AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Ten million quid is enough to buy any ordinary mortal almost anything they want. Any house, car, bike, clothes, or whatever. And if you can buy anything you want without even thinking about it, what happens to your daydreams? What do you wish for?’
‘I don’t know,’ she says. ‘World peace? A superyacht? More houses. Bigger ones.’
‘Exactly,’ Hal says. ‘You’re in the realms of the silly. Your everyday dreams disappear, the dreams that give you something in common with the people you used to know, or to be. That’s got to distort you somehow.’
‘It’ll alienate you.’
‘Yes.’
She gets his point. ‘I wonder if they adjusted well,’ she says. ‘Or agreed on how to spend it.’
‘It might be a case of be careful what you wish for. But my point is that in Nicole’s eyes half of ten million might not be enough to get everything she wants.’
‘We should talk to her again.’
‘We will. After we’ve spoken to the neighbours again, which I want to do today so we’re crystal clear on the morning’s timeline. Nicole also said she has a friend staying with her. A man she describes as “Tom’s best friend”.’
‘Notherbest friend?’
Hal shakes his head.
She frowns. ‘She didn’t mention him to me. He’s on the scene very quickly.’ She doesn’t love that Nicole withheld this fromher during their calls. Jen’s the FLO. She should be telling Hal this, not vice versa. She feels guilty. She needs to do better.
‘He is.’
‘And he’s just a friend?’
He shrugs. ‘We’ll speak to him, too, because it hasn’t taken him long to get his foot in the door.’
She nods. This investigation is getting more complex by the minute. She’s glad to be working on it with Hal. There are other detectives who wouldn’t explore the possibilities the way he will. The downside is that he’s not a good political player, and while she might not respect him as much if he was as smarmy and out for himself as some of their colleagues, they might be better at getting resources than Hal, and it’s looking as if this enquiry is going to need all the money and manpower that it can get.
‘I think we need to do a wider search of the peninsula,’ she says. She tells him about the interview she just had, with Sasha’s yoga student, and the man who frightened her on the lane leading to the Manor and the Glass Barn.
Hal says, ‘Nicole Booth also told me she saw someone lurking around the Manor gates the day after Tom died.’
They compare notes. ‘It could be the same person,’ Jen says.
‘I’ve already organised a more thorough search of the area for this afternoon. I’m not sure we went far enough the first time around.’ Of course. He’s on it.
Jen’s phone pings, and she checks her messages. ‘Here’s one more thing. Forensics are saying that there are traces of lipstick on one of the coffee cups found in Tom Booth’s den.’
18
FIVE YEARS EARLIER
Anna’s Journal
Sasha offered to take me shopping because I told her that I was feeling dowdy. It was fun. She picked out some new outfits for me and was very patient while I tried things on. The sales assistant mistook us for mother and daughter, and we didn’t tell her that we weren’t! We giggled about it and Sasha got serious and said that she honestly felt that I was like a mother figure to her, which was a big deal because her own mother hadn’t been present for her. I cried a little and she did, too. I told her that Nick and I tried for a family for a long time, but it wasn’t meant to be for us.
We got me some basics then took a break and I treated Sasha to lunch. I wore the new clothes out of the shop because Sasha told me I should, and the waitress complimented me on my new blouse, which was lovely. It’s been a long time since I felt that I looked nice. Sasha said I should try a soy latte because nobodyhas dairy these days. Nick would have scoffed at that, calling it a fad, but I thought, why not? It wasn’t too bad. I wanted to buy us both a slice of cake, but she said she didn’t think we really needed it.
I showed Sasha an invitation that I had from one of my old so-called friends. Not the person I invited to coffee who never replied, but another woman I used to know. The invitation was to a charity event. It came out of the blue and I was surprised and excited to have it. It had given me a real lift. I asked her if she could help me find an outfit for the event after coffee. I had a boutique in mind that I wanted to go to. But she was outraged. ‘You shouldn’t go to that,’ she said. ‘They just want money out of you. Have they invited you to anything else since Nick died? Didn’t you say that your old friends have deserted you?’
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘But I thought this was them trying to make things up to me.’ I’d assumed she would be pleased.
Sasha said that she’d give the invitation a lot of careful thought if she were in my shoes. ‘You have to make sure that people aren’t using you, Anna,’ she said. ‘You know this woman, it’s up to you, but ask yourself whether she’s supported you at all since Nick died? Have you sat with her like you sit with me, and shared your thoughts, or does she just want bums on seats and money for her charity?’
‘I hadn’t thought of it that way,’ I said. It put a bit of a damper on things. I felt my excitement dribble away.
