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Chapters (53)
  1. Title page
  2. Dedication page
  3. Contents
  4. Acknowledgements
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Chapter Nine
  14. Chapter Ten
  15. Chapter Eleven
  16. Chapter Twelve
  17. Chapter Thirteen
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Chapter Fifteen
  20. Chapter Sixteen
  21. Chapter Seventeen
  22. Chapter Eighteen
  23. Chapter Nineteen
  24. Chapter Twenty
  25. Chapter Twenty-One
  26. Chapter Twenty-Two
  27. Chapter Twenty-Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-Four
  29. Chapter Twenty-Five
  30. Chapter Twenty-Six
  31. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  32. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  33. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  34. Chapter Thirty
  35. Chapter Thirty-One
  36. Chapter Thirty-Two
  37. Chapter Thirty-Three
  38. Chapter Thirty-Four
  39. Chapter Thirty-Five
  40. Chapter Thirty-Six
  41. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  42. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  43. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  44. Chapter Forty
  45. Chapter Forty-One
  46. Chapter Forty-Two
  47. Chapter Forty-Three
  48. Chapter Forty-Four
  49. Chapter Forty-Five
  50. Chapter Forty-Six
  51. Chapter Forty-Seven
  52. By Ann Cleeves
  53. Copyright page

‘Last night. I went to bed early. There was live music in the bar, but our manager deals with that. He’s local and he’s very good at running the Thursday events. I assumed that perhaps Charles had popped in to see how things were going. I’d been working in the garden all day and I was exhausted. I went straight to sleep. When I woke early this morning I realized Charles hadn’t come to bed and I came looking for him. I searched the house first. Then I came out into the garden and saw something on the shore. It was that blue shirt. I recognized the colour, but I couldn’t believe it was him until I got here.’

‘Was it unusual for him to be up all night?’ Willow knew all this should wait until she had another officer with her and could talk properly to David as a witness, but it would be unbearable to stand here in silence, and all information was valuable. A small fishing boat came round the headland followed by screaming gulls.

‘Yes, but it wasn’t unheard of. He loved popular old television – it probably reminded him of his glory days – and if there were repeats of obscure sitcoms on BBC4 he’d sit up and watch until the early hours. Sometimes he’d fall asleep in the armchair and still be there in the morning . . .’ David’s voice tailed off.

‘And last night?’

‘Last night he went out after dinner. Sometimes he was restless. Perhaps he felt trapped here and just needed a sense of movement. He took the car and came back about an hour later.’

‘Did he say where he’d been?’ Willow tried to understand this relationship. Had these men discussed what they wanted from the partnership, or had each been so careful about his partner’s privacy that they’d simply tried to guess what had made the other happy?

‘He said he’d been for a drive. The fog had made him feel trapped and he needed to get out for a while. When I went to bed early I hoped he might follow me up and that we might talk.’ At last David turned away from the sea and faced her. He’d stopped crying. ‘For a while I’ve had the feeling that he’s been keeping secrets from me. Making plans. When I woke and he wasn’t there, I wasn’t surprised. I thought he’d run away.’

Like Eleanor, Willow thought. Caroline thought that she was planning to run away from her partner too. She couldn’t think what else the two dead people might have had in common.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six