Strike sat across from Aidan's fiancée with a patient, neutral expression. Something about his imposing height and size, at odds with his respectful restraint, drew women to him. Rebecca was no exception as she wiped more tears away.
"God, sorry," she half-laughed, half-sobbed. "I keep thinking I've reached the point where I think there can't possibly be any tears left in me to cry anymore. And then I start talking about Aidan and…" she blew into her tissue and added it to the pile in the wastebasket at her feet.
Strike didn't say anything, but watched her kindly. Rebecca had been open and willing to answer any questions. She had a friendly manner, and had welcomed him into the flat. It was hard not to let his pity override the interview: this likeable young woman in her early thirties had had her life come crashing to a horrible halt.
"Anyways." She gave her head a small shake. "To answer your question, yes, Aidan really did love his job to spend all that time there. I always thought that was a cliché – to love what you do. But he did. He really did."
"And you never thought there was more to it than that?" Strike asked gently.
"You mean, an office affair?" said Rebecca with a small smile at him, surprising him with her astuteness. "It had crossed my mind, at the beginning. What man spends that much time late at the office? But then I got to know his co-workers, and they're all friends. They're all so passionate about marketing."
"Which co-workers would these friends be?" asked Strike.
"Oh, they all got along at that place. To the point where it was annoying." She smiled fondly and reached for another tissue. "But Aidan spent most of his time with Blake. And Steve. Oh, and the new guy. Matt." Strike fought an inner surge of instinctive dislike at the last name. He made a note to check out the names he had just been given.
"How close was Aidan to his sister?"
"Oh, Amelia…" Rebecca sighed. "She's…she's had a lot to deal with, Amelia. So different from Aidan. She always seemed to be in the middle of some extreme problem with her job, her boyfriends…you know their parents were always very worried about her."
Strike remained silent.
"Amelia was constantly calling Aidan, needing help with some crisis. It felt like I was always watching him leave in the middle of the night to go rescue her. He loved her, he couldn't stand to see her in pain. He had eternal patience with her."
"Don't get me wrong," Rebecca put out her hand as if to stop an imaginary protest. "I like her. I love her. I think of her as my sister, too. She had a very up-and-down life, but…she loved Aidan more than anything."
Rebecca toyed with the frayed ends of the tissue in her hands, then looked directly at Strike. "And I think she's right about Aidan's death. I don't think it was an accident either."