The Long Call (Two Rivers #1) - Ann Cleeves Page 0,101

at the time had been centred around St Cuthbert’s, the Woodyard and the Ilfracombe house. It seemed as if he only used the Braunton flat to meet Gaby.

‘And you have no idea what he meant by that?’

Gaby shook her head. ‘I confided a lot in him, but he still wasn’t ready to share personal stuff with me. Or perhaps he liked being mysterious.’

‘How did the relationship start?’ Matthew still couldn’t quite imagine these two individuals as lovers. But then, who would have ever imagined him and Jonathan together?

‘It was that night that I told you about, the Friday when he’d been cooking. When Caz went to bed I knocked at his bedroom door and went into his room. I’d been drinking. I wanted to run my fingers over his cheekbones, the muscles in his back.’ She looked up at him and grinned. ‘That was what I told myself. That it was all about understanding the bone structure, for my art, to inform the painting I was making.’

‘You became lovers.’

‘Not that night. That night we just lay on his bed and talked.’

‘But he didn’t share his secrets?’ Matthew could picture them on the narrow bed, whispering, until noises in the street told them it was nearly morning and that Gaby should leave for her own room.

‘No. Like I said, I did most of the talking. About the places I’d lived in London, about my mother and her bullying, bastard men, about never feeling I quite belonged. Simon listened. He was a brilliant listener.’

‘When did he take you to his flat in Braunton?’

‘Not until recently. About three weeks ago. Then we went a few times.’ Gaby smiled, challenging him to disapprove. ‘Making love in the afternoon when he didn’t have a session at the Woodyard and I wasn’t teaching.’

‘Did Simon explain why he had the place, why he’d felt the need to keep it secret from the rest of you, from the people, like Caroline at St Cuthbert’s, who’d helped him?’

‘No, though I did ask him why he’d come to live with us when he had his own place.’ Gaby seemed pleased to talk now. It must have been hard, Matthew thought, to grieve for Walden in private. In secret. Even if she’d been the one to stab him in a rage of jealousy or rejection. Because though Matthew liked the woman, he couldn’t rule her out as the killer.

She continued:

‘He said that isolation had been killing him. He brooded. Felt as if he was drowning in guilt. If he’d stayed on his own much longer, he’d have drunk himself to death. He needed the support of the St Cuthbert’s group therapy and he didn’t think Caroline would be so sympathetic if he had his own place and a bit of money behind him.’ She gave another crooked smile. ‘I told him I wouldn’t have been very sympathetic either.’

‘Did he ever talk about his finances? We’ve discovered that he had considerable savings, but he seems to have distrusted the building society where he kept his cash. Or it’s possible that he had plans for it.’

She shook her head. ‘We weren’t on those sorts of terms. We were never going to be sharing bank accounts or dragging each other round IKEA. It was fleeting, intense and we both knew it wouldn’t last. Neither of us would have suited domestic bliss. Soon, it would burn itself out.’

‘Do you know why he took the bus to Lovacott the last couple of weeks before he died? We think he was planning to meet someone there. Was that you?’

‘No! Are you saying he had another woman?’

‘There’s no evidence of that.Would you have been surprised?’

She gave a sad, little laugh. ‘I’d have been hurt, jealous, but no, not surprised. I don’t think anything he did would have surprised me.’

‘Can you talk me through the day of his death?’

She leaned back in her chair, so the light from the long window caught her face and he saw how tired she looked, how much older. ‘As you said, we met for coffee. I was free that morning and I knew he wasn’t planning to go in to the Woodyard, so I thought we’d go back to his flat and I’d get to spend some more time with him.’

Matthew interrupted. ‘Did you travel together to Braunton?’

She shook her head. ‘No, he got an early bus and I came in later. He said he had things to see to. Besides…’ Her voice tailed away.

He completed the sentence. ‘Besides, you had to keep