Filled with grim resolve, Ben tore a section of tape from the roll and went to slap it over Dudley’s mouth. But then, he stopped. Because he’d suddenly sensed a new presence behind him. He turned to look.

Standing there a few yards away, half-hidden in the moon shadow of the trees, watching them from within earshot of every word they’d been saying, was Clarissa Dudley.

Chapter 55

Ben and Wolf had been so focused on getting the truth out of her husband that she’d managed to sneak up on them completely unnoticed. Clarissa Dudley was swaying slightly on her bare feet, clad in a lacy nightdress with a gown pulled around her. Her hair was a mess and the dark rings under her eyes looked like punch bruises against the pallid skin of her face. Her gaze was fixed unblinkingly on her husband as though she’d been hypnotised. She barely even seemed to have registered the fact that he was on his knees with his wrists and ankles taped together, and being interrogated by two strangers, one clutching a submachine gun.

Ben said nothing. He heard Wolf mutter under his breath, ‘Oh, shit.’

Tristan Dudley was paralysed with horror at the sight of his wife. He gasped, ‘W-what are you doing here?’

In a dulled, faraway voice she replied, ‘I couldn’t sleep. All the pills in the world can’t take this kind of pain away. I got up and saw the lights at the bottom of the garden. Came downstairs and found the front door open. I thought you must have gone out to the garden, and I came looking for you. And then I saw you with these people. And I heard you talking.’

‘How long have you been standing there?’ Dudley quavered.

Long enough, Ben thought. She was going to have to find out the truth anyway. Better that she heard it directly from her spouse. From the look on her face, he guessed she’d already heard a good deal.

Clarissa Dudley came a step closer on her bare feet, then slowly turned her gaze towards Ben and Wolf. Up closer in the moonlight Ben could see that she was still half-dazed from the after-effects of the tranquillisers but growing more focused and alert every second, as she started to process the situation she was witnessing. He put down his weapon, to show her that he was no threat to her. ‘I’m very sorry for your loss, Mrs Dudley. And I apologise for coming here tonight. Please be assured that we mean you no harm.’

She asked, ‘What’s going on? Who are you? What are you doing to my husband?’

‘Your husband is mixed up in terrible things. Annie wasn’t the only person who’s been made to suffer because of him. We came here to make him pay the price for that.’