Page 44 of The Trap by Catherine
Angela thought,Who the hell is Caroline?
“CarolineO’Callaghan???” It was clear from Denise’s tone that she thought this was a preposterous suggestion.
Angela remembered now: the friend of Tana Meehan’s who helped out with the families. That was the woman she was going to email her charity-shop appeal to once Denise had had the chance to explain their plan to her.
“That woman is unhinged.” Roland came and retook his seat on the armchair, but the reclining was gone. Now he was sitting forward, elbows resting on his thighs. “I’ve told you before: she’s obsessed with me. She’s convinced I killed Tana and that she’ll be the one to prove it.” To Angela, “It wasn’t me, for the record. Yes, we fought and, yes, I didn’t want the divorce and, yes, a couple of times things got heated. But”—back to Denise—“that doesn’t mean I killed her, so maybe you should gojust check inon Crazy Caroline and tell her that.”
“Yes,” Denise said, sounding bored, as if this was a rant she had heard from him many times before. “But what does that have to do with someone being in Lucy O’Sullivan’s garden?”
“Because Caroline has been hanging around here. She parks her car outside”—he pointed toward the balcony—“and she just sits in it all night, watching me. A couple of nights ago, I got up at, like, I don’t know, three or four, to take a piss, and I saw someone standing out there, completely still, just, like, looking up at my window.”
“And you think it was Caroline?”
“Who else would it be? She’s a bloody nutjob. And maybe it’s not just me she’s doing that to. Maybe she’s watching all the families.”
Denise and Angela exchanged a glance.
“What?” he said. “You don’t believe me?”
“OK,” Denise said. She stood up, then jerked her chin at Angela, motioning for her to get up too. “I’ll have a chat with Caroline about this—”
Roland looked surprised. “Really?”
“—and see what she says, but in the meantime, if you see anyone you don’t recognize hanging around outside, you should report it.”
Roland narrowed his eyes at her, suspicious.
He probably should be, because Angela didn’t think for one second Denise had any intention of actually bringing that accusation to Caroline.
Denise and Angela went to the front door; Roland followed them.
“Thanks for all your help,” Denise said pleasantly. “Don’t forget to call me if you need anything.”
“Ah, nice to meet you,” Angela said.
“It was a pleasure to meet you,” Roland said, meeting her eye. “Until next time.”
Neither of them said anything until they were back in the lift and the doors had slid closed in front of them.
“Jesus Christ,” Angela said, exhaling deeply. “What a creep.”
“He’d love that you said that. That’s what he wants. To unnerve people. Fucking prick.” Denise rolled her eyes. “And that car wasn’t Caroline, it wasus. He’s been under surveillance. But his ego is so enormous that he’s insisting it must be his missing wife’s friend who’s quote-unquoteobsessedwith him.”
“What about that figure he said he saw the night before last?”
“That’s just plain old bullshit.”
The lift doors opened.
“He doesn’t like Caroline,” Denise went on as they exited the building. “I would go so far as to say he hates her. He thinks she’s the one who turned Tana’s parents against him. When Tana was alive, he had a great relationship with them. Because of course he turned on the charm. They probably never met the real Roland. They were shocked when Tana announced she’d left him, and I don’t think she told them the real reason why. They heard it after she disappeared, presumably from friends of hers—but he’s convinced it was Caroline who told them.” Denise rolled her eyes. “And not the whole, you know, his relishing being a suspect in whatever did happen to their daughter.”
They were at the car now, and as Angela reached for the passenger door, something occurred to her.
“You never said it was the back garden.”
Denise stopped too. “What?”
“You never said it was the back garden an intruder had been in, but he did. Was it?”
