Martin Edwards - The Arsenic Labyrinth

‘She flitted from job to job. Temping for accountants and lawyers, a spell working on reception at a hotel, another as a PA at the Women’s Hospital. She never found her niche, that’s why she came back to the Lakes.’

‘Why did she leave in the first place?’

‘She’d had a series of dead-end jobs since leaving school and the bright lights lured her. Liverpool was an exciting city long before they called it the Capital of Culture, and she’d always been a Beatles fan. Her parents died when she was sixteen or seventeen, and she and her sister didn’t get on too well.’

Hannah said, ‘You said before that, according to Emma, when she came out as a lesbian, Karen gave her the cold shoulder.’

Vanessa nodded. ‘We think of the Lakes as cosmopolitan, don’t we? Because people from so many countries come here to work, as well as to visit. Go into a cafe in Bowness and you can be served your cup of tea by someone from anywhere in the world. But the fact is, some of the locals are deeply conservative. I’ve never met Karen, Chief Inspector, but Emma gave the impression she was rather narrow-minded.’

‘So Emma decided to get away from here?’

‘I suppose she wanted to find herself, if you like.’

‘But she didn’t find herself in Liverpool, did she? She doesn’t seem to have formed any meaningful ties there. That’s why she came back.’

Vanessa sighed. ‘I was very fond of Emma, Chief Inspector. But she didn’t open up easily. That’s why she didn’t make many friends. Living on her own suited her. Even when she was staying with us, we might not see her from one day to the next.’

‘You weren’t aware of any lovers in Liverpool? Or anyone who might have left her a lot of money?’

‘No one.’

‘How did she set about finding herself back home in the Lakes?’

‘She liked working at the museum. She and Alex were happy enough for a while, but then their relationship hit the rocks. Emma took it badly and was off work with stress for months. Then she came into this money and it gave her the opportunity to start afresh.’

‘According to Alex Clough, their relationship simply ran out of steam.’

Vanessa shrugged. ‘I don’t know the whys and wherefores. I never wanted to intrude. But you can take it from me that Emma was devastated.’

‘You were her friend, she must have given you a hint about why her affair with Alex Clough fell apart. Was there a row?’

‘I told you before, I’ve no idea. Emma and Alex had a lot in common, but it’s hard to work for someone you’re personally involved with. Alex was the boss and I don’t think Emma could get that out of her head. If you ask me, you have to treat each other as equals if you want to keep a relationship flourishing long term.’

She smiled at her husband and squeezed his hand. Last time Hannah had wondered whether the lovey-dovey stuff was put on for her benefit. Perhaps when the door closed behind her they would start bawling at each other. But their intimacy struck her as instinctive, these were two people at ease with each other. Was there such a thing as a genuinely happy marriage? If so, this might just be it.

‘Might the money have been a pay-off from Alban Clough? Or his daughter?’

Vanessa raised her eyebrows. ‘Why give her such a large golden handshake?’

‘An affair with her boss had gone wrong. Some people might conjure a sexual harassment suit out of that scenario.’

‘But she was a willing partner in the relationship.’

‘Even so. She was off with work-related stress.’ A burning topic in Police Review . ‘The pay-outs in litigation can be sky-high.’

Francis said, ‘You’d have to speak to Alex Clough or her father about that. But Emma never gave us the impression that she meant to bring a claim. She just couldn’t face going back to work for Alex after they split up. The Cloughs paid her wages till she resigned, but we never heard about anything more generous.’

‘You’re a nurse, Mr Goddard. How sick was she?’

‘Depression is a tricky illness, Chief Inspector. She was genuinely ill, but I was confident that eventually she would make a full recovery, and so it proved. Last time we talked, you asked if she might have become suicidal. I still can’t believe she would have killed herself.’

‘And coming into money perked her up?’ Hannah asked drily.

‘Well, it would, wouldn’t it?’ Francis was earnest; he didn’t do irony.

‘So she set up as a reflexologist. Lifelong ambition or impulse decision?’

‘She was searching for something new,’ Vanessa said. ‘A deeper meaning in life. She celebrated her thirtieth birthday whilst she lived in this house. We went out for an Indian together in Bowness and she told us that she fancied being her own boss. Having no one to answer to except herself.’

‘Was this interest in holistic therapies new?’

‘Yes, they seemed to assist her own recovery and she wanted to help others to feel better. Making her plans gave her a new lease of life. She’d been putting on weight, stuffing herself with comfort food while she was down in the dumps. But she worked hard at dieting and shed more than a stone. By the time she left us, she really looked quite trim.’

‘When we spoke before,’ Hannah said, ‘you believed she’d left the Lakes of her own accord. But if she relished running her own business …’

Vanessa bowed her head. ‘You’re right, Chief Inspector. I’ve had time to come to terms with the inevitable. When you and I first met, I’d not long had Christopher and I wanted to believe everyone was as happy as me. I hated to think that something dreadful might have happened to my friend. So I persuaded myself that she’d fallen for someone and followed her on the spur of the moment. I liked to think that one day she’d come back. But as the years passed …’

‘Seems unlikely that Emma would have thrown up her new home, her new car, for the sake of a flight of fancy.’

‘I was deceiving myself, I see it now.’

‘So what might have happened to her — any ideas?’

Francis Goddard said, ‘Your guess is as good as ours, Chief Inspector. An accident of some kind?’

‘Then why has she never been found?’

‘If we rule out suicide, that only leaves the possibility of murder.’

In her best press conference police-speak, Hannah said, ‘We’re keeping an open mind.’

Vanessa touched the mark on her face, as though it were sore. A habitual gesture, whenever she was troubled. ‘Who would want to murder Emma? It doesn’t make any sense. She was a caring person, she never did anyone any harm.’

‘How did she get on with Karen and her husband?’

Francis said brusquely, ‘I’m sure you haven’t forgotten that Jeremy Erskine was once married to Vanessa.’

‘To be honest, I found that curious, Mrs Goddard.’

‘Vanessa, please.’

‘Well, Vanessa. Your husband leaves you for someone else. And then you take that someone else’s sister in as your lodger.’

A long silence. Husband and wife exchanged glances. Vanessa cleared her throat.

‘I didn’t like to say this to you before.’

Hannah leaned forward. Her heart was thumping.

‘Yes?’ she whispered.

‘As you know, I met Emma when I led a workshop at the museum. She’d just started working there and we hit it off from the start. Whilst we were talking, I realised she was the sister of the woman who’d married my ex. The truth is, I was fascinated. I liked Emma, but of course I was curious. I wanted to find out more about Karen. Hopefully to reassure me that Jeremy had made a terrible mistake.’ Vanessa was talking quickly, her hands were trembling. ‘ Schadenfreude , I’m afraid. Dreadful confession, but there’s something of the voyeur in all of us, don’t you agree?’