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“The MP?” Fa
“The warehouse where the body was found belongs to Yarwood. It was under renovation as luxury flats. If Elaine knew Yarwood, it’s possible she might have met him there.”
Fa
“We don’t either,” Gemma said gently, and from her tone Kincaid suspected she thought he was handling Fa
“How can you get Elaine’s DNA?” Fa
“People leave traces of themselves behind all the time – in the bathroom, in the bedroom. If you’ll let me have a look, I’ll see what I can find,” Kincaid said.
“It can’t be Elaine,” Fa
“Good.” Kincaid gave her a reassuring smile. “Believe me, the sooner we get this done, the better for everyone. Now, I understand you don’t use the upstairs bathroom. Is that right?” When Fa
Wi
“Your hair should be fairly easy to rule out if you shed one or two in the basin.” He shot her an affectionate glance. “But I’ll try the tub first, as that way we can eliminate Wi
Gemma gave Wi
Kincaid turned back to Fa
“No. I can’t remember when anyone else has been up there, until Wi
“Right, then. I’ll get started.”
As Kincaid climbed the stairs, he felt a profound sense of relief. It wasn’t just the suffocating atmosphere in the room, he realized – Fa
Feeling a flush of shame at his reaction to someone handicapped, he stopped at the head of the stairs. For a moment, he imagined Gemma struck down with some unexpected and devastating disease, confined to a wheelchair. Would he respond the same way? The thought horrified him.
But Gemma would rail against fate – she would be cranky and cross and difficult, and she would find a way to get on with her life. It was not Fa
Gemma had to force herself not to follow Kincaid as he left the room. Her natural instinct was always for action. She wanted to be doing something, not sitting in the too-quiet room, watching as Fa
The creaking of Kincaid’s footsteps as he moved about above them was clearly audible. Gemma found herself straining for the next sound, willing him to hurry. Beside her, Wi
Then Wi
Wi
“Maybe she didn’t know Michael Yarwood, but could she have been meeting someone else?” suggested Gemma, quick to take advantage of the opening.
“Who? Elaine went to work and came home. She didn’t socialize.”
“Someone from work, then?”
“She didn’t really like anyone in her department. She never went along when the other women met at the pub, or got together for birthday lunches. They invited her, but she said they were cats, all of them, and she’d rather spend her time with…” Fa
Gemma wasn’t about to tell her that, according to the pathologist, the woman in the warehouse had been brutally murdered and left to burn by her companion. Maybe by the time that information was made public and Fa
“Elaine?” Fa
Gemma was unconvinced. She could have sworn that some of the things she’d seen were a good deal less than two years old. “The really odd thing,” she continued, “was that these clothes were hidden away. Did you know there was a storage cupboard in the back of the wardrobe in that room?”
Fa
“Why would Elaine tell you she didn’t have a mobile phone?” countered Gemma. “I found the box on the shelf in her wardrobe.”
“Elaine has a phone?” Fa
“It certainly looks that way.” Gemma thought for a moment. “Fa
“Yes. But that wasn’t unusual. Elaine often worked late. She said she could get more done when everyone else had gone home.”
It was the classic excuse, thought Gemma, used by many an errant husband or wife, but it had obviously never occurred to Elaine’s housemate to doubt her. “Did you never ring her at work after hours?” she asked, wondering how Fa
“No. I wouldn’t have wanted to interrupt her. She-” Fa
“I’ll be off, then,” he said from the doorway. “The sooner I get these samples off to the lab, the better. Miss Liu – Fa