Chapters (78)
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Remarkable Praise for Nicci French
- Also by Nicci French
- About the Publisher
“You talked to me about your fiancé. Your ex-fiancé. Nat Weller. I just wanted to tell you that he’s no longer a focus of our inquiry.”
“A focus of your inquiry. What does that mean?”
“You thought he might have known about you and Liam, that he might have resented your connection.”
“I thought it was possible,” said Jude warily. “Though of course I never believed that he, you know . . .”
“Killed Liam.”
“Yes.”
“We’ve accounted for his whereabouts on the evening of the murder.”
“So he was at the party?”
An unexpected expression crossed the detective’s face, something wary, almost furtive, but it was gone almost as soon as Jude noticed it.
“For a bit,” Leila Fox said.
“What do you mean, for a bit?”
“The party ended early. It was raining.”
“So where was he?”
“That’s not the point. I just thought you should know that Nat is under no suspicion.”
“Okay, but why can’t you say?”
“I just can’t share details of the inquiry. It’s as simple as that.”
Jude nodded. “So Nat didn’t kill Liam, which I knew anyway. But thanks for letting me know.”
“We should go in.”
Jude looked at the detective’s face, which was amiably inscrutable. She remembered the expression she had seen chase across it a few moments earlier.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“There are many things I’m not telling you, Jude, because this is a murder investigation and you are not a detective but a witness.”
“Something about that night,” said Jude.
As clearly as if she was watching it on a film, she saw Nat when she had returned to their flat after her disastrous trip to the cottage in Norfolk. She had come back much earlier than expected and he had been on the phone, talking to someone in a voice that was both placating and faintly angry. What had he been saying? She strained to remember, but perhaps she had never known. She tried to bring to mind his expression when he’d first seen her there. Had there been something, a moment of panic, before he came toward her to take her in his arms? Or was she making that up?
“Was Nat with someone that night?” she asked in a small voice. “Is that what you’re not telling me?”
“I’ve said all I’m going to say and what I’ve said is not implying anything. If you’ve got any questions, you must put them to him directly.”
Jude put a hand to her head, feeling the familiar buzz of approaching pain.
“Maybe all the time he was being strange about me, he was the one who was actually being unfaithful.”
“I absolutely didn’t say that. I didn’t say anything like that. Do not jump to conclusions here, Jude. I am simply telling you that he is not under any kind of suspicion.”