Hanging Hill - Mo Hayder [96]
‘He called me the housekeeper. I was cleaning, like before, but I was doing admin for him too. I’ve only done a few days so far.’
‘A few.’
‘Yes.’
‘Over how many days?’
Sally hesitated. ‘One. Just the one.’
‘One. You don’t seem sure about that.’
‘No, I am sure. Quite sure.’
‘What day was it?’
‘Last Tuesday. A week ago.’
‘Tuesday. You’re certain it was Tuesday?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you haven’t been back since?’
‘No.’
‘And you worked for his business?’
‘For the house. I was paying bills, hiring people to do jobs around the place.’
‘Lightpil House is huge. The gardens – he must have needed someone to maintain them?’
‘The gardeners come once a week. The Pultman brothers. They’re from Swindon.’
‘Pultman.’ Zoë noted it carefully. ‘And the pool man. He was from a company in Keynsham. Anyone else?’
‘Not that I can think of.’
‘Does David talk to you a lot?’
‘Not really.’
‘Not really? What does that mean?’
Sally picked at the label on the bottle. ‘Just means not a lot.’
Zoë’s attention wandered distractedly back to Sally’s hands. The faintly deformed finger. God, but the past was coming back in droves these days. Just like the snow outside the window in her dream. ‘So? Apart from today, the last time you were there was when?’
‘Last Tuesday. Like I said.’
‘You didn’t notice anything suspicious?’
Sally fiddled more with the label. ‘No. Not really.’
‘And he didn’t say anything about planning to go away?’
She shook her head.
‘You see,’ Zoë said, ‘everything in that house is telling me something’s happened to Mr Goldrab. Now, I’ll be honest, I’m floundering a bit. If he’s come to harm I’m stuck – because I don’t know where to start. So if you remember anything, anything at all – doesn’t matter how small or insignificant it is, just something that you can add to this – please say it because I—’
‘Jake,’ Sally said abruptly. ‘Jake.’
Zoë stopped writing. ‘I beg your pardon?’
‘He turned up when I was there. David called him Jake the Peg.’
‘What did he look like?’
‘Not very tall. His hair cut quite short. Maybe mixed race, I wasn’t quite sure.’
‘Drives a purple Shogun jeep?’
‘Yes. Do you know him?’
‘You could say that.’ She tipped her head on one side. ‘So, Sally. When Jake turned up, what exactly happened?’
‘It got nasty. There was an argument. Then he went.’
‘An argument? About what?’
‘Jake hadn’t been over for months – then he turned up and tried to use David’s gate code. I think that’s what it was about. I was in the office and they were in the hallway so I couldn’t hear it all. They were shouting for a while – then Jake left.’
‘He didn’t say he’d be back later in the week? No chance he could have come over again on Thursday to finish the argument?’
‘I don’t know. I didn’t hear him say he would.’
‘We found a crossbow in the utility room. You saw that this morning, didn’t you – saw where we found it?’
Sally nodded.
‘You don’t know how it came to be in there, do you?’ She was monitoring Sally’s fingers. They were tearing at the label now. ‘Seems a strange place to put a crossbow. And then leave all your doors open and go out for a drive.’
‘It was always on the stand on the landing. I used to clean the case.’
‘You never saw him use it?’
‘No.’
‘And you haven’t been back to Lightpil since last Tuesday? And you weren’t there Thursday, for example? That was the last time anyone spoke to him.’
She shook her head. Wrapped her arms around herself as if someone had suddenly opened the window.
‘What’s making you nervous, Sally? Why the nerves?’
‘What?’
‘You’re shaking.’
‘No, I’m not.’
‘Yes, you are. You’re shaking like a leaf. And fidgeting.’
‘It’s been a shock.’
‘Goldrab going missing? The Lucozade’s supposed to help you with that. Isn’t it working?’
‘I didn’t expect to see you.’ She shivered, looked away again and hugged herself harder, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. ‘That’s all. Can I go now?’
Zoë didn’t speak for a moment or two. She twirled the pen thoughtfully. ‘I heard about the divorce,’ she said eventually.