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
“Are you going to tell me why? You were saying it’s very simple.”
Michael sat back in the chair, collecting his thoughts.
“Well,” he began, “if you’re in a house that’s on fire, you don’t have to be an expert in chemistry and physics. You just need to get out. And I think you need to get out.”
“What does that mean?”
“As far as I could see, flicking through the papers, there are two areas. The first is Liam’s work, which seems to involve joinery and carpentry. Judging by what I’ve seen, that business is insolvent. The finances seem completely chaotic, though I’ve not seen most of the paperwork, and I’m sure he did work that was simple cash in hand and no questions asked. But looking at the bills that haven’t been paid, I think this business may be trading illegally. He was working on a big job and it seems he had trouble getting paid, which might be the last straw for a business that’s already struggling.”
“That sounds awful.”
“It must have been awful to live through. You met him before he died, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Did he seem stressed?”
“Not really.”
“It must be scary to know your business is failing, bit by bit. I’ve heard of people in that situation killing themselves. It felt like the only way out.”
“But he didn’t kill himself. He got killed.”
“Right.”
“You said there were two areas.”
“Yes, the other area is his personal finances, which is basically the house.”
“That must be better.”
Michael thought for a moment.
“It’s hard to compare one with the other, but I wouldn’t say it was better. The house was in his name, but he had a big mortgage and from what I can see, he’s missed several payments.”
“Sometimes people need to renegotiate their mortgages.”
“Sometimes. But you don’t do that by just not paying it.”
Jude considered this. “Was Liam bankrupt?”
“That’s a technical term. You have to declare bankruptcy to be bankrupt. The nontechnical term is that it’s a complete mess. People live like that, just hoping for the best. I don’t know how they can sleep at night. Someone—not you—needs to come in and sort it out. Liam was owed money. In particular, this work he did for a man called . . .” Michael picked up the paper and looked at his notes. “Leary. Anthony Leary. There are invoices amounting to thousands of pounds which haven’t been paid. There may have been some problem.”
“Do you think there was some kind of falling-out?” asked Jude.