Astrid sat behind a desk in the police station. Evie was in another room somewhere, and Astrid hoped she’d stick to the story they’d agreed on as the cops rushed towards them in that alley. She saw Detective Hicks looking at her. She got up from the chair and went to him. His face was a blank canvas.
‘Does trouble find you so easily back in Britain?’
‘I saved Evie’s life. Where were the police when she was being harassed outside that hotel?’ Astrid let the irritation seep out of her.
‘We were too busy dealing with the fallout of her brother’s actions.’
‘Do you have proof he’s guilty?’
‘Why should I tell you anything?’
‘Because when I prove his innocence, I promise not to make you look like a fool in the media.’
You could cut the tension between them with a flick of a finger. She wondered what it would take for him to lose his cool. When Evie came through the door, she ignored him.
‘They’ve said I can see Adam. I need you to come with me, Astrid.’
‘I’m afraid it’s family only, Ms Church.’ Hicks didn’t appear to be afraid at all to Astrid.
‘When I left the Tranquil Waters Rest Home, I appointed Ms Snow as my guardian. She has the legal right to go with me wherever I want.’
She doubted the legality of Evie’s words, but Hicks’s face told her he wasn’t sure if it was true or not. And he didn’t look that bothered.
‘Okay. But there’ll be a uniformed officer with you at all times.’
Evie rolled her eyes and grabbed Astrid’s hand. ‘Whatever, Mr Policeman.’
A policewoman took them to see Adam. Astrid wondered why they hadn’t moved him to another facility and what had happened to his lawyer. She got the answer to the second question when they stepped into the room.
‘You have to leave,’ Adam told the officer. ‘This meeting is covered by the attorney-client privilege.’ The cop left without any complaint.
Astrid gave him a curious look. ‘You’re representing yourself?’
He grinned. ‘Sure. I don’t trust anyone else.’
He switched his gaze from her to Evie, his grin evaporating as he stared at his younger sister. After seven years, the two of them gazed at each other as if for the first time. Astrid couldn’t imagine what was going through their heads. Her relationship with her sister was complicated and conflicted, with issues between them that wouldn’t be resolved no matter what.
Evie broke the silence. ‘You need to tell us everything, Adam, if we’re to prove your innocence.’
He studied her before sitting at the table. ‘I didn’t do it.’
‘I know,’ Evie replied.
‘Why did you leave your home?’ Genuine sadness coursed through his words.
‘I wanted to help Astrid help you.’
He stared at Astrid. ‘I’m sorry for getting you involved in this, for getting you both involved.’
‘You’ve got Uncle George to thank for that.’ And how convenient he hadn’t texted her since she got there. ‘Why aren’t you using a professional lawyer?’
‘Which of them would believe I’m innocent with what the police have?’ The weight of defeat appeared to push him to the ground. Evie snatched at his fingers, shock evident on both their faces. Astrid guessed it was the first physical contact they’d had with each other in a long time. ‘Plus, I can see the prosecution’s case and the evidence against me.’ He smiled at her. ‘And then I get to pass it on to you.’
‘So, tell me what happened that night.’
He pulled his hands from Evie. ‘I got back late, just after midnight. There were things I had to put in the basement. When I went downstairs, I found the girls on the sofa.’
There were no emotions in his face or his words, only that simple, matter-of-fact description of discovering death where you live. She recognised it as detachment, understood it as the brain’s way of attempting to stay sane, of trying not to collapse under the reality of the horror it witnessed. She had one corner of her mind overflowing with such detachment. She needed to coax the details from him carefully, or that delicate balance may tip into insanity.
‘Where had you been that night?’
She observed him staring at her as if it was a question he’d avoided before. Lying to her would be no help to any of them. If he’d lied to the police, it would have been the first nail in his coffin. One of his shoulders dropped lower than the other, and he scratched at his chin.
‘I was at a party out of town.’ A nervous tic flicked across his face.
Astrid peered at him. ‘You must be more forthcoming if we’re going to help you.’ She watched as Evie tapped her fingers on the top of the table in a slow, monotonous rhythm. Was there a danger of resurrecting unwanted family history here? ‘You need to tell us what you said to the police.’
His nails dug into his flesh and drew a slight trickle of blood. ‘I can’t talk about this while Evie is here.’ He switched his attention from Astrid to his sister. ‘It’d be easier if you stepped outside.’
A sharp dagger of familiarity hit Astrid in the chest, memories of all those moments when Courtney rejected her. Evie’s face was impassive, but the tapping of her fingers increased, her skin and bones bouncing off the wood. She raised her fist and slammed it on to the table.
‘I know all about your so-called secret life, Adam. I’ve known for years. Did you think Mother and Father wouldn’t tell me all about it? They enjoyed blaming me for your deviant behaviour.’ Steam came out of her ears while her cheeks turned a fine pink. Then she calmed down just as quickly. ‘That was their word, not mine. I was happy if you were happy.’
Silence chilled the air after her outburst. Astrid was right next to her, but it felt as if she wasn’t there at that moment. She was content not to interfere, but didn’t feel awkward being there. This was something the siblings had to resolve before they could prove his innocence.
He reached a hand out for his sister, and she took it.
‘I’m sorry, Evie. Is this why you went into the home?’
She let out a nervous laugh. ‘Shady Acres? No, that was nothing to do with you, Brother. That’s a story for another day. Now, will you tell us what happened that night?’
He sighed and let go of her. He sank into the chair as if the weight of his life was drifting out of him. ‘There’s a weekly meet up of… of…’ he struggled to say the words in front of his sister, so Astrid said them for him.
‘Sexual fetishists.’
He nodded. ‘For want of a better term. I was returning from one of those meetings.’
Astrid’s mind had ticked over into investigation mode. ‘How are these meetings arranged?’
He allowed himself a tiny smile. ‘How most things are nowadays, through the internet. We have some, to put it politely, older people who swear the internet is the greatest thing ever invented. You should hear how they moan about how difficult it used to be in the old days.’
His face returned to its previous embarrassed appearance as if he’d remembered one of the women he was speaking to was his younger sister.
‘Did you tell the police this?’ Astrid said.
He nodded. ‘I did, but it won’t make any difference. Nobody ever gives their real names at the meetings, and the internet contacts change all the time.’
‘How long did it take you to return home?’ If they could at least place him on the road, with traffic cameras or witnesses, it might put a spanner in the prosecution case.
‘It was about two hours.’ He must have guessed where she wanted to go with the question. ‘But it was via a desolate road, and I don’t remember seeing any other vehicles.’
‘Have the police told you the time of death for the Glick sisters?’ Evie said.
His eyes narrowed as he spoke. ‘They said the girls were killed about an hour before I called it in. I’d been home maybe fifteen or twenty minutes.’
‘The killer was comfortable in your house.’ Astrid tried to build a profile in her head. ‘They also knew you’d be out and had access to your property.’
Evie turned to her. ‘How is all that possible?’
‘We’ll come back to that. First, we need to establish what relationship Adam had with the girls.’
It was his turn to slap his hand onto the table. ‘I’ve never had anything to do with them.’
His eyes were about to burst from his head. Evie found his fingers again to calm him down.
‘But you had seen them before that night?’ Astrid said.
Sadness replaced the anger in his face. ‘Yes, I’d see them playing in the woods which back on to my property. I’d smile and wave and they’d do the same. But that’s the closest I ever came to them. I never even knew their names until the police told me.’ His chest sank into the rest of his body as Astrid watched the burden push him into the chair. ‘They say I enticed them into the basement and then killed them when they refused to do what I wanted.’
None of them mentioned what that might be, but Astrid understood from scouring the internet that the less responsible media outlets were already publishing the most salacious theories. It wouldn’t be long before some of his S&M associates came crawling out of the woodwork with tales about the depravities of Adam Church. Then some people would connect the dots between his secret life and what happened to the Glick girls.
‘Who has access to your house, Adam?’
He appeared happy to talk about something else. ‘There’s only me with keys and the security code.’
‘You don’t have a cleaner or a friend with those?’
He shook his head. ‘No.’
Astrid watched Evie reach into her pocket, guessing she was about to pull out her key. Had he forgotten about that? She stopped Evie with a hand on her arm. ‘Do you have any enemies, Adam? Anyone who hates you so much, they’d do this?
He ran his fingers across his chin. ‘Well, I wouldn’t think so.’
‘Nobody from the fetish world or your work?’
He appeared to consider the question for a second. ‘You do get some strange personalities at the parties, some extreme people who like to hurt others, but I’ve never met anyone who went too far, and I can’t believe anybody at the meetings would commit murder. As far as my job is concerned, I deal with millions of dollars a day, and sometimes investors lose money they can’t afford, so I’m sure I’ve pissed off plenty of people over the years. But to do something like this, no, I can’t see it.’
Astrid had her doubts. She’d known people kill for far less.
There was a knock on the door, which told her time was up. She saw the fear freeze Evie into her chair and had to lift her out of it. Adam’s voice shook as he spoke to his sister.
‘Are you feeling better? Will you go back into the home?’
His words broke her from her reverie. ‘Yes and no, Brother.’ Determination steeled her words. ‘We’ll get you out of this, Adam, I promise.’
A uniformed officer and Detective Hicks entered. Astrid turned to Adam.
‘One last thing.’ His gaze met hers. ‘What’s your preference, sadism or masochism?’
All eyes were on him now, including the police’s. He didn’t hesitate with the answer.
‘I take after my father. I’m a sadist.’
Detective Hicks smiled at Astrid as he closed the door behind them.