‘Much more to do?’ he asked, going over to the fridge to help himself to a cold beer.
‘Nearly done,’ she replied. ‘Can you put the kettle on for me, please? I’d love a cup of tea.’
‘Herbal, decaf or proper builder’s tea?’
‘I’ve had my daily quota of proper tea, so it had better be decaf,’ she said.
With the lid off his bottle of beer, Tom drank thirstily from it, then set about the business of making Martha a mug of tea. ‘Chocolate mini roll with it?’ he offered, knowing that she currently couldn’t eat enough of them.
‘Please,’ she murmured absently.
When all was ready, he joined her at the table.
‘There,’ she declared, pushing the laptop away from her and stretching her back, then rubbing her baby bump, ‘finished.’
‘And here’s your reward,’ he said with a smile, passing her the mug of tea and mini roll.
‘You’re a saint,’ she said.
‘Aren’t I just? What would you like for supper? I reckon it’s warm enough for a barbecue, if you’d like it.’
‘Sounds heavenly. And thank goodness we haven’t got Rick-the-Cat-Killer here to nag you about cooking the meat properly.’
Tom took a long swig of his beer. ‘You know you really should stop calling him that. One day you’ll say it to his face by accident. And besides, he didn’t intentionally kill the cat, did he?’
‘Who says I’d say it to his face by accident,’ she said, ‘and not with deliberate intent?’
Tom looked at his wife thoughtfully. ‘You’ve really taken against him, haven’t you?’
‘Yes,’ she said simply.
‘For lying to your sister the way he did?’
‘If he could lie about something like that, who’s to say what else he would deceive Willow about?’
‘So now you have him nailed as a serial liar?’
‘We don’t know that he isn’t, do we? I mean, what do we really know about him? He never speaks about his family, or any friends.’
‘He’s a condemned man in your book?’
Martha drank some of her tea then took a bite of the mini roll. When she’d swallowed the mouthful, she said, ‘If you really want to know, I’d condemned him before Catgate.’
‘Why?’
‘Because of something he said to me. He as good as accused me of bullying Willow and of putting her down.’
‘When did he say that?’
‘It was during that phone call when he let slip that Willow was pregnant. And you know what, I’ve always had a suspicion that he did it deliberately. He just sounded so horribly smug.’
‘Why would he do that?’
‘Because he knew damned well it would upset me. That was his way of putting me in my place for what he perceived as my overbearing nature towards Willow.’
‘That’s a hell of a leap to make. And apart from anything else, why didn’t you tell me this before now?’
After another sip of her tea, she said, ‘I was embarrassed, and not to put too fine a point on it, humiliated. Let’s face it, Tom, I don’t always treat Willow as a responsible adult, do I?’
