Page 57 of The Last One to See Him

Jennifer Seagrove.

Close up, she doesn’t look like the Jennifer who was plastered across the local papers. Her shoulder-length hair is blonde and short – not the long dark hair she had three years ago.

‘I know who you are,’ Jennifer says. ‘I’ve seen you out here several times. What are you doing here?’

‘I… I don’t know…’

Jennifer frowns, and her face softens. ‘I think you’d better come in for a chat, then.’

Stepping inside, Kate wills her heart to stop hammering. She’s not prepared for this meeting, and no words come to her.

‘Come in the kitchen,’ Jennifer says. ‘I’ll get you a drink. Do you drink tea? Or coffee?’

Kate doesn’t want either, but she’s compelled to accept Jennifer’s offer. Now that she’s here, she needs to put things right somehow, in whatever small way she can. ‘Tea please.’

Kate steps inside, following Jennifer through the narrow hallway. She pictures Graham White in here – taking his shoes off by the door, hanging his coat. Greeting Jennifer after a long day at work.

Jennifer makes tea and hands it to Kate, leading her to the living room, where the sweet scent of flowers fragrances the room, coming from the huge vase of white lilies on the side table.

‘They’re beautiful, aren’t they?’ Jennifer says. ‘I bought them for myself. I do it every year on Graham’s birthday.’

Kate stares at her. ‘Oh. I thought…I thought you’d left him.’

‘That doesn’t mean I didn’t care about him. And I don’t want to remember the day he died, just his birthday.’ She shakes her head.

‘Are you going to tell me why you’ve been watching my house?’ Jennifer says, gesturing for her to sit.

‘I’m moving away tomorrow. With my mum. To Brighton. I…I wanted to come one last time.’ Kate wonders if her voice betrays how nervous she feels coming face to face with this woman. She sits on an armchair, locking her fingers together.

‘Why?’ Jennifer asks, sitting on the sofa, perching on the end as if she doesn’t want to let herself get comfortable.

‘I’m not sure.’

Jennifer closes her eyes and sighs. ‘It’s not healthy, is it? You must know that, Kate.’

Kate chews her lip, clutching her stomach to stop the stabbing pain that’s just started. She feels like a child again, instead of the young woman she now is.

‘It wasn’t true what they said about him,’ Jennifer says. ‘None of it was true. People are vile. He wouldn’t have tried to kill you. I don’t believe that for one second.’

‘How can you be so sure of that?’ Kate says, finding her voice because she knows different.

‘I know because I was with him for long enough. He would never…and if that’s what you believe then you can get out of my house.’

Now she’s here, though, Kate doesn’t want to leave just yet. Not until she’s spoken her mind. ‘He…he wasn’t a good man.’

Jennifer stares at her. ‘Graham didn’t deserve to die.

‘It was…it was self-defence.’ Kate’s hand shakes and she places her mug on the coffee table.

Jennifer’s eyes bore into her. ‘Is that the lie you’ve told yourself all these years? Does it make you feel better about taking his life? What a neat little story.’

Kate shudders at the harshness of these words. ‘No…that’s not?—’

‘I don’t care!’ Jennifer says, raising her voice. ‘I left Graham. The day before you killed him. He was nothing to do with me when you…when you did that.’ She stares at Kate. ‘You don’t look well. Your face is all…pale. I’d better get you some water.’ She rushes off to the kitchen, leaving Kate alone, sitting on a chair that Graham White must have sat on countless times.

When she returns, Jennifer’s manner is softer. ‘Here you go. Please don’t go collapsing on me now or anything. I really don’t want to have to take you to A & E.’

Despite the situation, Kate smiles at Jennifer’s kindness. And Kate has to keep in mind that Jennifer hasn’t done anything to her. She is as much a victim as Kate is. ‘Thank you.’

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