I’d gone out to empty the bins that evening when I saw the jeep navigating the drive to the house. My heart leapt uncomfortably in my chest. It was late, the night broken by the small lights set into the low walls that surrounded the front drive, flaring out over the gravel to give the effect of miniature monastic cloisters. The car headlamps swept across. Patsy was on the front seat. She barked as the car came to a halt.
I didn’t say a word. Craig stepped from the jeep and waited for the dog to jump out. I opened the front door, moving around to block them from coming in. Craig looked down at me, his eyes narrowing. He’d recently shaved and in the evening chill he smelt of soap, fresh pine and wood smoke. I wanted to reach up and touch his jaw, to kiss him, but I held back, blocking his further movement into the hall.
‘Caro, can I come in? We need to talk.’
To my fragile mind, he sounded distant, business-like. The last time we’d met, we’d been lovers, and now we were strangers.
‘Where have you been? I haven’t seen or heard from you for almost a week!’
It came out from nowhere, the last thing I wanted to say.
‘Caro … let me in. I’ve missed you. Please, I’m so sorry. I’ll try to explain.’ His voice was deep and husky.
Was that supposed to convince me? Like hell. But I stepped aside and let him pass.
‘We need to talk, Caro.’ He took my hand. His touch sent a warm pulse firing up my arm. ‘Can we sit down?’
I bit my lip. I’d been so wrapped up in my own thoughts all day with everything that I’d learned that I’d almost forgotten about Craig. And Angus. Craig was anxious, I could see it in his eyes. You have to learn to trust, a voice said in my head, to have any relationship you have to learn to trust …
We went into the sitting room. I snapped on the lights and perched on the arm of the sofa whilst he sat down on a chair. I thought he looked tired, his face a little older and his skin a little grey.
‘I take it you know about my business with Angus McCready?’ he said.
I nodded, not sure that I did but it seemed the right way to encourage him to talk.
‘Mary Beth told me she’d mentioned it to you. She’s already got a soft spot for you, Caro.’
I didn’t reply.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t come round after you found him at the quarry.’ Craig eyed me carefully. ‘Or ring. It must have been awful for you. It’s just … well, it’s been difficult. I wanted to, but I couldn’t.’
‘Why not?’
He looked at me, his demeanour different.
‘How are you, Caro?’
I was furious – he’d ignored me. What was going on? This was crap and he knew it. What could have stopped him? Weren’t we together? Didn’t I matter to him? He’d come to me after Carsington. Why not now? God knows I’d needed him over these last few days.
He sighed.
‘Angus and I worked together. He took over his father’s building firm when he retired. The business did well. I ended up working for Angus several times, as I did for his father, we became friends. Then he bought some land on the edge of Derby. He had this plan for a small estate of high-end new builds. They needed a quality finish. But he’d overstretched himself financially. He asked me to do the kitchens and I agreed. I should have known better but I hadn’t realised how far in debt he was. I did three kitchens for him then stopped because he wouldn’t pay me for any of them, not even my materials. He wasn’t happy after I refused to do another. One minute he was Mr Nice Guy, the next, Mr Nasty. It wasn’t like him and I knew he was under a whole heap of pressure. We argued on the night of the Wassail. He’d been trying to persuade me to work for him again and I said no, not until I was paid. That’s why I kept you waiting in the car, he rang me and insisted we have it out.’
This bit I knew. It wasn’t a conversation to have in public.
‘He got physical and hit me.’ There was a pause. Craig’s hand lifted up to his nose, touching the top as if he was remembering. ‘Someone must have seen us, or maybe Angus told a friend afterwards that I’d punched him, but anyway, after his body was found, the police called me in. They’re not convinced his fall was an accident. They’ve had me in for questioning several times.’
He raked his hand through his hair. I watched the way it sprang up again, longing to reach out and smooth it.
‘God, it’s been awful. You feel like you’re guilty even when you’re not! I didn’t kill him, Caro. I have no reason to. Now he’s dead, his creditors will all be clamouring. I won’t see a penny of that money he owed me. It was over twenty thousand pounds.’
He shook his head.
‘That’s a big dent in my finances. But I don’t have an alibi and the police won’t let it go. I’m sorry, Caro, that’s why I didn’t come to you, or ring you. I was worried they might think I was trying to influence you or that we were connected in some way. Since it was you who found the body, they might even have thought that you were somehow involved. I was trying to protect you. But I couldn’t stay away from you any longer.’
He was apologising – for not staying away from me. I slid off the sofa arm and sat properly on the cushions, facing him.
‘But that’s crazy. And if you didn’t do it, they won’t be able to prove a thing.’
‘No, but they’ll try. They want answers.’
‘Why do they even think his death was suspicious? How can they be sure it wasn’t an accident, or suicide?’ I swallowed.
‘Well, firstly, they found bruising on his face. I did punch him, you see, that night. After he hit me. And secondly, they found evidence of Elizabeth’s car in the car park.’
‘What!’
Craig had lowered his head, pulling his long legs in towards his chair.
‘There are time-lapse cameras by the wind turbines apparently and one of them caught pictures of her car parked up by the fence. They must have tracked the ownership down via the number plate.’
‘How can Elizabeth’s car have been there?’ I said. ‘I mean, I haven’t seen her car since I got here.’
But I’d found paperwork for it, service receipts. It had been on my list to ring the garage, but I hadn’t got around to it yet. You couldn’t live out in the country without a car and there was nothing parked up in the outbuildings; the car had to be somewhere, stranded perhaps.
‘What’s the car got to do with you?’ I said.
‘Elizabeth asked me to take a look at it for her, the day before she died. It wasn’t starting right and I said I’d charge up the battery. It was in my garage for a while, after the funeral. I didn’t know what to do with it. Then it got stolen.’
‘Stolen?’ I asked, my voice rising.
‘Yeah, it went missing one night.’
‘You never once mentioned a car to me. Why? And how do you expect the police to believe a story like that? Is that what you told them?’
‘Yes, no. Not exactly. They were more interested in my business with Angus. What else could I do? It wasn’t me! And I know I should have told you about the car, after we met, but I’ve been so distracted by what was going on with Angus that it just wasn’t on my radar.’
And now the car had turned up at the hilltop car park where McCready’s body had been found. And someone had reported Craig for hitting Angus. You could hardly blame the police for asking questions.
I searched his eyes, looking for some sense of the truth. I thought it was evident in the lines across his forehead, his eyes hungrily chasing after mine. Our eyes met. This time I couldn’t resist. I didn’t want to wait any longer. I stood up and stepped towards him. He met me half way, his hands dropping around my waist.
‘Caro …’ He nuzzled my cheek. ‘Your si—’
I moved my head and kissed him. I wasn’t listening. Whatever he was about to say was no longer important.