46

As they waited on the doorstep, Geraldine wondered what it would be like to pursue a career where her arrival was actually welcomed by members of the public, someone delivering parcels perhaps, or pizza. It was increasingly rare for anyone to be pleased to see her outside their front door.

‘Do you think anyone’s in?’ Ian asked, looking around impatiently.

‘No one’s ever in a hurry to open the door to us,’ she replied.

‘That’s because we’re mostly bringing bad news.’

‘Or because everyone has a guilty conscience.’

‘Speak for yourself.’

She smiled. ‘I’d open the door to a police officer any day.’

As she was speaking, the front door opened.

‘Edward Abbott?’ Ian greeted the man who was frowning at them from the doorway.

‘Who wants to know?’

Catching sight of Geraldine, he broke off abruptly and pressed his lips together.

‘Edward, we’d like a word with you,’ Ian went on.

‘It’s Eddy, not Edward. My name’s Eddy. So, what’s the problem?’ He swayed slightly as he spoke, his speech slurred.

‘Shall we go inside?’

Muttering under his breath, Eddy led them into a small hallway. The threadbare carpet was cluttered with shoes and junk mail.

‘What do you want?’

‘Shall we go in and sit down?’ Geraldine asked gently.

‘No. You can talk to me here. What do you want?’ he repeated, leaning unsteadily against the wall.

‘It’s about your stepmother.’

‘My stepmother? What’s she done?’

‘I’m afraid she’s dead.’

Eddy’s expression was a combination of surprise and shock which appeared genuine.

‘So the house… and everything…’ he stammered, and paused, taking in what he had just heard. ‘You’re saying she’s dead?’

‘I’m afraid so,’ Ian replied.

‘I didn’t know she was – what was wrong with her? What happened?’

‘Wouldn’t you like to sit down?’ Geraldine said gently. ‘This must be a shock.’

Eddy glared at her. ‘No I wouldn’t like to sit down. I’m fine here. And how I feel about the death of my mother is none of your fucking business. She wasn’t my mother, she was my stepmother. You know what? A man’s entitled to his own private thoughts, isn’t he?’ They let him continue with his rambling monologue, his voice rising in frustration. ‘What is this? You think you can police people’s thoughts now? And you think all mothers are so wonderful? If you must know, I did my best to help her after my father died. I did everything she asked me to do, but I never got any thanks for it.’ He scowled and waved his hands in the air while he was speaking, as though to emphasise his points. ‘She was always tightfisted, and she made no effort to be nice to Luciana. My stepmother only knows one person – only knew one person, I should say. So no, you might not like it that I’m not feeling particularly upset right now, but I can tell you, there’s no reason why I should give a damn about her now she’s dead, any more than she gave a damn about me while she was alive.’ His face twisted into a smile. ‘So I’m the heir to my father’s estate now? You can look as disapproving as you like, but you can’t tell me you wouldn’t be pleased if you suddenly came into a load of money. It’s money I’m entitled to, and she kept it from me.’

‘Sit down,’ Ian said quietly, steering Eddy through the door into the living room.

For an instant it looked as though Eddy might be considering squaring up to Ian, but the detective towered over him, waiting until he sat down abruptly, muttering, ‘I want you to leave.’

Geraldine and Ian exchanged a glance.

‘The thing is, your mother didn’t die of natural causes,’ she said softly.

Eddy scowled at her. ‘What difference does it make how she died? She’s dead, isn’t she?’

Geraldine repeated what she had said.

‘What’s your point? You came here to tell me she’s dead, which means her house belongs to me now. And now I want to be left alone. I’ve got a lot to think about.’

‘You’d better come with us,’ Ian said heavily. ‘There are a few questions we need to ask you.’

Eddy’s expression altered. All at once he looked frightened, as he finally grasped the implications of his mother’s death.

‘No! What do you want with me? Just get out and leave me alone.’

‘Come along now,’ Ian said. ‘You’ll only make things more difficult for yourself if you resist.’

‘I told you to bugger off and leave me alone. I’ve not been arrested. You can’t make me go anywhere. Now get lost.’

‘If you had nothing to do with your mother’s death, there’s no reason why you would refuse to help us,’ Geraldine pointed out. ‘Surely you want to help us find out what happened to her?’

‘What did happen to her?’

Geraldine hesitated.

‘She was attacked and killed by a dog,’ Ian replied shortly.

‘A dog? Bloody hell. What sort of a dog?’

‘A dog big enough to kill a grown woman. Do you know anyone who owns a dog like that?’

Eddy looked startled. ‘No. You’ve got my mother confused with someone else. She never even had a dog.’

‘What about you?’

‘What about me? I haven’t got a dog, if that’s what you mean. I never had a dog. My wife isn’t keen on them.’ He paused for a moment, frowning. ‘Aren’t you supposed to do a formal identification? How can you be sure it’s her?’

When Ian explained that his stepmother’s body had been identified through her dental records, Eddy shook his head.

‘You met her, didn’t you?’ he asked Geraldine, turning to her. ‘Why didn’t you recognise her? What’s the deal with her dental records? What’s going on?’

Reminding herself that Eddy had a strong motive to murder his stepmother, Geraldine batted his question away. She couldn’t afford to feel sorry for him at this stage in the investigation. True, he had just lost his stepmother, but it was looking as though he had murdered her himself.

‘Come along,’ Ian said. ‘Let’s go along to the police station.’

‘No way.’

‘We can talk more easily there.’

‘We can talk here,’ Eddy replied doggedly. ‘I’m not going to the police station. You’ll have to arrest me first.’

Without any evidence to suggest he was a suspect, they couldn’t insist on Eddy accompanying them to the police station. Eddy’s face was sweaty and very pale. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve and gave a worried smile.

‘Go on then,’ he said. ‘What happened to her?’

Ian answered him with another question. ‘We’d like to know where you were yesterday evening.’

‘What?’ Eddy asked. ‘Why yesterday evening? Is that when it happened?’

‘Your stepmother was attacked by a dog,’ Ian repeated. ‘We need to work out where it happened, and why, and we need your cooperation so we can make sure whoever’s responsible is apprehended.’

‘Yes, you find out what happened,’ Eddy responded, with growing agitation. ‘This is my mother you’re talking about. You’ve come here to tell me she’s been killed and I want to know who did for her!’

‘That’s what we’re trying to find out,’ Geraldine said. ‘Now, perhaps you’d like to start cooperating. So, where were you yesterday evening?’

He hesitated. ‘I was here.’

‘Can anyone corroborate that?’ Ian asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Was anyone else here at home with you yesterday evening between around seven and nine?’

‘I was here with my wife all evening, from about half past five. She’d tell you that herself only she’s not here, but she’ll be home in about an hour if you’d like to come back and speak to her.’

Eddy appeared to have sobered up and now seemed to want to be helpful. Geraldine wondered how genuine his alibi was, but in the meantime they couldn’t sit around for an hour waiting for his wife to return. Once they were back in the car, Geraldine traced Luciana’s mobile number and called it but there was no reply so they decided to go straight to Luciana’s place of work. They were keen to speak to her before she saw Eddy.

‘You don’t think he’ll get to her first, do you?’

Ian shook his head. ‘She’s probably not answering her phone because she’s still at work. I can’t see how he could have spoken to her yet, but there’s nothing we can do about it if he has. Find out where she works and we’ll go straight there.’