plant explosive devices. Any nutters in your life, public or private?'
‘For the last time,' she shouted at the policeman. 'Sane or otherwise, I don't have any enemies!'
`So who would write those letters accusing you of adultery?' said Mcllhenney quietly, managing, with a great effort, to keep triumph out of his tone. 'A well-meaning friend?'
She looked at him. The anger left her eyes. She nodded solemnly. 'Nice one, Sergeant.'
She pushed herself out of her armchair and walked over to the bay window.
All right, I'll tell you. There's no point in keeping it quiet now anyway. Maurice himself wrote the letters.
`From the earliest days of our marriage, he was paranoid about me. He was convinced that I had affairs. It started off as hints at first; nudge, nudge, wink, wink, sort of stuff, but gradually it became more serious. The hints became accusations.'
`We have to ask you this, ma'am,' said Donaldson. Was there substance in them?'
`No, there was not,' she said firmly.
`So how did you react to his suggestions?'
‘I cross-examined him.'
`What do you mean?'
I put him in the witness box. I made him set out his evidence, and I took it apart.'
`Did he have any evidence?' asked Mcllhenney.
She sighed. 'No. Deep down poor Maurice, much as I loved him, was an essentially insecure personality, with little or no inner self-belief. He really could be quite inadequate.'
`Sexually?'
She looked sharply at the Sergeant. 'Well, if I'm being frank, he wasn't a superstud. But I was speaking in emotional terms. As I said, he was paranoid, a classic manifestation of low self-esteem. For example, if I met a colleague of his and exchanged even a few friendly words, it would fester, and I'd hear about it at some time in the future.'
`Did you ever meet Colin Davey?'
`Yes, I was introduced to him at a reception around two months ago. I took an instant dislike to him. Then about a fortnight after that I had a consultation with a solicitor who turned out to be his Constituency Chairman. As it was coming to an end, Davey called into his office. After we had each completed our business we talked for about twenty minutes, while he waited for his car, and I for my taxi.'
`What did you talk about?'
`Trivia. I didn't like him and I could tell that he didn't like me but it was easier to jabber about the weather than to sit in silence.'
`Did your husband know of these encounters?'
She nodded. 'He was in the room on the first occasion. The second time he was in the official car which came to collect Davey from the solicitor's office. When it arrived, Davey and I came out together.. ' Her voice trailed off as she saw the expressions on the faces of the two policemen.
Oh no,' she said quietly. 'Surely not.'
`Later, did Mr Noble ever mention either of those meetings?' asked Donaldson.
She shook her head. 'No, he didn't. But after the letters, he wouldn't have.'
`What do you mean?'
`When Maurice showed me the first letter, I guessed at once that he had sent it to himself.
I didn't accuse him at that stage. I just burned it, and I did the same with the second. But when the third arrived, I decided that I had to put a stop to it, so I called in the police.'
‘Did you expect them to trace it back to him?'
`No. I was pretty certain they couldn't do that. I simply wanted to give him a scare and put a stop to the endless accusations. It worked. The arrival of the police gave him a hell of a fright. After they had gone, I sat him down and made him promise that the nonsense would stop. I told him that if he ever accused me again of having an interest in another man, then I really would leave him. That seemed to have done the trick'
`So he said nothing to you about Davey?'
Not in that context, no. All that he said about him was professional. About his conduct, about the way he treated his staff, and generally about what a horrible man he was.'
And you agreed with that?'
She nodded. 'Maurice was dead right about him. I thought that he was a typical politician.
Arrogant, self-centred, and power-hungry sums up the way he came across to me.'
`You weren't attracted to him by all that arrogance?' asked Donaldson. 'It can happen, you know.'
She laughed, bitterly, in his face. ‘Not in the slightest, Chief Inspector. But surely your argument is that my husband thought I was.'
‘Not our argument, Ms Tucker. Simply a line of enquiry, a piece of potential evidence which we have to assess. From what you've told me and from what we've heard from others, it's a pretty strong possibility.' He paused. I'd like to record this discussion, ma'am.
Would you give us a formal statement, please.'
Of course,' she said. 'I know the drill. I'll set something down, sign it and let you have it.
Could you collect it tomorrow evening?'
Donaldson nodded. 'Yes, but in the circumstances I'll have to ask you to write or type it yourself, rather than dictate it to a secretary'
`Naturally.' She brushed her hands down her skirt. 'Now, will that be all?'
The DCI shook his head. 'No, there's just one other thing. The forensic people who looked over your house found signs of entry at a small mezzanine window. They said it was unalarmed.'
`Yes, it is, I'm afraid. The alarm system was in the house when we bought it. I expect that whoever installed it saved a few pounds because that window is so small. We'd been meaning to upgrade it, by installing movement sensors, but we never got round to it.'
`Have you noticed anything out of place since last Thursday evening?' asked Donaldson.
'Or did you hear anything that night? You said that you worked late.'
She pursed her lips. 'Let me think. I was in my study, off the second bedroom.'
`Would there have been lights showing?'
`Probably not. Anyway, let me think. Yes, I do recall hearing a sound, as if someone had tripped over something.'
`Were you startled?'
Ariadne Tucker looked at the Chief Inspector, as if to indicate that 'startling' was something which happened to other people.
I just assumed,' she said, 'that Maurice had gone downstairs for some reason and had trodden on the cat. Which, almost certainly, is what happened!' She gathered herself and moved towards the door. 'Now, gentlemen, if that really is everything ‘
Donaldson and Mcllhenney followed her into the hallway. She held the door open for them, but as the Chief Inspector stepped outside she caught his arm. 'Look,' she said. 'This theory about Maurice thinking I was having an affair with the Secretary of State. It really is pretty far-fetched, isn't it?' For the first time, her voice sounded less than confident.
Of course it is, ma'am,' said Donaldson soothingly.
Aye,' said Mcllhenney. 'The only trouble is, it fits the facts as we know them. When you get down to it, blowing a plane full of people out of the skies, that's pretty far-fetched too, yet that's exactly what happened last Friday!'
SIXTY-TWO
Leona,' said Alison Higgins, as she hung up her overcoat in her friend's hallway. 'Are you sure you're up for this? How many people are coming?'
I'm perfectly fine,' said the little woman. 'There won't be too many of us. Just you and Marshall Elliot, plus
