Chapter 35
THIRTY-FIVE
Evie hasn’t spoken a word on the drive home.
Once we arrive, she hurries through the front door and goes straight to her room.
I debate for a second and then follow her up.
Hearing her quietly crying as I pause outside her door, I guess her grief for her mother will have surfaced too, and decide to give her some space.
Going down to the lounge to talk to Jack, I find him pouring a large drink, whisky this time, and my heart sinks.
Why did I agree to have spirits in the house?
Jack had brought them from his flat. He didn’t drink spirits often, he’d said.
They were supposed to be for social occasions not daily consumption.
‘You need to get a grip,’ I tell him. ‘Evie’s going to need you to be there for her.
Drinking that stuff isn’t going to help anything. ’
With the glass halfway to his mouth, Jack hesitates. After staring pensively into the contents for a moment, he sucks in a breath then plants the glass back on the tray. ‘I know,’ he says.
There’s such anguish in his eyes as he turns to face me, my heart bleeds for him.
He’s struggling, of course he would be, but I can’t do this for him.
‘Your daughter needs you, Jack,’ I repeat forcefully.
‘However hard she might be appearing to push you away, you have to be all that she needs you to be, there for her, dependable and strong. You can’t be that if you’re anaesthetising yourself with alcohol. ’
Nodding, he takes another breath, then, ‘She doesn’t want to talk to me,’ he says, shrugging hopelessly.
Seeing his confusion and obvious hurt, I’m about to go to him when there’s a knock on the front door.
Quickly I exchange wary glances with Jack and then hurry to answer it, questions whirling around in my head as I do.
Why had Evie dashed off to see Imogen without a word?
Cold foreboding settles in the pit of my stomach as I recall Lina’s awful comment about it not being much of a friend who’s ready to leap into bed with her friend’s father.
It turns to icy dread as I open the door to see DI Blake, who’d spoken to us briefly outside Imogen’s house, and a uniformed officer outside on the drive talking to Lina.
‘Can I help you?’ I call, stepping quickly out.
The detective glances in my direction and then walks towards me. ‘Mrs Conley,’ she says, extending her hand.
‘It’s Keenan,’ I remind her, attempting to glean from her expression why she’s here.
‘They’re not married,’ Lina interjects. Even now I can hear disparagement in her tone, and I wonder how I ever felt pity for her.
I note DI Blake’s eyes slide back to her, and I suspect she’s making a mental note that there’s some antipathy between us. ‘Sorry for turning up unannounced,’ she says with a polite smile. ‘We just have one or two things we’d like to clarify.’
The uniformed officer nods and introduces himself as PC Dev Patel.
‘With Imogen’s mother being so devastated, I thought it better to have a conversation away from the house, particularly with Evie being so shook up,’ DI Blake goes on, her cool blue eyes quietly appraising me.
‘They were best friends.’ I swallow back a lump of emotion. ‘I gather you think she might have jumped?’ I ask, eyeing her questioningly.
‘With the investigation ongoing, we can’t comment on specifics, I’m afraid,’ she informs me, ‘but there was a note found, which drew us to conclude that she might have. We will release further information as we’re able to. Do you mind if we come in?’ She nods past me to the door.
‘Please do.’ I smile, but nerves tighten my stomach as I lead the way. ‘Would you like some tea or coffee?’ I offer, once I’ve shown them to the lounge.
‘Thanks, but we’re on a tight schedule.’ DI Blake checks her watch, then looks at Jack, who appears to be as apprehensive as I am. ‘We were just chatting to your mother-in-law, Mr Conley. She mentioned that your wife had died. Please accept my condolences.’
Jack answers with a stiff nod.
She tips her head to one side. ‘I gather she jumped from a ship, though your mother-in-law seems very confused about the circumstances.’
‘She is confused.’ Jack’s tone is short. ‘Is there something you want to talk to me about?’
DI Blake scrutinises him carefully. ‘She also said you were out earlier. That Evie couldn’t get hold of you. Do you mind telling us where you were?’
‘Working,’ he responds tersely. ‘I went to my premises on the industrial estate to collect some items and then straight to an urgent job, a bathroom installation that needs completing.’
‘Ah, I see.’ The detective nods, as if satisfied. ‘And your clients can confirm you were there, presumably?’
Jack glances away, kneading his forehead in that way he does when he’s tense or frustrated, and sick trepidation grips my stomach. ‘No,’ he says, looking cautiously back at her. ‘They’ve gone away while the work’s being done. They let me have a key to the property.’
A frown crosses DI Blake’s face. ‘I see,’ she repeats, looking at him thoughtfully.
That’s when I notice something I hadn’t before, and my emotions collide.
He’s changed his shirt. I try to calm myself as my mind goes into overdrive, imagining why he would have done so.
He keeps a spare in his office, I remind myself.
But he’d been panicked about Evie’s whereabouts when I spoke to him on the phone.
I can’t imagine he would have stopped off to change his shirt, no matter how covered in building debris it was.