Lies of the Dead Page 3

‘Thanks. I hadn’t thought about you coming along, but if you don’t mind, it would be good to have company.’

  Andi’s bitterness surprised Tom. She and Liam had never got on as children, but as the three of them rarely spent time together as adults, he thought their adolescent rivalries had disappeared.

  Just after ten, the twins clattered downstairs to say goodnight.

  ‘Can we come to London with you, and do some shopping?’ asked Kristen.

  ‘No, it’s not long until the Easter holidays, and you’ve had enough time off school. Besides, we’re not going on a shopping trip.’

  ‘We heard. Uncle Liam’s topped himself.’

  ‘Kristen, that’s no way to talk,’ said Andi.

  The girls glanced at each other and shrugged. ‘Whatevs.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ replied Tom. ‘We’re not keeping it a secret.’

  He needed answers, and hoped he’d find them in Liam’s apartment.

  Chapter 4

  Tom

  The leasing agent showed them around Liam’s apartment, and asked them to leave the key with the building manager when they finished. He didn’t stay.

  Liam’s apartment was in a new building in Canary Wharf, a gleaming monument to modern architecture.

  Tom stared around the lounge. ‘It’s like living in a black and white photograph.’ Stark white walls, a black leather couch and chairs, glass tables and a black wall unit.

  Andi wandered over to the French windows. ‘There’s only a small balcony, but look at that view. This place must cost a fortune.’

  ‘It does. That’s why we’re here to collect Liam’s things.’

  ‘Typical Liam-type place.’

  ‘I suppose. Not my style.’ Tom joined Andi at the window. ‘There must be thousands of apartments around here. I wouldn’t like to be so crowded.’

  ‘Guess we’d better get started. I’ll take the living room and kitchen, and you sort through the bedroom.’

  The bedroom had a built-in wardrobe, and a set of drawers next to the large bed. Liam had fewer clothes than Tom expected. Liam always dressed well, and even his casual clothes had designer labels. When they sailed together, Tom had often joked he could buy at least three pairs of jeans for one of Liam’s, but Liam would just grin.

  Tom packed the clothes into a suitcase, together with a telephone charger he found plugged into a wall socket. The only items on the bedside table were a clock and lamp. No books or photographs. The drawers were empty except for Liam’s passport. Tom skimmed through the pages. That certainly crossed off his vague hopes of Liam on a work trip. He dropped the passport into the suitcase.

  Opposite the bed was another French window and balcony. A door to the left opened into the bathroom. He’d check how Andi was getting on.

  A bench top and cupboards separated the kitchen from the L-shaped lounge. Andi stood by the wall unit, flicking through a folder of paperwork.

  ‘Found anything?’

  She glanced up. ‘The furniture’s rented. I’ve phoned the company and arranged for them to collect it.’

  ‘I didn’t know you could rent furniture.’ Tom took the sheet of paper. It made sense of the impersonal feel.

  Andi placed the folders on the dining table, and pulled out the contents of the top one.

  ‘What are they?’ asked Tom.

  ‘I’m not sure. I think they’re to do with Liam’s work, lots of figures and company names.’

  ‘Do you want me to take anything down to the car yet?’ Tom opened the front door. ‘It’s warm in here.’

  ‘I opened the windows in the kitchen, but there’s not much breeze. Have you finished in the bedroom?’

  ‘Yes, not as many clothes as I expected. I’ve packed them in a suitcase I found in the wardrobe.’

  ‘And the bathroom?’

  ‘I haven’t checked yet. It’s off the bedroom.’

  Andi left the papers on the table, and went into the bedroom. She unlocked the French window and stepped onto the balcony. ‘Great views of the river.’

  Tom wasn’t as impressed by the view. He preferred the hills surrounding his house, but they both stood for some time, watching the world hurry past.

  ‘It’s not peaceful, is it?’ said Tom.

  ‘I don’t think London could ever be accused of being peaceful. Guess we’d better get on.’

  They went back into the living room. A slender, auburn haired woman stood by the dining table, holding some papers.

  ‘Who the hell are you? And what are you doing with those?’ said Andi.

  The woman looked Andi up and down, and then Tom. ‘Where’s Liam?’

  ‘Not so fast,’ said Andi. ‘What are you doing with those papers?’

  The woman’s alabaster complexion gave an illusion of fragility, but her expression said something different. The two women stared at each other across the table, until Tom moved forward.

  ‘I’m Tom Trethowan, and this is my sister Andi.’

  ‘Trethowan?’

  ‘Yes, I’m Liam’s brother.’

  ‘Liam never mentioned you.’ She frowned. ‘Where is he?’

  ‘First answer my question.’ Andi interrupted, before Tom could answer the woman.

  ‘My name is Janine.’

  ‘How do you know Liam?’ asked Tom.

  ‘We work together.’ She gave a brief nod at the papers, as if this answered Andi’s question. ‘Where is he?’

  ‘Have the police spoken to you?’ he continued.

  Janine’s eyes widened and her pale skin bleached to a sickly grey. ‘Police? Why?’

  ‘There’s no easy way to say this. Liam’s dead.’

  ‘Dead?’

  ‘Come and sit down.’ Tom pointed to one of the leather couches, but Janine sat on a dining chair. The papers she held shook, and she put them on the table and rested her hands on her lap, out of sight.

  Tom told Janine what had happened.

  ‘If you work together, I’m surprised you hadn’t heard,’ said Andi. ‘The police spoke to a number of people at his office.’

  ‘I don’t always work from the office.’

  Andi tensed, and a small frown line appeared between her eyebrows. Tom put his hand on her arm, but she continued anyway. ‘You seem quite upset for just a work colleague.’

  Tom sighed. Why couldn’t Andi be less inquisitive and more sympathetic?

  Janine was silent as if she hadn’t heard, but finally answered. ‘We are… were, more than work colleagues.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Tom. ‘If I’d known.’ His voice tailed away.

  Janine sat up straighter, her turn now to frown. ‘Did Liam talk you into this?’

  ‘What?’

  Janine stared at him. ‘No, I don’t think you would be that cruel.’

  Even Andi appeared surprised by the turn in conversation.

  ‘Do you think they’ll find Liam’s body?’

  ‘I doubt it. The boat was out in deep water, and as I said, I couldn’t find his diving belt.’

  Janine nodded, as if to show she understood the significance.

  ‘Did he have any problems at work?’ asked Tom. ‘I thought he and I were close, but he’s never mentioned anything that could be a reason for killing himself. Do you have any ideas?’

  Janine shook her head. ‘I’m as shocked as you.’

  Tom desperately wanted answers, but he didn’t know the questions. Janine still looked grey, and he asked if she wanted a hot drink.

  ‘That’s a good idea,’ said Andi. ‘I saw some teabags in a cupboard, or would you prefer coffee?’

  Janine muttered she’d have tea, and Andi filled the kettle.

  ‘Why did you ask if Liam put us up to this?’ asked Tom.

  ‘You’re confusing what I said. This is a shock. I came to see Liam, and found you.’

  Andi fussed around the cupboards.

  ‘Let me help,’ said Tom.

  A chair scraped on the floor and Janine stood, clutching her bag. ‘I need to go.
It’s a lot to take in.’

  ‘This will only take a minute,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll be fine.’ Janine hurried out of the flat, closing the door behind her.

  ‘What was that all about?’ Andi stood, hands on hips, staring at the closed door. ‘Strange woman.’

  ‘She’s just found out Liam’s dead, and you weren’t exactly friendly.’

  Andi pulled a face.

  ‘Do you think she’ll be okay?’ asked Tom. ‘She looked really ill.’

  ‘She did turn a bad shade of grey when you told her about Liam.’

  ‘That’s not very kind.’

  ‘True, though.’ Andi put teabags in the mugs. ‘She’s an adult. You can’t force her to stay.’

  ‘Suppose not.’

  ‘I guess I could have been kinder, but there’s something not quite right about her. Did you feel it?’

  ‘Like what? She came to see Liam and finds us here, then discovers he’s dead.’

  ‘Did Liam ever mention her, or any of his girlfriends?’

  ‘I didn’t see him as much as you seem to think,’ said Tom. ‘He’d come down for the occasional weekend, and we’d go out on Kalina, but he never talked about his life in London. There didn’t appear to be anyone special. If he did mention women, it was always different names.’

  ‘Now that is like Liam.’ Andi’s tone was kind, and they laughed together.

  She washed the cups, and then went into the bathroom to empty out the cupboards. ‘Come and look in here,’ she called to Tom.

  The room had a deep bath, as well as a shower. Andi pointed to the open cupboard and drawers under the wash basin. ‘What does this tell you?’

  Tom peered in at the contents. ‘He’s got expensive looking aftershave, used an electric razor and an electric toothbrush.’

  Andi made a tutting sound with her tongue.

  Tom stood up. ‘So what exactly am I supposed to notice?’

  ‘Everything here is Liam’s. It’s a long time since I dated, but when Steven and I were going out, I had loads of my clothes at his place and almost a second set of toiletries. There’s nothing to suggest Janine ever stayed and only Liam’s clothes in the wardrobe.’

  Tom checked the drawers and cupboard again. ‘But what’s the point in lying? Why tell us she’s Liam’s girlfriend if she isn’t?’

  ‘To get more information out of us? Although I don’t have a clue what information. Maybe she thinks there’s insurance, and she’s trying to get some.’

  ‘I can’t imagine Liam had any insurance. He was too full of life to think about death.’

  ‘You’re right. Whatever made Liam kill himself must have been serious. He’d never do it over a woman. Do you think Janine told us the truth?’

  Tom puckered his bottom lip with his thumb and finger while he considered Andi’s question. ‘She struck me as someone who thinks through the consequences of what she does. But she was scared when I mentioned the police.’

  ‘Scared? What is there to be scared of?’

  ‘If we knew that, we’d be closer to finding out why Liam killed himself. We need to talk to her again.’

  ‘If they worked together, we can get in touch with her through Liam’s office.’ Andi picked up the few items in the cupboard. ‘But for now we need to finish off here. I’ll put these with the kitchen things.’

  Tom emptied the contents of the drawers into the suitcase, and took it into the living room.

  Andi stared at the folder on the dining table. ‘Did you pick up the papers on top of this red folder?’

  ‘No.’

  She flicked through the folders. ‘Liam’s work papers aren’t here. Are you sure you didn’t throw them away?’

  ‘I didn’t even look at them.’

  ‘It’s that woman. She had them when I first came in the room. She must have slipped them into her bag.’

  ‘What were they?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Andi dragged her fingers through her hair. ‘I only had time to glance at them. Definitely work stuff, columns of figures.’

  ‘She did say they worked together.’

  ‘We’ve no proof of that, and even if they did, she doesn’t have the right to take his papers.’

  ‘Let’s ring her tomorrow,’ said Tom. ‘I want to leave before we hit the rush-hour traffic.’

  He concentrated on his route through London, and only when they reached the motorway did he glance across at Andi. ‘What did you mean last night, when you said we saw different sides of Liam? We used to have good times when we were kids.’

  ‘You and I had good times, before Liam was old enough to come with us.’

  ‘But as we got older you went off with your friends.’

  ‘To get away from Liam.’ She twisted the tissue in her hand. ‘I don’t have happy memories of him. Mum and Dad made everything worse. Liam, the boy wonder. The child who couldn’t do anything wrong. He blamed me for a lot of the stuff he did, and Mum always believed him. He broke her favourite boxer dog ornament one afternoon.’

  ‘I thought you did.’

  Andi sighed. ‘That’s what I mean. He broke the ornament. It was an accident, but he couldn’t even own up to that. Mum said she wished I’d never been born.’

  ‘Oh Andi, she didn’t mean it. She was upset about the boxer. I think it was a present from her mother.’

  ‘Mum did so much more for him than she ever did for us, well, for me at least. Once when I visited, she asked me to post a letter to him. I opened the envelope.’ She stared defiantly at Tom. ‘Yes, I did things like that, there’s no need to be so shocked.’

  ‘What was in it?’

  ‘A cheque for £2,000. They paid all his university fees and living expenses, and still gave him more.’ The tissue lay shredded on her lap.

  ‘I knew Liam was the favourite, but it never bothered me.’ Tom indicated, and pulled into the fast lane to pass a car and caravan. ‘Liam and I got on okay. Perhaps because I was the oldest it made a difference.’

  The next few miles passed quietly, until Tom spoke. ‘I remember the day you demanded we call you Andi instead of Andrea. You said you wouldn’t answer to anything else, and you didn’t.’

  ‘I thought if I had a boy’s name things would be different.’

  ‘Were they?’

  She shook her head.

  He wasn’t sure how to raise the subject of her separation, so he plunged in. ‘What’s happening with you and Steven? Made any decisions yet? Does he want a divorce?’

  ‘Not sure, no and no.’ She grinned briefly but without humour, and Tom saw a glimpse of the twins in the fleeting upturn of her mouth. ‘He said he wouldn’t be awkward if I wanted a divorce.’

  ‘And do you? Want a divorce, I mean.’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Is he seeing the other woman?’

  She picked up the shredded pieces of tissue from her lap and crushed them. ‘Steven didn’t have an affair. It was one night at a conference. He told me a few days after he came back, but I already knew something had happened. He’s not good at hiding stuff.’

  ‘So why did you tell me he had an affair?’

  ‘Liam.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I thought you might tell Liam. If he knew Steven and I had separated over a one-night stand, he would have laughed at me. Another example of my trivial life.’

  ‘Your life isn’t trivial. Does it matter what Liam thought? Being happy is the important thing.’

  The pain in Andi’s eyes was so clear, he fumbled around for something to say. ‘He must have thought worse of me, still living in Poldrayth.’

  ‘No, he always looked up to you, and would have done even if you weren’t the oldest.’

  Tom didn’t know what to say, and concentrated on the traffic.

  As they pulled off the motorway, Andi suggested he stay the night again. ‘You’ve already done a lot of driving today, and you won’t get back to Poldrayth until late.’

  He hadn’t considered a
nother night in Bristol, but the last thing he needed was to fall asleep and crash the car.

  ‘I can’t promise you a quiet meal. Sophie and Kristen could win a gold medal for talking.’

  ‘You must miss them when they’re at Steven’s, or do you enjoy the peace?’

  ‘I miss them. I’m so used to all their chatter it doesn’t bother me.’

  *

  The following morning Andi hustled the girls off to school, and sat down with him. ‘I guess this is noisier and later than your usual morning start.’

  ‘Depends on what I’m doing. I start early if I’m taking tourists out on Kalina, but a lot of Colin’s work has early starts as well.’

  ‘I thought he ran an Outward Bound centre? Teenagers don’t like getting up early.’

  ‘Colin’s given the company a fancy name, and while we still cover the Outward Bound stuff, a lot of our work comes from businesses now. There’s a new conference centre not far away, and we often organise team-building activities. It’s all women worried about breaking a nail and overweight businessmen.’

  ‘Hey, you’re talking about people like me.’ Andi put on a mock-annoyed expression. She appeared more relaxed than the previous day.

  ‘Talking of work, what time do you leave?’ he asked.

  ‘I rang to say I’d be in later. I sometimes work evenings or weekends with the market research groups, so my hours are flexible.’

  Tom glanced at his watch. ‘I guess Thornley’s offices should be open now. I’ll ring them and talk to Janine.’

  ‘We want those papers, and ask her why she was so worried about the police. I’m sure you can charm her.’

  Tom rang the company Liam worked for, Thornley Trust and Investments, and asked the receptionist to put him through to Janine.

  ‘What’s her surname?’

  ‘Sorry, I don’t know.’

  ‘Please hold.’

  Classical music played. Thornley’s clients probably weren’t the type to appreciate the latest rap song.

  The music stopped abruptly. ‘We don’t have an employee called Janine.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  The silence lasted long enough for Tom to know the woman hadn’t taken this slur on her competence very well.

  ‘I am sure we do not have a Janine listed on the staff database, and it is kept up to date with all employee details.’