Authors: Roberta Kray
His recollection was clearer from the point he’d returned to the mausoleum and opened the door. He could still see the small, shadowy room with its six coffins, three on either side. He could still smell the strange musty odour. His first instinct had been to just dump the body, lock up and go, but then he’d had a change of heart. There was something wrong, disrespectful, about leaving a corpse lying around. It was only right to keep the place tidy.
He’d chosen the coffin on the right, on the middle shelf. The name Harold James Belvedere was engraved on a slim gold plaque. From the basic bag of tools that he always carried round his waist, he’d taken out a screwdriver and unscrewed the lid. There was plenty of room inside, plenty of space for company. Harold’s body had long since shed its flesh and there was nothing left but bones.
Eli lifted his eyes to focus on the cross again. It had been a struggle, he recalled, hauling Vickery’s body into the coffin. A dead weight – wasn’t that what they called it? But eventually it had been done and the lid replaced and the evidence hidden. And then all that had been left to do was to lock the door and walk away.
‘Walk away,’ he murmured into the silence of the chapel.
But he hadn’t been able to walk away from Lucy Rivers. Over and over he had been drawn back towards her grave, hoping for some word from her, for a sign that she’d forgiven him. Because he’d known that even as she’d plunged into the still waters of the pond, even as she’d felt the water pour into her lungs, that she had still loved the man she was dying for.
Lucy’s grave. He hadn’t been the only one to visit it. Less than a year after her death, there were two other people who met there regularly: Jay Cato and Lena Bell. Another doomed love affair. And Delia Shields had caught him watching, warned him off, told him to push off and mind his own business. And then all those years later, Cato had been tried and convicted of Brendan Vasser’s murder. In court, at the trial, Lena had claimed that Cato was a stranger, a stalker, a man she’d barely known. And Delia had backed her up, perjuring herself too. The two of them had lied through their teeth and a man had gone to prison.
Eli felt a weariness flow through him. His eyes, heavy as lead, struggled to stay open. He took one more look at the stained-glass windows and their soft, vibrant shots of light before giving up the fight. It was over. It was finished. There was nothing left to do. His eyes flickered shut and his breathing became shallow. His heart slowed and his head lolled to one side. His last thought as he slipped into a final sleep was of Lucy Rivers walking through the graveyard with the sun in her hair.
Maddie climbed into the Mercedes, closed the door and fastened her seatbelt. She felt tired and sad and overwhelmed. But she also felt relieved. She had done everything now that she could do. The rest was out of her hands. Maybe one day there would be some justice for Greta and Bo, but until then she would just have to get on with her life.
Solomon shot her a look as he switched on the engine and moved smoothly away from the kerb. ‘So how did it go?’
She hesitated. ‘It was… illuminating.’
He didn’t probe any further, for which she was grateful. She needed some time to come to terms with it all, to think it through. He put on some music, a soft rhythmic jazz. She listened to the notes, to the plaintive strains of the saxophone as she stared out of the window and watched the streets pass by. It was only when they’d left the prison far behind that she finally felt able to repeat the story that Cato had told her.
Solomon tapped his fingers on the wheel. ‘This love stuff,’ he said. ‘Strikes me that it’s been the cause of a problem or two.’
‘You could say that.’
‘Probably worth avoiding.’
‘Yes.’
‘Unless it’s the family kind.’ Solomon cleared his throat and glanced at her. ‘I was thinking, maybe, perhaps, we should do something together, you, me and Zac.’
She looked at him, surprised. ‘What, just the three of us?’
‘That a problem?’
‘No, no, of course not. Where were you thinking of?’
Solomon’s big shoulders lifted in a shrug. ‘Beach, theme park, cinema. I’m easy. Just anywhere there ain’t no dinosaurs.’
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Why not? It’s a date… Well, not a date exactly, but…’
Solomon grinned. ‘No need to spoil the moment, hon.’
She sat back, letting the music flow over her. So much had happened, so much grief and pain and sorrow. But she couldn’t carry it around for ever. It was time, she knew, to try and leave the past behind and move into the future.