Page 239 of Murder in the Family

As far as I know. The police aren’t saying much.

JJ NORTON

(sardonically)

Well, they must be absolutelydelightedwith you, Nick: solving their case for them without it costing them a penny, all the loose ends tied up with a nice big shiny bow—

HUGO FRASER

Though that’s not quite true, is it?

Several people turn towards him with questioning looks. On the screen, Guy glances up and frowns.

MITCHELL CLARKE

(frowning)

What are you getting at, Hugo?

HUGO FRASER

(sitting back)

Well, there are still some loose ends, aren’t there? What about the jacket – the black denim jacket ‘Luke’ was wearing?

A brief silence.

LAILA FURNESS

(making an effort to remember)

Yes, we did discuss that, didn’t we – you mean, as in, why did he have the jacket on when he died?

HUGO FRASER

Right. According to Nick’s latest reconstruction – which I assume the police must think is a pretty fair approximation of what actually happened – Amelie got home, found ‘Luke’ there, the two of them got into a violent row and she tried to get away across the garden—

BILL SERAFINI

(nodding)

In which case, why was he wearing a jacket? He was indoors when she got back.

HUGO FRASER

Precisely.

LAILA FURNESS

Hang on, didn’t we talk about exactly that point when we were wondering whether it could have been Maura?

MITCHELL CLARKE

We did, and we concluded he could have been on the point of going over to the workshop—

HUGO FRASER

AndIobserved that a far simpler explanation would be that he’d either just met, or wasaboutto meet, someone else, who he was planning to talk to out in the garden.

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