‘You and Jack? Or you and Miriam?”
‘Both, I suppose. Or, well, it’s not that anything changed between Jack and me really. It’s more that we didn’t see each other. He’d dropped out of college. They had a new baby. I was... look, that was the party stage of my life. I was out a lot. Travelling. Living it up. They were doing the opposite.’
‘Did you see Miriam before she died?’
Elsa swallowed. Again she pressed her hand to her stomach. Her flush seemed to deepen.
‘Do you mean right before?’
‘I mean in the two or three weeks before she died.’ Miriam’s appointment with Walker had been the week before she killed herself.
‘No,’ Elsa said. ‘I hadn’t seen her for I think two months. It might have been longer. That was one of the reasons... well, I felt very guilty after she died.’ She stopped talking. She swallowed again, and pressed her left hand to her sternum.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Not really. I’m sorry.’
‘Can I get you something?’
‘Some water, maybe. From the fridge.’
Elsa nodded in the direction of the corner of the kitchen, where a door was slightly ajar. Judith opened it, and found a second kitchen on the other side. This one had simple white cabinetry, a sink and a pair of ovens, as well as a large fridge with French doors. The fridge was covered with magnets and kids’ drawings. Judith’s hand was on the fridge door when she saw it. A child’s drawing of a rainbow, a little girl, and what looked like either a squashed horse, or an oversized dog. The drawing wasn’t what caught her attention. It was the paper the drawing had been made on. In the centre of the sheet, under the crayon drawings, there was a single line of elegant calligraphy.
Judith lifted the magnet and took the sheet of paper. She read it carefully.
I’m boring and drab and I can’t seem to hold a conversation. I don’t blame her for dumping me.
Judith swore quietly under the breath. She had no evidence bag. She’d already handled the letter, as had god knew how many others. She held the page carefully between finger and thumb, and returned to the kitchen.
‘Elsa, where did this—’ She never got to finish the sentence. Instead she watched as Elsa’s eyes rolled in her head, watched as Elsa fell backwards off the bar stool like she’d just been shot.
‘Shit!’ Judith dropped the paper and ran to her. Elsa was on the ground, and she was convulsing. Her arms were drawn in towards her chest, and both hands were rigid. Her jaw was locked, and her back arched and released, arched and released. Judith pulled her phone from her back pocket. She called for an ambulance and gave the address of the house, then did her best to support Elsa’s head. The convulsions went on and on. There was bloody foam at the corner of her mouth. Judith heard the front door open. The ambulance couldn’t be there already, could it?
‘Elsa? I’m home,’ a male voice called out.
A man wearing scrubs entered the kitchen. He was tall and handsome. He saw Elsa on the floor and froze for a moment, his face a mask of horror. Then he ran to her and dropped to the ground at her side.
‘What happened?’ His fingers went to Elsa’s neck, his head to her chest.
‘She just fell. She was sitting on the bar stool, and she went into a convulsion, and she just fell backwards.’
‘She hit her head?’ He was afraid, Judith could see that clearly, but he was trying hard to stay in control.
‘Yes. I think so. But she was convulsing before she fell. Is she epileptic?’
‘No. Christ no.’ There was a cardigan hanging on the back of one of the bar stools. He grabbed it and folded it and tucked it under Elsa’s head. The convulsion seemed to be slowing. He turned her gently onto her side, putting her in the recovery position. ‘How long has she been convulsing?’
‘I’m not sure,’ Judith said. ‘A minute, maybe two. I’ve called an ambulance. They’ll be here any minute. You’re her husband?’
‘Yes. Nathan. Who the hell are you?’
‘Judith. Detective Judith Lee.’
‘I don’t understand how this happened.’
The ambulance seemed to take forever. The convulsions finally stopped but Elsa didn’t regain consciousness. The paramedics finally arrived, apologising for the delay.
‘We’re backed up. There’s ramping at the hospital.’
