He was certainly no fool, thought Galbraith. 'We don't think so.'
'Then her mother was killed in front of her?' The man's voice rose. 'Oh my God, I'm not sure I can bear this! She's only a baby, for Christ's sake.'
Galbraith reached out a calming hand. 'It's far more likely she was asleep.'
'You can't know that.'
No, thought Galbraith, I can't. As about everything else in policework, I can only guess. 'The doctor who examined her after she was found thinks she was sedated,' he explained. 'But, yes, you're right. At the moment we can't be certain about anything.' He rested his palm briefly on the man's taut shoulder, then withdrew tactfully into his own space. 'But it really is better to stop tormenting yourself with what might have been. Nothing's ever as bleak as our imagination paints it.'
'Isn't it?' Sumner straightened abruptly and let his head flop onto the chair back so that he was looking at the ceiling. A long sigh whispered from his chest. 'My imagination tells me you're working on the theory that Kate was having an affair, and that the man she went with was her lover.'
Galbraith saw no point in pretending. The idea of an affair that had turned sour was the first they'd considered, particularly as Hannah had apparently accompanied her mother on whatever journey she had made. 'We can't ignore the possibility,' he said honestly. 'It would certainly explain why she agreed to go on board somebody's boat and take Hannah with her.' He studied the man's profile. 'Does the name Steven Harding mean anything to you?'
Sumner frowned. 'What's he got to do with it?'
'Probably nothing, but he was one of the people on the spot when Kate's body was found, and we're questioning everyone connected with her death, however remotely.' He waited a moment. 'Do you know him?'
'The actor?'
'Yes.'
'I've met him a couple of times.' He steepled his hands in front of his mouth. 'He carried Hannah's buggy over the cobbles at the bottom of the High Street one day when Kate was struggling with some heavy shopping, and she asked me to thank him when we bumped into him about a week later. After that he started popping up all over the place. You know what it's like. You meet someone, and then you see them wherever you go. He's got a sloop on the Lymington River, and we used to talk sailing from time to time. I invited him back to the house once, and he chewed my ear off for hours about some blasted play he was auditioning for. He didn't get the part, of course, but I wasn't surprised. He couldn't act his way out of a paper bag if his life depended on it.' His eyes narrowed. 'Do you think he did it?'
Galbraith gave a small shake of his head. 'At the moment, we're just trying to eliminate him from the inquiry. Were he and Kate friends?'
Sumner's lips twisted. 'Do you mean, were they having an affair?'
'If you like.'
'No,' he said adamantly. 'He's a galloping poof. He poses for pornographic gay magazines. In any case she can't ... couldn't stand him. She was furious when I took him back to the house that time ... said I should have asked her first.'
Galbraith watched him for a moment. The denial was overdone, he thought. 'How do you know about the gay magazines? Did Harding tell you?'
Sumner nodded. 'He even showed me one of them. He was proud of it. But then he loves all that. Loves being in the limelight.'
'Okay. Tell me about Kate. How long have you and she been married?'
He had to think about it. 'Getting on for four years. We met at work and married six months later.'
'Where's work?'
'Pharmatec UK in Portsmouth. I'm a research chemist there, and Kate was one of the secretaries.'
Galbraith lowered his eyes to cloak his sudden interest. 'The drug company?'
'Yes.'
'What sort of drugs do you research?'
'Me personally?' He gave an indifferent shrug. 'Anything to do with the stomach.'
Galbraith made a note. 'Did Kate go on working after you married?'
'For a few months until she fell pregnant with Hannah.'
'Was she happy about the pregnancy?'
'Oh, yes. Her one ambition was to have a family of her own.'
'And she didn't mind giving up work?'
Sumner shook his head. 'She wouldn't have it any other way. She didn't want her children to be brought up the way she was. She didn't have a father, and her mother was out all day, so she was left to fend on her own.'
'Do you still work at Pharmatec?'
He nodded. 'I'm their top scientist.' He spoke the words matter-of-factly.
'So you live in Lymington and work in Portsmouth?'
'Yes.'
'Do you drive to work?'
