‘Yes,’ Eloise said firmly, her eyes glistening as she pulled her hand away to wipe a tear, smearing her mascara.
‘Asphyxiation,’ said Henley. ‘A cord of some kind.’
Eloise put her hands to her face and breathed in deeply three times. Henley leaned forward as Eloise spoke, but her words were muffled, lost in the flesh of her palms.
‘I didn’t catch that,’ Henley said gently.
Eloise took her shaking hands away from her face and placed them on the table, the overhead light hitting the small diamonds in her eternity ring. ‘Did he fight back?’ she asked.
‘Yes. Yes, he did,’ Henley said as Rhimes’s postmortem pictures, the scratch marks vivid on his neck, flashed in her mind.
‘God, there are so many questions,’ Eloise said.
Henley watched as Eloise bit her lip and nodded her head as though acknowledging the conclusion of a conversation in her head.
‘Someone was in our house,’ Eloise said, facing Henley. ‘Whoever did it was watching us, tracking our movements. They knew that Harry always left for work before me. I was in that house whilst someone was downstairs killing my husband. Do you know how many murder cases I’ve seen in my career? The moments of passion, the loss of control. I understand that but when it’s pre-meditated. It’s cold. Harry was a problem that they wanted to get rid of.’
‘I’m so sorry, Eloise. I’m sorry that—’
‘No, don’t be,’ Eloise said vehemently. ‘I don’t know how to explain it but knowing that he was taken from me and didn’t leave me … it’s better. Does that make sense?’
‘It does,’ Henley agreed. ‘But what doesn’t make sense is—’
‘The why,’ Eloise concluded. ‘It’s the first thing that they teach you in law school when you’re learning how to cross examine a witness. Not to ask thewhyquestion. The why opens a door, and you have no idea where that open door could take you.’
‘I could just close the door and walk away but then I would go to bed every night wondering why.’
‘No,’ Eloise said defiantly. ‘Whatever the why is, it put my husband in the ground. You have a family, Anjelica.’
‘There’s a reason why you came to me,’ said Henley. ‘Yes, you trust me, but you know that I can’t walk past an open door. Even if that door is only cracked open, I will push it further. Even if this wasn’t about Harry, if it was somebody else, a victim on my board, I would do the same thing. Keep digging and asking questions. You’ve shown me the opendoor, Eloise.’
Henley instantly regretted her words when she saw the crushed look on Eloise’s face as she realised the full enormity of her actions.
‘I’ve put you in a terrible position and for that I’m truly sorry,’ Eloise said.
‘Don’t be. I was wrong to say that. You loved – no –lovehim. I would do the same thing.’
‘Can I ask that you at least don’t do it alone. Ask Stephen to help you.’
Henley picked up her bag and smiled. ‘You and I both know full well that Stephen is extremely pissed off with me,’ she said. ‘What you want is for him to protect me.’
‘And what’s wrong with that?’ Eloise asked, following Henley’s lead and picking up her coat. ‘Do you know the reason why Harry was so proud of the SCU? No egos. I don’t want you out there like a lone wolf.’
‘I can take care of myself.’
‘Just because you can doesn’t mean that you should.’
Henley stepped outside and held the door for Eloise. She knew she was letting her pride and stubbornness get in the way.
‘Please have someone by your side if you’re going to find the people responsible for ripping Harry from our lives,’ said Eloise.
Henley hugged Eloise. ‘I won’t do this alone,’ she promised.
Henley felt as though a weight was sitting in her chest as she walked back to her car. She’d made a promise to Eloise, and she needed to honour it. She wasn’t ready to tell Stanford and Eastwood that she was looking into the why behind Rhimes’s death, but she did need help.
‘Fuck it,’ she said as she took out a phone and texted her ex-colleague, Chris Snyder, who was now an agent for the National Crime Agency.
‘Eastwood and I need to go to Manchester,’ said Stanford as Henley walked in.
