‘But you moved on pretty quickly?’

‘Yeah,’ she said, the smile fading slightly. ‘Turned out he was married, and had a guilty conscience about it.’ She gave a shrug. ‘Which I guess is up to him.’

‘You weren’t angry about it?’

April rolled her eyes. ‘Not really. I mean, I was a little pissed off for a second. He’d been so obviously keen. And his friend was all interfering, too. I was more annoyed with the friend.’

‘You didn’t try to follow this man?’ Lightman asked. ‘Or meet up with him later?’

‘I can take no for an answer,’ April said, beginning to look offended by his questions.

‘Did you find out who he was, this other guy?’ Lightman asked.

‘No,’ April said, ‘I didn’t. Why would I? And why are you so obsessed with it?’

‘Because that man was Alex Plaskitt,’ Lightman told her. ‘The man who died in Louise Reakes’s bed.’

There was a long beat. ‘Shit. Seriously?’ she said.

‘I’m afraid so,’ Lightman replied.

April turned away from him, looking out of the picture windows towards the sea. ‘That’s a hell of a shame,’ she said. ‘He was quite something. Even if he was a prude.’

‘You didn’t see anything later on that evening?’ he asked. ‘Anything to suggest why he might have been killed?’

April shook her head, slowly. ‘No, I don’t think … I guess the only thing I thought was how weirdly possessive his friend was.’ Lightman realised that April must mean Step Conti, and it gave him pause for thought. ‘When I kissed Alex,’ April went on, ‘it was almost like he was jealous.’

31

Louise

It’s morning now. I left my account where it was last night, wondering if I’d actually write any more, or if I was done. I felt like there was nothing more for me to tell you. There were, instead, a lot of unanswered questions.

But I hate leaving anything unfinished, as you know. And after talking to April, I felt an itch to write more of it down.

I called her this morning, in spite of my sudden doubts. This is the first time I’ve ever distrusted her. Perhaps that sounds ridiculous, when she’s so willing to sack me off in order to chase the man of the minute, and when she clearly has her own secrets. She’s perpetually vague about her job, and who’s paying her, and even more so about life back in Tennessee. But she’s always essentially been there, a strong, dependable rock for me to grab on to.

It was a vast relief to hear her voice. It was like an instant return to normality. She spoke, and the earth righted itself.