CHAPTER 66

Sitting on her balcony, munching her usual breakfast of two slices of toast with strawberry jam, Barb admired the birds’ busy feeding routine, manoeuvring up and down the rail to peck at the seed she had just put out.

As she sipped her tea, she wondered if there was more that Seb hadn’t told her about what happened on Sal’s last night in Sydney. Could his disappointment at Sal’s rejection have bubbled over into anger? Could alcohol have disinhibited him to the extent that he had grabbed Sal, and perhaps more? Could it have been he who assaulted Sal, and had the shock and upset caused her to run away? It seemed so unlike the Seb she knew, though. On the other hand, she found it almost impossible to believe that Joe had spent years lying and stealing, or that Dennis had had an affair, and they had. People surprise you.

Back to work. She opened Joe’s phone, found Monica’s number and called her. No answer. Should she leave a message? But what? ‘Hi, we haven’t met, but I listened to the podcast interview you did with Joe about your murdered housemate, Sal, and I think a bit of your interview was cut, and wondered if you remember everything you said, because I think Joe was murdered.’ It would sound like the rantings of a mad woman. She hung up. She would ring again later.

Her phone pinged. Dennis.

Just got an electricity bill reminder, so letting you know. Hope all well

She read it three times. How was she supposed to reply? How was she supposed to feel? Being an accountant, he had always paid the bills, whilst she had taken care of shopping, gardening and fixing things. Since he had left, she had discovered that paying bills didn’t actually take long at all, once you got the hang of that online banking. You could even set it up so they paid themselves! He had definitely got the better of that deal.

She didn’t get many texts. She scrolled down and didn’t have to go far before she found Joe’s last one, sent the day he died.

Really enjoy working with you, despite the messy car. You should get an archaeologist in there. Who knows what they’d find? In fact maybe there’s one lost in there somewhere already!

Cheeky. Typical Joe. The first time he had been in her car, he’d said, ‘Your house isn’t like this.’

‘Well, the house doesn’t have wheels, for one,’ she’d replied.

‘I meant … your house is very tidy.’ He’d glanced sideways at her, perhaps nervous he had overstepped.

Barb had only been slightly offended. ‘My husband wasn’t a neat freak, but I just felt that keeping the house tidy was the right thing to do. But the car was mine, so I did what I wanted.’

He chuckled. ‘You were rebelling.’

Perhaps in her own quiet way, she had been. She opened the text from Dennis to reply.

Thank you

Polite, but neutral. Play it cool.

If she had been rebelling in letting her car get messy, she didn’t need to do it anymore. She grabbed a garbage bag and headed outside.