Part 20 (1/2)

'I'm not married any more.'

'No.' Zoe raised her head and studied her. Sally sat on the other side of the desk, her hands in her lap. She had her hair tied back, no makeup on, and she was wearing a little pink tabard with 'HomeMaids' emblazoned on it. In front of her was a Lucozade bottle one of the Polish girls had given her for the shock because she was taking it badly, Goldrab going missing. Her face was pale under the freckles, and her lips had a bluish tinge. 'But I'll still use it. Because I shouldn't be interviewing you, you being my sister.'

'OK. I understand.'

Zoe put a line under the name. Then another. This was weird. So weird. 'Sally,' she said, 'how long has it been now?'

'I don't know.'

'Years. Must be.'

'Must be.'

'Yes. Well.' She tapped her pen on the desk. 'We don't have to take all day about this. I'll ask you the same questions I asked Danuta and Marysieka. Then you can go.'

'My answers won't be the same.'

'Why not?'

'Because I've been working for David privately. We had an arrangement.'

'An arrangement?'

'I didn't tell the girls and I didn't tell the agency, but yes. I worked for him and he was paying me direct.'

'The girls said he cut their hours recently changed their day?'

'Yes, because I'd started working for him.' Sally linked her hands on the table. 'He didn't need them.'

Zoe's eyes went to the hands, to the little finger on the right, which was crooked. You had to know it was there it was just the faintest deviation in the joint, making the finger turn in on itself. She dragged her eyes away, concentrated on her notes. It would be so easy to go back to that hand, back to the accident and the moment her life had changed. She tapped her biro harder on the desk. One, two, three. Snapped herself back to the interview. 'When you say working, what were you doing exactly?'

'He called me the housekeeper. I was cleaning, like before, but I was doing admin for him too. I've only done a few days so far.'

'A few.'

'Yes.'

'Over how many days?'

Sally hesitated. 'One. Just the one.'

'One. You don't seem sure about that.'

'No, I am sure. Quite sure.'

'What day was it?'

'Last Tuesday. A week ago.'

'Tuesday. You're certain it was Tuesday?'

'Yes.'

'And you haven't been back since?'

'No.'

'And you worked for his business?'

'For the house. I was paying bills, hiring people to do jobs around the place.'

'Lightpil House is huge. The gardens he must have needed someone to maintain them?'

'The gardeners come once a week. The Pultman brothers. They're from Swindon.'

'Pultman.' Zoe noted it carefully. 'And the pool man. He was from a company in Keynsham. Anyone else?'

'Not that I can think of.'

'Does David talk to you a lot?'

'Not really.'

'Not really? What does that mean?'

Sally picked at the label on the bottle. 'Just means not a lot.'

Zoe's attention wandered distractedly back to Sally's hands. The faintly deformed finger. G.o.d, but the past was coming back in droves these days. Just like the snow outside the window in her dream. 'So? Apart from today, the last time you were there was when?'

'Last Tuesday. Like I said.'

'You didn't notice anything suspicious?'

Sally fiddled more with the label. 'No. Not really.'

'And he didn't say anything about planning to go away?'

She shook her head.

'You see,' Zoe said, 'everything in that house is telling me something's happened to Mr Goldrab. Now, I'll be honest, I'm floundering a bit. If he's come to harm I'm stuck because I don't know where to start. So if you remember anything, anything anything at all doesn't matter how small or insignificant it is, just something that you can add to this please say it because I-' at all doesn't matter how small or insignificant it is, just something that you can add to this please say it because I-'

'Jake,' Sally said abruptly. 'Jake.'

Zoe stopped writing. 'I beg your pardon?'