Don't Let Him In by Howard Linskey

Author:Howard Linskey [Linskey, Howard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781405945103
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2021-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

26

Graham excused himself and went to the gents. He was gone for a while and when he came back and sat down Rebecca noticed that the front of his hair was a little wet. Had he splashed some water on his face and, if so, why? Was he disturbed by the memories she had dredged up for him or was it the shock of hearing that her father, like Katherine, had been murdered?

‘When you last saw Dad, did he say anything out of the ordinary?’

‘I saw him the week before he died but he didn’t say anything strange.’

‘Was he worried about anything?’

‘We mostly just talked about the paper.’ He took a sip of his drink and avoided eye contact. Was there something he wasn’t telling her?

‘He didn’t tell you he was writing a book then?’

The answer was a mumble. ‘He did mention something about that.’ And he shifted uneasily in his seat.

‘And you thought it was a bad idea?’ He gave her a questioning look then. ‘Your body language,’ she explained. ‘And I think most people would question the sanity of writing about something that had wrecked their life.’

He didn’t contradict that. Perhaps Graham could also trace the slow downfall of her father right back to the death of his young reporter. ‘I don’t think he wanted to hear that it might be a bad idea.’

‘He was re-examining the murders. I think that might be the reason he was killed.’

‘Christ, well, if he did find something, he didn’t tell me what.’

‘But he must have told you his reasons for writing it?’

‘He thought Simon Kibbs was innocent. He didn’t believe a seventeen-year-old boy would suddenly snap in broad daylight and stab a woman to death in the churchyard he worked in, making him the obvious suspect.’

‘What did you think?’

‘I agreed it was unlikely but disturbed people do strange things. Honestly, Rebecca, I didn’t know if Simon was guilty or innocent and I still don’t.’

‘Did he say anything else?’

He took a moment to answer. Finally, in a low voice that was almost a whisper, he said, ‘He thought the police had covered it up.’

‘Covered what up?’ Simon’s claim about the blood on Rose McIntyre’s face rendering her unrecognizable perhaps?

‘Simon said he saw someone else that day.’

‘But nobody believed him.’

‘Everyone assumed he was making it up to save his own skin.’

‘But Dad didn’t think so?’

He looked to one side to ensure the other couple weren’t listening to their conversation, then he leaned closer and lowered his voice again. ‘He told me the police knew who Rose was meant to be meeting that day.’

‘The man she was supposed to be having an affair with?’

‘Yes.’

‘Who was it?’

‘He wouldn’t say. I am not sure if he actually even knew who it was but he was sure that they knew. He told me that was what they were covering up.’

‘How could he know that?’

‘I don’t know but he had his contacts.’

‘In the police?’

‘And other places. Your dad knew a lot of people, going back years. He heard things.

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