Page 49 of Murder in the Family

(sighs)

Human nature. Don’t you just love it.

MITCHELL CLARKE

So what exactly did people think had happened? That Caroline had spiked her cappuccino to get her out of the way?

ALAN CANNING

Pretty much.

LAILA FURNESS

But that’s ludicrous—

ALAN CANNING

(shrugs)

I know, but that’s what people thought.

LAILA FURNESS

I assume those allegations were investigated at the time?

ALAN CANNING

Yes, there was a full police inquiry. Amanda’s family saw to that.

LAILA FURNESS

And?

ALAN CANNING

It was – almost inevitably – inconclusive. Andrew had left early for the office that day, Rupert was barely 6, and the only other person in the house was Caroline. She claimed she didn’t know where Amanda was going, she hadn’t seen her drinking that morning, and certainly hadn’t given her anything. But how do you prove a negative?

LAILA FURNESS

Speaking of Rupert, much of what I said earlier about Luke would also apply to him: losing his mother so suddenly, and then seeing her replaced almost immediately by someone he clearly didn’t like would have been profoundly unsettling for a child of 6. And while research suggests that very young children do often accept a new step-parent,this certainly doesn’t seem to have been the case here.

BILL SERAFINI

If Andrew and Carolinewerehaving an affair, maybe the kid picked up on it – wouldn’t be the first time.

CUT TO: Felicity Grainger, sub-captioned ‘Sister of Amanda Howard’. She’s in a big kitchen with bifold doors onto a large garden; the kitchen has black units, a white tiled floor, and a large spiky modern chandelier.

FELICITY GRAINGER

It was patently obvious to me that Caroline set her sights on Andrew right from the start. You could tell the way she looked at him, the way she batted those eyelashes of hers.

I told Amanda – ‘that one’s trouble, get rid of her’, but she just laughed it off. And I justknowmy sister wouldn’t have driven that car if she’d been drinking, especially on icy roads. The whole thing stank to high heaven.

It was Rupert I felt most sorry for, of course – poor little mite, losing his mum at that age. And Caroline completely lost interest in him after she’d got a ring on her finger. Kept complaining that he was being ‘difficult’ and ‘morose’. It was just as well he still had us he could turn to.

CUT TO: Studio.

HUGO FRASER