AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gabriel’s mouth dropped open. “Seriously? I mean, did you ever seriously think that I killed Laure?”
“Why do you think I gave you an alibi?”
“Jesus, Iris.”
“It’s all right, I know you didn’t. But for a fraction of a second it crossed my mind.”
“But what motive would I have had?”
“Come on, Gabriel. You were fed up with her, and annoyed that she’d lost me the contract by not passing on the message from Samantha Everett. If we had mentioned that to the police, they would have looked at you a lot more closely, believe me.”
Gabriel knew she was right. But her words had shocked him.
“And you weren’t keen to go and look for her when she hadn’t come back that night,” Iris went on. “You only went because Joseph said he was going to look for her.”
“Because until then, I thought she was with him! And there was a bloody storm blowing, if you remember!” He ran his hand through his hair. “Christ, Iris, where has all this come from?”
Iris shrugged. “From mulling things over.”
“Then why don’t you stop mulling and do something useful instead?” he said angrily, pushing his chair back. “Laure took her own life, Iris. She knew that Pierre’s body would eventually be discovered and she was afraid of the consequences.”
“But she was happy. She had Joseph.”
“Well, maybe he was just a calculated last fling. And your reasoning is complete bullshit. One minute you’re saying that Joseph murdered her, the next you’re saying that she was happy with him. Oh, maybe you think he murdered her because she refused to tell us about their relationship. Is that it, Iris, is that what you think?”
“Why are you getting annoyed? I’m just putting forward theories.”
Gabriel shook his head. “You’ll be accusing Esme next, saying that she wasn’t really in hospital giving birth, that she was out murdering Laure because she was jealous of her relationship with Joseph. Or what about Hugh? Maybe he knew about Esme and Joseph and killed Laure hoping to frame Joseph for her murder and get him out of their lives. Have you thought of that?”
Iris turned away from him. “Now you’re being ridiculous.”
“Me?” He looked at her in astonishment. “You really need to get your life back in order, Iris. All this sitting around staring into space isn’t good for you.”
Cursing under his breath, he walked off.
57
Iris felt bad for goading Gabriel as she had. But she hadn’t been able to help herself. She was jealous that he seemed to be moving on when she wasn’t able to.
She had thought she could do it. The day they’d gone for lunch with Beth, when Gabriel had said they needed to move on, she had agreed, because she was tired of the guilt and the regret and the sheer awfulness of everything. She’d thought they would do it together, that little by little, day by day, she and Gabriel would limp slowly forward and get themselves back to where they were before Charlie Ingram had died.
But Gabriel hadn’t waited for her. The news that Beth was taking a year out had given him new purpose. And now this thing with Maggie. His mood had been lighter since their meeting, as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Perhaps it really had been about him not being able to save Charlie, despite his medical skills. If Maggie had relieved him of that guilt, she should be happy for him. But she felt nothing but resentment.
Beth had told her yesterday, when she’d found her sitting in the garden, staring into nothingness, that she should be in therapy.
“You’ve had so much to deal with, Mum,” she’d said, putting her arm around Iris’s shoulders and giving her a hug. “A lesser woman would have crumbled under the strain of the last few months. First Dad, then Laure, then Pierre. It’s not surprising that you’re finding it difficult to focus on anything.”
And that was the truth of it. It had started with Gabriel. If he hadn’t crumbled so dramatically after finding Charlie in the quarry, if she hadn’t had to carry him, worry about him, then she would have been able to focus on Laure. And if she’d been able to focus on Laure, then the disaster that had followed could have been averted. Because of Gabriel, she had taken her eye off the ball. And because she had taken her eye off the ball, Pierre had been murdered and Laure had found solace in Joseph’s arms. These were the thoughts that went around and around in her head, building her resentment, rendering her incapable of putting everything behind her and moving on. And now there was Hamish’s christening to get through.
Pulling her laptop toward her, she opened her search engine and checked the responsibilities of a godmother. To her relief, apart from at the christening itself, there was nothing that involved any interaction with the godfather.
Checking the time on her mobile, she saw it was already six thirty, time to start preparing dinner. But she couldn’t be bothered. There would only be her and Gabriel, because Beth had gone out for the day. And after their conversation earlier, she doubted Gabriel would want to eat with her anyway.
Maybe she’d go to bed instead.
58
Gabriel walked into The Burnt Cherry café, relieved to see Maggie already there, sitting at a table wedged along the left-hand wall, set a little apart from the other customers. She had chosen it for privacy, he guessed, raising his hand in greeting.
