Death of a Friend Read Online Free Page B

murdered Quaker was beginning to sound like a very complicated crime to investigate. The Detective Inspector was going to want full explanations that he felt seriously inadequate to deliver. ‘I won’t keep you much longer,’ he said. ‘Just the basics. You last saw Mr Grattan on Sunday, is that right?’
    ‘Yes,’ confirmed Martha. ‘He was here at the weekend. We had to prepare Nina’s coffin and just … get through the days, I suppose. Trying to keep the boys going and get hold of their father. Charlie seemed to wander off at some point. We can’t remember exactly when.’
    ‘But he lived at Chillhampton? That’s what – four miles from here?’
    ‘A bit less across the fields. He could walk it in forty minutes – and frequently did. He gave up his car last year.’
    ‘Oh? Was that ideology or necessity?’
    ‘A bit of each. He didn’t have any money coming in and there’s usually a vehicle here to use in an emergency. But he didn’t like cars much anyway.’
    ‘He lived with his parents?’
    ‘Officially, yes. But they’re not his parents, you know. I mean, Bill is his father, but Hannah is his aunt. Everybody makes the same mistake.’
    Den made no move to record this information. He wasn’t likely to forget it, and the G5 had already been completed, with the salient points surrounding the death itself all filled in neatly. Until the post-mortem was performed, there was little more to be done.
    ‘Somebody will come back and take statements,’ he told them. ‘After they’ve done the post-mortem. Meanwhile …’ He looked at Alexis. ‘I’m sorry you’ve had so much trouble.’
    His words sounded hopelessly inadequate, but Alexis nodded vaguely and attempted a smile. She had run her hands distractedly through her hair so many times it stuck out in tangled chunks, making her distress a tangible thing. She gave Martha a desolate look. ‘I’ll have to go and see Hannah and Bill,’ she said.
    The room felt cold; the stark fluorescent light exaggerated their pale faces and shadowed eyes. Den wanted to leave on a positive note. ‘Lilah said to give you her condolences,’ he offered, deliberately invoking his fiancée’s name, hoping to build a closer tie, to remind them he was just a local lad who already knew where the family fitted into the scheme of things.
    ‘Lilah was at the funeral,’ Martha remembered. ‘That was nice of her. Did she think we were very odd, burying Nina in the garden?’
    Den shook his head. ‘She thinks it’s your business. Losing your sister like that was …’
    ‘It’s all right,’ Alexis interrupted. ‘You can say it was tragic. This is beginning to feel like something out of Hamlet or Macbeth , anyway.’ She shook her head and closed her eyes. ‘Nobody ever tells you how much it hurts ,’ she moaned.
    Den shifted in the chair, his bony knees sticking out awkwardly, as they always did. A mark like a smear of dirt on the side of his long face was the slowly fading legacy of a violent blow sustained in the course of his duty nearly a year before. He put his fingers to it gently, thinking for a moment about Nina Nesbitt and the casual knock her head had received. By rights, he should be dead and Nina none the worse for her experience.
    Martha stroked her sister’s arm and made hushing noises. She took up the idea. ‘For once, tragedy is probably the right word to use. After all, she did bring it on herself. It was even quite a noble cause in a small way.’
    Den began to grasp the essential connections at the centre of the inquiry. Trained not to jump to conclusions, he had gone too far in the other direction. Gather as many facts as you can, was the first rule, and he believed he was doing quitewell there. Facts alone, however, were not going to produce a conclusion.
    He pushed back the chair and stood up. ‘We want to know exactly who’s been here since you last saw Charlie. Every single visitor.’
    Alexis gave a mocking laugh. ‘Including the