‘How was he looking at him?’

‘He had this look on his face, but only for a moment. It was there, and then it was gone. But it gave me the creeps. I didn’t trust him after that. I whispered to my husband that I thought Ian was the killer. Right after I’d seen that look on his face.’ She sits back again in her chair. ‘Henry hadn’t seen it. Then, when Lauren told the truth – that she’d been shielding him, that he hadn’t been with her all afternoon …’

‘Go on,’ she says, when Beverly stops.

‘When Lauren said she’d been covering up for him, it all began to make sense. He denied it, of course. He was desperate that we believe him. The situation was – indescribable.’

‘And what did you think?’

‘I know what I saw. I think Ian is the killer, although he was doing a convincing job of denying it. But he’s probably a good actor.’ She leans forward intently and says, ‘All those years he lied to his parents about his little brother. Who could do that? He must be a psychopath.’ She stops, takes a deep breath. ‘I’ve never met a psychopath before. I was terrified of him then. We all were.’

Sorensen interviews Gwen next. She is obviously deeply traumatized by what’s happened, and very distraught over the death of her friend.

When Gwen has given her account of what happened, she asks, ‘So Riley wasn’t murdered? She died of exposure?’

Sorensen says, ‘We won’t know for sure till the team gets here, but that’s what it looks like.’

‘So she didn’t have to die at all,’ Gwen whispers.

Sorensen comforts her as best she can.

When she finally sends Gwen back out to the lobby, Sorensen feels slightly overwhelmed for a moment by the situation she finds herself in, but she thrusts the feeling aside and refocuses on the job in front of her.

When Sorensen calls in Matthew Hutchinson for questioning, she watches him get up stiffly from his chair and make his way to the dining room.

Normally they would separate witnesses into different rooms, but it’s easier to have them stick around the fire. She relies on the vigilance of her officers, Perez and Wilcox, to make sure they don’t talk among themselves.

After advising him of his rights, Sorensen takes her time going through what happened over the weekend with Matthew. She can tell how upset he is. His fiancée is dead. But he answers all of her questions willingly. He has nothing to say that contradicts what the others have told her.

She asks, ‘You had no reason to kill your fiancée?’

‘What?’ He looks wary now. Afraid.

‘Beverly says she heard you arguing earlier that night. Tell me about that.’

He drops his head, but he doesn’t deny it. She thought he might. It’s only Beverly’s word against his.

‘Yes, we did argue that night, but it was nothing serious. Just a bit of tension, wedding jitters, you know? She was finding it stressful.’

‘She was finding what stressful, exactly?’

‘The wedding preparations. Dealing with my family. They can be a bit … difficult. Intimidating.’

‘Your family wasn’t happy about the wedding?’

‘I wouldn’t say that, exactly.’ He looks away. ‘My mother wasn’t one hundred per cent on board, but I loved Dana. And she knew I was going to marry her.’

‘Okay.’

‘I didn’t kill her, or anybody else,’ he says truculently.

‘But you could have.’

‘What?’

‘You could have committed all of the murders. There is no one who can swear to being with you when any of the victims were killed.’

‘Why the hell would I do that?’

‘I don’t know. You tell me.’

He stares at her in dismay.

‘Why would your fiancée have left your room in the middle of the night?’

‘I – I don’t know.’

‘You admit you had an argument. You didn’t go after her, and perhaps – in a moment of anger – push her down the stairs? And then – in for a penny in for a pound – when you saw that she wasn’t dead, you didn’t grit your teeth and smash her head against the bottom step?’ She knows she’s being rather harsh. She wants to see how he’ll react.

‘God – no!’ He looks appalled. ‘I didn’t kill her!’

‘And then, perhaps someone here knew. Maybe someone found out. Maybe Candice knew what you’d done, or suspected it, at least. Or maybe Bradley saw something. Did one of them try to blackmail you? Were they both trying to blackmail you?’

‘No! That’s outrageous!’ he manages to splutter.

‘Is it?’

‘Of course it is! I didn’t kill my fiancée! I loved her.’

She gives him a long, thoughtful look.

He looks back at her, uneasy.

‘Candice was writing a book. Was that book about you? Or about Dana, perhaps? Something that would be damaging?’

‘No. I’d never heard of her. We didn’t know anything about a book. And Dana and I have nothing to hide. Why would anyone write a book about us?’

She waits, lets him squirm. ‘Okay. That’s all for now.’ She gets up and opens the glass dining-room doors. ‘You may go back to the lobby.’

Chapter Thirty-three

Sunday, 12:45 PM

SERGEANT SORENSEN RETURNS Matthew to the lobby and asks for Lauren.

She watches Lauren rise and walk past her into the dining room. Lauren takes her seat at the table. Sorensen sits down across from her, cautions her, and they begin.

Sorensen gives her a small smile. ‘You okay?’ she asks.

Lauren nods. ‘I guess so, considering.’ She accepts a glass of water from Officer Lachlan and takes a sip. She adds, ‘It will probably all hit me later.’

Sorensen nods. ‘Shock.’

Lauren nods back. She seems tense. They have all been tense.

‘You discovered Dana?’

‘Yes. I went down early to see if I could find some coffee. I didn’t even know if anyone would be up yet.’

She says, ‘Go on.’

‘When I got to the landing, I saw Dana lying at the bottom.’ She glances at Lachlan, as if embarrassed. ‘I’m afraid I screamed. I could tell she was dead. She was so still. I ran down to her and – then the others came.’

‘Did you touch her at all?’

‘Yes, I did. I felt for a pulse.’ She hesitates before going on. ‘Then the others arrived. We were all very upset. You don’t expect something like that to happen. We thought she’d fallen down the stairs. And then David – later, David said he thought it wasn’t an accident.’

‘When did he say that?’

‘It was after lunch. He said that she had to stay where she was until the police came. That it might be a crime scene.’ Lauren looks up at her. ‘I don’t think anyone believed him at first – we thought it was an accident, that he was overreacting. Until Candice was killed.’

Sorensen has her go through the rest of the day, the discovery of Candice’s body, what happened that night. When Lauren is finished, Sorensen says, ‘Some of the others think that it might have been your boyfriend, Ian, who was committing the murders.’

‘I don’t know,’ Lauren says tightly, looking down at the table.

‘Do you think it’s possible?’

She hesitates before she answers. ‘It’s possible.’ Lauren looks up at her, clearly uncomfortable. ‘I spent some time in the afternoon in the sitting room on the second floor, reading. I wasn’t with him. I suppose – I suppose he could have done it.’ She looks back down at the table.

‘What about you, yourself?’ Sorensen asks.

‘Pardon?’

‘You could have killed Candice yourself. You don’t have an alibi either. You were alone in the sitting room. For that matter, you could have killed Dana, and later, you could have killed Bradley.’

‘Oh. Well. I can assure you that I didn’t. What possible reason could I have had?’