Chapter 36
“I thought that was you,” Heather said, peering at him from the doorway. “What are you doing?”
“I . . .” He glanced up and down the street. He’d promised Emma he wouldn’t speak to Heather. He should leave and let Emma handle everything officially.
“I know you’ve been speaking to the neighbours,” Heather said testily. “I don’t know why you keep interfering. You’re causing more upset. If you’re worried you didn’t fix the banister properly, I already told you no one is blaming you.”
“It’s not that,” Jamie said. “Some things just don’t quite make sense.”
“Like what?”
Again, he glanced around. Emma would be here soon. He absolutely shouldn’t be talking to Heather.
“You told me you weren’t here that morning,” he said hesitantly, moving a little closer to her.
“I wasn’t. I got called to work.”
Jamie tilted his head. “The neighbour across the road has video footage of you arriving here. You were in the house for half an hour. I don’t know why you’re lying about that.”
Heather pressed a hand to her forehead, then dragged it through her hair. “I was here,” she said quietly.
“Why didn’t you say that before?”
She pressed her lips together. “Come inside and I’ll explain. I don’t want to discuss it on the street.”
“Is your dad here?” Jamie asked, following her into the living room.
“No. He’s out for a walk.” She gestured for Jamie to sit, but she remained standing by the fireplace, chewing on a nail.
“That whole morning is such a blur. My head’s all over the place.
I was here, but only briefly, and Mum was still in bed.
I arrived, spoke with my boss on the phone, and then went to fetch my car and go to work.
I left Mum asleep. I debated waking her, but she’d been much better recently and I thought she’d be fine getting up alone.
I thought the extra sleep would be good for her.
But ever since . . .” Her voice faltered.
“I keep wishing I hadn’t gone into work. That I’d stayed and looked after her.”
Jamie looked her right in the eyes. “I don’t believe you,” he said eventually.
“I don’t care if you believe me. It’s the truth.”
“I spoke to the manager at Fernleigh House,” Jamie told her, resting his elbow on the arm of the couch. “He explained how your dad was desperate for your mum to go there, but you were concerned about the price.”
“So?”
“I think you were worried your inheritance would get used up on the fees for the care home – so you made sure your mum would never go there.”
She stared at him, incredulous. “That’s a horrible thing to say! Why would you say something like that?”
“Because I think it’s true.”
Her shoulders slumped slightly. “The only reason I raised concerns about the price of Fernleigh House was because I thought Dad was being unrealistic. It was expensive, and when I went through their finances, I didn’t think it was viable.
I didn’t want Mum to get settled somewhere and have to move later, or for Dad to have to give up the house.
I was being realistic. It wasn’t about me. ”
“Maybe it’d be easier to believe you if you hadn’t spent the last week lying,” Jamie said.
“And I’d be quite happy if everything you’re saying is true.
But the police are going to look into this further.
You said you spoke to your boss on the phone the morning your mum died.
The police can verify that easily – with your phone records and by speaking to your boss.
If that’s a lie, it’ll come out, and then there’ll be more questions. ”
The colour drained from Heather’s cheeks as she sank onto the couch opposite Jamie. Tears filled her eyes, and her hands trembled before she clutched them together to hide it.
“What happened?” Jamie asked quietly. “I mean, I think I know. I think you came here and took out the screws I’d tightened, knowing the rail would give way and your mother would fall. What I don’t understand is – you really seem to care for your mum. Was that an act?”
“I didn’t do anything to the rail. I don’t know why the screws came loose again.
” Tears spilled down her cheeks as a sob escaped her.
“Marguerite was my stepmum, but she was more of a mother to me than my biological mother. I loved her. I’d never wish her any harm.
I’ve spent the last two years hoping she’d get better – but that clearly wasn’t going to happen. ”
“So what did you do?” he asked again.
She swiped at her tears, but more came. “I don’t know what happened,” she said through them.
“I honestly don’t. She was awake when I arrived, and I helped her get dressed.
Then she got angry, like she did sometimes.
It wasn’t her, it was the dementia. Alzheimer’s, whatever it was.
Dad was in denial about it. She’d get so angry and shout about nothing.
I was telling her to go slow, but she wouldn’t listen.
She went onto the landing, and I reached out to steady her.
I honestly don’t know what happened then.
” She wrung her hands in her lap and took a breath before she continued.
“I had a hand on her, but I didn’t push her.
She pulled away from me, and then the rail broke and she was falling.
I went down to her and she wasn’t breathing.
I should’ve called an ambulance – but I panicked.
She’d been saying strange things recently.
It was the dementia I think, but she kept saying I wanted her dead.
Not just to me – I’d heard her saying it to Dad and to Petra, the cleaner. ”
“She said it to me,” Jamie said.
Heather nodded sadly. “I thought that people might think it was true. So I just left. I left Mum alone. I went back to my car, and drove to work. And I waited for Dad to call – knowing that he would call, and what he would say.”
The guttural sob that echoed round the room didn’t come from Heather. Jamie whipped his head up to the door.
Mr Langford’s features were twisted in sorrow.
Beside him, Detective MacLeod glared at Jamie so fiercely that he shrank back into the seat.