The Memory of Blood(57)

‘We heard plenty of unsubstantiated rumours.’

‘I assume one of them concerns the paternity of my son.’

‘Yes. You don’t have to tell me any more, unless you think it has a bearing on the case.’

‘For all I know it might. I assume you’re like a priest? You can’t repeat what’s said outside this room?’

‘I can if it incriminates you in the case under investigation.’

‘I imagine it incriminates me for stupidity, if nothing else. Marcus is—was—Noah’s father. The baby wasn’t planned, but Robert was desperate for a son, so I thought it would all work out—until now.’

‘You think someone did this to get back at you?’

‘Well, what do you think, Detective Sergeant? Let’s see now, who would be the most upset to find out that Noah was not his son after all, but the product of his unfaithful wife and her lover?’

‘That’s a very serious accusation, Mrs Kramer.’

‘Everything I’ve ever done has been about survival. I suppose I thought that having a child with Marcus would help me to survive a loveless marriage. I hadn’t counted on my husband finding out the truth.’

‘You can’t be sure that he has.’

‘It certainly looks that way, doesn’t it? You should see him this morning. He looks like he’s just met his own ghost.’

‘You mean because he’s upset about Mr Baine.’

‘They used to be best friends until Robert started thinking that Gregory was cheating him. Gregory was always getting them into financial scrapes. I imagine Robert is very upset, because he won’t have his money man to bail him out this time. Even if he finds another producer, it’ll be a nightmare trying to put everything right. I heard there’s no question of cancelling the play. They’re going on.’

‘My boss thinks your husband really believes in the Punch legend,’ Longbright observed. ‘Do you think he does?’

Judith Kramer paused to think, qualifying her words. ‘He certainly believes in good and bad fortune. That’s why there’s a puppet in the play that comes to life. It appealed to Robert. He was raised in a very odd family. His mother filled his head with all kinds of nonsense. You’d be surprised how superstitious successful men often are. For all I know, he honestly believes Mr Punch stepped down from his hook and murdered his child. I assume that was the desired effect, and it has been achieved.’

Longbright studied the sallow face before her and could see that Judith Kramer was still suffering from the effects of over-medication. ‘How is your husband coping?’

‘You’ve spoken to him, you should know. I’m not sure anything really touches him. His main goal in life has always been to make something of himself. Now that he’s achieved that, I can’t imagine anything else matters.’

‘I’ve read his statements. The only thing that puzzles me is his move from property into the theatre.’

‘Why?’

‘Theatre people seem—irrational. But I’m a pragmatist.’

‘Well, of course they’re steeped in odd beliefs. They see ghosts and touch wood, ban the mention of Macbeth and wish each other bad luck before performances. If anyone whistles backstage they have to go out of the room, come in, turn around three times and swear in order to lift the curse. But have you ever noticed? The more money people have, the odder they become, and my husband is extremely rich—or at least he was until Gregory died.’

‘There’s no indication that your husband is in any way involved. I have physical evidence against that.’

‘What kind of evidence?’

‘I can fully account for his time at the party, and I hear he has an alibi for last night. He was with you.’

‘Was he? I don’t think I noticed. Anyway, I didn’t say he would do it himself.’ Judith gave a bitter laugh. ‘Robert never does anything himself. He’d hire someone to handle the problem for him. I’m surprised he proposed to me in person.’

‘A lot of men are like that.’

‘Oh, my husband is unique, I assure you. Robert purchased the Punch and Judy puppets just after his first big sale. It was very important that he beat everyone else at the auction, and he didn’t care that he paid far too much for them. There are lots of ugly stories about how he made his money. In one of these tales, he set up a holiday flat-share website for students, bringing a million contract users to it on the promise that he would never charge them for the service. Then he sold the site to a company that immediately started charging them via a loophole he had deliberately left in their log-in forms.’