Page 64 of The Mercy Chair

‘That’s not what DI Stephanie Flynn says,’ Bradshaw said. ‘She says Poe is the end of a bell. Although she won’t tell me what that means and she says I’m not allowed to google it.’

Alice didn’t crack a smile. ‘But you have caught a lot of killers.’

‘Oh yes, lots.’

Alice turned in her seat and faced Linus. ‘But I don’t know who you are,’ she said.

‘My name’s Linus Jorgensen and I work for the National Audit Office. I’m shadowing Sergeant Poe and Tilly, but I’m not part of their investigation.’

‘Can I trust him?’ she asked Poe.

Poe studied her face in the rear-view mirror. ‘No,’ he said.

‘I’m sorry, Snoopy, but she doesn’t trust you,’ Poe said.

‘That’s because you told her not to!’ Linus snapped.

They were in the lobby of the North Lakes Hotel and Spa. Poe had asked Linus to make himself scarce while he and Bradshaw talked to Alice. Linus had refused. Bradshaw and Alice were already ensconced in a dark corner. Bradshaw was making notes on her laptop.

‘And that’s becauseIdon’t trust you,’ Poe said.

‘Do I need to remind you I am to be given full access?’

‘And do I need to remind you that I’m triple-warranted and you’re not.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Meaning if you try to interfere in my investigation, Iwillarrest you.’

Linus’s lips flattened. He reached for his phone.

‘I don’t care if you go above my head,’ Poe said. ‘Not this time, Snoopy. I have a jittery witness who will have more insight into what’s going on at the Children of Job than anyone else we can speak to.’

‘So—’

‘So here’s what’s going to happen – you’re going to sit over there,’ Poe pointed towards an armchair in front of an unlit fire, ‘and I’m going to speak to my witness.’

‘And what do I get?’

‘Nothing, you little twerp. This is a murder investigation, not a game of Top Trumps.’

Poe left him standing and went to join Alice and Bradshaw.

Chapter 56

‘If anyone had a reason to kill Noah and Grace Bowman, it was Bethany,’ Alice said. ‘She had a deep hatred for them.’

‘I sense a “but” coming,’ Poe said.

‘But I don’t think she did it.’

‘I’ve read the original file. The evidence is compelling.’

‘It is,’ Alice agreed. ‘Her fingerprints were all over the clasp knife used to kill Noah and Grace and Aaron, the same knife she used to cut herself sometimes. And, as it was well known she hated her parents, she was the logical suspect. She was rebellious, had a history of violent behaviour and was known to self-harm. If I were a police officer, I might also have been tempted to think that the inevitable had happened.’

‘Which was?’

‘That a deeply damaged teenage girl, almost certainly suffering from an undiagnosed mental illness, had suffered a psychotic episode. She had fixated on a family that to the outside world had only ever had her best interests at heart, and acted upon some long-held grudge.’

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