‘It did. It really did. Every day I wonder who could have done that, and then I imagine him flat out on the forest floor, knowing he was dying.’
‘Do you mind me asking why you had a crossbow?’ Kim tried again.
‘It wasn’t mine. I bought it for Jonathan. He was wondering out loud about getting one because we had rabbits by the dozen on our land. But he was getting a lot of fatigue, working so hard. Long story short, crossbow for Christmas and then it mostly stays in its box. The police called it mine because it was my purchase.’
‘So where did it go?’
‘You didn’t hear? Some magnet fishers pulled it out of a river halfway between our house and where the body was found. Months later, this was. We lived in a little village called Zeal Monachorum. Jon’s dead body was found fifteen miles from Zeal, next to the private airfield.’ She added, thoughtfully: ‘I was amazed Edward didn’t know of me.’
‘He was dealing with a personal tragedy when your husband died.’
‘Oh, how sad.’ Said with real feeling. ‘I understand. How could I not?’
Kim noted the found crossbow in her Notes, and Wendy spoke again before she could ask her next question.
‘The police have been absolute bastards,’ said Wendy, as if wanting Kim to take every word down. ‘They’ve been over every phone, every computer, been through every drawer, even turned out a drawer of socks, looked at every website I’ve ever visited, I guess just wanting to find out that I’d googled HOW TO KILL A HUSBAND, or texted a contract killer or had a secret lover. If I had got someone else to do it, they would have found messages, surely? Or deletions? In the end I almost wanted them to. But there was nothing! Nothing! I was in thecinema!’
Kim looked up from her phone to see the face opposite her crumpled with sadness. She had noted some of the words, but not the emotion. ‘Edward had three questions, but he didn’t get as far as telling me them – oh, wait.’ She saw an unread text.
Just ask if she can take me to where doc died
Kim showed Wendy the screen.
‘Of course I can. I want that. But I haven’t been there. He will need to find the exact spot. And it will be hard for me, so I may cry.’
‘Are you sure you can do it?’
‘I’ll do it if he can clear my name.’
‘Did your husband have any enemies?’
‘None I can think of. He’d got a bit unfocused at work and made a couple of mistakes, and he was thinking of winding down or stopping. It being a rural surgery, he would end up doing a bit of stitching and sewing, you know, and take bloods, and he even did some vet work as a favour. But he told me he wasn’t so good at it lately. He lost interest in his hobbies – he loved making fireworks, for example.’
‘How unusual!’
‘He would always be explaining his “recipes”. You get the different ingredients and mix them all together and bang.’
‘Literally.’
‘It wasn’t my thing. But like I say, he was losing interest. I figured, he was hitting his fifties, that’s all.’
‘That’s not old. Did your husband have mates?’
‘Oh, a couple of great friends here in Sidmouth from university days. Twin guys who were both medics, the Hursts. Also a vicar called Zircher, pronounced like “Circus”. Jon was quite close to the lady who did the admin at the surgery, Jocelyn. Just tremendously good, kind people who have made so many sacrifices for patients and parishioners. There were a few others. A tight friendship group, you might say. The murder just destroyed them all.’
‘And definitely no enemies?’
‘Look, doctors sometimes misdiagnose. They might miss a cancer, call it a stomach ache, get blamed. There are probably some of those on his books.’
‘Gosh. Could Edward meet his friends?’
‘The Hursts? The others? Anything that might move this on. I need you to help me. Hey, do you mind if I head on now? Talking about it wipes me out. And I think those ladies have recognized me.’
Sure enough, while Kim and Wendy had been talking, the café had opened. A pair of elderly ladies had stopped with their teas, whispered urgently to each other, and then took two seats on the same side of an empty table diagonally opposite Wendy and Kim. The only reason for taking a position where they both faced the inside of the café, not each other, was surely so they could keep an eye on Sidmouth’s most suspicious widow.
They stared through thick spectacles, eyes unblinking and magnified by the lenses, like owls fixed on prey.
Chapter Eight
