The smile disappeared and a frown creased his features. ‘Of course, now I know it was that creepy group her parents belonged to. Including Josh and his family.’
‘Go on,’ said Sharp.
‘I was carrying a ladder back to my van,’ said Peter, his face wistful. ‘She smiled at me, and – I don’t know. I can’t remember the last time I felt like that about someone. They all went into the church and about five minutes later – I was packing up my tools – she came out again. I think she’d told her parents she’d left something or other in the car. She gave me her phone number, and then went back inside.’
‘How long ago was this?’
‘Five months ago.’
‘Did you know then that she was going to get engaged to Josh?’
‘No.’
Sharp glanced over his shoulder to where Kay sat, and she gave him a small nod before writing a reminder for herself on a fresh page of her notebook. They would have to check the timeline of events prior to the purity pledge ceremony, to see if Duncan Saddleworth and Peter’s recollection tallied.
‘Whose idea was the purity pledge?’ said Sharp. ‘Did Sophie tell you?’
‘Hers. It was her idea.’
‘Seems strange to me, Peter, that on one hand you’re adamant Sophie loved you, but on the other she’s making plans to remain chaste until her wedding to someone else entirely.’
The young man shrugged, but said nothing, and turned his head so he couldn’t see Sharp.
Kay turned at a knock on the door, and the doctor appeared.
Sharp glanced at his watch, then at the duty solicitor.
‘That’ll have to do for today. We’ll come back tomorrow.’
He ended the formal interview, waited while Kay packed up the recording equipment, and then led the way out the room, waiting to thank Brian Sutherland and the doctor before they left.
Kay fell into step beside him, and waited until they were next to their car before she spoke.
‘What do you think?’
‘If he’d been going out with Sophie for the past five months, and knew she was going to do this purity pledge and get engaged to Josh Hamilton, then he’s had plenty of time to plan something, hasn’t he?’ said Sharp.
‘But if Sophie loved Peter, why the charade?’ Kay watched Brian Sutherland’s car leave the hospital grounds and turn onto the main road back to Maidstone.
‘That’s something we’ll have to ask the parents,’ said Sharp. ‘I’m starting to get the impression there’s more going on here than a young woman changing her mind about a religious pledge.’
‘If Sophie loved Peter, why go through with the purity pledge and her engagement announcement?’ said Kay.
The thought had burrowed its way into her mind after interviewing Peter Evans, and troubled her constantly once she was back at the incident room and re-listening to the recording she’d made.
Barnes rummaged in the bag of sweets on the desk and pulled out a lemon sherbet.
‘Maybe she wasn’t sure about Peter. Maybe she was playing them both along until she decided which one was the best option,’ he said, and popped the sweet in his mouth.
‘And perhaps the pregnancy put paid to that idea.’ Kay leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling. ‘So, we’ve got a few possibilities to consider. Peter didn’t like the idea of her being pregnant, and killed her—’
‘Which we think is unlikely, given his reaction to the news.’
‘Right, so then maybe Josh found out, and killed her.’
‘Except he says he didn’t know Peter, and didn’t know that Sophie knew him either.’
‘His parents were with him when you asked him that though, weren’t they? Maybe he’s hiding something from them.’
‘True. We also have to add Blake Hamilton to the list. He seemed more upset than his son, but purely from the angle that Josh wasn’t going to get the chance to marry into English aristocracy. Honestly, Ian, you saw the state of the Whittakers’ house – why on earth would you want to take on that as a dowry?’
Barnes coughed on his sweet. ‘Tax deduction?’
‘Very funny.’
Twenty
Kay cursed under her breath as a tractor passed perilously near to the right wing of the car before it powered away and roared up the narrow lane behind her. She accelerated away from the grass verge and chuckled as Carys exhaled loudly. ‘Yeah, he was a bit too close.’
‘I spent some time online last night looking up about those purity pledges,’ said Carys as the car increased speed.
‘Anything interesting?’
‘Well, it seems that unplanned pregnancies amongst teenagers that have taken a purity pledge is higher than those that don’t.’
‘Really? So much for remaining chaste, eh?’
‘Might go some way to explain how Sophie ended up pregnant, though. Apparently neither the parents nor the churches involved ever think to educate their daughters about safe sex. They seem to think that once the girls take the pledge, they can forget about having to have that conversation. Like it’s swept under the carpet.’ Carys looked out of the window at the fields passing by in a blur. ‘It’s almost as if they’re washing their hands of the responsibility.’
‘That certainly ties in with this case by the look of it.’
‘Although Peter maintains he used a condom both times.’
Kay shrugged. ‘Accidents happen, I guess.’
‘I think it stinks that it’s only the girls that take the pledge,’ said Carys, warming to her subject. ‘Apparently, the boys don’t, and can sleep with who they like. The women are expected to forgive the men for any indiscretions up to the day they marry someone. The divorce rate is disproportionately high, too among those groups. It’s sad, really.’
‘It is,’ said Kay. ‘Mind you, I can’t help feeling it’s just another way for religion to control women.’
Carys turned in her seat. ‘You’re not a religious person, are you?’
Kay shook her head. ‘No. My parents had me christened as a kid but neither of them was particularly religious. You?’
‘I don’t know. I was christened as well, but I’ve never really thought about it much until now. This business with Sophie and
