Carla Banks - The Forest of Souls

A pervert. Did he mean that Helen had been…‘Oh, God,’ she said.

‘I talked to her,’ Daniel said. His voice sounded raw. ‘Not long before it happened. She wanted to talk to the kids. I was pissed off. I wouldn’t let her. And then this… animal …strangled her.’

Faith closed her eyes. She felt sick. ‘How are they? Hannah and Finn?’

He was suddenly angry. ‘They’ve just lost their mum. How do you think they are?’ And then the anger faded as fast as it had come. ‘It’s too much, kids that age.’

‘Daniel, I’d really like to see them. Can I come round?’

‘It’s not a good…’ He began his refusal, then stopped. ‘Look, you could help me out–if you want. I’m a bit stuck. I’ve got a job on this afternoon and I can’t leave it. The kids aren’t in school–if you want to see them, you could come round and sit with them.’

‘Of course. Give me the address and I’ll be there.’

He gave her the street name and number. ‘Get here for two,’ he said, and rang off.

The door into the yard where Faith was sitting opened suddenly. ‘Oh. There you are. They’re waiting for you.’ It was Trish, looking outwardly composed, but there was a suppressed excitement about her and her eyes were bright.

Faith stood up slowly. ‘The police?’

‘They want to talk to everyone Helen knew,’ Trish said. ‘Professor Yevanov has promised them full co-operation.’

Yevanov would have little choice but full cooperation. ‘Where is he?’ Faith asked as she walked back into the lobby. She didn’t want to talk about Helen with Trish. She could remember the satisfaction in Trish’s voice the day before when she had reported Helen’s absence. She isn’t in. Again .

‘He came in with them first thing. Then he went back into town to talk to them.’

Yevanov, with the police? She looked quickly at Trish, but she didn’t seem disturbed. ‘Why didn’t they talk to him here?’

‘They need him to look at the archive materials Helen was working on. They want to know if anything’s missing.’

That made sense, but she remembered Yevanov telling her the collection was undocumented, and wondered how anyone would be able to tell.

‘Miss Lange?’ It was the policewoman she’d spoken to earlier. ‘We’d like to talk to you now.’ She dismissed Trish with a cool smile and directed Faith into one of the small offices that were used by the admin staff.

A young police officer was waiting for her. He apologized for keeping her waiting, then asked, ‘Helen Kovacs was a friend of yours?’

Was …‘I’ve known her most of my life.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I need to ask you some questions, okay?’

Faith nodded. ‘Okay.’

At first, his questions were general–Helen’s routine, her daily contacts–but gradually they began to focus on her marriage. ‘What caused the break-up?’ he said.

Faith shook her head. ‘I don’t think it was any one thing.’ She explained that Helen had given up a secure job to become an academic. ‘Daniel never really understood that, and Helen’s work was the most important thing in her life, apart from the kids.’

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