Breaker

'True,' agreed Carpenter, 'but you do keep shoving his prowess down our throats.' He produced Bridges' statement from a folder on the table and spread it flat in front of him, holding it down with his palms stretched on either side. 'You seem to have a bit of a thing about him being good-looking. This is what you said at the beginning of the week. 'Steve's a good-looking bloke,' 'he read, ' 'and has an active sex life. He has at least two girls on the go at the same time...'' He lifted inquiring eyebrows. 'Do you want to comment on that?'

It was clear that Tony had no idea where this line of questioning was leading and needed time to think. A fact which interested both policemen. It was as if he were trying to predict moves in a chess game and had begun to panic because checkmate looked inevitable. Every so often his eyes flicked toward the television screen, then dropped away rapidly as if the frozen image was more than he could bear. 'I don't know what you want me to say.'

'In simple terms, Tony, we're trying to square your portrayal of Steve with the forensic evidence. You want us to believe your friend had a prolonged affair with an older married woman, but we're having difficulty substantiating that any such affair happened. For example, you told my colleague that Steve took Kate to your house on occasion, yet, despite the fact that your house clearly hasn't been cleaned in months, we couldn't find a single fingerprint belonging to Kate Sumner anywhere inside it. There is also nothing to suggest that Kate was ever in Steve's car, although you claim that he drove her to the New Forest on numerous occasions for sex in the back of it.'

'He said they needed out-of-the-way places in case they were spotted together. They were scared of William finding out, because according to Steve, he was so jealous he'd go berserk if he knew he was being two-timed.' He wilted before Carpenter's unconvinced expression. 'It's not my fault if he was lying to me,' he protested.

'He described William to us as middle-aged and straight,' said Carpenter thoughtfully. 'I don't recall him suggesting he was aggressive.'

'That's what he told me.'

Galbraith stirred on his chair. 'So your entire knowledge of Steve's alleged'-he put careful stress on the word-'affair with Kate came from a single meeting with her in a pub and whatever Steve chose to tell you about her?'

Bridges nodded but didn't answer.

'For the purposes of the tape, Anthony Bridges gave a nod of agreement. So was he ashamed of the relationship, Tony? Is that why you only got to meet her once? You said yourself, you couldn't understand what the attraction was.'

'She was married,' he said. 'He was hardly going to parade a married woman around the town, was he?'

'Has he ever paraded a woman around town, Tony?'

There was a long silence. 'Most of his girlfriends are married,' he said then.

'Or mythical?' suggested Carpenter. 'Like claiming Bibi as a girlfriend?'

Bridges looked baffled, as if he was struggling with half-heard, dimly understood truths that were suddenly making sense. He didn't answer.

Galbraith leveled a finger at the television screen. 'What we're beginning to suspect is that the talk was a smokescreen for no action. Maybe he was pretending to like women because he didn't want anyone to know that his tastes lay in an entirely different direction? Maybe the poor bastard doesn't want to recognize it himself and lets off steam quietly in order to keep himself under control?' He turned the finger accusingly on Bridges. 'But if that's true, then where does it leave you and Kate Sumner?'

The young man shook his head. 'I don't understand.' The DI took his notebook from his pocket and flipped it open. 'Let me quote some of the things you said about her: 'I think she must have lived on a diet of soap operas...' 'Kate said Hannah would scream her head off...' 'I guess she'd been conning idiots like her husband for so long...' I could go on. You talked about her for fifteen minutes, fluently and with no prompting from me.' He laid his notebook on the table. 'Do you want to tell us how you know so much about a woman you only met once?'

'Everything I know is what Steve told me.'

Carpenter nodded toward the recording machine. 'This is a formal interview under taped conditions, Tony. Let me rephrase the question for you so there can be no misunderstandings. Bearing in mind that the Sumners are recent newcomers to Lymington, that both Steven Harding and William Sumner have denied there was any relationship between Steven and Kate Sumner, and that you, Anthony Bridges, claim to have met her only once, how do you explain your extensive and accurate knowledge of her?'

Marie Freemantle was a tall, willowy blond with waist-length wavy hair and huge doe-like eyes, which were awash with tears. Once assured that Steve was alive and well and currently answering questions about why he had been at Chapman's Pool on Sunday, she dried her eyes and favored the policemen with a heavily practiced triangular smile. If they were honest, both men were moved by her prettiness when they first saw her, although their sympathies were soon frayed by the self-centered, petulant nature beneath. They realized she wasn't very bright when it became clear that it hadn't occurred to her they were questioning her because Steven Harding was a suspect in Kate Sumner's murder. She chose to talk to them away from her father and his girlfriend, and her spite was colossal, particularly toward the woman whom she described as an interfering bitch. 'I hate her,' she finished. 'Everything was fine till she stuck her nose in.'

'Meaning you've always been allowed to do what you liked?' suggested Campbell.

'I'm old enough.'

'How old were you when you first had sex with Steven Harding?'

'Fifteen.' She wriggled her shoulders. 'But that's nothing these days. Most girls I know had sex at thirteen.'

'How long have you known him?'

'Six months.'

'How often have you had sex with him?'

'Lots of times.'

'Where do you do it?'