‘But you studied Hospitality and Catering.’
‘You can do that without going into a family business.’
‘I agree. But you do still work for your mother at Polly’s.’
‘That’s only because I haven’t yet got my head together to do something else. When the sale of the place finally goes through, I’m off out of here.’
‘You’ll get a job in Brighton?’
‘Probably. There’s always plenty of bar work and waitressing around there.’
‘Yes, I’m sure there is. Going back to your parents’ divorce …’
‘What about it?’
Carole, still recollecting the pains of her own split from David, trod carefully. ‘Presumably that was a big trauma for you?’
‘Yes. I was like twelve. It’s not a great age to have your whole life suddenly turned upside down.’
‘Do you still see your father?’
‘Not very often. Not as often as I’d like to see him. If my mother had her way, I’d never see him.’
‘Do you know what led to the divorce?’
‘Meaning what?’
‘Had either of them got someone else?’
‘Not so far as I know. Though I wish for my father’s sake that he had found someone. He deserved something nice in his life. I’m glad to say he has actually remarried since.’
‘Were you at the wedding?’
‘God, no. Not invited.’ And the omission was clearly still a painful one.
‘And as for your mother? Did she have someone else?’
‘I wouldn’t wish her on any man. All I recollect from the time they were together was my mother constantly sniping away at my father, criticizing him, undermining him. And she continued to do that right through my teens, all the time we were living in the flat over Polly’s, just the two of us.’ The girl’s dark eyes glazed over. Carole was beginning to wonder whether the vodka and tonic was her first of the morning. ‘I’d like to have had a relationship with my father. My mother saw to it that that was not possible.’
‘And what about your own relationships?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Did your mother encourage you to have boyfriends?’
‘Hardly. I wouldn’t have wanted to introduce any boy I fancied to her. Put him off me for life. So any relationships I did have I made sure she knew nothing about them. Which was fine once I got to uni.’
‘And is fine now?’
‘Are you asking me if I’ve got a boyfriend at the moment?’
‘Well …’
‘Bloody nosey, aren’t you?’ It was an accusation Carole would have been hard put to it to deny. ‘Well, if you want to know, I had a long-term relationship which broke up four months ago. Since then it’s been nothing but the odd one-night stand.’
‘Are you still upset about it?’
‘Still upset? I’ve been upset all my bloody life, as far back as I can remember. Anyone born to a mother like mine would be permanently upset.’
Carole rather wished she had Jude with her. The conversation was getting uncomfortably psychological, and Jude was always better at dealing with that stuff than she was.
‘Going back to the body, the one I and my friend found on—’
‘I know which body you’re talking about. Incidentally, at the police press conference they said he’d been killed by a gunshot wound. Did you know that before you heard it from them?’
‘Yes. My friend and I saw the bullet hole in his temple.’
‘Ah. Anything else unusual you noticed?’
‘Well, his legs appeared to have been tied together with rope, but that had broken.’
‘And what did that make you think?’
‘It made me think that perhaps the body had been tied to some heavy weight to take him down to the bottom of the sea. And when the rope broke he had floated free again.’
‘Hm.’ Rosalie Achter nodded her head thoughtfully. ‘Did you suggest that to the police?’
‘Sorry?’
‘When the police interviewed you, did you mention your theory about him having been tied to a heavy weight?’
‘No, I didn’t. I’ve learnt over the years that the police don’t take kindly to theories from unqualified amateurs. If the body had been weighted down, I’m sure they could have worked that out for themselves.’
‘Yes.’ The girl seemed obscurely pleased by the answer.
‘When she first heard we’d found the body, did your mother pass any comment about it?’
‘Like what?’
‘Anything, really.’
‘No. Well, I think she said, “Another bastard drowned after having a skinful – serves him right!” Something like that.’
‘And when you spoke to her yesterday … you know, once the body had been identified as that of Amos Green … did she say anything about him then?’
‘No. Why should she say anything about a person she’d never met before?’
Carole had to admit that she didn’t know, really.
They seemed to have finished their conversation about the same time they’d finished their drinks. Neither suggested a refill. Rosalie said she had to get back to Polly’s for her ‘bloody shift’.
Carole was thoughtful as she walked back to High Tor. What interested her most was not the girl’s belligerence towards her mother but, given the negative reactions Rosalie had given to all Carole’s questions, why she had so readily agreed to meet in the first place.
FIFTEEN
Jude was surprised by a knock on her front door on the following morning, the Saturday. She opened it to reveal a woman in her sixties wearing a pale blue linen dress. Her grey hair was cut in a stylish pageboy bob and she wore large dark-rimmed glasses.
‘Good morning,’ she said. ‘My name is Janice Green and I believe you are one of the people who found my husband’s body on Fethering Beach last week.’
Jude had called through to Carole and now the three women were sitting over coffee on the draped armchairs of Woodside Cottage’s sitting room. Carole and Jude made appropriate comments of condolence, but Janice Green swept them aside.
‘What I’m currently feeling about Amos’s death is more surprise than intense bereavement. I fell out of love with him many years ago.’ Her words were not bitter or self-pitying, more matter-of-fact.
‘But,’ she went on, ‘I am obviously intrigued as to how he died. I’ve been questioned by the police who seem convinced he committed suicide but, needless to say, they aren’t vouchsafing me much information. So, having read in the paper about you two having found his body, I thought I’d come and see if you had any useful information.’
‘Which paper was it you saw the news in?’ asked Carole. ‘The Fethering Observer?’
‘No. Daily Mail. His death did make the national news. That would have pleased Amos, I think. Fame at last.’ She read in their faces that some explanation was required. ‘My husband didn’t lack self-esteem.’
‘And how did you find out where we lived?’ asked Carole.
‘Oh, I thought Fethering was the kind of place where everyone would know everyone – particularly if they had the notoriety of having found a body on the beach, so I asked in a café near the front.’
‘Polly’s Cake Shop?’
‘Yes.’
Carole and Jude exchanged looks. It was probably just coincidence that Janice Green had entered the premises where her husband’s body had been found before its immersion in the sea. But on the other hand …
‘I read in the paper,’ said Jude, ‘that your husband lived in Kingston.’
‘Yes, he did.’
‘You imply that that was in the past.’
‘We hadn’t cohabited for over five years. Amos moved out.’
‘And where had he been living since?’
The strangely unemotional widow shrugged. ‘He shacked up with some woman. Whether he was still with the same one when he died I don’t know. I would have thought it was unlikely. His flings didn’t tend to last very long. He could have shacked up with a good few since I last saw him.’