‘Search me if I know what the hell you’re talking about,’ said David Marner.
Edward stared at Stevie, who was shaking and stamping her feet. ‘I can’t believe how badly I got it wrong.’
‘We’ve proved a crossbow bolt can be fired without a crossbow,’ said Edward.
‘Which means—’ Kim began.
‘It was suicide,’ said Stevie. ‘It was suicide, and we got the whole thing wrong. Everyone got everything wrong. Wendy Wrigley—’
‘Is innocent,’ said Edward.
Chapter Twenty-One
Barbara was at the front door before they knocked. ‘You must come and see the TV. Something terrible has happened.’
Stevie, Kim and Edward had come back without David Marner, who had said he would be along later. Barbara sat them down.
The broadcast had a live feel about it, unusual for a Sunday, with a grid of reporters in different locations, including one at Exeter General and another by the promenade. Edward had the sudden feeling he would have to go into the radio station without delay. The TV flashed the captionAPOLOGIES THAT YOUR NORMAL PROGRAMMES ARE DELAYED, and showed press gathering outside the hospital. Nina Lopez’s photo was in one corner of the screen.
As they watched, the rolling headline appeared.
TOPPINGS CRASH: LITTLE GIRL DEAD.
Everyone in the room gasped. Even Barbara put her hand over her mouth, despite having evidently seen the broadcast earlier. ‘That poor little scrap of a thing.’
‘Oh no, no, no,’ Stevie cried. ‘I saw the mother yesterday. This will break her. Oh God, this is so awful.’ She fell back onto the sofa, shoulders heaving.
The presenter handed over to a reporter on the promenade, who explained. After Andrea Lopez had posted about the ‘attack’ yesterday, the vicar at the couple’s church had circulated a WhatsApp message asking the congregation to pray for Nina. But about an hour ago, Gabriel had called him again: it was too late. Nina had died, with her parents by her side, holding her hands.
The vicar put five words on the church WhatsApp group:
NINA DEAD. PRAY FOR THEM
News of the tragedy spread like wildfire. One of the parishioners was a journalist with the websiteCoast Live, and the devastating development was public before the police could offer any information to stop people panicking.
On the TV, Jordan Callintree introduced himself. Edward noted Kim giving him a sidelong glance. There were three television cameras, a photographer and two reporters with phones or pads. It was a hot day, and they had found a spot of shade outside the hospital. They bristled, moving as a single organism.
Callintree had nothing to say about the circumstances of the child’s death, he told them, because the news had come from the parents and not the police and he was not authorized to add to it. There would need to be a full investigation.
It did not stop the questions. Stevie’s weeping almost drowned out the television. Barbara turned up the volume. The reporters were off-mic but could just about be heard.
‘Did the girl die as a result of the crash on Friday?’
‘Did the little girl get burned or was she hit by the motorbike?’
He could reply to that. ‘Neither.’
‘So what was she actually taken into hospital for?’
‘How are the parents?’
‘I can’t even imagine her pain,’ gulped Stevie from the sofa.
Then came a stream of words from a reedy young man on the screen who held his phone with a wrist so relaxed it looked as if it was about to slide out of his hand. ‘If it’s connected to the Friday crash, what is your message? Was the crash deliberate? Why did Andrea Lopez refer to an “attack” on the pizza place? What is your message?’
The policeman said: ‘I haven’t got the latest medical details. There is no evidence as yet that anything happened to Nina Lopez as a result of her presence in the pizza parlour. She was taken ill yesterday and sadly that led to her demise.’
‘That sounds like a cover-up,’ said Barbara.
