‘Thank God,’ he said. ‘I need to talk to you about Wendy.’
Kim’s brow furrowed. Wendy Wrigley herself appeared. She had been standing to Kim’s right, out of view of the front door. ‘That sounds serious, Edward. Why am I in danger?’
He said nothing for a second, just processing.
‘Your message to Kim said I was in danger. Why?’
‘It’s just a worry I have. Come in, both.’ He was about to say, ‘Stevie’s upstairs,’ and call her, but something stopped him.
‘We raced here after Kim got your message,’ said Wendy. ‘It sounds really scary.’
Had he got this completely wrong? No. The crime scene photos … oh God, no. The police images were still on the screen on the PC in the lounge. A zoomed-in photo of the tree trunk without a hole in it. Would the screensaver have come on? Wrigley must be kept away from that room. He spoke as naturally as he could. ‘I didn’t think you saw my message, Kim.’
‘I did—’
‘But the blue ticks—’
‘Oh. Well, yes, I saw it on my lock screen. I rang Wendy and she came straight to me and insisted we come over.’
‘I’ll always be grateful to both of you if you’ve saved me from something horrible. I do have money to make it up to you,’ she said. ‘Edward, you’ve already saved my reputation. A solicitor has the details of what you discovered vis-à-vis the death of Jonathan, and he was stunned by how brilliant you were. He believes we’ll be able to reopen the inquest and get our suicide verdict.’ She added, ‘Tragically.’
And here we go, thought Edward. The child actor will now perform. Hadn’t she been in a TV soap once? And she had flannelled him about not being any good as an actor ‘because I’m just too truthful’. As if. Well, he needed to be at the same level and give nothing away.
‘I was worried,’ said Wendy. ‘If you know something more—’
He would give her Hearst and see the reaction.
Edward said carefully, ‘I think your husband’s friends, the Hearsts, might have a connection to the pizza crash. The Ukrainian who smashed into Toppings had a doctor called Hearts; he was down as a referee on the flat rental. I thought Hearst was H.u.r.s.t. but then it came to me, Hearst and Hearts. So that was my worry. You need to be careful with those twins from now on.’
A strange look crossed Wendy’s face, as if she was going through a dozen possible replies in a fraction of a second. ‘Ohno. No. That makes no sense. I’m close to Hubert. He would have mentioned something so dramatic, surely? You’re sounding very excited, if I may say so.’
She’s ducking and diving, thought Edward. He would increase the pressure a little. ‘Did Hubert or Charlie ever mention Lev Malnyk to you?’
‘Shall we have a cup of tea before we talk? I’m parched.’
Kim was silent. She must have worked out that something was very wrong. He knew the tone of the conversation would sound starchy to her, and not at all collaborative, as if he and Wrigley were touching swords but not yet fencing. On another occasion Kim would have made herself part of the conversation, but not now.
He made three cups of tea in the kitchen as Wendy watched him like a hawk.
Finally Kim said, ‘Why did you tell me Wendy was at risk, Edward?’
‘Because of these Hearsts. If they’re connected to the motorbiker, then—’
‘Oh, this is so silly!’ Wendy exclaimed. ‘You’ve met the twins, you couldn’t find a more gentle pair if you tried! Shall I call them and get them to come around?’
‘That might not be a good idea,’ said Edward, feeling his pulse quicken.Please, no.
‘Oh, we must! If only for amusement. They are so kind; lovely friends to my husband since university and I feel certain that they will enjoy our little performance.’
The last word conveyed threat more than any other might. Before either of them could stop her, Wendy had put on her reading glasses and opened the contacts on her phone.
Kim and Edward stared at each other.
They heard Wendy’s side of the conversation only.
‘Ladram Bay.’ She gave the address. ‘The famous house that’s falling off the cliff. Tonight. It’s the radio presenter. Talkingabout Toppingsagain …’The last word emphasized with a roll of the eyes, as if they were the last people in town still droning on about the pizza parlour crash. Wendy laughed. ‘Yes. Yes, I think so … Yes. No. Just Edward and his delightful girlfriend, Kim.’ She hung up.
The three of them were silent.
