White Nights - Ann Cleeves [56]
‘You look well on it.’
‘I love it all. Teaching in a place like this still has its challenges, but if I think of some of the schools where I did my teaching practice, there’s no comparison. And Martin is pretty much in charge of the café and restaurant at the Herring House. Bella doesn’t interfere too much.’
‘How do you get on with her?’ he asked.
Dawn shrugged. ‘We don’t usually mix in the same circles. She likes to give the impression that she’s rooted in the community, but she’s away a lot of the time. She and Aggie grew up with each other; now she talks to Aggie as if she was some sort of servant when she comes into the post office. Or she’s so patronizing she makes me want to throw up.’
‘I understand tact isn’t really her thing.’
Something in his voice made her realize what he was on about. He saw she was a very bright woman. Nothing would need spelling out. The kids would get away with nothing in her lessons.
‘You’ve heard about her putting me down at the art class then.’
He hoped she wasn’t going to ask who’d told him. ‘All sorts of things come up during the course of an investigation.’
‘She just made herself look a bit daft,’ Dawn said. She turned her back on him and continued talking as she wrote on the whiteboard. He wished he could see her face, judge her reaction to what she was saying. ‘It was an amateur show. A bit of fun. Why did she take the thing so seriously?’
‘Why do you think she did?’
‘God knows. Maybe she’s not as confident as she makes out and she needed to come across as the grand artist by showing us up. Pointless. We all know we’re not in her league.’
‘Do you think she recognized it as your painting?’
She put down the marker pen and turned back to face him. ‘I’m sure she did. I was doing the sketch for it out on the hill one evening after Alice had gone to bed. Suddenly I found she’d come up behind me and was looking over my shoulder.’
‘Did she comment on it then?’
‘Not really. I think she made another put-down comment, like it was nice for me to have a hobby, a break from the family.’ Dawn paused. ‘I know it sounds stupid, but sometimes I wonder if she’s jealous of me. I do have a family. I even usually get on with my mother-in-law. Aggie’s a love, despite what I said just now. Bella must be lonely most of the time, rattling around the Manse on her own.’ She hesitated. ‘I haven’t told anyone here yet, but I found out a couple of weeks ago that I’m pregnant again. I’m thrilled to bits. We’d been trying for a while. So I couldn’t really get worked up about Bella behaving like a spiteful six-year-old in front of my painting.’
‘Congratulations.’ Sarah had been pregnant once. Perez too had been thrilled to bits. Then she’d had a late miscarriage and it had seemed like the end of their world. It had marked the beginning of the end of their marriage.
‘Thanks.’ He saw that she couldn’t help bursting out in a huge grin.
‘Do you think Roddy is a substitute child for Bella?’ he asked.
‘Perhaps. But he’s not much to be proud of, is he?’
‘Lots of people would think so.’
‘He’s a grand musician,’ she said. ‘And he can hold an audience. When you listen to him play it’s easy enough to be taken in by him.’
‘Has he done anything specific to upset you?’
‘Nothing serious. Apart from getting my husband bladdered every time he comes home. The last time was Alice’s birthday, and Martin missed the party.’
Perez wanted to ask if that wasn’t Martin’s responsibility – Roddy Sinclair had hardly tied the man up and poured the drink down his throat – but he found himself a little in awe of Dawn Williamson. It was the pregnancy, he thought, and the fact that she was so untroubled by Bella’s outburst. Besides, what did it have to do with this investigation? A bell rang. The children jostled into the school and formed a chattering queue outside the classroom door.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I don’t think I’ve helped much.’
‘I’m sorry to have disturbed you at work.’
She must have given a sign to the children because they began to file in, blocking the door. He had to wait for a moment until they were