‘Get what?’
‘What happened after your husband’s funeral.’
‘Ah.’
‘You were worried about suspicion focusing on Alice. So, you ensured that suspicion was focused on you instead.’ Heather was silent. She looked very tired. ‘You chose a rather histrionic way of doing it, but I can see why you did. Alice is an actress, after all. It wasn’t difficult for her to act out the accusations against you.’
Heather smiled wryly. ‘Well done. I can see why you’re good at your job. You understand how people work.’
‘Thank you.’
‘And if ever I was in need of healing services – or if Alice was – we might well …’ She stopped, apparently regretting having embarked on the sentence.
‘You’d be more than welcome. I don’t actually specialize in your kind of problem, but I’d—’
‘Who said I’ve got a problem?’ Heather snapped.
‘You’ve said it. This morning. What you’ve told me. Unless you don’t regard being the victim of sexual abuse as a problem …’
‘Hm.’ Heather nodded, taking that on board. ‘At the moment I’m so confused. There’s a lot of stuff in my head that I’ve got to sort out. But I’m not going to even think about it until I’ve got Alice safely married.’
‘Afterwards, though …?’
‘We’ll see.’
‘There are people who can help you. You don’t want to – and you don’t have to – live the rest of your life in the shadow of what you went through during your marriage.’
‘As I said, we’ll see.’
Silence again. Heather looked out, as if for comfort, towards the sea. The water was steel-grey and unresponsive.
‘You took a big risk,’ said Jude.
‘In what way?’
‘Setting up Alice to accuse you in the church hall. Why did you do it?’
‘So that no one would suspect that she’d killed her father.’
‘Had anyone voiced suspicions that she was responsible?’
‘No. But KK told me he heard people in the Crown & Anchor suggesting that I might have had something to do with it. In other words, there were suspicions that Leonard didn’t die of natural causes. I was worried that, if the rumours led to a police investigation, it might get too close to Alice.’
‘So, you publicly turned the suspicions against yourself …’
‘Yes.’
‘… in the secure knowledge that KK could provide you with an alibi for the time of Leonard’s death?’
‘Exactly.’
‘And you knew that Alice didn’t have an alibi, so you got Roddy to provide a false one for her?’ Heather nodded. ‘That was another big risk you took.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, if the police investigation had been a bit more thorough …’
‘I was banking on the fact that it wouldn’t be.’ There was now a note of pride in the woman’s voice. ‘I needed to stop the rumours going round Fethering. As you know, in a village like this, rumours can grow and fester and get bundled up with other rumours. So, I reckoned, if there was a police investigation which found that there was nothing to investigate, that would be a pretty good way of stopping them once and for all.’
‘So, you were the anonymous caller who told the police there was something to investigate?’
‘Well done. You’re spot on.’
Jude shook her head. ‘Still an enormous risk.’
‘Maybe.’ Heather spoke now in a tone of self-congratulation. ‘But it worked, didn’t it? The police investigated, and they concluded there was nothing to investigate. And when did you last hear a rumour round Fethering that Leonard’s death was anything but natural?’
Jude didn’t think it was the moment to point out that rumours in Fethering were never killed off that easily. Instead, she conceded that, yes, the dangerous strategy had paid off. But it still seemed to her a very elaborate way of going about things. And then she reflected that Heather Mallett was probably very naïve. Her sequestered life at Sorrento during her marriage had cut her off. Only someone out of touch with the real world could have dreamt up the denunciation scenario at the wake. And, Jude reckoned, Alice, the unsuccessful actress, the drama queen, would have been happy to play along, particularly with a scheme that should exonerate her from any suspicion.
‘And now,’ Heather went on, ‘the only people who are threatening to disturb that happy situation are you and your neighbour Carole.’
‘Hm.’
‘You say I took a risk by setting up Alice to accuse me after the funeral. But, of course, I’ve taken a bigger risk this morning.’
‘By telling me all this?’
‘Yes. In fact, I’m taking the same risk as I did with the police. I’m volunteering information, in the hope that, by doing so, I will stop an investigation in its tracks.’
‘You think, now I know the circumstances, I, like the police, will take no further action?’
‘That’s what I’m hoping for.’ The woman looked tense; hardly surprising given how much the response mattered to her. ‘Or have I read your character all wrong, Jude?’
‘No. You haven’t read my character wrong. From what you’ve told me about your husband – which, incidentally, I have no problem with believing – I cannot feel any regret for his death. Nor, indeed, can I feel very inclined to blame your daughter for helping him on his way.’
‘Are you saying that you’ll keep quiet about what I’ve told you this morning?’
‘I certainly don’t feel a sense of duty to tell anyone. I have strict rules of confidentiality with my clients, you know. I’m quite good at keeping secrets. And you’re right. I don’t have a black and white view of justice.’
‘Unlike your neighbour.’
‘True.’
‘So, what I’m asking you, Jude – begging you – is that you don’t tell any of this to Carole.’
‘Till after the wedding?’
‘No. Ever. You must never tell any of it to Carole!’
Jude nodded slowly. She sympathized with the woman, but she also knew how terrier-like her neighbour could be when she suspected information was being kept from her. ‘All right,’ she said. ‘I’ll do my best.’
‘I’m going to ensure that Alice has the best wedding day any girl has ever had,’ said Heather Mallett. ‘And if anyone tries to prevent that from happening, I’ll kill them!’
Though she would never have used the word – or indeed confided in anyone how bereft she had been feeling – Carole was ecstatic to have Gulliver back. Again, the strength of emotion surprised and slightly worried her.
On the Wednesday, she’d taken him for his customary early morning walk on Fethering Beach, and he got the bonus of a second outing because she needed to do some shopping on the parade. Walking back, Carole had to pass Starbucks, and she did so with her usual sniff of disapproval at the fact that it was no longer Polly’s Cake Shop.
Through the window, she was surprised to see someone she recognized. Sitting alone at a table, with a large black coffee in front of him, was Roddy Skelton. Carole decided to suspend her instinctive revulsion for the place and enter. She had heard from fellow beach walkers that dogs were allowed inside.
This was her first visit to any Starbucks branch. Carole Seddon had a perverse prejudice against the popular. She didn’t like to be seen doing what other people did. For this reason, she avoided chain restaurants. For her to be seen in a McDonald’s or a Kentucky Fried Chicken, she would regard as social death. She felt the same about watching Coronation Street, EastEnders or Strictly Come Dancing. In the face of such trends, she liked to maintain her individuality. The fact that no one would ever notice if she went to a fast-food outlet, and no one would ever know what was watched on the High Tor television did not change her deep-held convictions.