The interview was terminated.
Chapter 15
Trudy meekly followed Angela back to the front door, and only when they were clear of the house did she let her breath out in a whoosh.
‘Poor Janet!’ she muttered.
But Clement was frowning thoughtfully. ‘Yes, no wonder she was friends with someone like Iris.’
‘A free spirit, you mean?’ Trudy said with a grin. ‘Those two must have been like chalk and cheese. Did you believe her – Mrs Baines I mean – about what Iris was like?’
‘Putting aside her antipathy, I think I probably do. Look at it from Iris’s point of view. Janet was almost as pretty as her, which must have rankled, plus she was an only child and the apple of her mother’s eye. Iris had brothers, didn’t she?’
‘I think so – at least three.’
‘Right. And I don’t suppose there was much money to spare, whereas Janet clearly had a lot of money to spend on nice things. Why wouldn’t Iris resent her?’
‘How do you know Janet Baines is pretty? Her mother is bound to be biased,’ Trudy suddenly asked, distracted.
‘I saw the photographs of her on the sideboard,’ Clement said simply. ‘Didn’t you notice them?’
Trudy felt her face flush in shame. ‘No. I was too busy concentrating on what Mrs Baines was saying,’ she admitted, feeling cross with herself. ‘Did you get the impression that there was something a little … well … fanatical about her? When she was talking about Iris, I mean?’
‘Oh yes. But I think that was because she was afraid of her,’ Clement said, making Trudy, walking alongside him, stop for a moment in surprise.
‘Afraid of her? Why would she be afraid of Iris?’
Clement also stopped walking and shrugged. ‘I think she was afraid of Iris’s influence over Janet. More specifically, that she might lure Janet into getting into serious trouble.’
Trudy instantly caught on. ‘Oh! You mean with men … oh! She thought Iris might make her become … promiscuous, like herself?’
Clement smiled at the way his young friend had lowered her voice and looked rather embarrassed.
‘Yes. I think that’s very much what she was afraid of,’ Clement agreed. ‘Which would have given her a good motive for getting rid of Iris, wouldn’t it?’
Chapter 16
Trudy pondered this comment for a while and then said judiciously, ‘Yes. But she’d have no motive for getting rid of David, would she?’
Clement smiled. ‘Not unless David suspected her of killing Iris and challenged her about it.’
Trudy sighed and clutched her head. ‘Oh don’t! This is all giving me a headache, and I doubt she’d have the strength to … Oh no!’ she broke off, groaning out loud. ‘This is just what I need right now.’
‘What?’ Clement asked, glancing at her then quickly following her gaze to where a good-looking young constable was striding purposefully towards them, grinning hugely. Fair-haired, square-jawed and with bright blue eyes, he was probably used to setting feminine hearts fluttering. But Clement’s young friend looked merely exasperated.
‘Friend of yours?’ he couldn’t help but tease.
Trudy rolled her eyes. ‘No, he isn’t. PC Rodney Broadbent – I knew he was working the Carmody case with Sergeant O’Grady but I’d hoped I wouldn’t run into him. The silly idiot is going to ruin my cover! I don’t want anybody knowing I’m with the police just yet.’
So saying, she began to walk forward to intercept him, a grim look on her face. Before he could speak, and no doubt ask her something inane in his loud and carrying voice, she said, ‘Hello Constable. You’re still making inquiries about Miss Carmody, I see?’ and thrust her hand out to be shaken.
For a moment Trudy wondered if the big clot was going to ask her what on earth she was going on about, and she noticed two middle-aged women, standing on the pavement on the opposite side of the road, watching them with interest.
Then, with a sigh of relief, she saw comprehension dawn in Rodney’s blue eyes just in time and his grin faltered a bit. No doubt, the Inspector had had to tell his team about the confidential nature of Trudy’s own assignment, and the golden boy couldn’t have been pleased to see her, a mere ‘girl’, be given yet another plum job working with the coroner.
Reminded of this, he nodded curtly at Dr Ryder, but at least lowered his voice somewhat as he said, ‘Hello Miss, yes we’re still asking people if they can tell us anything relevant about Miss Carmody’s death.’ He turned to look pointedly at the two women who had the grace to look uncomfortable and carry on walking. Albeit rather slowly.
‘I thought most of the door-to-door interviews were over now,’ Trudy said quietly, when she was sure that they couldn’t be overheard.
Rodney shrugged indolently. ‘They are. But the Sarge wanted to keep a police presence in the village. You know, reassure people their daughters were safe, and make myself available in case someone saw me and thought of something new they wanted to say.’
By that, Trudy translated, Rodney was hanging out at the pub and seeing if he could pick up any gossip.
‘And have they?’ she asked curiously.
‘Not yet but … Hey! I thought you were supposed to keep your nose out of our case? Isn’t David Finch your main priority?’ he challenged her territorially, his impressive chin jutting out.
Trudy sighed. ‘Yes, it is,’ she was forced to admit. ‘We’ve just been talking to Mrs Baines. Oh, by the way, you don’t know where her daughter might be found when she’s not at home, do you?’ If she knew Rodney Broadbent (and, alas, she did, only too well) he would have found a way of ferreting out all the pretty girls the village had to offer and ‘interviewing’ them personally. She wondered, cynically, how many of them had been foolish enough to go out on a date with him.
‘Ah, the lovely Janet. Yeah, she’s probably at work. Well, I say work,’ he added with a smile, ‘it’s not what you or I
