‘Oh?’
‘Carole used to work at the Home Office. Her attitude to public duty is non-negotiable.’
‘Whereas yours …’
‘I think I’m able to see more sides to an argument than she is.’ This was said with no self-congratulation. It was simply a statement of fact.
‘I’m glad to hear it. Right, in this particular argument, what sides do you see?’
‘I see, I think, Heather, a lot of unhappiness in your family.’
‘I’m not going to argue with that.’
‘And, given the way that you have … come out of your shell … since your husband’s death, I might leap to the obvious conclusion that he was the cause of at least part of that unhappiness.’
‘I’m still not arguing.’
‘So, you wouldn’t argue if I were to say that yours was an unhappy marriage?’
Heather shook her head, tense, uncertain how to respond till she heard what came next.
‘The question that raises for me is: if your husband made you unhappy, did he make his daughter unhappy too?’
There was a silence. Then Heather said slowly, ‘You’re a very perceptive woman, Jude. It must be down to all that healing you do.’
‘It’s hard to do the job without accumulating some knowledge of human psychology.’
‘I’m sure that’s true.’ Heather sighed. ‘No, I wasn’t happy with Leonard. I have to say that was partly my fault. I was very wide-eyed and naïve when we met, and I was attracted by the idea of a well-established, wealthy man taking an interest in me. Leonard was never going to be the life and soul of any party, but he seemed honest and reliable. People were deferential to him at social occasions; he seemed to command a lot of respect. Basically, he offered me stability, after a series of unsatisfactory relationships with younger, irresponsible men.’
Jude said nothing, happy to let Heather control the narrative in her own way.
‘So, I thought, by marrying Leonard, I would be shoring up my own security for the rest of my life. It was only after we were married that I realized how controlling his personality was.’
Jude still kept silent, thinking how many of her clients had described their marriages in almost identical words.
‘He was a bully and, having done me the hugest of favours by marrying me, he then proceeded to abuse and humiliate me.’
‘When you use the word “abuse” …’ Jude began tentatively.
‘I use it in the fullest sense of the word. Domestic violence, sexual assaults. As the years went by, Leonard’s potency declined. He would never have considered blaming himself for that, so he blamed me. As a result …’ For the first time in the conversation, Heather’s face expressed the revulsion for what she was describing ‘… he demanded ever more extreme actions from me to stimulate his failing libido.’
‘And what about his first wife?’
‘What do you mean by that?’ asked Heather sharply.
‘I meant, do you know if there was any history of abuse while he was married to her?’
‘I don’t know. Leonard was the only person of our acquaintance who would know the answer to that. And he wouldn’t have been about to tell me, would he?’
‘No. Probably not. Just that, in my experience of clients who’ve suffered sexual abuse from their partners …’ Jude had dealt with a distressingly large number of such cases over the years ‘… it rarely comes from nowhere. There’s usually some history.’
‘I’ve no idea what happened with his first wife. And I wasn’t about to ask. It would only have made Leonard angrier. And who would his anger have been taken out on? No, I wasn’t going to deliberately antagonize him.’
‘I understand.’
‘Alice, though, was fascinated by her mother, and how she’d died.’
‘How old was she when it happened?
‘Round twelve, I think. Leonard would never talk to her about it. She kept asking, but …’
‘Was your husband in sole charge of her after her mother’s death?’
‘Technically, I suppose, yes. But she was packed off to boarding school very soon after, I think. Didn’t see much of her father from then on … which suited Alice very well, because she loathed him.’
The two women looked at each other for a long, slow moment. Then Heather said, ‘Look, all I want at the moment is for Alice to have the most perfect wedding possible. And I believe there are things you think, Jude, things you know, actions you might take … which could threaten that outcome.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Oh, don’t be faux naïve! You know what I mean. You were about to ask me whether Alice too was abused by Leonard.’
‘I wouldn’t say—’
‘Yes, you would. I don’t know you well, but I know your type, Jude. Once you have a suspicion about something, you worry away at it, like a dog with a piece of rag, and you won’t let it go until you’ve got some kind of explanation.’
‘That would probably be a more accurate description of Carole than me.’
‘It fits both of you. The only difference is a matter of degree. But I’m not criticizing you for it. Seeking out injustice, righting wrongs, they’re admirable ambitions … so long as they don’t concern my family.’
Jude thought she now understood the direction in which Heather’s thoughts were moving, but she waited until they were spelt out for her.
‘I get the impression that if I told your friend Carole what I’m about to tell you, she’d go straight to the police with the information.’
‘I don’t know what you’re going to tell me, but that is an accurate assessment of Carole’s character.’
‘OK.’ Heather looked down at the cafetière. ‘I could make some fresh coffee if you—’
‘Don’t worry. I’m fine.’ Tell me what you have to tell me, Jude urged inwardly.
‘Right.’ Heather sighed and looked down over the garden fence to the English Channel. ‘Very well. Yes, Leonard did abuse Alice. And she was at a much more vulnerable age than I was when it started. It had a devastating effect on her. I talked of myself having dreadful relationships with men, but that’s nothing on the scale of what Alice went through.’
‘But now she’s through all that, and about to get married.’
‘Yes,’ said Heather positively. And then, with less certainty, ‘Yes …’
‘Did Alice tell you about what had been happening?’
‘No. I found out. It wasn’t an easy time, for either of us. It took years for me to actually talk to her about the subject.’ She looked ashamed. ‘Once again, I was too afraid of Leonard to …’
‘But when you did talk to her about it …?’
‘At first she denied everything. But gradually, very slowly … I think it took her a long time to realize that we had both suffered in the same way. And that I might be on her side. Once she did start talking, though, there was no stopping her.’
‘And that must have formed a bond between you.’
‘You could say that, Jude, yes.’
Another silence. ‘Going back to Leonard’s death …’ Jude prompted.
‘Yes,’ said Heather wearily. ‘We have to, don’t we?’
‘I’m afraid so. You, I gather, have an alibi for the relevant time. Or maybe you don’t? Are you about to tell me that?’
‘No. I was with KK. No lies there.’
‘Having a singing lesson?’
‘Yes.’
Remembering what she had heard the night before, Jude curbed the instinct to ask about the nature of her relationship with the guitarist. At that moment there was a more urgent topic. ‘But you left Alice in the house with Leonard?’
‘Yes.’
‘And do you think she killed him?’
‘Yes,’ said Heather.
ELEVEN
Jude nodded thoughtfully. ‘I think I get it now.’