Struck by Lightning

26. Does That Make Me Crazy?

As expected, Ivo decided to stay away. He had an apartment the other side of the city, Amanda assumed for other women, perhaps for prostitutes. She didn't care. He kissed her goodbye promising to be at the end of the phone if she needed him. He said he would cover her legal bills too; that she didn't owe him anything. While a relief, it didn't help with the constant fear that had gripped hold of her.

Klok agreed to meet at the house rather than his office, for which she was grateful. Her symptoms were getting worse and she knew she couldn't face travelling across the city. After making him a strong coffee she led him up to the roof terrace so they could talk.

An interesting character, he looked as though he'd once been a good-looking man, but now overweight and tired, with broken veins across his cheeks and nose. She'd noticed on the couple of times she'd met him that his hands were always trembling slightly, and he had a deranged laugh suggesting he might be on the verge of a breakdown. But if Ivo rated him, she had to trust him.

"So this is where you were when you saw the fire?" he asked, walking to the edge and looking out, one hand buried in his pocket, the other clutching the coffee cup.

A nod from Amanda as he glanced back at her.

"And there's really no one who can corroborate your story?"

"No, I was just here, writing on my laptop," she said miserably.

"Do you have the laptop? Perhaps your browsing history or the times you saved documents would prove you were here," he suggested.

Her eyes lit up. "Oh yes, I hadn't even considered that. I'm terrible at saving my writing as I go though. And when I'm writing I shut everything else down. But let me see."

She disappeared inside and grabbed her laptop from the kitchen table, dashing straight upstairs with it under her arm.

Klok sat beside her as she booted it up, hope filling her up as she realised this could potentially be the evidence she needed. But her internet history showed nothing the night of the fire. And looking at her documents there was no time stamp during that time either.

"Don't be despondent," he said. "Let me give your laptop to my investigative team and they can see if there is anything at all in the background that proves you were using it."

Amanda handed it over and wrote down her password. There had to be something. "I should warn you, my internet history in general will probably look quite strange, but it's all just research for my novels."

Klok raised an eyebrow but didn't question it further. Instead, his focus shifted. "Now, tell me about your relationship with Mr Young. Everything, even if it sounds incriminating."

Amanda filled him in on her history with Freddie but stopped at the point they were reunited after she'd discovered he'd bought the bookshop, unsure how to continue. She bit her lip. "You're not allowed to tell Ivo anything I tell you, right?"

"Everything you tell me is in complete confidence," he assured her.

"In that case, Freddie asked me on a date and I went. It didn't lead to anything; I told him I was seeing someone else. But I can't say I wasn't tempted. We had unfinished business. He came to the house once while Ivo was away."

"You had sex with him," Klok said, nodding.

"No. No, of course not. But I don't want Ivo to find out, that's all."

"OK. But you have to be honest about it if you go to court. They'll use this to build a case that you have motivation to hurt him."

"But if they find any evidence, they'll see it didn't end badly."