A Woman Unknown Page 0,106

pointing the gun at you, Miss Windham. He’s aiming at Everett Runcie’s heart. You moved, and so did Everett. I expect there was too much of a commotion for him to try a second shot.’

Time stood still.

Cromer said, ‘This is ridiculous. You’ve cooked this up in your dark room.’ He turned to Caroline. ‘She’s a photographer.’ And then back to me. ‘Admit it. I don’t know what your game is.’

‘I have no game, unlike Leonard Diamond who I believe wanted rather a lot of money for this print and the other negatives.’

‘The man was unstable. He hanged himself didn’t he?’

In a small voice, Caroline said, ‘How do you know that?’

‘It was in the paper.’ There was a burst of confidence in his voice.

‘I didn’t see it.’

‘Not in The Times, in the local rag.’

‘You don’t take the local paper.’

‘For God’s sake, Caroline, it was in the paper. This picture proves nothing.’

I said, ‘Leonard Diamond did not commit suicide. You strangled him, and made it look like suicide, because he knew what you had done. You wanted Everett Runcie dead. You went to the hotel. You strangled him in his bed while he slept, knocked out by wine and brandy. It must have seemed so simple.’

Caroline stared at him. Her voice came out in a throaty whisper. ‘You bastard. All this time, you’ve had me being your bloody muse, shivering and naked. And I thought you were on my side. I told myself, Rupert is asking me to pose because he thinks it will help me survive. And it was you. You killed Everett.’

She was still holding the photograph.

He snatched it from her. ‘You’re wrong.’

‘You killed him, didn’t you?’

‘No!’ The big man took a step back. It’s not how it looks.’ He threw the photograph on the fire. He looked at her beseechingly, shaking his head. His arms fell limply by his sides. I noticed the size of his hands, large enough to put around a man’s neck, to choke, to press the life away.

‘I did it for you, Caroline. Runcie ruined you. He should have married you when you were young. Now no one will. You’ll never have a home, unless it’s with me.’

‘You? You? We were going to Italy.’

‘Where he already had a widow in his sights. A countess.’

‘Liar!’

‘He told me. He planned to marry her. An old bag with money. You would have been the mistress still.’

‘Well then, yes I would. Do you think he would ever have loved anyone but me?’

‘He was taking you where he thought I couldn’t follow. But I would have followed. Because it would have been the same as before, swearing his love for you, and marrying someone who would pay the bills, and he would have hurt you over and over again.’

They had forgotten I was there. It was not enough that he should confess to killing Everett Runcie. I wanted him to admit killing Diamond.

I stepped between them. ‘Leonard Diamond tried to blackmail you,’ I said.

‘Him!’ He gave a dismissive gesture as if to wave away a fly. ‘It was easier to put my hands around his neck than to put my hands on fifty pounds. I gave him the chance to return the negatives, but I took a rope with me, just in case.’

Cromer stepped around me, towards Caroline, saying her name, pleading.

That was when she picked up the poker. She struck at him, hitting him on the shoulder. He cried out in pain. She raised the poker again. He grabbed her arm and forced the poker from her hand. He encircled her in his arms, he said, ‘I love you, Caroline. I’ve always loved you. He knew that. He played with both of us.’

‘Don’t touch me!’

‘Just kiss me, Caroline, just kiss me.’

She struggled to free herself and brought up her knee, giving him a sharp knock where it hurt.

He released her, turned and ran from the room.

‘Caroline! Let him go. There’s nowhere he can hide.’

She ignored me, picking up the poker again, running after him.

I followed her, into the hall, through to the kitchen.

Cromer ran from the house, through the back door.

Caroline, barefoot, chased after him, screeching a war cry, brandishing the poker.

I watched as Cromer jumped on his motorbike and sped off into the night.

Caroline raced after the motorbike.

At the same moment, two police cars, and Sykes on his Clyno motorbike, came bumping along the path.

Cromer did not get far. Haring at a bend, his motorcycle overturned. He was flung through the air, a dark shape against a darkening