‘I don’t normally drink.’ Palmer said.
‘A stiff drink is the best thing. What are you going to do after you leave here? Are you going to go back to your house and mind your own business? Or are you intending to cause trouble?’
‘I’m not sure. I want to react, but I don’t know how to. Liz may have been promiscuous, judging by the number of men she has been with since Stephen died, but I always forgave her.’
‘Don’t you mean since the night she slept with you after the funeral. I’ve been given a complete rundown on who you are, the death of your brother and the suspects. Let me repeat the question, what do you intend to do?’
‘I can’t give you an answer. I’ve committed no crime. After this interview, I will leave and go back to my house, or I may go away on a trip. I’ll attend her funeral; nobody cared for her as much as I did.’
Greenwood felt like grabbing the man and giving him a good shake, telling him to snap out of it, to be a man and get on with it, but he knew it would serve no purpose. And as Larry had said, the man was strange.
***
Samantha Matthews had not appreciated being questioned by Fergus. Sure, he was her lover, but she had nothing to answer for. She already knew that her father would protect her at any cost. And she had always suspected that her father had somehow been involved directly or indirectly in the death of Stephen, her first great love.
She had married Marcus two years before her affair with Stephen, a belief that with her husband that it was love eternal, but it wasn’t. It was the need to have someone in her life apart from her father who cared for her, but it was Stephen who had shown her the depth of passion, a passion that would never be resurrected, not even by Fergus.
She sat in the back garden of her house. It was a warm day, and she appreciated the heat on her body. If asked, she could not give a reason why she had killed the woman, she only knew that it had been necessary.
It was after Marcus’s body had been discovered that she found out where the woman could be found. Revenge seemed illogical to her, but then her father’s actions at times had been irrational, driven by hatred and anger.
Liz Spalding had blighted her life, a life which could have been so different. If Stephen had lived, if Liz had not existed, she would have divorced Marcus and married him. However, she had just been another notch on the man’s belt, she knew that now, seducing the daughter of a man who had a reputation for revenge against those who got in his way.
She knew more than she let her father know; she had listened at the keyhole of his study when she was younger, hearing him arranging crimes, discussing individuals who were getting in the way of his criminal empire. She remembered the night the gentlemen’s club had burnt down, the joy her father had felt, the way he had lifted her up off the ground and given her a big hug. He had told her that life was good, and it was only going to get better, and then another man had died. A man who had been associated with the club. She had only been young, but she understood.
As her father aged, his empire was unravelling, given to others less capable. She went back inside the house, picked up the keys to her car and left by the front door.
She found her father in his conservatory; he looked older each time she saw him.
‘You asked Fergus to check me out,’ Samantha said.
‘Do you need protecting?’ Hamish said.
‘The situation has changed. It’s time for me to take control.’
‘It’s a lonely road if you choose to go down it.’ Hamish wasn’t sure what to say. Samantha was right: she had committed a heinous crime, and only the criminal world could protect her.
‘Why did you kill Stephen? Samantha asked.
‘Palmer was not genuine in his affections for you.’
‘I couldn’t resist the man, but you had no right to harm him.’
‘I had to for you and your child’s sake, you must understand.’
‘For a while, I hated you.’
‘If you intend to become involved in my business interests, I need to know if what happened to Liz Spalding applies to me.’
‘Not you, father. I could never harm you,’ Samantha said.
The man looked at his daughter, unsure if she had told him the truth.
Chapter 19
Tricia Anders was in the hospital with a broken arm and severe bruising on her body and face, given to her by her husband.
Harry Anders sat forlornly in the cell at the police station. He was contrite. ‘I couldn’t help myself,’ he said. ‘It came as such a shock. I never expected it. Not of my wife and not of Brian. I’ve always known he had an eye for her, but then that was the man’s nature, flirtatious, preferring to spend time chatting up the women than drinking with the men.’
‘You’ll have to answer for your crime,’ Larry said.
‘I’m not sure that it matters any more. Our business has obviously been destroyed. It had done us well over the years, and Tricia had no reason to complain about the lifestyle, but then who knows what goes through the minds of people. Loneliness, and I’m responsible for that, too busy chasing the next deal. Tricia felt neglected.’
‘What do you intend to do now?’ Larry asked. ‘They’ll release you soon enough. You’ll have to answer for what you did, but it’ll probably only be community duty, anger management classes, a fine.’
Larry wondered how he would have reacted under
