Too Good to Be True (5 page)

‘I’m not entirely sure that she did kill herself,’ Perez said. ‘That’s why I’m here.’

‘An accident, you think?’

‘No, I don’t see how it could have been an accident.’ Perez found it hard to look at the man. ‘She’d had a bit to drink, but probably not so much that she’d
swallow that many pills by mistake.’

‘Someone killed her?’ The man was so shocked that the words came out as a shout. ‘Is that what you’re telling me?’

‘I’m saying it’s a possibility. I need to ask some questions. Personal questions, if that’s all right with you.’

‘You can ask,’ George said. ‘I’m not saying I’ll be able to answer. After Anna left home for university she had her own life.’

‘And a child?’

George nodded. ‘She was in her first year in Edinburgh. She came home one weekend and told us she was pregnant. I couldn’t take it in. We’d just been told that my wife had
dementia. Joan had always been so fit and she was only sixty. No age at all. We had our own problems and perhaps we couldn’t give Anna the support she needed.’

‘Did Anna tell you anything about Lucy’s father?’

‘No,’ George said. ‘She told us that she was going to keep the baby and raise it on her own. There was a crèche at the university. She’d manage things. I asked who
the father was, but she said he wouldn’t play any part in bringing up the child. It was clear she didn’t want to talk about it.’

‘Did you ever meet any of her friends? Women or men?’

George shook his head. ‘Anna hadn’t brought anyone here recently. It was difficult. Joan finds it hard to cope with anything outside her normal routine. And no one writes letters any
more, do they? So we didn’t get news that way. Anna would phone once a week from uni, but that was really to find out what her mother was doing. She was always chatty enough, but we never
knew what was going on in her life. Not the important things.’

Perez stared out of the narrow window into a bare, winter garden, and tried to make sense of this. ‘Does the name Tom King mean anything to you? He’s a doctor. I understand that he
might have been friendly with you and your wife.’

George looked puzzled. ‘Joan’s seen lots of doctors since she’s been ill, but none of them are called King.’

So why, Perez thought, did Doctor James Given think that King was close to Anna’s parents? None of it made sense.

George was speaking again. ‘Anna was so excited to get the job in Stonebridge. She came here specially to tell us and she brought Lucy with her. She’s always loved kids. We knew
she’d be a teacher when she grew up. She always loved the country too – we took her out walking in the hills from when she was very young – so I thought the little village school
would suit her. Recently I could tell things weren’t going so well, though. She made an effort to sound bright on the phone but she wasn’t herself.’

‘When did you last hear from her?’

‘Two days before she died.’ He paused. ‘I thought she sounded a bit better. She was talking about the future, about coming home to spend Christmas with her mother and me. I
thought perhaps she’d turned a corner.’ He smiled. ‘I wondered if there was a new man in her life.’

‘Did she give you a name?’

George shook his head sadly. ‘She was always one for secrets, our Anna. Maybe this is one she’s taken to her grave.’ He turned to Perez. ‘I’m glad you’re
looking into this, Inspector. It’s good that someone cares enough to search for the truth.’

In the living room, Joan Blackwell was still watching the cooking programme. As the old man showed him out of the house, Perez thought that he hadn’t gained anything new from his chat with
the dead woman’s father. It felt as if the drive to Berwick had been a waste of time and he was no closer to finding Anna’s killer.

He was nearly at the end of the path when George Blackwell called him back. ‘That new man in Anna’s life . . .’

Perez stopped sharply and turned back. ‘Yes?’

‘I think he must have been a Stonebridge man. Local, you know. During that last phone call she said she’d decided to stick it out in the village. She’d been thinking of
leaving, of finding a new job somewhere else because she wasn’t happy. But she told me she didn’t think she’d be moving after all because now she had something to keep her
there.’

It was mid-morning in Stonebridge when Jimmy Perez got back from Berwick, and the sun was shining on the gleaming snow. He felt as if he was returning to another world, though
Berwick was hardly more than an hour away. He saw this village as a place full of secrets where nothing was quite as it seemed.

On the drive back he’d been trying to piece together all he’d learned about Anna. He was convinced now that she hadn’t committed suicide. She was a kind woman who cared too
much about her daughter and her parents to leave them. And it seemed she’d been getting happier. She had passed the worst crisis of her depression.

But still there were too many unanswered questions for him to make up his mind what had happened to her. Who was the new man who’d become a part of her life? Perez had assumed that if
she’d been having an affair with a man in Stonebridge, then the lover had been Tom King. But perhaps she’d been seeing someone quite different. Perhaps the note arranging a meeting on
the night of her death had been for this other person.

Now Perez sat in his car outside the Stonebridge Hotel and considered what to do next. On impulse, he started the engine again and drove towards the farm where Gail lived. Gail was a local and a
gossip, and if anyone knew who Anna had been seeing, it would be the farmer. She would have heard any rumours.

Perez found Gail mending a hen house in the orchard by the side of the yard. She looked up when she saw him. ‘One of the planks is rotten. A bloody fox will get in if I don’t fix it.
Do you mind if we talk out here?’

‘That’s fine.’ He leaned against one of the trees. ‘It’s possible that Anna was having a relationship with someone other than Tom King. Had you heard anything about
that?’

She straightened her back. There was still a hammer in her hand and it made her look fierce, like a female warrior from the Norse tales he’d read as a boy. ‘No! Who was she
seeing?’

‘I was hoping that you might be able to tell me that.’

‘It must have been a married man,’ Gail said. ‘There’d be no need for secrecy if he was single. She’d have known that there were rumours about her and the doctor.
Being seen out with a single guy would have stopped them once and for all. That would have been a good thing as far as she was concerned.’

Perez hadn’t thought about it in that way, but he saw it made sense. ‘Any likely candidates?’ he asked.

Gail shrugged. ‘She was a bonny lass. It could have been anyone. It doesn’t take much to lead a man astray.’

Perez looked at her. She sounded bitter. He remembered that she’d only lost her husband a short time ago in a car crash. Perhaps he’d been the sort to find comfort elsewhere too.

Gail seemed to guess what Perez was thinking. ‘I was lucky with my husband. He was a good man, loyal to his family, but there are lots of bad ones out there.’ She gave a sad little
smile. ‘I met a few of them when I was younger.’

‘Tell me about your husband’s accident.’

She didn’t answer for a while. She’d finished mending the hen house now and started to gather up her tools into a canvas bag.

‘It was the start of the autumn,’ she said. ‘There were fallen leaves everywhere and then it started to rain, so the roads were very slippery. Much worse than ice. John skidded
on his way back to the farm after a night in the village. A witness says there was another car driving much too fast the other way, and that’s why John had to swerve. But that driver was
never found.’

‘That must be hard. Especially if people in the village are saying he’d been drinking and it was his own fault.’

Gail shrugged again. ‘I could let it eat away at me. All those “what ifs”. What if the other driver had been more careful? What if John had stayed home that night? But it does
no good. I have our daughter, Grace, to think about.’

Perez didn’t answer. He’d had a sudden, strange thought. He was wondering if Anna Blackwell had a car and if she’d been out the night of John’s accident. If Anna had
caused Gail’s husband’s death, that might provide a motive for murder. Then Perez decided he was being crazy. He couldn’t see Gail as a killer. And besides, she’d been at
the farm the whole night of Anna’s death, looking after two fatherless children.

He walked with Gail back towards the farmhouse, carrying the piece of rotten wood she’d replaced.

‘Will you find out what really happened?’ she asked.

This time it was his turn to shrug. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t got much time left. I have to go home to Shetland tomorrow.’

‘Perhaps that’s a good thing,’ Gail said. ‘Perhaps we should forget about Anna’s death and remember her life. That’s what I try to do with John. We should let
the dead rest in peace.’

Perez didn’t know what to say. He wanted to tell her that the love of his life had died not long before and so he understood how Gail was feeling. He had decided to let Fran rest in peace
too. But in the end he just nodded and got into his car.

As Perez pulled out of the farm track onto the road, he saw a dark figure standing in a lay-by, staring. Perez was sure it was the man who’d been watching his hotel the night before. He
slammed on the brakes and backed up the road to the lay-by, but the man had gone. It was as if he’d vanished into thin air. He must have run off into the trees. It made Perez wonder if his
mind had been playing tricks and if the watcher had ever been there at all.

Back in Stonebridge, Perez decided that the time had come to talk to Tom King. Sarah had told him not to, but he couldn’t see any way of reaching an end to the case
without speaking to the doctor. It was lunchtime – in the school playground the children were racing and shouting – and this might be a good moment to find Tom free.

He went into the health centre and gave his name to the woman behind the desk.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘Doctor King has just finished his surgery, so he’s not seeing any more patients. Is it urgent?’ The place was empty apart from the
receptionist.

‘I’m an old friend,’ Perez said. ‘Not a patient. Perhaps you could just tell Tom that I’m here.’

She looked at him over her glasses and then left through a door behind her. He could hear muttered voices, then Tom appeared.

‘Jimmy,’ he said. ‘What are you doing in this neck of the woods? Does Sarah know you’re in Stonebridge?’

Perez saw again how tired and tense the doctor looked. ‘I’m here because Sarah asked me to come. She thought you could both use my help.’

‘She didn’t say she’d been in touch with you,’ Tom said. He struggled to keep his voice pleasant, but Perez could sense the resentment.

‘We need to talk,’ Perez said quietly. ‘I think you can guess what this is all about.’

There was a pause, and for a long moment Jimmy thought Tom would refuse, but then he nodded. ‘Let’s go for a walk,’ he said at last. ‘I can’t think in here. I need
some fresh air.’

Tom led Perez down a footpath next to the river and under the stone bridge that had given its name to the village. Soon they were out in open farmland. Bare fields stretched on either side of
the water.

‘It’s about Anna Blackwell,’ Perez said. ‘How did you know her?’

Tom looked away and didn’t answer. They walked on in silence.

‘Were you lovers?’ Perez asked. ‘Are you the father of her child?’

‘
No!
’ Tom cried. He paused. ‘Is that what Sarah thinks?’

‘She’s worried and upset. I’m not sure that she knows
what
to think.’

Tom stopped suddenly and looked out over the water. It was so cold that his breath came in clouds. ‘I promised not to tell anyone. Not even Sarah.’

‘I have to find out what’s been going on,’ Perez said. ‘Anna didn’t commit suicide. I’m sure of that now. She was murdered. This isn’t a time for
secrets.’

Tom turned sharply towards Perez. ‘My secret has absolutely nothing to do with Anna’s death.’

‘I’m sorry. You’ll have to trust me on this. You have to tell me what you know.’

There was a moment of silence while they stared at each other. At last Tom set off again along the path and started talking. He looked ahead of him, not at Perez.

‘You’re right. I do know the name of Lucy’s father.’

‘Who is it?’

There was another pause. ‘My brother, Miles. He’s always had a taste for younger women. Anna was at university with his daughter and the girls became friends. Miles met Anna at a
party at his home in Edinburgh. They had a fling and she got pregnant. She refused to get rid of the child. Miles asked me to sort things out with her, make sure that she was OK and had somewhere
to live.’ Tom paused again. ‘I think he did care for her in his own way.’

‘But he was a high-profile MP?’ Perez said. ‘He didn’t want the fact that he’d fathered a child with a young student to be made public?’

‘Of course he didn’t.’ Tom sounded bitter. ‘He has hopes of a government job after the election. His wife’s a wealthy woman and he doesn’t want to upset her. I
had to promise to keep Anna’s child secret.’

‘But you tried to help her?’

‘Of course! I went to see her in Edinburgh to check she had everything she needed. She wouldn’t take money from Miles. Then she applied for a job at the school here, and I was happy
to let her rent the house I own in the village.’ Tom paused. ‘She was a great young woman, full of life and energy. I thought Miles had treated her badly and that she could use some
support. Perhaps you know that her parents have problems of their own.’

‘You let Lucy be taken into care,’ Perez said. ‘She’s your niece. How could you do that?’

Tom didn’t answer and Perez changed tack.

‘Sarah saw you together,’ he said. ‘It was in the health centre. You and Lucy looked so alike that Sarah assumed you were the girl’s father.’

Tom frowned. ‘So that’s why she started the petition to get Anna sacked from the school.’ He sounded shocked. ‘I didn’t realise. She tried to talk to me about Anna,
but I could only think about my promise to my brother.’ He stopped in his tracks again.