Chapters (64)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Prologue
- Five Years Later
- 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
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgements
- Canelo Crime
- About the Author
- Also by Sheila Bugler
‘We don’t know yet how Nick died,’ Rachel said. ‘We’ll know more after the post-mortem’s been done. For now, I simply need to ask you some questions about yesterday. We can do that now if it’s okay with you?’
‘Of course,’ Shelly said. ‘Ask away.’
‘You didn’t stay at the villa last night,’ Rachel said. ‘Why not?’
‘I can find that group a bit claustrophobic sometimes,’ Shelly said. ‘Don’t get me wrong. It’s wonderful that we all have each other. We’re incredibly lucky to have that support and mutual understanding. But it can all get a bit much sometimes. The crash was terrible. The worst day of my life, bar none. But I’m a pragmatist, detective. After it had happened, all I wanted was to move on with my life. Put it behind me. I knew I couldn’t go back to my old job, so I focused instead on what I could do. I sold my home in London and I used the money from that, and what I got from the airline, to buy a small pub in Surrey. These days, I’m a pub landlady and I love it. But I don’t drink, you see. I never have done. These sorts of reunions can get a bit boozy. When people are drunk, they become maudlin and I can’t stand that. So I’d decided early on that I wasn’t going to stay.’
Rachel had already formed a good impression of Shelly from what she’d read about her. Speaking to her now, she was starting to like her even more. Rachel got the impression Shelly would make a bloody good pub landlady.
‘What time did you leave?’ she asked.
‘Just after nine thirty,’ Shelly said. ‘I would have left earlier but I got caught up in a conversation with Tara and was finding it difficult to… oh dear.’
‘What’s wrong?’
‘I’m sure it’s not relevant,’ Shelly said. ‘And I wouldn’t like you to think I’m stirring up trouble.’
‘If you’ve got something to tell me, just spit it out,’ Rachel said. ‘It may not be important, I understand that. But it’s better you let me know so I can decide for myself.’
‘You’re right,’ Shelly said. ‘Sorry. Tara was upset. She’d had another row with Nick. They had what you’d call a tempestuous relationship. One minute, they’d be all over each other then, before you knew what was happening, they’d be at each other’s throats. From what I could make out, last night’s row seemed particularly bad. Tara was in a terrible state. I did my best to console her but, after a while, I realised she was too angry to listen to reason so I left her to it.’
‘What was the row about?’