Page 87 of Twisted Lies
‘We’re here about your former employment with Matrix Enterprises.’
‘I’m sorry but I can’t really discuss that.’
‘We know what it is, Ms Dixon. We know that the company is the financial institution that supports the witness protection programme.’
‘Okay,’ she said cautiously but offering nothing.
‘You left your job recently?’
‘Is that a crime, Officer?’ she asked with a smile, but the tension had crept into her face.
‘Not at all, Ms Dixon, but we’re just curious about the timing in connection with a case we’re investigating.’
‘I’m really not sure how I can help you, Officer. I dealt with money. I paid bills. I set up direct debits. I had no particulars on people. I saw no names.’
That would explain why she had made no link to the murders in the news and her own role at Matrix Enterprises.
‘So why did you leave?’ she pushed. Kim could understand that the woman wouldn’t have had access to the vital information of names and reasons, but she still didn’t like the coincidental timing of the murders and this woman leaving her job. She’d be happy to have a decent reason for her leaving a job she’d been in for more than ten years.
‘I needed some time out. I’d been through a lot with my marriage break-up, and it was just time for a change.’
Kim thought that was one of the weakest excuses she’d ever heard. She’d have preferred a reason she could believe.
‘Now, if you don’t mind, Poppy needs a bath,’ she said, standing.
Kim followed suit. She had no more reason to push. She had no evidence linking the woman before her to any part of the investigation, but there was a sense of suspicion in her stomach. Bryant’s open expression told her he didn’t agree and was ready to leave.
She headed for the front door and glanced again at the peeling wallpaper.
She turned before her palm met the door handle.
‘I’m sorry, Ms Dixon, but quite honestly I don’t believe you.’
Amelia Dixon bowed her head and burst into tears.
Seventy-Six
Kim sat back down and waited for the woman to get herself together.
All the signs told her Amelia had not reacted well to the breakdown of her marriage. She’d surrounded herself with dogs, probably seeking company. She’d allowed jobs her husband had most likely done to deteriorate. A photo, probably of the two of them, had been removed from the mantelpiece and never replaced.
She suspected Amelia had enjoyed being a married woman and ached to get her old life back. Unsure, newly single, wounded, hurt, confused and, above all else, lonely. One of the easiest emotions to exploit.
‘It was an email that started it. A polite, self-effacing, humorous email asking if I was the Amelia Dixon from Littletown High School, in Staffordshire, that he was trying to track down.’
Kim managed to stifle the groan as the woman tapped her own head lightly.
‘I know it’s on a level with “I have a huge investment waiting for you in Nigeria, Kenya, Libya if you’ll just send your bank details”, but there was something just so authentic about it.’
She took a breath. ‘I replied, explaining that Dixon was my married name and that I wasn’t the girl he was looking for. He replied, saying that was a shame, as she’d been his high school sweetheart and after losing his wife to cancer he was hoping to reconnect.’
It was getting harder for Kim to keep the groan in her mouth.
‘Anyway, we fell into easy conversation back and forth. We talked about our partners and sympathised with each other. We’d email a few times each week. I was comfortable. He wasn’t asking me for anything, and I was enjoying the contact. I really felt that he understood me.’
‘So…’ Kim prompted.
‘One night, I realised it had been a few days since I’d sent him a message and he hadn’t replied. I was concerned, so sent a quick message to check on him. He immediately replied, saying he was about to check on me, as I hadn’t replied to his message. I searched and I hadn’t received it.
