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
“What?”
“I said . . .” Jude looked at him. “You don’t look well.”
“Maybe I’m not. She said you told her you weren’t coming back.”
“That’s right. I won’t be bothering her anymore.” Jude took two tea bags from a jar and put them into the teapot, then turned round and said on an impulse, “To be honest, Dermot, I was suspicious of Danny for a while.”
“What do you mean, suspicious? You mean—?”
“Yeah. Sorry. She’s your sister-in-law and all of that. But anyway, it turns out that she and Vin are the only two people who couldn’t have killed Liam.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a film of the two of them on YouTube, dancing at a party. They were far away in Brixton all through the time when Liam could have been killed.” Jude smiled. “I told the detective that I thought their alibi was too perfect but it turns out that isn’t a thing.”
“What do you mean, it isn’t a thing?”
“Apparently an alibi can’t be too perfect. The more perfect the better.”
Dermot looked dazed. “I don’t understand. Anyway, why would you suspect them?”
“Various reasons. But it doesn’t matter.”
“No, why? Tell me why.”
“For a start, it’s often the partner, isn’t it? And I know Danny and Liam had been having a rough time.”
Dermot nodded. He was rubbing his finger round and round a knot in the wood of the table.
“And then, that house—well.” Jude spoke in a sudden rush. “There’s something really wrong about it. All the boundaries have gone. I’m sure you know—everyone having affairs with everyone else. Your brother was no angel, Dermot.”
“He wasn’t,” said Dermot in a voice that had dropped to a hoarse whisper. “He was a bad man, who did bad things. Maybe he deserved to die.”
“Don’t say that.” Jude looked at Dermot with concern. “I don’t think you should go to the house for a while. You need time to heal. Stay away. It does something to people who go there.” Jude stopped. She was hot and her head felt heavy, as if something was pressing down on the top of her skull, but she felt she had to speak.
“I had a thing with Vin,” she said. Her voice croaked. “After the funeral. I mean, so what, right, it’s not a crime, but it felt horrible after. Like I’d been toyed with somehow.”
“You and Vin?”
Dermot was still rubbing his finger round and round the whorl of wood. His eyes were shadowed.
“Yes.”
“Wow,” he said.
“Yeah, and then I discovered he’s with Danny too.”
“With Danny?”
“Yeah. Musical chairs,” said Jude with a forced laugh.
“I don’t understand.”