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“So do it. Get on the plane. Ride out the storm somewhere private and far away. Summer said you were thinking of coming anyway.”
“I was. But that was before.”
Why am I saying no? What’s wrong with me? This is exactly what I want. What I need. I need to be far away. I need to be safe.
“I can’t. Thanks for the offer, but Teddy’s still in Oxford being questioned, and Roxie’s in a terrible way.” An insistent beep beep on the line told her someone else was trying to get through. “That might be the hospital,” Alexia told Lucy. “Or Teddy. I’ve gotta go.”
With infinite reluctance, she dropped Lucy Meyer’s call.
“Hello?”
“Are you still in the vicinity?” Angus Grey sounded shaken.
“Yes. I thought you were in court.”
“I should be. I will be in five minutes. But I just received a call from Thames Valley police.”
“Oh, thank God. They’ve let him go. Is he on his way to Kingsmere?”
“I’m afraid not, Alexia.”
“Then what?”
“Teddy’s been charged with murder.”
For a moment Alexia slumped back against the wall of the alley, winded with shock. But she quickly pulled herself together.
“That’s impossible. That’s ridiculous. You said so yourself, they don’t have any evidence.”
Angus Grey said, “Unfortunately, they don’t need any evidence. Not anymore. Teddy’s made a full confession.”
Chapter Thirty-two
The room was more like an office than a prison cell. Teddy sat at a desk, his legs stretched out in front of him as if he were at home in front of the fire, while Alexia paced nervously back and forth.
Things had moved quickly. By the time Alexia and Angus Grey arrived in Oxford, Teddy had already been in front of a crown court judge and remanded into custody pending trial. In less than an hour he’d be transferred to a secure wing of Oxford Prison.
Alexia asked, “Is it true?”
“Is what true, my dear?”
“Did you really kill Andrew?”
She felt as if she were talking to a stranger. As if this were all some awful, bizarre dream and she would wake up at any moment.
“I did,” Teddy said calmly. “Somebody had to. I hadn’t planned to confess, but there was no other way. Not with that dreadful man Wilmott on the scent, like a dog with a bone. If I’d kept quiet any longer, it would only have dragged things out. I didn’t want the family name sullied any more than it needs to be. Better to get the thing over with now.”
Alexia clutched her head. This can’t be happening.
Angus Grey said, “Can you tell us exactly what happened, Teddy?”
“Surely.” Teddy smiled, as if recounting an amusing anecdote. “I went to meet Beesley at the Garrick, as Alexia knows. I offered him money to push off back to Australia.”
Alexia nodded. “He took the money. I checked our accounts myself. That check was cashed.”
“So it was, my dear.”
“And he moved back to Australia.”
