Cold Earth
Page 31
‘So Tom had to die?’ Perez thought Agnew had always been reckless and a risk-taker. He’d gambled that no connection would be found between him and the two victims.
‘Simon had served with Tom on island committees and knew Rogerson would delight in making mischief. Simon phoned him and arranged to meet him. He probably said that he knew something about Alison’s death. That would have intrigued Tom. Worried him. He wouldn’t have wanted his relationship with Alison being general knowledge in the islands. Agnew picked him up at the airport and drove him to the manse, took him for a walk so that they could talk things through. He’s always been one for exercise. He used to swim from the beach where Rogerson’s body was found.’
‘But it wasn’t so healthy for Tom.’ It was Perez’s attempt at flippancy, but he was thinking that Fran had swum from that beach too. He was wondering if she’d ever been there with Agnew.
‘That’s one way of putting it. Agnew left the body there, perhaps hoping that a high tide or a strong gale would take it away. But the weather calmed and Kevin Hay found it.’
‘Agnew would have got away with double murder, if you weren’t such a good detective.’
‘Like I said, that was all down to Sandy working his magic with the witness at the airport.’ Willow unwound the towel around her head and shook her hair loose. ‘I saw Agnew, you know, this evening. He was jogging along the road. I thought he’d be in his car and that I’d have some warning of his return. And of course he left his door unlocked – he wasn’t scared of a killer in the dark. If I hadn’t been so stupid, he would never have caught me.’
‘Would you like coffee?’ Perez wanted Willow to change the subject, not to think beyond the point when Agnew had found her in the office at the manse.
‘I want sleep,’ she said.
‘Use my bed. I’ll stay here on the sofa.’
‘Nah, come in with me.’ A grin that made him see she was stronger than he’d ever be. ‘I won’t make unreasonable demands, Jimmy. I’m not up to that tonight. And no strings. But I could use the company.’
He lay beside her and slept fitfully. She hardly stirred. The next morning he made sure he was up and dressed before Cassie was awake, and he had an excuse prepared for Willow being in his bed.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Willow decided she’d go south on the ferry. The weather was calm and still again, and she needed a slow trip. Time to get her head round all that had happened, to prepare for life away from Shetland and Jimmy Perez. The day had been spent waiting. In the Gilbert Bain hospital, for the required check-up before her bosses would allow her to travel. In the police station, while Sandy and her colleagues from Inverness finished interviewing the man who’d almost killed her.
‘He’s confessed to everything.’ Sandy had been flushed with triumph. ‘He says Alison’s death wasn’t planned, that he walked to Tain, just to persuade her to leave the islands. Found her all dressed up and ready to entertain him. It’s been too long, Simon. There’s champagne on ice and I’ve cooked your favourite food.’
‘He ate with her before he killed her?’
‘Apparently. “She was a bloody good cook. I wasn’t going to let a meal like that go to waste.” That’s what he said.’
‘Sounds premeditated to me.’ Willow had thought Agnew’s need to show off would mean that no jury would believe any manslaughter plea.
‘He even went to bed with her,’ Sandy said. ‘Afterwards, when she was lying there, he got the belt round Alison’s neck and twisted it. He’s still a strong man for his age.’
Agnew was being flown south. Another reason for Willow’s decision to take the ferry.
Jimmy Perez insisted on carrying her bag onto the ship and seeing her settled in her cabin. He stood awkwardly and seemed to take up the whole space between the two narrow beds.
‘We never had that talk,’ he said.
‘Ah well, other things got in the way.’ The last thing she wanted was for him to go all soulful on her. She wanted to leave with some dignity.
‘We will stay in touch?’
‘Of course, Jimmy.’ Now she just wanted him to go, so that she could lie on the cold, clean sheets on the bunk. She was suddenly very tired again.
‘Look out for Fair Isle as you go south,’ he said. His face lit up and she remembered why he’d haunted her. ‘You should see the lights from this side of the boat.’
‘You promised to take me there one day.’
‘And so I shall.’
She leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the lips. ‘Off you go, Jimmy Perez, or you’ll be carried away with me. And what would Shetland do without you?’
‘But you’ll come back to see me?’
She smiled. ‘Just try to stop me.’
COLD EARTH
Ann Cleeves is the author behind ITV’s Vera and BBC One’s Shetland. She has written over twenty-five novels, and is the creator of detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez – characters loved both on screen and in print. Both series are international bestsellers.
In 2006 Ann was awarded the Duncan Lawrie Dagger (CWA Gold Dagger) for Best Crime Novel, for Raven Black, the first book in her Shetland series. In 2012 she was inducted into the CWA Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame. Ann lives in North Tyneside.
www.anncleeves.com
@anncleeves
facebook.com/anncleeves
By Ann Cleeves
A Bird in the Hand Come Death and High Water
Murder in Paradise A Prey to Murder
A Lesson in Dying Murder in My Backyard
A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy
Another Man’s Poison Killjoy
The Mill on the Shore Sea Fever
The Healers High Island Blues
The Baby-Snatcher The Sleeping and the Dead
Burial of Ghosts
The Vera Stanhope series
The Crow Trap Telling Tales Hidden Depths
Silent Voices The Glass Room Harbour Street
The Moth Catcher
The Shetland series
Raven Black White Nights Red Bones
Blue Lightning Dead Water Thin Air
Cold Earth
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the whole team at Pan Macmillan – you’re a great bunch to work with.
Thanks to Maura who has quickly become indispensable.
And thanks as ever to all the people in Shetland who provide help and inspiration and forgive my mistakes with grace.
First published 2016 by Macmillan
This electronic edition published 2016 Macmillan
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
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Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-7823-8
Copyright © Ann Cleeves 2016
Cover photography © Alamy/Getty
The right of Ann Cleeves to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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