Death at Rainbow Cottage, Jo Allen [top 100 books of all time checklist .TXT] 📗

idea that Claud was seeing this man. The man — Len — was there often, with another man, but the other man never stayed. Len did, though, and he and Claud would have a chat and a laugh. And then I realised that if I killed him, everyone would think it was his lover. You’d never think it was me.’

There was a long pause. Claud had never mentioned meeting Len. Maybe he’d guessed it was Natalie and he’d tried to protect her. Maybe he was afraid he’d incriminate himself. They’d never know.

Jude pulled out a chair and sat down, leaning over to join in the conversation. ‘The tracker. That was clever.’

‘Did you work it out? I am obsessive about it. That’s true. I’m obsessive about everything.’ She looked down at her bare wrist. ‘Especially running. But I don’t suppose I’ll be able to run in prison, will I?’

‘I wasn’t smart enough to get it straight away,’ said Jude, reviewing all the evidence with the benefit of hindsight, ‘but I might have seen it sooner. It was those stops you made. That was strange. You were convincing about the obsession, but there was no logical reason why you’d stop where you did, about half a mile from the end of a thirteen mile run.’ It was Ashleigh who’d put the idea in his head, with her observation about the view. That was only that morning, but it seemed like days before. ‘What did you do — take the tracker off and leave it somewhere?’

‘Yes. I’d been trying to break the habit. That was why I stopped when I did my stretches. I used to take it off and put it on the wall and walk away from it, sometimes run a hundred yards or so and back, without it.’ Natalie paused and looked down at her bare wrist. ‘Then I realised. It meant I could be somewhere and seem like I was somewhere else and that meant I could kill that man. I’d been planning it for a couple of weeks. I’d bought a knife in Carlisle and I hid it by the lane, for when I needed it. The first time I ran past the two of them were there and I didn’t dare stop, but the next week it was different. Just as I was in sight one of them drove off and the other one stopped for a cigarette. I got the knife and I ran to where the man was, next to his car.’ Her wide eyes turned uncertainly from Ashleigh to Jude and back again. ‘Please don’t ask me to… but I did it. I did do it.’

‘And the knife?’

‘I hid it in the garden shed. Then I went and told Claud what I’d found.’

Silence surrounded them as they contemplated the crime, and then Natalie reached for another tissue and folded it in half.

‘And when that was done,’ Ashleigh said, with her voice very carefully controlled, ‘what did you do next?’

‘I got scared. I was scared about everything. I was scared about being caught, and although Len was dead, I was still scared that Claud would leave me for someone else. There was always someone else he was talking about, always someone who wanted a piece of his time. That bell-ringer. He was so keen to see Claud.’ She folded the tissue again, and again, and again. In reality, Jude thought, there was every chance that Claud had talked about these things for only a fraction of the time, but they were all she ever registered. ‘And Claud kept saying how normal it was to be gay. I thought it was a coded message to me, that he was preparing me for him leaving. I was sure he was having an affair. I started looking at his laptop, and I could see he’d been on some sites, but I couldn’t get access to them.’

‘Did you take his laptop?’

‘No. He faked the burglary and threw it away. He must have suspected I was onto him, and of course that just made me more suspicious. I didn’t know what to do. But there was that woman, Gracie.’

‘You must have met her at one of the workshops, then,’ Jude said. ‘But they were before you killed Len, weren’t they? Why her?’

‘Claud was always talking about her. He wanted to invite her round for supper and when I didn’t want to he said he’d take her out somewhere without me. I’d seen her walk across the churchyard and back every evening after work. I’m sure if I wasn’t there they must have met.’

‘Same plan, eh? With the tracker.’

‘Yes. I found a coat in a charity shop bag, and I wrapped the knife in it. I didn’t know poor Claud would find her. He was so upset. He said he thought she was me. He’d been worried about me.’ The tissue would fold no smaller. Unfolding it, she began to tear it in half, in half again. ‘On the way back from the police station we met that bell ringer. He came up to help us and he was lovely. And I remember him saying to Claud that he’d have to come round, and he gave him his number and address. And that’s where I went completely mad. I thought he was inviting Claud round because he wanted to have an affair with him.’

‘Was the invitation only for Claud?’

‘He said you must come round.’ She paused, ripped each half of the tissue yet again. ‘I hear it differently now. I see he must have meant both of us.’

‘But you knew where he lived,’ Ashleigh said, sounding to Jude’s sensitive ear as if exhaustion was beginning to kick in, as if her capacity for understanding was becoming strained. ‘And it was just handy that it was on your route.’

‘Yes. I ran past his house and there was a light on, so I