Nita had backed up to one of the sofas and sat down as if unaware of her actions. She was dressed, not in the yoga gear she’d worn the previous day, but in a fitted gray linen dress. The color did nothing for her sallow complexion, and as she sat, the dress rode up unflatteringly on her thighs.
The spoiled roses were gone, Gemma noticed, although the room still seemed stuffy even with yesterday’s drop in temperature. Once again she had to fight the urge to open a window.
“You can’t just go through my things,” Nita said, starting to rise again, then subsiding as she glanced at the constable. “What are they looking for?”
“Mrs. Cusick, it’s routine to search the domicile of a person who has been murdered,” Kerry told her. “It should have been done much sooner, but the circumstances of Reagan Keating’s death were a bit unusual. Why don’t I go make us some tea while we wait?” she added, as she and Gemma had prearranged. “I’m sure this won’t take long.”
“But I don’t—” began Nita, but Kerry had already left the room.
“I’m so sorry we have to put you through this, Nita,” said Gemma. “I’m sure it’s unnecessary.” She rolled her eyes in the direction Kerry had taken. “Regulations can be such a pain.”
Nita visibly relaxed, but the look she gave Gemma was still wary. “How did you know Jess wasn’t here?”
“Oh, we contacted his father. Routine with a missing child. He told us Jess was safe and sound and that he might be less upset away from reminders of Reagan for a few days.”
“He would say that.” Nita’s mouth tightened. “That—that nurse probably egged him on. I told him he was violating his custody agreement and that I’d be calling my solicitor.”
“I’m sure you want what’s best for your son,” Gemma said, going for soothing if noncommittal.
“Well, yes, of course. But his audition for the Royal Ballet is coming up, and his father has given him some silly idea that he should stay where he is.”
“That’s the London Boys Ballet School, isn’t it? Where Jess takes classes during the week? I thought it was quite good.”
“Quite good sums it up, I would say. It’s merely a stepping-stone to training with a world-famous company.”
“Oh? I’d thought of looking into it for my son.”
“Your boy is, what, seven?” Nita gave Toby and his future dance career a dismissive shrug. “I doubt it will matter much where you send him.”
Gemma forced a smile. “Jess has his heart set on the Royal Ballet, then?”
“Of course he does,” Nita said, frowning, as if Gemma had just uttered a blasphemy.
“Then it would be a terrible shame if anything—or anyone—was to stand in the way of Jess succeeding at the audition.”
“That’s what I told her—” Nita clamped her mouth shut, the wariness returning in full force.
“Do you mean Reagan?” Gemma asked. “Surely she agreed with you?”
“Of course she did. She understood how important this is for Jess.”
Gemma made an effort to keep her tone light, as if the question was of no importance. “So she would never have suggested that Jess do anything that might jeopardize his future in dance?”
“Of course not.”
“And you wouldn’t have minded her encouraging Jess to tell Henry Su’s parents that he’d taken Henry’s asthma inhaler on the day Henry died?”
For an instant, Nita Cusick’s face went completely blank, as if Gemma had spoken suddenly in a foreign tongue. Then her eyes opened wide with shock and the color drained from her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she whispered.
“I think you do,” Gemma said quietly. “Jess told Reagan that he’d picked up Henry’s inhaler on the day Henry died. Jess was fed up with Henry’s bullying, and decided it would serve Henry right if he got in trouble for losing the inhaler. He put it in his pocket and went home. He didn’t know that Henry would get himself stuck in the shed and panic.
“Jess wanted to tell the Sus. Reagan supported him, but told him he had to discuss it with you first. You, however, told him that telling his secret would ruin his life and his dance career, and that you’d take any steps to see that didn’t happen.”
“But you can’t know—that’s absurd. Jess would never—”
Gemma had no intention of admitting that Jess had told her. “We’ve recovered Reagan’s computer,” she said, as if that explained everything. They had, in fact, as it had been in Jess’s backpack and his father had brought it into the station that morning. Whether there was anything useful on it remained to be seen. It was password protected and Jess had not known the password.
“Reagan told Jess on Friday evening that she might be leaving your employ—she thought that forcing Jess to keep his secret would haunt him for the rest of his life. Quite an annoying stickler for honesty, that girl.” Gemma shook her head in mock dismay.
“Honesty?” Nita said with sudden venom. “She was a bloody self-righteous prig. How could she possibly know what was best for Jess? I’m his mother.”
Gemma nodded. “Of course you are. And I can understand that. I wouldn’t want someone else telling me what to do with my kids. Or someone telling me where my son should dance, after all my hard work and sacrifice to give him the best opportunity.”
“Jess has to dance for the Royal Ballet.” Tears trembled on Nita’s lower eyelids. “Otherwise it will have all been for nothing. All these years, all the things I’ve given up . . .”
It didn’t look to Gemma as if Nita had given up much at all, but she nodded and leaned forward, inviting more confidence. “You must have spoken to Reagan. Tried to talk her into staying. And to dropping any silly idea about Jess going to the Sus.”
“I—she went out. I never saw her again.”
“But you texted her, when she was out with her friends on Friday night. They told us you did. They also said she was very upset and didn’t want to talk to you.” Gemma had no problem with her invention.
“No, I didn’t text her. I’m sure I didn’t.” Nita’s body seemed to be curving in on itself, knees up, shoulders forward, in almost a fetal position. “I can’t think why she’d have said that. It’s not true.”
“But Reagan always told the truth. She was breaking up with her boyfriend because he was dishonest.”
“She didn’t tell me about Edward Miller,” Nita said in a flash of spite that drew back her lips. “That wasn’t honest.”
“She meant to,” Gemma said, soothing again. “I think she would have told you sooner, but when Jess told her about the inhaler it threw a spanner in the works. And she wanted to finalize breaking it off with Hugo Gold before she entered into any kind of relationship with Edward.”
“She was living in my house. Eating my food. Poisoning my child with her ideas.” Nita wiped at her mouth. “And then she—she seduced my client. Edward.”
For the first time it occurred to Gemma that Nita might have had designs on Edward Miller, had perhaps mistaken his friendly demeanor for something more.
“Behind your back,” she agreed. “Even more reason to be angry with her.”