(The woman puts the photograph away and takes out a similar one. It shows a woman of a similar age to the previous one. Dark hair, thin eyebrows. Strong build. She shows it to the witness.)
JA: And this woman? Do you recognise her?
NP: It’s Ivet Britwistle. She has always worked for the family. We have spoken about her before, haven’t we?
JA: Yes. Thank you for your cooperation.
Chapter 45
Garros smiles as he sees me enter the prison visiting room.
“Vera,” he says. It sounds like a question.
“Julian.”
He looks tired. Like all the people involved in this case.
“You cut your hair,” he says.
Another silent question flickers in his eyes, something like: what on earth are you doing here?
“My bangs were starting to bother me,” I reply, hoping he reads between the lines. I want to uncover the why of all this.
There is no one better to answer my questionsthan Julian Garros himself.
“Let’s stop playing games,” he says.
I look into his eyes. Watery, dull.
“Did you know?” I ask. My voice breaks mid-sentence.
Julian looks away. His silence confirms that the answer is affirmative.
I have no right to feel cheated. This is Julian Garros. Julian Garros, one of the UK’s biggest criminals! Of course, he was going to cheat me.
I’ve been a fool.
“He came to see me,” she says at last, still refusing to meet my gaze.
“He?”
“Enzo.”
My breath catches, and I lean forward, fingers digging into the metal armrests of my chair.
“Enzo Woods? When?” I demand.
Julian shrugs, like it’s nothing. “Sometime after Larousse. I warned you.”
“Lie,” I snap, but the second the word leaves my mouth, I realise it’s not.
Julian had told me he knew someone in prison. I assumed he meant another inmate, not a visitor. If I’d bothered to check Garros’s visitor list…
He gives me a rueful smile, as if to say,Youshould have known better.
“You’ve already gotten it, eh? I told you to get rid of the evidence.”
Still, it doesn’t make me feel any less betrayed.
