Chapter 42
Thomas Clarke was passed out on the couch. An empty vodka bottle lay on its side on the carpet beside an overturned glass.
The front door was unlocked and they had walked straight in, having received no reply to their ringing of the doorbell or knocking.
‘Thomas?’ Lottie shook him. ‘Wake up.’
He opened one eye. She gagged at the stench of stale alcohol but recovered quickly. ‘Did you drink the whole bottle?’
‘Huh?’ Thomas tried to sit up, but slumped back down again. ‘Dunno.’
She turned to Boyd. ‘Can you get him into the shower? I think there’s one off the kitchen.’
‘It’ll take the two of us.’
Stripping off her coat, she waited while Boyd did likewise.
Between them they got Thomas to stand, then they walked him to the small bathroom off the kitchen.
Leaving him sitting on the floor of the shower fully dressed, Lottie twisted the fancy chrome device until jets of water fell as a torrent on the drunken man.
‘Bitch. Stop.’
Good. He was coming to.
‘Take it easy,’ Boyd said.
‘Watch him,’ she said, ‘while I find a towel.’
‘Hurry.’ Boyd was struggling to keep the man under the water, drenching himself in the process.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious.
She found bath towels in a cupboard. How were they so soft?
Her own were threadbare and felt like cardboard.
She brought them to the bathroom. There was a white terrycloth bathrobe on the back of the door.
She handed everything to Boyd. ‘Once he’s coherent, get him to strip and dry himself and put on the robe. ’
In the sitting room, she picked up the glass and bottle and brought them to the kitchen. Up close, she could see the subtle difference between the Clarkes’ top-tier fixtures and those in the Healy house.
Appearing to be slightly more alive than he had been ten minutes before, Thomas walked in sheepishly, followed by Boyd.
‘Sorry about that,’ he said, tightening his robe, his speech still slurred. ‘I meant to have one, but… I don’t know. I must have kept drinking. Have you news about Lily or Sadie?’
‘Nothing yet. We want to ask you a few questions about the Healys.’
He sat on a high stool at the island while Boyd fetched him a glass of water.
‘Is that a Quooker tap?’ Lottie asked, feigning innocence.
‘Yes.’
‘The Healys have one too.’
‘They don’t. I had a look around at the party.
’ His breath caught in his throat as if he remembered what had occurred later that night.
‘They kitted their house out with cheap tat.’ He gave a wry laugh.
‘Ever hear of keeping up with the Joneses? Well, they tried to keep up with the Clarkes and failed.’
‘You said before that you didn’t design their house, Thomas. Why not?’
His laugh this time was scornful, the alcohol still sour on his breath.
‘They came to me initially. I did a few rough sketches, but they buggered off and got some cheapskate to do it and ended up with a substandard version of my house. Sunday was the first time I’d been in it, even though Sadie practically lived over there.
I noticed the flaws and their inferior furniture.
Still, I was the perfect guest. I didn’t want to cause a scene in front of the others. Sadie would have lost it.’
‘You don’t say.’
‘I do. She had a habit of standing up for her friend.’
‘How long had they been friends?’
He shook his head, his bathrobe falling open, exposing a clean-shaven chest. God almighty, Lottie thought, how the other half lives. She hadn’t even time for a haircut.
‘Caroline and Cam called here, to my home office, about two, maybe three years ago, enquiring about designing their house. Sadie was buzzing around when they called and made tea for them. I think that’s when the friendship started. I don’t think I’d ever set eyes on them before that.’
‘Why didn’t they go to your office in town?’
‘I often see clients here on the days I work from home. They were renting close by at the time, if I remember correctly. I’m sure they made an appointment. I can check my diary.’
‘Please do. What was your first impression of them?’
‘Truthfully, I thought they were trying to be something they could never be. Caroline was, anyhow. I checked him out. An accountant. Mickey Mouse outfit. One staff member. Sadie started bending my ear to hire Healy to run my business account. I resisted. I was happy with the accountant I already had.’
‘Did Sadie invite them over socially after they’d met?’
‘Yeah. Caroline and Freya were here a few times, but Sadie and Lily spent more time over at theirs. A right little clique they were.’
She caught his narked tone. ‘You didn’t approve of their friendship?’
‘It’s not that I didn’t approve. It’s just…
I don’t know how to explain it without sounding like a prick.
’ His eyes narrowed and he ran a hand through his damp hair.
‘It wasn’t healthy. They seemed to have isolated themselves from everyone else.
I was surprised to see so many people at Freya’s party, because I thought they had no friends other than each other.
That said, it was a small number of kids, probably eight plus Freya and Lily. ’
‘But you had an affair with Caroline,’ she chanced.
He held his hands out, palms up, pleading. ‘How many times do I have to tell you? I did not.’
Lottie thought about Caroline’s texts. Thomas wasn’t talking like a man who’d had an affair with the murder victim.
Covering his tracks? Maybe. She moved on.
She knew the team had obtained plenty of information about the birthday party through interviews with the other guests and their children. She needed his take on things.
‘Can you recall anything at all that stood out as odd at the party?’
‘Well, Sadie and Caroline were in cahoots with each other as usual. Sneaking off upstairs like they do when they’re here. They said they had to check on the girls, but the thing is, the girls were outside in the rain, having fun.’
‘Pizzas were delivered. Anything unusual there?’
‘A guy brought them in and then left. Tough as old boots.’
‘The guy?’
‘The pizzas.’
‘Right. Anyone else call that afternoon or evening?’
He sipped the water, made a face and belched. ‘Sorry. My stomach is in bits.’
Lottie felt sympathy for his hangover. Been there, done that, she thought. ‘Go on.’
‘The bouncy-castle guy came late afternoon. It had started to rain in earnest and the wind got up. Caroline thought it needed to be more secure. Cam told her he’d do it, but she said that with other kids using it they couldn’t afford to be sued if it took off with someone on it. I thought she was overreacting.’
‘Christy Kearney.’ Lottie exchanged a glance with Boyd, who raised a questioning eyebrow. She had spoken with Kearney on the morning he’d reported the murders, and Kirby had spoken with him later too. From what she could recall, there was no mention of the call-out on Sunday afternoon. Interesting.
‘Do you know what time it was when he called?’ she asked Thomas.
‘No idea, but it was getting on.’
‘Tell me more.’
‘Surly bugger. Told Caroline he’d secured it good and solid when he’d set it up and that it was going nowhere. All the same, he checked it over. Oh, and the balloon guy was there at some stage too.’
‘Really?’ This was all news to Lottie.
‘Now, what else do you want from me?’
‘Thomas, did you harm Sadie?’
‘God, no. I told you we have our moments, and we did have a row, but I had nothing to do with her going missing.’
‘What about the bloodstain in your room? Did you hit her?’
‘She must have cut her finger, I told you that. Or maybe she had a nosebleed. Please, I want them home. I wouldn’t harm a hair on Lily’s head. You have to find them…’ A sob broke from his throat as he added, ‘Dead or alive, I want them home.’