Betty sighed heavily. ‘It’s just that … Well, although David thought the world of her, I could tell that Iris didn’t feel the same way. Not that he brought her home to tea, or anything, but I’d still see them out and about, and I could just tell. A mother can, can’t she? He wasn’t what she was after, you see – which, to be frank, was somebody who could do her some proper good. Someone with money, say, or power to help her achieve her silly dreams. I wondered, to be honest, why she was wasting her time on him at all. He was still a lad at university after all, with hardly two pennies to rub together. Oh, he would have got a good job once he’d got his degree – been able to afford a nice home and all that. But Iris was a girl in a hurry – she wanted nice things now. I just had the feeling she had other fish to fry, do you know what I mean? And going out with our David was just a way to keep her parents happy and thinking that she wasn’t up to anything they wouldn’t approve of and … well … make it all look respectable.’
‘You think she was going out with other boys behind his back?’ Trudy said, and when the other woman nodded, said, ‘Do you think that’s what Ronnie tried to warn David about? Is that why they argued?’
‘I suppose it could have been,’ Betty said slowly. ‘I know David said that Ronnie had it in for Iris for some reason, and it was making him mad. Naturally, he didn’t like it when anyone said that they didn’t think she was wonderful too,’ she added wryly. ‘Boys who think they’re in love have some strange ideas. They think everyone must agree with them about how wonderful their beloved is, and be equally smitten.’
‘But Ronnie clearly saw through Iris’s beauty and charm,’ Clement said dryly. ‘Odd that. I would have thought the lad would be as smitten as everyone else. Do you think it could have been the case that Ronnie was secretly hankering after her too?’
Betty Finch thought for a moment, then smiled. ‘Well, I always thought he had his eye on someone else … but it could be. I remember when I was at school, this boy, Derek Parks was infatuated with my friend Doris. Everyday he’d pull her pigtails and pretend he couldn’t stand her.’
Trudy nodded. ‘It was the same when I was at school. Everyone knew that if a boy put you down it meant he was really interested in you. So you think that Ronnie was rather smitten with Iris too, and his pretending not to like her was just a front? That all the time he was really jealous of David and wanted to split them up so he could have a chance with Iris himself?’
Betty shrugged helplessly. ‘Who can say? I only know David complained that Ronnie bad-mouthed Iris all the time, and he was fed up with it.’
‘But you don’t know if they ever actually fought?’ Clement asked.
Betty blinked and straightened in her chair. ‘If you think Ronnie had something to do with David’s death, I can tell you now, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Those kids were always as thick as thieves. And I know their friendship would have survived Iris, once she’d dumped David and moved on. Because I know, as sure as eggs are eggs, that’s that what would have happened if …’
She broke off and shook her head. ‘But what does any of that matter now? They’re both dead, aren’t they?’ she added hopelessly.
‘Do you have any idea who killed Iris?’ Trudy asked gently.
‘I wish I did,’ Betty Finch said bitterly. ‘I only know it wasn’t my son.’
‘But her death must have affected him,’ Trudy said again, even more gently.
‘Of course it did. He was wild with grief,’ Betty said angrily. ‘But he was determined to find out who had killed her. That’s why I know he didn’t kill himself.’ She paused and took a long breath, clearly nerving herself up for something, then said flatly, ‘I think he found out who killed her, and whoever it was, murdered him to keep him quiet.’
She looked almost satisfied for a moment. And then, once again, her face crumpled. ‘Please, you have to find out the truth.’
At this appeal, Trudy shot Clement a helpless look. For the first time, she felt truly frightened; because what if they couldn’t find out the truth? What if this case became one of those unsatisfactory ones that remained technically open, but really shelved, with everyone assuming David Finch’s guilt, but having no evidence to actually prove it? How could this poor woman and her husband – a superintendent of police – live the rest of their lives with that sort of nebulous black cloud following them everywhere?
‘We’ll do our best,’ she said, realising just how inadequate that sounded. ‘Did David ever tell you who he suspected might have killed Iris?’ she swept on, hoping that Betty hadn’t picked up on her doubts.
‘No,’ Betty admitted, her shoulders finally slumping in defeat. ‘He was always quite a secretive child, but what happened to Iris … It made him even more careful. I think he knew in his heart of hearts that she had been running around with other men, and that only made him even more tight-lipped than ever. You know – as if even mentioning the possibility out loud would be unforgivable and disloyal. So he never told me anything about what he was thinking or doing. His father either,’ she added, the tears finally rolling down her pale face at last. ‘I only wish he had.’
Trudy wanted to ask more – about the last time she’d seen her son alive for instance – but she could see that
