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‘Right,’ he says. ‘So perhaps you could start on the morning that Mr Booth’s body was found and talk us through what happened from the time you woke up.’
‘I got up at six-thirty when my alarm went off. I live in the Coach House, as you know. I did my yoga exercises early because it was a hot day, had some breakfast and came to the Manor at around seven-thirty to get breakfast ready for Sasha and Olly. That’s my usual routine. Olly likes his porridge to be slow-cooked and Sasha has a fruit salad and a smoothie. She’s into her superfoods. They’re both very particular. They ate and I cleaned up before starting my tasks for the day. First, I tidied and dusted the Great Hall, where Sasha does her classes, in time for the private lesson she does on Saturdays. Then I did some weeding in the walled garden, but it gets a lot of sun, and I got too hot, so I went inside to start on the ironing. I saw Olly come in here on my way to the laundry room, but I’m not sure what time that was. He spends all hours working. I didn’t see or hear either of them after that because I was tucked away in the laundry room, and I had the radio on. The next thing I knew Sasha came bursting in and said that Nicole Booth had run over here screaming that her husband had drowned in their pool. Sasha asked me to take care of Nicole while she went to the Barn with Olly, to see what had happened and to see if they could help him. But obviously, they were too late.’
‘Did you know Nicole Booth?’
‘No, not really. I was introduced to them once when they came here for a drink. I think they’ve been round here twice altogether. Sasha and Olly have been there a few times, but I wasn’t invited. The first time they came here was for a meeting. It was after they’d just bought the land from us, and they wanted to show Olly and Sasha the architect’s plans for converting the barns into their new home. Olly said it was because they were hoping that if they had a face-to-face meeting, he and Sasha wouldn’t object to the plans formally. He said it was a smart move. He appreciated it.’
‘Do you know what your employers made of the plans?’
She stares at him intently. There’s an answer in her eyes, but she won’t articulate it. She puts a finger first to her lips then moves it, pointing to the walls, as if to indicate that they have ears. She says, overly loudly, and obviously for the benefit of whoever she believes is listening: ‘So far as I know, they were very happy.’ But she’s shaking her head.
Steen nods to indicate that he understands, but inside, he feels as if he’s sagging. There are truth tellers, there are liars, and then there are fruitcakes. He’s not one hundred percent sure which she is, but his suspicions are mounting, and he doesn’t want her to waste any more of his time. He snaps his notebook shut. They need to continue the conversation, but not now, not here.
He’s about to signal an end to the interview when Jen takes over and runs through the rest of the questions they planned to ask. He’s disinclined to interrupt because he doesn’t want to undermine her. Clearly, she thinks it’s important to finish theinterview and he respects that. Resigned to having to sit there, he watches Kitty closely. The questions are banal, and she seems to give a straight answer most of the time. Yes, she observed Tom and Nicole together once, walking down the lane. They looked happy together. No, she didn’t speak to them and can’t comment any further on their relationship. She never saw or heard them argue and never observed personal visitors at the Barn, just a lot of tradespeople. ‘But I don’t get out much,’ she adds.
Jen keeps her tone light and steady and he admires her for it. He wonders if she has a boyfriend then chides himself for losing concentration.
‘One final question, if you don’t mind?’ Jen says. ‘Did your employers ever fall out with the neighbours? It could be over anything, large or small.’
‘No, not to my knowledge,’ Kitty says, but she nods her head vigorously, implying that the opposite is true.
Jen looks satisfied. Hal understands that she asked that question for their eavesdropper, if there is one, so that Kitty could deliver the response she wants or needs to. And he’s glad she did. This is interesting. Especially since Olly and Sasha are relying on each other for an alibi and there are periods of time during Saturday morning when they were in separate spaces in the Manor.
‘Thank you, I think that’s everything,’ Jen says.
He opens his notebook and scrawls a note, shows it to Kitty.
She mouths the words as she reads them. ‘Can you come and talk to us at the station?’
She holds out her hand for his pen and his book and he gives both to her. She writes a reply and hands it to him: ‘It’s difficult but I’ll try.’
‘Thank you very much,’ Jen says. ‘For talking to us. I know you must be very busy.’
‘I enjoy my work,’ Kitty says.
‘Tomorrow?’ Hal writes.
Kitty reads the note and nods. He nods back.
‘Well,’ Jen says. ‘Isn’t that lovely? You’re certainly in a gorgeous spot here.’
Kitty smiles, apparently without an edge. ‘It really is a dream,’ she says. He thinks he can see both pain and joy in her expression, which strikes him as weird, or complicated, or both.
Kitty shows them out. Olly and Sasha don’t reappear.
As soon as the car doors are shut, he and Jen speak simultaneously.
‘The housekeeper’s a fruitcake,’ he says, as Jen says, ‘Something’s very wrong in that home.’
27
WEDNESDAY
Nicole
Nicole tears through Tom’s bathroom cupboards, looking for antidepressants.
Patrick told her that Tom called him just a month ago. That was a shock. Tom promised that they hadn’t spoken, but apparently, they’ve had a few conversations since the fall-out over money and in this last one Tom admitted that he was struggling with his mental health.
