Ann Cleeves - Hidden Depths

The response irritated him. He struggled to keep his composure. He smiled again at Holly. He probably thought he was good with young women. ‘I understand that I made a huge mistake not telling you about Lily. I’d expect you to check. But please believe me, I’m not keeping anything else back from you.’

‘What will you tell your wife about the affair?’ Holly again. She even gave him a grin. Cheeky, almost complicit. What else do you get up to? What else have you got away with?

‘The truth. She deserves that. She knows me well enough to realize I’d never kill.’

‘We found a card among her belongings,’ Vera said. ‘Made of pressed flowers. Did you send it to Lily?’

He paused. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I don’t go in for sentimental gestures, Inspector.’

‘You’re sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure. It’s not something I’d forget.’

So who did send it? And why was Lily’s card marked with kisses while Luke’s was blank?

‘You were very close to Lily? I mean, you had a physical relationship, but you talked? You felt you knew her well?’

The question made him uncomfortable for the first time. He struggled to find appropriate words. At last he answered very simply. ‘I was infatuated. I thought I loved her. For a while, at least. No, it wasn’t just about the sex.’

‘Did she tell you anything which might give a clue to her killer? Was she troubled, scared, anxious?’

‘She didn’t talk much about herself.’

She’ll not have had the chance, Vera thought.

‘Just before we separated, she said she’d met up with an old friend. Someone she’d known from the village where she’d grown up. It seemed to be a big thing for her. She was a loner. She didn’t have many real friends.’

‘Man or woman?’ Ben Craven?

‘A woman.’ He paused. ‘If you give me a moment I’ll remember her name. Her first name, at least. She worked as a nurse at the RVI. Kath.’

It took Vera a moment to make the link. Kath Armstrong. Wife of Geoff. Stepmother to Luke.

Vera caught up with Kath Armstrong at the hospital. Her shift had just started and she was in a meeting with the day staff. Vera waited by the nurses’ station and heard muttered voices coming from the sister’s office, an occasional stifled laugh. Visiting was over and the ward was peaceful. The women in the side rooms were plugged into their televisions or reading. There was a little desultory chat. Further down the corridor the tea trolley was being wheeled away. On the window sill funereal bunches of flowers drooped in the heat. Vera had never been in hospital and knew she’d hate it. Not the illness or the pain. Not even the dreadful food and going without alcohol. But giving up control. Being at the mercy of people who knew more about her body than she did.

The meeting broke up and Kath came out. She was still chatting to a colleague, didn’t notice Vera sitting in the orange chairs where patients waited to be discharged. ‘I’d like a word,’ Vera said. ‘Sorry to bother you here, but something’s come up.’

‘Nothing’s wrong, is it?’ A moment of panic. Vera knew she was thinking about her little girl.

‘No, nothing like that. Is there anywhere we can talk?’

Kath turned away to whisper to a motherly middle-aged woman in a sister’s uniform. ‘Maggie says we can use her office.’

They sat where the nurses had been huddled in their meeting. There was a photo on the desk of two small boys leaning against a farm gate next to a bearded man in specs. The ward sister’s husband and kids. A child’s drawing was pinned to the wall. More happy families.

‘What’s this about? Have you found out who killed Luke?’

Vera ignored the question. ‘You didn’t tell us you knew Lily Marsh.’

‘You didn’t ask.’

‘She wasn’t dead when I spoke to you, pet. You’ll realize it’s just a bit important. Two murders within a week and you knew both victims.’

‘I didn’t know her well. I mean, I just thought: What a weird coincidence. I couldn’t contribute anything to your enquiry.’

She seemed genuinely puzzled. Vera wondered if she spent too much of her life investigating crimes, making connections which were insignificant, seeing motives which didn’t exist. A sort of strange paranoia, which didn’t allow for coincidence at all.

‘How did you know her?’

‘We grew up together. I mean, I’m quite a bit older than her, but we lived in the same village. My mam was good friends with Phyllis Marsh. You know how it is in a place like that. They’d been to school together, they met up at the church, the WI. Lily and I were both only children. I ended up looking after her when we were younger. We were close in a way. She loved coming to visit. You know what children are like with older kids. Especially girls. And maybe I’ve always had this maternal thing. We lost touch when I moved into town and started working here.’

‘But you met up again more recently.’

‘Yes.’

‘How did you meet?’

‘She came into the hospital as an outpatient. She thought she was pregnant. She’d missed a couple of periods, but her home pregnancy test had come up negative. She wanted to check. I bumped into her in the lift when she was on her way out.’

‘Isn’t that the sort of thing you’d see your GP for?’

‘She’d have had to wait for an appointment. For some reason she was desperate to know.’

‘She wasn’t pregnant,’ Vera said. It was a statement not a question. The post-mortem had been clear about that. She remembered the pathologist’s sadness that Lily would never be a mother, would never carry a child.

‘No. And I could tell she was upset. It was the end of my shift and I took her for a coffee. The mothering thing again. I should learn to leave well alone.’

‘She wanted a baby?’

‘Desperately. I said all the usual things. She was young. It would happen sometime. It would be better anyway when she’d completed the PGCE. I could tell that none of it was having any effect.’

‘Did she tell you who would have been the father?’

‘Not in any detail. She said he was an older man. That was all.’

‘Was that the only time you saw her?’

‘No. I was worried about her. I knew she’d had a bit of a breakdown when she was in the sixth form. The stress of exams. Phyllis expected so much from her. Oxford, the glittering career. She didn’t have much of a marriage and was living through Lily. Nobody would have been able to stand the strain. I asked Lily if she was seeing a doctor. She lost her temper, said she wasn’t ill, everything was fine. I gave her my mobile number, told her to give me a ring if she wanted to talk.’

‘And she did.’

‘Oh yes.’ Kath took a breath. ‘To be honest she became a bit of a nuisance. She’d often be waiting in the car park when I finished work. After a night shift all you want is to get home, have a long bath and a few hours’ sleep. And I didn’t really think I could do any good. She needed psychiatric help. Then one day, a Saturday afternoon, she turned up at the house. We were having a day at home, one of those Saturday afternoons when you just want to chill. Rebecca was in the garden playing and Geoff was watching sport on the television. Luke was staying and he was glued to the box too. I was in the kitchen, keeping an eye on Rebecca through the window. And suddenly Lily was there, in the garden. She started chatting to Rebecca, then lifted her onto the swing and started to push. By the time I got out, she had Rebecca in her arms.’ She paused. ‘I’m not quite sure what would have happened if I hadn’t been there.’

‘You think she might have gone off with her?’