Evanly Bodies - By Rhys Bowen Page 0,80

home. It was quite embarrassing to have the neighbors watch me being taken away in a police car. I do hope it's not for another overnight. I've left Lucky in the garden."

"It shouldn't take long, Mrs. Rogers," Bragg said. "Only some interesting facts have come to light, and Constable Evans here asked that you be brought in again as he has something he wants to show you."

"To show me? You've found the murder weapon?" she asked.

"Just a couple of things that I've unearthed, and we'd like you to identify," Evan said.

" 'Unearthed'?" She frowned as she looked up at him. "That sounds like something from one of Martin's archeological digs. Unearthed what?"

"I'll go and get them," Evan said. He left the room and went to find Jeremy Wingate, who had just arrived in the building. He explained what he wanted to happen and then went to check on DC Pritchard who was waiting in a nearby office.

"Okay." Evan nodded to Pritchard. "Let's head down to the interview room now, please. DI Bragg is waiting for us." He walked ahead along the hall, then paused outside the interview room until he heard feet approaching from the other direction. Then he nodded to Pritchard to open the door. Pritchard did so and motioned for Megan Owens to step inside first. At the same time the other door to the room opened and Pamela Alessi entered.

Evan slipped into the interview room behind them and closed the door. He saw the briefest flicker of recognition cross Missy Rogers's face, but Megan Owens let out a great gasp when she saw the other two. "Oh no," she whimpered.

"Who are these people?" Missy Rogers was still very much in control of herself.

"They know," Megan Owens gasped. "They've found out."

"Found out what? What is she talking about?" Missy Rogers said in the authoritative voice the upper classes switch on to intimidate lower-class people when necessary.

Evan stepped forward. "She's right, Mrs. Rogers. We've found out. I went to The Laurels, you see."

Missy Rogers had now turned pale too. "And they told you? They swore that they would never betray us . . ."

"Nobody told me anything. I saw your names together on the roster sheet for last month. Missy isn't a usual name around here, is it?"

"Oh well." Pamela Alessi sank onto on the nearest chair. "It was worth a try, wasn't it? I never really thought we'd get away with it."

"Of course we would have got away with it," Missy Rogers said. "We would have done now if you two had kept your heads."

"Would someone mind explaining to me what The Laurels is?" DI Bragg demanded.

"Mrs. Rogers?" Evan looked at her. "Would you like to tell the inspector?"

Her gaze did not flicker. "It's a safe house for abused and battered women. We met there a month ago." She looked from one policeman's face to the next. "I can see you're surprised. Surely not respected, cultured Martin Rogers? He was never a wife batterer? Well, he wasn't, not like Pamela's husband, or Megan's. I didn't come there with a black eye, like Pamela or having had a miscarriage because my husband had kicked me in the stomach after he knocked me to the floor like Megan. But there are other effective ways of abusing somebody, and Martin was a master at all of them. First the belittling, the humiliating, making me think that I wasn't good enough for anything, that I couldn't function without him, then the power over me-handing out the housekeeping money, making me account for every penny, flying into a rage when the least little thing was wrong, cross-questioning me whenever I dared to go out, cutting me off from everybody I loved and trusted until I had nobody."

"You could have left him," Bragg said sharply. "You didn't have to put up with that."

"I could have left him?" She looked at him and gave a brittle laugh. "I told you he had driven a wedge in between me and any friends I might have had. He had alienated me from my one sister, and if I dared to disobey him, he was frightening. He told me that if I ever had the nerve to leave him, he'd findme, wherever I was; and not only would he kill me, he'd punish those who had helped me too." She looked at Pamela. "Pamela's husband told her the same sort of thing."

Pamela nodded. "Nowhere to run; nowhere to hide," she said.

"So what gave you the courage to try