about David's death," he said. "But I suppose you'd worked that out for yourself?"
"It's the only murder I've been remotely connected to. Did you call He'd?"
Tony gave a small, dry cough. "Turns out they've lifted her too."
"I should have figured that out for myself. So, what's our strategy?"
"Is there anything that you've done in the recent past that could be misconstrued as connecting to David's death?" Tony asked.
Jackie shook her head. "Nothing. This is not some sleazy conspiracy, Tony. He'd and I had nothing to do with David's murder."
"Jackie, you don't speak for He'd here. You're my client and it's your actions I'm concerned with. If there's anything at all?a chance remark, a flippant e-mail, whatever?that might make you look bad, then we won't answer any questions. Just stonewall. But if you're certain there's nothing you have to worry about, we'll answer. What's it to be?"
Jackie fiddled with her eyebrow ring. "Look, there's something you should know. I wasn't with He'd the whole time. I nipped out for an hour or so. I had to go out and see somebody. I can't say who it was, but take it from me, he's not alibi material."
Tony looked worried. "That's not good," he said. "Maybe you should go 'no comment.' "
"I don't want to. You know how bad it'll make me look."
"It's your decision. But, in the circumstances, I think silence would be the better option."
Jackie thought long and hard. She didn't see how the police could know about her absence. "I'll talk to them," she said finally.
The interview room held no surprises for anyone versed in the grammar of TV cop drama. Jackie and Tony sat opposite Heggie and the female detective who had accompanied him to the flat. At this proximity, Heggie's aftershave smelled rancid. Two cassettes spooled in tandem in the machine at the end of the table. After the formalities were over, Heggie dived straight in. "How long have you known He'd Kerr?"
"About four years. I met her and her husband at a party given by a mutual friend."
"What is the nature of your relationship?"
"First and foremost, we are friends. We are also occasional lovers."
"How long have you been lovers?" Heggie's eyes looked hungry, as if the thought of Jackie and He'd together was potentially as satisfying as any criminal confession.
"For about two years."
"And how often did this take place?"
"We spent an evening together most weeks. We had sex on most of those occasions. Though not always. As I said, friendship is the most important component of our relationship." Jackie found it harder than she'd expected to stay cool and clinical under the assessing gaze of her interrogators. But she knew she had to stay calm; any outburst would be interpreted as evidence of something more than nerves.
"Did David Kerr know you were sleeping with his wife?"
"I don't believe so."
"It must have been galling for you that she stayed with him," Heggie offered.
A shrewd observation, she thought. And one that was uncomfortably close to the truth. Scratch the surface, and Jackie knew she wasn't sorry David Kerr was dead. She loved He'd and she was bitterly tired of the scraps her lover granted her. She'd wanted a lot more for a long time. "I knew from the word go she wasn't going to leave her husband. That was fine by me."
"I find that hard to believe," he said. "You were being rejected in favor of her husband and it didn't bother you?"
"It wasn't a rejection. The arrangement suited both of us." Jackie leaned forward, aiming for open body language to fake candor. "Just a bit of fun. I like my freedom. I don't want to be tied down."
"Really?" He looked at his notes. "So the neighbor that heard the pair of you screaming and fighting because she wouldn't leave her husband is lying?"
Jackie remembered the row. There had been few enough in their time together for it to be memorable. A couple of months before, she'd asked He'd to come to a friend's fortieth birthday party. He'd had looked at her in disbelief. It was outside the ground rules, not a subject they should even be discussing. All Jackie's frustrations had overflowed and a blazing argument had erupted. It had changed tack abruptly when He'd had threatened to walk out and never come back. That was a prospect Jackie couldn't endure, and she'd surrendered. But she wasn't about to share any of that with Heggie and his sidekick. "They must be," she said. "You can't hear a bloody