Body Line

‘I just want you to tell me what time you saw Robin Frith on Monday morning.’

‘Sorry, I’m a bit tired,’ said Sue, and rubbed the back of her neck. If she’d rubbed her face she’d have done irreparable damage. ‘I can’t tell you the exact time, because I didn’t look, but I suppose it would have been half past seven going on eight when I got home. Robin was there already. We spent a couple of hours together and then he left after lunch and I went to sleep.’

‘So you can’t vouch for him for any time before eight that morning?’

She stared a moment, and then slowly began to smile. ‘I’m sorry. I’ve been a bit slow. Must be jet-lag. You’re asking me for an alibi for him? You can’t be serious.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because Robin just isn’t capable of murder.’

‘Anyone’s capable of murder in the right circumstances.’

Sue shrugged. ‘Well, possibly, I don’t know about that, but if you’re suggesting that Robin could kill David Rogers – and why he’d want to do that I can’t imagine – and then come to my house and wait for me, cook me breakfast and run my bath and talk to me as if nothing had happened – well, you’re just so far out it isn’t funny. He’s simply not that ruthless. You don’t know him. He’s no tough guy. I suppose he might get into a row with someone and kill them by accident – hit them so they fell down and banged their head or something like that – but cold-bloodedly, it just couldn’t happen.’

‘You say he’s not tough. But you have to be tough to compete at Badminton, don’t you? You have to be ruthless to win there.’ Swilley had this from Slider. She didn’t know one end of a horse from the other, except that one end had teeth and the other made hors d’oeuvres – horse eggs, in English. ‘He runs a successful business. He employs people. He coaches Olympics and trains horses. All those things suggest a very capable man.’

‘He is capable around horses,’ Sue confirmed. ‘And he knows his business. And you’re right, you have to be tough and brave to event at the top level. It’s always puzzled me,’ she said, smiling, ‘how a man so brave on horseback can be such a hopeless wimp around people. Look at the way Amanda pushes him around. He’ll never so much as say boo to her. She throws him into a tizzy. He spends a lot of our time together complaining about her and how awful his life is and all the things she’s done in the past – and, yes, he’s talked about David, too. I’m the one he tells everything to. I’m his agony aunt. I promise you, he couldn’t have murdered Roger and pretended around me that nothing had happened. He’d have had to tell me. He’d have been in a blue funk about it, and I’d have asked him “what’s wrong”, and he’d have said “nothing” the first three times, then it would all have come out.’

Never had anyone been so transparently sincere about what they were saying. However, Swilley thought, that didn’t mean she was right in her assessment. If Robin was such a pushover and so funky about Amanda, might he not have just obeyed her if she’d said she wanted David murdered? What if his fear of Amanda was worse than his fear of the law?

‘You’ve known Robin a long time?’ she said.

‘About six years now. I met him when he was flying out with the team to the Athens Olympics. We got chatting on the plane. I had a two-day layover, and – well, the rest is history.’

‘You’ve been lovers ever since?’

She pinked a little, but nodded. ‘It isn’t easy. My schedule makes it hard for any relationship. And we’ve both – got partners.’

‘That could be changed.’

She looked suddenly very tired. ‘I’d leave Terry. I would, if I had something to go to. He’s – he’s not an easy man. He has a temper. And it’s a long time since we were – fond of each other. If Robin would commit himself I’d leave. But I can’t go with nothing to go to. Terry wouldn’t take it well, and I’d need support. I’d have to be going to someone.’

Swilley nodded. ‘And Robin won’t commit?’

She sighed. ‘We’ve talked about it sometimes, but he won’t leave Amanda. It’s not just the money. He could get a job all right, we’d manage somehow. But he’d have to sell his horses, and that would break his heart. And it’s more than that. She has a hold on him. I don’t understand it. She’s a stroppy cow as far as I can see, and treats him like dirt.’ She sighed again. ‘Maybe that’s what it is. Maybe I’m too nice to him. But he’ll never leave her.’

‘What do you know about David Rogers? Robin’s talked to you about him?’

‘God, yes! I’ve had the whole story till I’m sick of it. How David stole Amanda from Robin, then treated her badly—’

‘How, badly?’

‘Oh, other women. Apparently he couldn’t stop – it was like a sickness. Until Amanda got fed up with him and divorced him. Robin rushed to her side to comfort her, and she took him into her bed, but then wouldn’t marry him. Oh, I had all the sob story,’ she concluded wearily.

What on earth did she see in him? Swilley wondered. A man who only visits you to whinge about the woman he won’t leave for you? But maybe he had a huge willy. Women could be so shallow.

‘But Amanda put money into Robin’s stables?’ she asked.

‘Yes. Robin put money in, too – sold his house and everything – but she put in more than half. So she’s got him by the balls.’

‘Where did she get the money?’

‘The divorce settlement, I suppose. There was this mansion out in Hertfordshire she and David had, that was sold. That must have been worth millions. It all happened about that time, anyway.’

‘Wasn’t there some kind of scandal?’ Swilley tried. ‘Didn’t David get into some kind of trouble about that time?’

‘Trouble? You mean money trouble?’

‘No, some kind of sex thing. Trouble with the police?’

‘Not that I know of,’ she said easily. ‘Robin’s never said anything about that.’

Now did that mean that Amanda had told him to keep it secret? Swilley wondered. Or that Robin had never known about it at all? But surely if they had been keeping up with each other all the time he would have known? On the other hand, how closely had they remained in touch while Amanda was married to David?

‘Was Robin having an affair with Amanda?’ she asked. ‘While she was still married to David, I mean.’

Sue Hardwicke frowned. ‘I don’t know. He’s never said so.’

‘So what made him “rush to her side” as you put it?’

‘The divorce.’

‘How did he know about it?’

‘Oh, I see what you’re asking. Apparently, Amanda contacted him, told him that it was all over with David and that she was divorcing him, that he’d moved out and she’d filed against him for adultery.’

‘So that was before the divorce was finalized?’

‘Oh yes.’ A bitter look crossed Sue’s weary face. ‘She wasn’t taking any chances on being left alone. Made sure of Robin the moment David was out of the door. Made him sell his place so that he’d have to live with her. She’s like a vampire octopus, that woman.’

She made Robin sell his place to buy the stables, and she put money into the stables. But if that was between the separation and the divorce, her side of the money couldn’t have come from the divorce settlement. So where had it come from?

This was not a question to put to Sue Hardwicke, however. And she was looking increasingly beat. ‘Well, thank you,’ Swilley said. ‘You’ve been most helpful.’

Sue roused herself. ‘Is that it? Can I go now?’

‘Yes, of course, and thank you.’

‘You do believe me, about Robin? That he just couldn’t kill anyone.’

‘Yes,’ Swilley said, circumspectly. ‘Are you going to see him now?’

‘No, Terry’s home. And I’m flying out again tomorrow. I shan’t see him until next week.’

Well, that was all right, Swilley thought. By next week they ought to know for sure whether they were interested in the poor woman’s Colin Firth. And this, she thought as Sue stood up, swaying slightly with weariness, was the poor woman.

‘We need to get some firm dates on this financial business,’ Slider said, when Swilley had made her report. ‘When the stables were bought, when the various houses were sold. You can get that from the property register.