‘Well that must be it then.’ Evie looked at each of the men in turn. ‘Marika stole the bracelet on the day she came here. She was wearing it, wasn’t she?’
Ignoring her question Phillips pinned her with a curious stare.
‘Well if, as my husband says, it’s connected to the murder, what other explanation is there? Yes, it’s my bracelet, yes it went missing. I think we’ve added our piece to the puzzle. Now, if you don’t mind,’ she said, getting to her feet, ‘we have friends coming to dinner this evening and I am rather busy.’
‘Actually, I’ve not quite finished, Mrs Hunter. Mike?’ Phillips turned to look at Cousins who slid his hand into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a series of photographs. ‘You see,’ Phillips continued, as he took the photos from Cousins, ‘as part of our investigation we asked people who attended the barbeque to let us have any photos they had takenon the evening. We checked back through and these came to light.’
He lined up three coloured prints on the surface of the table. ‘These shots show you at the barbeque where, as you can see, you were definitely wearing the bracelet. Now, Mrs Hunter,’ he leaned forward, ‘can I ask you again, where exactly did you lose it?’
Gareth closed his eyes. As soon as she’d begun to spin her story he’d known Evie was lying. As far as he could remember, when she was here, Marika had spent her whole time with them out on the patio. What the hell had she done?
‘Where did you find the bracelet, Inspector?’ he asked, feeling a lead weight in his chest, knowing his world and everything in it was about to come crashing down.
‘At the moment I’m not at liberty to divulge any information, Mr Hunter, only to say its location implicates your wife in the murder of Marika Stefanski.’
Evie stepped backwards reaching blindly for the couch, eventually seating herself next to Gareth. She stared at both of the policemen, shaking her head back and forth in denial. ‘Murder? No it wasn’t like that. I didn’t mean it to happen.’
‘Evie, no!’ Gareth’s hand shot out, his hand landing on her shoulder. ‘You mustn’t say another word. Not without a solicitor present.’
‘But I want to … I need to explain,’ she said forcefully, looking at all of them in turn, her eyes bright, colour rising in her cheeks. ‘They have to know. They have to understand exactly what I was faced with.’ She stabbed an angry finger at Phillips. ‘A little tramp and a gold-digger. She came here with Jordan that day, and I knew at once what she had planned. She thought she’d bag herself a wealthy boyfriend … and maybe even more. You know, I was so relieved when he dumped her and went back to Chantelle. But then she phoned. Said he couldn’t leave her,because she was having his baby.’ She raised her eyes to the two policemen. ‘Was she pregnant?’ Phillips shook his head.
‘I thought as much,’ she said quietly. ‘I offered her money, you know, for a termination. But she refused to go through with it. She kept saying she and Jordan were meant to be together and if I stood in the way she would go ahead and have the baby and make sure everyone knew who the father was. I couldn’t have her ruining my son’s life. So I decided to wait until the evening of the barbeque to confront her. I spotted her going down to the small beach but before I could follow I saw Luke heading that way. I had no idea why he’d gone to see her but he didn’t stay long. I waited for a few moments before I went down. I needed to convince her Jordan didn’t want anyone long term and if he did she’d be the last person on earth. She laughed at me, you know. Laughed in my face. Told me no one would get in her way, least of all a sad drunk. She kept saying Jordan belonged to her. In the end I lost my temper. I went to grab her. I wanted to give her a shake; to call her bluff about the pregnancy, tell her to do her worst. That it was all over for her, Jordan didn’t want her any more and she’d better get used to it. She thought it was a game, dodging out of the way with that awful laugh of hers as I tried to catch her. I did eventually manage to grab her but she shook me off and climbed onto the rocks. She kept laughing, mocking me. Then I noticed a piece of wood half buried in the sand. I grabbed it and went after her. I managed to trap her, hitting her everywhere I could reach. She screamed and then wriggled out of the way and swore at me, calling me obscene names. I became so angry I lashed out at her head. I just wanted to stop the vile things she was saying. I had no idea there were nails in the wood until afterwards.’ She paused for a moment, leaning forward to cup her head in her hands. ‘But I don’t feel sorry for what I did. I couldn’t let her steal my beautiful son. She was trash,’ she shook her head, ‘absolute trash. I had to stop her.’
‘And where is that piece of wood now?’ Phillips asked quietly.
‘I took it with me and hid it until they lit the bonfire then I retrieved it and threw it into the flames.’
‘One thing that puzzles me,’ Phillips said as he slipped the bracelet back into its plastic pouch, ‘is how you were prepared to let an innocent man … a member of your husband’s family … take the blame for something you had done.’
‘Luke?’ Evie snorted indignantly. ‘He’s not family. It was my dear husband here, out of the goodness of his heart, who decided to open our home to his dead sister’s bastard. He’s nothing to me and, yes, I would have been quite happy for him to have rotted in jail.’
‘Jesus, I don’t believe this.’ Gareth shot a horrified look at his wife. ‘Do you know what you’re saying, Evie?’
‘Of course I do,’ she rounded on him scornfully. ‘I hated him. Absolutely hated him. You thought more of Luke than Jordan. With him out of the way in prison maybe you’d have paid a little more attention to your own son.’
Phillips got to his feet, indicating the discussion was over. ‘Evie Hunter,’ he said solemnly as he looked down at her defiant figure, ‘I’m arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Marika Stefanski. You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’
Evie got to her feet silently, holding out her hands, her gesture full of mockery as she invited them to handcuff her.
‘That won’t be necessary, Mrs Hunter,’ Phillips said gently, as Cousins moved to stand beside her.
Gareth followed the trio to the door, pulling out his mobile and retrieving the number of a solicitor who he could contact to represent his wife. He felt weary. From her hostile attitudehe realised her mental problems had come home to roost. That meant she’d probably be looking at a manslaughter with diminished responsibility charge. A guilty verdict would see her spending her sentence in a secure prison unit.
He walked to the door, watching as they put her into the back of the police car. As it pulled away, Jordan’s Mercedes turned in through the main gates. Gareth saw the puzzled expression on his son’s face as the cars passed each other and he recognised his mother sitting in the back of the Passat.
‘What’s going on?’ he asked as he reached Gareth, who was just finishing his call to his legal friend. ‘Where are they taking Mum?’
‘She’s been arrested.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Come in, Jordan, you and I need to have a talk,’ Gareth said, stepping back to let him through. ‘A very serious talk.’
‘Dad’s arrived,’ Nathan said, putting his head around Cat’s office door, ‘and Étienne’s with him.’
‘Is he?’ Cat shot her brother a puzzled look. ‘How strange. We don’t see him for years then we get two visits in as many months.’
She closed down her computer, left her office and crossed the marbled foyer just in time to see Ruan and Étienne walk in through the front door, Harry bringing up the rear and handing over the luggage to a porter before disappearing back to the car.
