DEATH IN THE PHYSIC GARDEN
"No," he conceded reluctantly. "You are quite sure there was no-one else at or near the house that morning?"
"I told you." But she hadn’t seen Nick's car parked in the stable yard either. Could she really be so sure?
He stood behind the chair and still made no move to go. His glance flicked past her to the open doorway of her studio. "I'd be interested in seeing your design when it's finished."
"I didn't think you were interested in gardening, Inspector."
"Call it a growing fascination," he said, unsmiling. She wasn't sure if the pun was intended.
The phone in the hall began to shrill. Daniel, she thought in alarm. She had left the phone unplugged all afternoon while she worked, only reconnecting
it in case Nick tried to ring her when he got back to London. Drummond waited, watching her expectantly.
How could she answer Daniel's call with Drummond there? She glared at him. Why didn't he just go? And yet if she didn't respond and the answerphone switched on, he would hear every word Daniel said.
She fled into the hall, grabbed the receiver and slammed it back down. The ringing stopped. She bent and snatched the plug from the socket. She was aware of Drummond standing in the kitchen doorway watching her. She could not face him. She could not bear his dark interrogating stare.
"Is anything wrong?"
"Just go, please. There's nothing more I can tell you," she said, balling her hands into fists. She realised he thought it was Nick who was phoning. The weight of her guilt was tipping the scales.
He stood for a moment longer then she heard his footsteps and the soft click of the back door closing.
She gave a fierce sigh of anger and frustration. How much longer would Daniel go on hounding her? Why wouldn't he let her be? She could change her number, move on, run away again. But she was happy at the cottage. She had the life she wanted. Besides, where was there to run to, where he would not come after her?
And now, because of Daniel, Drummond believed she had something to hide and she knew this would not be his last visit. He would go on questioning, teasing out answers, until he knew the truth: that in rage and defiance she had almost killed the man she had once loved. How would he judge her then?
