Read Online A Shred of Evidence by Jill McGown - Free Book Online

his presence.
    “Sorry, love,” he said. “I got tied up.”
    “By whom?” she asked drily as he got between her and the TV.
    Patrick smiled. “Ah, nothing like that,” he said. “I offered to fix Colin Cochrane’s car, that’s all.”
    Victoria looked pointedly at the clock, got up, and went into the kitchen, where she proceeded to fill the kettle, as noisily as she could.
    Patrick went in after her. “Swear to God,” he said. “You can ask Colin, if you like.”
    “And fixing his car took until ten o’clock, did it?”
    Patrick nodded, shrugged. “Yeah,” he said. “About that. It was harder than I thought.” He put his arms around her as she stood waiting for the kettle to boil, his chin on her shoulder. “Ask him,” he said. “I was mending his car.”
    She turned. “And then what, Patrick?” she asked. “Did you take it home for him? Pop in to see Mrs. Cochrane?”
    Patrick’s eyebrows rose. “What’s Mrs. Cochrane got to do with anything?” he asked.
    “I’ve heard all about you and Erica Cochrane,” said Victoria.
    Patrick laughed. “Sure, what’s there to hear about me and Erica Cochrane?” he asked.
    “You were never away from there during the summer, or so I was told today.” She looked away from him. “I nearly didn’t come here,” she said. “You persuaded me. You were never going to be unfaithful again—you had learned your lesson, you were a changed man. And all the time you were sleeping with Erica Cochrane, weren’t you?”
    “What?” said Patrick. He put his hand to her chin, and turned her face to his. “Who’s been telling you that?” he asked in truly injured innocence. He had done nothing with Erica Cochrane during the summer, though it hadn’t been for the want of trying.
    “A friend of hers that I met today,” she said. “Dropping hintsabout what a great friend of the Cochranes you were, and how you were company for Erica while Colin was away.”
    “I am a friend of the Cochranes,” said Patrick. “But there was nothing going on between me and her. And I think I know the friend you mean—she’s started more rumours than any ministry of propaganda ever did.”
    “But you were there when he was away at athletics meetings and things,” said Victoria. “Weren’t you?”
    “Sometimes,” said Patrick. “But he was there as often as not. Erica would make a meal for me now and then, that’s all. There was nothing going on, Victoria. I swear to God.” It had been so long since he’d told the truth that he had almost forgotten how; he embellished it now. “The man’s a friend of mine, for God’s sake,” he added, as though that made the slightest difference.
    “Then where were you tonight?” she said.
    “I’ve told you. Mending Colin’s car.”
    She didn’t look convinced.
    Patrick gave her a cuddle. “If I’d been with some woman, I’d hardly come up with a lame excuse like that, would I?” he said.
    Victoria smiled. “No,” she said. “You’re usually more inventive.”
    He’d usually had some time to think up a story; tonight hadn’t been planned. He kissed her. “I’m not daft,” he said. “I know if I start all that again you’ll leave me.”
    “Yes,” she said. “I will.”
    “I’m not going to risk that, am I?”
    They kissed again, she made a nice cup of tea, and Patrick convinced her, not for the first time, that he was a reformed character who would never again have a bit on the side.
    He had told his class this morning that he was a consummate liar, and it was no more than the truth; he believed the lies as he spoke them. And when he was reassuring Victoria, he really did believe what he was saying; he believed that he had done nothing at all that night to worry her or anyone else.
    But he had, of course, and there would be a reckoning, one way or the other.
    * * *
    The call had been the answer to Tom’s prayer. A body on Ash Road Green took precedence over paperwork, even in his inspector’s book.
    He was