Martin Edwards: The Serpent Pool

‘Give it time.’ Fern hesitated. ‘If you want to.’

‘Meaning what?’

‘You like Daniel Kind, don’t you?’

On the way here, Hannah had called Daniel. It was only fair to tell him the news, before he heard it on television, and she’d thanked him for pointing her in the direction of Arlo Denstone. He sounded subdued and said Louise was showing signs of depression. The reality of discovering Stuart Wagg’s remains was kicking in.

Hannah supposed his book about De Quincey and murder would become a best-seller after this, but he wouldn’t find that much consolation. He and his sister had been through the mangle during the last few days. They needed time to come to terms with everything that had happened.

‘Fern, don’t go there, OK?’

‘All right, all right. Keep your hair on. Last thing I want is to sour the mood. Not on a day like this, when we’ve solved three cases at a stroke. And claimed a special bonus by saving the courts the time and expense of putting on a double trial.’

The bodies of Cassie Weston and Arlo Denstone had been recovered. Their bloody corpses lay in a thicket yards away from the Serpent Pool. Greg’s siren had disrupted the killer’s plan, but Hannah was sure Arlo intended them both to die once they’d feasted on the spectacle of Marc’s death — as, she guessed, he’d drooled over the sight of Cassie pushing Bethany Friend’s head under water. The symmetry would have appealed to him. Two lovers, dying together at the scene of their first crime. An elegant example of murder and suicide as a fine art. Not even De Quincey could have made it up.

‘Greg told me Denstone wasn’t lying about the cancer, after all.’

Fern nodded. ‘Yeah, he had skin cancer three years back in London and his GP gave him bad news a week before Christmas. Prostate cancer this time, and pretty aggressive.’

Across the room, laughter erupted at Greg’s table. Donna was loudest, her merriment raucous and uninhibited. A young, pretty woman, out for a good time. Hannah felt a pang of envy, then reminded herself about the disease that had wrought havoc inside Arlo Denstone’s body. As malignant and destructive as jealousy.

‘Come on,’ Fern said. ‘Give us a smile. We did a great job, you and me.’

‘You think so?’

‘All right, then — you did.’

Hannah finished her lemonade. ‘I’ll be off.’

‘See you in the morning. We’re going to be busy.’

‘Too right.’

Hannah didn’t have much in common with Scarlett O’Hara, except for a name. But that line in Gone With the Wind summed it up.

Tomorrow would be another day.