Like This, for Ever

time.’
    ‘Alone?’
    Gilly shook her head. ‘I was with Stewart Roberts. He owns the boat.’
    ‘How long have you been having an affair with Stewart Roberts?’
    Her chin lifted a little higher. ‘I don’t refer to it in those terms, but we’ve been seeing each other since last November. We meet at the boat, on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Not so much recently.’
    ‘The sixteenth was a Saturday,’ said Dana.
    ‘My husband was out, Barney was at a sleepover. It was an opportunity.’
    ‘Mr Roberts told us there was a period when you couldn’t use the boat. Is that the case?’
    Gilly nodded her head slowly. ‘We couldn’t get into it over Christmas,’ she said. ‘The keys went missing. We still met up, though, we just had dinner or a couple of drinks.’
    So far, their stories matched perfectly.
    Dana reached into her bag and pulled out an evidence bag containing the black glove Lacey had given them earlier. ‘Do you recognize this, Mrs Green?’ she asked her.
    Gilly peered at it. ‘It looks like mine,’ she said. ‘I’ve been missing one for a couple of weeks now. How did you—’
    ‘This fits you?’ Dana asked. Gilly’s hands weren’t big, but the glove looked to be half their size.
    ‘It stretches. It’s a one-size-fits-all. I’ll show you, if you want.’
    Dana looked at the glove again. She didn’t want it removed from the bag. She could Google the make when she got back, but she doubted Mrs Green was lying about that, at least. One more thingto try. Dana moved across the room to stand close to Gilly’s chair. ‘Can I see your hands?’ she asked her.
    A puzzled frown. ‘My hands?’ Gilly Green was looking down at them herself now. They were slim, well-shaped, the nails painted a pale pink.
    Dana held out her own hands, expectantly. Gilly stood up and, rather nervously, held her hands out for Dana’s inspection. Dana looked at the palms, then turned them over to see the backs. ‘Where was the scar?’ she asked her. ‘I’d have thought it might still be there.’
    ‘What scar?’
    ‘You cut yourself on the boat,’ Dana said, keeping up the pretence of looking at the other woman’s hands. ‘A bad cut, from what I’ve been told. You lost a lot of blood. I’d have thought there’d be some trace of it still. But there’s nothing I can see.’
    ‘I don’t remember cutting myself,’ Gilly said, hesitantly.
    Dana felt a surge of excitement. This was a part of their story they hadn’t thought to agree on and it wasn’t matching up. She’d argued all along that a woman had to be involved. A woman and a man, working together. ‘Really? Not on the boat?’ she said. ‘Because we’ve been told that the blood we found is yours. If it’s not, we’ll know very quickly and then it really won’t look good for either of you.’
    Gilly closed her eyes and sighed. She didn’t look nearly as frightened as Dana would have liked. ‘Stewart told you I cut myself ?’ she said.
    ‘Did you not?’
    ‘He was being delicate, Detective Inspector. The blood you found is almost certainly mine. But I didn’t cut myself.’
    ‘So what happened?’
    Gilly’s small mouth twisted. ‘It wasn’t the most convenient time of the month for intimacy to take place,’ she said, looking slightly defiant. ‘But when your time together is limited, you tend not to be too particular. And it was Valentine’s Day. The sheets were a mess, Stewart had to take them home to wash them. I thought I’d cleaned the floor. Apparently not.’
    Damn. All too feasible. And all too easily provable. If the blood turned out to be Gilly Green’s, they had nothing.
    ‘Do you have children, Mrs Green?’
    A startled look. Then a shake of the head.
    ‘Then why the subterfuge? If you’ve met someone else, why can’t you just move on? Stewart Roberts isn’t married.’
    Blue eyes glinted. ‘I do want to move on. And I want to be with Stewart. But leaving Daniel at the moment feels impossibly callous. We did have a son, you see. We lost him to meningitis just over two years ago. He was ten.’
    ‘What do you think, Ma’am? Misguided woman in love or coldblooded killer?’
    Dana ran her hands across her face. ‘Can’t call it either way,’ she said.
    The two officers were outside the Greens’ home. Before leaving for Lewisham police station to be interviewed formally, Mrs Green had given Dana permission to conduct a search of the house. Not having to wait for a warrant would save them valuable