‘No,’ she says, but then something occurs to her. ‘Yes. I see Mrs Selby’s car outside. Usually, it is not there. When I come into the house, I call out for her. I say, “Hello, it is me,” but she does not answer. So, I think she is not here.’
‘All right,’ Webley says. ‘So, you finished the bathroom, and then you went into the master bedroom, yes?’
Mrs Hernandez nods fearfully. ‘Yes.’
‘And that’s when you found Mrs Selby?’
Mrs Hernandez brings a hand to her mouth to stifle a sob. With her free hand, she makes the sign of the cross.
‘You knew she was dead, is that right?’
‘Yes. I know that. I know she is dead. She is all…’ Mrs Hernandez waves an open hand in front of her face, and Webley knows instantly what she still sees.
‘It’s all right. You’re doing really well. What did you do after you found her?’
‘I run downstairs and find phone in my bag. I call police.’
‘Good. You did the right thing. Did you tell anyone else?’
‘I try. I call Mr Selby, but he does not answer phone.’
‘Tell us about Mr Selby,’ says Cody. ‘Where should he be now?’
‘At work. He has shop.’
‘A shop? What kind of shop?’
‘He sells, uhm…’ Mrs Fernandez fingers the cross on the chain around her neck, and then points to her wedding ring.
‘Jewellery?’
‘Yes, jewellery. He makes them and he sells them in his shop.’
‘And where is the shop?’
‘Heswall.’
‘And what about Mrs Selby? Does she have a job?’
‘Yes. Small one. She does exercises.’ Mrs Hernandez moves her arms out to the sides and back again to illustrate her point.
‘Exercises? You mean a fitness class?’
‘Yes. Also in Heswall. The leisure centre. She was very healthy lady. But now…’ Tears well in her eyes, and Webley snatches a tissue from the box and passes it to her.
‘Did Mrs Selby have many visitors to the house?’
‘Visitors? No. Mr Selby, he does not like this. He is very, mm…’ She searches for the word, but it seems to escape her. She joins her arms in a circle in front of her chest for a brief moment, then breaks the circle to display an open palm to Cody, as if warding him off.
‘Protective?’
‘Si! Protective. He like people to see him with Mrs Selby but not to be close with her.’
Webley is starting to build a picture of Alexa Selby as a trophy wife – the jeweller’s shiniest trinket, constantly clipped to him and on display, to be admired but not touched. Such relationships infuriate Webley, whether they be the fault of a domineering and abusive husband or a submissive, gold-digging wife.
‘Did you ever hear them argue?’
‘Yes. He does not like her job. He say he does not want men staring at her in the class. But Mrs Selby, she say she needs to get out of the house and see other people. She tell me this.’
‘Did she seem unhappy when she told you these things?’
‘Yes. I think she was very sad person. Very beautiful but very sad.’
The remark stays with Webley. She and Cody continue to put their questions, but at the end of it all, Webley is still in philosophical mood.
Alexa had money, thinks Webley. She had money, she had beauty, she had a gorgeous house, she had a handsome husband. But what is all that without happiness? What is all that without love?
Without those things, what is the point of life?
4
Can’t Buy Me Love
– The Beatles
They pull into a council car park behind Heswall Library, a drive of just over ten minutes from the Selby house. The marked police car eases in next to them. They have come in force because there is a distinct possibility that Oliver Selby is the one responsible for his wife’s murder, and that, if guilty of said crime, he might not be willing to surrender without a fight.
‘Good library, this,’ Cody says as he turns off the engine. ‘Nice bookshop up the road, too. Linghams, it’s called.’
