Blood on the Marsh (DI Susan Holden 3)

Holden spread her hands. ‘Technically, people don’t just die. There’s always a reason, and our job is to determine the reason for her death. It may well be quite innocent and straightforward or.…’ Holden didn’t finish her sentence, but it provoked a laugh from the woman facing her.

‘Or it could be murder most foul?’

Holden looked down at her hands, which she suddenly realized were clasped tightly together. She deliberately separated them, resting each hand on a knee, and looked up.

‘Were you aware that Mrs Wright had a hip flask in her room?’

‘Yes.’ Her reply was instant, as if she had anticipated the question. ‘It wasn’t a secret.’

‘Do you know what she drank from it?’

‘Whisky, I think.’

‘You think?’

‘Yes, I think. That’s what she told me.’

‘Did you ever fill it up for her?’

‘God, no! It’s against the rules.’

‘And you’re a stickler for rules, are you? It’s just that you don’t look like it.’

‘I wouldn’t want to get in trouble.’

‘But you’ve been suspended, haven’t you?’ It was below the belt. A cheap shot. Holden knew that before she made it, but it was something she had to explore. If Bella Sinclair was the sort of person who stole fifty pounds from a dead woman and physically abused an old man, then she was surely capable of overdosing an old woman who was causing her trouble.

‘Christ, so that’s it!’ The earlier confidence had been replaced by something not so far from panic. ‘Look, I’ve done nothing wrong. Absolutely nothing. That bastard Paul wants to get rid of me. He wants to use me as a scapegoat. You ask my sister.’

It was Holden’s turn to be taken by surprise, though she tried to hide it. ‘Your sister?

‘Fran Sinclair. She’s my sister.’ Bella grinned. ‘You didn’t know, did you? You call yourselves detectives, and you hadn’t even worked that out?’

‘You don’t exactly look like sisters.’

Bella laughed out loud. ‘Well, I got the beauty, and she got the brawn. She’ll tell you that. But actually we reckon we’ve got different fathers, but Mum never admitted it.’

‘Right.’ Holden nodded and looked down. She noticed that her hands had twisted themselves together again, but she didn’t try to untangle them this time. She just needed to keep on track. ‘Why do you think you’re being made a scapegoat?’

‘That’s Fran’s theory. Sunnymede has had a bad report. She says Greenleaf is using me as a fall guy. If they can demonstrate that there’s just one bad apple, it looks better for him.’

‘You say that’s Fran’s theory. Do you have a different one?’

Bella Sinclair stood up abruptly, peeled off her coat and scarf, and tossed them down on the other end of the sofa. She walked over to the large double-glazed window and stood with her back to it. She was still an attractive-looking woman, ridiculously trim and with strikingly good legs. Holden felt a pang of jealousy. ‘Paul Greenleaf is after revenge.’ Bella spoke as if on stage, delivering a monologue to a packed audience as she explained the intricacies of the plot. ‘He fancied me, you see. Fancied me like crazy. The only problem is, he repulses me. Creepy, he is. I knew on the day of my interview he’d be trouble.’

‘When was this?’ Holden realized she didn’t know how long Bella had been at Sunnymede.

‘Five, six months ago. I spent nearly ten years in New Zealand. Travelling at first, then working. I even got hitched to a Kiwi. But that all fell apart and I came back to England, and Fran got me an interview at Sunnymede. Last June, it was. Greenleaf was all over me. “How do you like your coffee? It isn’t too hot, is it? I’ve got a special supply of chocolate biscuits. Have one, but don’t tell your sister.” God, he was pathetic. I should have walked out. I knew he’d be trouble, but I needed the job and I reckoned I could handle him.’

She paused, and turned to look outside. Somewhere, the grey cloud broke ranks, and a shaft of sunlight burst into the room, illuminating her profile. Holden swallowed. It was easy to see Bella inspiring lust in men. And not just men. ‘So was there an incident?’

Bella continued to look out across Blackbird Leys. ‘I managed to put him off at first. Whenever he tried to chat me up, I found something else to do. It wasn’t difficult. There’s always stuff to do at Sunnymede. But then one Wednesday, he turned up here. Wednesday is my day off, but at 10.30 that morning the bell rang and it was him. I was stupid enough to offer him a coffee, and well, you know how it happens, next thing was we were in my bed….’

‘A moment ago you said he repulsed you.’ Holden liked to think she could smell bullshit a mile off, and right now Bella stank something terrible.

‘Jesus, Inspector, hold your horses. Sometimes in life you make mistakes. Sometimes you sleep with people you never should have.’

‘And sometimes people lie to the police.’