see the relevance of this,’ Craig said.
Karen reddened. ‘I just thought I should tell you Rachel has some strange beliefs. She could be going psychotic again.’
I gave Craig a Shut up look. At this stage anything could be relevant and I didn’t want to close Karen down. There’d be time to push her later if we got more evidence against her. ‘What beliefs does she have?’
‘It was because Abbie was having night terrors. She was screaming that her dad was trying to kill her or something.’
I glanced at Craig. He was very still, staring at Karen.
‘Did you say Abbie was dreaming that her father was trying to kill her?’ I said.
‘That’s what Phil told me. He was really upset about it. Obviously. He would never lay a finger on Abbie, so it was awful.’
‘It must have been. And he shared all this with you?’
Karen reddened. ‘Only because it was so weird and upsetting. Rachel thought some bizarre stuff about Abbie.’
‘What did she think?’
This seemed to be getting us off track and was probably a distraction, but I thought we might as well hear her out.
Karen pushed her hair off her face. ‘Rachel got it into her head that Abbie was remembering what had happened to her heart donor.’
I looked up sharply from my notes. ‘What do you mean?’
Craig stopped fiddling with his pen.
‘She thought Abbie was having nightmares because she remembered what had happened to the girl she got her heart from. Rachel had this theory that the donor child had been abused or even killed by her father.’
Nobody said anything for a moment. The room seemed to shrink a little. ‘Rachel Thornton thought that was why Abbie was having nightmares?’ I said. ‘Because of her new heart?’
‘Yes. She thought Abbie’s dreams were from the donor child’s memories. From her death, in fact. That’s why she thought Abbie was scared of Phil. She thought Abbie was confusing him in her sleep with the donor child’s father.’
This was one of the stranger things I’d heard.
‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘You’re right to tell us anything you think could possibly be relevant.’
‘I think you’re trying to distract us,’ Craig said. ‘There’s no way a kid could remember something that happened to a different child.’
‘I didn’t say Abbie remembered,’ Karen said. ‘I said that was what Rachel thought.’
‘Thank you, Karen,’ I said. ‘It could be relevant, so thank you for telling us.’
She smiled and said almost under her breath, ‘I just thought it was weird.’
I left it a moment and then said, ‘We still need to know if you were having a relationship with Phil.’
She shook her head. ‘My husband mustn’t know . . . ’
‘There’s no reason your husband need find out.’
‘The children. He’d . . . He mustn’t know.’ She put the pen down. Her hand was shaking.
I waited.
‘It’s been over with Phil for ages. Please don’t tell my husband. He . . . He gets angry sometimes.’
‘Did you go to Phil’s house last night?’
She blinked several times and licked her lips. She’d be wishing she’d asked for a lawyer, wondering what we had on her. ‘No,’ she said. ‘I know the phone calls look bad. But I didn’t go to the house. I didn’t kill him.’
*
I sat at my desk, looking sightlessly at piles of paperwork, deep in thought. Karen Jenkins had been right that her phone calls to Phil in the middle of the night looked bad. And she clearly had been having a relationship with him. It was hard to imagine her slitting someone’s throat, but if he’d finished the affair and she was furious with him, and maybe panicking that he’d tell her husband . . . She seemed the most likely suspect at the moment.
My mind drifted to her odd comment about Abbie’s dreams. I supposed having someone else’s heart inside you was potentially quite traumatic. It made sense that Abbie could have imagined what might have happened to the donor, and got scared. She wouldn’t actually know how the donor died – I knew that would have been kept confidential, but her imagination could have run away with her. Was she imagining that the donor child’s father had had something to do with her death? And then mixing him up with her own father in her dreams? That could have been horrible for Phil Thornton. Was that the reason for his artwork, the obsession with hearts? Intriguing though it was, it was hard to see how it could have had anything to do with his death.
Something slammed down on my desk.
Craig’s backside.
‘Jesus, Craig, you gave me a shock.’
He shoved some papers out of the way and settled down, angled towards me so I could see his flesh straining against his trousers. I needed to stop being so irritated by him – it was like in a relationship gone sour, where every little move sets your teeth on edge. He twisted to look at me. ‘I’ve spoken to one of Karen Jenkins’ colleagues. Karen’s sounding guilty as hell.’
‘What did her colleague say?’
‘He ended the affair. She has debts, and she’s terrified her husband will leave her. And she has a drink problem. The colleague’s happy to come in and make a statement.’
‘Obviously a good friend. I thought I smelt drink on Karen.’
‘Her husband might be violent too, this woman said. Maybe Phil threatened to tell him about the affair, and Karen was frightened.’
‘You got all the gossip.’ I was about to say more, in an attempt to be pleasant, but caught myself. The last time I’d said Well Done to Craig he’d asked if I was going to pat him on the head and give him a doggie biscuit for doing his job.
He sniffed. ‘Yeah, she was well up for dishing the dirt. And she said some bloke had come to the office to see Phil. The guy was furious, but no one knew who he was.’
‘That’s promising. Could it have been Karen’s husband? Could he have suspected about the affair? Or would her colleagues have recognised him?’
‘Not sure. I’m looking into it. And I asked her about the stalker. Phil hadn’t said anything about that. Seems likely it was Karen, but there had been an accident with a kid and Thornton got the blame. So the parents could have had a grudge against him. Apparently it happens quite a bit.’
‘What was the accident?’
‘The social workers took some kids who were in care to the beach, and one of them slipped on a rock and
