‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. I just thought, thank God he wasn’t a local. Obviously, it’s tragic and horrible and fucked up either way, but it’s bad enough there’s been a murder on the island. If the victim was someone we knew…’

Bobbi traced the mouth of the bottle with her finger, then touched it to her lips.

‘Can I see his picture?’ Abby asked.

Bobbi turned with narrow, suspicious eyes. Abby had seen that look a handful of times. It usually came directly after she told someone about her taxidermy.

‘A couple of cops came to see Biller today,’ Abby said quickly. ‘They showed him a photo of the guy. If Biller served him, there’s a good chance I did too.’

It wasn’t the whole truth, and if Bobbi was a halfway decent police officer – and Abby guessed she was – then she knew too. Abby wanted to see his face for one reason and one reason only: curiosity. The same curiosity that helped insert a scalpel blade into the belly of a dead animal.

Bobbi took one last swig of tequila, then screwed the little sombrero-shaped lid onto the bottle. She flicked on the light, reached into her breast pocket and handed a photo to Abby.

It showed a clean-shaven, good-looking man staring into the camera. He wasn’t smiling, but there was humour in his face. The photo was cropped at the neck, but the collar of a charcoal-coloured business shirt was visible. It made him look corporate. A banker or a lawyer, maybe.

‘Do you recognise him?’ Bobbi asked.

‘No,’ she said, feeling disappointed. ‘What do you think happened to him? Do the police have a theory?’

‘It’s too early to tell, but you know Belport. There aren’t too many secrets here, and the ones there are never stay that way for long. Someone knows something.’

She took the photo back. ‘I should get back. Maggie will be getting worried.’

‘Are you okay to drive?’ Abby asked.

Bobbi nodded and whispered, ‘Thank you for letting me grief vomit all over you.’

Abby gave her hand a squeeze. ‘That’s what friends are for.’

11

THE WIDOW

The car park at Belport Medical Centre was vast and empty, aside from a lone police cruiser parked near the entrance. Kate parked and looked over at Fisher. He stared over at an ambulance pulled up outside the emergency entrance. There were two paramedics leaning against it, sharing a cigarette.

‘Are you ready?’ she asked.

‘Straight talk?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m not sure I can do this, Kate.’

‘You don’t have to, Fisher,’ she said. ‘They only need one of us.’

‘I couldn’t do that to you.’

‘Fisher, it’s fine. Stay here.’