Reckless Endangerment(63)

‘Did she say anything when you barged in?’

‘No, but the man she was on the bed with did. The saucy bastard asked if I’d come to join in. But I was only wearing a bikini, so I suppose he thought I was up for it. Or that Sharon had arranged a threesome. It’s the sort of thing she might’ve have done. I don’t mean she’d ever done it before, but I wouldn’t’ve put it past her.’

‘What did this man look like, Cindy?’ asked Dave, pocketbook at the ready.

‘Dishy,’ said Cindy.

‘Could you be a bit more specific than that? How tall was he?’

‘He must’ve been about six-three, I should think,’ said Cindy. ‘Well, I guess he was. It was a bit difficult to tell because he was lying down. He was well-built – very well-built, if you know what I mean.’ She flashed Dave a mischievous smile. ‘To be honest, I didn’t stay long enough to take too much notice of the rest of him. I wasn’t surprised that Sharon was having it off with some guy, particularly that one. But I was annoyed that she’d stood me up. If she’d told me what she was going to get up to, I wouldn’t’ve bothered to ask her for a swim.’

‘What was he wearing?’ asked Dave, pretending to be naive.

Briefly puzzled by the question, Cindy stared at Dave for a moment or two and then laughed when she realized he was teasing her. ‘Nothing, of course,’ she said, and giggled. ‘Neither was Sharon. Mind you, as I said, it was a very hot day.’

‘Did Sharon say who this man was?’ I asked. ‘Did she tell you his name or whether he was English or American? In fact, did she say anything at all about him?’

‘Not until we were on the flight home and she had a little dig at me for barging in on the two of them. She told me that he was British and a frequent flyer, but that was all she said.’

‘Was he on that return flight?’

‘He may have been, I don’t know. But if he was, Sharon was careful not to pay any more attention to him than to the other passengers.’

‘Because of you having caught them in the act?’

‘No, that didn’t worry her, but because chatting up the passengers is a sacking offence in our airline. I’m not saying that it doesn’t go on – the girls hooking up with passengers, I mean – but they don’t brag about it and they certainly don’t show out when they’re on duty. It’s OK for us to meet a guy away from the job, and a few of the girls have married men they’ve met on flights, but you don’t make a song and dance about it. Anyway, I don’t think I’d’ve recognized the guy again, not once he had his clothes on.’ Cindy giggled again; she seemed to giggle a lot.

‘Was that all Sharon said about it?’ asked Dave.

‘Yes, she never mentioned the incident again, and I didn’t either. After all, she was entitled to fuck anyone she liked. It’s just that I was a bit pissed off that she’d agreed to come for a swim and then didn’t show. Like I said just now, if she’d refused and told me that she was having it off with a guy instead, I couldn’t have cared less about it. And I certainly wouldn’t’ve gone looking for her.’

‘You did know she was married, I suppose?’ said Dave.

‘Married! What, Sharon? I don’t believe it.’

‘She was,’ I said. ‘What’s more, her husband was murdered two days before Sharon.’

‘Bloody hell! I never knew she was married. What a deceitful little bitch.’ Cindy shook her head in disbelief. ‘I must say she kept that pretty quiet. She never mentioned a husband and she didn’t wear a wedding ring. Is there a connection between Sharon and her husband both being murdered?’

‘We’re still working on it,’ said Dave, unwilling to disclose that we had sufficient evidence to leave us in little doubt that Sharon was responsible for the death of her husband.

‘About this man you saw Sharon in bed with, Cindy,’ I said. ‘D’you think she was seeing him on a regular basis?’

Cindy shrugged. ‘I really have no idea. I know one shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but Sharon was very much someone who put herself first. And she was a bit of a loner, too. She only very occasionally socialized with the crew on stopovers. The rest of us would spend most of our free time beside the pool or down on the beach soaking up the sun. Not Sharon, though. As I said, she’d sometimes join me for a swim, but I think she probably spent most of the time in bed, and not by herself either. One thing’s for sure: if she did shack up with a guy, he’d have to have been filthy rich. She always said that she was on the lookout for a man who could afford to give her the high life.’