“Do you know how Kyle was poisoned?”
“From what I’ve been told it seems like there was poison in one of the bottles of wine - and it was only given to Kyle. That’s something I need to talk with Jessica about, because I can’t imagine why it would only have been given to Kyle, unless there’s a reason I don’t know about.”
“Would you like me to do it?”
“Maybe. At the moment, as much as I hate to say it, I am starting to think Jessica might have been involved in the murder of her new husband. How do we know she didn’t already know about the other girlfriends? She did take it far more calmly than I thought she would.”
“Shock.”
“I know you don’t want to think it might have been her, but anything is possible.”
Sighing, Mary-Ann shook her head. “I know that from experience, Alex, but I’ve known Jess since she was born. I truly don’t believe she’s the sort of person who’d be willing to do something like that.”
“Polly’s a young mom.”
“Yes, she is. She fell in love young and made the decision she wanted to have a baby instead of going to college. I wasn’t surprised. She was always the person who wanted to have her own family, and when she rang me to say she was pregnant six months after she married I wasn’t surprised. Then she rang me to say her husband had died in an accident, which meant she was going to be a single mom, and everyone rallied round her. They wanted to help her as much as possible. Without the people of Green Springs life would have been a lot harder for her.”
“Do you think she’s the reason Jessica decided to marry relatively young?”
“I have no idea, but it could easily have been because Jess was in love with Kyle. I can’t help thinking she now wishes she hadn’t fallen in love with him.”
“Talk to her about the wine. Ask if there was a reason Kyle was being served something different to everyone else. It’s entirely possible I’m being suspicious for no reason.”
“I will.” Mary-Ann wished she could be there with Alex. “You’re the officer in charge of the investigation, so you’re meant to be suspicious of everything.”
Chapter 5
Tears were streaming down Jessica’s cheeks when she opened the door. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything.” Jessica shook her head. “Kyle’s dead. Ben’s here. The two women I emailed to tell about Kyle’s death have replied and I can’t bring myself to read the emails.”
Mary-Ann wrapped her arms around Jessica. “You don’t have to deal with this alone.”
“Really?”
“No, you don’t. I’m here. Your mom’s here. Jake and Liam would be willing to help.”
“I feel alone, Mare. Without Kyle here I feel far more alone than I thought possible, and I wish he was here. At the same time I’m glad he isn’t, because he isn’t the man I thought he was, and I… how am I meant to come to terms with the fact he lied to me about everything.” More tears made their way down Jessica’s cheeks. “He was the man I loved, the man I trusted to spend the rest of my life with, but he was lying to me the whole time, and they both knew about me. Both his other girlfriends knew he was getting married. They talked to him about it, to make certain they’d still be a part of his life. I just… there’s a part of me that wishes I was the one who killed him.”
“Jess…”
“I know. I shouldn’t say things like that. I just hate him, and love him, and miss him, and am glad he’s gone all at the same time. It’s not an easy thing to deal with.”
“Of course it’s not.” Mary-Ann stepped into the house. “Do you want me to read those emails for you?”
“Would you?”
“Do you want me to read them to you?”
“Maybe.” Jessica nibbled her lip. “I do and I don’t. I don’t want to know what they said, but I want to know at the same time.”
“How about I read them and then let you know whether it’s something you’d be capable of dealing with? After that you can make your decision.”
“That works.”
“Where’s Polly?”
“She went with Ben to the police station. He wanted to get the hardest job out of the way as soon as possible. Once that’s done he’s going to be staying here for a little while, because it’s best for him to be here.”
“I look forward to meeting him.” Mary-Ann sat at the desk and loaded up the first of the emails, even though she wasn’t entirely certain she wanted to read them. “Okay, this one you probably aren’t ready to deal with.”
“You’ve only had it open for a few seconds.”
“I only need a few seconds to know this is something you don’t want to read.”
“Why?”
“She’s basically blaming you for what happened to Kyle, because, obviously, it was your fault he chose to propose.”
“That was what I thought might happen.” Jessica sighed. “Of course they’re going to blame me. If he hadn’t chosen to marry me he probably would still be alive now.”
“His choice was to marry you, Jess. You aren’t willing to get angry with the women he was cheating on you with, and took the time to let them know what happened, only to get a response like this.” Mary-Ann shook her head. “I don’t think that’s fair.”
“Maybe it’s not, but she has just found out the man she loved is dead.”
“Stop being nice. You’re allowed to get angry with someone for treating you badly when you made the decision to let them know what had happened to someone they cared about. You don’t deserve that. You deserve much better, because you were the person who cared enough to email them, and I am going to be angry on your behalf.”
Jessica laughed. “I think it’s easier for you to get angry with them. I understand what it’s like to be going through what they are.”
“Learning someone you cared about is dead is never easy.”
“Kevin.”
Mary-Ann nodded, and moved onto the next email. “She’s nicer. I prefer this email to the other one, because she, at least, seems to accept you’re hurting as well.”
“What did she say?”
“She thanks you for emailing her at such a difficult time and hopes you’re doing as well as you can be considering what’s just happened. The only thing she’d really like is for you to email her to let her know when the funeral is, because she’d like to be there to say goodbye.” Mary-Ann looked over at Jessica. “Do you think you’d be able to cope with that?”
“I have no idea, but I’ll do my best if she really does want to be there. I’m not going to make it hard for them to say goodbye to him, because they deserve that chance, and, like I said before, I don’t blame them for the choices Kyle made. I am still angry with him for doing what he did. The other women involved… I think I can forgive them a little more easily.”
“I wouldn’t be able to. I wouldn’t be able to forgive someone for dating my boyfriend when they knew I was with him.” Mary-Ann shrugged. “We’re very different people, though, and this… it’s a part of who you are, Jess. If you weren’t able to forgive them I would think there was something wrong with you.”
“Thank you.” There was a moment of silence. “What did you come over for, because I know there has to have been a reason?”
“We don’t have to talk about that now.”
“I’m okay.”
“The bottle of wine Kyle was drinking…”
“We were given it as a special gift from one of his friends. I don’t drink red, so I told Kyle to have it, and as it was a gift he didn’t want to share it around to everyone. Is that where the poison was?”
***
“I don’t know who it came from, Detective Inspector, but it was obviously someone who didn’t know me, because I’ve never liked red wine.” Jessica sighed. “I don’t like wine much at all, to be honest, but I drank it at the wedding because it was what I was supposed to do. Do you think whoever it was might have been trying to kill both of us?”
Alex nodded. “Tha
t does seem like it could be possible, although it’s also possible they poisoned a bottle of red because they knew you didn’t like it.” He looked at Mary-Ann. “What do you think?”
“We have a number of suspects. Ben would have wanted Kyle dead, but he says he wouldn’t do something like that, and I believe him. Alison… if she truly wanted Kyle back it seems more likely that she would have poisoned Jess and yet we don’t know for certain Alison did want Kyle back. That’s what Jake and Liam have said, but it’s entirely possible Kyle was lying to him the whole time. Obviously there’s Kyle’s two other girlfriends. They might have poisoned the wine.” Mary-Ann glanced at Jessica. “Finally, of course, there is the possibility that Jess poisoned the wine herself.”
Jessica smiled. “It’s a valid theory. There’s no way for me to prove I didn’t know about Kyle’s other girlfriends. Alison could have told me, and the two of us could have worked together. One of his other girlfriends could have told me, and we could have worked together.” She shrugged. “I’ve gone through all the possibilities in my head, Detective Inspector, because I want to know who killed my husband, and then, hopefully, I’ll be able to put this whole horrible experience behind me.”
“Did you poison the wine, Mrs Morton?”
“No, I didn’t. I didn’t know anything about my husband’s other girlfriends until you told me, and Alison I learnt about when Mare and I were talking to Ben, so it would have been impossible for me to work with any of them. At the same time I can’t prove that.”
“We have other people who could, though. Jake knows Kyle wasn’t willing to tell you about Alison, which means he’s the proof of that, and the emails you received from the other girlfriends makes it obvious you didn’t already know them, unless they’re very good at pretending.” Mary-Ann shrugged. “The next step, I think, is ruling out the two other girlfriends, and trying to find Alison.”
“Is it possible she might already be in Green Springs?” Jessica bit her lip. “Surely she would have wanted to see her handy work. She would have wanted to see us all try to find her, deal with Kyle’s death…” She shook her head. “From what Jake said she really wasn’t a nice person, so I think it’s possible.”
“I have checked at the local hotels, but it is always possible she might have used a fake name.”
“That email address…” Mary-Ann laughed. “Use the name in the email address, Detective Inspector. Then you’ll find her.”
***
“What email address?”
“Kyle forwarded one of Alison’s emails to Liam. I don’t know why, but she was using an email address that had a name within it, and I think that’s the person she’s pretending to be while she’s in Green Springs.”
Jessica nodded. “That is if I’m right about her being here.”
“I think you are, Jess. I think, if she was going to go to all that effort, she would have wanted to make certain Kyle was dead.”
“She would have wanted to make certain both of us were dead.”
“You don’t know that she was trying to kill both of you.”
“That seems the most likely possibility. If I was her I would have wanted both of us dead.”
“Would you? Or would you want the person who took your place to feel the same pain you did when you lost the man you loved?” Mary-Ann shrugged. “Honestly, I think, if I was in her position, I’d want you to hurt as much as I did.”
“Maybe.”
“It’s also likely she knew Kyle was cheating on you and this would all come out during the investigation into his death, which would cause you more pain.” Their eyes met. “I’ve spent far too much of my time trying to think like a murderer in the last few months. Sometimes it’s too easy to get into the mindset of someone who would have gone to all the effort of poisoning a bottle of wine to be given as a gift to the man I once loved.”
“You seem to work well with the D.I.”
“Alex and I have got to know each other. We didn’t really have any other option, because I ended up dating his brother, and now he seems to rely on me to do the parts of the investigation he can’t. I do find it easier to talk to the people who live in Green Springs, because I know them all well, and they do open up to me, so I don’t mind helping. At the same time it’s hard. I’ve become suspicious of everyone, because I don’t know who might be willing to do what. Finding out someone I thought of as a friend was willing to use me as a scapegoat hurt. Learning someone was willing to kill his own son in an attempt to avoid jail… that just makes it obvious people are never who they seem to be.”
“Mare, maybe the time has come for you to leave this behind.”
“I’ve thought about it, and this, I think, will be my last case. The only reason I got involved in this one was because Polly asked me, and I couldn’t say no to her.”
“What happens next time, when you can’t say no to someone else?”
“I don’t know. I will try not to get involved. I don’t always like the person I’ve become now, so I think the best thing I could do is keep my distance.”
Chapter 6
“Until last night Alison was in the Green Springs.” Alex sighed. “She’s now gone back to New York. I have officers out looking for her, but she might well have disappeared by now.”
“Even if it was her we need to prove she was the one to poison the wine.”
“Yeah, we do, and that means we have to find out where she got both the poison and the wine from, so we can put in her hands. At the moment that’s impossible. There are hundreds of fingerprints of the bottles, which is to be expected.”
“It’s part of what’s keeping her safe. Alison thinks we can’t prove it was her.”
“Do you really think it was her?”
“Why else would she have been in Green Springs?”
“That’s a question I don’t have an answer to, but one thing I am certain of is that she won’t be willing to talk to you.”
“No, she won’t. The last couple of times we got lucky. It’s not always going to happen.”
“What steps do we take next, then?”
“I’ll look into the wine. It looked like it was expensive, and probably rare, so I might be able to find where Alison got it from. Once we have that we know she had the opportunity and the motive.”
“So does Jessica.”
“True.” Mary-Ann nibbled her bottom lip. “I just can’t get a motive to work for Jess. Surely it would have made more sense for her to leave Kyle at the altar than it would for her to go through with the wedding and then kill him.”
“Has she said anything to you about his will?”
“No.”
“A couple of weeks before they got married they both changed their wills. Jessica gets everything. It is a motive for murder, she had the opportunity, and all I need is the means.”
Nodding, Mary-Ann brushed a hand through her hair. “In that case it wouldn’t matter who bought the wine. It would matter who bought the poison.”
“Yes, it would, and I’m still not certain what actually killed Kyle. The tox screen came back with a mix of things I didn’t think I’d ever see.”
“Home made poison.”
“Which could have been made by anyone, including Jessica.”
“Although she was planning for her wedding, which means she wouldn’t have had a lot of time. I think we need to prove she knew nothing about Kyle’s other girlfriends, because then she has no reason to kill him, apart from the will, and that isn’t enough.”
“Maybe not for you, but a jury would convict her. They’d believe Jessica was the one who poisoned her husband, so we need to make the case against Alison rock solid if we want it to work out, especially as the other issue we have is the fact there’s one other suspect. It would have made more sense for Ben to kill Kyle than it would for Alison.”
“Kyle being out of the way means Ben might be able to get back with Jess, but it’s unlikely. Jess left him for a reason.”
“Ben could have been work
ing with Jessica. If she wanted Kyle to pay for what he’d done…”
“Last time the case was difficult. It could have been anyone, but at least it was simple enough for me to get Mr. Thompson to confess. This time it’s much harder, because I don’t know everyone involved, and they aren’t going to be as willing to talk to me.”
“No, they aren’t, but that doesn’t meant they won’t. I think you need to go back to talk to Jake and Liam again. There’s a chance they might know more than they’re letting on.”
“Why aren’t they suspects?”
“So far I can’t find a reason for either of them to kill Kyle. Without a motive I have no reason to think of them as suspects. To be honest we have more than enough at the moment. There’s Alison, Ben, Jessica, Kyle’s other girlfriends…” There was a moment of silence. “Tara and Wendy.”
The Alpha Billionaire's Unexpected Baby: A Billionaire BWWM Pregnancy Romance Page 72
