Chapter 1
The Present
His blood is all over both of us. Arterial blood, bright with oxygen. My shirt is drenched in it. It’s in my mouth, in my nostrils; I breathe it in, I taste it. Salty and metallic, as if I’ve licked a rusty metal railing.
I rock back on my heels and push the hair out of my eyes. Our mortal struggle has left us both panting, gasping for breath. Ten feet away from me, she manoeuvres herself into a half-seated position, her left arm hanging uselessly at her side.
The knife lies in a glistening ruby pool between us. I don’t take my eyes off her for a single second. Her gaze slides towards the blade, and then back to me.
My phone is out of reach, in my bag by the door. There’s no use calling for an ambulance, anyway. He’s dead. No one can lose that much blood and survive.
There are shouts outside. Running feet. The Beach House is set away from the main hotel, but sound carries across water. Someone heard the screaming. Help is coming.
I see her realise it too. Cradling her dislocated arm, she turns quickly towards the open terrace door, weighing up her chances. It’s only one floor up, there’s soft sand below, but the tide is coming in, cutting off the causeway, and she’s in no condition to scramble up the treacherous cliff steps. She’s running out of time, anyway; the voices are right outside the door.
She looks at me, and gives a small shrug, win some, lose some, then leans back against the edge of the sofa, and closes her eyes.
The hubbub outside intensifies. The door shudders, and then splinters. Two men spill into the room, a press of white faces behind them. I see the shock in their eyes as the gory scene registers. One of them turns and shuts the door, but not before a mobile phone flashes in the crowd.
Now perhaps everyone will finally believe me.
CELIA MAY ROBERTS
PART 1 OF RECORDED INTERVIEW
Date:- 25/07/2020
Duration:- 41 Minutes
Location:- Burgh Island Hotel
Conducted by Officers from Devon & Cornwall Police
POLICE
This interview is being recorded. I am Detective Inspector John Garrett and I’m the Senior Investigating Officer of the Major Crime Team investigating the violent death of Andrew Page at the Burgh Island Hotel earlier today. The date is Saturday the twenty-fifth of July 2020, and the time by my watch is 3.40 in the afternoon. What’s your full name?
CR
Celia May Roberts.
POLICE
Thank you. And can you confirm your date of birth for me?
CR
I don’t see how that’s relevant.
POLICE
Just for the record, Mrs Roberts.
CR
The fourteenth of February, 1952.
POLICE
Thank you—
CR
Anything else you’d like to know about me? My shoe size? My star sign? I didn’t kill my son-in-law. Instead of wasting your time with me, you should be—
POLICE
Mrs Roberts, I’m not being rude, stopping you there, but it’s just important that I get the introduction bit done, so sorry to interrupt you.
CR
(Inaudible.)
POLICE
I realise this must be very upsetting for you, Mrs Roberts. Would you like a cup of tea before we continue?
CR
No, thank you. [Pause.] I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just … we all loved Andrew very much. I can’t take any of this in.
POLICE
It’s all right, Mrs Roberts. We can stop at any time.
CR
I think I’d rather just get this out of the way, so I can be with my daughter and grandchildren.
POLICE
Right, then. Also present with me is …
POLICE
Detective Sergeant Anna Perry.
POLICE
Mrs Roberts, I know this is difficult, but if you could tell us what—
CR
Caroline killed him.
POLICE
You’re referring to his current wife, Mrs Caroline Page?
CR
Yes.
POLICE
Did you actually witness—
CR
I saw that woman standing right beside him, literally red-handed. There was blood everywhere. You should be arresting—
POLICE
Was anyone else there?
CR
My daughter, but—
POLICE
Your daughter being Louise Page? Mr Page’s ex-wife?
CR
Yes.
POLICE
What was she doing when you arrived?
CR
She was on the floor with Andrew. She had his head in her lap.
POLICE
So, just to be clear, Mrs Roberts. You didn’t actually see Caroline Page stab her husband. And no one else was there, other than your daughter and Mrs Page? You didn’t see anyone else go in or out of the Beach House?
CR
There were a couple of groundsmen outside, keeping everyone from going in. And of course a lot of people got there around the same time I did. We all heard the screaming – you could hear it halfway round the island. Min was there, and my son, Luke—
POLICE
But no one else was actually in the Beach House when you arrived, other than the two women?
CR
I told you, Caroline—
POLICE
If we could just stick to what you actually saw, Mrs Roberts. [Pause.] Perhaps we could go back to why you were all at the Burgh Island Hotel in the first place?
CR
[Pause.] My husband and I were celebrating our golden wedding anniversary.
POLICE
Congratulations.
CR
Thank you.
POLICE
So you’d organised a bit of a family get-together?
CR
Yes, we’d been planning it since last summer.
POLICE
And whose idea was it to invite your former son-in-law?
CR
Andrew is part of the family. It went without saying.
POLICE
You invited his new wife, too? How did your daughter feel about that?
CR
They’ve been divorced four years. This wasn’t the first time they’ve socialised together. We all had dinner together a couple of weeks ago, after the children’s school play. Louise is tougher than she looks.
POLICE
According to your daughter-in-law – Min, is it? She tells us she and your son, Luke, begged you not to invite Mr Page and his wife.
CR
Louise told me she didn’t mind.
POLICE
Mrs Roberts, this was a bit more than bumping into one another at a school play, wasn’t it? A whole weekend on an island at a private family celebration with the woman who’d run off, sorry, with her husband. Emotions must have been running high, surely?
CR
I told you, Louise wanted Caroline to come.