The Beowulf Murders by Adams Will

Author:Adams, Will
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-06-24T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SEVEN

A flare of light by an unused door was hardly proof that someone had followed Charlotte Ash up to Dragon Stone Hill on the night she’d died. But it was about the best lead Elias had, and plenty enough to give some trees a shake, to see what fell out. Lucius Hyde-Smith had seemed reasonably confident in his denial, Raoul Flood would still have been on his way back from the pub, and Imogen Flood and Cameron Wolfe had been watching the end of their movie together. That left only Philip Smallbone and Bryony Mackay. Of the two, Smallbone seemed the more likely prospect, motivated by some toxic mix of jealousy, lust and resentment. He was easier to get at, too, for while Mackay was on one of the rugs, talking to Imogen and Anna, he was standing all by himself in the narrow strip of shade offered by the cottage, gazing at the lunch party with a jaundiced eye.

Elias refilled his plastic cup with bitter lemon then went across to join him. ‘So which is it?’ he asked.

‘Which is what?’ replied Smallbone.

‘Is it that you dislike everyone? Or just these particular people?’

Smallbone gave a snort. ‘I don’t see you talking to them.’

‘I didn’t spend a summer excavating with them.’

‘Excavating is my job. My private life is separate.’

‘Mine too,’ acknowledged Elias. ‘Mine too. Mind you, my job was mostly locking up murderers and rapists, so not quite the same. Weird thing, though. I’m with you when it comes to small talk. I can’t see the point of it any more, not since the divorce. Or not since I stopped seeing the kids every day, to be more precise. You know all about that, right? You lose all your fun old mates when you become a dad. You find yourself hanging out instead with the parents of your kids’ friends. You talk about the teams they’re in, and who the good teachers are, and places to take them on rainy weekends. But then suddenly your kids aren’t there any more, and you realise you’ve got nothing in common with these people except children of the same age. And so good riddance to them. At least, that’s how it was for me. How about you?’

‘Is that any of your business?’

‘You’re right, you’re right. Of course it’s not. It’s just, divorce is such a bastard, isn’t it? Not getting to see the kids every day. You don’t realise how important it is to your mental health simply to know that they’re okay. I worry all the time now that something bad’s happened to one of them. Every phone call I get. Every phone call I don’t get. You should see my pulse when the ex rings out of the blue. Sixty to a hundred and eighty in a time to turn Ferrari green.’

‘You want to get that checked out. Sounds serious.’

‘It used to take a pretty woman to set me off like that. Someone like Charlotte Ash, say. Though I have to ask: Was she really as special as everyone says?’

Smallbone gazed sourly at him.

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