‘OK. So you saw each other regularly during that year?’
Matteo wondered if he already knew. If he was deliberately winding him up. ‘Not at first, no. She lived in the UK and I lived in Italy.’
‘So how often would you say you saw each other? Every week? Every month?’
‘We met in July last year. We started dating in September. We’d see each other one, maybe two weekends a month. We got married this April and Abby moved to Italy. I don’t see what relevance this has to anything.’
‘You’re right. The most important thing is that we find your wife. Before anyone else gets hurt.’
‘She’s not on some killing spree,’ snapped Matteo.
‘Let’s hope not.’ Detective Vila let his comment hang in the air.
Matteo held his gaze for as long as he could. He didn’t want to believe Abby was responsible for any of these terrible crimes. Three acts of violence that had reared their ugly heads in the last three days.
But he was a policeman. He’d been trained to be attentive, thorough. His whole being was telling him to look further, deeper, beyond his agonized emotions, and face up to the very real possibility that the truth was something he wouldn’t like one bit.
SIXTY-NINE
Ellie lay back against the seat and closed her eyes, still filled with a sense of wonder at her sister’s generosity. Her hands rested on her lap, the new blue fabric under her palms. She felt the warm breeze on her skin as it rushed over the car and thought how she could just fall asleep. The coffee Abby had given her earlier hadn’t perked her up; in fact, if anything, after she’d drunk it, she had felt decidedly unwell. Not wanting to complain, she’d kept it to herself and gradually the feeling had passed.
As the sun created a kaleidoscope of colours on her closed lids, she wondered if she should come clean to Abby about Susanna, admitting their mother was alive. But however she tried to phrase it, it sounded like a betrayal. She’d kept it secret so long and had spoken to Susanna on several occasions. It was all such a mess and for the first time in ages she was feeling completely relaxed. She didn’t want to ruin the moment. She felt herself dozing and made a conscious effort to sit up and open her eyes. It wasn’t fair to sleep when Abby was driving all the time.
She looked across at her sister and smiled. There was something uniquely bonding about them both being in the same clothes. It united them, made them a team. Except it wasn’t that, not really, Ellie knew.
It was the last few days. What they had been through. She thought back to her mother’s warnings but couldn’t connect the Abby her mum was talking about with the one sitting here in the same blue dress as her own.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ she started tentatively, ‘when all this is over, maybe we could spend more time together?’
Abby glanced across. ‘What, in a jail somewhere? Cellmates?’
The smile slid off Ellie’s face. Trust Abby to ruin it. Or was she just avoiding answering the question?
‘You don’t seriously think that’s how this is going to end, do you?’
‘Might,’ said Abby. She looked back to the road. ‘We’re coming to a junction.’
Ellie glanced down at the map. ‘You do realize we’re running out of road.’
‘Are we?’
‘Only a hundred or so miles and then we fall into the sea.’
‘What?’
‘Well, would you look at that...’ exclaimed Ellie, as she stared at the map. ‘If you don’t go while alive, you must go after death.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘That’s the saying,’ said Ellie. ‘At the Vixía Herbeira cliffs. Some of the tallest in Europe. If you don’t visit while you’re alive, then after your death you’ll be reincarnated as one of the animals that inhabit the area.’
‘We’d best go then,’ said Abby. ‘I do not have plans to return to this earth as a rabbit.’ She saw a sign up ahead: five kilometres to the next village. ‘First, shall we stop for a bit of lunch?’
SEVENTY
‘OK,’ said Susanna. ‘I did it.’
Kathleen slowly put her drink down. ‘What did you do?’ she asked.
