Rupert Thomson - Death of a Murderer

“Quiet,” Emma said in that toneless voice of hers. “Too noisy.” Without her glasses, she was very short-sighted, and her eyes had a blankness to them that could seem cold, almost hostile.

Grinning, he apologised, and sat down on the floor beside the bath.

“That’s better,” she said.

Later, when he pulled out the plug, she turned round so that her head was near the taps. Lying on her stomach, she watched the water disappear down the plughole. She was leaning up on her elbows, with her face propped on her hands, and her air of concentration was intense, as if she were studying some rare phenomenon.

She would never study anything, of course.

He had wondered then what would become of her. What would he and Sue decide to do about her future? Would she always live at home, with them? Who would care for her when they were dead?

Or would she, with her damaged heart, die first?

He laid his forearms along the edge of the bath and rested his chin on top. He too watched as the bath slowly emptied itself. He noticed how her head revolved ever so slightly, echoing the miniature whirlpool that formed in the water as it was sucked down the hole. The strange noises that it made, all squawks and cackles…

At last Emma peered up at him.

“Gone,” she said.

Looking at his daughter stretched out in the bath, he noticed how strong her body was, and how well made, her skin so sleek and rosy, so unblemished.

“You’re beautiful,” he said.

She climbed out of the bath and stood on the mat in front of him, arms held away from her sides.

“Dry me.”

How she loved to issue commands! He reached for the towel that was warming on the radiator.

As he knelt in front of her, rubbing her legs, she placed one hand on the top of his head, then she leaned down and looked right into his face.

“Daddy,” she said.

I am indebted to the staff of the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St. Edmunds, and to various police officers at the Suffolk Constabulary and the Cheshire Constabulary, and to the staff of the Cambridge City Crematorium, without whose patience, cooperation and expertise this book could not have been written.