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Chapter Twenty-Seven

I didn’t wait to hear any more. With Eva hot on my heels, I pushed my way out of the shop. Maddie called my name, but I didn’t bother looking back to see if she was following me. If Mrs D had been arrested, did that mean that Yanni had found more evidence? No way did Mrs D murder Warren Storcrest! It had to be a mistake.

When I reached the station, Dove was sitting behind her desk. ‘What the hell is going on?’ I demanded.

‘Bea,’ Dove began. ‘I was about to call you. Mrs D was—’

‘It’s okay, Dove, I’ll take this. Beatrix.’ Yanni’s voice was firm and controlled. I turned and saw she was standing in front of her office door, hands on her hips.

I realised I was trembling. The strength of my reaction surprised me, but then again I knew what it was like when everyone thought you were guilty of a crime you hadn’t committed. ‘You arrested her?’ I said brokenly. ‘She’s innocent, Yanni, and you paraded her in front of everybody!’

Her eyes were sympathetic: she knew me too well. ‘I did not arrest Mrs D,’ she responded calmly. ‘And I most certainly did not parade her anywhere. I brought her in for questioning, which I’m entitled to do – and which I need to do. This is a murder case and we have reason to suspect her.’

‘You can’t be serious! It’s Mrs D!’

Yanni studied me. ‘Tell me this, Bea. Before yesterday, would you have expected Mrs D could poison someone?’

I didn’t reply because I couldn’t, not without proving her point.

‘Exactly,’ she said, taking my silence as the answer she wanted. ‘Now, I understand she didn’t mean to poison someone but she did intend to rig a competition so that she won. You wouldn’t have thought she was capable of cheating, either, would you? Would you have thought Mrs D could cheat to win money?’

I remained silent and my shoulders slumped. There was no point replying. Yanni knew she had me.

Her voice softened still further. ‘I’m not doing this to be cruel, Bea. The last thing I want is to find that Mrs D is guilty. She taught Maddie too, remember? And Maddie’s mum and dad – she taught all my kids and all the kids around here. I get it . But right now, I need to question her because she had a motive and she has form, albeit accidental. Plus, she might know other people who had similar motives and were willing to take it a little further. You can’t let your personal feelings affect this investigation.’

I ground my back teeth. I loved Yanni, I understood it was her job, and from her perspective I was being unreasonable. But I couldn’t help it: my emotions were too high. ‘You put her in the back of the police car,’ I said accusingly.

‘Because she was more comfortable there. I offered her the front seat but she wanted to stretch out a bit because she has arthritis in her shoulders. It was her choice to go in the back, like it was her choice to come down to the station rather than have me question her at home. Fingers crossed she can give us an alibi for Warren’s time of death and we’ll move on with the investigation.’

‘And if she can’t?’

Yanni didn’t reply. I sucked in a sharp breath. I needed to clear Mrs D and that meant I had to think, dammit. ‘Do we have an official time of death?’

Yanni’s gaze didn’t waver. ‘Yes. The coroner placed it between thirty minutes to an hour before we got there.’

As I thought about those times, a thought struck me. ‘We went to Storcrest’s house after I’d seen Mrs D, so it can’t possibly be her. I’m her alibi.’ I shot Yanni a triumphant smile.

‘Beatrix,’ she said evenly, ‘you were with her for all of twenty minutes and after that you came back to the station. That doesn’t give her an alibi. If anything, knowing we were onto her could have been the reason she finished him off.’

‘That doesn’t make sense,’ I protested.

‘Doesn’t it?’ Yanni raised an eyebrow. ‘You also said she’d been for a walk when you arrived at the house. Am I remembering that correctly?’

She was right. ‘Yes.’

‘And would you agree it’s within walking distance from Amara’s place to Warren’s?’

‘Yes, but—’

‘It’s not about the "but", Beatrix. We don’t deal with “buts” in this job, we place the evidence where it stands – and right now it stands against her.’ She sighed wearily. ‘Look, I need to go question Mrs D.’

‘I want to be there,’ I said firmly.

‘Not a chance.’ She shook her head. ‘You can sit in the other room and watch through the one-way mirror,’ she conceded .

I wanted to object; after all, shouldn’t Mrs D have a lawyer present? But I suspected she’d already refused that right and there was no point in making more fuss. Pushing Yanni any further could result in her kicking me off the case and I couldn’t let that happen. Especially as I wasn’t officially on it.

‘Okay,’ I said begrudgingly. ‘Thanks. I’ll sit in the other room and watch.’

‘Good. And bring the phone with you in case it rings. That’s your actual job , remember?’

I grabbed the phone off the desk and turned towards the hall, then I paused. ‘You know, in all the years I spent imagining myself in an interrogation room, I always pictured myself on the other side of the glass.’

Yanni snorted. ‘Yeah? In handcuffs or as the detective?’

‘You’ll never know,’ I said airily, and walked towards the viewing room.

It was time to find out what Mrs D had to say for herself and, more importantly, whether I had accidentally vouched for a murderer.