48

Their route took them into the centre of town where Ian dropped Geraldine off. They had agreed a female detective on her own might invite confidence, and the more low-key the encounter remained, the more likely Luciana was to speak freely. By the time Geraldine walked up the hill and reached the bridal shop where Luciana worked, it was nearly closing time. She went inside and looked around. A skinny girl with highlights in her hair was standing behind a pale pink counter, surrounded by rails of long white dresses. All around her Geraldine saw white and cream lace, organza and tulle, satin shoes, and wreaths of silk flowers. With a faint pang she remembered Celia’s wedding, an extravagant affair where Geraldine had been obliged to wear a frilly dress designed for a much younger woman.

‘Can I help you, Madam?’

‘I’m looking for Luciana. Is she here?’

The girl nodded. ‘One moment.’

She disappeared, and a moment later she returned with Luciana in tow. Eddy’s wife frowned when she saw Geraldine.

‘Yes? I’m sorry, is there a problem?’ She glanced at her colleague and gave a slight nod, as though to say she would deal with this customer.

Geraldine took a step closer to Luciana. ‘I’d like to ask you a couple of questions.’

‘What about?’

There was little point in trying to pretend this was a casual enquiry, so she launched straight in and asked where Luciana had been on Friday evening. Without any hesitation, Luciana replied that she had gone home after work on Friday, as she usually did.

‘Not that it’s any business of yours,’ she added with a sour expression.

Geraldine pressed on, ignoring Luciana’s scowl. ‘And what time did you get home?’

Luciana shrugged one shoulder. ‘About half past five, I suppose. I didn’t make a note of the time.’

‘Were you at home alone, or can someone confirm what you just told me?’

‘Why do you want to know?’

‘Please, just answer the question. Was anyone else there at home with you from half past five? Can anyone confirm that?’

Luciana’s expression altered very slightly. The sardonic smile that had been playing around her lips vanished, and her expression grew wary.

‘You want to know if anyone can vouch for me?’ she said, sounding indignant. ‘Why? What do you want to know that for? Why is that any of your business?’

Her colleague glanced up and looked away again. All at once, Geraldine felt so tired she could scarcely be bothered to listen to Luciana’s indignant posturing.

‘You got home about half past five?’

‘Yes. That’s what I just said.’

‘And then what?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘It was Friday evening. Did you go out?’

Luciana shook her head. ‘I was at home all night.’

‘Were you on your own?’

‘I spent the night in bed with my husband, actually. Do you want me to give you graphic details about what we did?’

Geraldine ignored the sneer. ‘Did your husband go out at all? Popping out to the shops, or –’

‘No, he didn’t go out anywhere. Neither of us left the house. I told you, we were at home all evening from sometime before six when we both got home from work. I can’t remember who was home first,’ she added quickly. ‘Sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s him gets in first. Like I said, I didn’t make a note of everything that happened that evening. Why would I?’

‘So you were both at home all evening?’

‘I just said so, didn’t I? Do you want me to say it again? I was at home, all night, with my husband.’

There was no point in prolonging the encounter so Geraldine went home and wrote up her notes. It all seemed conclusive, but the following morning Ian called to tell her that Eileen had sent a car to bring Eddy into the police station for questioning. As she had been to see Luciana, Eileen wanted Geraldine to be present when Eddy was questioned. She sighed as she listened to this latest development, but it wasn’t her place to question her senior investigating officer’s decision.

Walking along the corridor behind Ian, she noticed his broad shoulders looked slightly stooped. She had already observed that he had developed a slight paunch since his wife had left him, although in other respects he had scarcely changed since she had first met him as an eager young sergeant. His blond hair was as thick as ever, and his face was barely lined. Only a melancholy expression in his eyes betrayed how much he had altered from the young man she had once known, who had lived and worked with such enthusiasm. He still had as much energy as before, but he wasn’t the same.

‘Here goes,’ he muttered as they entered the room and sat down side by side.

His smile was so strained, she wanted to reach out and reassure him that everything was going to be all right. Telling herself that he was tense only on account of the pending interview, she turned to face the two men who had just entered the room and were taking their seats. Eddy shuffled and fidgeted in his chair, while a grey-haired solicitor sat motionless at his side as Ian read out the obligatory preamble to the interview. It went on for a long time. Geraldine studied Eddy who squirmed under her steady gaze. At last Ian finished.

‘So, Eddy,’ Ian said pleasantly, ‘let’s go through this once more.’

He waited but Eddy didn’t say anything.

‘Where were you on Friday evening?’

‘I told you, I was at home with my wife.’

‘What time exactly did she come home?’

Eddy looked uncomfortable. ‘I can’t say,’ he admitted. He glanced at his solicitor who gave an almost imperceptible nod. ‘I was having a kip,’ Eddy added.

‘Having a kip? Hadn’t you just come home from work yourself?’ Ian consulted his notes. ‘According to your boss, you left the builders’ merchants at five and you boarded your bus at five fifteen, arriving at the top of your road at five forty.’

Eddy looked startled. ‘How the hell do you know that?’

‘So you must have fallen asleep pretty promptly because your wife told us she arrived home sometime before six.’

‘I was tired.’

‘It’s not an offence to fall asleep in one’s own home,’ the solicitor pointed out in a low voice.

‘True, but it sounds like the kind of thing someone might say when trying to fudge the truth,’ Ian replied.

The solicitor laughed. ‘Can you remember exactly what time your wife arrived home two days ago?’

Although Ian’s face remained impassive, Eddy gave a sly smile, as though he sensed that his lawyer had somehow managed to rile the police inspector.

‘What happened then?’ Ian asked.

‘None of your fucking business,’ Eddy replied. He turned to his lawyer. ‘I don’t have to tell him what I do with my wife in my own house, do I?’ He looked straight at Ian with a curious grin. ‘Or are you one of those perverts that likes to spy on other people?’

‘You still haven’t told us what you and your wife did once she came home on Friday evening.’

‘Well,’ Eddy replied, leaning back comfortably in his chair as though he felt unassailable, ‘we stayed in all evening, just the two of us. Ask Luciana. She’ll tell you. It was a good evening.’ He grinned.

Ian continued to question him for a while, but far from crumbling under the pressure, Eddy appeared to be enjoying himself. There was nothing to be gained from keeping him any longer. Ian was fuming, but they were powerless. All they could do was keep him in for one night to allow Geraldine time to speak to Luciana again knowing her husband wouldn’t be present. But there didn’t seem to be much hope that she would change her story backing his alibi.

‘It’s so frustrating,’ Ian said, ‘knowing he’s guilty but still scratching around for proof.’

‘We know that how?’

He looked at her in surprise. ‘Now he gets to inherit the lot, doesn’t he? Think about it, he killed his father for his inheritance. His stepmother took it all, so he got rid of her too. Who else stood to gain from these deaths?’

Geraldine held back from criticising him for jumping to conclusions. Instead she asked about the dog.

‘So he got hold of a dog from somewhere,’ Ian replied. ‘It’s not so difficult to get hold of a dog, is it?’

‘Well, we haven’t been able to find it.’

Ian grunted. ‘Keep looking.’