She nodded.
‘I made a fool of myself,’ she said.
‘No, you were in shock,’ he reassured her.
‘I’m a scientist; I should know not to do things like that,’ she said. Which was exactly why she’d done it, to get as much contact with Jamie’s body as possible.
Lee reached out his hand and laid it gently on hers.
‘I contaminated the scene,’ she added.
‘No, you didn’t, you comforted him at the… end.’
The door opened and they caught sight of movement in the foyer.
‘The big guns have arrived.’ Sandy nodded over to the entrance where the female detective in plain clothes and a lanyard around her neck chatted to a forensic officer. ‘Have you given a statement yet?’ she asked.
‘I’ve been told that I’ll give a lengthy one in due course. They know who I am. I’m going nowhere. You?’
‘I didn’t see anything; I’m no use to them,’ she said.
‘Had you been for a smoke? I saw you come in from outside, you know, just after Jamie fell.’
Sandy shook her head. ‘No, you must have been mistaken,’ she said. She brushed his hand with hers and he smiled.
‘I suppose they’ll want to know his movements over the last couple of days though, won’t they?’ Lee said.
‘I really need to get back to New York,’ she said.
‘Under different circumstances I was going to invite you to stay here a bit longer,’ he said. He peered at her longingly and Sandy realised just how much she’d encouraged him over the last couple of days. The looks, the flicker of her eyelids, and the shared cigarettes, the conversations, the innuendos. The sexualfumbles when she took charge and guided the young manager to be more confident and assured with his prowess. He wasn’t bad.
He was a nice bloke, but he was one thing to her.
An alibi.
‘I’m sorry I misled you,’ she said. ‘It’s not your fault, Lee,’ she said softly, taking his hand.
The female detective and the old coroner glanced in her direction from beyond the doorway and she looked away, but not before the detective locked eyes with her.
She dropped Lee’s hand and left the table. There was a queue for the lift so she took the corridor behind the reception to the back stairs. She’d become adept at using the network of hidden routes to navigate her way around the hotel when Jamie was alive. It was a secret maze of corridors and doors that reminded her of children’s novels and spies.
She and Jamie had discussed future strategies, and she’d kept an eye on him, all the while knowing what he was up to, and now he was gone. She’d miss him. He could sell water to a fish. Jamie Robbins could convince you to hand over your grandma. He was the most charismatic and charming salesman she’d ever met. But more than that, Jamie was clever and streets ahead of his audience.
That’s why she knew he didn’t kill himself.
Chapter 14
Kelly agreed that they’d done all they could for the evening. She’d been in liaison with the uniforms in Grasmere working on the Water Nymph case. A search of the surrounding area had turned up nothing about the dead woman. House-to-house visits had drawn a blank. Nobody saw how she ended up under theWater Nymphand it was as if she’d been deposited there by aliens.
The guests at Heron Hall were frazzled, and Kelly knew she must push lightly to get the best out of them. The witnesses were beginning to leave but she’d agreed with Tilda Dent and Hank Hampton that some of them would be available for statements in the morning.
Everybody needed a good night’s sleep, though she didn’t imagine they’d get one after what had happened.
Lee Lovett had confirmed, after liaising with the general manager who was based in their sister spa hotel in Manchester, that the hotel was closed to the public for the time being and the current guests could stay another night without charge. Kelly had noticed his hands locked with the scientist’s when she’d seen them together in the dining room earlier. Their hands had touched, and not by accident. Sandy Cooper spotted her looking too. It provided another element to her case, though it could be nothing. People jumped in and out of each other’s beds at these functions all the time. It was none of her business if a hotel manager fucked a guest old enough to be his mother.
Good on Doctor Cooper, she thought.
She dropped Kate off at home at gone 10 p.m. and met Ted back at her place. Ted took Millie home and Kelly cooked a very simple light supper. Lizzie had been awake but the sight of her grandfather at least distracted her from her teeth for a while and she watched as they sang and played.
