“Do you really expect us to believe you didn’t know? When you were overheard having a raging argument with your mother just minutes before she died?” Phyllis’s voice was hard, and Nova saw Michael blanch.
“I swear I didn’t know,” he whimpered. “And you said…murdered?”
“That’s what the police think. They also think you’re the prime suspect.”
“What?” His eyes were wide again.
“You’re in debt, aren’t you, Michael?” Phyllis said. “And you were trying to force your mum to sell her house and give you the money. Is that why you killed her?”
“Oh my God, of course I didn’t!”
“So, are you telling us that Richard’s lying, and you didn’t fight with your mum about money the night she died?”
“He’s not lying, but it’s not what you think. I’d never kill my mum; I love her!”
He looked so desperate that Nova truly wanted to believe him. “I’m sure you did, Michael, but you have to admit it doesn’t look great. You were overheard arguing, you ran out of the house around the same time the police believe she was killed, you came to our book club covered in blood and then you disappeared for nine days.”
“Oh Jesus,” he said with a groan. “It’s not how it looks.”
“Then how is it, Michael?” Phyllis demanded. “What possible explanation can you have for what happened?”
For a moment he didn’t reply, rubbing his hands over his exhausted face, and Nova found herself willing Michael to have a decent explanation for the events of last Wednesday.
“My mum and I did have an argument,” he said eventually. “She’d just learned something—something I’d been trying to protect her from—and she was furious with me. It was a horrible fight and we both said some terrible things. Things I deeply regret, especially now…”
He trailed off, and for a moment Nova thought he was going to start crying again. He ran a hand over his face before he carried on.
“I’ve been having a difficult time lately, and that argument was the last straw. I knew I needed to get away for a bit, so I threw some things in a bag and ran out of the house. But my mum was alive when I left, I swear.”
Phyllis let out a loud snort. “So, tell me, if that’s true, then how do you explain the blood on your shirt when you came to our book club?”
“I had a nosebleed. I get them when I’m stressed.”
“Then what about the fact you ran out of the meeting after ten minutes and haven’t been seen or heard from since?”
Michael visibly swallowed. “I received a text message with some news—bad news—and it was all too much. I jumped in the car and came straight here.”
“Except you didn’t come straight here, did you?” Phyllis said. “You drove to Bodmin Moor and then abandoned your car in order to hide your whereabouts from the police.”
“My car broke down! The gear box has been playing up for ages and I kept meaning to get it fixed, only with everything that was going on I never got round to it. It finally gave up near Bodmin, so I walked to the nearest town and then caught a bus, a train and then two more buses.”
“And you’re trying to tell us you’ve been—what?—having a nice little holiday here ever since, completely oblivious to the fact your mother’s been murdered and you’re the prime suspect?”
Michael let out a long sigh. “When you put it like that, I know it sounds suspicious. But I just really needed to get away from it all: my mum and Cynthia and all the pressures at home. I’ve barely left this cottage since I arrived and there’s no electricity so I couldn’t charge my phone. I only intended to stay for a few days, but I guess I lost track of time.”
As he said this, Michael looked around him at the bedroom, its stone walls slick with moss and a layer of salt on every surface.
“I used to come here every summer with my parents. It was so idyllic, just us and the sea. It was like something out of that book.”
“What book?” Nova asked.
“The Crawdads one, from your book club. When I was reading about that girl living in the wild with nothing but nature, it reminded me of this place. I hadn’t thought about it for years, but that night in the book club, I suddenly knew I wanted to come back again. I’ve even been trying to repair it a bit, so I could bring Mum again…” He trailed off, and Nova could see the realization dawning on him that that would never happen.
“You must think we were born yesterday,” Phyllis said. “You’re going to need to come up with a considerably better story when the police come to arrest you. And we’ve not even started on the stolen money.”
“What stolen money?” Michael was looking at Nova again. “Please, my head hurts and I have no idea what she’s talking about.”
“Someone stole ten grand from the community center the night you ran away. In your absence, you’ve become the number one suspect for that as well.”
