‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Obviously the team who originally attended the scene took a quick look round but as this didn’t appear to be a suspicious death I haven’t ordered a full blown forensic search.’
‘That makes sense.’
‘But even if she didn’t have a newspaper, Martha, she could still have heard about the finding of the bones on the local news on the radio or the television or even seen it on a newspaper hoarding,’ he pointed out. ‘Or…’ He stopped. ‘Someone could have rung her.’
‘That’s true,’ she said. ‘Have you anyone in mind?’
‘It’ll be difficult to prove.’
‘You know me, Alex,’ she said. ‘I like it neat and tidy. If someone had rung to tell Alice about the bones being found it would have been a malicious act. Someone who was not a friend.’
‘Most definitely not,’ he agreed.
‘Anything else?’
Randall hesitated. ‘I’m going to have to speak to Aaron Sedgewick at some point,’ he said. ‘I’d like you in on it. It might help you decide on your verdict,’ he added by way of a sweetener.
‘You know I can’t attend in person, Alex,’ she said. ‘It would be considered prejudicial. But I can watch from behind the one-way mirror.’
‘I’ll see what I can do.’ He paused. ‘Of course with this being a suicide case I can’t order him down to the station. I can only invite him.’
Alex Randall dreaded having to face Aaron Sedgewick again. He was convinced the man would hold him and the police investigation responsible for his wife’s death. So when he connected with Sedgewick he was fully prepared for a battle. But to his surprise Sedgewick was relatively polite over the phone. Randall had fully expected that Aaron Sedgewick would want to be in control and had offered to interview him at his home but no, Sedgewick was adamant he would attend the police station. ‘If you don’t mind,’ he said angrily, ‘I’ve had quite enough of the police poking around my house. I can’t see why you feel the need to speak to me at all, particularly when I am so obviously busy with my family problems but if you insist and it means I can bury my dearest wife…’ There was a break in his voice which almost convinced Alex Randall that the man was genuinely grieving. Almost but not quite. It was the first time he had heard the man express any affection towards his wife. His main feeling towards her had seemed to be one of irritation.
‘What time do you want me?’
‘As soon as possible.’ Randall paused. ‘Let’s get it over and done with, sir.’
‘I’ll be down within half an hour although I want it registered that I consider it a gross intrusion by the police at a very difficult time for me.’
Fine, Alex thought as he put the phone down. Just fine.
He rang Martha straightaway and was not surprised when she agreed to witness the interview from behind a one-way mirror. He was looking forward to hearing her observations.
It was six p.m. by the time the three of them were assembled, Martha stationed behind the one-way mirror. Randall found Aaron Sedgewick in more of a state of shock than he had expected. He arrived looking pinched and pale and very tired. Unexpectedly Alex felt some pity for him – an emotion he never would have thought he could have applied to Aaron Sedgewick. He sat him down in the interview room and offered him some coffee.
Once they were seated he explained the purpose of inviting him down. ‘This is an informal interview,’ he began. ‘There are no charges. I simply need to explain to you the findings of the post-mortem and to clarify one or two points.’ He met Sedgewick’s eyes. ‘I apologize for the intrusion but you must understand we, the police, have a job to do. Your wife’s death is unexplained.’ He paused. ‘As yet.’
Immediately Sedgewick began to bluster. The detente was over. ‘What do you mean, unexplained? It’s obvious what happened. The police have been harassing her since she took that horrible thing up to the hospital. God knows why she did that but that is what she did. My wife…’ He looked around hopelessly, crumpling before Randall’s eyes. ‘My wife is… was…’ he corrected, ‘a very fragile woman.’
‘Why?’ Randall asked bluntly.
‘There is no why,’ Sedgewick snapped. ‘She just was. That’s the only why. It was her mental make-up, if you like.’
‘So you would not be surprised if she had committed suicide?’
‘No.’ Sedgewick frowned thoughtfully. ‘Not really. Alice was a vulnerable woman.’
Randall pressed on. ‘But you understand that without a letter of explanation we don’t know exactly what happened, what state of mind she was in, what finally tipped her over the edge. After all – it’s a week since her visit to the Royal Shrewsbury and she seemed to be coping well.’
Sedgewick leaned forward, a fire burning in his eyes. ‘Isn’t it bloody obvious what tipped her over the edge? This ridiculous hounding of our old property. Yesterday you found some bones.’
Alex felt himself grow hot with embarrassment. ‘They were animal bones.’
‘Right.’ If anything, Aaron Sedgewick’s eyes blazed even more furiously. ‘You are telling me,’ he said speaking very slowly and deliberately, ‘that my wife probably committed suicide over a few
‘If that’s why she did it,’ Randall admitted. ‘We can’t know for sure, Mr Sedgewick, without a note.’ Alex had put the ball neatly right back into Mr Sedgewick’s court but Aaron wasn’t about to give up. ‘Why on earth did you have to dig up that wretched patio?’
‘It was a necessary part of our investigation.’
‘But why make it public?’
Randall felt bound to defend himself. ‘We didn’t, deliberately. Unfortunately the story leaked out and we had no control over what was printed.’
‘If you say so,’ Sedgewick said wearily.
‘You know a post-mortem was performed on your wife this morning?’
Sedgewick winced.
Alex ploughed on. ‘I’m sorry to have to inform you that it appears your wife took her own life using a mixture of barbiturates, which she had been prescribed by a doctor, along with alcohol. Did she give you any clue that this was her intention?’
‘No. Not when I last saw her.’
‘Which was? Just for the record?’
‘I left for Leicester on Tuesday night,’ he said. ‘She seemed quiet, a little withdrawn but I wasn’t worried about her.’ He looked up. ‘If I had been I would not have gone on a business trip. You understand?’
Alex nodded. ‘Your wife has appeared extremely disturbed by recent events.’
‘Well – wouldn’t your wife be just a little troubled by this?’
Alex’s face darkened. Had Sedgewick been observant he would have seen the inspector’s face twist with pain. But Aaron Sedgewick was noticing nothing. Martha, however, didn’t miss it. She watched Alex Randall as he regained control of himself and continued.
‘When did you last speak to your wife, Mr Sedgewick?’
Martha leaned forward to catch Sedgewick’s words.
‘Yesterday morning. She sounded well. And Acantha keeps an eye on her, of course.’
‘And you haven’t found a note somewhere in the house?’
‘No.’
There had been, Martha thought, the very slightest of hesitations. To such a simple question?
It seemed Alex had picked up on something too because he went over the point again, carefully. ‘Not addressed to you or your daughter – or your son – or even Mrs Palk? The two seemed close.’
‘No,’ Sedgewick said, deliberately aggressive. ‘I said no. That’s the truth. If she did, as you say, deliberately take a fatal dose of her tablets, she must have done it on impulse.’ He frowned and looked up. ‘How can you know she did it deliberately? It’s pure supposition on your part. You can’t possibly know. It could have been an accident.’ His face changed, became softer. ‘Maybe she had a bit to drink and forgot how many tablets she’d already taken.’ He obviously liked this explanation. His face relaxed.
But Alex was not going to let him off the hook. ‘Did your wife have a drink problem?’
Sedgewick wasn’t quite sure how to answer this question. ‘Not a drink problem,’ he said slowly. ‘But sometimes
