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

but she was never willing to put any effort into anything. She was content to coast along in her job while I slogged away, aiming for promotions.’
    ‘You’re a manager now?’
    ‘Yes. We were both in Portsmouth, but I wanted a complete change when we separated, so I moved here. I now manage the largest branch in the city. Apart from cards at Christmas and her birthday, we haven’t communicated in years.’
    ‘Her birthday? Not yours?’
    ‘No. When I said cards, I meant cards that we sent to her. I never received any back.’
    ‘Is there anything you can tell us about her life in recent years?’
    ‘Not really. I settled down with Françoise three years ago. Her daughter lives with us. She’s a student at the university here. Everything is so much calmer and . . . well, as it should be. I haven’t really thought much about Sarah for years. She’s just a name on a Christmas list. I’ve gotten over her. So I don’t know what she got herself into. I did hear that she’d stopped working for the bank. That was more than a year ago.’
    ‘Do you mean the branch where she’d been based, or the company?’
    ‘The whole network. She was no longer on the bank’s payroll, not at any branch, nor any of its other operations. I looked when I heard the news that she’d left. Whether she switched to a different company, well, I can’t tell you.’
    ‘What about your son?’ said Marsh. ‘Do you think he might still have been in contact with her?’
    ‘I don’t believe so, but I can’t be certain.’
    Françoise added, ‘what Hugh hasn’t told you, Inspector, is that he was close to being a nervous wreck when we met five years ago. I wondered what could have happened to reduce such a decent man to that state. I found out when we bumped into Sarah at a function, soon after I’d started seeing Hugh. She was with a man, but she was still teasing others. She even flirted with Hugh, just as if it was all a big game, as if she couldn’t see the hurt that she’d caused and was still causing. Hugh needed therapy when we first met. I could see that and I arranged it. It helped. I don’t know if you can understand.’
    ‘Yes, I can. I’ve been through therapy. It involved hauling some pretty dreadful feelings and emotions from the depths, holding them up to the light and talking about them. It did help.’
    Françoise rubbed Hugh’s upper back, gently massaging his shoulder muscles. ‘She didn’t deserve him, Inspector. She was cheap.’
    ‘What’s your line of work, Ms Lassoutte?’
    ‘I’m a doctor. A paediatrician at the local hospital.’
    Sophie turned back to her partner. ‘The other thing we need to confirm is whether Sarah had any siblings, Mr Shakespeare.’
    ‘Not full ones, no. Apparently she had an older sister who was killed in a motorcycle accident when Sarah was still a teenager. And she has a half-brother. She fell out with him many years ago when they were teenagers. They shared the same mother.’
    ‘What was Sarah’s maiden name?’
    ‘Sheldon. She was Sarah Sheldon when I first met her and she liked to use the name even when we were married.’
    ‘The name Derek doesn’t mean anything to you?’
    Hugh Shakespeare shook his head.
    ‘What about Brian Shapiro?’
    Again a shake of the head.

Chapter 6: Cool Body
    Sunday afternoon and evening
     
    ‘What would have happened to me if I’d been in that room on Friday night?’
    ‘We don’t know, Rosemary. It’s impossible to make that kind of conjecture. There are just too many variables. You’d only have been sleeping in the room if the pair of you hadn’t met the two men or if Sarah hadn’t struck up such a close rapport with Derek. But if that had been the case, the two of you wouldn’t have been in any danger. Too many ifs, as I’m sure you can spot. At the moment we have to deal with what actually happened rather than what might have been. But we do take your safety seriously.’
    Sophie was talking to Rosemary Corrigan in a