Tooth for a Tooth (Di Gilchrist 3)

had been sucked from it. ‘Which was what she had planned, of course. To return home. But she surprised us all by leaving early. Well, at least, that’s what we thought at the time.’
    ‘Can you remember the last time you saw her?’
    ‘It was just before I left for my birthday. A couple of days, I think, which would put it around the eighteenth or nineteenth of February. We went out for breakfast together, just the two of us. She promised to keep in touch. I just thought . . .’
    Promised to keep in touch
. ‘Did you write to her?’
    ‘Twice. But I never heard a word. Now I know why. Andy, is it really her?’
    ‘We think so,’ he said at last.
    ‘Oh, my God,’ she gasped.
    He held on to the phone, waiting for her to continue.
    ‘I can’t believe it. When she talked about leaving, I always thought we would meet up again. Kelly would visit Wales. I would visit the States. But when she never replied, I just thought she wanted nothing more to do with me. I thought it was something to do with Jack. I just never would have thought. What happened to her?’
    Again, he ignored her question. ‘After breakfast, then what?’
    She sniffed, then said, ‘I drove to Wales.’
    ‘Long drive.’
    ‘Old car. When I think back on it, I shudder.’
    ‘When you last saw Kelly, did anything strike you as odd?’
    ‘Not a thing. She was excited, looking forward to going home. She gave me a present. Made me promise not to open it until my birthday. I felt really bad about it because I never got the chance to buy her anything.’
    ‘What did she give you?’
    ‘A pen,’ she said, and tried to laugh. But it sounded tired. ‘I was going to be a romance novelist. Kelly was going to write a book. The dreams of youth . . .’
    Indeed. He had dreams of his own to be Chief Superintendent one day. ‘When you came back from Wales, did you notice anything odd?’
    ‘Odd?’ A pause, then, ‘Yes. I did. Her bed was stripped.’
    Gilchrist let that comment filter through his mind, but came up with nothing. ‘Why was that odd?’
    ‘They were my sheets. I bought them. Pissed me off at the time, let me tell you. Fitted, they were. And only a couple of months old.’
    ‘Why would you buy sheets for Kelly’s bed?’ Gilchrist had to ask.
    ‘Guilt.’
    Now he really was lost. He waited, his silence urging her to go on.
    ‘One of my boyfriends. God, I can’t even remember his name. How sad is that? Anyway, whoever he was threw up all over Kelly’s bed.’
    Still, Gilchrist felt lost. ‘What was your boyfriend doing in Kelly’s bed?’
    ‘He wasn’t. He was trying to make it to the bathroom, opened the wrong door and projectile-vomited on to Kelly’s bed.’
    Gilchrist let that image settle. ‘And where was Kelly?’
    ‘Out with Jack, best I recall. Which was just as well.’ She seemed to force a giggle. ‘I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was furious.’
    The thought of someone bursting into Kelly’s bedroom and vomiting all over her had Gilchrist gritting his teeth. He forced that thought away, and said, ‘And you promptly washed the sheets—’
    ‘– and scrubbed the bed. But money was always tight back then, and buying a new mattress was out of the question. I offered, of course, but Kelly just laughed it off and helped me turn the mattress over.’
    Kelly just laughed it off
. If he closed his eyes, he could almost hear her. It was one of the things he had liked about her. Her ready smile. Her joie de vivre. Nothing seemed to trouble her. Whenever Jack brought her home, the entire household seemed to liven. With her blue eyes, blonde hair and sparkling smile, she was like a splash of American colour on a grey Scottish canvas. And she always parted by blowing
Jack’s wee brother
a kiss.
    ‘God, how we lived back then,’ Rita continued. ‘I sometimes wonder. And come to think about it, do you know what else I thought was strange? Her room was spotless. Not like she’d just cleared it out, but like she’d scrubbed it clean.’
    Gilchrist felt a shiver tingle his spine. Had Rita unknowingly glanced upon a murder scene? Had Kelly been murdered in her room? Had her killer known Rita as well, known she was in Wales for her birthday? And if so, would her killer also have known of Kelly’s intention to return to the States? And with that thought, Gilchrist saw that the killer might have known his brother Jack, too.
    But he was still missing something.
    ‘How long did you remain in the flat?’