‘Mam, this is the detective who’s investigating Lorna’s murder. She wants to speak to Josh.’ Then Nettie too wandered away to join the other young guests, without waiting for her mother to respond.
The woman held out her hand. ‘Rosemary Heslop.’ She looked out at her daughters and grinned. ‘Sorry about that. You bring them up to be polite, then they turn into teenagers and all the manners disappear.’
‘It’s your youngest’s birthday? Eh, pet, I’m sorry to intrude. I wouldn’t have bothered you if I’d realized.’
‘Yes, my baby’s turning seventeen very soon. The years have gone by in a flash. We thought about cancelling. Neil’s been that upset since he found the lass’s body – he’s hardly slept since it happened – but it was all organized and the girls wanted to go ahead.’
The tempo of the music changed, became slower. It must have morphed into a tune Nettie and Cath knew, or perhaps they’d been expecting it, because they started singing along and the others joined in. The girls’ voices were sweet and clear and Vera could see that Rosemary was almost in tears.
The song ended and the musicians laid down their instruments. ‘Time for supper,’ Neil Heslop said. ‘And make sure it all gets eaten, or we’ll be having it all week.’ The humour sounded forced and Vera could see the dark shadows under his eyes.
He’d seen Vera and came up to her. They stood apart while the guests queued up for the food. ‘Is there any news?’
She shook her head. ‘I came hoping to speak to your Josh. It seems Lorna went to an art class he taught.’
‘Oh, aye. Connie Browne bringing culture to the masses.’ He gave a little smile but still he seemed distracted.
‘How are you getting on?’
There was a moment’s hesitation. ‘It all seems like a dream.’ He spoke very slowly as if he was reliving the nightmare. ‘The snow. The dark. I was just keen to get our lasses safely home out of the weather. I was thinking I should never have let them go to the big house at all. Then suddenly to see that face in the ice.’
‘Of course. And you were able to identify her for us. It’s always harder if it’s someone you know.’ A pause. ‘Though when I bumped into Nettie, she said you weren’t close friends with the family. Is that a bit strange when you both farm estate land?’
Rosemary had joined them and it was she who answered. ‘They’re not really sociable, the Falstones. It’s not that we’ve ever fallen out. Nothing like that. We help each other professionally, but I wouldn’t just call in for a coffee if I was on my way to Kirkhill, like I would some of my other neighbours. I know they wouldn’t welcome it.’
‘They might welcome it now,’ Vera said. ‘Just losing their daughter and with a kiddie to look after, it’s a lot to cope with on your own.’
That appeared to knock the breath from Rosemary and she seemed mortified, anxious that Vera might consider her unsympathetic. ‘You’re right, of course. Poor souls! I’ll go in tomorrow. When Lorna was ill, they made it clear they didn’t want any interference. They cut themselves off from the village. Before that, Jill would come to the WI if there was a topic that caught her fancy and I’d see her occasionally at church, but after Lorna went away to the clinic for help, they shut down all contact. I don’t blame them. The Kirkhill gossip can be brutal. But I’ll pop in. See if there’s any way we can help.’
‘I was hoping to chat to your lad.’
‘Apparently Lorna went to that art class of his,’ Heslop said. Vera wasn’t sure if that sounded like an explanation or a warning. He called out to a dark-haired young man with soft eyes and lashes that a girl would envy. ‘Josh, this is Inspector Stanhope. She’d like a word.’
Josh joined them. The parents stayed, one on each side, protective as guard dogs. Vera would have liked to take him back to the house and chat to him there on his own, but she didn’t want to upset the family. She might be glad to have them onside later.
‘Lorna came along to the class you ran for Miss Browne in the Kirkhill hall?’
Josh nodded. ‘She came along to a couple of sessions.’
‘Was she any good?’
It wasn’t the question he’d been expecting and it took him a while to answer. ‘Yes. Better than any of the others, certainly.’
‘You must have known her from school. You’d have been the same sort of age.’
‘We were in the same year, but I didn’t really know her.’
Vera wondered again if they’d find anyone who’d admit to any kind of intimacy with Lorna.
Josh was still speaking. ‘You know what it’s like. You keep to your own little groups, people who share your own interests.’
‘And with you it was art?’
‘Art and theatre.’ He gave a shy grin. ‘I was always up for making a fool of myself in the school play.’
‘But Lorna was into art too. She wasn’t part of your group?’
Josh shook his head. ‘She was a bit of a loner. I was surprised when she turned up for the class in the village hall. I think she was only there because Connie Browne dragged her along.’ He paused. ‘She didn’t make it into the sixth form because she was ill, anorexic. I made most of my strongest friends then.’
Vera had never made it to the sixth form either. By the time she was sixteen she’d had enough of school and enough of Hector. She’d joined the police force as a cadet
