Cambridge Blue - Alison Bruce [44]
There was something about Richard that reminded Goodhew of a teenage boy talking about his first romance. He should have been sitting on a tubular steel and canvas chair with his feet hooked round the legs as he leant over an old wooden desk scraping something like ‘LS 4 RM’ into its hinged lid with his pair of school compasses.
‘If she never followed it up, perhaps it was only the fantasy of the notion that attracted her.’
‘She was pretty insecure. I told myself she only did it to keep control, but I was getting to the end of my tether. I wanted it to be just a phase, something she’d abandon when she realized we were stable. We’d only been together since last December, but I couldn’t stand the thought of being without her.’
‘That’s not long.’
‘No, it’s not. It’s been strange, true, like time since I met her has moved at the wrong speed. Alice says I rushed into it, but it never felt like rushing.’
‘And you met through work?’
‘She started with us last summer, first of all as a temp, then we gave her a permanent contract.’
‘She came through an agency?’
‘Yes. Sort of. She was friendly with Victoria Nugent, who works for the dentist in the same building. Lorna came in to meet her for lunch on several occasions and, in the process, started talking to Alice.’ He paused and smiled affectionately. ‘My sister was constantly frustrated with the temps we were sent, as they often lacked basic written English skills and struggled to balance figures. When she found out that Lorna was job-hunting, she suggested that she register with the agency we use, then hired her.’ Richard nodded towards the ceiling. ‘Ask her yourself.’
That threw Goodhew. ‘Alice is here?’
‘She lives here, I thought you knew. We’ve always lived together.’
‘Always?’
For the first time since meeting him, Goodhew saw genuine amusement reach all the way up to Richard’s eyes. But it didn’t add warmth to his face; in fact it dropped the temperature to well below bitterly cold. ‘Lorna and I were very close,’ he continued. ‘The point I’m trying to make is that Lorna could have been out walking on her own. It doesn’t follow that she had to be meeting someone she knew.’
‘No?’
‘No, not at all. Sometimes she just liked to be alone. She would go off for hours on end.’
‘Even at midnight?’
‘Yep.’
‘She said that?’
‘No, I made it up.’ He sounded deliberately sarcastic, but the words had come out too fast. A defensive reflex, perhaps.
‘Sorry, what I mean is, did you ever see her taking one of these solitary walks?’
‘It wasn’t an excuse.’
‘Excuse?’
Richard’s eyes narrowed and he looked away without replying.
Goodhew nodded. ‘What happens when you reach the end of your tether, Richard? She told you she went walking alone, and you wanted to believe her, but you had to be wondering how open she was really keeping your relationship.’
Richard continued to look away, and when he next spoke he sounded distinctly pissed off. ‘You’ve just twisted it right around. She was faithful to me,’ he gasped, then stopped. The next couple of minutes ticked by and Goodhew watched him try to shut down the emotions that were suddenly clamouring to escape. Richard blinked, and then swallowed. He tried breathing deeply. He pressed his hands over his mouth in an attempt to curb the quivering of his lips.
Goodhew cringed. He hadn’t foreseen this, and didn’t know how to handle it either. He willed Richard to hold it together. Fat chance, though; here was a man unravelling before his eyes. It wasn’t a systematic unravelling either; more like a moth-eaten sweater falling apart in many places all at once.
A voice came from the doorway. ‘Leave him.’ He hadn’t noticed any movement, but looked round to find Alice glaring at him, one hand resting on each side of the door frame. Her hair was brushed straight down from a centre parting, and she was fully dressed in a pale-stone