Page 31 of The Last One to See Him

With a sigh, Aleena nods. ‘Yes. I have cousins close by in Thornton Heath so we’ve talked about it before.’ She looks up to the ceiling, her shoulders drooping. ‘Jesus. Why wouldn’t she tell me?’

Harper lowers her voice. ‘But you can never share that I told you how I found out. My friend’s job would be on the line.’

There’s a moment of silence before Aleena responds. ‘I won’t say anything. Of course not.’ She points to Harper’s phone. ‘But that says it was an accident. The police didn’t even press charges. It says this Graham White had attacked her and she was just trying to defend herself. He could have killed her.’

‘That’s what I thought,’ Harper says. ‘But then I looked into it more. There’s a podcaster who investigates old cases that are a bit ambiguous. Faye Held. She did a podcast on this case a couple of years ago and the reaction was disturbing. People who knew Kate came forward to say that Kate had deliberately killed him. That maybe she’d had some kind of relationship with him and killed him in a jealous rage. Who knows?’

The disbelief in Aleena’s eyes is a warning that Harper needs to rein it in. But it’s all there online, Aleena will be able to find it for herself, and then she’ll know that there is another side to this story. And if Kate is guilty of one murder, it’s not too much of a jump to assume she could be guilty of another.

‘People will say anything, though,’ Aleena says, but her voice is quiet, uncertain. ‘Especially to get listeners.’

‘I know. But this goes way beyond what a podcaster is suggesting.’ Harper sighs. ‘I don’t want to believe it,’ she says. ‘Kate’s been so kind to me and Dexter. But why wouldn’t she have told you – her closest friend – if she was innocent? You’ve been friends for years now. Haven’t you shared things with her?’

Aleena stares at Harper, then slowly nods. ‘Yeah, course. We talk about lots of things. Our kids. Work.’ She falls silent.

‘But has she ever shared anything really personal with you? Anything at all?’

Aleena takes a moment to answer. ‘Just her divorce. But even then she doesn’t say much about their break-up. But she doesn’t have to, does she? It’s nobody else’s business.’

‘It just makes me uneasy,’ Harper says. ‘Friendships are based on trust and vulnerability. Showing how you truly are. I’ve already done a lot of that with Kate – shared things about my marriage, and Jamie’s death. And, yes, it’s understandable that she wouldn’t confide in me about her past when we’ve only just met. But you’re her closest friend. I’m just worried about Dexter if he’s going to be spending a lot of time in Kate’s house. I was actually hoping you’d tell me you already knew, and back up her story. But the fact she didn’t tell you?—’

‘You said you were worried about her.’ Aleena pushes her unfinished coffee aside.

‘Yes, I am.’ Harper takes a deep breath. The lie she’s about to tell needs to be convincing. ‘When I was at her house the other day, there was a pile of papers on her coffee table. When Kate went to the bathroom, I accidentally knocked them off when I reached for my bag. They fell on the floor, and I was just sorting them out when I found a picture of Graham White, printed from an article. That’s when I looked it up. I wouldn’t have found out anything otherwise.’

‘This is just…I don’t really know what to say.’ Aleena pushes her cup away. Her distress makes Harper feel a jolt of guilt, until she reminds herself that this is Kate’s doing. ‘Why would she have a picture of the man who attacked her?’

‘I don’t know. But…it’s a bit worrying. I don’t know if she’s…spiralling in some way. If she never dealt with her trauma then it’s likely it will still be inside her, waiting to explode.’

‘Sorry,’ Aleena says. ‘This is a huge shock.’

Silence sits between them, drowning out the clinking of cutlery and the hiss of the coffee machine.

‘I think I should go.’ Aleena stands up and pulls her bag onto her shoulder. ‘Thanks for telling me this, though. And for looking out for Kate.’

Harper watches Aleena leave, crossing the road with barely a glance left or right. There’s no way of telling what Aleena will do next – but at least it sends a message to Kate just how easily Harper can disrupt her life.

FIFTEEN

TUESDAY 28 JANUARY

Kate leaves the surgery and makes her way to South Kensington. The Tube is packed with rush-hour commuters, hot bodies crammed together, vying for space. She wants to scream, but wills her mind to be silent. Harper had been so convincing, so believable, but Kate won’t let herself be fooled. Nobody else could know she spent that night with Jamie.

Relieved to finally breathe in the cool outside air, Kate rushes towards Rowan’s practice. It’s nearly six p.m., but she’s sure that Rowan won’t have left yet. He’s told her before that he doesn’t leave until all his paperwork for the day is done, and neatly filed away, and Kate knows each of his work days is booked solid with appointments.

Once again, Kate has had to call on Ellis to pick up Thomas, but at least he did it without asking questions, other than to check she was okay. He still cares about her – although it’s more than that – but she can’t give headspace to that now.

The door is open when Kate reaches the mews house, and she steps inside, expecting to see Frieda at her desk, but instead her chair sits empty. Feeling like an intruder, Kate makes her way to Rowan’s door and listens for a moment before knocking, just to make sure he’s not still with a patient. Or his wife again.

‘Come in,’ Rowan calls, when she finally raps on his door. He looks up as she enters the room, his eyes widening.

‘I’m sorry,’ Kate begins. ‘The door was open so I came through.’

‘I thought you were Frieda,’ he says. ‘Coming back because she’s forgotten something. I let her go a bit early today. Are you okay? Has something happened?’

Kate hovers by the door; this will be a defining moment and she wants to be able to run if she needs to. ‘You said if I needed to, I could talk to you any time.’

He nods. ‘Yes, I tell all my patients that. I want to be available whenever anyone needs me. If it’s urgent, of course. I do need some boundaries.’

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