Web of Lies by Sally Rigby (best book club books of all time .txt) 📕

walk home?’ She stared at the two men. ‘They’re together now and split later. I’m guessing so they don’t appear so noticeable to the public.’

‘Is the entrance to the bar visible from there?’ Seb asked.

‘Yes, it is. The road isn’t straight, and they can see diagonally across.’

‘So they must have known I was in there and could see when I left. Maybe they’d been following me for longer, but if that’s the case why didn’t I notice?’

‘You weren’t looking for them. I wonder if they were watching your movements from the Airbnb. They could’ve parked up and then followed you when you were on your way to meet me.’

‘How did they find me in the first place? And for how long have they been following me?’

‘Can’t you use your superpower and call up everywhere you’ve been and take a look around?’

‘It doesn’t work like that, Birdie. I can’t recall anything that didn’t actually go in through my eyes. If I could, that really would be a superpower as you called it.’

‘Damn. Well, if it is connected to Donald, then the attack was orchestrated by someone you interviewed. Clearly they didn’t do it themselves or you would have recognised them. Unless, as I said before, this is nothing to do with the case and from something you’ve been involved in when you were working for the Met.’

‘If someone wanted to either teach me a lesson or warn me about something from the past, they could’ve done it in London. Why wait for me to be in Market Harborough, especially as they’d have no idea how long I would be here? Originally I only intended being here for a couple of days, and that’s all people in London would have known. In fact, the only person who knows I’ve stayed here for longer is Jill, my neighbour.’

‘What about Rob?’

His brow furrowed. ‘He knows I’m here. But … no that’s ridiculous. No way would he set me up for a beating. He’s my friend, and we didn’t even work together on cases at the Met. It’s not from the past, I’m sure of it. We have to focus on who knows about our enquiry now.’

Birdie wracked her brain for something else for them to consider. They had to be totally sure it was linked to the suicide, or otherwise the attack would go down as a mugging.

‘Could Sarah have confided in someone what we’re doing? She might have asked a friend for advice before asking you to look into Donald’s death, and that person was implicated in some way. Oh … I’ve had an idea … What about this … Donald was having an affair with one of Sarah’s friends and when you started investigating his death, which really was suicide, this woman was worried that the affair would come out and wreck her marriage and friendship with Sarah. So she arranged for some thugs to beat you up as a warning to keep your nose out.’

‘That’s one scenario, I suppose, but nothing I’ve found has pointed to Donald having an affair. That doesn’t mean Sarah didn’t confide in anyone, though. We didn’t discuss the need to be confidential about my work. I think we should focus on those who have been interviewed.’

‘Okay,’ she said, sighing. ‘We know that these guys were together and then split up to follow you so they weren’t so conspicuous. They met up again when you went into Church Street.’

‘Can we see them any better on the other camera?’

‘No, because they made sure to keep their heads turned away and they had hoods up.’

‘What are you doing?’ Birdie tensed. Crap. He was here after all.

‘This is Sebastian Clifford, Sarge, he’s the one who got attacked.’

‘Yeah, I can see that for myself.’ He turned to Seb. ‘Sergeant Jack Weston. That was some beating you took, shouldn’t you be home resting?’

‘It’s going to hurt wherever I am, so I might as well be here doing something useful.’

‘I understand you used to be a DI at the Met.’

‘Yes, that’s correct.’

‘That doesn’t give you officer privileges here, it—’

‘Sarge,’ Birdie interrupted, worried about the direction the conversation could take. ‘I’ve brought Seb in to look at the CCTV footage to see if he recognises the men who attacked him, so we can link it back to Witherspoon’s death.’

‘It was a suicide. We called it and the coroner agreed,’ her boss said, his arms folded tightly across his chest.

‘But what if we were wrong?’ Birdie persisted.

‘Have you found anything to indicate that it is?’

‘This attack for starters, once we can establish a link.’

‘Leave it. The wallet was stolen, and this has the hallmark of a vicious mugging.’

‘But, Sarge—’

‘But Sarge nothing,’ he said, walking off and heading back to his office. Typical that he showed up when she didn’t want him to.

‘See what I have to put up with?’ she said, nodding in her superior officer’s direction, once he was out of the way and couldn’t hear her.

‘I also see that he has to put up with you,’ Seb said, tilting his head to one side.

‘He should listen to me because we could be dealing with a murder. But he doesn’t want that outcome as we’re understaffed and don’t have the facilities to deal with anything big. Then again, why would we? This is Market Harborough, hardly the hub of serious crime, and anything big that happens gets taken over by one of the Leicestershire CIDs as we’re all part of the same constabulary.’

‘I see.’ He exhaled a long breath and slumped in the chair.

He was flagging.

‘That’s enough for today. I’m going to take you home because you look about ready to drop.’

‘I have to admit, you’re right. I’ll go home and get some rest. Tomorrow, I’m going back to speak to Edgar, Donald’s brother.’

‘Are you going to make an appointment?’

‘Not this time. I’m going to turn up at his office in Leicester. If he was the one to arrange for me to be beaten up, I don’t want to warn him in advance. Speaking