Page 68 of The New House

‘You needed defending?’

‘Of course not. I told you, it was a misunderstanding.’

‘This wasn’t their first disagreement though, was it, Mrs Porter? Things got a bit heated between them at a charity gala Mrs Downton organised a few months ago. They were observed exchanging words.’

She must tread carefully now. Oh so very carefully.

‘I don’t know about that,’ she says. ‘Millie – Mrs Downton – she can be very …intense.’

‘Mrs Downton blamed your husband for pulling out of the sale of this house to her, isn’t that right?’

‘She was very upset, yes.’

‘Upset? According to one of your neighbours, MrsDownton was seen hammering on the door and demanding to be let in on August twenty-eighth when – you say – you were staying at a hotel. The last reported sighting of your husband was when he came to the door that afternoon to let her in.’

‘What are you trying to imply?’

DS Mehdi sits back. ‘Your husband hasn’t been seen for two weeks, Mrs Porter. He hasn’t used his bank cards or his phone in that time—’

‘You’ve checked his phone and bank records?’

‘Usual procedure in this sort of case,’ DCI Hollander says smoothly. ‘You say you spoke to him ten days ago, but we don’t see your number in his itemised phone records. In fact, he hasn’t made any calls for two weeks.’

‘Maybe he wasn’t using his own phone when he called me.’

‘Why would that be, do you think?’

She shrugs.

‘You and Millie Downton are friends, aren’t you?’ DCI Hollander says. ‘Very good friends, I understand. In fact, she was here, in this house, with you just this afternoon.’

‘You seem very well informed.’

‘A man ismissing, Mrs Porter. And I’m interested in why you haven’t reported it.’

‘Because he’s not missing!’

‘Ah, yes. You just don’t know where he is.’

‘In case you hadn’t noticed, he’s not particularly popular right now,’ Stacey says. ‘A lot of investors are baying for his blood. He’s got good reason to keep his head down.’

‘Except your husband disappeared five daysbeforethe Copper Beech scandal broke.’

‘What are you trying to say, detective?’

The man’s expression doesn’t flicker. ‘I just wanted to ask you, Mrs Porter,’ DCI Hollander says, ‘whether you think MrsDownton may have something to do with your husband’s disappearance.’

‘You’ll have to ask her that,’ Stacey says.

He smiles. ‘I thought you might say that,’ he says.

chapter 41

millie

I don’t have time to dwell on how Harper Conway ended up on my operating table. Her life hangs in the balance, and it’s my job to save it.

Fortunately she has two things going for her: she’s young and healthy, and I’m one of the best cardiothoracic surgeons in the country. But every surgery has risks, particularly when it comes to the heart. I put her chances of survival at no more than fifty-fifty.

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