The Therapist(36)

‘Did you tell the police about the conversation you had with Nina, when she told you she’d had an affair with someone?’

‘Yes, and they were very interested, because it gave Oliver a motive for killing Nina.’

‘Didn’t they consider that maybe it was the man she was having an affair with who killed her?’

She looks sadly at me. ‘Why would they? It was Oliver who killed her.’

I nod. ‘I won’t take up any more of your time. Thank you for talking to me.’

‘Do you think you’ll be able to stay?’ she asks. ‘Now that you know about the murder?’

‘I don’t know. My sister was called Nina and it’s hard to explain, but if I leave, it will be as if I’m abandoning her too. I know it’s not healthy but I haven’t let her go yet, not really.’

‘That’s understandable.’

‘After almost twenty years?’

‘I think time has no meaning when it comes to grief.’

The gentleness in her voice brings sudden tears to my eyes and I nod, grateful that she understands.

‘I’ll let you know what I decide,’ I promise. ‘Everyone here has been so kind – Eve and Will have been amazing, and Maria and Tamsin are lovely too. And I still love Leo, despite everything.’

‘Yes – well, it’s been lovely talking to you, thank you for coming by,’ she says. She leans in to give me a kiss, and I hear the whisper of her voice in my ear.

Startled, I pull back. ‘Sorry?’

Again, Lorna’s hand flies to the pearls at her neck. ‘I was just saying goodbye.’ She seems flustered. ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t have embraced you but after what you told me about your parents and sister—’ Her voice trails off.

‘No, no, it’s fine, I thought—’

Moving back, Lorna opens the door. ‘Goodbye, Alice.’





Eighteen


Anxiety presses down as I close the front door behind me. Had Lorna really whispered Don’t trust anyone when she’d leaned into me, or had I imagined it?

I must have imagined it because why would she have felt the need to whisper when she was alone in the house? She had told me that Edward was out. I try and recall what I was saying before she whispered in my ear. I’d been talking about Will and Eve, and I think I mentioned Maria and Tamsin, and then Leo. She couldn’t have been warning me about Leo, she doesn’t even know him. Had she meant Will and Eve? Maybe she had heard me chatting to Will before she opened the door. Unless she meant Maria, or Tamsin. Or no-one at all, because she hadn’t whispered anything.

I’m on my way up to Leo’s study to watch for Edward walking back across the square, because I can’t believe that Lorna would have lied to me about being on her own in the house, when there’s a ring on the bell. Retracing my steps, I open the door and see Tamsin standing there, her hands pushed into the pockets of a brown leather jacket.

‘Oh, hi Tamsin,’ I say, surprised. ‘How are you? Do you want to come in?’

She shakes her head. ‘No thanks. I just want to say that I don’t think you should be upsetting Lorna by bringing up the murder again.’

My cheeks burn. ‘I was only trying to find out a little more about Nina.’

‘Why?’

‘Well, I—’

‘Why do you want to know more about Nina?’ she interrupts. ‘Didn’t we tell you enough yesterday at lunch? What more could Lorna tell you about her than we, her friends, already have?’

‘I – I was just trying to help,’ I stammer. ‘Lorna said she was glad to be able to talk about Nina.’

‘Bullshit.’ I flinch at the animosity in her voice. ‘Look, I understand that it must have been a shock to find out about the murder,’ she goes on. ‘And I have no idea what that reporter’s motive was in contacting you. But you’re going to do more harm than good if you start sticking your nose into things that don’t concern you. You don’t want to start alienating yourself, especially if you decide to stay here.’ Turning her back on me, she walks down the drive without saying goodbye.

My face burning at Tamsin’s unjustified aggressiveness, I run upstairs to Leo’s study and watch from the window as she walks across the square to her house. Maybe it’s the truth behind her words that stings. I had upset Lorna. Losing Oliver must have been like losing her son all over again, but somehow worse, because she had been the one to pull the trigger. As she’d sat there, twisting her hands in her lap, I’d felt the weight of her guilt. But I don’t like being threatened and Tamsin’s visit had felt like a threat. How did she know I was asking Lorna about Nina anyway? Did she see me coming out of her house and make an educated guess?

There’s still no sign of Edward. I scan the other houses and see Tim standing at the upstairs window of number 9, also watching the square. Even though I’m doing the same thing, it makes me uncomfortable to see him there. Ten minutes pass, then fifteen. A movement to the left catches my eye – Lorna and Edward’s garage door swinging upwards and outwards. I look down and see Edward, his green gardening shoes on his feet, walking down the drive towards their wheelie bin. I watch as he takes hold of the handle and pulls it slowly back up the drive and into the garage. So, he wasn’t out, as Lorna had said. Unless – her actual words had been ‘Edward isn’t here’. I had taken that to mean he was out; but maybe all she had meant was that he wasn’t there in the house with her, but in the garden.