The Therapist(46)

‘Thank you, Alice, I’ll see you tomorrow.’

I try to concentrate on my work for the rest of the day but the guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach has me constantly reaching for my phone, wanting to call Thomas Grainger and tell him not to bother coming over. Even though I’m not going to be telling him anything he doesn’t already know, it feels wrong to be speaking to him. I wish I could run it by someone but I already know what Debbie would say. And I can’t ask Ginny for advice, because I still haven’t told Leo that the man who gate-crashed our party is a private investigator. If Ginny knows, she might tell Mark, who would tell Leo. And I need to be the one to tell him. The reason I haven’t told him yet is that I know he’ll call the police, and Thomas will get into trouble if they find out he’s investigating Nina’s murder. And I don’t want that to happen.

I work late into the evening to make up for taking most of the afternoon off and when it gets dark, still traumatised by my experience last night, I read in the sitting room with the curtains open, getting up occasionally to check what the other residents of The Circle are doing. It’s comforting to see lights on, to know that even though it’s late, not everyone is in bed.

By the time one o’clock comes, most of the lights have gone out and I feel nervous standing at the window in full view. There could be someone waiting in the shadows, someone who can see me even if I can’t see them. Of the few lights that are still on, one comes from Tamsin’s house and I like to think that she might be awake too.

When I go to bed, I leave the light on in the stairwell so that the house isn’t in complete darkness. But I’m unable to relax and I know that I’ve been fooling myself in thinking that I can ever feel comfortable living here. Ginny had been appalled when I told her that I’d thought there was someone in the house the previous night, and had urged me to move in with her and Mark while I sort things out with Leo. I should have taken her up on her offer – and tomorrow I will. I don’t know what will happen between me and Leo, the only thing I know is that I can’t go on living in The Circle.





Twenty-Three


Thomas arrives at precisely two o’clock. I was expecting him to ring on the intercom, so it’s a shock to find him at the front door.

‘I thought I’d check if the entry code had been changed. It hasn’t,’ he says, by way of explanation. He sounds disapproving.

‘I’ll speak to someone about it.’ I close the door on the cold wind that followed him in and lead him through to the sitting room. It feels rude not to offer him a coffee but I want to get rid of him as quickly as possible. Even though I managed to get through the night unscathed, I still don’t want to be here. The only thing I’m hesitating about is whether to go to Ginny’s, or to Debbie’s in Harlestone.

‘I don’t have very long, I’m afraid,’ he says, as if he’s read my mind and is putting me at ease.

‘Yes, of course.’ I wait until he’s sitting down, his phone on the table beside him. ‘How is Oliver’s sister?’

‘Health-wise, not so good. But it’s done wonders for her morale knowing that we might be able to make some progress in clearing Oliver’s name. She’s very grateful to you, Alice.’

I frown. ‘As I said on the phone yesterday, I don’t think I’m going to be telling you anything you don’t already know. I’d hate for you, or Oliver’s sister, to have false hope.’

‘Believe me, false hope is the last thing I want to give Helen.’

I tell him quickly about my visit to Lorna.

‘Did Helen – Oliver’s sister – know that Nina was having an affair?’ I ask.

‘Not until my police source told me about your neighbours’ testimony.’

‘Was she aware there were problems in the marriage?’

‘No, but she said that Oliver probably wouldn’t have told her if there had been.’

‘My neighbour was adamant that she saw Oliver go into the house,’ I say. ‘But what if he went in, then went out again? Maybe he heard Nina breaking things off with the man she was having an affair with, and decided to leave them to it. And then, while he was in the square, that person killed her.’

‘You don’t know how much I’d like that to be true. But if that was the case, wouldn’t Oliver have said as much to the police? He maintained that he didn’t go into the house at all, even when his lawyer suggested to him that it might have been the case.’

‘What do you think happened?’ I ask.

‘I believe Oliver, because he had no need to lie. But I also believe your next-door neighbour – Mrs Beaumont.’ He leans forward, fixing me with his eyes. ‘Think about it for a minute; she sees Oliver arrive, she sees him getting out of the car. At that moment, someone sneaks past the car and goes into the house. Oliver, about to head to the square, doesn’t see that person because he’s going in the other direction. Your neighbour, thinking that she’s seen Oliver go inside, has stopped watching because she’s anxious that he and Nina might start arguing again. It’s why she doesn’t see Oliver walk into the square. And as nobody else came forward to say that they saw him there – well, in the police’s eyes, without an alibi, he has to be lying.’

I nod slowly, realising that what Thomas said is not possibly what happened, but probably what happened. I like that he believes both Oliver and Lorna.