‘A toast,’ Ben said, raising the thin flute, ‘to a happy marriage.’
Alice clinked her glass against his. The bubbles tickled her upper lip as she sipped the champagne. ‘A girl could get used to this,’ she said, playing along, even though the image of her ring on another woman’s finger continued to taunt her.
‘I can think of no place I’d rather be,’ Ben replied, ‘than with my stunning wife on such a beautiful day. If I had my way, we’d both quit our jobs and dine like this every day.’
Alice casually glanced around the fine décor of the small French restaurant he’d brought her to. They were the only couple in there now, and had only been given a table on the promise that they wouldn’t have starters or puddings and would eat quickly. Despite the watchful eye of the maître d’, it was a welcoming environment, and gentle harmonies played on surround speakers.
‘I don’t think we’d survive for long if neither of us had a job,’ Alice cautioned.
‘I don’t know,’ he mused, ‘I could sell the business. That ought to be enough to keep us dining for a few years at least.’
He wasn’t being serious, which is why she didn’t bother to point out that she actually enjoyed being a teacher, and so giving it up wasn’t an option, at least, not yet.
‘I brought you here for two reasons,’ Ben continued, lowering his glass and reaching out for her hand. ‘Are you ready for some great news?’
She nodded.
‘Well, I heard from that DC Hazelton today. Do you remember her? The woman who collected my clothes on Sunday?’
Alice’s pulse quickened. Had Hazelton told him that she’d seen Alice in Bournemouth this morning?
‘Well, the great news is, they found none of that girl’s DNA on my clothes. I’m in the clear! I mean, I always knew I would be, but it’s nice to hear the police finally confirm it.’
Alice was relieved to hear the news; a small victory for common sense over her cynical imagination.
‘That’s wonderful, Ben! What does that mean for us in terms of their constant intrusions?’
He frowned. ‘My solicitor is handling all of that. She said I’ve now been shelved as a person of interest in the inquiry, that they would hold onto my clothes for the time being, but that they would be returned in due course. She also said I’ll be getting my passport back. I was buzzing when she called.’
Alice allowed herself a moment to process the news. If they’d ruled Ben out of the investigation then that had to mean he couldn’t have killed Kerry. But that didn’t necessarily rule out any of the others.
‘Did she mention if they have any other leads?’ Alice asked as casually as she could manage.
‘She didn’t say, and to be honest, I couldn’t care less. I know that sounds like a terrible thing to say, but I’ve been doing a lot of hard thinking since yesterday, and you were right. I shouldn’t be blaming myself for what happened. I didn’t make some jerk attack her, and it wasn’t even my idea to have her at the bar, so it’s about time I gave myself a break. Right?’
Alice nodded, even though she wasn’t sure the entire group could be let off so easily.
‘Who do you think killed her then?’ she asked.
Ben frowned. ‘How would I know?’
Her mind returned to the list of suspects she’d found scrawled yesterday. ‘So you don’t think it was someone else from the stag party?’
His expression changed to one of surprised anger. ‘No! Why would I?’
Alice bit her lip. ‘I found the list you and Dave drew up on Sunday night.’
‘List? What list …?’ His face changed as the memory returned. ‘That? We were drunk and just spitballing ideas. It’s nonsense. When did you see it?’
‘I came into the living room first thing yesterday to tidy up and saw it then.’
His face softened. ‘Is that what’s been bothering you the last couple of days? I knew something wasn’t quite right. You’ve been … I don’t know, distant? I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was, but now I know. Forget about that list. We ripped it up when we woke up. We both realized how ridiculous it was to think that one of our friends could have snuck away and gone after her with nobody noticing.’
‘I overheard the two of you talking, too, on Sunday night. You were talking about Scott and some trouble he got you into in Malia.’
Ben was smirking now. ‘So you leapt to the conclusion that he – or one of the rest of us – could be responsible for killing that girl? Babe, seriously, do you realize how crazy that sounds?’
She didn’t like that he was laughing at her. ‘What do you expect when you keep secrets from me?’ she scowled.
‘Secrets? What secrets?’ he fired back evenly.
‘The fight in Greece, the trip to Bournemouth, the striptease Kerry gave you, the fact that the police had your DNA on record … need I go on?’
He looked at her quizzically. ‘Just then you referred to the victim by her first name.’
‘And?’
‘And, it’s just a weird thing to do.’
‘Don’t change the subject, Ben. And there’s another secret we haven’t talked about – how long did you know Johnny had been beating Faye?’
The look of guilt in his eyes told her everything she needed to know.
‘He told me he lashed out at her a few months ago. He was in shock when he told me. Said he’d never dreamed he’d ever be the type of guy to strike his wife and felt horrible afterwards. That’s why he suggested they go and see a marriage counsellor. It only happened that one time, as far as I know.’
‘Honestly? Because she told me it’s happened several times, and that he did it again on Sunday. Can you, hand on heart, say that he was with you guys all night in Bournemouth?’
‘You think Johnny killed that girl?’ He snorted with derision. ‘No way! I’ve known him for years.’
‘If you’d seen Faye’s face on Sunday, I don’t think you’d be saying that.’
‘I’m not condoning his behaviour. Abuse in a relationship is unacceptable, but the victim wasn’t beaten to death – she was stabbed. Multiple times from what I was told at interview. Besides, Johnny was with us all night.’
‘How can you be sure? What if he snuck off while you were tied to that lamppost?’
‘Dave told me he was with him all night.’
The maître d’ was looking over at their raised voices, but made no effort to interfere.
Alice leaned closer and whispered loudly. ‘I heard Dave on the phone telling someone he’d cajoled the rest of the group into telling the police a different version of events.’
Ben snorted again. ‘What? Now I know you’re winding me up.’
‘I’m serious, Ben. When you dropped me home after lunch yesterday he was still at our place, and he was acting suspiciously. He definitely said they’d lied to the police.’
He squeezed her hand tighter. ‘Babe, I know I didn’t lie to the police. Are you sure you know what you heard? Who was he talking to?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘So how do you know it was anything to do with what happened in Bournemouth?’
She couldn’t remember the exact words she’d overheard, but she was sure he’d mentioned Bournemouth. Hadn’t he? Or had she put words in his mouth based on her own assumptions?
She wanted to reply, to convince him she wasn’t putting two and two together and getting three, but the words wouldn’t form coherently in her mind.
‘Listen,’ Ben continued. ‘I realize you’ve been under a huge amount of stress. What with the wedding and all this other shit that’s come up since. I really think the two of us should go and book somewhere last minute and just fly out of here, put all this behind us.’
‘What about your passport?’
‘I told you, that’ll be back with me soon enough. My solicitor said she just had to complete the paperwork and then they’d drop it round. I think we should go to a travel agents as soon as we’ve finished our lunch. We’ll find somewhere tropical, all-inclusive, and then just relax. I know it won’t be Barbados, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still have a great time. You can choose the destination, and a swanky hotel. We could be sipping cocktails on a beach this time tomorrow. What do you say? I think it’s what we both need.’
She frowned at him. It sounded wonderful, and there was probably some truth in the idea that they should do whatever was necessary to put this nightmare behind them, but she couldn’t help feeling she’d be somehow abandoning Kerry and Finn.
‘Did you manage to get a refund from the insurance company?’ she asked.
He shook his head in disappointment. ‘They said that wrongful arrest isn’t covered within the terms and conditions of the policy. I told them that was bullshit as it wasn’t our fault we couldn’t fly on Sunday night, but they said even if the police wrote to them and explained that they’d made a mistake, it wouldn’t be enough. My solicitor reckons our best chance is petitioning the police to pay compensation to cover what we lost. There are no guarantees, but we’ll see.’
‘So how do you propose we pay for a last-minute break?’
‘We have savings, let’s just use them. We can save more in the future, but right now I want to take you away from all of this. I can see the stress and worry is affecting you and that needs to stop. Okay?’
She was about to reply when she spotted a pair of familiar eyes staring at them from the main door to the restaurant.