Tea & Sympathy: A Tea & Sympathy Mystery by J. New

Author:J. New [New, J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Phantom Press
Published: 2021-07-29T22:00:00+00:00

Lilly took a deep breath. Breaking and entering 101; be confident and pretend you belong there. She’d read that somewhere. It was probably nonsense, but what did she have to lose?

The light turned on and the man jumped back in shock, bumping into the hall wall.

“Hey! Who are you? What are you doing in my wife’s flat?”

“Mr Hotch? I am so sorry, I didn’t know you were coming. I’m Lilly Tweed, your wife wrote to me just before she died. Please accept my condolences for your loss.”

There was a moment’s pause as he considered her words. “All right. But that still doesn’t explain what you’re doing in here. How did you get in?”

“The door was unlocked.” Admittedly she shouldn’t have lied, but it was instinctual. Besides, there was no going back now. “I shouldn’t have come in, I know, but...”

“No, you shouldn’t. I’ve come to collect her belongings, but you still haven’t told me what you’re doing here?”

“Your wife wrote to me, like I said. I used to be the agony aunt with the Gazette. In her letter she sounded terribly distressed and I wrote back asking to meet so I could help. Apparently my letter was found in her pocket when she was pulled from the river. I’ve been distraught about the whole thing and was just looking for answers about what happened. I thought there might be something here that could help me. It’s for my own peace of mind, really. I just wish I’d been able to help her.”

Joseph’s expression softened slightly. Now she looked at him closely he looked exhausted and grief-stricken.

“Believe me, Miss Tweed, you’re not the only one. I shouldn’t have let her move here. I knew she shouldn’t have been alone for an extended length of time. That she wouldn’t cope. But she was so insistent, and my attempts at trying to dissuade her just made things worse. I should have come and got her sooner.”

“Why was she here, if you don’t mind me asking?”

There was a momentary tension in his jaw as he gritted his teeth. Lilly was afraid she’d intruded too much, but then he relaxed again and replied.

“We were separated. For about a year now. She’s been fighting a losing battle with schizophrenia for a long time and her paranoia was gaining ground. If I’m being honest, I was growing frustrated with it all. I needed a break, so when she packed up and told me she was leaving, I eventually gave in and let her go. I should have made a better effort to stop her, I knew if she left home she’d forget to take a medication, but I was thinking of myself. It was selfish and now I’ll have to live with the guilt of knowing she would still have been alive if only...”

Lilly could see the pain and guilt etched in the man’s face. Mental illness was incredibly difficult for a partner to deal with, and Joseph Hotch had obviously been living with it for a long time.

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