totally upfront. It’s not like he pretended that he wasn’t married.”
“Be rather difficult to do that, wouldn’t it,” Carole observed tartly, “given the fact that you were working for his wife, and she presumably introduced you to him?”
Anna nodded abjectly. Carole felt some pity for her, but stronger than that – in fact, she was surprised by its strength – was the anger she felt towards Ricky Le Bonnier. Why was it that some men were incapable of fidelity? There he was, settled with a new glamorous young wife, two small children, idyllic life, and he still couldn’t stop himself from groping any other woman who looked like she was available.
“Did Lola know what was going on?”
“No, no. We were very discreet.”
“So discreet that you were spotted in a car together the evening before Gallimaufry burnt down.”
“That was unusual. Nobody would have thought twice about it, if ghastly things hadn’t happened afterwards. Otherwise it could have been completely innocent – the owner’s husband giving a staff member a lift back after work.”
“On a Sunday?”
Hearing the scepticism in Carole’s voice, Anna buried her head in her hands, quietly sobbing.
“And was it at the shop that you and Ricky had your assignations?”
An almost inaudible “Yes.”
“Why not at your place?”
“I’m in rented rooms. The landlady lives on the premises. She’s a nosy cow.”
“Right. And of course there was a furnished flat upstairs at Gallimaufry, wasn’t there? Which no doubt had a convenient bed available. Oh yes, I remember. Lola had wanted to rent out the flat, but Ricky wasn’t keen on the idea. Now we know why, don’t we?” Carole couldn’t keep the scorn out of her voice. “Didn’t you ever stop and think what you were doing to Lola? Didn’t you think you had any loyalty to her?”
“Nothing we were doing was hurting Lola.”
“Only because she didn’t know.”
“Ricky would never do anything to threaten his marriage.”
“Oh no?”
“No. He’s just one of those men who’s capable of loving two women at the same time.”
“I’ve heard of them,” Carole snorted. “And no doubt he told you that he was like that because he was a creative person, and creative people have to be judged by different moral standards from the rest of the world?” The way Anna evaded her eye told Carole that her conjecture had been correct. She felt even more furious with Ricky Le Bonnier, and her anger spilled over towards Anna. “Well, you’ll have to find somewhere else for your trysts now. Your little love-nest had sadly been burnt down, hasn’t it?”
Her victim offered no resistance as verbal blows thudded in. “And have you seen Ricky since that assignation, since the Sunday before Christmas?” Carole continued harshly.
“No. We had a bit of a tiff that evening and I was worried he was trying to end our relationship. But it turned out all right – that’s what we were talking about in the car. We were making up, saying that we’d got too much going to stop it just like that. Ricky promised he’d ring me over Christmas, but now all this has happened, it must be very difficult for him to…”
There was no need for Carole to ask. She now knew that when they’d last been in the same shelter and the mobile had rung, Anna had been hoping for a call from Ricky. Her expression of disappointment at the time was explained.
Carole moved quickly on to details of timing. “You were seen in Ricky’s car about eight o’clock that Sunday evening…”
“Who saw us?”
“That doesn’t matter. Now, according to Ricky himself – and Lola, come to that – he had gone to take his daughter Polly to catch the seven-thirty-two London train from Fedborough Station. Had he already made the assignation to meet you after he’d done that?”
“No. He called me at about seven-fifteen that evening. He said he couldn’t stop thinking about me and he’d suddenly got half an hour free…and he could pick me up on the corner of my road and…” Her words petered out as she realized how shabby the arrangements sounded.
“You
“You don’t know what our relationship was like, Carole,” Anna protested.
“It seems to me I’m getting a pretty fair impression of it. From what you’ve just said, it was like any other hole-in-the-corner adulterous affair. So, you both got back to the shop in his car at about eight, enjoyed half an hour of…each other’s company – and then what? Did Ricky do the gentlemanly thing and drive you back to the end of your road?”
“No, I walked.”
“So he didn’t do the gentlemanly thing. How gallant.”
“Carole, we are in love.”
That plea got the contemptuous snort it deserved. “Tell me, Anna – and this is important – did you see Ricky leave Gallimaufry that evening?”
“No, he was still in the shop when I left.”
“Right. And you say you haven’t seen him since?”
“Haven’t seen him, haven’t heard from him.” The woman was on the verge of further tears. “Do you think the police are likely to question me again?”
Carole shrugged. “If they’re doing their job properly, I think they should.”
“So Lola will find out about Ricky and me?”
Anna’s scarf had slipped down, revealing peroxide blond hair whose roots needed doing. Tears had spread her mascara and her scarlet lipstick was smudged. She looked so crushed and feeble that Carole couldn’t help feeling a surge of pity. “Maybe not,” she replied, with no knowledge to justify the assertion. “It may not be necessary for Lola to be told.”
There was a silence. While they were talking, they hadn’t noticed a thin, cold rain begin to fall. Down at the water’s edge Gulliver and Blackie were engaged in their own independent but vitally important manoeuvres.
“And, Anna, you don’t have an idea why anyone might have wanted to murder Polly Le Bonnier?”
“No idea at all.”
Carole thought it was probably the truth. She had found out everything relevant to the investigation that she was going to find out from Anna Carter. The natural moment had arrived for them to collect their dogs and go their separate ways. But there was still something that was intriguing Carole.
“You keep talking about having come to Fethering to make a new start. What was it you were trying to get away from? A divorce?”
“Something rather more permanent than that,” Anna replied quietly. “My husband died.”
“Oh, I am sorry.”
“Don’t worry. It was nearly four years ago. I’ve…I don’t know what the best expression is…Not ‘got over it’ – well, you don’t get over it – ‘I’ve come to terms with it.’ Yes, that’s probably right. So I’d rather it hadn’t happened, but I can cope with the rest of my life. Or at least cope with most of it. The bit I couldn’t cope with was being treated like a widow. My husband and I had quite a close circle of friends, and of course they all knew…and it wasn’t that they weren’t kind to me, but whatever they did, I got the feeling they could never forget that ‘poor old Jo’s a widow’.”
“Jo?”
“Yes. Another part of the makeover. The hair, the make-up, the name. I was Joanna Carter-Fulbright. So I chopped off the ends of my old name and made myself into ‘Anna Carter’. And I moved down from Carlisle to Fethering, and I cut off all communication with my old friends. To start a new life. And then the first thing I do in that new life…” tears threatened again – “is to begin having an affair with Ricky Bloody Le Bonnier.”
“I’ll be seeing him tonight,” said Carole. She felt calmer now; the flames of anger had subsided to glowing embers. “I’ve been invited to their New Year’s Eve party.”
“Oh, so have I!” The thought seemed to excite Anna.
“But will you be going?”
“Yes, I must.” She turned her tired, tear-washed face to Carole as she murmured intensely, “I can’t not see
