Left You Dead

14

Niall stood up, clearly rattled. ‘Right, this is the lounge — front parlour — drawing room—’ He assumed an exaggeratedly posh accent. ‘And this,’ he pointed through the archway at a smoked-glass dining table with four white suede chairs, ‘is the formal dining room.’

Next, they went into the kitchen. ‘Wow, this is nice — I’d love a kitchen like this!’ Little said.

‘It’s very nice but it sure wasn’t cheap,’ Niall said.

Alldridge eyed him with growing discomfort. Holly stopped and stared at the island unit, and then at the floor. ‘Blood?’ she asked, noticing the red blotches.

‘From the damn potato peeler,’ Niall replied. ‘You’re thinking I murdered her, aren’t you? I saw you looking at all the crime books and DVDs in the living room. If I’d murdered Eden, do you really think I’d leave bloodstains everywhere?’ He shook his head. ‘I’m not a complete idiot.’

Both police officers smiled. But there was no humour in their expressions. ‘Can we see upstairs?’ Holly Little asked.

‘Sure. Then after that I’ll give you a tour of the garden — sorry, the grounds — to see if you can find evidence of a freshly dug grave, eh?’ He half smiled.

They carried out their check of the house, then went out into the well-tended garden. The immaculately mowed lawn was lined on either side with a riot of colour. Flowers and shrubs, all weed-free. There was a potting shed and a little wooden summerhouse, both in good condition, sited attractively between two mature fir trees at the far end.

As they walked along, Holly Little observed, a little enviously, ‘Someone has green fingers, what a beautiful garden — all we have in our flat are window boxes.’

‘That’s me,’ Niall said proudly. ‘My hobby — passion. I do all the beds and Eden looks after the lawn.’

Little stopped to admire one dense plant that was chest-high, full of bright-red flowers that were in the shape of long, narrow brushes. Part of one side of it was missing — it looked like it had been broken away. ‘This is stunning!’

‘Callistemon citrinus,’ Niall said. ‘Or in English, a bottlebrush plant. One of my babies. Unfortunately, Eden got rather distracted the other evening when she was mowing the lawn — she said our new mower ran away with her — and she took a chunk out of it.’

‘Will it grow back?’ Alldridge asked.

‘If disease doesn’t set in.’

Both officers noticed the slight anger in his voice as he said it.

He led them out to the front to the bike storage unit and unlocked it. Alldridge and Little scanned inside. Other than a dark pool of dried oil on the floor, it was spotless, a Honda motorbike, a posh road bike and two paddleboards propped against one another.

They went back indoors and sat in the lounge again.

‘Can you think of any reason at all why your wife might not have come back to you in the car park of Tesco yesterday, sir?’ Holly Little asked.

‘No, none. None at all, it makes no sense.’

‘Do you or she have any enemies that you are aware of?’

‘Enemies?’ Niall looked genuinely surprised. ‘No, none — other than her mother.’ Then he quickly added, ‘Joke!’

‘Your mother-in-law?’ Alldridge probed. ‘Is there some animosity between you?’

‘Oh, plenty,’ Niall said with a tinge of bitterness. ‘She always felt her daughter could have done better.’

‘You’re sure your wife isn’t with her now?’ PC Little asked.

‘I told you, I’ve checked with everyone, including all the local hospitals. I’ve had three texts from her mother this morning asking if I have any news of her — want to see them?’

‘If you don’t mind.’

He showed the officers each of them, in turn.

‘Has your wife ever experienced any mental health issues?’ Alldridge asked.

‘Other than she must have been mad to marry me?’ Niall said with a grin that fell from his face as fast as his comment fell flat. ‘No.’

‘All right,’ Little said. ‘I’m afraid this is a bit of a difficult question: is there any possibility Eden could have a lover — someone she might have run off with, perhaps even abroad?’

There was a long silence before he answered. Both officers watched him intently. ‘I don’t think so, no. To be honest, she’s never been like that. Mind games are more her thing.’

‘What do you mean by mind games?’ Alldridge asked.

Niall pointed at the chessboard, then, after a moment’s thought, raised an arm towards the bookshelves. ‘She loves puzzling things out. That’s why she likes detective novels and crime dramas. She’s always trying to get ahead of the detectives in them — and mostly does.’

‘OK,’ Holly Little said, and gave her partner a subtle nod for confirmation. ‘I think we’ve covered everything for now, sir.’ She gave Niall Paternoster her card, on which she had written her mobile number. ‘I’d appreciate your calling me, any time, if you hear from Eden or if there are any other developments. What we would like to take with us is a recent photograph of her that we can circulate.’

‘Sure,’ he said. ‘I’ll find something.’ He jumped up again and went out of the room. The two officers exchanged a glance. But Little signalled her colleague not to say anything and walked through into the kitchen, followed by Alldridge. She pointed down at the skirting board and he nodded, picking up on it, also. It looked a good deal cleaner than the ones elsewhere in the house, and there was a faint whiff of bleach. The floor around it looked very freshly cleaned, too.

Paternoster returned with a photograph of Eden standing in front of a Christmas tree, champagne glass in her hand. ‘This is a really good one,’ he said, handing it to Little. Then, his voice slightly choked, he pleaded, ‘Please find her.’

‘Nice-looking lady,’ she said.

Eden was wearing a short emerald dress, her centre-parted brown hair, elegantly cut, fell just short of her shoulders, and, like Niall, she had perfect teeth.

‘She is,’ Niall said. ‘She’s beautiful, she’s the love of my life.’

‘But this was taken at Christmas?’ Alldridge questioned. ‘Don’t you have anything more recent?’

‘Well, yes, but I particularly like this one.’

‘It would be helpful to have something more up to date, sir,’ Alldridge pressed.

‘OK, right.’ Niall tapped his phone and studied it for some moments, flicking his finger. Then he looked up with a broad smile. ‘Stupid me! I took a great one of her yesterday at Parham House.’ He handed the phone to the PC.

Both officers studied the photograph of the attractive woman, brown hair pinned up, in a pink top and white shorts, with a lake in soft focus behind her.

‘If we could take the one of your wife in front of the Christmas tree and if you could email us this one — to the address on the card I gave you — right away—’

‘Yes, yes, of course. Please, please find her for me,’ he repeated plaintively.

As he walked them to the front door, Holly Little said very formally, ‘We’ll do everything we can. And be sure to call me if she comes home or if you hear from her.’

‘Of course.’

Suddenly, Alldridge bent down and said to him, almost conspiratorially, ‘Black Queen’s Knight to King’s Pawn three.’ He tapped the side of his nose. ‘Don’t let on I told you.’

As soon as he had closed the door on the officers, Niall hurried back into the lounge before he forgot what the tall copper had said.

Queen’s Knight to King’s Pawn three.

He feigned the move. Shit, it was one he had not spotted! The copper was right. Eden had totally missed it! If he made the move, she’d be in check. The only choices she’d be left with would be losing her King — game over — or her Queen — pretty much game over, too.

He looked forward to seeing her face when she came home and finally, for the first time in countless games, he would win.

Checkmate!