Free The Arsenic Labyrinth by Martin Edwards Page A

under a Californian sun. The boy was lanky, the image of his father. He was clasping a sleekwhite iPod, staring proudly into the camera lens while his parents smiled fondly down at him.
    ‘Christopher was a babe in arms when I last saw him,’ Hannah said as her host returned bearing two steaming mugs.
    ‘Amazing how time flies. We went to Disneyworld last summer and he’s shot up since. But you wanted to speak to us about Emma?’
    ‘Thanks for seeing me. You spoke to Tony Di Venuto, I gather?’
    ‘I should have refused to say a word,’ Francis said. ‘I told Vanessa it was only a matter of time before the police came knocking on our door. If only to keep that bloody journalist off their backs.’
    Hannah remembered the patience with which he’d answered her questions the first time they’d met. Remembered wondering if he’d killed Emma after she’d turned him down, and dumped the body in the lake. He’d lived cheek by jowl with her throughout his wife’s pregnancy. Suppose he wasn’t getting enough sex, might he have turned his attention to the lodger? But by the time she’d finished questioning him, the theory had lost its lustre. Perhaps Emma was dead, but surely Francis was too decent a man to have killed her?
    ‘Even after all this time, people may recall something they didn’t mention during the original inquiry.’
    He scratched his head. ‘We did our best to help before. I’m not sure what more we can say.’
    ‘You and Mrs Goddard were among the last peopleto see Emma before she disappeared. She called here the afternoon before the last sighting of her.’
    ‘She was a friend. The three of us kept in touch even though she wasn’t living here any more.’
    ‘Anything to suggest that she might be unhappy in Coniston, ready to move on?’
    He shook his head. ‘Don’t forget, Christopher was only a few weeks old. We were both preoccupied with our baby, not visitors. Emma was sweet, she came to drop off a couple of things that she’d knitted for him. She was here for no more than half an hour. She may have mentioned how business was going. Slowly, I think.’
    ‘Did that worry her?’
    ‘She was disappointed, but there was no need to panic. She’d spent a fortune on advertising, but it takes time to build up a reputation and a clientele.’
    ‘She was enjoying such work as she had?’
    ‘As far as we could tell. After she went missing, Vanessa and I wondered if we should have offered more help. But if you have a family, Chief Inspector, you’ll know that nobody is as self-absorbed as a first-time parent.’
    ‘You never had any other lodgers?’
    ‘No, Emma was our one and only. The upkeep on this place is pretty heavy, so a few extra pounds came in useful. Emma and my wife had made friends and when she said she didn’t like the room she was renting in Hawkshead, we decided to do each other a bit of good. It was never a long-term arrangement. After Christopher was born, we wanted the house to ourselves.’
    ‘How did you cope with the loss of income?’
    ‘I left the NHS and started nursing at the private hospital over in Newby Bridge to help make ends meet. We’re not rolling in it, but we get by.’
    ‘How long did she stay here?’
    ‘Not far short of a year. She was never any trouble. The perfect guest, if you like.’
    ‘Did she ever bring friends back here?’
    ‘Alexandra Clough, yes, a couple of times, before they split up. Nobody else. Emma was a very private person. Content with her own company.’
    ‘The last time you saw her, did you pick up any suggestion that she was under financial pressure?’
    ‘None. Even if holistic therapies weren’t a money-spinner , she was better off than ever. Don’t forget, she’d inherited enough to buy the bungalow and a new car.’
    ‘The inheritance, yes.’ Hannah crossed her legs ‘It’s rather mysterious. We never found any evidence that Emma had inherited a penny. Karen Erskine knew nothing about a legacy, the sisters