And Justice There Is None

was not the sort of appeal likely to make a woman risk a marriage.

When she had introduced herself and Melody, she switched on the recorder and gestured for him to sit again.

'Is that necessary?' he asked, with a shocked glance at the recorder. His ready confidence seemed to ebb a little.

'Oh, I think so,' Gemma replied evenly. 'We've been looking everywhere for you for five days. That tends to make us feel a bit official.'

'I didn't know. Honestly. I was down at my aunt's in Sussex- a friend drove me there on Saturday- and it never occurred to me that anyone wanted to talk to me. I wasn't…' His voice trailed off. 'Myself,' he concluded.

'How could you not realize that the police would want to question you? Your mistress was murdered-'

'She was not my mistress! I mean- I suppose technically she was- but I never thought of it that way. That makes it sound- makes her sound- cheap.'

'Well, however you thought of it,' Gemma kept her tone tart, 'you were still the person closest to her, barring her husband. Did Dawn talk about him?'

'She never talked about Karl. I think, when she was with me, that she liked to pretend Karl didn't exist. If I pressed her about it, I mean about leaving him, she would just… withdraw. Shake her head and get this closed look.'

'Did she ever give you the impression that she was afraid of her husband?'

'No. And she would have told me,' he insisted, but he sounded less than certain.

'And she never told you that Karl suspected she was having an affair?'

'No.'

'Did you see Dawn on the day she died?'

'No. I rang her mobile from a phone box several times. But she didn't answer.'

'From a phone box? Isn't that a bit cloak-and-dagger for a woman who wasn't worried about her husband?'

Alex colored. 'It was to ensure my number never showed up on her itemized calls.'

'Very cautious of her,' commented Melody.

'Dawn was… thorough. About everything. That's just the sort of person she was.'

Gemma thought of Dawn Arrowood's careful blotting out of her background, of her family, and of her neat and characterless bedroom. 'Did Dawn ever talk about herself, where she came from, that sort of thing?' she asked, curious.

'Yeah, she did. Clapham, or Croyden, something like that. Her father ran a supermarket.'

'He still does,' Gemma murmured, but she saw that Alex didn't understand. 'Go on. What else?'

'Oh, the silly things you do as a kid. Sneaking cigarettes, kisses on the playground, that sort of thing. And she talked about her friend Natalie, and how she always wanted a family like that, big and noisy and busy.' He frowned. 'But I don't think it would have suited her, somehow.'

'Did she mention any friends other than Natalie?'

'No. There didn't seem to be anyone other than Karl's business associates. And me.'

'Did she talk about wanting children?'

'Only once. When we'd- when she'd had a bit too much wine. She cried. Then, when I tried to comfort her, she got angry. Said I didn't understand, that Karl would never let her have children. I said- Well, you can guess what I said. But it was no use. And she was always very careful about that, too.'

'Birth control?' When he nodded, Gemma added, 'Apparently not careful enough.'

'What do you mean?'

'You didn't know? She didn't tell you?'

'Tell me what?' His voice rose. 'You're not saying-'

'She was pregnant. The doctor had confirmed it that afternoon.'

Dunn's eyes were dilated with shock, his face the hue of parchment. 'But… I don't… How could she not tell me?'

'Maybe she meant to. But she never had the chance. Or maybe it wasn't your baby; maybe it was Karl's. His vasectomy could have failed; that's what he claims, after all. Or maybe it was someone else's altogether-'

His face bleached whiter still, and Gemma feared she might have pushed him too far.

But he shoved back his chair, shaking with rage, and stabbed a finger at her. 'She wasn't seeing anyone else. You make her sound like a slag, and it's not true! If I know anything about her, it's that she loved me. She would have left him, we would have worked something out-'

'Okay, point taken. Sit back down, Alex, please. Constable, could you get Mr. Dunn some water?'

He obeyed her, reluctantly, and when he was seated again and had sipped at the water Melody brought him, Gemma said, 'Look, I'm sorry. Let's start over. Why don't you tell me about last Friday. Were you supposed to see Dawn that day?'

'No. We'd met the day before, but she'd said she had a doctor's appointment on Friday- a routine checkup- and that she was meeting Natalie for tea. And I was planning to visit my aunt, as well as getting ready for Saturday market, so… If I'd insisted she come by the flat, maybe-' He looked stricken.

'Then you'd be assuming her murder was happenstance, and we don't believe that. I believe that whoever waited for Dawn that day would have waited longer, or come back another time.' As Gemma spoke, she realized how strongly she meant it.

'But- if it was Karl- And if she had left-'

'Karl might have changed his mind? From what I know of the man, that seems unlikely. And we've no proof that he killed his wife. It seems to me that you and your friends- particularly Otto- have made an awfully big assumption.'

'But- Otto said- Otto was sure that it was Karl. I didn't want to believe him-'

'It always comes back to Otto, doesn't it?' Gemma glanced at Melody. 'Alex, what else did Otto say?'

His stare was defiant. 'Otto said Karl would kill me, too, if he found out. But that's crap, isn't it?'

'Is that why you went to Sussex?'

'It was Fern's idea. She meant well, but I feel a fool now for going along with it. As I said, I wasn't myself.'

'Do you know how your friend Otto comes to know so much about Karl Arrowood? Has he told you?'

'Otto doesn't talk about himself much. But he's lived in the neighborhood a long time, knows a lot of people.'

'You don't know anything about Otto's dead wife?'

'Dead?' Alex looked puzzled. 'No. I just assumed they were divorced or something, I mean, you never know these days, do you?'

'Do you know someone called Marianne Hoffman?'

'Never heard of her. Why? Is she a friend of Otto's?'

Was it possible, Gemma wondered, that Otto could be the link between the Arrowoods and Hoffman? The cafe owner knew many people in the trade, as Alex had pointed out. And he was a powerful man, skilled, she assumed, as were most cooks, with a knife.

'Let's go back to Friday. You were getting ready for Saturday market. What does that entail?'

'Setting things out in my stall in the arcade, arranging, pricing. I'd been to an estate sale in Sussex, near my aunt's, so I had a good deal of new stock.'

'And then?'

'I went back to the flat. I'd had a good day, and I wanted to celebrate, so I went to Otto's for an early dinner.'

'What time was this?'

'About half past six, I think. I really wasn't paying attention.'

'Was Otto at the cafe when you arrived?'

'He served me himself.'

'Everything as usual?'

'Of course. Except…' Dunn hesitated, then went on. 'We had a little disagreement. I wouldn't exactly call it an