The Long Call (Two Rivers #1) - Ann Cleeves Page 0,39
altruistic as it might have seemed. I started the drop-in centre at St Cuthbert’s soon after Becca died, but we needed something more professional and Caroline has made that happen. The project has developed beyond my wildest dreams. Then I was ready for something more demanding and I got behind the Woodyard. I got a buzz out of being part of a completely new organization, finding my way round charity laws and the way NGOs operate, helping to recruit a set of trustees. We’ve got a good team there now with a mix of skills: an accountant, a lawyer, a couple of senior social workers and a former building society chief. It fended off the guilt and the grief, at least for a while. And it made Caroline proud of me. That was important.’ He paused. ‘I know it’s an old-fashioned thing to say, but my reputation is important to me, and I see the whole of the Woodyard as my baby now. My legacy. I’ll always be associated with it.’
This, Matthew thought, was the politician talking again. ‘You say you liked Walden. Was there anything about him that made you anxious about the fact that he’d be sharing the house with your daughter and her friends?’
‘There was an intensity about him that I found a bit unnerving. As if he didn’t have a protective skin of any description. Perhaps he was too honest for his own good.’ A pause again. ‘Actually, after meeting him, I was more worried about how he’d fare in that house with two confident young women than whether he’d be any kind of danger to them. Gaby Henry has a sharp tongue and I’m not sure I’d be able to live with her. She’s entertaining for an evening but I know she’d exhaust me after a while.’
‘When did you last see Walden?’
‘About ten days ago. Caroline invited me to have dinner with them.’
‘Ah,’ Matthew said. ‘One of the famous Friday feasts?’
‘You know about them?’ Preece smiled. ‘Yes, Simon was a great cook. If I’d still been working in hospitality, I’d have employed him like a shot as a chef.’
‘So, it was a good evening?’
Preece took a while to answer. ‘It was a strange evening. Tense. Simon cooked the meal but then he was reluctant to eat with us. Caroline persuaded him. She has a knack of getting her own way. It was clear that he didn’t want to be there, though. Perhaps I was being paranoid but I felt that his resentment was directed at me. I can’t think of anything I’d done to upset him. As I told you, I’d never seen him at the Woodyard.’
‘Was Walden drinking that evening?’ Gaby had spoken of Walden getting maudlin drunk on occasions.
‘No, and perhaps that was all it was. He was trying to clean up his act and maybe he found it hard to be social without alcohol, especially when everyone else was drinking.’ Preece paused and gave a little wry smile. ‘Caroline’s friend, Edward Craven, was there too, and he makes rather awkward company. I know she’s very fond of him, but I find it hard to be entirely natural with a cleric in the room.’
Matthew could understand the awkwardness – he’d spent his life surrounded by people of religion – but he wasn’t going to confide in Christopher Preece. He stood up. ‘Thank you for your time.’
After leaving the house, he sat in the car for a moment, wondering if he’d gained a clearer sense of the man who’d died. But all that remained from the conversation was the notion of guilt hanging over Walden, clouding his judgement, taking over his life.
* * *
The sun was still shining. Matthew thought Lucy Braddick would be finishing at the Woodyard. Her father had decided to spend the afternoon in Barnstaple and would give her a lift home. There would be no need for her to take the bus that had carried Simon Walden to Lovacott every day in the week before he’d died.
Perhaps it was the sunshine or the uneasiness the interview with Preece had provoked, but Matthew couldn’t face the grey box of the police station yet, or Ross’s repressed energy. He’d have to be there for the evening briefing, but that would be soon enough. So instead, he drove into the town centre and left his car there, then he walked towards the bus station. If he was quick, he’d get to it just in time for the Lovacott bus.