White Nights - Ann Cleeves [20]
‘They were all over Lerwick yesterday. Posted in the window of the tourist office, on the noticeboard in the library and handed out to visitors coming off the cruise ships. Scalloway too. It’s hardly surprising there wasn’t much of a turnout at the party.’
‘Of course I don’t know anything about it,’ Fran said. ‘I mean, nobody in my family’s died.’
‘Nor mine. So what is this about?’ Bella was in dramatic mode again. ‘A mistake? A tasteless prank? An act of sabotage?’
‘Why would anyone want to sabotage an art exhibition?’
Bella shrugged. ‘Jealousy. Spite. I don’t think I’ve upset anyone enough for them to bother with something like this. Not recently at least. What about you? A first exhibition’s a big deal. Anyone out there who’d want to spoil it for you?’
‘That’s a horrible idea. No. Absolutely not.’
‘It couldn’t be your ex playing games?’
‘Duncan and I are being civilized at the moment, for Cassie’s sake. Besides, it’s not his style. He has a temper but this is petty and unpleasant. Anonymous too. Duncan would want everyone to know it was him.’ She nodded towards the flyer. ‘He’d think that beneath his dignity.’
‘A prank then.’ Bella’s voice was quiet. ‘A joke that got out of hand.’
The doorbell rang. There was an old-fashioned pull which rang a bell in the hall. Perhaps the bell was cracked because the sound was tinny, grating. Bella seemed relieved by the interruption, jumped to her feet and hurried away. She returned followed by Perez. He nodded to Fran, gave an embarrassed little smile.
‘I saw your car in the drive.’
‘Were you looking for me?’ Fran felt confused, as if the day was spinning out of control. It’s the lack of sleep, she thought. She longed suddenly for dark nights, thunderclouds, rain.
‘No. I need to talk to Bella. It’s work.’
‘I should go then.’ She was relieved to have an excuse to leave. She didn’t want an inquest into the fiasco of the launch. The flyers were obviously part of some stupid game played by Roddy and his friends. It was the sort of imbecility he was famous for. Bella had been the target and she, Fran, had been caught in the crossfire. Later she’d be angry. Now she just felt embarrassed. It was like being caught eavesdropping on a very personal row between a married couple.
‘No,’ Perez said. ‘I need to talk to you too.’
She had a sudden panic. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘Not Cassie,’ he said. ‘Nothing like that.’
Bella went to the fridge and absent-mindedly poured more wine. ‘If it’s about the flyers cancelling the party last night,’ she said, ‘we know about them. Hardly a police matter, I’d have thought, even here. We don’t want to press charges.’
I might, Fran thought. Don’t speak for me.
‘This is why you’re here, Jimmy?’ Bella picked up the paper between her thumb and index finger as if she could hardly bear to touch it, then dropped it on the table in front of him.
Perez frowned as he read it. Fran decided the information was new to him. ‘That’s why so few people turned up last night,’ she said. ‘These were all over Lerwick, apparently, and because of the final line, nobody liked to phone.’ She wanted him to know she did have friends, and that they would all have been there to support her if it hadn’t been for this.
‘I’ll have to take the flyer with me.’
‘I’ve told you,’ Bella said sharply, ‘I don’t want to press charges.’
‘Do you think that little scene last night could be related to this?’ he asked. ‘The hysterical Englishman who claimed to have no memory?’
‘Another attempt to disrupt the party? I suppose it could. Certainly after that drama people started to leave. He made them uncomfortable.’ Bella looked at him over her wineglass.
‘There’s a body in the hut on the jetty,’ Perez said. ‘We’re pretty sure it was the man who caused the scene last night.’
‘Really!’ For a moment Bella seemed to take an unsophisticated pleasure in the news. It was a story, gossip to pass on. ‘How did he die?’
‘We’re not sure yet. The circumstances