Ann Cleeves - Too Good to Be True

A book in the Shetland series, 2016

Jimmy Perez stood at the gate. There was a solid house at the end of the path, with a big garden and trees behind it. This would be a good place for kids to grow up, he thought. It was just getting dark and there was a light on in the kitchen. He could see the table was laid for supper with a pretty cloth and matching napkins. It all looked very perfect. His ex-wife Sarah had always liked things to be perfect. He felt a stab of envy. His ex-wife had a lovely house, money and a family. The love of his life had recently died, and the child he was raising wasnt his.

But he had travelled all the way from Shetland to the Scottish Borders because Sarah had said that she needed his help. It was too late to turn back now. Perez opened the gate and walked up the path. Sarah must have been looking out for him because the door opened before he knocked. She looked older than hed expected. Stressed. Not so perfect after all.

Come in. We can talk. Toms still at work. Tom was her husband now, a doctor.

Perez had only met him once and found him nice enough. A bit boring. Tom had a famous brother who was an MP, so perhaps the brother was the exciting one in the family. Then Perez remembered that hed always found Sarah a bit boring too, so maybe his ex-wife and Tom were well matched.

What is this about? he said. Why all the drama? They were standing in the hall. Close enough for him to smell Sarahs hair; the shampoo was the same she had always used.

A woman in the village died. Theyre blaming Tom.

The police are blaming him? Or the medical authorities?

No! She seemed cross that he hadnt understood. People in the village. Theres gossip. Everywhere we go people are talking about it. Even people we thought were our friends.

Perez wasnt sure what to say. It seemed he had been dragged away from his home just because Sarahs friends were talking behind her back. He wanted to leave this perfect house and drive straight back to Aberdeen and the ferry to the Shetland Islands. To his job as a police inspector, to his stepdaughter Cassie and their untidy house by the water.

I dont see how I can help, he said.

If you can find out what really happened we might be left in peace, Sarah said. He could see she was almost crying. Its not just me and Tom. Its getting to the children too. One of the kids in their school asked if their dad was a killer.

Are the police involved at all? he asked.

They were called but they decided it was suicide. Or a terrible accident. The case is closed.

So just give it time, he said. Itll blow over. People will soon find something else to talk about. He was already planning his trip home.

I cant stand it. Please, Jimmy.

A door swung open and he saw that two children had cleared a space at the kitchen table. There was a girl who looked like Sarah and had her head stuck in a book. A boy was playing with a huge box of Lego.

Two days, he said. I cant give you more time than that. He paused. Tell me about the woman who died. Jimmy Perez could never turn down a plea for help. It was almost an illness with him.

Sarah led him through to a living room at the back of the house, where two sofas sat close to the fire. Again, everything was tasteful and tidy. She drew the curtains. The dead woman was called Anna Blackwell and she was a teacher at the village school. In her twenties. A single mum. In a place like this, that caused gossip enough.

How did she die?

An overdose. Antidepressants.

And Tom was her doctor? He prescribed the medicine?

Sarah nodded.

Its a long jump from that to saying he was a killer. Was anything else going on?

The room was quiet. Outside in the dark an owl hooted in the trees behind the house.

Theyre saying he was having an affair with her. She spoke quickly, as if she couldnt bear to have the words in her mouth. As if she wanted to spit them out.

And what does Tom say?

I dont know, Sarah said. He wont talk about it.

But you have asked him?

How can I? Her voice was shrill. It would be like accusing him of murder.

There was another moment of silence. Does Tom know that youve asked me to help?

No! Hes a proud man. Hed hate to think Id asked you to sort it out. Hed see it as meddling.

I see it as meddling, Perez said. And Im not sure that I can sort it out.

But Sarah seemed not to hear. Anna lived in one of the ex-council houses at the edge of the village. I expect her neighbours will tell you all about her. Perhaps there was another man. Or you can find out why she might have wanted to kill herself. Even if nobody else is charged with her murder, that might be enough to stop people thinking it was Tom. He wont talk about it but its making him ill. He doesnt sleep. And hes grown so thin.

There was another minute of silence, then Perez stood up. Id better make a start then.

Yes, yes. You should go before Tom comes home. It was almost as if she was scared of her husband.

She opened the door to let Jimmy out. He stood for a moment on the path, looking in at the kitchen and the well-behaved children at the table. Sarah was stirring something in a pan on the stove. It all looked too good to be true.

Inspector Jimmy Perez booked into the Stonebridge Hotel on the main street of the village. It had a public bar and a dining room already serving high tea. In the lobby he could smell chips and smoked haddock. Hed thought that his ex-wife might have asked him to stay in her home. He hadnt realised that his work was to be kept secret from her husband.

In his room he phoned Robert Anderson, a local cop. Theyd worked together in Aberdeen before Jimmy had gone home to Shetland.

What brings you all the way down here, Jimmy?

Well, were all Police Scotland now.

Robert gave a little laugh. So we are, but I wouldnt come meddling in Shetland.

The Anna Blackwell case? Jimmy said. What did you make of it?

Why do you want to know?

Sarah King is my ex-wife. Shes finding it tough. Apparently her family is being targeted by gossips.

There was a pause. Ah well, Robert said at last, Im guessing Annas little girl is finding it tough too. It seems there are no relatives to take her so shes gone into care.

Jimmy thought about this. Anna had been a teacher. She must have loved kids. Would she kill herself knowing there was nobody to look after her daughter? Have you dropped the case? he asked.

Aye, theres no sign of murder. No break-in at the house. And it wouldnt be easy to force-feed a healthy woman a load of pills. Annas daughter was at a sleepover at a friends house, so theres no witness to what happened. It seems that Anna had drunk the best part of a bottle of wine. She didnt leave a suicide note but suicides the way the lawyer in charge of the case, the Fiscal, is thinking. We think therell be an open verdict to allow that it might have been an accident. Itll be kinder for the kid when shes older.

Do you think Anna was having an affair with the doctor, Tom King?

Is that what the gossips in Stonebridge are saying? Robert sounded surprised.

According to Sarah.

Id heard that Sarah and Anna had fallen out about something that happened at the school, but there was no mention of the husband. Robert made the row sound petty, as if the women were kids whod fallen out in the playground.