‘Martha, he’s in intensive care.’
‘I. Don’t. Give. A?—’
‘Okay, I’ve got the message. But why now? You’ve lived miserably next to each other for decades. There’s been hostility but never anything like this. Why did you shoot him now? And don’t give me any of your false accusations – just tell me the truth.’
‘He came past the oak tree,’ she said as though that explained everything.
‘He what?’ Kim asked. She’d heard outlandish reasons before, but they’d never involved a damn tree.
‘The boundary line. Our property looks down it, and theirs faces towards it. There’s an oak tree about two hundred feet from our house. There’s an unspoken agreement about it.’
Kim was surprised any kind of agreement between the families, unspoken or otherwise, had stood the test of time. ‘Go on,’ Kim urged her.
‘They know not to come past it. He came past it, so I shot him.’
‘It’s really that simple?’ Kim asked in amazement. ‘He was on his own land, but he came too close to yours, so you shot him?’
Martha nodded.
‘You do realise that right now we’re probably talking about a charge of attempted murder?’
‘Tell someone who gives a shit,’ she said, shrugging.
Kim wasn’t sure there was anything else to say. Woody had asked her to do a job and it was done. But two things puzzled her.
‘Why no lawyer, Martha?’
‘What’s the point? I ain’t paying good money for somebody to try and get me off something I’m happy I did. I did the crime and I’ll do the time.’
‘Okay, last thing. Why me? Why wouldn’t you just say this to the others?’
‘Cos yer fussed my dog.’
‘What?’
‘Eleven years ago, you came after I broke the new cameras they put up. Caesar sidled up against your leg. Filthy, muddy mutt of a dog he was, but you reached down and rubbed his head. It’s enough.’
Kim vaguely recalled a wolfhound-type dog crossed with something.
She pushed back her chair. ‘Is there anything else you want to say?’
Martha shook her head but mumbled something.
‘What?’
Martha stayed silent, but Kim could swear she’d heard the woman say the Hubbards had taken her daughter.
Sixteen
‘So, she just admitted it?’ Bryant asked once she’d recounted the interview with Martha.
‘Yep, all done,’ she said, taking a sip of her coffee.
‘Is it?’ Bryant asked, tipping his head.
‘I just said that, didn’t I?’
‘Yeah, tell your face that.’
