‘Could that be why he was killed?’
‘Who knows?’ said Bill. ‘I certainly don’t. Doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s Alice I’m worried about.’
Megan cleared soup bowls from the kitchen table. Bill and Toby sat opposite each other, a quarter-full bottle of red wine between them. Toby didn’t know what to believe. If Alice thought that her parents were at risk of being exposed as spies, she would take action to protect them. But she wouldn’t go as far as killing anyone, surely?
And how come he had had no inkling of all of this?
That was easier to believe. This was exactly the kind of secret that Alice would want to keep from him.
He was damn sure Alice wouldn’t kill anyone to protect him. It occurred to Toby that Alice loved her father more than him. It had always been obvious, but he had never admitted it to himself. And it made him feel kind of jealous. Which was really stupid.
He didn’t know what to do. Should he just trust Bill and do as he asked? How would he feel if the police used information he had given them via Prestwitch to build a stronger case against Alice?
The front door opened and Brooke appeared. Her cheeks were pale and lined, and her hair hung lank about her face. She caught the atmosphere around the kitchen table immediately.
‘Hello,’ she said, tentatively.
‘Hi, Brooke,’ said Megan.
‘Have you heard the news?’ said Bill.
‘Have they caught the murderer?’
‘Uncle Lars has been shot,’ said Megan. ‘Killed.’
‘Oh, God,’ said Brooke. Her hand flew to her mouth and she dropped into one of the chairs around the table. ‘What happened?’
‘It was just this afternoon,’ said Toby. ‘I was walking with him out there on the beach and he was shot. Like by a sniper. He almost got me too.’
‘Oh my God,’ said Brooke. ‘Do they know who it was?’
‘No,’ said Bill. ‘Or not yet. The police are looking for him.’
‘Did you see him?’ Brooke asked Toby.
‘Not really. I saw a figure from a distance, but I couldn’t catch his face.’
‘Well, I’m glad you’re all right.’
‘Do you want some wine?’ Megan asked.
‘I’d better not,’ said Brooke. ‘I’m driving. We’re staying at a hotel in Hunstanton. Justin is back there now.’
‘Thanks for coming,’ Bill said to his daughter, summoning up a weak smile.
‘Oh, I’m so sorry, Dad!’ said Brooke. ‘About earlier. But you know how important Craig is to Justin. He’s become this mythical figure: his father, the hero who saved the world. With you. So when he heard Lars had killed Craig, he found it hard to take.’
‘So I noticed.’
‘He’s been obsessing over it ever since,’ said Brooke. ‘He’s gotten it into his head that Lars killed Craig on the submarine and then he killed the historian to stop him from telling anyone. He went right over to the police station today to say that, in fact, he is not sure what time he saw Lars in the Cottage on Thursday night. We both told the police we stayed up in the Cottage living room with jet lag that evening, and heard Lars going to the bathroom just before midnight. In other words, Justin is now saying that Lars might have had time to kill Sam Bowen.’
‘What did the police say?’ said Bill.
‘I don’t know,’ said Brooke. ‘Justin says they listened but he got the impression they weren’t going to do anything. And, frankly, whatever Justin says, I know he and I were in that living room reading until at least one a.m., and we would have noticed if Lars left the Cottage. Have they released Alice yet?’
‘Not yet,’ said Bill. ‘And we don’t know whether they will.’
Brooke’s gloomy face brightened a little. ‘But Alice can’t have killed Lars. So doesn’t that mean she didn’t kill Sam Bowen?’
Bill winced and scratched his head. ‘I don’t know what it means.’
‘Were you with Justin this afternoon?’ Megan asked.
‘No. Right after we checked in to the hotel this morning, he went to the police in King’s Lynn. He tried to make me change my story as well to implicate Lars, but I wouldn’t do it. He had the rental car, so I’ve been cooped up in a tiny hotel room all day.’
‘Did Justin go straight back to you from King’s Lynn police station?’ Megan asked.
‘Oh my God! You think Justin killed Lars!’
‘He knows how to use a gun, doesn’t he?’
‘He goes deer hunting sometimes with his cousin. That doesn’t mean he shot Lars.’
‘No, I know,’ said Megan. ‘I’m just saying.’
‘Saying what?’
Megan shrugged.
Bill cleared his throat. ‘Brooke. You should tell your husband that Lars lied when he said it was him who killed Craig Naylor. It wasn’t him, it was me. Lars was just covering for me.’
‘Dad! Why didn’t you say anything?’
‘I don’t know. I should have.’
‘Can I tell Justin why you killed Craig?’
Bill shook his head. ‘I’m sorry. You can’t.’
‘Oh, because it’s Classified. I’m getting bored with that excuse.’
‘You’re not the only one,’ said Megan.
Tears flowed from Brooke’s eyes. ‘You know what this means? Justin will never forgive you.’
The rest she left unsaid. That it would become very difficult for Brooke to see her father in future, or any of the rest of the family.
‘I hope one day he will,’ Bill said.
‘This must have something to do with that order to launch missiles,’ said Brooke. ‘It must.’
‘That is why I can’t tell you about it. Or Justin.’
‘But what if…’
We let the unasked question hang there for a moment. Then Megan completed it. ‘What if Justin shot Lars because he thought Lars had killed his father and in fact it wasn’t Lars, it was Dad?’
‘Oh, Megan! That’s not what I was going to say at all.’
‘Megan!’ Bill barked. ‘Have some compassion, will you?’
He stood up and moved around the kitchen table towards Brooke.
She pushed back her chair and leaped to her feet. ‘No, Dad. You killed my husband’s father and won’t tell me why. And you, Megan, accuse him of being a murderer.’ She bit back a sob. ‘Justin is a good man and I love him.’
Bill hesitated.
‘Goodbye.’ Brooke turned away from them and hurried out of the kitchen. A moment later they heard her car set off down the lane.
THIRTY-EIGHT
‘Why did I do that?’
Megan was staring morosely at her recently refilled glass of wine. Bill had disappeared upstairs to his study and his needlepoint.
‘I mean – we told Brooke Lars had been killed and then I virtually accused her husband of killing him, all in one fell swoop.’
‘It did seem a little abrupt,’ said Toby.
‘And then Dad goes and tells her he killed her husband’s father. Like that’s going to help anyone. He’s kept all these damn secrets for so long, you’d think he could keep another one.’
‘You’d think so,’ said Toby. But, in reality, he thought it would be a very good thing if the Guth family kept a lot fewer secrets from each other.
‘Poor Brooke! I wish Alice was here. She’d know what to do. She wouldn’t start accusing various people in the family of killing other people. She’d get us to stick together. She’d get Dad to tell everyone what really happened on the submarine. And she would figure out who really killed Sam Bowen and Lars.’
‘I think you are giving her too much credit,’ said Toby. ‘It seems to me she is as guilty as Bill about keeping secrets.’
‘Maybe she has some plan? Now. Maybe Alice knows what’s going on?’
‘I think that’s what Bill is afraid of,’ said Toby. ‘That Alice knows what’s going on.’