‘Change your mind and stay for a drink,’ Gareth said. ‘We can ask the driver to wait for an hour and take us all back home together.’
Sally opened her mouth, and seemed about to say yes, and hers was a Bacardi and Coke, but after a moment’s hesitation, Fleur shook her head. ‘It’s been a long day. We’ll send him back after he’s dropped us off. You two can concentrate on helping the police with their enquiries.’
Gareth grinned at his sister-in-law. ‘We’ll try not to incriminate ourselves.’
He blew his wife a kiss as Fleur pecked Bryan on the cheek and said, ‘See you later, darling.’
Purdey brought the drinks, and told her mother she’d come back home with her father and uncle. As Sally and Fleur headed off, Hannah turned to the girl and said, ‘So were you close to Orla?’
‘To be honest,’ Purdey said, ‘I’m not sure anyone was that close to her, poor thing. God knows what made her tick.’
‘Surely as a student of psychology-?’
‘Believe me, Sigmund Freud would have found Orla a challenge. We sort of grew up together, because the Paynes lived nearby, but she was older, so I didn’t know her well. Over the past few years, I’ve seen her around the park occasionally, visiting Kit. The last time we spoke was when I called in at St Herbert’s one day on an errand for my dad. A quick exchange of pleasantries, that was all. She seemed OK, but you can never tell what’s going on inside someone’s head, can you?’
Hannah wasn’t convinced that was the right attitude for a psychology graduate. ‘Where did she live?’
‘In a small flat on the outskirts of Keswick. Kit and her father gave her money to help her to put down the deposit after she came back to live in the Lakes.’
‘When was this?’
‘The end of last year. She went to uni in Newcastle, but she dropped out after a couple of years, though she stayed in the North East. I don’t think she ever truly settled. She had a string of jobs in marketing, but none lasted long. I heard she had a bit of a breakdown.’
‘Did Orla’s stepfather consider fixing her up with a job at the … uh, holiday home park?’
‘She never showed any interest in caravans.’ Purdey made it sound like a character flaw. ‘I didn’t expect her to move back here. Not many youngish people do.’
No arguing with that. Local children often moved away from Cumbria for good once they left school. Good jobs were easier to find in the cities, and so was cheap accommodation, given that house prices in the Lakes kept being driven up by middle-aged incomers who sold their swish detached homes in order to live the dream up in the rural north. Purdey was lucky, with a successful family business ready and waiting for her to step into.
‘Why did Orla come back? To follow a boyfriend?’
‘None of her blokes stuck around for long, sad to say. She is — oh God, was — quite attractive. Or could be. Though between you and me, she never really did herself justice, and it didn’t help when she lost all her hair.’
‘What caused that?’
‘Alopecia, brought on by stress. She never had much luck, didn’t Orla.’ Purdey hesitated. ‘I hate to sound cruel after what has happened, but I think Dad is right. One of his favourite sayings is, you make your own luck. If Orla was unlucky, in a way she brought it on herself.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘She could be clingy and persistent. Once she got an idea in her head, she didn’t like to let it go.’
Lauren’s mobile sang — her ringtone was ‘Pretty Woman’, what else? — and she moved away to take the call. Gareth turned to Hannah, and she sensed he’d been paying as much attention to her conversation with his daughter as to Bryan and the ACC.
‘Orla found it hard to accept that Callum was dead. Understandable, since there was no proof that his uncle did kill him. Though topping yourself is pretty good circumstantial evidence, I’d say.’
‘Suicide isn’t necessarily an admission of guilt,’ Hannah said.
‘Your colleagues twenty years back thought it as good as.’ Gareth turned to his brother. ‘There were no other suspects, were there, Bryan?’
‘None whatsoever.’
Hannah said, ‘I suppose the people living in your caravans were all checked?’
‘Thoroughly.’ Bryan’s cheeks reddened, thanks either to the champagne or the provocation. ‘It was established that none of our customers had any record of misbehaving with children. No surprise, I can assure you. There’s a good deal of mindless snobbery about caravans, but you only need take a look at our visitors’ car park. You’ll see plenty of BMWs, even the occasional Porsche. We don’t cater for oddballs.’
‘Unless they’re loaded.’ Gareth gave a mischievous grin.
‘By all accounts,’ Bryan said, ‘Orla became irrational on the subject of Callum. Kit was quite concerned about her.’
‘Concerned?’ Hannah asked.
‘About her mental state. He worried that if she didn’t pull herself together, she might need to be sectioned.’
‘That bad?’
‘I’m afraid so. Kit felt he owed it to Orla’s late mother to do his best for the girl. It wasn’t enough, but he can’t be blamed for that. She was a loose cannon. You could never be sure what she might say or do next.’
‘I suppose that’s what led her to do such a ghastly thing,’ Purdey said. ‘She simply lost the plot.’
‘Assuming she did kill herself,’ Hannah said.
Gareth’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Is there any doubt?’
‘Until the inquest verdict, who knows?’
Purdey said, ‘It’s awful for Kit. I feel so sorry for him. After everything he went through when Callum disappeared and then during Niamh’s long illness. Now this.’
Bryan said, ‘He was due to join us today, but of course, in the circumstances …’
‘He’s rebuilt his life,’ Purdey said. ‘New wife, new family. Glenys gave him a son; they dote on little Nathan.’
Bryan nodded. ‘The chap deserved some happiness after Niamh drank herself to death.’
‘Were Kit and Orla close?’ Hannah asked.
‘He made sure she was never short of money.’
Not an answer, Hannah thought.
Gareth seemed to read her mind. A disturbing knack. ‘You have to understand, he wasn’t her real father. Once Niamh was dead, there wasn’t much to keep Orla and her stepdad together. But he did his best for her.’
‘What was the state of her relationship with Mike Hinds?’
‘Uneasy. Mike’s an old mate of mine, and it cut him to the quick when she took Kit’s surname. Callum refused to follow suit, though I suspected that was as much to piss Kit off as to please Mike. Orla was younger, and when Niamh remarried, she went along with what her mother wanted. There were furious arguments about access. But Orla never lost touch with Mike.’
‘Though she never went back to live at his farm?’
Gareth shook his head. ‘No, she stayed with Kit on the park until she started at university. By then, Kit had remarried, and so had Mike.’
‘She told me once she felt there was nowhere she could truly call home,’ Purdey said. ‘No wonder she suffered from stress. First she lost her brother, then her mum, and both her dad and her stepdad began new lives that didn’t include her.’
Lauren was still gabbling into her mobile, no doubt bragging about the dinner to her husband, an insurance broker whose fat commissions kept her in haute couture. She was standing in front of a shot of Gene Tierney in her most famous role as the eponymous Laura — she probably thought that movie about the seductive woman who drove a detective wild with desire should be remade as Lauren.
‘What do you think drew her back to Mike Hinds’ farm yesterday?’ Hannah asked.
Bryan shook his head. ‘Who knows what goes through a disturbed mind?’
‘My guess is,’ Gareth said, ‘they had a row and it was a childish kind of payback on her part.’