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She followed as he continued to talk.
‘I was going through the mail holder. We would always put envelopes here. Things we didn’t need to deal with immediately: credit-card statements and stuff. I forgot that Sandy used to keep her receipts here to balance with her bank statements. I started going through them and found this.’
Kim took the receipt. It was dated the Thursday before Sandy’s death. It was for two people at the Harvester in Stourbridge, and it was stamped right around the time she was supposed to have been meeting Monty Dunhill.
‘May I take these?’ Kim asked, pointing to the pile of receipts.
‘Of course, Officer, anything that will help,’ he said as Nicola breezed into the room.
‘Oh, hello again,’ she said putting a dirty plate and cup into the dishwasher.
Kim nodded in her direction.
‘We’re here about another matter,’ Kim said slowly.
‘You’ve found him?’ Will asked.
‘Not yet but we will,’ Kim answered. ‘We’re here about the email threats Sandy was receiving. We know where they originated from.’
‘Really?’ they said together, in surprise.
One exclamation was more genuine than the other. And it gave her the answer she’d come here for.
‘But you knew that already, didn’t you, Will?’ Kim asked, turning towards the man.
For a split-second, Kim thought he was going to try and deny it, but he slumped further into his chair.
His eyes filled with tears. ‘I just wanted her to stop doing it.’
‘Dad?’ Nicola said, horrified.
‘You didn’t even like her,’ he said.
‘I wouldn’t have tried to frighten her though, that’s…that’s just…’ She stopped speaking while shaking her head, as though she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
‘Would you like to share your reasons?’ Kim asked.
‘Nothing that’s going to seem even remotely excusable now that she’s gone.’
‘But still?’
‘I loved my wife, Inspector,’ he said with an honesty that Kim didn’t doubt.
Even Nicola sat down to listen.
‘I know you hate the way we met, Nic, but that’s one of the reasons I fell in love with her. She took me on knowing full well I was still in love with your mother. She let me talk for hours about her, comforting me and helping me through the grief and loss. She knew how much I was suffering but she hung on in there and just waited until the fog lifted. And when it did, there she was and I was happy to see her.’
Kim saw Nicola’s eyes soften and then harden again.
‘So why do it?’ she asked, saving Kim the trouble of urging him along.
‘A lot of reasons, Nic. You were getting shit at school. I knew you were being teased over it.’
‘Blimey, Dad. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle,’ Nic protested.
Kim was growing to like the girl more and more.
Will nodded his acknowledgement and continued. ‘My colleagues and some of my students were having a pop. Even my mates wouldn’t let me hear the end of it.’
