Picture You Dead

78

Monday, 4 November

It was 7 p.m. when Daniel Hegarty, meticulously applying fake saleroom markings to the rear of the Lowry painting, was distracted by Rocky and Rambo going crazy with excitement and running upstairs. Moments later he heard his wife’s voice.

‘Good boys, good boys! Has your daddy fed you or has he forgotten again?’

With a twinge of guilt, Hegarty realized he’d been so absorbed in his work he’d clean forgotten the dogs liked to eat at 6 p.m.

‘He’s a right bastard, isn’t he?’

‘I heard that!’ Hegarty retorted as she came down into the living room.

‘Have you fed them?’ she asked, walking over and kissing him. She looked drawn and pale, which was not surprising. She had gone to work to help her deal with what had happened and try to get things back to some sort of normal.

‘I was just about to!’ he fibbed.

‘Of course you were,’ she retorted, with only the faintest hint of sarcasm.

‘How did it go?’ he asked.

She shook her head as she pulled off her gloves and bobble hat then shrugged out of her coat. ‘It was a good thing that I went in. Two hours on the phone, but I think I saved someone’s life. He was seventy-three and had lived with his mother all his life. She did everything for him, cooking, making his bed, and probably wiped his bottom, too. She died two months ago, and he decided he didn’t want to go on living without her. But before he topped himself, he wanted my advice on who he should leave her estate to, which was signed over to him. A jerk of a distant cousin, their only living relative, or charity. I think I convinced him to go and enjoy himself, maybe take a world cruise, and think about leaving the money to charity when he died.’

‘Good thinking.’

‘So did you call the police?’ she asked.

He hesitated before replying. ‘No.’

Natalie rounded on him. ‘What? A bunch of thugs invade our home, threaten us both, we’re only saved by the presence of the window cleaners, and you haven’t called the police?’

‘Let me finish,’ he said. ‘I was about to, when two police officers turned up.’

‘And you told them what happened? What did they say – what did they do? Are they going to arrest those bastards?’

‘I need to explain something to you, darling,’ Hegarty said.

‘I’m listening,’ she replied. ‘It had better be good.’

‘It’s good. You’re going to like it.’

When he had finished telling her, Natalie shook her head. She didn’t like it. She did not like it one bit.