“Yes. I saw her when I responded to the call, and again when I apprehended her later last night at the art gallery in the village. She insisted that she was Eden Fox, and that the woman inside the gallery was an impostor pretending to be her husband’s wife.”
“How do you know she wasn’t?”
He stares at me as though I might be a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
“Because I had already met the real Eden—half the village had—and then there was Harrison. Why would a husband lie about who his wife was? I interviewed this other woman and she seemed a bit crazy and possibly dangerous.”
“Crazyanddangerous. But you let her go?”
“Not in so many words.”
“How many words does it take to explain she got away from you twice? And the woman who Harrison claimswashis wife. You said you met her?”
“Everyone who met the real Eden Fox liked her. She made a real effort from the moment they moved here to be friendly to people in the village. She would often visit the bakery, or the butchers, supporting local businesses, which always goes down well in a place like this. And we all saw her at her exhibition last night; the whole village was there.”
“The whole village went to an art exhibition? Do people here not have Netflix?”
“I think people here are perhaps more community-minded than people in the city.”
“Is that so? Fascinating insight. When didyoufirst meet her?”
“Who?”
“Eden.”
He shrugs. “At the gallery last night.”
I wait for him to say more but he doesn’t. “Then that’s where I want you to go now. I need you to speak to the owner of the gallery while I finish reading the transcript of your chat with the husband. Find out how the exhibition came about, whose idea it was.”
“Why?” he asks.
“Yours is not to reason why, your job is to just do what I tell you.”
“Fine. Guess I’ll go interview the black widow.”
“Why do you call her that?”
“Everyone in the village calls her that, behind her back at least. Diana has had three husbands and outlived them all—she paid forthe gallery with the inheritance—and rumor has it she’s on the lookout for husband number four. Apparently she keeps the ashes of her last husband on the mantelpiece in her flat, and puts a teaspoon of his ashes in her tea once a day. She drinks him so she can keep him with her always.”
Blimey.
“Well, if she offers you a cup of tea say no,” I tell him. He just stares at me. “What are you waiting for? Off you fuck.”
Carter shakes his pretty head then leaves the pub.
I can understand if his nose is a little out of joint about me being his boss. And I appreciate it might be awkward, for him, that we slept together. But what I’m most curious about is why he just said what he said. I know Carter didn’t meet Eden Fox for the first time at the exhibition; they met before that.
What I don’t know is why he lied.
27
Interviewer:Sergeant Luke Carter (LC)
Interviewee:Harrison Woolf (HW)
Date:October 31, 2025
Location:Hope Falls police station
