Free The Plague Maiden by Kate Ellis

neutral. Some of his colleagues would have found Janet
     Powell’s confession a source of gleeful amusement … the stuff of the more salacious Sunday newspapers: the stereotypical bored
     housewife rutting with any male who happens to walk up her outwardly respectable garden path.
    ‘We didn’t go to bed. We did it in the utility room,’ she mumbled. Then she looked Wesley in the eye. ‘Look, it was completely
     out of character for me. I don’t make a habit of that sort of thing. But Chris … well, I’d never been attracted to anyone
     like that before. It was …’ She hesitated, trying to find the right words.
    ‘Love at first sight?’ Wesley suggested, aware that he was sounding like a clichéd romantic novel.
    Janet shook her head. ‘I don’t know. It was more like a magnetic animal attraction. I … I couldn’t help myself. And neither
     could he.’
    ‘And your husband? Did he know about all this?’
    She shook her head vigorously. ‘No way. I made sure he had no idea what was going on. Chris wanted me to leave Derek but after
     the first couple of weeks … well, I realised that I couldn’t give up everything. It was physical, you see, and after the first
     flush of excitement was over I think I realised. We’d meet and go back to Chris’s place in Morbay and …’
    ‘You compared that with what you’d have to give up?’
    ‘That sounds awful, doesn’t it? It sounds as though I’m a hard, mercenary bitch.’
    Wesley shook his head. ‘Not at all. It sounds as if you’re a realist. Did you know about Chris’s criminal record?’
    ‘He told me. I think the affair was more serious on his part than mine … in fact I know it was. He said he wanted to be completely
     honest with me. He said he’d been done for burglary and car theft … and receiving stolen goods. But he said that if I went
     to live with him that would all change. The night that vicar was killed was the last time I saw him. Derek, my husband, decided
     to go and work in New York – it all happened very quickly. I met Chris to tell him I was going to the States. I told him it
     was all over.’ She hesitated. ‘Do you think what Chris said was true? Do you think he would have changed if I’d … ?’
    Wesley didn’t answer. Who could know what might have been? But it was obvious that the question had preyed on Janet’s mind.
     His instinct was to reassure her, to tell her that most men like Hobson, although they might mean what they say at the time,
     usually slip back into their old ways once the novelty of a new relationship has worn off and their old mates reassert their
     influence. But for all he knew, Chris Hobson might have been the exception to the rule, so it was probably best to say nothing.
    ‘So why don’t you tell me what happened on the night ofthe Reverend Shipborne’s murder?’ It was time to get down to the nub of the matter … her claim that Chris Hobson was innocent.
    ‘Chris was with me all that evening.’
    Wesley looked her in the eye. ‘If this is true why didn’t you come forward?’
    She blushed again. ‘I feel awful about it now, believe me. I’d heard all about the vicar’s murder on the news the next day,
     but of course I never connected it with Chris. Then I moved to New York with Derek a week later so I didn’t know Chris had
     been arrested for it.’ She took a tissue from her coat pocket and dabbed at her eyes, although Wesley could see no tears there.
    ‘So you and Chris Hobson had no contact once you’d moved to New York?’
    ‘No. It was a clean break … a new start. I didn’t even tell him what part of America I was going to.’
    ‘But you’ve decided to come forward now?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘After twelve years.’ He tried to keep his voice neutral, to hide any hint of reproach.
    ‘As I said, I didn’t even know Chris had been arrested. I’ve been living in the States for twelve years … we only got back
     to England a couple of months ago.’
    ‘So how did you