I pull petals off the roses Gerry brought me. ‘My husband loves me, my husband loves me not,’ petals fall on the kitchen floor, ‘my husband loves me, my husband loves me not …’
‘Eve?’
I close my hand round the head of the rose and crush it. ‘My husband loves me not.’ I turn to face him.
‘What’s the matter? Has Mary been here again?’
‘Why would you think that?’
His face is one of studied concern. ‘You just seem angry.’
‘I’m not angry. I’m annoyed we’ve got ourselves into a position where the police are now circling.’
‘And you blame me for that?’
‘It was your idea.’
‘But you agreed.’
He’s right. I did. When Mary sent her latest creation, it felt different from the others. Like she was stepping up her attack. So we agreed it made sense to wrong-foot her by going public. ‘But I didn’t agree to the rest, did I?’ And that is the crux.
Gerry sits down. ‘I had a run-in with Bremer.’
I stare at him. This just keeps getting worse. He is pale and his hands are shaking. I soften. We are, after all, in this together and if we fight we’re doing Mary’s job for her.
I put the kettle on. ‘Or would you prefer a glass of wine?’
‘A beer would be good.’
I open the fridge and take out a bottle of wine and a beer. Popping the lid, I hand it to him before getting myself a glass and joining him at the table.
‘What happened?’
‘I went to see Carla and he told me to leave. I refused.’
I am lost for words.
‘He thinks you have something to do with Connor’s death.’
‘What? That’s absurd.’ I almost laugh.
‘Is it?’ Gerry’s eyes don’t leave my face, searching it for the answer he wants. I take a mouthful of wine.
‘I need a cigarette.’
‘No, please, Eve, answer the question.’
‘Are you seriously asking me if I murdered a man?’
‘Yes.’
I stand, grab my wine and pull open the kitchen door. Gerry follows me. After a couple of drags I’m able to reply.
‘Why do you think I killed a man, Gerry?’
He looks pained. ‘Because since Mary’s come back you’ve been distracted, distant, and I feel like you’re slipping away from me and I don’t know what to do about that.’
He’s right. I have been. But that’s to be expected. It was a shock to hear from her after all this time. It was Joanne’s fault, coming back and bringing Mary with her.
I take his hand and hold it up to my cheek, then kiss it. He smells of soap but tastes of salt after a hot day in the office. I kiss it again.
‘I’m sorry. You’re right. And we need to be together on this one or it’s going to go very wrong. But you can’t seriously think I would kill a man and then go and work the crime scene immediately after?’
Gerry shook his head. ‘No, of course not.’ I see him hesitate and I’m about to get angry when he says, ‘I think they know I called Joanne.’
I let go of his hand. I told him not to contact her. I told him no good would come of it and we needed to cut her out of our lives, not bring her into it.
‘The phone bills?’ I say.
‘Yes. They may have got Joanne’s call data and it would show up. Carla would recognise the number, I’m sure of it.’
‘But she hasn’t said anything to you?’
‘No.’
I relax a little. ‘Well, then. Carla would have told you. She adores you and your friendship would matter more to her. She’d definitely put you first.’ I take a couple of mouthfuls of wine and start to feel better. Maybe this is all going to work out OK. We just need to get rid of Mary first, then deal with Joanne afterwards.
I feel a laugh brewing at the absurdity of it all. Me chasing Mary, who’s chasing Eve, and Joanne chasing all of us. I think I may be drunk. I take another mouthful of wine just to make sure.
‘Anyway,’ I say, ‘the point is, Carla mustn’t know yet that you called Joanne, so what we need to concentrate on is getting rid of Mary.’ I can see he’s still hurt, but we don’t have time for nicey-niceness.
‘Eve,’ he says. I stub out my cigarette.
‘Yes.’
‘Do you think Mary killed Connor?’
And there we have it. He’s finally figured it out.
‘Yes. I do.’
‘Why did she kill him?’ The pain in his expression is almost unbearable.
‘I have no idea. Best you go and ask her that yourself.’