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

rang the doorbell,’ Natalie said, breathlessly, ‘and when I…he fell backward into the house I pulled the door to. Then I ran off and left him.’

‘And was it Claud’s jacket you wrapped the knife in, this time?’

‘It was so handy. I’d known I’d have to kill him, too, because he had his eye on Claud, and when I came back to the office after the burglary I took the coat and put it in my bag and pretended it had been stolen, too. That time I had to run a bit further. You’ll see I stopped a bit longer there, if you’ve had time to check the tracker, but fortunately I never met anyone.’

‘But what about Claud? Why kill Claud?’ Ashleigh was shaking her head in perplexity.

Natalie turned to her, lifted her hand to her breast, an actress in a moment. ‘I don’t know.’ A tear, unquestionably a real one, rose to her eyes. ‘I asked him if he was having an affair and he told me he wasn’t, but I didn’t believe him. I could see it in his eyes that he thought I was mad. I told him I still loved him and when he came to hug me, I was brave. I killed him because if I hadn’t, he’d leave.’

Silence, while they digested this tale of tainted love and self-delusion, and Jude risked another look at the clock. Half seven. ‘And after that?’

‘After that I don’t remember.’ She hung her head, and the red fingernails closed once more on the tissue paper. ‘I don't remember anything else. Anything at all. It’s all a blank. I wish I didn’t remember killing Claud.’

There was a tap on the door. ‘Shall we take a break?’ Jude asked. He glanced at his watch again. ‘I think we all need one.’

‘My client needs a rest.’

‘I told you, I want to tell everything—‘

Jude got up and answered the door. Faye stood outside it, her left arm in a sling, her fingers bandaged. He joined her in the corridor, with Ashleigh behind him. ‘Well, Jude?’

‘She’s confessed. To all four killings. Not in her right mind, if you ask me, but the experts will be the judges of that.’ He indicated the hand. ‘Are you okay?’

‘I’ve been worse. Maybe this will offset the newspaper article that Ms Letham will no doubt produce as a follow-up. Maybe I’ll get points for bravery. Do stitches compensate for a bad reputation?’ Her eyes glittered like obsidian. ‘I hope so. I have seven of them in play, and some very strong painkillers to see me through.’

Faye, Jude thought, was exhibiting her own signs of delusion. Nobody really cared what stories ran in the local paper. The woman was mad even to be in the office, but he might as well take advantage of her folly. ‘Brilliant. Could you take over here? Ashleigh and I were supposed to be somewhere else.’

Her eyes widened. ‘I beg your pardon?’

‘My brother turns twenty-one today. I’m supposed to be at his party.’

‘Am I hearing you right? You’re proposing to walk out of an interview to go to a party?’

‘Yes. I’m not supposed to be working today. I worked my last day off. I missed spending the afternoon with my dad. I’m done here.’ It was probably too late to salvage anything from the evening, but at least he could try. And if the worst came to the worst, he could offer Mikey the sacrifice of his career, in a way he hadn’t been able to offer Becca.

‘You can’t leave—’

‘I must have worked seventy hours this week.’

‘We’re all expected to put in long hours.’

‘I know that. I do it regularly enough. It’s cost me in the past, and I’m not having it cost me again. Take it up with my union, if you have a problem with it.’ He took three steps down the corridor to signal his intent. If only Mikey was there to see him make a stand.

‘Chief Inspector.’ Faye’s voice cracked like a whip. ‘That’s dangerously close to insubordination.’

He turned back.

‘I appreciate your difficulty,’ Faye observed, maintaining her steely calm, ‘but let me remind you of your priorities.’

Ever since he’d lost Becca he’d vowed to change his priorities. ‘No-one’s ever accused me of neglecting my duties before.’

‘Then don’t make me do it now.’

Silence. Ashleigh broke it, stepping forward, laying a hand on his arm. ‘It isn’t worth it. It really isn’t.’

If the circumstances had been different, if Mikey was in trouble, he might have carried it through, but what was the point when all that was required was his presence, when the party would carry on fine without him? It would be another grievance for Mikey to chalk up against him. That was all. ‘All right. Let’s get on with it.’ And the sooner they finished, the better the chance he had of salvaging something from the evening.

Chapter 27

The party was well past its peak when Jude finally arrived in Wasby. A knot of revellers crammed the pavement outside the village hall with plastic pint glasses and lit cigarettes, and a few of the guests were beginning to drift towards their cars. Behind him, a taxi pulled up and a few of Mikey’s more boisterous friends piled into it, no doubt away to carry on carousing in their own places, or in a club in Penrith or even Carlisle.

He parked the Mercedes outside his mother's house and walked the hundred yards or so back to the hall, sliding in through the doors just as someone else came out. Inside, the lights were dimmed and the wooden walls throbbed with Mikey’s eclectic taste in music as he shuffled along to the side of it, past a couple of recklessly drunk dancers, and towards his brother, who was standing next to the trestle table at the side with a can of beer in