The Couple in the Photograph by Valerie Keogh

Author:Valerie Keogh [Keogh, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books

31

Keri stared at Nathan, puzzled. ‘JC?’ Keri had been a Catholic, way back when. JC would always be Jesus Christ in her head but she doubted if that were who Nathan was referring to.

‘JC. Jim Cody. That was the apprentice’s name.’

‘Okay,’ Keri said, although nothing felt any clearer. ‘I still don’t understand. Where have you been for the last few days?’ When she needed him here with her, dealing with what was happening now, not something that had happened over twenty years before.

‘I went to Stevenage–’

‘Stevenage? What on earth for?’

‘If you’d let me finish!’ He glared at her. ‘That’s where DS Construction has their office. I went to speak to Dexter Sylvester. To see if he’d had a similar message, to see if perhaps he’d heard from Cody’s family. If maybe they were threatening him… or something.’ Nathan ran a hand through his hair. ‘I don’t know why really, but the message had rattled me. I couldn’t tell you. You’d want to know why, and I suppose I never wanted to tell you a story that cast me in such bad light.’

Keri suddenly understood. ‘You’ve been harbouring guilt all of these years. You should have talked to me, I can’t believe you kept this a secret. It must have been eating away at you.’

A smile lit Nathan’s face, chasing away the shadows. ‘You’re crediting me with the kind of good virtues you have. You were always a much more honest person than me. No, I haven’t been feeling guilty all these years.’ The smile faded and he shrugged. ‘Maybe a little when Daniel was sixteen. He had the same kind of innocent enthusiasm I remember seeing in the apprentice. But although I didn’t always feel guilty, I never forgot, and when I got that message, I knew…’

‘What?’ She was still lost.

He looked at her. ‘That someone else hadn’t forgotten.’ He got to his feet and paced the room. ‘I decided to go to Stevenage that afternoon but when I got there I found the office shut. I thought maybe they’d closed down, although I would have thought we’d have heard–’

‘We would have done,’ Keri interrupted. ‘Sylvester is one of the rotten apples of the building trade. There’s been rumours of bribery and intimidation going back for as many years as I can remember.’

‘Nothing’s ever been proven,’ Nathan said, settling back on the stool. ‘Anyway, I looked around for a bit, then rattled the gateway till a Doberman came galloping towards me, teeth bared. I stepped back, but the dog stayed snarling at me until a security man came over. He wasn’t particularly friendly until I mentioned I knew Sylvester, then he was happy to lock the dog away and come back for a natter.’

‘And?’ Keri wanted to shake him till all the information poured out. Like any nasty infection, only when all the pus was gone did any healing take place.

‘Dexter Sylvester had been found dead at home the previous week.’ Nathan looked at her, eyes wide, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to get the words out.

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