Page 59 of The Mercy Chair

She led them through the hall and into the kitchen. The south-facing window overlooked a field full of freshly shorn sheep. She flicked a switch on a stainless-steel bean-to-cup coffee machine and for a moment they listened to automated grinding and tamping. Poe had a headache, and he hadn’t planned on having any more coffee, but the smell coming from the machine was intoxicating.

‘Coffee?’ she said.

‘Please,’ Poe said.

‘This wasn’t cheap,’ Eve said, gesturing at the machine, ‘but there are some things you don’t scrimp on. Coffee is one of them.’

‘Smells lovely.’

‘Apologies for the way I’m dressed; I try to do a workout before I leave for the office.’

‘It’s us who should apologise, Ms Bowman,’ Poe said.

‘Eve, please.’

‘Apologies, Eve. It’s very early and we didn’t call ahead.’

She waved away his apology. ‘Now, what’s this bad news?’ she said. ‘If it’s about one of my ex-renters, the agent handles it all. I have nothing to do with any of it.’

‘We think Bethany might be back,’ Poe said.

Which sort of killed the conversation.

Chapter 52

‘Bethany can’t be back, Sergeant Poe,’ Eve said. ‘She just can’t.’

Poe drained his espresso before responding. Eve had served the coffee in small white cups, the kind used in coffee shops and restaurants. Poe had never learned how to make espressos last. He felt uncultured when he was served one. To him, espressos felt like coffee chasers, there to be gulped down in one and the cup slammed upside down on the counter. Linus was sipping his like a pro and Bradshaw had hot water with a slice of lemon in a normal-sized mug. They were seated at Eve’s kitchen table, a sturdy oak thing with matching high-backed stools.

‘This isn’t the only line of enquiry we have, but we think she might be back. And if she is, it’s possible she’s already killed someone.’

Eve put down her cup and wiped her lips with a cotton napkin. ‘Who?’

‘Cornelius Green,’ Poe said. ‘He was murdered three nights ago.’

‘Cornelius is dead?’

‘He is.’

‘I don’t know whether to clap or cry,’ she said.

‘You knew him then?’

‘From years ago. Mum and Dad were heavily involved in that bloody place they have near Keswick. Believed Cornelius Green was some sort of Messiah. They were there every weekend and most evenings. You say he was murdered three nights ago; I say I’m surprised it took so long.’ She stood and refilled their cups. Put them back on little cork coasters. She retook her seat and said, ‘I hope this isn’t a shock, Sergeant Poe, but Cornelius Green wasn’t a pleasant man. In fact, I would go as far to say he was a monster. Some of the things he put those poor children through—’

‘What things?’

‘He ran courses, Sergeant Poe. Horrible, horrible courses.’

Poe nodded. ‘We know about the courses, Eve. They’re what brought us here.’

‘Oh?’

‘We believe your brother Aaron attended one in 2007.’

‘Are you asking me or telling me?’

‘Like I said, we believe he did. We were hoping you might be able to confirm it.’

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