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The woman threw her toast in the bin but didn’t invite them to sit down.
‘So, what are you…?’
‘We’re here about Sandra Deakin.’
Catherine started to shake her head. ‘I don’t know anyone—’
‘Psychic Sandy,’ Kim clarified. ‘She was here on Thursday night.’
‘That’s right,’ she said, frowning. ‘But we didn’t do anything illegal.’
‘Of course not. I’m sorry to tell you that Sandy has been killed.’
‘Wh…wh…what?’ Catherine asked, losing colour. She looked to the head of the oversize dining table, presumably where the psychic had sat, then headed for one of the other seats and finally indicated for them to sit.
‘How…I mean…where…bloody hell.’
‘This isn’t going to get any easier to hear,’ Kim warned. ‘She was murdered last night while walking her dog.’
Catherine’s mouth fell open. Clearly the woman was shocked at the news but Kim had to forge ahead. This wasn’t a family member or friend. She was a customer and she’d been the last customer to see Sandy alive.
‘You were her last engagement, and we’re trying to establish if there was anything strange in her behaviour.’
‘It was my first time meeting her so I wouldn’t know if she was acting out of character or not, but there was nothing that struck me as odd.’
‘She didn’t seem nervous or distracted?’
Catherine shook her head.
‘You didn’t see any strange vehicles before or after she arrived?’
‘I wouldn’t have noticed. The driveway was like a car park all night.’
‘Why was that?’ Kim asked. ‘Was something else going on?’
‘No, only the arrival and departure of the others and the mix up with Betts’s husband.’
‘There were others here?’
‘Oh yes. Sandy wasn’t only here to see me. It was a few of us from the yoga class. We thought it would be a bit of a chuckle. I can’t recall who suggested it but Betts goes to see her all the time.’
‘Betts?’
‘Bettina. She goes to see Sandy often. She arranged it but I offered to host it here,’ Catherine said with pride in her voice.
‘So it was a group of your friends?’
Catherine grimaced. ‘They’re not really what I’d call friends. I mean, I haven’t known any of them for a great length of time, but we all sometimes chat before and after class. The subject came up and I offered to hold it here. I’d already told them about my new kitchen.’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘And about the budget arguments Mark and I were having. So it seemed like a good opportunity to show them what all the fuss was about.’
To show off, Kim thought, catching the woman’s vibe. So far she had mentioned the kitchen more than the dead woman.
‘Can you give us the details of the other women present? Addresses and phone numbers.’
‘Oh blimey. I don’t have all their addresses but I have their numbers on my WhatsApp,’ she said, reaching for her phone.
Bryant took out his notebook.
‘Okay, so Bettina is a housewife with three young children, and she volunteers a few hours a week at the PDSA shop in Dudley,’ Catherine said, before reading off her number.
