Simon Beckett - The Restless Dead

Put like that it didn’t sound good, but we both knew that wasn’t a fair picture. ‘Aside from the fact that I didn’t know who they were, you’d already told me I was off the investigation before I even thought about renting this place.’

‘I know. And we wouldn’t have found the foot if not for you, I’m not disputing that. But the chief’s decided, so...’ He spread his hands. ‘I dare say she’ll come round once she’s calmed down. There’ll be other investigations in future. The best thing you can do now is keep a low profile.’

If my profile was any lower it wouldn’t exist. But Lundy was right, and antagonizing his SIO wasn’t going to help.

The DI took a drink of tea, closing the subject. ‘So how much longer are you planning on staying?’ he asked, setting down his mug.

‘Only until my car’s ready.’ I raised an eyebrow at him. ‘Was that a hint?’

He chuckled. ‘No, I’m just making polite chit-chat. To be honest, I’m surprised Trask let you stay here in the first place. Has he tried to discuss the case at all?’

Now we were getting to it. ‘No, and I made it clear I wasn’t going to talk about it.’

‘He did ask about it, then?’

‘Wouldn’t you if it was your wife?’

I hadn’t meant to snap. Recovering the foot had left me feeling irritable as well as washed out, but Lundy didn’t seem offended.

‘Fair enough, but I’m not convinced that wasn’t part of the reason he’s been so obliging. You know this boathouse was Emma Derby’s pet project? And getting his son to fix your car as well. Sounds like a bit of a charm offensive to me. Perhaps he reckons it can’t hurt to have a friendly police consultant on his side.’

I didn’t think ‘charm’ really applied to Trask’s manner. ‘That’s not the impression I got. If anything he seemed reluctant to let me stay, so I doubt he’ll be sorry to see me go.’

‘I dare say, but I wonder if he’d have been so amenable if you weren’t involved in the police inquiry.’

‘He didn’t know about that when he towed me out of the creek,’ I said. But I also remembered how I’d thought the Land Rover wasn’t going to stop, how its driver seemed to deliberate before coming back. And the offer of a tow to Creek House was only made after Trask found out why I was there. Even then he’d seemed torn. ‘It sounds as though you don’t like him much.’

‘It’s not a case of liking him or not. He can be an abrasive bugger but you’ve got to feel for him and his family. They’ve had a rough time of it this last year. Bad enough for his wife to go missing, but for it to come out that she’d been having an affair as well...’ Lundy shook his head, frowning into his tea. ‘The family’s had rotten luck. Trask’s first wife died not long after his daughter was born, some sort of complication after the birth. He had to bring up a baby and young lad by himself, which can’t have been easy. Then he meets this glamorous younger woman, London type who’s on the rebound herself, marries her and brings her out to the arse end of nowhere, if you’ll pardon my French. Christ knows what either of them were thinking, but it’s hard to see how it was ever going to work.’

‘Did he know about the affair with Leo Villiers before she went missing?’ I belatedly realized I’d no right to quiz him when I wasn’t on the investigation any more. But Lundy only shrugged.

‘He says he guessed she was seeing somebody, but not who it was. That came out later, when we pulled her phone records. There were a lot of recent calls to Villiers’ number, ending a few days before she disappeared. After that, everything pretty much pointed one way.’

‘You said yesterday that you’d suspected Trask at one point?’

Lundy’s smile was humourless. ‘He’s the husband; of course we did. But he was in Denmark for an architectural conference when she disappeared. Several witnesses saw or spoke to her after he’d gone, then two days later she dropped off the radar. His son and daughter were both away as well, the girl on a school trip and the lad staying with a friend from sixth form, so the alarm wasn’t raised until he got back later that week.’

I thought about the beautiful and assured woman in the framed photograph. Barring some unexpected stroke of luck, with Leo Villiers dead no one would ever know what had happened to her. Death was bad enough for a family to cope with, but for a loved one to simply vanish was even worse. And if her killer had disposed of her body in the Backwaters, as seemed likely, then there would be little left to recognize by now. The vitality, vanity, ambition and everything else that had made Emma Derby who she was would be long gone. Even though I hadn’t known her, I felt a familiar hollowness at how that could happen. The gulf between life and death is a mystery I couldn’t reconcile now any more than when I lost my own family.

‘Dr Hunter?’ Lundy said. ‘You all right?’

I pulled myself together. I’d been drifting: I was more tired than I’d realized. ‘Sorry. Just thinking.’

He drained his tea and put the mug down. ‘Well, I’d better get off. I’m supposed to be at my granddaughter’s birthday party this afternoon. She’s promised to save me a piece of cake, though I’m not holding my breath.’

‘No, I wouldn’t.’ I smiled at the bittersweet memory of my own daughter’s birthday parties. ‘How old is she?’

‘Four. Proper little madam, Kelly is. Already knows how to wrap me round her little finger.’

‘Have you any other grandkids?’

‘Not yet, but one’s on the way. My daughter Lee — that’s Kelly’s mum — is expecting her second.’ He shook his head. ‘Doesn’t seem two minutes since she was blowing out birthday candles herself. How about you? Do you... ah, do you have any plans for when you get back?’

He’d recovered well, but I knew what he’d been about to ask. Do you have any kids? He’d caught himself in time, so either he’d done his homework on me or someone had told him about my past. I’d grown adept at fielding the question by now, and while it would always be painful it rarely caught me off guard any more. But Lundy looked mortified, his already ruddy face blooming an even deeper red.

‘No, no plans,’ I said, brushing over it to spare his awkwardness.

‘Right. Well, thanks again.’ He stuck out a meaty hand for me to shake. ‘Safe journey, Dr Hunter.’

After Lundy had gone I poured my cold tea away and made another mug. Although I still felt wrung out, I couldn’t detect any chills or feverishness that might indicate the infection was flaring up. But the DI’s visit had left me feeling flat and depressed. I couldn’t really blame Clarke for not wanting me back on the investigation — I’d hardly covered myself with glory so far — but it was still a disappointment. Still, dubious circumstances or not, I’d redeemed myself to some extent by finding the foot. Going out on the marsh might have been ill-advised but at least I could return to London knowing I’d done something useful.

And it had been worth it to get to know Rachel better. We seemed to get on well now we’d cleared the air, and despite everything I’d enjoyed spending time with her. I’d got the impression she felt the same way. Yes, because nothing helps hit it off with someone like finding a rotting foot.

I drank the tea sitting in the chair by the arched window, looking at birds paddling on the full creek outside. I told myself I should call to find out what was happening with my car, but decided it could wait a few more minutes. Trask had said they’d let me know when it was ready, and hassling them wouldn’t get it done any faster.

Besides, I wasn’t in any hurry to get back to London. The prospect of spending the tail end of the bank holiday on my own in an empty flat settled on me like a pall. I could always head over to Jason and Anja’s, but it was a long drive and by the time I got there it would hardly be worth it.