The Therapist(48)

‘Just that not everyone thinks Oliver is guilty.’

‘What do you mean?’

I’m pacing the floor now, wondering if I should tell him about Thomas, how he’s an investigator and not a reporter, and how he thinks that Oliver is innocent. But if I tell him that he’s a friend of Oliver’s sister, Leo will say he has a vested interest. Besides, if he asks how I met him, I’ll have to tell him he’s the man who gate-crashed our drinks evening, and Thomas’s credibility will be less than zero, private investigator or not. And, I remind myself, it’s no longer my business.

‘I’m finding it hard to reconcile this image of Oliver as a paragon of virtue but also a killer,’ I tell him, coming to a stop by the window. Maria and Tim, on the way into the square with their boys, are chatting to Geoff at the gate. I watch for a moment. Did Nina help Tim and Geoff in some capacity too, as well as Will and Connor?

‘Maybe. But I don’t understand why you’re getting involved.’ Leo interrupts my train of thought. ‘Unless it’s because of your sister. Because if that is the reason, you need to let it go. It isn’t healthy, Alice.’

I hang up before he can say anything more and remind me what my therapist told me – that I can’t live my sister’s life through the lives of other women called Nina.





Twenty-Four


Stay!

The soft, sibilant whisper lulls me from my sleep. Instead of feeling afraid, the lingering echo of the word fills me with lightness.

‘Nina,’ I murmur.

The sense of her, strong, silent, acts like a balm to my troubled mind.

‘I’m not going to leave you,’ I promise her silently. ‘I’m going to get to the truth. If it wasn’t Oliver who killed you, I’ll find out who did.’

I expect her to leave. But she stays, and I drift easily back to sleep.

I wake late, luxuriating in the aura of peace cocooning my body. I search the reason for this unexpected feeling of wellbeing and remember how I sensed Nina’s presence in the night. I have no trouble believing her spirit was there, that – like my sister was – she’s trapped between this life and the next, waiting for justice to be done. I throw back the covers, driven by new purpose. I’m not going anywhere, I have a promise to fulfil.

My mobile beeps, a message from Leo.

You didn’t tell me if I should come home tonight. My heart sinks. I take a moment, then text him back I’m sorry, I need more time. I wait anxiously for his reply, feeling guilty that I don’t want him here. It comes – It’s fine, I understand. I’m here if you need me xx. Tears fill my eyes. We were good together, me and Leo.

I find myself thinking about Thomas. I’ve already worked out that he must be around forty-four years old and I’m still wondering about his relationship with Helen. I’ve noticed a tenderness in his eyes whenever he mentions her name and I can’t imagine what it must be like – whether she’s a friend or something more – to know that time is running out for her. Leo thinks it’s only because my sister was called Nina that I’ve taken Nina Maxwell’s murder to heart, but he’s wrong. If my husband or brother was wrongly accused of murder, I’d want the truth to come out. And from the relatively little time I’ve spent in The Circle, I’m convinced there’s a truth to be found.

I call Thomas.

‘I heard something,’ I say.

‘Oh?’

He listens while I repeat what Leo told me about Nina helping out people in The Circle, including the husbands of her close friends.

‘Thank you for being so open with me,’ he says when I get to the end.

‘The only reason I’m telling you is because something strange happened. When I was leaving Lorna’s house the other day, after I’d asked her about Nina, I could have sworn she whispered “Don’t trust anyone” in my ear.’

‘She’s probably right. The more I look into Nina’s murder, the more secrets I think there are.’

‘Yes, but that’s not the point. She told me her husband wasn’t there, so I thought it was strange that she felt the need to whisper. Then, not long afterwards, when I got home, I saw him coming out of the garage. So I think she might have lied. Although he could have been in the garden, because he had his gardening shoes on.’

‘How did Lorna seem when you spoke to her?’

‘Not frightened exactly, but definitely uneasy. Maybe she was worried that Edward – if he was there – might not be happy that she was talking to me. Unless there was someone else there, someone who didn’t like Lorna speaking to me.’ I pause. ‘I’m sorry, I need to go.’

‘Is everything alright?’

But I’ve already hung up, my heart plummeting at what I’ve just realised. Tamsin had turned up on my doorstep two minutes after I’d left Lorna’s that day and had warned me against asking her questions. I thought she’d seen me come out of the house and had guessed my motive for going there. But what if she’d been there all the time? She might have gone to see Lorna to warn her against speaking to me and I had chosen that very moment to call round. Had she been listening to our conversation from somewhere close by, is that why Lorna had been so nervous? It would explain how Tamsin knew what I’d been talking to Lorna about.