Complicity by Anna Legat

Author:Anna Legat [Legat, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

The café on the ground floor was bursting at the seams. They wrestled their way to a small table which had just been vacated by the previous customer. He had left behind his empty coffee cup and a crunched-up paper napkin surrounded by crumbs. With automated efficiency, Lorraine removed the crockery and wiped the table with a piece of tissue.

‘I’m a restaurant manager,’ she replied to Ray’s quizzical look. ‘I see a messy table and I instantly tidy it up, ready for the next—’ she sighed and slumped in a chair. ‘I’m sorry, I’m waffling. It’s my nerves. I want to talk to you about Kevin. I didn’t want to do it in front of Bobby in case he could hear me. He doesn’t know yet what his father—’ another weighty sigh tumbled out of her.

‘It’s okay. I’m glad we can talk,’ Ray set the tray with their drinks on the table and sat down, facing her. He pushed her cappuccino towards her. She stirred it mindlessly without putting any sugar in.

‘You see, Mr Thorpe, I’ve been racking my brains about this whole confession saga. I know my husband. I know what he is and isn’t capable of. We’ve been married for thirty years. I know he didn’t do what he says he’s done. I don’t understand why he’s saying it. So, anyway, I’ve been going through the dates and I know Kevin couldn’t have done it. He couldn’t have killed Tanner Golding. That night, the twelfth of October, we were out. Not just the two of us, mind. My mother-in-law was with us. It was her wedding anniversary and we didn’t want her to be alone. You see, my father-in-law died that April. Clare didn’t take it well. She’s been depressed ever since. So we decided to take her out. That day, Kevin drove to Stroud to collect her and bring to Bath. We went to Miller & Carter in Milsom Street for dinner – we had a booking for eight pm. It can be checked. We spent the whole evening there.’

‘Tanner Golding’s time of death was between midnight and one am,’ Ray told her. ‘I’m just saying this, playing devil’s advocate, because you couldn’t have stayed at the restaurant until the early hours of the next morning.’

‘And we didn’t. We left around eleven and drove to our place. Clare was staying with us that night. She and Kevin stayed up talking until well after two am.’

‘But you didn’t?’

‘No, but I called Clare to check with her. Ever since Kevin confessed I’ve been wondering how on earth he could’ve done it. He would have to have left home after I went to bed, after midnight, and headed back for the city – a fifteen-minute drive from our place, or an hour’s walk. He’d then have had to kill that man before driving back again. Only he couldn’t have done it, Mr Thorpe, because Clare told me they’d sat together in our lounge, reminiscing about her late husband, well past the time of Tanner Golding’s death.

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