Peter Lovesey - The House Sitter

“Not long before her death, you took her for a meal at Popjoy’s. Is that right?”

He gave a nod.

“Would it be true to say the evening didn’t go according to plan?”

There was a delay before he responded. “How do you know that?”

“We’re detectives,” Hen said. “It’s our job. We’d like to hear your take on the evening.”

He stared into the palm of his left hand, as if he was reading the lines. More likely, Peter Diamond thought, watching him, he didn’t want eye contact. “It started well enough. It was a very good meal. Towards the end she complained of a headache and blamed the wine. There was nothing wrong with it. She said some wines had that effect on her, letting me know, in a way, that I should have let her see the list instead of going ahead and ordering. She asked the waiter for an Alka Seltzer, which I found deeply embarrassing in a smart restaurant. Then we had to wait a long time for a taxi. I thought we could walk home-it isn’t far to her place-but she was wearing unsuitable shoes. I seemed to be saying the wrong thing at every turn.”

Diamond said, to keep the confidences coming, “We’ve all had evenings like that.”

Bellman gave a shrug and a sigh. “Well, it got no better. Back in her flat I made some coffee and asked if the headache was easing off and she said I was only asking because I wanted my money’s worth, which was pretty hurtful. I think I told her so. She was in a black mood, for sure. I can’t cope with women when they get like that. I left soon after.”

Hen asked, “Was it a break-up?”

“I didn’t think so at the time. I tried calling her next day to see if I was still in the doghouse. I had to leave a message on the answerphone, which wasn’t easy. I think I just said I hoped she was feeling better and would she call me. But she didn’t. When I eventually got through to her some time in the evening, she told me straight out that she didn’t want to see me any more because she was seeing someone else. I was shattered. Gutted.” The pain of the memory showed in his face.

“Did she say who?” Hen asked.

“No. Just ‘someone’. I reacted badly. I’m ashamed now. I called her some ugly names. A rush of blood, I guess. She slammed down the phone and I can’t blame her for that.” He shook his head. “Wish I could take back what I said. Death is so final.”

The self-recrimination didn’t impress Diamond. With a glance towards Hen, he took up the questioning. “Did you hear from her again?”

“Not on the phone.”

“You’d said these things-called her names-so did you regard the break as final?”

“No. I’d lost control. I wanted her back. Thinking about it after that phone call, I wondered if she was speaking the truth about going out with someone else. I’d got no hint of another man up to then. I wondered if she’d made it up-invented him, in other words-to hurt me in the heat of the moment. I didn’t want our friendship to end. I thought if I handled it right we could get back together again. This was the first serious row we’d had.”

“You said you’d lost control. What do you mean by that?”

“Control of myself, when I shot off at the mouth.”

“Ah, so you didn’t mean you’d lost control of the relationship?”

“God, no! I was never in charge. Didn’t wish to be.”

“OK. So did you do any more about patching it up?”

“Not immediately. As I said, I was slightly suspicious about this other man she’d met.”

“Only slightly?”

He coloured noticeably. “More than slightly, then.” He shifted position in the chair. “This doesn’t reflect very well on me, but I’d better tell you. The next weekend I followed her, to try and find out. On Saturday morning she drove off in her sports car and I followed.”

“Didn’t she know your car?”

“We’d never been out in it. She drove all the way to Horsham. There, she parked and bought herself a soft drink and a sandwich and sat for a while in a park. I was beginning to think I’d made a mistake and she was simply enjoying a day on her own. Then suddenly she returned to her car and drove south of the town until she came to a house near the river. It was fairly secluded, so I had to park some distance off or I’d have been far too obvious. I didn’t actually see her go in, but her Lotus was parked outside. I watched and waited, not liking myself at all, but committed to finding out if she was visiting this other man. She could have been seeing her mother, or someone else in the family. The whole afternoon went by before they appeared. It was around six thirty when she came out.”

“Alone?”

“No, he was with her, a tall bloke, dark, in a suit, hair brushed back. He opened the garage and backed out his car, a red Renault, I think. She got in and they drove off, leaving her car on the drive.”

“Confirming your worst fears?”

“Absolutely.”

“So what did you do?”

“This is going to sound daft. I didn’t follow them. I guessed they were off for a meal somewhere, and I couldn’t get back to my own car in time, so I waited for them to come back. I knew there was a man now, and I had to find out if she would spend the night with him.”

Hen said, “Wasn’t that torturing yourself?”

“It would have been worse not to have known. In my mind I was making up all kinds of scenarios to explain away this bloke.”

“But she’d told you she had another man.”

“And I wasn’t willing to believe her. I still thought I had a chance.”

“So did they return that evening?” Diamond asked.

“About ten. And she went into the house with him and didn’t come out again. I know because I slept in my own car that night. That’s how single-minded I was.” He paused, looking shamefaced.

Diamond didn’t press him and neither did Hen. The man couldn’t have been more candid, and every detail chimed in with information they already had. This was beginning to have the force of a confession.

“But I had a surprise next morning,” he resumed, “because the man left his house alone, dressed in his suit again, and drove off in his car. Hers was still outside. She came out half an hour later and drove away.”

“This was the Sunday-the day she died?”

“Yes. I got in my car and followed. She headed south and eventually ended up in Wightview Sands.”

“It must have been obvious you were behind her.”

“I don’t know. She didn’t attempt to lose me, or anything. I kept some distance back, often with another car between us. She may have noticed the car, but I was never close enough for her to recognise me.”

Hen commented to Diamond, “Some drivers don’t check their mirror that often.”

“And when we got closer to the beach, and everything slowed down, I made sure I was at least two cars behind,” Bellman added. “As it happened, that almost threw me. There was a barrier system at the beach car park. You paid a chap in a kiosk. He was chatting to Emma and then she went through and drove off. All I could do was sit in the queue and watch her car disappear into the distance. It’s a very large car park.”

“Large beach,” Diamond said.

“You’re telling me. By the time I’d got up to the barrier and exchanged some words with this chatty car park man, I was resigned to having to walk along the beach looking for her.”

Hen said to Diamond, “I know the car park guy who was on duty. Bit of a character. Wants a word with everyone.”

Diamond knew him, too, but wasn’t being diverted. “What did you intend when you found her?”

“By this time, I’d decided to try and talk her round.”

“Even after you knew she’d spent the night with someone else?” Hen said in disbelief.