Read Online And Justice There Is None by Deborah Crombie - Free Book Online Page B

Arrowood.”
    Natalie’s face crumpled in a sob. She gestured Gemma into the flat, shaking her head in apology. “Sorry. I’ve been blubbing like a baby all morning. I just can’t believe it’s true.”
    Gemma sat opposite her in the sitting room. The velvet-cushioned Victorian love seat and chairs seemed incongruous with the sisal carpet and rattan blinds, but the effect was pleasing, if a little untidy—not unlike its owner. In one corner, a television gaveout sound but no picture. “That’s why I was trying to get the telly fixed,” Natalie explained. “I thought I might see something on the news.”
    “Did someone ring you about Dawn?” Gemma asked.
    “My mum, this morning. She heard from Dawn’s mum. Poor Joanie … And Dawn was an only. Not like me.” Natalie attempted a wavering smile. “When we were kiddies, Dawn always wanted to be at our house because she liked the hubbub, and I always wanted to be at hers because it was
quiet.”
    “You’ve known each other a long time, then.”
    “Since grammar school. As much as Dawn wanted to get shut of anything to do with Croyden, she kept in touch with me. Even though we weren’t exactly in her social league. I mean, Chris and I have done all right, but Dawn’s husband wouldn’t have given us the time of day.”
    “Did they get on all right, Dawn and her husband?”
    Natalie looked uncomfortable. “Well, I don’t want to be one to tell tales.”
    A sure sign that she only needed a bit of gentle encouragement, thought Gemma. “He’s much older, isn’t he? That must have caused some problems.”
    Natalie snorted.
“Trophy wife
might have been invented for Dawn. But she couldn’t see it at first. It was so romantic. All this
‘I vill take you away from thees sordid life’
stuff.”
    Gemma suppressed a smile. “Did you tell her what you thought?”
    “Even with your best friend, you can only go so far.… But now I wish … I don’t know. Maybe I could have done something, changed things somehow.”
    “Why? Do you think her husband might have had something to do with her death?”
    “Oh, no! I didn’t mean that. It’s just that, if she hadn’t been married to Karl, Dawn wouldn’t have been where she was, would she? And it wouldn’t have happened.”
    “The-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time theory,” Gemma muttered, as much to herself as to Natalie. “So you can’t think of any personal reason why someone would have wanted to harm Dawn?”
    “Oh, no. She was … lovely. Luminous. You’d have to have known her.” Natalie looked as if she might break down again.
    Gently, Gemma probed, “Did you know your friend was pregnant?”
    Natalie hesitated a moment, then shrugged. “I suppose there’s no need to keep secrets now, is there? She wasn’t sure until yesterday. She had an appointment with her doctor before we met for tea.”
    “How did she feel about that? About being pregnant?”
    Again, Gemma sensed hesitation, then Natalie said slowly, “She was pleased about the baby, I think …”
    “But?”
    “She didn’t know how Karl would react. He’d told her from the beginning he didn’t want children.”
    “That seems a bit unfair. Surely he’d have accepted the situation. And he’d not have had much choice, unless she was willing to have an abortion?”
    “Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that.” Natalie’s olive skin colored. “He’d had a vasectomy—at least that’s what he told Dawn.”
    The missing ingredient
, thought Gemma.
A lover
. Now they were getting somewhere. “So Dawn was seeing someone else. Was this a casual affair, or something more serious?”
    “She wouldn’t have just, you know, gone off with anyone.” Natalie spoke defensively. “I think she loved him. But she said there was no hope for them, because Karl would never let her go.”
    “How could he have stopped her?”
    “That’s what I said. Why couldn’t she just walk out, file for divorce? But she said it was more