White Nights - Ann Cleeves [63]
‘Real life would have been hard after that,’ Perez said.
‘Yeah. I think I’ve been spending the rest of my life trying to recapture the magic.’ Roddy gave a self-deprecating grin. ‘Nothing ever quite lives up to it.’
‘Did Bella have a serious relationship with any of the visitors?’
‘Definitely not serious. I guess she might have slept with them, but I never really knew about that.’
‘Do you manage to see much of your mother?’ Perez asked.
‘We get on OK these days. I was very hard on her when I was younger. Just grief maybe. I couldn’t understand how she could take up with another man. Things are still a bit tricky between me and her husband, but we manage to be polite to each other for her sake.’
‘The Englishman who died,’ Taylor said. ‘We think he was the person who was trying to sabotage your aunt’s exhibition. Do you have any idea why he would want to do that?’
‘Why would anyone?’
‘Your aunt doesn’t have enemies?’
‘Lots of spurned lovers,’ Roddy said. ‘Bella’s always attracted men. Like I said, when I was growing up, Biddista was full of visitors who imagined themselves besotted with her. From spotty students to earnest elderly intellectuals. It was all very amusing for a child. There’s nothing a kid likes more than grown-ups making prats of themselves. And even now she still pulls people in. She’s flattered by the attention. Sometimes I think she’s quite lonely, but she’ll never settle down.’
‘Has there been a recent admirer?’
‘Not that I’m aware of. But I haven’t been home for a while. I might not know.’
‘She didn’t mention anyone?’
‘That she was being stalked by an Englishman with no hair and a penchant for weeping in public? No, inspector. And if that was the case she wouldn’t need to kill him to get rid of him. She’s an assertive woman. She can get her own way without resorting to violence.’
On the beach the wind must have changed suddenly, because the kite twisted and dived into the sand. The little girl dropped the string and ran towards it, arms outstretched, mimicking the zig-zag movement as it had crashed to the earth. Kenny Thomson brought his boat back towards the shore.
Roddy continued. ‘If that scene at the party was a stunt to hurt Bella, it was all rather pointless, wasn’t it? The Englishman didn’t succeed in wrecking the show. All my aunt’s London friends were there. They’ll still write reviews. The paintings will go back to the galleries. It was just a gesture. An anticlimax.’ He smiled again. ‘Inspector Perez accused me of being behind the flyers to cancel the party, but if I’d wanted to sabotage the exhibition, I’d have made a far better job of it.’
‘Your aunt says you’re planning to leave Shetland.’
‘I was going to get the ferry tonight, but I don’t think I’ll make it now. I can’t see me getting my act together. I’ve started packing, but suddenly it all seemed too much hassle and I came out here. Maybe I will. I prefer the boat. Otherwise I’ll take a plane first thing in the morning. That would give me another evening. A chance to say goodbye properly to folks here.’
‘Is there something urgent to take you south?’
‘There’s always work of course, but I think it’s more that there’s nothing to keep me here.’
Taylor thought the boy sounded like an old man, disillusioned and world-weary. Roddy leaned against the wall and looked at the two