Free Evil in Return by Elena Forbes Page B

he’d let me interview him.’
    ‘Which paper was it for?’
    She mentioned the name of one of the big Sunday spreads.
    ‘Did they commission this interview?’ he asked.
    ‘No. It was my idea. I used to do a regular interview slot for the Standard so it’s what I’m known for, although I’m freelance now and do other things too.’
    ‘I’m told Logan hated publicity and refused to give any interviews. What made him choose you?’
    She shrugged. ‘Haven’t a clue.’
    A lock of dark hair fell across her face and she flicked it away as though swatting a fly. She was being disingenuous and he remembered what Maggie had said about her: She held Joe in the palm of her hand and she knew it .
    ‘I’d like to see a copy of what you sent.’
    ‘I wrote the letter by hand. I can give you copies of what I printed out but it really won’t tell you anything.’
    ‘I’d still like to see what you sent.’
    It might mean nothing, but her manner aroused his curiosity. He was determined to see what Logan had seen, try and figure out what had made him agree to meet her when he had turned everybody else down. How had she hooked him? What had she said or shown him? If nothing else, it might reveal something about Logan. Maybe a simple photograph had done the trick, slipped in with her package of articles and references. Anything to get a foot in the door. If so, he couldn’t blame her, but it highlighted Logan’s vulnerability. He wondered what Logan had done with the letter, if he had kept it, and he made a mental note to get Jane Downes to have a thorough look again through Logan’s papers.
    ‘So, when was your first meeting?’
    ‘About a month ago. Maybe five weeks.’ She consulted the BlackBerry for a moment, then gave him the date and time.
    ‘And what did you do?’ he asked, as Minderedes noted down the details.
    ‘We met in a pub and had a few drinks and chatted. About general stuff. Life, travel, music, you know. At the end of it, he said he felt comfortable with me and that I could interview him. We arranged a time to meet the following week.’
    ‘Why were you so interested in him? Why did you go to so much trouble to get an interview with him? He was hardly an A-list celebrity.’
    Anna stared at him as if he were mad. ‘Because of the book, of course. Because I absolutely loved Indian Summer . If you bothered to read it, you’d understand. I wanted to get under his skin.’
    ‘And did you?’
    She sighed. ‘Maybe not as much as I’d have liked, but it still makes a great story. Failed actor and jobbing teacher – a pretty sympathetic character, the way I paint it – struggles for years, then writes debut novel and hits the jackpot.’
    ‘You saw him how many times in total?’
    ‘After the first meeting, just three times. That’s all.’
    ‘How did you spend your time with him?’
    ‘We mostly stayed on the boat. It was a real dump, but he seemed to feel comfortable there, he didn’t like going out much. I wondered if he was a bit agoraphobic.’
    ‘You were with him for how long?’
    ‘A few hours each time. It was difficult to get him to focus so we’d just chat for a bit, have a drink or two, listen to some music. I went along with whatever he wanted. I needed to get him to relax so he’d open up. When his mind wasn’t on it, lots of stuff came out, about his childhood, about his time at school, little glimpses of what made him tick as a man, which is what interested me. I felt a bit like a therapist. I don’t think he’d talked to anyone in a long while.’
    ‘Did he mention his family or his friends?’
    ‘Only in passing.’
    ‘What about his love life?’
    ‘From what I gathered, there hadn’t been anyone around for a while. He said that writing was a solitary business and that he wasn’t easy to be with when he was working. He said he was pretty hopeless at relationships.’
    He looked at her closely but there was nothing in her expression to indicate that she was lying.