She didn’t look well. Her amber eyes had lost their light and the pale creamy skin of her face seemed as if it had been drawn tight over the bones beneath it.
His voice even softer, Kane said, ‘Sit down a moment before we go through to the dining room. I want to talk to you.’
When Sadie didn’t leave the room but moved close to the sofa where Kane had drawn her, Sophy stiffened. She wanted to say, ‘Whatever you’re about to tell me, I don’t want to hear it,’ but instead she sat down and didn’t remove her cold hands from Kane’s warm ones when he seated himself beside her.
‘The Inspector called a short while ago.’ Kane waited for a response and when none was forthcoming, added, ‘He had some news about Toby.’ He felt her fingers jerk slightly as he said the name. Otherwise she could have been cast in stone.
‘I’m sorry, Sophy,’ he said gently. ‘They’ve found his body. It seems he must have been set upon the same night as the incident here.’ And then, in case she didn’t understand in her present state, he added, ‘He’s dead.’
Sophy’s gaze moved from his face to Sadie’s and then back again. She knew they were waiting for a reaction. Tears, perhaps – he had been her husband, after all. Or maybe anger. Through the numbness which blanketed her mind, she said, ‘I see. Where was he found?’
‘In an alley. The police are sure he’s been there all this time while they’ve been looking for him.’ He didn’t add that the Inspector had remarked that the body would be there still, but for the smell which had become overpowering.
Sophy tried to think what she should ask. ‘Do they know who was responsible?’
Kane shook his head. ‘The Inspector said they’ll do everything they can, but reading between the lines I don’t think he is particularly hopeful of tracing the perpetrators.’
Again she said, ‘I see.’
‘I’m meeting the Inspector later.’ The body had to be formally identified but the Inspector had told him it was a grisly sight for even the strongest stomach, and they had agreed Sophy shouldn’t be put through such an ordeal. The police had found an outstanding account from Toby’s club in one of the jacket pockets, along with a couple of other papers that confirmed who the victim was. There was also an initialled signet ring. ‘At the police morgue,’ he added when Sophy’s brows wrinkled.
‘Oh, yes, of course. But shouldn’t it be me?’
‘That’s not necessary. It’s merely a formality.’
For the first time there was a touch of animation in her voice when she said, ‘I can’t put upon you like that, it’s not fair.’ First Cat and now Toby; he shouldn’t have to do both identifications.
‘Nonsense, what are friends for?’ And when she opened her mouth to object again, he said, ‘It’s all arranged and you’ll have enough to do over the next little while.’
He meant the funeral. Another funeral, another coffin being lowered into the ground. And people would expect her to play the heartbroken widow. ‘I hate him, Kane.’ She hadn’t meant to say it, it had just popped out. But now she repeated it. ‘I hate him.’
‘Oh, ma’am, you don’t really—’
Kane cut off Sadie’s voice. ‘That is understandable and perfectly natural in the circumstances,’ he said quietly.
‘Perhaps, but it’s not right, is it?’ Sophy stood up, walking over to the window and standing looking out with her back to the room. ‘It frightens me how much I hate him, if I let myself think about it. I’ve wished him dead the last few days, not once but many times.’
‘Again, no one would blame you for that.’
She turned to look at him then. ‘Oh, but they would. When someone dies they acquire sainthood. Isn’t that how it works? But he was a weak, vicious and cruel man and I don’t intend to pretend a grief I don’t feel. It will offend people.’
‘Not me.’
A glimmer of a smile touched her pale lips. ‘No, not you.’
Sadie was finding this conversation difficult to deal with. Toby Shawe had been a devil, that much was for sure, and this last act of his in sending those men to the house had been wickedness itself, but to speak ill of the dead in this way was asking for trouble. She cleared her throat. ‘I’ll go and bring the things to the dining room, it’s all ready.’
‘Thank you, Sadie.’ Once Sadie had left the room, Sophy looked at Kane. ‘That’s the first person I’ve offended.’
‘Don’t worry about it.’