Alex Barclay - Time of Death

‘Lucinda and I were married two years. I was…young, starting up my business, working out of the house. Douglas Hammond was working as an attorney…the whole time. Trudie was…home.’ He hung his head. ‘I guess I can skip the romantic “how-we-got-together” part. But it wasn’t just loneliness and it wasn’t just sex.’

Here we go… ‘OK.’

‘We would get together during the day in one another’s houses, whatever.’

‘I’m sorry,’ said Ren. ‘Where was your wife…?’

‘Oh God, my wife,’ said Peter. ‘She was…wonderful. She was…most men would give their right arm to be with Lucinda. I tried so hard for her to be all that to me, but-’ he shrugged. ‘I don’t even know why. Lucinda was beautiful, bright, generous, kind — she still is — but you need more than that, don’t you? I mean, you could forgo some of those things if you had that special thing with a woman. That in definable thing that I never believed in until I met Trudie. I loved the ground she walked on.’

‘That would be beautiful to hear…’

Everett looked up at her, thrown.

‘…if I didn’t know how the fairytale ended,’ said Ren.

Everett bowed his head again.

‘Let me ask you, were you planning to leave your wife?’

He shook his head. ‘It was too early for that.’

‘Because you had a fledgling business that her family money was paying for?’

Everett blushed.

At the money part.

‘Yes,’ he said.

‘So, you would meet Trudie, how often?’

‘Every day.’

‘And on one of those days-’

‘Douglas came home early and walked in on us.’

Whoa…Douglas Hammond came home before Trudie was killed?

How many dramas have been detonated by people simply coming home early?

‘We were…Trudie and I had a policy of not doing it in our…marital beds.’ Everett paused. ‘I know,’ he said, taking in Ren’s look. ‘How honorable.’

‘Go on,’ said Ren.

‘Trudie and I were in the kitchen…it was all open plan — front door opened into the living room which opened into the kitchen. Douglas walked in. His face…we were in the middle of…I was behind her at the kitchen counter.’

Oh God, the housewife bent over the kitchen counter. Seventies-porntastic.

Everett went on: ‘Douglas had no clue how he had been treating Trudie. No clue. He thought providing for her was enough. He just — he…When he saw us, he burst into tears. That’s when we realized he was there. We struggled to get dressed and before Trudie had even gotten her nightgown back down, he had rushed over and grabbed her.’

He bowed his head. Ren waited.

‘Her arm was kind of half in her nightgown,’ said Everett. ‘She lost her balance, fell against him…he pushed her away and then…she fell. Right through the glass coffee table. She landed on her back. There was glass everywhere. It was like shrapnel, like a bomb had gone off.’

Everett rubbed his hair roughly over and over. ‘It was so screwed-up. I’m standing there, my underwear half on, and everything’s spattered with blood. Douglas is standing with his arm still stretched out, but he’s so still, not crying any more, nothing. And I’m there with my dumb tennis shorts around one ankle. We look at each other. Me and Hammond. We lock eyes. And I think what we are both seeing are huge headlines, front-page photos, cops and cuffs and weeping families and jail and…we don’t even have to say anything. It’s like we make this silent decision.’

Jesus Christ.

‘We…Trudie was still alive at this point,’ said Everett. ‘She’s choking on blood. But not fast enough, God forgive me. And we both love this woman and no one wanted her to suffer.’

Ren opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t think of anything to say that would express how she felt, while leaving her with some form of professional dignity.

Everett started to cry. ‘I couldn’t watch it any more. I was going to put a pillow over her face. That’s what I thought would be the humane thing to do. But Douglas stopped me and said, “An intruder wouldn’t do that. An intruder would leave her.” I couldn’t believe how quickly he said it, how calmly. But the worst part was Trudie heard too. And we both saw that she had heard.’

Jesus Christ.

‘I was frozen to the spot,’ said Everett. ‘I could not look at her. But my life would be over if I were part of all this. Lucinda’s life would be over. She was pregnant. Her family…who had all been so good to me. And Douglas Hammond had a two-year-old daughter. So I picked up a vase…and I…I ended it for Trudie.’

‘Ended it for Trudie’; the strange language people use to temper the truth. Like veneer on rotting timber.

‘Me and the future Judge Douglas Hammond…’ Everett looked at Ren as if he was talking about someone else.

‘What a team,’ said Ren.

‘We stood there, we were…in shock. It was horrific. And next thing you know, I was back in my house, cleaned up like nothing had ever happened.’

‘Until — shock horror — you hear that the pretty lawyer’s wife who lives down the street was found dead.’

He nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘Where was your wife at that time?’

‘Lucinda was at home on bed rest. She had pre-eclampsia.’

What an absolute shit. If only Helen knew who she had been dating…

‘Have you ever fallen in love?’ said Peter. ‘With the right person at the wrong time? The wrong person at the right time? The wrong person at the wrong time?’

‘So, this is about love…’ said Ren. You have got to be kidding me.

‘I’m not a bad person.’

‘If you’re not-’

‘You surely are not naïve enough to think that there aren’t a million other people around the world like me: good people who have done maybe one bad thing and have had no choice but to separate themselves from it.’

‘Separate themselves from it? Interesting choice of words.’

Everett looked down.

‘Do you think your wife ever suspected?’

Everett’s head jerked back up. ‘Not for one second. Lucinda just does not see badness anywhere. Or in anyone.’

God help her.

‘And so you were able to continue with your life,’ said Ren. ‘Hold your wife’s hand in the delivery room, cry at the birth of your daughter, get that business of yours up off the ground, build it to its current heights and keep it there…’

‘I was — and am — haunted.’

‘Probably by Casper the Friendly Ghost…’ Ren stared at him. ‘I mean, you wouldn’t want to upset yourself too much.’

‘You have to admit that, if you met me out, in company, in a bar, wherever, you would think I was a nice man,’ said Everett. ‘We would talk, we’d have things in common. You wouldn’t spend the evening with a chill up your spine.’

Ren said nothing.

‘Look at Helen…’ There was pain in his eyes when he mentioned her name. ‘She didn’t figure me for a killer.’

‘You don’t figure yourself for a killer,’ said Ren, ‘and you had almost thirty years to make yourself believe that. The human mind is a powerful thing. It also helped you to create that mask of yours and keep on working on it right until…well, I suppose the end. Which is round about now. I can’t blame Helen for not seeing through you. You’re right, I would have met you and not suspected you of anything. But please, don’t be foolish enough to take that as a compliment on your acting skills or anything else. Nor is it a sign that, deep down, you really are a good person and that that is what ultimately shone through.’ Ren shook her head. ‘What you and Douglas Hammond did was possibly the most…’ She shook her head. ‘It’s just mind-blowing how you came together in that way. Did you ever cross paths since then?’