Do I look like a murderer?” She had her hands out in supplication

Finn took the key out of his pocket and opened the door then walked down the hall, looking in the different display rooms. He went to the kitchenette. She was slumped at the table, her jacket folded underneath her head for a pillow. The bag of money was at her feet, the strap wrapped around both her legs. Her hair had fallen over her eyes and he lifted a strand and tucked it behind her ear.

The sight of her face, relaxed and peaceful, made his stomach tight. He looked at her hands, bony knuckles with thin veins. He imagined those hands plunging a knife into a man’s chest, the force needed to get through the ribs into the heart and lungs, the energy needed to pull it out and shove it back in, again and again.

How many times had Kevin Pierce been stabbed? How hard did he try to defend himself? Didn’t attackers get defensive wounds? Finn looked again at Maddie’s hands, arms and face. He took the seat across from her and shook her arm.

“Maddie.” He wondered how much sleep she got last night in the cowshed. “Maddie, you need to wake up.” She moaned and stirred then let out a heavy breath. She sat up with a grunt, blinked several times and recognised him.

A lifetime

“Hey.” She cricked her neck, stretched her arms up and arched her back. “How long was I asleep?”

Finn watched her movements, slow, groggy. “Three hours.” He glanced out of the window. The sun was setting over the western corner of the sea, a shimmer of high cloud diffusing the light, throwing orange and yellow streaks across the sky. Not even a whole day had passed since Maddie came into his life. Imagine what a lifetime with her would be like.

Maddie untangled herself from the seat and the bag. She lifted her mug from the table and headed to the kettle. “Want one?” She switched it on and rubbed at her hips. Finn saw a flash of burgundy bra between the buttons of her blouse as she stretched.

“I need to talk to you about something,” he said. Maddie glanced at her bag on the floor then back at Finn. She turned and threw a teabag into the mug. “What?”

“Your husband.”

Maddie snorted. “Well I don’t want to talk about him.” “He’s dead.” Maddie laughed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Finn watched her like an eagle tracking prey. He tried to read her body language, his eyes darting from her face to her hips, noting how she held herself. “I’m serious.” Maddie stopped moving. “Don’t mess with me.”

“Kevin is dead.” Maddie shook her head. “How would you know that?” Finn stared, trying to make sense of her. This had to make sense. “The cop I spoke to at the hospital,” he said. “She came to Ingrid’s cottage just now to speak to me. About your husband.”

“I don’t follow.” Maddie ran her finger along the edge of the worktop. “They went round to your house but there was no answer, so they got a warrant. They found him inside, stabbed to death.”

“Why are you saying this?” Maddie said, rubbing her forehead. “Because it’s true.” She held on to the worktop with both hands, the rush of the boiling kettle behind her.

“Maybe you should sit down,” Finn said. “I don’t believe it.”

“Sit down, Maddie.”

Ridiculous

She took several big breaths, but no tears came. Finn didn’t know what he was expecting. She wandered to the table and slumped into the chair.

“This is some kind of weird game,” she said under her breath. “The police are up to something.” “Come on.”

She looked at him for the first time since he’d told her. “Maybe they suspect you’re in contact with me, and they want to flush me out with a lie.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Maddie shook her head. Finn swallowed, felt his Adam’s apple. “I have to ask you something.”

“Don’t bother,” she said. “I didn’t kill him. Do I look like a murderer?” She had her hands out in supplication. “Do you think these hands stabbed someone?”

“You seem angry,” Finn said, voice level. “I am angry,” Maddie said, running her hands through her hair. “My husband got himself killed, and now I’m the main suspect.”

“I thought you might be sad.”

“Of course I’m sad. I mean I hated that cheating, bullying man, but I didn’t want him dead.”

Finn studied her. It seemed as if this was all news to her, but maybe she was just a good actor. “You have to go to the police now,” he said. “Are you crazy?”

“But they’ll know you didn’t do it. Forensics.”

“If you trust those idiots to get it right you’ve got a lot more faith in Orkney police than I do.”

“If you stay hidden it makes you look guilty.” Maddie was wide-eyed. “I already look guilty. I have a bag of Kev’s money and I helped crash a plane rather than come back.”

That was the first time she’d said anything about guilt for the plane. He felt it too, deep in his bones, swimming in his blood.

He thought about what she’d said. A dead husband, a bag of money, her panic on the plane. What did it take to kill someone? Would it show on your face if you could do that? He stared at her now.

Her head was gently shaking, eyes down at the table. He tried to picture her doing something like that to Kev. If she could do it once, she could do it again. He realised his fingertips were gripping the edge of the table.

“Tell me what happened at your place,” he said.

Bully

“I got in from work at the nursing home and found him with my best friend. I turned around and left the house. I got the money from where it was hidden and headed to the airport.” She slapped the table. “Claire, the b **** , you’ve got to go and see her.”

“Wait a minute.”

She reached out and took his hands. “Go and speak to Claire.” Finn pulled his hands away. “And say what?”

“Ask her what happened after I left. She’ll tell you I had nothing to do with Kev’s death.”

Finn stared at her. “Unless she did it and wants to blame you.”

“Why would she kill him? She could have had him for all I cared.”

“Maybe they had an argument after you left. Maybe he got violent. You said he was a bully. Did he ever hit you?” Maddie laughed. “You want to see the bruises, would you believe me then?”

“Did you go to the police about it?” Maddie shook her head. “Why not?”

“That stuff is between husband and wife, behind closed doors. They’re not interested.”

“So maybe that’s what happened. Maybe Claire was defending herself.”

More tomorrow.