‘Okay.’ There’s something solid and honest-looking about this new guy, Rick. He seems interested, but he’s not pushy like Philip. It makes her feel more inclined to talk. Moira closes her eyes and concentrates on the memory. ‘So I let myself into the pool through the latch gate. It was closed when I arrived, it always is at that time, so I opened it and walked towards the lap pool. The floodlights are motion-activated. As soon as they switched on I saw her. She was floating, on her back, and although I couldn’t yet see her face I knew she was dead.’ Moira opens her eyes. Looks at Rick. ‘It was strange that I could tell, even from that distance. I guess it’s something about how still she was?’
Rick’s expression is serious. ‘Yep. Could be.’
Philip leans closer across the countertop. ‘What did you do next?’
‘I hurried to the pool’s edge. The woman was floating in the middle. She was young, twenties at most, and had long black hair that had fanned out around her head in the water. She was wearing a yellow dress and as I got closer I could see there was blood on her chest and over the top of the dress.’
‘Did you recognise her?’ Lizzie says.
Moira shakes her head. ‘No.’
‘And the money?’ Philip asks.
‘It was in the pool with her. Floating on the surface, like an oil slick made of dollars. There must have been thousands of bills.’
Lizzie clasps her hands together. ‘If it was a mugging, it makes no sense that the killer would leave all the money in the pool.’
Moira meets her gaze. ‘Exactly. Unless they weren’t after the money.’
Rick frowns. ‘You saw something else?’
‘There was a black bag on the bottom of the pool.’
‘Like a handbag?’ Lizzie asks.
Moira shakes her head. ‘I couldn’t see it properly because of all the dollars on the surface, but it was a rucksack, I think. It was just sitting on the bottom which struck me as weird – there must have been something really heavy inside.’
‘You think that’s what they were after?’ Philip asks.
‘I don’t know. Maybe.’
Lizzie tilts her head, frowning. ‘Then why didn’t they take it?’
‘Could be they couldn’t swim,’ says Moira. ‘The lap pool is deep all the way along – no shallow end.’
‘Maybe the perpetrator was interrupted?’ suggests Philip.
‘If it wasn’t a mugging, and they weren’t after the cash, could be they did take what they wanted.’ Rick runs his hand across his jaw. ‘We just don’t know what that was.’
Lizzie shakes her head. ‘But who leaves that much cash behind, even if it wasn’t their main motivation? If it was just floating there . . .’
‘Well, isn’t that the million-dollar question?’ Rick looks from Lizzie to Moira. ‘Were you there when the crime-scene team pulled the bag from the pool?’
Moira nods. ‘Yeah, but I was too far away. I tried to move closer but the cops stopped me. I didn’t get a clear look.’
‘But?’ Philip prompts.
‘But nothing.’ Moira frowns at him. ‘Like I said, I couldn’t get close enough. As they fished the bag out the detective, Golding his name was, came over and asked me a few questions, and after that the paramedics insisted on me going back to the ambulance. You know the rest.’
‘I’m guessing you didn’t think too much of the detective?’ says Rick.
She gives him a small smile. ‘That obvious, huh?’