(2011) Only the Innocent

by Rachel Abbott

  Tom recognised the bargaining power of a daughter let down by her father, but looked to Laura for confirmation.

  ‘Alexa?’ he asked.

  Laura nodded.

  ‘Did you know that he’d cancelled their weekend?’

  Laura shrugged.

  ‘I had no idea. As you heard, I was expecting her to be here.’

  As Tom pressed the button for the next message, he realised that Laura had apparently lost interest, and had turned her back to the room, looking out at the cold and dreary October weather.

  ‘Sir Hugo? It’s Peter Gregson. I apologise for calling you at home; I know I’m not supposed to. The thing is, it’s Danika. You know, Danika Bojin? She’s gone missing. She told me early last week that she was going to try to get hold of you. There was something that she wanted to talk to you about, but she wouldn’t tell me what. She said that she should really just talk to you. And then she disappeared. She’s been gone for a few days now, and we’re quite worried. Can you give me a call, please? Something has obviously upset her.’

  Mr Gregson left his number and hung up.

  Tom felt a thrill of excitement, and turned towards Laura who still had her back to the room.

  ‘Laura?’

  Without turning round, Laura answered quietly, ‘That will be one of the rescue girls. I’m sorry, I really don’t know anything about them. You’ll have to check with the office.’

  Tom made a note of the number. Could this be the missing ex-prostitute they were hypothesising about this morning? The timing was perfect, and as soon as he was finished here, he would get somebody to follow this up.

  He pressed the play button for the final message, but was not prepared for the explosion of sound that came from the other end.

  ‘Hugo, you bastard. I’ve received the letter from your lawyers explaining the trick you pulled. You are such a mean bastard, and don’t think I don’t know how to get back at you. You bought my silence once, but the price has just gone up. And if you dare threaten to cut me out of your will again, I’ll make sure you’re dead before you get past the front gate. And don’t think that I wouldn’t do it, because I most certainly would. Bastard.’ The phone was slammed down.

  In no doubt whatsoever that this was Hugo’s ex-wife, Tom looked up at Laura. Still with her back to him, she spoke quietly.

  ‘I’m sorry, but would you excuse me. I don’t feel very well.’

  CHAPTER 12

  ‘Shit, shit, shit!’

  Laura paced around the room, her hands on her head. Imogen just stood by the door, as if on guard.

  ‘I should have realised. I should have known. Christ - I am so stupid.’

  ‘Calm down, Laura, and keep your voice down or they’ll hear you. This is not your fault. You couldn’t do anything then, and it’s too late to do anything now.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid, Imo. I didn’t do enough, did I? I tried. God knows I tried. But it was like screaming in the wind. The sound is whipped away from you almost before it leaves your lips, and nobody hears no matter how hard you try. I just thought that now…’

  ‘Yes, I know what you thought, but clearly you were wrong. Look, you did what you could.’

  ‘And if I don’t tell them? What then? What else am I going to have to live with for the rest of my life?’

  Laura sat down heavily on the edge of the bed. What a mess.

  ‘What, exactly, do you think you can tell them?’ Imogen persisted. ‘You don’t know anything. Wasn’t that what our little adventure was supposed to be about? And in view of what’s happened since, I can only assume that you still don’t know anything - so what precisely are you going to say?’

  ‘I don’t know. But my conscience tells me that I must do something.’

  Imogen went over to the bed and knelt down, grasping Laura’s hands.

  ‘Look - Hugo’s dead. Sorry, but that’s a fact. He’s dead. Nothing you say or do can possibly make any difference. And what about Alexa? I thought you wanted to protect her?’

  ‘Of course I do. But I need to think. Logic says that nothing that I say or do now can make any difference. What’s done is done. But emotionally I feel an obligation to people other than myself. Oh, Imo. If only you knew it all. I should have told you everything at the start. I’m so very, very sorry.’

  *

  After five minutes, Imogen was glad to see that Laura had calmed down. Thank God she’d been here, she thought. Otherwise the shit really would have hit the fan. She wished with all her heart that Will was here too, although in all honesty she didn’t know what he would make of the situation.

  A gentle knock came on Laura’s bedroom door, where she had dragged Imogen after hearing the unexpected message. Imogen got up to answer it, and found Becky standing outside.

  ‘How is she?’ she asked, clearly quite concerned.

  ‘She’s okay now. The last twenty-four hours have been quite difficult. I think it just hits her in waves from time to time.’

  Becky looked apologetic. ‘I’m really sorry, but we have to ask her some more questions, and they’re quite sensitive ones.’

  Laura called from behind Imogen. ‘It’s okay Becky, I’m all right now. Let’s just get it done.’

  Laura appeared at the bedroom door, and simply nodded her head towards the top of the stairs.

  ‘I’d like Imogen to be with me, if that’s possible,’ she requested. ‘I was feeling all right, but I’m a bit wobbly now so the support would be helpful, if that’s okay.’

  ‘I’m sure that will be fine. Is there anything that I can get you before we start again?’

  Laura paused as if something had suddenly occurred to her.

  ‘I don’t need anything, thank you Becky, but I do need to make sure that Alexa is okay. Imogen, before you join us, do you think you could track Hannah down please? She must be back from her walk by now, and I think she should persuade Alexa to have a bath or a shower after that sleep, and then perhaps she can go and watch a DVD in the sitting room. Tell her I’ll be with her as soon as I can. I really need to spend some more time with her.’

  She turned towards Becky.

  ‘Are you likely to want to talk to Alexa? I forgot to mention that she turned up here earlier.’

  ‘I don’t think so at the moment. But it would be useful to know if her dad called her back on Saturday, and if he did, whether he told her he was meeting anybody or why he cancelled the weekend. Perhaps I could go with Mrs Kennedy, and you could go and talk to Tom in the drawing room?’

  Imogen didn’t really like the thought of them being separated. She had no idea what Laura might say. She needed to sort Alexa and Hannah out as quickly as possible.

  *

  Tom looked up as Laura came back in, and he was pleased to see she was looking a little less pale.

  ‘Thank you for letting us listen to all the messages, Laura. I’m sorry if the call with your husband’s former wife upset you, though. She did sound more than a little angry. I’ll be following it up with her as soon as we’ve finished here. For the record, do you think that the previous Lady Fletcher could have been involved in any way in your husband’s death?’

  ‘I really don’t know the answer to that. She was certainly very demanding, and tended to use Alexa as a bargaining tool, but whether she would kill him or not, I honestly can’t say.’

  Tom got the strong feeling that she was evading the question in some way, but he let it lie.

  ‘When we were in the study, we found your husband’s desk diary. We know that he also had one in his office. Do you know how these were updated?’

  ‘He used to bring his desk diary home once a week from the office, and update the one here. Rosie wanted him to have an electronic solution, but he liked leather desk diaries - the bigger the better. There had to be one here so that I would know where he was. That wouldn’t have worked if he’d kept everything on a Blackberry.’

  ‘We have his office diary. Do you mind if we take this one too, so that we can corr
elate them both?’

  Laura nodded her agreement.

  ‘One other housekeeping task - we understand he had a mobile phone, but nobody can find it. Do you have any idea where it might be?’

  ‘He always had it with him. Perhaps he lost it,’ Laura shrugged.

  Tom privately wondered why, if Hugo always had his mobile phone with him, Laura had chosen to call him on the landline and leave a message. But Imogen and Becky chose that moment to rejoin them. Tom was a little disappointed. He thought that Laura might be more open in a one to one situation, but even if he sent Becky off on some task, he felt sure that Imogen wasn’t going anywhere.

  ‘Tom, Alexa says her father didn’t call her back on Saturday, so she can’t help.’

  Tom nodded, and gave the slightest inclination of his head. This was Becky’s cue to pick up the questioning.

  ‘The next part of this conversation may be difficult for you, Laura. Tom’s told you that we believe the murderer was a woman, and that his death might have been sexually motived. What we didn’t tell you is that your husband was found in a pose that suggested a sexual act was either about to take place, or had already taken place. We need to know if you believe your husband was having an affair, even if you don’t know who with?’

  Tom had been watching Laura as Becky spoke. Although they had asked about other women before, never had it been made so clear that Hugo was actually caught with his trousers down. Or off, in his case. But Laura didn’t seem to feel anything. Even if the fact of his infidelity didn’t have the power to hurt her, he would have expected there to be some anger at the humiliation of it all.

  ‘I’m sorry. I honestly don’t know if Hugo was having an affair.’

  ‘I can imagine how you’re feeling,’ Becky said. ‘But if you even had the slightest suspicion, it would be really helpful to us.’

  Laura looked as if she was gritting her teeth to prepare herself for what she had to say next.

  ‘I’m sure you’re both aware that I spent a considerable amount of time over the last few years in a care home. Hugo managed to keep it quiet from pretty much everybody until somebody grabbed a lucky photo, but on one occasion I was there for nearly two years. Perhaps during that time, Hugo found himself another woman. Who could blame him?’

  Becky’s face was a picture of barely suppressed indignation that Laura should find this understandable.

  ‘Can I ask you whether you noticed any change in his behaviour towards you? Most women believe that they know when their husbands are having affairs,’

  On the other hand, Tom thought ruefully, most men don’t have the first sodding clue.

  Before Laura could answer, Imogen jumped in.

  ‘I’m sorry, but that’s a really stupid question. She was mostly drugged up to the eyeballs, and could barely comprehend who she was talking to - so how she would have recognised any change in bloody Hugo, I just don’t know.’

  Tom looked thoughtfully at Imogen.

  ‘And how, exactly, do you know she was drugged up to the eyeballs, Mrs Kennedy, if you never saw her?’

  Unexpectedly, the answer came from the doorway.

  ‘She knows, because I told her.’

  A tall, well-built woman in her mid sixties stood just inside the drawing room, wearing a smart pair of black trousers and a short camel coloured coat.

  Tom watched with interest as Imogen jumped off her chair and went to give the newcomer a hug. Guessing that this was Laura’s mother, he noted that contrary to his conversation with Imogen earlier, clearly not all members of the family had been forced to take sides in the matter of the divorce.

  Laura merely looked up at her mother from where she sat, and gave her a watery smile.

  ‘Thanks for coming, Mum, but you really didn’t need to.’

  Laura’s mother moved to stand by her daughter’s chair and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze, and dropped a light kiss on her head.

  ‘Laura, love, of course I needed to come. I’m just glad that I hadn’t already left to stay with Will. How are you coping?’

  Tom intercepted a glance between Imogen and Laura’s mother. Imogen just shook her head, and Laura didn’t respond. He stood up and held out his hand.

  ‘Detective Chief Inspector Tom Douglas, and my colleague is Detective Sergeant Becky Robinson. I’m leading the investigation into your son-in-law’s murder. I’m sorry that we have to meet in such difficult circumstances.’

  Pulling off a leather glove, Stella grasped his hand firmly.

  ‘I’m Stella Kennedy. I’m sorry for appearing unannounced, but Alexa saw me arrive from the window and let me in. Poor kid, she’s in a bit of a state.’

  Laura spoke again. ‘We really weren’t expecting you so soon, Mum. It’s only about three hours since you spoke to Imo. How did you get here so quickly?’

  Stella looked quite pleased with herself.

  ‘I might be collecting my pension now, but your brother’s insisted on dragging me kicking and screaming into the twenty first century by buying me a mobile phone. When I called earlier I was speaking from the train.’

  ‘Then you must be ready for a cup of tea,’ Imogen said. ‘Take the weight off your feet, and I’ll go and sort it out.’

  Tom was beginning to wonder whether he was going to be able to get this interview back on track without being rude, when Stella saved him the trouble.

  ‘Actually, I’m ready for something to eat too. There was no buffet on the train - something to do with it being a Sunday. If it’s okay with Laura I’ll go and make myself a sandwich. I’ve been sitting down for hours, and it’s probably best if you stay here while the police finish with their questions. I’ll make up a batch in case anybody else gets hungry. Do you mind if I go and help myself, Laura?’

  Tom looked keenly at Laura as she responded to her mother. He could have done without this interruption, and it all seemed to be getting a bit much for Laura. And he’d lost his thread.

  As Stella left the room, Tom glanced at Becky and he could see that she immediately understood him.

  ‘I’ll go and help; make myself useful,’ she offered.

  Tom focused back on the two women in front of him. Imogen had now taken a seat beside Laura, and they seemed to be drawing strength from each other as they almost imperceptibly touched hands briefly.

  ‘I think we’ve established that you weren’t aware if your husband was, in fact, having an affair. I would like you to think about it, though, and let us know if you come up with any names of women he could have been seeing, should he have been of that frame of mind.’

  He paused for a moment, considering his next words and how to phrase them.

  ‘Just briefly getting back to the diaries, Laura. We haven’t had a chance to correlate them in detail yet, but when Becky was talking to Rosie this morning, she told us that Hugo had a few dates with the letters LMF pencilled in. We can’t find any record of these initials in the home version of this diary. Can you shed any light on this?’

  Laura spoke with what sounded like mild exasperation.

  ‘Tom, I really didn’t study my husband’s diary too much - only if I wanted to get hold of him. I had to check the diary to see if it was possible to interrupt him or not.’

  ‘What do you mean, ‘interrupt him’?’

  ‘If he was at an event and staying away overnight, he preferred it if I didn’t contact him. Too much of a distraction, he said.’

  ‘What, not even at three in the morning, if you’d wanted to speak to him.’

  Laura gave a small smile that didn’t in any way signify amusement.

  ‘If I had phoned my husband at any time after midnight he would not have been amused.’

  ‘So do you have any idea at all what the initials LMF could stand for?’ Tom asked again.

  Laura looked him straight in the eye.

  ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t have the first clue.’

  Tom felt certain that she was telling the truth. He was equally sure that these initials
were not new to her.

  *

  Becky was having rather more luck at getting information out of Stella Kennedy in the kitchen, although interesting as it was, only time would tell if it was useful.

  ‘Mrs Kennedy, I know this must be a very difficult time for you, but it really helps us if we can get some decent background on a murder victim, so anything you can tell us about Hugo would be extremely valuable.’

  ‘Do call me Stella. I’m not much of a one for standing on ceremony. To tell you the truth, though, it’s really not such a difficult time for me, although I can see it is for Laura.’ Stella paused and wrinkled her nose in a look of slight distaste.

  ‘I may as well be up front about this because it won’t take you long to work it out for yourself. I didn’t like Hugo. From the moment I met him at their wedding, I didn’t think he was right for her.’

  Stella pulled a loaf of bread towards her and started to slice it.

  ‘Did Laura realise that you didn’t like him?’

  ‘Unfortunately I made the serious mistake of telling her what I thought, and I probably damaged my relationship with her irreparably. I could see from early on that something wasn’t right, but my probing simply made her clam up. I tried again after they’d been married for a couple of years. She’d changed so much, it was breaking my heart. I thought I could use my own experiences as a way in, by talking about my marriage to her father.’

  Stella’s head was down, focusing on the bread, but Becky could hear from her tone of voice that she was very sad about all of this.

  ‘Laura knew about her father’s infidelities,’ Stella continued. ‘It was no great secret. But she didn’t realise that I’d lost all respect for him. I thought telling her about my own unhappiness would make it easier for her to tell me about hers, but that was a mistake too. Children deserve to think that their parents have been happy, I suppose. I created a barrier which I’ve never managed to completely break down.’