‘Yes. You need to clear the air with him.’
‘I’m not calling him now. Not with you here. You’ll say something idiotic.’
‘I won’t, I promise. Go ahead.’
Webley gets out her phone. She gives Cody a warning glance before calling Parker. After just a few seconds she hangs up again.
‘Straight to voicemail,’ she says. ‘I’ll try again later.’
‘Okay, but when you do…’
‘Yes?’
‘Tell him he’s in deep stubble.’
This time the blow to Cody’s bicep is less of a slap and more of a punch that actually hurts.
‘Fuck off, Cody. You’re such a knob sometimes.’
21
Love on the Rocks
– Neil Diamond
This house in Alderley Edge is even bigger than the Selby place in Caldy. Cody reckons it must have at least six bedrooms and probably as many bathrooms. Over the course of a single day you’d probably never have to pee in the same place twice.
The man who comes to the door looks to be about forty. Even though he’s dressed casually in jeans and a sweatshirt, the clothes look expensive and new, with designer labels – not like the tatty old things Cody throws on when he goes home.
The route through the hall takes them past a set of golf clubs sitting alongside a trophy cabinet, obviously placed there to catch admiring glances. They continue into a living room which is the size of an auditorium and contains white leather furniture, pale oak cabinets and a woman who also seems to have been strategically placed here to attract admiring glances. She is certainly beautiful and is wearing a long blue silk dress that probably cost more than all of Cody’s clothes put together. He wonders whether she always dresses like that or has gone the extra mile to receive today’s delegation.
Cody says, ‘Thank you for agreeing to see us today, Mr Faber.’
‘No problem, call me Ross. This is my wife, Nisha.’
‘Pleased to meet you,’ Cody says, shaking hands.
‘Would you both like tea?’ Nisha asks.
‘That would be lovely. Thank you.’
For some reason, Cody expects Nisha to tinkle a little bell, summoning a servant to take the beverage order. Instead, Nisha glides out of the room, leaving them to it.
Cody says, ‘We understand that one of my colleagues has already been in touch with you about Alexa Selby.’
‘Yes. It’s such terrible news. Alexa was lovely. I liked her a lot. Are you any closer to catching her killer?’
‘It’s why we’re here now. As my colleague would have told you, it’s imperative that we speak to Alexa’s husband about what’s happened.’
‘Yes, I can understand that. Although I really don’t think that Oliver could have had anything to do with it.’
Cody nods. ‘Hopefully that’s the case. The problem we’ve got is that Oliver has completely disappeared, and we’re really struggling to find any trace of him.’
‘It’s all so surreal. I really don’t understand what could have happened. I tried calling Oliver myself when I heard the news, but I just can’t get hold of him. It’s like he’s been abducted by aliens or something.’
Or he’s gone into hiding because he’s a murderer, Cody thinks.
Webley says, ‘When’s the last time you saw him?’
Ross looks up at the ceiling as he thinks about this. ‘Oh, it must have been about five, six months ago. Way before Christmas, anyway.’
‘Uh-huh. We’ve been told that you and he are close friends.’
‘We are. We’ve known each other for donkey’s years. Since university, in fact. When I lived on the Wirral, we saw each other all the time. Used to meet on the golf course at Hoylake or Heswall. And then I was his best man, and he was mine. I suppose that’s when things started to change – after getting married, I mean. I got a new job in Manchester and moved out here, we had two kids, Oliver was really getting into his jewellery business… You know how it is.’
Cody doesn’t know how any of that is, but he nods anyway.
Webley says, ‘What were Oliver and Alexa like together, as a couple?’
‘Great. They were made for each other.’
‘I’m not sure what you mean by that.’
‘Nothing. They were a perfect couple.’
Cody gets the impression that Ross is being evasive. He thinks about pursuing it further, but then Nisha walks back in with a tray and supplies his answer.
She says, ‘He means they were two of a kind.’ She sets the tray down in front of the detectives and begins to pour. ‘They liked the same things. Expensive things. Fast cars, a nice house, designer clothes.’ She smiles when she notices Webley looking around the room. ‘Yes, I know what you’re thinking. We like those things too. The difference is that we put our relationship first.’