Martin Edwards - The Frozen Shroud

‘Looks like Clifford tucked his wife’s grave as far out of sight as possible.’

‘The poor, poor woman,’ Melody said. ‘Coming here, and wondering about what drove her to kill Gertrude, set me thinking about whether she’d suffered a terrible injustice.’

‘I promised to tell you what I discovered about Dorothy and Roland. Not that it explains what happened to Gertrude.’

She listened with lips slightly parted. It was difficult not to feel flattered when an attractive woman hung on your every word, but Daniel did his best. Her loveliness was just another mask. He still couldn’t figure her out. Shallow and self-absorbed, selfless and smart, or subtle and scheming? Or simply a mass of baffling contradictions?

‘Fascinating,’ she breathed. ‘You’ve discovered so much in twenty-four hours. I suppose that shows the difference between a professional and a dilettante. I didn’t know where to start. I just want to find out what happened here a hundred years ago. When we met, it was simple curiosity. Now, after Terri’s death, and all the angst about money, it seems like a lifeline. Something to take my mind off … all the other crap.’

‘The conversation Miriam overheard proves nothing,’ he said. ‘There’s no proof that Letty didn’t kill Gertrude. I’d love to know what her suicide note said. If she knew Clifford had murdered Gertrude, and she was determined to cover for him …’

‘How could she go so far — however much she loved her husband? I know I wouldn’t take the rap for Oz.’ She flushed, and added hastily, ‘Not that I’d ever need to.’

The wind stung Daniel’s cheeks. He kept quiet, content to let her talk.

‘I mean, even when he picked up penalty points for speeding on the M6 that meant he lost his driving licence for six months, he knew better than to ask me to pretend I was behind the wheel. He has his faults, but he’s no bully. Anyway, I simply wouldn’t do it. He had to pay his dues.’

‘Things were different a century ago.’

‘I guess so. Letty had mental health issues. It must all have become too much for her. Perhaps she simply couldn’t face living, knowing her husband was an adulterous killer, and that everything was about to fall apart. Whatever the truth, I’m grateful to you, Daniel.’

She switched on a smile, as sudden as it was ravishing. He recalled that before her marriage, she’d not only been a model, but also an actor. ‘I needed you to show an interest, to convince myself I wasn’t simply romanticising about Letty because she and I had stuff in common.’

So she identified with Letty Hodgkinson. Two women married to men with a wandering eye. Two women whose rivals had been beaten to death with raw and unforgivable savagery.

‘You’re frowning,’ she said. ‘Not convinced? It’s true, I’ve been so much luckier than Letty. But … I know what it’s like to feel suffocated by depression, as if a thick towel is pressing down over your nose and mouth. I know what it’s like to go to bed hoping you won’t wake up the next morning.’

Above the trees, a buzzard squealed. A squirrel that didn’t want to become its next meal scampered down an oak trunk, and vanished into the safety of the undergrowth.

‘I had a very rough time in my teens. I can’t bear to go into details, but it was horrendous, I promise you.’ Her voice had dropped to a whisper, and he had to move closer to hear. ‘My uncle was sent to prison for what he did, and I had a lot of problems. Partly physical — I was pretty messed up, and I can’t have children. But the doctors were wonderful, and a fantastic social worker helped me regain confidence.’

If she’d kicked him in the stomach, he couldn’t have felt worse.

‘Melody, I’m so sorry.’

‘Oh, shit happens. I was never going to make the big time as a model or an actor, but the work helped me escape from the past. Start a new life.’ She drew breath. ‘Yet I never quite got over my habit of getting mixed up with untrustworthy men. Trust me, compared with his predecessors, Oz is a saint.’

Daniel heard screaming. The buzzard was being mobbed by a gang of hooded crows intent on defending their territory. Sometimes it wasn’t easy to tell who was the predator, who the prey. He glanced at Melody’s profile. Heedless of the birds, she was staring towards the lake. Barely holding herself together. He had to stifle the urge to put his arms around her. The silence between them was uncomfortably intimate.

‘There you are, darling!’

Oz Knight was standing in the archway. A man with more to worry about than the weather, to judge by his gaunt appearance. In the past couple of days he’d aged ten years. That once-magnificent mane of hair was flapping in the wind, straggly and grey. Perhaps he’d had too much on his mind to remember to dye it.

His wife groaned. ‘Oh God, back to reality. Come on, Daniel. Time for lunch.’

‘Hannah — a word?’

Les Bryant’s dour features never betrayed emotion, but his voice had a scratchy quality that Hannah hadn’t heard before. She nodded, and he followed her into her room, closing the door behind them with exaggerated care.

‘Terri was a decent kid,’ he said. ‘I know how much she meant to you. And you to her, believe me.’

‘Thanks.’

She tried to decipher his inscrutable expression. In one of the least likely romantic pairings conceivable, Les had once gone on a blind date with Terri. Once and only once, needless to say.

‘She told me you drove her crazy, forever doubting yourself. Her opinion was that you were wasted on Amos. Reckoned you’d do far better with Ben Kind’s lad.’

‘There you are, then.’ She tried to keep her voice steady. ‘Poor old Terri, she had no idea.’

‘You’re wrong,’ he said. ‘She was a smart lady. No good for me, obviously. Too young, too good-looking, too bloody dizzy. We’d have killed each other within a week. Tell you what, though.’

‘Go on.’

He cleared his throat. ‘Before we did kill each other, I’d have enjoyed that week more than any I can remember.’

Daniel swallowed the last of his casserole and said how much he’d enjoyed it. His host and hostess had only picked at their own portions. It was as if Terri’s murder had robbed them of their appetites.

‘Credit where it’s due,’ Melody said. ‘This is Miriam Park’s recipe. Such a wonderful cook. Francis Palladino used to say she was worth her weight in gold. She’s in a bad place at the moment. Robin, finally on the brink of settling down with someone, and then …’

‘You think his relationship with Terri was strong enough to last?’ Daniel asked.

‘Why not? You only had to spend five minutes in their company to see they were very much in love. He was besotted, and so was she.’

‘Miriam jumped the gun about their getting married,’ Oz muttered. ‘Wishful thinking, if you ask me. Terri was a sweet lady, but she’d already divorced three husbands, and Robin’s never come close to tying the knot. They’d only known each other a few weeks.’

‘You proposed to me a fortnight after we first met,’ Melody said.

‘And you turned me down flat.’ Oz turned to Daniel. ‘Not that anyone could blame her, with the age difference and everything. Took a long time to wear down her resistance.’

‘I never planned to marry the boss,’ Melody said. ‘It just worked out that way in the end. For better, for worse …’

‘For richer, for poorer.’ Oz grimaced. ‘Definitely for poorer after this morning, I’m afraid.’

At Melody’s confession that she’d told Daniel about their financial problems, he’d flinched, as if she’d poked him in the eye, before rallying with a tirade about greedy bankers and the havoc they’d wreaked on the world’s economy. As well as on the Knights’ prospects of keeping their business afloat. The overdraft facility had been renewed this morning, but on punitive conditions. He feared the stay of execution was only temporary.