Page 49 of Deep Blue Sea

‘I know, I know.’ He shrugged. ‘You feel guilty, it shouldn’t have been me, you wish it hadn’t turned out the way it did.’ He shook his head. ‘I know, but it’s all water under the bridge now, okay? I don’t blame you.’

‘I just wish that more of the bastards had suffered . . .’

r /> She didn’t want to name-check any of the senior journalists and management – they both knew who they were. The ones who had demanded juicier scoops to boost the paper’s circulation, who were reckless about how stories were got hold of, but who had been quick to raise their hands in disbelief and say that they had had no idea that their staff had broken the law and phone-hacked to get their information. Who had been paid off with hefty retirement pots or shunted upstairs to escape the scandal when it had come home to roost.

‘But they didn’t, did they?’ said Ross. ‘And it wouldn’t have made me feel any better if you’d gone down too, hand on heart, Rach. So let’s move on, okay?’

He took a Kit Kat out of his pocket and threw it towards her.

‘Have your sugar fix, then you can start to tell me about Julian.’

‘How do you know this is about my brother-in-law?’ She hadn’t told him on the phone.

‘I do still read the papers, Rachel. Julian Denver commits suicide, two weeks later you appear on my doorstep; it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to put two and two together.’

‘Diana asked me to find out what happened.’

‘He killed himself, didn’t he? Your sister doesn’t suspect foul play, does she?’

Rachel shook her head. ‘No, but she wants to know why. According to Diana, he was happy, looking forward to the future. Things happen for a reason, especially things as awful as suicide, and she’s angry and sad and bewildered that she doesn’t know what that reason was.’

‘And she doesn’t trust the inquest to find out.’

She nodded, knowing that an investigator as experienced as Ross would be able to fill in the gaps. They had both attended inquests in the name of work, and knew that open verdicts were quite regularly recorded in cases like this, which was often both heartbreaking and frustrating for the families concerned.

Ross looked thoughtful. ‘What do the police think?’

Rachel hadn’t had time to see the investigating officer in person yet, although she had spoken to an Inspector Mark Graham on the phone. ‘Straightforward suicide, no reason to think otherwise,’ she confirmed. ‘The house had CCTV surveillance – no one came in or out, only Julian and Diana in the house.’

He looked at her, eyebrows raised.

‘No, Ross. They don’t think she killed him either.’

‘She’d have enough motive,’ said Ross cynically.

‘Ross, this is my sister.’

‘Okay, okay, just saying,’ he said, raising a palm. ‘You were the one who always insisted on looking at every angle on a story.’

‘This isn’t a “story”. Julian was my brother-in-law. It’s personal. I want to know why he did it too.’

‘Mind if I get something stronger?’ he said, pointing at his tea.

‘Not for me.’

She watched him get up and go to a small drinks cabinet. He pulled out a bottle of Scotch and poured himself a measure. He had always been a big drinker, but that was almost half an IKEA tumbler full of neat Famous Grouse.

‘How’s life treating you, Ross?’ she asked when he sat down.

‘A spell in jail doesn’t exactly help one’s employment prospects . . .’

‘Have you found anything?’

‘Couple of shifts behind the bar at the local pub, plus I was thinking of signing on for a course to retrain as a plumber, although you wouldn’t believe how expensive college fees are for mature students.’

‘Well, I might be able to help you out there.’

He looked at her with interest.