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My jaw uncomfortably clenched. “Nate, tell me what the fuck is going on.” The silence that ensued could penetrate reinforced steel. Time to brandish a diamond-cutter. “That man you thought Scarlet was having an affair with, Charlie Binns?”
“What of the bastard?”
“He was a pensioner.”
“So is Mick Jagger.”
“Binns was murdered.”
I could almost feel Nate’s brain revolve through 180 degrees. “What, in God’s name, are you suggesting? You surely don’t think —”
“Are you playing away, Nate?”
“Molly, I —”
“What made her so miserable?” I want to know what you did to her, what drove her to do what she did and get mixed up in all kinds of mess. No way did I believe my brother-in-law had associations with a contract killer, but he obviously wasn’t the innocent he portrayed himself to be.
“Bloody hell, Molly.”
“You know I won’t give up.”
Another silence. I could practically hear Nate weighing up the odds. “It’s difficult.” I’ll bet.
I sat still, feeling a bit sick, thinking and unthinking, everything inchoate and slippery and way out of reach.
“Shit happens, Moll.”
“Don’t call me that.” I was cold, unmoved and threatening,
“All right, all right. Yes, I was having an affair. Things went a bit south between me and Scarlet.”
“I’m coming straight over.” My planned visit to Zach could wait.
“Might be awkward. My family liaison officer will be here in a couple of hours.”
At this I smiled. FLO’s existed to support victims. They also played an important role in chasing down any investigation. If dodgy stuff were going on with nearest and dearest, they were demons at unearthing it.
“Excellent,” I said.
“Molly, for Chrissakes.”
“Don’t worry.” My tone assured my brother-in-law that he should be very worried indeed. “See you in a bit.”
Outside Nate’s and Scarlet’s home, two men and a woman hovered like buzzards preparing to consume carrion. Beady eyes swivelled in my direction. I had no doubt they were from the press, an observation confirmed when the woman stepped towards me and asked if I knew the family of the ‘dead nurse’. Issuing my best ‘fuck off’ look, I swept past and rang the bell.
Someone, I presumed to be a police officer, answered the door. Sandy-haired, a little receding, not terribly tall, and with a flinty expression, he had that whole authoritative, commanding and suspicious vibe going on. One look and I felt guilty of nameless crimes.
“I’m Molly Napier, Scarlet’s sister and Nate’s sister-in-law,” I said.
“Warren Childe, family liaison officer.” His voice sounded as if it had a crack running down the middle of it. “Sorry for your loss. Best come in.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the gathering ghouls. He nodded in sympathy and stepped aside. As I swept down the hall, I heard him direct all enquiries to the press office. “And guys, can you please respect the privacy of the family at this difficult time.”
I found Nate seated on the sofa in the small sitting room with his face in his hands. He barely moved as I sat beside him. Seemed to be waiting for Childe.
“Tell her,” he muttered, when Childe came in.
I looked up questioningly as Childe cleared his throat. “The post-mortem threw up some anomalies.”
Anomalies. Cold. Analytical. Factual. Full-on police mode. I knew what was coming next. Except I didn’t. Not quite.
“Your sister had 240 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood in her system – around three times the legal limit for driving,” Childe explained.
“What about Bowen?” Nate said. “Had he been drinking?”
“No evidence of substance abuse of any kind,” Childe said smoothly. “Preliminary enquiries suggest that the pre-collision mechanical condition of the vehicle was good. There were no tyre or skid marks on the road to suggest that Scarlet was forced to take evasive action.” Childe looked with an ‘are you with me so far’ expression. I responded with a dull nod.
“Witness statements suggest that the driver of the jeep —”
“My sister,” I protested.
“Deliberately,” he said, raising his voice a decibel, “drove into the path of the oncoming motorcyclist.”
I stared wide-eyed. Inside, a silent scream yelled No.
Chapter 17 (#ulink_05c8e02a-1c5b-5a94-bf1e-ffdbea2e1fa5)
My head felt as if a lump of lead was where my brain should be. Nate, next to me, physically jolted, his body lifting off the sofa by an inch. “What witnesses? Who are these bloody people?”
“The driver in the vehicle behind Bowen.”
“How fast was he travelling?” I said irritably.
“Saw it all. Said that Bowen braked at the very last second but, by then, it was too late.”
“You’re suggesting that my sister used her vehicle like a weapon, a battering ram?”
“I wouldn’t put it like that.”
“Then how would you put it?” Nate interjected, cold with anger.
“I understand this is upsetting, but —”
“She could have blacked out, had a heart attack, or sneezed, for God’s sake,” I cut in. Throat raw and exposed, my voice was too loud. “There could have been oil on the road.”
“There wasn’t,” Childe said.
“You said witness statements. You mean more than one?”
“There was a pedestrian.”
“On that busy road?”
“A jogger,” Childe clarified. “This corroborates an initial vehicle assessment of an absence of corresponding tyre and skid marks. Scarlet never braked. Quite the contrary; we think she actually sped up.”
I nodded blindly. What else could I do?
“I’ve explained to Nathan that we need to talk about Scarlet’s mental health.”
“They think she was suicidal.” Nate’s tone was a mess of cynicism. Only I could detect the fake ring in it. The message left for Nate had been a suicide note, and he knew it.
Instantly, I thought about Fliss’ observation, the way Scarlet seemed suddenly sorted, the relief she felt. I had to admit that suicide suddenly seemed a strong possibility. But I also knew my sister.
“If she’d wanted to kill herself, she wouldn’t have hurt someone else. She was a nurse. She believed in saving lives, not taking them.”
“I agree,” Nate said.
“And, if that was her plan, which I definitely don’t buy, she would have targeted something a great deal more solid. A brick wall, tunnel or bridge is more final, isn’t it, more likely to do the job?” Articulating it made me go hot and cold and hot again.
Childe remained deadpan. “It’s only one avenue of enquiry.”
What other lines were they pursuing? Suspicion pinched my nerves.
Childe viewed the pair of us as if we were nobly defending my sister’s honour, which we were. He returned to his favourite theme. “Were you aware of any difficulties your sister had?”
I swallowed, shook my head, glad that the scream inside, this time, was silent.
“No history of depression?”
“None.”
“Never attempted to take her own life?”
“Of course not.”
“Was she a heavy drinker?”
“I told you she didn’t drink,” Nate piped up, frustrated, simply not buying this particular piece of evidence. “She’d been on night duty, for God’s sake. She drove home early morning.”
Childe returned to the facts and, punch-drunk with information, I tuned out. Glancing through the window, I noticed people walking into town, heading off for appointments, some carrying bags of shopping. On the other side of the road: loud men with loud music erecting scaffolding. Life churning. Everything the same and yet nothing the same and wouldn’t be again. Oh. My. God.
I noticed a woman marching along the pavement. Hair scraped off her face and manacled in a ponytail, her complexion spotty and slightly pitted beneath the tan, she had pale blue, luminous eyes and her full mouth curved down, carving deep lines from the corner of her lips to her chin. If anyone could be described as looking murderous, she did.
Childe followed my gaze. “Jesus,” he cursed, and dived out of the room.
Taken aback, Nate also looked and we both watched, mystified, as the woman flung open the gate, shot down the path, one hand diving into her handbag, the other clenched into a fist, ready to rap on the front door.
In strides, Childe got to it first. “Heather, we’re all understandably raw right now —”
“I’m not interested in what you feel,” she exploded, “I want that bastard inside to know what his slag of a wife was up to.”
Slag. Should I give her a mouthful? Nate tensed, turned to me and silently mouthed No.
“Heather,” I heard Childe say sternly. “Go home. Your kids need you.”
“Damn right they do, and whose fault is that?” Her eyes shot to the window. Automatically, Nate and I shrank back.
“You’re not thinking straight, love. Sam Holland’s your FLO, right? I’ll give her a call.” I had to hand it to Childe. He was the epitome of cool composure and warm compassion, yet no way was the woman setting foot over the threshold.
“I have Sam on speed dial,” the woman spat back. “If I need her, I’ll ring for her. Here,” she said. “Give Mr Jay this. It’s all I came for.”
Next, fast footsteps followed by the gate smashing open and banging against its hinges.
Childe returned inside. He looked more shaken than he’d sounded seconds ago. “I’m sorry about that.”
“Who was that bloody woman?” Nate said.
“Richard Bowen’s widow.”
I let out a groan, regretting my first instinct, which was to have laid into her verbally. Nate pitched forward, hands clasped over his head.
“I’m sorry but can either of you identify this?” Childe extended his arm. In the palm of his hand nestled a gold and diamond bracelet.
It belonged to my sister.
Chapter 18 (#ulink_307a6e0f-8af1-5d9e-af07-3f822437e6b5)
“I’ve never seen it before.” The conviction in Nate’s voice blew me away.
Like me, he knew it was Scarlet’s bracelet and yet he’d lied. The thought of how it had fallen into Mrs Bowen’s hands made me queasy. Slag, she’d said. Christ, if Scarlet had been involved in a relationship with Richard Bowen, it changed the entire picture.
“And you?” Childe said, hawk-eyed.
“Me?” I said.
“Yes.”
The muscles in Nate’s thighs, inches from mine, tightened, the sofa complaining under his silent protest. “I can’t be sure,” I lied. Childe’s eyes locked on mine. Buckling under his gaze, I mumbled, “She might have had something similar, but I’m not certain it’s the same one.” It was a pretty rubbish attempt to blur the truth.
“Okay,” Childe said, in a way that assured me it was not okay at all. He got straight on his phone, all the while glaring at the pair of us. After reporting the incident with Mrs Bowen, he mentioned the bracelet. When someone spoke back, he stepped out into the hallway. I heard him say something about ‘escalating the investigation’, which could only be bad. Nate turned to me, fury in his expression.
“Why, in God’s name, did you admit it could be hers?”
“Don’t have a go at me. Why did you lie?” I spat back.
“To protect my wife’s reputation.”
“Are you sure it’s not your reputation?” I conveniently parked any suggestions about my sister’s private life. “You’re a hypocrite, Nate.”
