent saying she was going to bed.”
“Correct.”
“At any point during the night, did Merritt cut her foot?” Nick asks.
“Cut her foot?” Feather says. “No.”
