Bird looks from one of us to the other with a smile bigger than I thought her face was capable of. It’s not what she thinks but I can’t be bothered to correct her.
“CanLuluand I get two of the Smuggler’s Ultimate Burgers, please?” she asks, but it turns out that’s just the beginning of her food order. “On one of the burgers, can I havenolettuce,notomato, and onions, butonlyif they are fried. Any relish should be on the side and not touching anything else, ideally in individual ramekins. All I want on the plate is the burger, the cheese, which I hope will be melted, and the bun. I’d like the burger cooked medium to well. I don’t like it overcooked but I don’t want to see any blood. No salt on my fries either. Thank you. And can I get two milkshakes? One strawberry and one…”
She stares at me expectantly. “Oh, I’m fine with water, thanks.”
“Have a milkshake. They’re good,” she insists.
“Fine. Chocolate.”
“One strawberry and one chocolate,” she says, putting down the menu. Maddy raises an eyebrow before smirking at me then disappearing back behind the bar.
“So… Lulu?” Bird says when she is gone.
“It’s just a nickname. It’s short for Luke,” I say.
“Is it?”
“Why didn’t you give him a harder time?” I ask, trying to change the subject.
“Who?” she says, polishing the cutlery with her napkin as though she thinks it isn’t clean enough.
“Harrison Woolf. If you’re so sure he’s lying, why were you so nice to him?”
“Because sometimes you have to be nice to people to get what you want from them.”
“Even people you suspect committed a crime?”
“Sometimes less is more when questioning a suspect. Wait. Watch. And above all else, listen. People are afraid of silence and will fill it with all sorts of things they didn’t mean to say. And if they don’t, then what a person doesn’t say can be far more informative than whatthey do. Besides, what crime are you suggesting he committed? We still haven’t found either of the women claiming to be Eden Fox.”
“Well, there’s gaslighting. Could be something like that. Could he have talked her into harming herself and jumping off a cliff? Maybe she was having an affair and he found out and—”
“Who on earth would she have an affair withhere?”
“I’m just saying—”
“It’s good to consider all the options but we need to stick to the facts and not jump to conclusions.”
The term seems inappropriate given the circumstances, and I wish she would stop speaking to me as if I’m an idiot. Perhaps she has forgotten that Hope Falls has one of the lowest crime rates in the country, unlike London, thanks to me knowing how to do my job. I’m grateful for the distraction when our food arrives. I watch as she dismantles her already deconstructed burger to check it is how she ordered it. Then she cuts it into precise quarters before taking an enormous bite.
“I don’t understand why we aren’t speaking to the daughter,” I say, before eating my burger like a normal person. “Harrison has made it clear that he doesn’t want us to, which I think is strange and suspicious.”
“Not really,” she says, taking another bite.
“Why isn’t it?”
“A simple Google search of the number Mr. Woolf gave you yesterday is why.” She hastily taps something into her laptop with one hand—the fingers on her other covered in grease and ketchup—then turns the screen to face me before popping some fries in her mouth. For someone so small she seems to have a huge appetite.
I see a website for something called The Manor.
“What is it? A luxury hotel?” I ask.
“Not quite. The Manor is where Gabriella Woolf lives. It’s a very expensive and exclusive residential care facility for young adults whocannot take care of themselves. Either due to illness, serious injury, learning difficulties, or mental health issues.”
“Which category does the daughter fall into?”
“She was in an accident. Hasn’t spoken a word for ten years. They say she is basically a child trapped inside a young woman’s body. I don’t think she can be a suspect, and I don’t want you to give Harrison Woolf any more excuses to file a complaint.”
“I think we should at least find out if the daughter is still there.”
