of an investigation, from the sound of it. They seem to have wrapped it up in a matter of hours.’ There was a hint of a question in his voice.
‘Yes, well, it was so obvious that it was an accident.’
The lawyer said, ‘If this woman were to go to the authorities and give them new information, they might decide to take another look. Especially if there is a new coroner, or a new sheriff, as there might well be, after almost ten years. The fact that she was having an affair with you, and that she might have had your child – that would, of course, be … relevant.’
Patrick’s heart sank. ‘Can you find out if she ever had that child?’ he asked.
‘That’ll be the first thing I do,’ he said. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll find out what’s going on and get back to you.’
Now, looking at his wife, Patrick is reluctant to tell her what the lawyer said.
‘What did he say, exactly?’ Stephanie asks. ‘Tell me everything.’
‘Well, he had some … concerns.’ Patrick gets up off the sofa and starts pacing the living room. He can’t remain still with all this anxiety running through him. And he can’t stand looking at Stephanie, so rigid with tension.
‘What? Did he think they’ll believe her?’
Patrick says carefully, ‘He said that if she went to them with new information, they might take another look.’ He doesn’t want to tell her the next bit, but feels he must. ‘He was concerned because the original investigation was – as he put it – “thin”.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘There wasn’t much of an investigation at the time,’ Patrick admits. ‘They took her body away for an autopsy. The sheriff asked me to come down to answer a few questions. I went in his car. I was a mess. I don’t think I was making much sense.’
He rubs his face with both hands. ‘At the Sheriff’s Office, they asked me what happened. They were trying to comfort me, telling me that these kinds of accidents happen, that every year something like this happens somewhere.’
‘Are you saying there was no investigation at all?’ Stephanie asks.
He looks at her sharply, a bit taken aback at her tone. ‘They obviously believed it was an accident. They did the autopsy very quickly – that afternoon, I think – and it showed that she had died from carbon monoxide poisoning. So why would they do anything else?’
He doesn’t like the way she’s looking at him, as if he’s to blame for there not being a more thorough investigation. It seems to him that the fact that they’d ruled it an accident so quickly is in his favour.
‘They never talked to anyone else?’
He frowns, shaking his head. ‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘It isn’t good that they weren’t thorough,’ she says now, clearly uneasy.
‘Yeah, well, I disagree. Obviously they thought there was nothing to investigate.’
‘But if Erica—’
‘Fucking Erica!’ It comes out explosively. The babies startle in their swings. He tries to calm down. ‘She’s a greedy bitch. There was never any question until Erica came along. She should mind her own fucking business.’ He looks at Stephanie, at her pale, anxious face. He takes a deep breath and tries to keep his anger in check. ‘The lawyer’s going to find out if she had a baby. Apparently the sheriff can investigate, if he wants to. And the coroner can also decide to call an inquest, call witnesses – even after all this time.’ He clenches his jaw and looks at his wife nervously. ‘The lawyer warned me that if there’s a new sheriff, or a new coroner, that might be more likely. And it has been a long time.’
‘Oh my God,’ Stephanie whispers.
‘She might get them to take another look, Stephanie, and I think we need to be prepared for that. But what you have to believe is that there’s nothing to what she’s saying. I slept with her a couple of times. That’s it.’
She looks back at him, nodding automatically, as if not even aware she’s doing it. She seems almost to be in a trance.
‘There’s one other thing you should know,’ he says. ‘It’s not important but I’m sure it will come up.’
‘What?’ Stephanie asks.
He sees her clenching her hands on her knees as if she’s bracing herself for more bad news. ‘There was a life insurance policy on Lindsey. We were both insured, because we were going to have a baby. It was the responsible thing to do.’
‘Okay.’
‘Erica’s trying to make a big