AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She was dressed in plain yellow pyjamas and staring down into a coffee mug.
‘Mrs Yates, we’re so sorry for your loss,’ Bryant said before Kim had a chance to open her mouth. Never knowing if she was going to remember that bit, he sometimes liked to make sure.
Katie raised her gaze from the cup and nodded her acceptance of the platitude.
‘I’ve not been told anything,’ she said as her eyes filled with tears.
Kim took a seat at the edge of the bench, choosing not to do the manoeuvre that would place her legs beneath the table.
Amy did it as though it was second nature and placed her arm around her sister’s shoulders.
‘Katie, there’s no easy way to tell you this, but your husband was murdered.’
‘What?’ the sisters said together.
Kim waited a few seconds for it to sink in.
‘He was found barely conscious and in a state of paralysis. He’d been poisoned with a drug called fentanyl.’
‘But he was at the hospital. The officer told me he’d been taken in by the paramedics.’
‘There was nothing they could do to save him.’
Kim didn’t think explaining the effects of the drug would do her any favours.
‘But why?’ Katie asked.
Amy tried to pull her sister closer, as though trying to use her own body as a shield, but Katie pulled away. She wanted answers.
‘That’s what we’re trying to find out,’ Kim said. ‘Can you tell us a bit more about him?’
‘Of course, but there’s nothing that’s going to help you. There must be some kind of mistake. Nathan gets on with everyone. He’s a gentle, sweet man. He never raises his voice, doesn’t get angry. He’s wonderful. No one would want to hurt him.’
Kim didn’t doubt the sincerity of her words. The speed at which they came out of her mouth was like she was trying to stop an error from happening. Like if she acted quickly enough, the mistake could be undone and Nathan would walk back through the door.
‘May I ask how you met?’
‘Through me,’ Amy offered as a flash of discomfort passed over Katie’s face. ‘He was my boyfriend first. I’m three years older than Katie. I met Nathan at college. We fizzled out, and then Katie bumped into him again a while later.’
‘I was sixteen,’ Katie offered for no reason Kim could fathom. It only served to throw doubt on the truthfulness of the statement, alongside the fact that Katie’s discomfort had returned. Given what she knew, Kim couldn’t help wondering if Nathan had preferred the younger model.
‘And you didn’t mind?’ Kim asked the older sister.
Amy waved her hand. ‘We were well over by the time they met up again.’
She had to be blind not to see the unease in her sister’s face. This was a subject she wanted to move away from. Kim was happy to oblige. She got the picture, and it sickened her.
‘And you got married?’
‘When I was nineteen. Three years ago.’
Jesus, the girl was twenty-two and already a widow.
‘Can you tell us where he worked?’
Happy to be away from that subject, the relief flooded her face. ‘He was a night manager at Asda in Great Bridge. He’d not long been promoted. He loved his job, and they think the world of him there.’
‘Had he had any trouble?’
