Ann Cleeves - Raven Black

'Is the guy sure it's not there?' Taylor rocked forward so the chair was firm on the ground. 'I mean he must be upset. It'd be easy to overlook:

Perez shrugged. 'He seemed pretty positive. The camcorder's gone too. Magnus said Catherine took a picture of him the day before her body was found. Perhaps he talked to her about Catriona. It might be worth getting her computer south to the experts. See if there's some way of retrieving the deleted material: There was a silence then Taylor looked up suddenly from his desk. 'What do you think? Do you think Tait killed them both?'

Perez wanted to say it didn't matter what he thought. All that mattered was getting a conviction. But Taylor was still looking at him. 'I don't know,' he said at last. 'Really, I don't know: He could tell he'd disappointed Taylor with his answer and went on, feeling for the right words, 'I think I understand Catherine better now. After talking to her father. She was lonely. She saw life through film. That was how she survived here. That was how she got her pleasure, her kicks:

'A female voyeur?'

'An observer, a commentator! Perez paused, remembering what Duncan had said of her. 'A director!

'Doesn't a director make things happen? That's being more than an observer, surely!

'Perhaps she tried to make things happen. Perhaps that's why she was killed!

Celia Isbister lived in the house her husband Michael had built once he started making money. It was on the edge of Lerwick, with a view of the town and down to the sea. At the time of the wedding, gossip had it that he was a lucky man. He was marrying money. Certainly she'd carried with her an air of affluence. She'd been sent south to an expensive school. There was a big house on Unst. But the school had been paid for by a rich aunt and when their parents died, the big house went to her elder brother. There was nothing else to share out but debt.

If Michael had been disappointed by his new wife's poverty he hadn't blamed her for it. He'd carried through his life an astonishment that she'd ever agreed to marry him and took on the task of making himself worthy of her. He developed a transport and haulage business. When the oil came, his lorries carried cement and pipes and beer to the terminal at Sullom Voe and his taxis collected executives from Sumburgh Airport. If he knew of Celia's affair with Duncan – and surely he must have known – he never challenged her about it. She always stood at his side at civic functions. When he introduced her to visitors, to the ministers and civil servants who came occasionally from London and Edinburgh, he glowed with pride.

Celia had let Michael have his own way with the house. Perhaps it was a penance. Certainly, it couldn't have been to her taste. It was a sprawling ranch-style bungalow with an open-plan lounge. She only drew the line at gold taps for the ensuite bathrooms. Jimmy Perez wondered again what Robert had made of his parents' marriage. He moved in both their worlds. He was the youngest man on the Up Helly Aa committee and he went to the parties at the Haa. He must know that Celia's affair with Duncan was public knowledge. In Shetland information about other people's lives was assimilated subconsciously, a form of osmosis. For as long as Perez could remember people had been expecting Celia to leave Michael and to move into the Haa with Duncan Hunter.

But she still lived in the bungalow with her husband and Robert. Running these facts in his head, Perez thought he was stupid to believe that Catherine had been killed because she'd filmed some secret. So little in Shetland was secret. It was simply unacknowledged. There was something Victorian in this need to put on a good show.

He'd phoned beforehand to check that Celia would be in. She'd said she would be, all day. She didn't ask what he wanted from her. Perhaps she assumed he was there to speak on Duncan's behalf.

Celia was on her own in the bungalow.

'Michael not about?' Perez asked. He'd have liked to talk to Michael too.

She shook her head. 'He's in Brussels. Some European conference on fringe communities. Followed by a meeting in Barcelona on endangered dialect. He went on the third and won't be back until just before Up Helly Aa!

"She led Perez into the kitchen and started making coffee without asking first if he wanted any. He thought she seemed pale, distracted. She was a handsome woman, approaching fifty, with fine cheekbones, a generous mouth.

He understood what Duncan found attractive about her, caught himself watching her as she stretched to reach mugs from a high shelf.

'I don't suppose this is a social call: she said.

Of course not. I never called on you, even when Duncan was still my friend. You were a secret everyone knew about, but we couldn't acknowledge you.

'But it can't be about the dead girl. That's all over, isn't it?'

'Still a few loose ends to tie up. Is Robert around?'

She looked at him carefully, then shook her head.

'He's out on Wandering Spirit. A long trip beyond Faroe. I'm not sure when he'll be back!

Was that too much information? 'He was friendly with Catherine Ross, wasn't he?'

Celia bent to take milk from the fridge. She was wearing jeans, a black sweater. 'He never mentioned her!

'He was with her the night before she was killed. At Duncan's party!

'Was he? I didn't notice. I had other things on my mind!

'Does Robert have a girlfriend at the moment?'

She laughed briefly. 'Robert always has a girlfriend.

At least one. He can't stand being on his own. And he's a good-looking man!

'So who's he hanging around with at the moment?'

'How would I know? He never brings his women home!

Perez pulled out a chair from the kitchen table, sat down. 'What had Duncan done that night to upset you?'

The question shocked her. She considered it bad manners. But she decided to answer it anyway. Perhaps she felt the need to explain. She wanted him to understand.

'It wasn't anything specific. I realized that if! didn't leave then I'd never go. At this age I can just about carry it off. The relationship, I mean. Being the older woman. But when I'm sixty? It would be ridiculous. And I can't bear the idea of looking ridiculous! She stopped for a moment then continued, 'I've left him before, but I've always gone back to him. I'm an addict. It must be the same for alcoholics, trying to give up drinking. You think you've got it cracked, one glass won't hurt, then you're hooked again. This time it has to be for ever! She gave a little laugh.

'Sorry to sound melodramatic. He's just been on the phone. The third time today. It's very hard not to give in!

'He's upset!

'He'll get over it. He'll find someone young and pretty to console him!

She turned away, so he couldn't tell how she wanted him to respond to that. She poured coffee then faced him again. 'I would leave Shetland: she said, but I don't think I could bear that either. It wouldn't be fair to Michael. And it would kill me! Perez sipped coffee and waited. Eventually she continued. 'I married too early. I thought I loved Michael. My family considered him unsuitable, which made him more appealing of course. He's a very kind man and there wasn't much kindness in our family. In the end kindness isn't enough, but it was my mistake. I have to live with it! Perez said nothing.

'I would never have made the decision to break things off with Duncan if it hadn't been for the girl,' she said abruptly.

'The girl?' said Perez, though he knew exactly who she meant.

'The dead girl. Catherine!

'What could she possibly have said to make you leave Duncan?'

'She didn't say anything. But I saw myself suddenly through her eyes. A middle-aged woman giving up her life for a younger man who took her for granted. A fool!