The Therapist(71)

‘No, just for a walk. I’m reading through a new script and I needed a break. Are you back already? Eve said you’d gone away.’

Too late, I remember that I was meant to be away until tomorrow. ‘Yes, I just got back,’ I tell him.

He nods distractedly. ‘Eve really enjoyed the Orangery the other day.’

‘Me too. I don’t know about Eve, but I ate far too much.’

‘I just wanted to say – Eve told me that there’s been a couple of occasions when you’ve thought there was someone in the house at night?’

‘It was probably my imagination,’ I say, wondering why he’s mentioning it.

He gives me a quick look. ‘I don’t want to worry you but I think Eve told you that Nina thought the same thing.’

‘Yes, she did.’

‘Then – are you sure you’re happy staying there on your own? If Leo isn’t coming back yet, you’re welcome to stay with us.’

‘That’s lovely of you but honestly, I’m fine.’

He turns his blue eyes on me. ‘I’m sorry, Alice, I don’t understand why you’re willing to risk it, especially after what happened to Nina.’

‘But if Oliver killed Nina, how can I be at risk?’

‘What if he didn’t?’

I stop walking. ‘What are you saying, Will?’

He shoves his hands in his pockets. ‘Just that I’ve never been entirely happy with the theory that he killed her. I didn’t know Oliver well, we’d only been neighbours for five months, but I knew him well enough to be as shocked as everyone else when he was accused of murdering Nina. But when they said his suicide proved his guilt – that I couldn’t believe. I didn’t say anything because as I said, everyone knew him better than me, so I thought there was something about him that I’d missed. Then you arrived and began questioning things, and now, I don’t know. What if the real killer is still living among us, hiding in plain sight?’

He seems so genuine, so completely genuine. But at the back of my mind, there’s a voice telling me that he’s an actor, an incredibly good actor. If Eve told him of the conversation we had in the Orangery, did she also tell him what I said last week, that I no longer think there’s a mystery to solve? Has Will just laid a trap for me?

‘I’m really sorry if I’ve made you question what happened,’ I say, walking on, because I want this conversation to end as quickly as possible. ‘I didn’t have all the facts at the beginning but now that I do, I honestly believe that Oliver killed Nina over the affair she was having. And if the police didn’t think there was anything further to investigate, I’m not quite sure why I did.’ I give a self-conscious laugh, because I can act too. ‘Sometimes I wonder if it was just to make myself more interesting than I actually am – you know, to try and make my mark here in The Circle.’

‘Oh. Well, in that case, I guess I’ll have to accept it too,’ he says, and I can’t work out if he’s disappointed or relieved.

We reach the gate opposite our houses.

‘Good luck with the script,’ I say, heading towards my drive.

‘Thanks, Alice. And remember, if you need anything, I’m just next door.’

I give an involuntary shiver. It should have sounded comforting. But somehow it had felt like a threat.





Thirty-Six


Thomas turns up at two-thirty, wearing a dark blue suit and light blue shirt, and looking paler than usual.

‘I’ve just come from Helen’s,’ he says.

‘How is she?’

‘Not good. It’s hard sometimes, remembering how she was.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I say, wondering again if he and Helen were more than friends.

We go to sit in the kitchen.

‘We went out together once or twice when we were at university,’ he says, uncannily reading my mind. ‘But we realised we were better friends than girlfriend and boyfriend.’ He dips his hand into the inside pocket of his jacket and draws out his wallet. ‘This is us in better days,’ he says, taking out a photo. ‘I took it with me this morning, to show Helen.’

I study it a moment. The younger version of him has longer hair, and his arm is around the shoulders of a girl with a pretty face and laughing blue eyes. They look so carefree that I wonder how hard it was for Helen to see the photo.

‘She said she was glad she didn’t know then that her life would be cut short at the age of forty-three,’ Thomas says. ‘Sometimes I wonder if Nina had the same thought, when she knew she was about to die.’

I hand the photo back to him. ‘Don’t.’

‘Sorry,’ he says, chastened. ‘I always feel down after I’ve visited Helen but it’s unprofessional to bring my low mood to work with me.’ I feel a momentary disappointment that he thinks of me as work. ‘Also, I didn’t have time for lunch so I probably need sugar. I’m diabetic.’

I jump to my feet. ‘You should have said, I thought you looked pale. Let me give you something to eat – what can I get you?’

‘A biscuit or banana will be fine, if you have either of those.’

‘I do, but I haven’t had lunch yet and I was going to make myself an omelette. Cheese and mushroom – will that do?’