A Deadly Thaw Read Online Free PDF Page B

else visit her? Friends, for example?’
    Kat leant forward and dug around on the messy coffee table in front of her. She found a packet of cigarettes with two left inside and lit one, offering the other to Sadler. He made a face and shook his head. ‘Don’t approve of smoking.’
    She smiled. ‘Don’t worry, neither do I. The problem is that once I stop, something happens to make me start again. I’d made six months until today.’
    ‘The cigarettes—?’
    ‘Lena’s. She started inside. I don’t think there was much to do. Except read and smoke.’
    ‘And you say she’s not here.’
    Kat turned her face away and blew out a stream of smoke, resisting the impulse to cough. Her lungs, unused to the tobacco, were aching in protest. ‘I woke up this morning, and she’d gone. I wake up quite early anyway. It was about half six. She left before then.’
    ‘What time did you go to bed?’
    ‘Lena went first – about eleven, I think. I was around midnight.’
    ‘You still woke up at half six? That’s not much sleep.’
    ‘You don’t know the half of it. I was awake at quarter past two, then three and again at twenty past four.’ She stole a glance at him.
    ‘Insomnia?’ Something flickered in his eyes. ‘You have my sympathy.’
    Kat stubbed out her cigarette. ‘You too?’
    He didn’t answer her. ‘Do you think Lena could have left after you’d gone to bed? Or do you think she left early this morning? If she knows you suffer from insomnia, when are you most likely to be sleeping?’
    Kat was impressed. It was a good question. ‘I never have any trouble getting to sleep. I’m usually dog-tired when I go to bed. It’s just that it doesn’t last. I’m awake after a couple of hours.’
    ‘So if Lena wanted to leave the house without you knowing, the best time would be between, say, twelve and two a.m.?’
    Kat felt a spurt of anger. ‘Yes.’
    The exchange seemed to have unsettled Sadler also. He stood up and went over to the far window that looked out onto the lawn. Kat was glad that she had heaved the old mower around for the first cut of the year.
    ‘I’m not surprised you’re having trouble sleeping. My colleague, DC Childs, tells me you looked shocked when we told your sister that we found the body of her husband yesterday.’ He turned around to face her. ‘It was a surprise, wasn’t it?’
    Kat, shockingly, felt like crying. ‘A complete surprise. I just couldn’t believe it.’
    ‘But you think she did lie? About the man we found dead? You haven’t asked how sure we are that the body we found yesterday is that of Andrew Fisher.’
    Kat shrugged and reached for the remaining cigarette. ‘I’m a therapist, and she’s my sister. I’m not bad at reading people. When you came to the house yesterday, whatever Lena may have been feeling, it wasn’t surprise. She knew what your colleague was saying was possible.’
    ‘Was she unsurprised that we know that the man found dead in her bed in 2004 wasn’t in fact Andrew? Or was she unsurprised that Andrew had now been found dead? Which of these, in your opinion, was she already aware of?’ Again, he knew which questions to ask, and, once more, she was impressed.
    He was looking at her with his pale-blue eyes, and Kat found it difficult to meet his gaze. She lit her cigarette, giving herself time to think of a reply.
    He looked impatient. ‘Kat. I know this is your sister we’re talking about. Whatever happened in 2004, it’s going to be horrendously complicated to untangle, especially now your sister seems to have gone missing. So I need to ask you. Of course she would have been aware that the man in her bed wasn’t her husband. So I need you to tell me: was she surprised that he had now been found dead?’
    Kat’s eyes locked with Sadler’s once more. ‘I’m sorry. With Lena you never can tell.’

11
    Connie left Bill staring at his tea and contemplating the future. As she was leaving the prefabricated building, she heard running