White Nights - Ann Cleeves [126]
‘Have you managed to track down a recording of the TV documentary?’
‘Apparently Sandy’s mother has one. She taped it because of the Shetland scenes. He’s gone to Whalsay to fetch it, hopes to get the last ferry back.’
‘Good.’
There was a brief hesitation. ‘Jimmy?’
‘Yes?’
‘Doesn’t matter. I wanted to ask your advice about something. But it’ll keep. You need to get off.’
Perez replaced the phone and then realized they hadn’t decided where they should meet. It didn’t matter. Biddista wasn’t such a big place. Taylor would find him, and anyway he wasn’t sure yet where he would be.
When he arrived at the Williamson house, the child was in bed, but all the adults were there. Even Aggie had been brought in from next door. Perez hadn’t been expecting that and wasn’t sure how it would work, but didn’t think he could send her back to her house. He didn’t want to start off the interview with a confrontation. Besides, he needed to talk to her. They sat in a row on the sofa. Martin opened the door to him, then returned to his place.
‘What is all this about, Jimmy? I didn’t have you down as the sort to go in for bully-boy tactics. You shouldn’t have gone to the school and harassed my wife in that way.’
‘I have to ask questions. That’s what I do for a living.’
‘You accused Dawn of knowing who the murderer is.’
‘No,’ Perez said. He hated being thought a bully. There was a pause while he considered if he could have played it any differently, then decided they had to know this was serious. ‘I asked her if she had any idea. That’s rather different. If I believed she knew what had been going on here she’d be under arrest for perverting the course of justice.’ He paused. ‘I wanted Dawn’s opinion because she’s relatively new to the place, more objective. Nothing more than that.’
Dawn had been sitting quietly throughout the exchange. Now she spoke. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I overreacted in the school. But this is horrible. The violence going on just outside the door. It was close enough to home already. Now it seems personal, as if it’s come in and become a part of our lives. Is there someone out there who hates everyone who lives in Biddista?’
‘No,’ Perez said. ‘I don’t think it’s that.’
They sat for a moment in silence.
‘What about you, Aggie?’ he asked. ‘Can you tell me what’s been going on?’
She sat very upright in the sofa and shook her head. The rest of her body was frozen and the movement seemed unnatural. It reminded Perez of a mechanical doll.
‘What were you doing fifteen years ago?’
‘I was living in Scalloway with my man, running the hotel and minding Martin here.’
‘Your mother was still living in Biddista then?’
‘Aye, she was still in this house. My father was dead by then. I moved back here when she died.’
‘So you visited quite often?’
‘I was here a lot,’ Aggie said. ‘Somehow I never quite settled in Scalloway. Maybe it was my fault that my husband was the way he was. My heart was never in it – the marriage or the work.’
Perez looked at Martin, expecting some sort of reaction – a defensive comment or an attempt at humour – but there was nothing.
‘What about you, Martin? Did you spend much time in Biddista?’
‘I was a teenager,’ he said. ‘Into hanging around with my mates, football, music. There wasn’t much to bring me to Biddista. And I liked the hotel in Scalloway, talking to the visitors, helping my father in the kitchen. It suited me fine.’
Perez returned his attention to Aggie. ‘Did you keep in touch with Bella too?’
‘Oh, aye. I’d go and visit her at the Manse. She liked to have me as an audience when there was nobody better around. She liked to show off her fancy house and her fancy furniture. Having me there made her realize how much she’d moved on.’
‘You sound quite bitter.’
‘Do I?’ She seemed surprised by the thought. ‘No, I was never jealous of Bella. She wasn’t a contented woman. However