Free SECRET CRIMES a gripping crime thriller full of suspense by MICHAEL HAMBLING Page A

‘Please come in. Hugh is in the kitchen clearing away the dishes. He is so English with his liking for a roast lunch on Sunday. I let him get on with it.’ She smiled. ‘My only conditions are that he does all the work and we have French wine.’
    ‘We want to ask him about his ex-wife, Sarah,’ Sophie explained.
    ‘Oh, that one. You’d better go into the lounge. I will get him.’
    Sophie looked about her as they waited. The photos on display were mostly recent, showing Françoise with a serious-looking man in his late fifties. In some, Françoise was pictured with a teenage girl. There was a single graduation photo of a dark-haired young man. Françoise returned with the man from the photos. He was removing a chef’s apron, revealing light brown slacks and a checked shirt. He shook hands and asked them to sit on the couch. He remained standing. Françoise perched on a stool in front of a highly polished, baby grand piano.
    ‘We’re here to make some enquiries about your ex-wife, Sarah, Mr Shakespeare,’ Sophie said.
    ‘Why doesn’t that surprise me?’ he responded, with a look of resignation.
    ‘I’m sorry to have to tell you that yesterday morning we found her dead.’
    He sat down heavily, and Françoise moved to sit on the arm of his chair, touching his shoulder. He looked stunned.
    ‘That is a shock,’ he said quietly. ‘You’re a chief inspector, so this can’t be routine, can it?’
    ‘No, I’m afraid not. She was attending a weekend music festival and was found among the rocks on the shoreline yesterday morning. We’re treating the death as suspicious.’
    He moved his head to and fro. ‘Christ. I thought she would get herself into a mess one day, but not that. Nothing like that.’ He looked up. ‘How did it happen?’
    ‘That’s what we’re trying to discover, Mr Shakespeare. It’s partly why we’re here. You may be able to shed some light on her personality and character so that we can get a better idea of who she was involved with. The motive is unclear at the moment.’
    He sighed. ‘I wish I could help you, Chief Inspector, but I really don’t know. That’s why we divorced. She was involved with so many men that I lost count. They were all shallow, disposable relationships. No permanence, nothing of substance. I could have understood it better if she had preferred one man to me, but she didn’t prefer any one of them to me. She just seemed to need lots of them. Her life was a constant search for attention and cheap excitement. I couldn’t cope with it. We divorced a good ten years ago because I just couldn’t put up with all the one-night stands. It nearly destroyed me, and it nearly ruined our son, Peter. He lives in New York now. He moved there partly to get as far away from her as he could. So much for a mother’s love.’ By the time he stopped speaking his voice had dropped to little more than a whisper. Sophie saw a slight tremor in his shoulders.
    ‘Is that your son in the graduation photo on the sideboard?’
    He nodded.
    ‘We may need to get him here, Mr Shakespeare. He’ll probably be her next of kin, unless you know of anyone else.’
    ‘I’m not aware of her marrying again, if that’s what you mean.’
    Sophie nodded. ‘We understand that Sarah worked in a bank.’
    ‘Yes.’ He sighed. ‘That’s how we met. We both started at the same time and got on well. We fell in love. Well, put it this way, I fell in love with her. I began to doubt whether she ever felt much for me when the affairs started. It had probably been going on all the time without me realising it.’ He looked across at Sophie. ‘Do you think it could have been her lifestyle that got her killed? She just picked the wrong man?’
    ‘We don’t know, Mr Shakespeare. We’re trying to build up a picture of her at the moment. Please tell us more about her if you can. Maybe start with her work?’
    ‘It was strange really. She was so bright, so clever. She had far more potential than me,