Free A Fatal Verdict by Tim Vicary Page B

the farm kitchen, a spacious room with an Aga , a wooden table in the centre, and a window looking out through the garden to the paddock and the river beyond. Kathryn Walters stood beside the table, still in her blue tracksuit, unconsciously shredding a tissue with her fingers. Her face was red and blotchy, her eyes wide and empty, as though long since drained of tears.
    Andrew Walters walked up to her and enfolded her in his arms. And for a while they stood like that, the bereaved parents embracing in the centre of the room. Only not quite embracing, Tracy thought; he was holding her, stroking her back, and she had her arms round him too, but not really tight, not really clinging onto him as much as might have been expected. And when he stepped back, his wife still stood there, quite pale and still as though she hadn’t moved at all.
    Andrew waved a hand at Tracy. ‘This policewoman brought me. She said it wasn’t safe for me to drive. Quite right, probably.’
    Kathryn nodded, then moved, as if in a trance, towards the Aga. ‘It’s a long way. You’d like some tea, perhaps?’
    ‘No, it’s all right, Mrs Walters ...’
    ‘I’ll do it, Kath.’ Jane Miller moved swiftly to her friend’s side. ‘You sit down.’
    Kathryn Walters sat down, quite abruptly, in a chair by the table, and stared across it at her husband, her eyes in the pale face wide and compelling. ‘He killed her, Andy. I said he would and he did.’
    ‘But she was found in a bath, they say.’ Andrew shook his head, miserably. ‘With her wrists cut. She bled to death.’
    ‘Yes, but it was his bath, wasn’t it? Shelley wouldn’t cut her wrists, Andy, you know that. She couldn’t kill a fly.’
    ‘No, but ...’ Andrew ran his hands through his hair. ‘We should have been there. If she was upset, she should have come to us.’
    ‘You were going to see her, weren’t you?’ Kathryn asked with surprising bitterness. ‘This evening?’
    ‘Yes, but not till later.’ Her husband darted a swift, anxious glance at Tracy. ‘I was in the library most of the afternoon, working. I was going to ring her from my room, but then ... this police woman came. I was going to ask if she wanted to have a meal with me in the college. She did that sometimes.’ His eyes rested on Tracy’s a moment longer, defying her to contradict him; then he turned back to his wife. ‘But if what you say is true, then it’s murder.’
    ‘Of course it’s murder. That’s what the police are investigating now, aren’t you, officer? I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.’
    ‘Detective Sergeant Litherland,’ Tracy said, pulling her notebook from her bag. ‘Look, it would help if you could tell me as much as you can about your daughter and this young man. For example how long had she known him? Where did they first meet, and so on? If you think you’re up to it now, that is.’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Andrew said. ‘This is all a terrible shock, you know - and my wife ...’
    ‘I want to tell her, Andy. David’s always been a danger to Shelley. I told you he was bad news the moment I saw him, didn’t I? Only you had to shake his hand, suck up to him, the filthy creep!’ This to her husband, bitterly.
    ‘He seemed all right at first,’ said Andrew defensively. ‘And Shelley liked him too -  that’s why I was prepared to give him a chance. She deserved a bit of luck, after all she’d been through, poor kid!’
    ‘Luck? For God’s sake! She didn’t deserve this!’ Tears flooded Kathryn’s eyes, so that for a moment she couldn’t go on. But as she fumbled for a tissue Tracy thought the tears were as much a sign of rage as grief. This was a woman who had not just been hurt - she felt mortally wronged, as well.
    Kathryn blew her nose and glared at her husband, her eyes ablaze with pain and anger. ‘And now she’s dead, because you were so blind! It’s Shelley’s fault too, of course it is. Only she was too young, too naive and stupid to see. Whereas you