‘You’re thinking of Roddy Sinclair?’
‘Perhaps. He’s the only person I can think of who might go to those lengths. He has a theatrical sense of humour.’
‘According to the tabloids,’ Perez said.
‘You’re right, of course.’ She looked at him across her glass. ‘We can’t assume that anything they say is true. I’ve met him a couple of times through Bella, but I don’t really feel I know him at all.’
‘We think the murder victim distributed the flyers cancelling the show. In Lerwick at least. He was seen handing them out to passengers coming off a cruise ship.’
‘But he was a stranger. Why would he want to spoil things for us?’
‘He was a stranger to you. Are you sure Bella didn’t know him?’
‘If she did, she didn’t let on.’
‘Has she made any enemies? People in the business maybe?’
‘Come off it, Jimmy. That sounds a bit melodramatic. Are you saying some artist she might have offended went to all that bother just to spite her?’
‘Is she in the habit of offending people?’
Fran chose her words carefully. ‘She’s never been particularly diplomatic about expressing her opinions.’
‘Meaning?’
‘If she hates a piece of work she’ll say so. To whoever will listen. Big style.’
‘Has she upset anyone in particular?’
‘Not recently as far as I know. Not a professional at least.’
‘Who then?’
When she didn’t answer immediately, he took her hand. ‘Look, you know I’ll find out. It’s impossible to keep that sort of thing secret here.’
She almost said that her ex-husband Duncan had kept his affair secret, but that wasn’t true. She hadn’t known about it, but the rest of the islanders had. Of course that had made the whole separation much more humiliating.
‘Look,’ he said. ‘This is murder. Loyalty to a friend doesn’t come into it.’
‘I’ve never thought of Bella as a friend. That seems a dreadful impertinence. Like saying Albert Einstein was a best mate! She’s a superstar.’
‘She’d love to hear you saying that.’
Fran thought he understood Bella better than she did. She’d known all along she’d tell him and she began the story. ‘You know I teach an adult-education art class. I’ve been running it since Christmas and some of the group are really very good. And they all enjoy it. We decided to have a midsummer show. Just a bit of fun, I thought. A chance for family and friends to see what the group had been up to. We took over the hall in Sandwick and had a meal together afterwards to celebrate. I invited Bella along to give some feedback. It was a mistake. She wasn’t as tactful as she might have been.’
‘What happened?’
‘She took the pieces one by one and gave a critique of each. I thought she was unnecessarily harsh in her criticism. I’d expected her to give some pointers for improvement, to be encouraging. I didn’t think she’d lay into my students. I felt terrible afterwards.’
‘Did she have a go at anyone in particular?’
‘There was one piece. A watercolour. It wasn’t the sort of thing I’d do myself, but I actually rather liked it. It was a landscape. Delicate and detailed. For some reason Bella took against it. She said it was bland. “Sickly and disgusting”. The artist should just give up. She had no sense of artistic vision. No courage. It was quite an outburst. Terribly embarrassing.’
‘Who was the artist?’
‘A teacher from Middleton. Dawn Williamson.’ Fran saw Perez give a small flicker of interest. He paused for a moment. She thought he was wondering how much to say to her.
‘You know Dawn’s husband is Martin Williamson?’ he said at last.
‘The chef at the Herring House?’
‘Aye, they live in Biddista. Maybe a bit of a coincidence. Bella is Martin’s boss. Do you think there was something personal in her attack on the painting?’
‘There couldn’t have been. The paintings were unnamed. How would she know?’ But again Fran thought this was a place where people did know things. Word got out in a way that was almost like magic.
‘How did Dawn react to the criticism?’
‘She was obviously upset. Who wouldn’t have been in such humiliating circumstances? But she was very dignified. I mean she didn’t shout or threaten revenge. She went very red and thanked Bella for taking the time to look at the piece.’
‘So at that point Bella knew who’d painted it?’
‘Yes. Dawn made a point of standing up and saying it was her work.’
‘Did Bella seem surprised? Embarrassed because she’d been slagging off a neighbour, the wife of an employee?’
‘No. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. You know what Bella’s like. Suddenly she came over all grand-artist. She had another appointment. Her agent was coming up from London. She had to rush off. Perhaps that was to cover her awkwardness.’
‘When did this happen?’
‘About ten days ago.’
‘Have you had a class since?’
‘No, I put off this week’s because of the exhibition.’ Fran drank the wine slowly. Now they were sitting in shadow. She saw everything in soft focus. Like some cheesy photo for a women’s magazine, she thought. No hard edges here. Perhaps it was the drink. ‘I think Dawn’s quite fond of me,’ she said. ‘I mean, she knew how much the exhibition meant to me. More than it did to Bella. All my class did. I don’t think she would have ruined it for me, even if she’d wanted to get back at Bella.’
He didn’t respond and she wondered if he’d fallen asleep, sitting upright just where he was. Then he said abruptly, ‘Shall we go inside?’
‘I’m sorry. Are you cold?’
‘No. But we’re a bit public here. A night like this everyone will be out.’
‘They all know we’re friends.’
‘I thought,’ he said, ‘we were rather more than that.’
He took her glass from her hand and led her into the house.
He was very quiet and almost painfully restrained. It was quite different from the last time. Then they’d had the house to themselves and they’d both acted like irresponsible teenagers. Every now and then he would ask, ‘Is this all right? Are you sure you’re OK with this?’ They stayed in the kitchen, and she drew the curtains, although this time of year nobody drew curtains in a living room. Anyone driving past would see Perez’s car and know just what they were up to. She knew he was thinking about Cassie, but wished he wasn’t quite so thoughtful. He should have been thinking about her, be so caught up in the delight of her that rational thought was impossible. Besides, the sheepskins she threw on to the floor from the sofa and the back of the rocking chair weren’t as soft as they looked. The bed would have been so much more comfortable.
Yet afterwards she thought this was as good as she’d known. How strange that is, she thought. How we play tricks with our minds.
She poured herself more wine and watched him dress. She wanted to tell him what she was feeling but sensed he wouldn’t be one for post-match analysis. Perhaps he was suddenly aware of her looking at him because he stopped, one leg in his trousers, stooped and gave her a grin.
She wished she had a camera, but knew that the image would stay with her for ever.
It was eleven o’clock. She pulled back the curtains. There was still enough light to see colour and she could make out the line of the horizon and the shape of Raven Head. A huge container ship on its way south. She made more coffee, though her mind was already more alert than it had been all day. She felt as if she’d just woken up.
‘Do you think Dawn hired someone to spoil the exhibition for us? It seems so elaborate. Not like her at all. She’s a down-to-earth Yorkshirewoman.’
‘I don’t know.’ Now he seemed reluctant to talk about work.
‘And even if she did, what has that to do with the murder? Are you saying Bella found out what was going on, strangled the man and strung him up to teach him a lesson? It’s ridiculous.’