White Nights - Ann Cleeves [52]
‘Nor me.’ She tried to form the words to tell him what the night had meant to her, but he cut in on her thoughts.
‘I have to ask some questions. Work. I’m so sorry it has to intrude.’
‘It always will, won’t it?’ she said.
‘Perhaps. Sarah could never cope with it.’ Sarah was his ex-wife, married now to a doctor, living happily in the borders with children and dogs.
‘I don’t think it’ll be a problem,’ she said. ‘I could never understand someone who wasn’t passionate about their work.’
‘Am I passionate?’
‘Oh yes,’ she said. ‘I can testify to that.’
He laughed, and she felt some of the tension go from the situation.
‘Ask away,’ she said. ‘But I’ll get some more wine first.’ She was glad she still felt easy with him; really nothing between them had changed. When she returned she sat beside him again.
‘It’s about the exhibition,’ he said. ‘Why would anyone want to spoil it for you?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Unless it was some warped idea of a joke. And then I don’t think I would be the target.’
‘You’re thinking of Roddy Sinclair?’
‘Perhaps. He’s the only person I can think of who might go to those lengths. He has a theatrical sense of humour.’
‘According to the tabloids,’ Perez said.
‘You’re right, of course.’ She looked at him across her glass. ‘We can’t assume that anything they say is true. I’ve met him a couple of times through Bella, but I don’t really feel I know him at all.’
‘We think the murder victim distributed the flyers cancelling the show. In Lerwick at least. He was seen handing them out to passengers coming off a cruise ship.’
‘But he was a stranger. Why would he want to spoil things for us?’
‘He was a stranger to you. Are you sure Bella didn’t know him?’
‘If she did, she didn’t let on.’
‘Has she made any enemies? People in the business maybe?’
‘Come off it, Jimmy. That sounds a bit melodramatic. Are you saying some artist she might have offended went to all that bother just to spite her?’
‘Is she in the habit of offending people?’
Fran chose her words carefully. ‘She’s never been particularly diplomatic about expressing her opinions.’
‘Meaning?’
‘If she hates a piece of work she’ll say so. To whoever will listen. Big style.’
‘Has she upset anyone in particular?’
‘Not recently as far as I know. Not a professional at least.’
‘Who then?’
When she didn’t answer immediately, he took her hand. ‘Look, you know I’ll find out. It’s impossible to keep that sort of thing secret here.’
She almost said that her ex-husband Duncan had kept his affair secret, but that wasn’t true. She hadn’t known about it, but the rest of the islanders had. Of course that had made the whole separation much more humiliating.
‘Look,’ he said. ‘This is murder. Loyalty to a friend doesn’t come into it.’
‘I’ve never thought of Bella as a friend. That seems a dreadful impertinence. Like saying Albert Einstein was a best mate! She’s a superstar.’
‘She’d love to hear you saying that.’
Fran thought he understood Bella better than she did. She’d known all along she’d tell him and she began the story. ‘You know I teach an adult-education art class. I’ve been running it since Christmas and some of the group are really very good. And they all enjoy it. We decided to have a midsummer show. Just a bit of fun, I thought. A chance for family and friends to see what the group had been up to. We took over the hall in Sandwick and had a meal together afterwards to celebrate. I invited Bella along to give some feedback. It was a mistake. She wasn’t as tactful as she might have been.’
‘What happened?’
‘She took the pieces one by one and gave a critique of each. I thought she was unnecessarily harsh in her criticism. I’d expected her to give some pointers for improvement, to be encouraging. I didn’t think she’d lay into my students. I felt terrible afterwards.’
‘Did she have a go at anyone in particular?’
‘There was one piece. A watercolour. It wasn’t the sort of thing I’d do myself,