Page 106 of Murder in the Family

LAILA FURNESS – off

What did she say about him?

SHIRLEY BOOKER

That she hadn’t gone looking for it – it had just happened. An ‘instant attraction’, and something about ‘forbidden fruit’. I definitely remember that because it sounded so corny, even back then. And I know she felt bad about Luke, but she said no one would get hurt if they never found out.

LAILA FURNESS – off

That suggests two things to me. One, that in her eyes, just a fling; and two, that this other man was married as well. It’s the use of the word ‘they’ I’m referring to there. The plural. Implying Luke wasn’t the only person who’d get hurt if it all came out.

SHIRLEY BOOKER

Is that a psychological analysis?

LAILA FURNESS – off

If you like.

SHIRLEY BOOKER

Actually, I think you’re right on both counts. I do know she had no intention of divorcing Luke – not at that stage, at any rate.

In fact, I’m pretty sure she was on the point of finishing it with this other man at the time Luke died.

LAILA FURNESS – off

Do you think she might already have done so – or tried to?

SHIRLEY BOOKER

Quite possibly. We had a lunch booked for the following week – which of course never happened – so I wasn’t absolutely up to speed as to whether she’d spoken to him. I do know she was apprehensive about it. About how he might react.

LAILA FURNESS – off

To the point of being actually afraid of him?

SHIRLEY BOOKER

(considers for a moment)

Not activelyafraid, no. But definitely uneasy. I remember her saying she’d ‘done it again’ – got involved with someone completely unsuitable.

LAILA FURNESS – off

A reference to Luke?

SHIRLEY BOOKER

No, I’m pretty sure not. I think she was talking about the man she got mixed up with when she was still at school.

LAILA FURNESS – off

I remember now – the man her parents disapproved of? The reason they sent her off to her uncle’s in Edgbaston?

SHIRLEY BOOKER

That’s right. I think it took her quite a while to get over it – I suspect that’s why she was so subdued when she first moved in with me.

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