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“Laure was saying something about not wanting to do something and Joseph said that she had to. He grabbed her arm and Laure pulled away and said she was going for a run.”
“What did Joseph do?”
“He called after her but she didn’t come back and then he left too.”
“Immediately?”
“Not immediately, because he took out his phone and he looked at it for a moment. Then he left. I was surprised because he was meant to be working.”
“How did he seem?”
“In a hurry.”
“When he was talking to Laure, how did he sound?”
Iris thought for a moment.
“Annoyed.”
“Not angry.”
“No.” She twisted her hands together. “I really don’t feel too good.”
“I’m almost done. You said Laure left the house at about four o’clock?”
“Yes. I remember checking the time before I got in the bath and it was ten past four. I had started filling it just after she left, and it takes around five minutes to fill, so she must have left at around four.”
“Gabriel mentioned he was out on his bike that day, that he cycled over to Faradale. Do you remember what time he got back?”
“It must have been around four fifteen because I’d only just got into the bath.”
PC Locke nodded. “Thank you for your time, Iris. As soon as we locate Pierre, I’ll let you know.”
Gabriel waited until PC Locke had gone before going to find Iris.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
“Not really. How’s Beth?”
“Still upset. But she agreed that it’s probably better if she waits to see when the funeral is before rushing back.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “The funeral. I mean, how can we be going to a funeral, how can we be going to Laure’s funeral?”
Iris looked at him nervously. “I’m worried I might have said something to PC Locke that I shouldn’t have. She was asking about Joseph and I told her about the argument I’d overheard, and about him running off.”
Gabriel sat down and took hold of her hands.
“You only told her what you heard.”
“But it sounded bad, for Joseph. What if they think—”
“They probably think lots of things, it’s their job. Until they know exactly what happened, we’re probably all suspects.”
She raised her eyes to his. “PC Locke asked about you, about what time you got back from your bike ride. I said you got back just after I got into the bath, around four fifteen. But you actually got back at five o’clock.”
He frowned. “So why did you lie?”
“Because if—God forbid—there was foul play involved, I could see how it might look.”
He stared for a moment, then rubbed his chin. “Shit,” he said softly.
