Blood Ties by Jane A. Adams Page B

arrangements . . . Well, a bit of reassurance wouldn’t come amiss, you know.’
    Andrew Dean was not entirely mollified. ‘I can ask,’ he said reluctantly. ‘Anyway, what makes her think the old man had a visitor?’
    â€˜Oh, you must have noticed the teapot and mugs? Well, apparently Eddy was meticulous about tidying up. She’s convinced he must have had someone visit and that Eddy didn’t have time to clean up before he died. It worries her.’
    â€˜Oh, right.’
    Naomi could feel him running back through his mental account of the night, trying to recall if he’d even noticed the mugs on the kitchen table. ‘So, he had a visitor. That doesn’t mean his visitor shoved him down the stairs.’
    â€˜No, of course it doesn’t. Another drink?’
    â€˜Better make it a soft one. I’ve got to drive home. Look, I’ll give Mrs Rawlins a call in the morning, tell her she’s got nothing to be concerned about. Accidents like this happen all the time.’
    â€˜And will you give me a call when the PM has been done?’ Alec said.
    â€˜You’ll still be down here then?’
    â€˜Oh yes,’ Naomi told him sweetly. ‘Two more weeks, probably. We’ll have to have dinner together again before we go. Maybe you could bring your wife next time.’
    â€˜So,’ Naomi said as they drove back to the farm. ‘What do you think?’
    â€˜I think our Sergeant Dean likes a quiet life and that’s what he usually gets. I’m sure he did have a quick glance around downstairs, checked everything was locked up tight before he left and so on, but I doubt, until tonight, it even crossed his mind that what he saw wasn’t necessarily the whole story. Susan would have told him about the frayed carpet, probably said how often she’d warned Eddy, and he’d have thought no more about it. Just a tragic accident.’
    â€˜Do you think he’ll talk to the pathologist?’
    â€˜Yes,’ Alec said, ‘I think professional pride will force him to. Not that he’ll mention being prompted, of course. By then it will have become all his own idea, but that doesn’t matter so long as he asks – and so long as he then calls me, I’ll be willing to forgive him his other sins of omission.’
    â€˜You think he will call you?’
    â€˜Ah, now that’s another matter. I think he’s just hoping we’ll cut our holiday short and go home. That’s probably what I’d be thinking in his place.’
    Naomi laughed. ‘What will you tell Susan?’
    â€˜I think, more to the point, will be what Susan will tell me . And that will be that she’s now feeling foolish and hopes we didn’t think she was being hysterical, and that while she’s grateful for my help so far, she’s fine to carry on without it.’
    Naomi nodded. ‘You could be right,’ she said. ‘It’s bad enough losing a friend, but to think someone might have deliberately taken that life away is often so much more difficult to come to terms with. She’ll want to back off from that. Want you to as well.’
    â€˜Which, of course, I can’t now,’ Alec said.
    â€˜Which, of course, you can’t,’ Naomi agreed.

TEN
    A quiet few days followed. They ate at The Lamb in the evenings, toured the countryside during the day, asked politely after Susan’s welfare in the evenings. They were told that she was coping, though there were two evenings when she left her undermanager in charge and when, he confided, she didn’t even want to answer the phone, never mind face the customers.
    Alec had been right in his assumption. She’d been polite and thankful for their involvement, but now wanted to get everything dealt with and put behind her. She was embarrassed by her own worries and hopeful that Alec would let things be. Alec duly backed off, but Naomi could tell he