‘How did you get in?’ I finally asked her.
‘You left the front door open.’ She looked at me as if I’d asked her the daftest question in the world, but she used a caring tone, like a parent who had caught their child doing something stupid. I kept hearing that voice in my head, saying, Don’t trust her.
‘Why didn’t you call out when you came inside? I didn’t know who you were.’
When she gave me a hug, I pulled back from her.
‘I didn’t want to startle you,’ she said. ‘I know how engrossed you get in your work, but when I saw the front door open, I thought …’
‘You thought what?’ I bit hard on my lip.
‘Nothing – I didn’t mean to startle you.’
‘You were supposed to call later.’ I could hear the increased tension in my voice. I realised I was trying to compose myself, to appear normal, even though I sensed something wasn’t right. It wasn’t just the words I had read in the diary, it was the way she kept staring at me. She seemed different, but I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why. While she yammered on, I began thinking about who had written the note. Someone had gained access to my diary. I thought again about Lori walking around downstairs. Had she been looking for something? You don’t trust her, do you? Before we went downstairs, standing behind her, I thought, one decent push, and she would topple.
‘I’m sorry I gave you a fright,’ she said, as if answering my doubts.
The image of pushing her down the stairs frightened me. She hadn’t done anything wrong. I was the one who had left the front door open. It was when we were in the kitchen that she mentioned Alice, and how she had been bothered by the way she’d behaved a couple of nights back. ‘It could be nothing,’ she said, in an offhand way, ‘but it’s been playing on my mind. I didn’t want to alarm you. I know how sensitive you are right now.’
‘Sensitive?’ I repeated, like a parrot.
‘When you mentioned Edgar using a dating agency, I felt Alice was purposely holding something back.’
‘What?’
‘I wasn’t sure if you knew.’
‘Knew what?’
‘She’s used a dating agency, and for all I know, she still does.’
I sensed she was gauging my reaction. Did she think Alice was the other woman? Cassie4Casanova?
‘I know we all go back a long way, Sandra, but I’ve never really trusted Alice, not completely. I’ve always had the sense that she was holding something back, being far too guarded.’
I saw the words in my diary again – YOU’RE A FOOL. Had Alice written them?
‘I think you need to be careful, Sandra.’
‘Of who?’
‘Alice, of course.’
‘I don’t understand.’ As I listened to her, I noticed her demeanour, how self-assured she was, as if she had a sense of power, of control.
‘Have you never thought,’ she asked, a tinge of dramatic desperation in her voice, ‘that Alice could be the other woman?’
INCIDENT ROOM, HARCOURT STREET STATION, SPECIAL DETECTIVE UNIT
KATE HAD BEEN to many incident-room briefings, and today, awaiting the arrival of the main players in the crammed room at Harcourt Street’s Special Detective Unit, the assembled crowd wasn’t dissimilar to those she had previously experienced, forging an atmosphere of tension, adrenalin and commitment.
Having finished her interim report that morning, she still had reservations about many aspects of the case. She thought about Charlie again, overhearing her conversation with Declan. It was as if the child had his own inbuilt radar, sensing when something was wrong. After talking to his dad, he hadn’t wanted to go to school, delaying getting ready, unable to find his homework copy, unwilling to put his lunch box in his schoolbag or get dressed or tie his shoelaces. And once more, she thought, simply getting him safely to school had felt like achieving a minor miracle. Now, standing among the police officers in the room, keeping herself to herself, she considered the prospect of going to Paris.
Going away for a couple of days was certainly a possibility. Her workload at Ocean House could be managed. She hadn’t been away from Charlie for so long; maybe a break was exactly what they needed. She would have to have Declan on board, but as far as Charlie was concerned, he would probably agree. It might mean him rejigging things at work, but he was the other parent, after all. Undoubtedly he would bring up the signing of the separation papers again, but what the hell was she waiting for? Everyone, including herself, knew it was over between them.
She checked her watch. The meeting was running ten minutes late, but a shuffling among the waiting crowd told her the top brass were on the way, and within seconds, Chief Superintendent Egan brushed past her with a face like stone. Mark Lynch couldn’t have looked more delighted with himself, nodding to all and sundry as if they had been waiting for him and him alone. Adam O’Connor was the last to enter the room, and the only one to stop in front of her.