Dead Man’s Daughter. Roz Watkins

her body rejecting the heart, and about cancer developing. She needs biopsies all the time – her poor arms are always full of needle marks. And she can’t have pets because of the risk of infection. I even have to keep her away from Minxy here.’ She pointed to the ancient cat, who’d sloped into the room and crawled onto the windowsill between us. ‘I mean, for someone like Rachel, who’s always struggled with her nerves, it was a recipe for disaster. It made her more and more anxious.’

      ‘And Abbie’s nightmares?’

      ‘She did have problems. Apparently it’s not uncommon. Phil said he had them after his transplant – he had to go abroad for his and it was hard. But for a child especially, it’s a scary thing to have someone else’s heart. Anyway, Rachel had this idea that Abbie was remembering things from the heart’s past life. So, you see, she’s not stable. She may believe Abbie killed Phil, but it’s not true.’

      ‘So, what do you think happened on Sunday night?’

      ‘Someone else must have killed him and then poor Abbie must have wandered through. She does sleep-walk. And then Rachel found them and drew the wrong conclusion.’

      ‘Do you have any idea who might have killed him?’

      Patricia took a breath right into her stomach and gulped. ‘Okay. Right. Phil met someone a few times and wouldn’t tell Rachel who it was. Whether he was having an affair or something else, I don’t know. But you should look into it. And you should talk to that scientist man. There was something strange going on there.’

      ‘Which scientist man?’

      ‘Michael Ellis, he was called. He was from the company that made the immunosuppressant drugs Abbie’s on, only he’d left because he was concerned about their safety.’

      ‘What did he say?’

      ‘Something about a drug Abbie takes. Unusual side effects. But he was worried people were after him, not wanting him to talk. Maybe he told Phil too much, and that got Phil killed.’