Serafina and the Virtual Man - By Marie Treanor Page 0,46
up in the Ewans’ garden last night.”
“Whoa.” Roxy flopped back on the sofa. “You’re making this up.”
“I wish. Did you ever meet James Killearn?”
“Not to my knowledge. What did he look like?”
“I have no idea. He’d been in the soil for five months when we met.”
“Fuck,” said Roxy, “you’re really not making this up, are you?”
“No. Are there any circumstances you can think of that might have caused Adam to kill someone?”
Roxy actually thought about it, tried to drink from her empty glass, and thought some more. “Maybe if this guy was trying to kill him or whoever he was with. He’d definitely have weighed in to stop it. But I can’t imagine him deliberately killing anyone.”
But then Roxy couldn’t imagine him taking drugs or getting drunk on a regular basis either.
“When did you last hear from him?” Jilly asked.
“July, I think. Maybe early August. Why?”
“How did he seem?”
“Busy. Excited.”
“Different?”
She frowned. “Not really, no. Just…Adam.”
They’d been lovers for years off and on, according to Dale. Wouldn’t Roxy have noticed his rapid descent into addiction? Even by e-mail? Or had he deliberately hidden that from her, in shame?
Jilly lifted her glass again. “Did you know there were already rumours circulating that he was spiralling downhill into drink and drugs? That he checked into a rehab clinic?”
Roxy shook her head. “No,” she said, low. “I was in America. Someone from home said something once. I assumed either she was being catty or it was the British gutter press at it again. Never thought about it at all until I heard he was dead.”
“Were you surprised when he moved to Australia?”
“I was surprised to hear about it. I didn’t know he’d done it… You get so wrapped up, you know?” She raised her eyes to Jilly. “I didn’t even know he’d sold out to Dale. That’s the one that really knocked me flat. Why the hell did he do that? Dale couldn’t develop his new project, not without Adam.”
“I think Adam had all but finished developing it. Dale only has to sell it.”
“Easy-peasy,” Roxy murmured. “And if it’s everything Adam said it was, Dale can retire forever.”
Jilly nodded slowly. “Is that what Dale wants?”
Roxy shrugged. “They’re both pretty high maintenance. Petra likes yachts off the Riviera and homes all over Europe and America. Dale likes to be lavish on his entertainment. Or did before I went away. I guess Adam’s death hit him hard. Anyway, the bottom line is, Genesis does very well and made them both rich, but Dale and Petra live well beyond their means. Even that house”—Roxy waved one arm in a generally southern direction—”cost an arm and a leg.”
“You must know the Ewans pretty well too.”
Roxy eyed her with suspicion. “Ask.”
Jilly’s lip twitched. “Could you imagine Dale killing anyone? Killearn for example?”
Roxy opened her mouth, then paused and smiled. “No,” she said. “I couldn’t.” She stood up. “Another drink?”
“No, thanks. I have to go.” Jilly grabbed up her phone and her coat. “Thanks for being so helpful.”
“Not sure how any of that helps with your poltergeist.”
“Neither am I,” Jilly said ruefully. “But I’ll let you know, if you like.”
“Yeah. Do that.”
Jilly paused at the door, twisting the handle. “Roxy?”
The singer looked over from the drinks cabinet.
“Don’t sit drinking in your hotel room at eleven o’clock in the morning,” Jilly said in a rush. “You’re not that sad.”
“Fucking am,” Roxy whispered. She tried to smile.
“Fucking aren’t,” Jilly said. “So don’t dull the brilliance. He loved your music. It’s all over his house. Make some more.”
****
By the time Jilly sat on the bus heading back to Serafina’s, the question was nagging at her. Why was Roxy’s music all over his house? Why had he not taken her CDs and his other music with him to Australia? Why had he left her portrait when it had meant enough to keep it on his wall after they’d split up? A complete break? Or hadn’t he cared for anything anymore?
Or had Jilly been right last night when she’d imagined that Sera had found Adam’s grave, when the possibility had struck her that he’d never gone to Australia at all?
****
“Sera back yet?” Jilly asked, hanging the borrowed coat on the stand.
Jack, who’d reclaimed his computer but was busily writing by hand, merely shook his head.
“She shouldn’t be long,” Elspeth contributed.
Elspeth had been in the office when she’d run out. Jilly could pretend that had never happened. Or she could be up-front. She looked Elspeth in the eye. “Did she get rid of my dad?”