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But how could Frances possibly have known that it would lead to the discovery of the knife at Slaney’s home?

How indeed. There was the crucial question. It ought to have been impossible for her to know that. She had claimed to be unaware of what had happened to the knife, just as she’d claimed ignorance of Lacey’s whereabouts.

And along the way Cooper had become more and more convinced that Evan Slaney was guilty of killing Reece Bower. Now it dawned him that he’d been wrong. And not only wrong — he’d been manipulated towards his conclusion. Naomi, Frances and Lacey, they had all played their part in leading him towards that destination. Up the garden path to what seemed an obvious outcome.

Cooper could have kicked himself. He’d been stupid. Worse, he’d been gullible. During these last few days, he’d been the instrument of a conspiracy between three clever women. Naomi, Frances and Lacey. Together they’d taken their revenge on one man, and set up another to be the suspect.

And yes, they’d used a third as their pawn. Detective Inspector Ben Cooper. He hadn’t believed everything they told him. But he’d believed far too much.

30

By late afternoon, a scene-of-crime team had finished digging out the flower bed in the Bowers’ garden on Aldern Way. Reece Bower’s corpse had been wrapped in layers of black plastic bin liner, tied with clothes line. The outline of a human body was clear, even through the plastic. Whoever had done the tying had made the line far too tight, as if afraid that Reece might escape from his makeshift shroud.

Cooper knew the smell would be overpowering when they opened those bags. He turned away and saw Dr Chloe Young waiting by the house to get access to the body. Sometimes, she had the worst job.

Naomi Heath perched uneasily in an armchair in the sitting room of the house she’d shared with Reece Bower, with a uniformed female officer standing over her. She was moving her hands restlessly on the arms of her chair, her head turned away from the window so that she couldn’t see what was going on in the garden. It was too late for her to be in denial, though.

Cooper stood directly in front of her.

‘You knew where he was, didn’t you?’ he said.

After a moment, she nodded. It was a curt nod, so quick and precise that he could have mistaken it for an involuntary twitch, a nervous response to his question. But he could tell the truth from her expression.

‘Of course you did,’ he said. ‘You killed him.’

She didn’t answer. Cooper nodded at the officer, who put the handcuffs on to Naomi’s wrists and led her to a car waiting on the drive. No doubt the neighbours in Aldern Way were already at their windows to see her being taken away.

Carol Villiers came in from the garden, where Dr Young had finally got access to the body.

‘Naomi Heath,’ said Villiers with a note of surprise.

‘She either killed Reece Bower herself,’ said Cooper. ‘Or at least, she was involved in his death and the disposal of the body.’

‘Surely she must have had help. She couldn’t have dragged his body out there on her own and buried him. That would take at least two people. And somebody tied those knots really tight.’

‘Somebody angry, perhaps?’

‘Yes.’

‘But not Evan Slaney,’ said Cooper. ‘Not him.’

‘Who would have thought a woman like Naomi was capable of it?’

‘If you put people under enough stress, they’re capable of pretty much anything,’ said Cooper.

‘I suppose so.’

‘She was very clever, actually. She let me form my own conclusions.’

‘By suggesting it was something to do with new evidence about the disappearance of Annette Bower?’

‘Yes,’ said Cooper. ‘And of course there was, in a way. The new evidence was Lacey.’

He waited for Chloe Young to finish with the body. She smiled at him faintly.

‘Another one?’ she said.

‘Sorry.’

‘This one is fairly fresh. A few days, I’d say, but the speed of decomposition has been affected by the plastic wrapping, which was fairly airtight.’

‘Cause of death?’ said Cooper hopefully.

‘That’s easier. He was stabbed.’

‘Any sign of a weapon?’

‘No, it was removed after the attack and before he was buried. Some kind of bladed weapon certainly, but not the usual kind. From the wounds, I’d suggest a knife with a short but very sharp blade. It wouldn’t take any great strength, because a weapon like that could have been wielded by anyone. But you would have to get in very close to the victim to use it, Ben.’

Young looked at the well-kept garden and the French windows leading on to the patio.

‘Not your normal sort of crime scene, is it?’ she said. ‘You wouldn’t expect to get a murder in a place like this.’

‘Actually,’ said Cooper, ‘in my experience, this is exactly the sort of place you’re likely to get a murder.’

Later, when Naomi Heath had been processed through the custody suite at West Street, Cooper and Villiers went in to record the first interview.

Cooper watched Naomi’s shoulders relax as she spoke about the events of the previous Sunday. She looked positively relieved. It dawned on him this may have been what she’d been wanting to tell him all the time. She’d just been waiting for right moment to get it off her chest.

But as she spoke, he changed his mind. Naomi wasn’t relieved. She was proud.

And Cooper had to admit she’d pulled it off well. She’d always talked about her partner in the present tense, as if she never doubted he was still alive. It was a difficult thing to do, when you knew perfectly well someone was dead and not just missing. They might already be past tense in your head and your heart, but they still had to be present in your words. It took an unusual level of control to maintain that pretence.

But who had helped Naomi? Someone angry — that was what he’d said when Bower’s body was found.

And there was another pressing question. Who’d left Reece Bower’s phone and wallet in Lathkill Dale? It would have been a risky undertaking. During the day there were always walkers up and down the trail. A car would have been seen, an individual might have been spotted acting in an odd manner. It was hard to imagine who would have the nerve to risk that.

Wait a minute. There was one person who lived within walking distance of Lathkill Dale. It would have been no trouble for her to walk down the road one night and distribute the missing items in the dark, when no one was around.

Frances Swann was brought into Interview Room Two. The custody suite was starting to fill up, though Cooper didn’t think he’d quite finished yet.

There was no pretence about Mrs Swann. On the contrary, it seemed that she intended to be quite open about her part.

‘It was such a sense of betrayal,’ she said. ‘He was still having the affair, you know.’

‘The same affair? With the work colleague, Madeleine Betts?’

‘Yes. He’d either restarted it, or perhaps it never ended, I’m not sure. Annette didn’t know that. Nor did poor old Naomi. He took her for a fool, all right.’

‘How did you find out about Annette? I mean, about what really happened to her?’

‘Lacey told me.’

‘Lacey was only eight years old at the time.’

‘It’s old enough,’ she said. ‘Children at that age might not understand everything that’s going on, but they still have the memories. Sometimes it’s only years later that they manage to put the pieces together.’

He went back in to Naomi Heath, who was still waiting in the next room, a cup of water on the table in front of her. That was all she’d asked for.