Her jaw dropped. Phil was treated to the sight of some expensive dental work and wondered whether Graeme Eades had paid for that too. ‘Are you… but I was with Graeme… do you think I did it?’
Her Essex accent had started to creep back, Phil noticed.
‘No.’
‘You think I know who did it?’
‘Do you?’
‘No!’ Her accent had returned completely. ‘Course not. Oh my God… Did they… what happened? Did they get away with much?’
Phil knew Marina would have noticed that remark. Not asking whether Mrs Eades was all right, but was there anything taken. From that, he knew that Erin didn’t have anything to tell them. It would just be a matter of sorting out timelines. Ruling out rather than ruling in.
‘Robbery wasn’t the motive, we don’t think,’ he said. ‘She was murdered.’
Her hand flew to her mouth. Stayed there. Her eyes widened. ‘Oh my God…’
‘I just need to know what time you were with Mr Eades from and what time you left.’
‘Oh my God…’
‘Please.’
‘Oh…’ Erin O’Connor became thoughtful. Before she spoke, her eyes narrowed. ‘Am I going to lose my job for this?’
‘That’s not for me to say,’ said Phil. He had had enough of this woman. ‘You’ll have to talk to Graeme Eades about that.’
‘Oh…’
‘What time were you there from, please?’
She thought. ‘About half one, two-ish, I think. I left, we left, about five. Something like that.’
‘Can anyone verify that? Did you check out?’
She shrugged. ‘Graeme paid for the room. It was all done upfront. When we were finished we just walked out.’
Phil blinked again, stifled a yawn. He shouldn’t be doing this. He was too tired. A voice came from his side.
‘Would you describe Graeme as your boyfriend, Erin?’
Marina. Her voice soft and gentle. No longer uncomfortable. Phil didn’t look at her, kept his eyes on Erin. Waited to see what her response would be.
She frowned again, took a sip of wine. She seemed more at ease with Marina. ‘I suppose… we’re…’
‘Lovers?’ suggested Marina.
She nodded. ‘Yeah. That’s it. Lovers.’
Marina smiled. ‘Seems an odd match. I mean, you’re young and very attractive…’
Did Phil notice Erin O’Connor blush?
‘And Graeme’s… well. I met him.’ Marina smiled. ‘I would have thought you could have done better.’
‘He’s my boss,’ she said, as if that explained it. And in a way, thought Phil, it did.
‘Does he have lots of girlfriends?’ said Marina. ‘Lovers who he’s the boss of?’
‘I don’t know. He said he doesn’t.’
‘Did he promise to…’ Marina shrugged, as if the question had just come to her. ‘I don’t know… advance your career?’
‘That’s exactly it!’ Erin O’Connor almost shouted as she jumped enthusiastically on the suggestion. ‘He said I would get promotion if I slept with him.’
‘And did you?’
‘He promised I would. He was going to do it. Start the ball rolling tomorrow, he said.’
Marina shrugged. ‘I think all that’s changed now, don’t you?’
Erin nodded. Then she became reflective. Phil looked at Marina, impressed. Marina stifled a small smile. Phil knew they would get no more from Erin O’Connor. He knew she would just move on to the next man who fell for her charms. He made to stand up. Then Erin O’Connor spoke.
‘You know what he said?’ There was a bitterness in her tone, as if she was realising not only that she wouldn’t be getting her promotion through Graeme Eades, but that she had wasted all that time with him when she could have targeted someone else.
Phil stopped moving, stayed where he was. ‘What? What did he say?’
‘Today. This afternoon. He was… when we were… doing stuff. And I… I asked him if it was okay. If he liked what I was doing. And d’you know what he said?’
Marina and Phil waited, knew it was a rhetorical question.
‘He said, at least I don’t have to pay for it any more.’
‘Charming,’ said Marina.
‘At least I don’t have to pay for it…’
There was nothing more to say. They said goodbye and left Erin O’Connor to her thoughts, her wine, her small house and her plans for the future.
Outside in the street, Marina pulled her coat tightly around her. Phil looked at her.
‘Waste of time,’ he said. ‘Just another gold-digger.’
Marina shrugged. ‘See a lot of them, do you?’
He smiled. ‘Only professionally. Not personally. Come on. I’ll get you home.’ He started walking towards the Audi. Marina hesitated, then stayed where she was.
‘No,’ she said.
He stopped, waited for her to catch him up. She didn’t move. He had no choice but to turn round, walk back up the street towards her. ‘What’s up?’
She didn’t answer immediately. Phil waited, saw an expression on her face that he couldn’t read. She looked like she was at war with herself. Eventually she spoke.
‘I… I… don’t want to go home.’ She kept her eyes away from his.
Phil didn’t know how to respond. ‘Why? What’s… what’s wrong at home?’
‘Nothing,’ she said quickly. ‘Well…’
Phil felt a flutter in his chest. Not a panic attack, he knew that. But something just as dangerous. Hope?
He stood directly in front of her. When he spoke, his voice was soft, gentle.
‘Is something wrong? Tell me.’
‘It’s…’ Her hand went up to her face. She dabbed quickly and sharply at the corners of her eyes, as if angry with herself for crying. Certainly in front of Phil.
‘What? Tell me.’
Marina sighed, looked round, looked anywhere but at Phil. The street was narrow, tight. Terraced houses on both sides, cars parked either side of the street, allowing only single-file traffic through. The night was cold. When they exhaled, their breath left their bodies as clouds of steam.
‘I…’ She shook her head. ‘I wasn’t going to do this. I said I wasn’t going to do this…’
Phil waited. Watched the clouds leave his mouth, dissipate in the dark.
‘I saw things today… I can’t, can’t just go home after that. Take them with me.’ Then, in a quieter voice, almost to herself, ‘Again.’
‘There’s nowhere else to go, Marina.’ Phil wasn’t sure he meant those words. But he had to say them.
She shook her head. ‘There is.’ She looked up. Eye to eye.
Phil didn’t know what to say. It was the moment he had been waiting for for months. It was the moment he had been dreading for months.
She turned away, looked up and down the street once more. They were the only people there. ‘I… I missed you. I missed you…’
‘I missed you too,’ he said, not daring to believe his luck.
‘But I couldn’t. We couldn’t. Not after…’ She sighed. ‘And then today. Everything that’s happened today…’ She looked back to him. ‘I saw the kind of things today that I only ever deal with in books. How can I go home after that?’ Her voice fell away, as small and fragile as a child’s whispers. ‘What if I have nightmares?’
‘I’ll be there for you.’ He smiled. ‘I might be having them as well.’
