‘As it happens, I haven’t been entirely frank myself,’ Jamie unexpectedly volunteered. ‘There’s something I’ve been keeping from you. You’ve been honest with me, so I want to clear my own conscience. I didn’t tell you the whole truth about Fiona.’
‘Your wife?’
He turned on to his back. ‘Yes. I told you she died. I didn’t tell you the circumstances.’
‘There’s no need, my darling,’ Donna assured him.
‘Yes, you ought to know.’ He hesistated. ‘You see Fiona was murdered.’
She caught her breath. ‘How?’
He answered in a voice that was low, but determined to recite the facts, ‘Someone strangled her. It was while I was in Paris on a business trip. I think I told you that I have to go there periodically to visit our sales rep there. Someone broke into the house in the night and strangled my poor Fiona with a length of flex. I found her when I got back on Sunday night.’
‘Oh, Jamie! Who?’
‘They never found out. There was no reason why anyone should have wanted to kill Fiona. She wasn’t the sort to make enemies. She was sweet-natured, loved by everyone who knew her.’
‘Was she...?’
‘Sexually assaulted? No. And the motive wasn’t theft, because nothing was taken. We had some beautiful things around the house. Pictures, silver, antiques. Her family were very well off. I wouldn’t be living in this style if it weren’t for Fiona, poor darling. They questioned me, of course. I suppose if you think coldly in terms of motive, I had one. I certainly profited from her death. But I was in Paris from Friday night until Sunday. They checked with British Airways and the hotel and found it was true.’
‘So who could have done it?’
‘Nobody knows. They went through her diaries, questioned her friends, the neighbours, her family. It’s a mystery. God knows, I’ve tried to think of an explanation. I think her family still feel it would never have happened if she hadn’t married me.’
‘Poor Jamie! That’s unfair.’
‘But understandable. There have been times when I’ve wondered whether the killer had some grudge against me.’
Donna frowned. ‘He hated you so much that he strangled your wife? It doesn’t sound very plausible.’
‘Doesn’t it? In business, you make enemies sometimes without knowing it, people whose ambitions you frustrate, people who regard you as a threat or a menace.’
‘Is there anyone you suspect?’
‘No one. That’s just the point. It could be someone I didn’t even know I had crossed. I try not to think about it now. I could easily get paranoid. Do you understand?’
‘I understand, and I’m glad you told me, darling,’ said Donna; she smiled in the darkness. Her own unscrupulous conduct seemed of less importance now.
No more was said that night. She drifted into sleep without giving another thought to the man in the photographs.
Next morning, they went to some trouble to behave considerately to each other. If the revelations on each side had tested the relationship, at least there were indications that they both wanted it to prosper. Jamie announced that he would clear Donna’s overdraft and still open the joint account. Donna put up her hair in the style he liked best and promised him a candlelit dinner when he got home. He kissed her before he left for work.
The fears of the previous night seemed trivial as she went about the house that morning. She picked the rest of the photographs off the living-room floor and put them in their wallet without looking at them again. She had more important things on her mind, such as which dress to wear that evening.
After lunch, she walked into Kew to the butcher who sold the best steaks and bought two large fillets. At the chemist’s next door, she picked up a new lipstick and a musky perfume that she had not tried before. She had always envied the women with enough money to treat themselves to whichever luxuries they fancied.
She strolled back in the autumn sunshine, stopping for a moment by the bridge to watch an eight at practice on the Thames. The house overlooked the river, and all the activity on it was a happy discovery for Donna.
She was still watching the oarsmen as she approached the house. They appeared to be heading straight for a group of ducks, but she need not have worried. The ducks judged their escape to perfection, without even seeming to hurry. She was so wrapped up in this drama that she failed to notice the figure standing on the embankment opposite the house until she was within a few yards of him.
‘Darling, I almost passed out on the spot,’ she told Jamie that evening as soon as he came in. ‘It was him — the man in the photographs. He stared at me just like he did in Vienna. He was standing outside the house as if he was waiting for me. It was horrible! My blood ran cold. I walked past him, past the house, trying to pretend I didn’t live here.’
‘And when you came back, he had gone?’
Donna’s eyes filled with tears. ‘You don’t believe me, do you?’
‘How could it be the same fellow? Why?’
‘I don’t know, but I’m not mistaken. I don’t imagine things.’
‘Of course you don’t, but you must admit that you over-reacted a little when you looked at the photos. He made a strong impression on you. The image stays in the mind, and next time you see a thin-faced guy near the house...’
‘It isn’t like that, Jamie! It was him. I know it was him.’
Over dinner, Jamie tried a different tack. ‘Okay, let’s accept for a moment that you’re not mistaken. He was the same guy. There’s no reason to feel afraid. He hasn’t threatened you, has he?’
‘I feel threatened.’
‘Because it’s all in your mind.’
‘No!’
‘After dinner, we’ll take another look at the photos, and I think you’ll find you’ve made a mistake.’
‘I burned them in the grate this afternoon. I couldn’t bear to have them in the house.’
‘Our honeymoon pictures?’
As a romantic occasion, the meal was already a disaster. They drank the wine and Jamie ate his steak, but Donna pushed her plate aside. She couldn’t stomach food in her present state of mind. She went off to make coffee.
‘By the way,’ Jamie said, when she returned, ‘I think I told you that I have to make the occasional trip to Paris to confer with our rep over there. He’s asked me over next weekend to meet some clients.’
‘You’re going to Paris?’ she said in disbelief.
‘Don’t look so alarmed, darling. It’s strictly business, I assure you. I’ll be back on Sunday night.’
‘Take me with you, Jamie.’
‘That won’t be possible. Company policy. Wives don’t go on business trips.’
‘To hell with the company! You can’t leave me here alone after what has happened!’
‘Nothing has happened.’
‘I shall go out of my mind!’
‘You’re being melodramatic, Donna.’
‘How can you contemplate a trip like this after what happened to your first wife?’
‘Come now, that’s unfair. What am I supposed to do: give up my job altogether?’
Donna said, ‘They never found Fiona’s killer. What if it were the man who watches me?’
‘That’s crazy! Why should it be him?’
‘You said yourself that it was possible he killed her because he had a grudge against you. He might be planning to murder me.’
‘Donna, you’re overwrought. We’ve been through a heavy time together. Why don’t you see the doctor in the morning and get some tranquillisers? In a couple of days you’ll feel entirely different. By Friday, you won’t care a damn about my Paris trip. Listen, I’ve had a good idea. You could go up to Harrod’s on Saturday and buy yourself something exciting to wear when I come home. They stock some very exotic underwear.’
‘I’d rather have it from Paris, thank you.’