Dying Eyes (9 page)

Price lingered by the door. “The girl’s parents are here. You’d better bloody tell them what you’ve found and get them out of my police station before I let them loose on the boy myself.”

Jonny whispered something to Danny. Danny’s voice was rising, getting more het up and uncomfortable. Cassy stepped up and walked towards the door.

“Something wrong, Danny?” Brian asked.

Danny’s eyes were red. His hands shook as if a volcano inside his flesh was waiting to erupt.

Jonny Marsden stood up and eased Danny to his feet. “I think that’s enough for one day, don’t you, Detective?”

“Danny, if there’s something you have to tell us, tell us. Otherwise you’re getting thrown to the wolves whether you like it or‌–‌”

“I wasn’t cheating.”

“Right, come on.” Jonny tried to link his arm through Danny’s and squeeze him out of the other door.

“McDone.” Cassy and Price stood by the door, hesitating and mumbling to one another as the shouts of Nicola’s mother grew closer to the interview room, definitely beyond the front desk.

“What do you mean, you weren’t cheating?” Brian asked.

The duty solicitor pulled the door open and poked his head out to check the coast was clear. Danny followed with his shoulders slouched.

“Danny, tell me what‌–‌”

“I wasn’t cheating, because she was seeing someone else.” He disappeared through the door and out into the safety of the corridor.

Chapter Ten

Dealing with the newly bereaved never seemed to get any easier.

Shenice Watson threw herself at DI Price as Brian and Cassy walked out of the interview room.

“If he’s in there, I’ll fucking kill him myself,” she shouted. “I’ll fucking kill him myself!”

Brian glanced at the door where the duty solicitor and Danny had made their escape.
She was seeing someone else.
Who was she seeing? He needed to know.

He walked over towards Shenice Watson, held back by her husband and a police officer. His face was blank and expressionless as his wife’s reddening, manic eyes shot evil glances at everyone in her path. She was like an escaped zoo animal, desperate not to be dragged back to the cage. Apparently, anger was the second stage of grief.

“Mrs. Watson,” Brian started. “We need you to just listen‌–‌”

“I’ve done enough listening.” She launched herself free of Price’s arms and towards Brian. Her husband, half-heartedly holding his wife back, just stared into space.

Brian continued to edge closer to her. “Mrs. Watson, please, we just need to talk to you about a few things.” He raised his hand to rest it on her shoulder. She hit it away, continued to scrap at it, but her protestations grew weaker and her eyes welled up with tears. “Please, Mrs. Watson…”

Brian reached for her, and she tumbled into his arms. At first, she tried to break for the door of the interview room, but Brian pulled her head to his chest. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said. Trevor Watson stared at Brian, allowing him to comfort her as she whimpered and snivelled into his uniform.

“It’s just…‌my girl, my baby girl…”

Cassy and Price squinted at them, hunched forward in case Shenice made another runner towards the interview room. Other than Shenice’s nonsensical whispers, complete silence radiated through the corridor.

“Shenice, it’s time we had a sit down again and speak about things, I think?” Brian said. “You go in that room there. Cassy will bring a coffee through for you. And we’ll talk. Talk about where we’re at, and what we know. That’s okay, isn’t it?”

Shenice yanked herself from Brian’s arms. For a moment, Brian thought she would make a lunge for the interview room door again, but she stumbled back towards her husband, who still hadn’t said a word.

“How’s that sound? Mr. Watson?”

“Was it him?” he asked. His sharp, cold stare seemed to gaze into Brian’s soul.

“It’s too early to‌–‌”

“We’re treating him as a witness,” Cassy interrupted. “But we’re keeping an eye on him.”

Trevor Watson snatched his wife’s hand. She reluctantly interlocked fingers with him. “Find him. Find him, and get back to us when you’ve found him. No more fucking around. Just…‌just find him.”

Holding hands, he and his wife lurched down the corridor, escorted by a short police officer Brian didn’t recognise.

“What about that coffee?”

“Just find him,” Trevor said, dragging his wife along. “We’ll sit down and have a coffee when you find him.”

They disappeared through the door.

Brian lowered his head into his hands as Cassy let out a huge sigh.

“Bit of good news and bad news to cut through the misery,” Price interrupted. “Bad news is Danny Stocks has an alibi. The blonde piece is named Heather Graham. Confirms that she had a one-night stand with Danny. Good news is one of the lowlifes from ‘round the Foster Road area is coming in. Keeping it anonymous. He’s due in at one o’clock.”

“Get Daniel Stocks back in that interview room as soon as possible,” Brian said, and barged past Price.

Price frowned. “I beg your pardon? Did you not just hear what I said? He has an alibi. And more importantly, someone’s coming forward with information. Could be exactly what we’re looking for.”

Brian looked Price directly in the eye. “Daniel Stocks just told me that he and Nicola Watson weren’t even together at the time of her death, because she was seeing someone else. If that doesn’t scream motive for murder to you, then I don’t know what does. Get him back in this room, and lock that half-witted solicitor in a cell for ten minutes if you have to.”

Price was initially speechless. “There’s technicalities to that. But I’ll get him back in here later. You can’t just go following your little hunches every time you get one. It’s never got you anywhere in the past. Anyway, speak to this bloke we’ve got coming in. See what he has. If he has nothing, I’ll get Stocks back for a chat. I suppose the girl could be covering for him.”

Brian bit his tongue. “Time’s he due in, again?” He tried not to sound too intrigued.

“About five minutes. One o’clock.”

A weight dropped to the bottom of Brian’s stomach. One o’clock.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

“You all right, Brian?” Cassy asked.

Brian yanked his phone from his pocket. A text from Vanessa: “Where r u? X” She’d definitely said one o’clock. He had no excuse.

“I…‌Cassy, you see to the bloke we have coming in.” Brian tossed his phone back into his pocket and broke into a jog down the corridor.

Cassy’s eyes widened, and Price looked on the verge of exploding. “What d’you mean‌–‌?”

“I’ll be ten minutes,” Brian called. “It’s really important. Start speaking to the guy. I’ll be back soon, I swear.”

He trotted down the office stairs and out into the cold, then headed towards the city centre. He was already out of breath.

At least now he had an excuse to get some proper frigging exercise.

Chapter Eleven

Vanessa was already leaving Costa when Brian finally stumbled into the town square, out of breath and drenched in sweat. She wore her big wool coat, the one he bought her, and was looking over her shoulder and checking her phone.

“Ness,” Brian called, as loud as he could. It came out as a whimper. His heart would probably throw itself out of his chest if he ran any farther. Exercise‌–‌who needed it, anyway?

Vanessa did a double take as she saw the sweaty, chubby man pounding down the street towards her. Hooded youths whispered to each other and sniggered. Other people gave him funny looks. Vanessa’s cheeks blushed as she glanced down at her feet.

When he reached her, Brian stooped over to catch his breath. He wiped his fingers through his damp hair. “Ness, so sorry I’m late.”

Vanessa shuffled around in her handbag, trying not to make eye contact with Brian. “It’s okay; I just wanted to…‌to give you some forms, anyway.”

Brian’s stomach sank, especially as he’d done all this running. “Can we at least go and sit down? Have a drink?”

Vanessa continued to rustle through her leather bag, her cheeks growing pinker as she peeked up at passers-by. Brian stood beside her in a sweaty white shirt, unbuttoned at the collar, leaning back as if he’d just run a marathon.

“How’s Davey? Where is he?”

“At school. He’s fine.”

Brian scratched the back of his neck. “And you, are you…?”

“I’m fine.” She pulled out a brown envelope from her bag and handed it to Brian. He grabbed it with damp palms and stuffed it under his arm.

“I’d better go, anyway,” she said. “Obviously now’s not a good time.” She turned away and signalled an oncoming bus.

“Oh, come on, Ness. Don’t be like this. I had work. It completely slipped my mind. Just this case, it’s really getting deep, and‌–‌”

“And that’s why now’s not a good time,” Vanessa said, staring into Brian’s eyes. It was the first time they’d been connected properly for a long while. But he didn’t feel that warmth he used to, back when things were good.

“Read through the forms. Get your case sorted. And then get in touch. You look a mess, Brian. I don’t want Davey seeing you like this, especially after last time.” She diverted her stare to the ground.

Irritation weaseled its way up his trachea. She’d always turn to what happened back in September‌–‌the reason he’d taken a few months off sick. Always.

“Come on, Vanessa, for God’s sakes. It was an accident. It’s just with everything going on…‌Davey doesn’t have to worry about anything, and you know that.”

“Your five-year-old son constantly asks me why his daddy doesn’t come home anymore,” Vanessa snapped. “You have no idea of how much shit I‌–‌we‌–‌have to put up with.”

“Ness, I’m sorry.” A lump grew in his throat. “It won’t happen again.”

“No, it won’t, Brian. You need to keep on visiting the doctors, like we agreed. You need to finish your case, and you need to get yourself straight. I’m so sorry if I sound insensitive, Brian, but I can’t risk our son going through all that again. I want him to see his daddy like he used to be, not like he saw you in September.”

“Ness, I‌–‌”

“I’m sorry, Brian,” she said, and stepped onto the bus.

Brian stood in the rain and watched as the bus disappeared. He felt completely lost as avid shoppers rushed past and chavs cycled by on their BMXs outside Footlocker and McDonald’s.

He walked up the hill towards the library, heading back to the police station. Stuck outside in the rain again, with nobody for company. What an idiot. All he had to do was remember to meet her at lunchtime. That one little thing‌–‌that was all he had to remember‌–‌and he’d blown it. His phone vibrated in his pocket. He ignored the first three vibrations, then pulled it up to his ear without bothering to check who was calling.

“Hello?”

“The bloke she was seeing was pretty financially well off,” the male voice said. Brian’s eyes widened, and the spring in his step returned.

“What…‌Danny? You do realise the sort of shit you’re opening up for yourself by making this phone call, don’t you? You’d better have a good reason for this.”

“Okay, okay. I couldn’t speak before with that suit dragging me out of the room.”

“I’m sure you couldn’t. Got off nice and lightly there, didn’t you?”

“I know what it looks like, but I’m trying to help you here.”

“How did you get my number?”

“Your card. I picked one up on the way out of the station. Seriously, listen to what I have to say.”

Brian sighed and began to rush back to the station. “Right. Who was she seeing? You’d better bloody talk to me, okay?”

“I don’t know. But I found out about him that night. Yes, I know how that looks, but I didn’t fucking kill Nic, all right? I slept with a girl as a rebound. I didn’t kill Nicola. So I’m assuming she went back to his place that night.”

The words rang through Brian’s skull. He wasn’t sure what to think. “Very convenient, Danny. Very convenient. This other guy‌–‌tell me what you know about him. How long had she been seeing him? Anything, just anything.”

Danny paused before speaking again. “I don’t know, and I wish I could tell you, but I noticed she was being a bit weird. Saying she was spending more time on this charity job. I didn’t think anything of it, but now I think back, yeah. She was probably seeing someone else all that time.”

Brian waddled across the road and stepped under the shelter in front of the Guild Hall. Buses ploughed through the rain, splashing puddles onto the pavements. “So you think‌–‌”

“All I know is that she was probably seeing someone else for a while, and he was probably well off.”

“What makes you think he had money?”

“He gave her a bracelet. Silver one. I dunno much about jewellery, but it was all right. But she only wore it once. Never told me where it came from. Shrugged it off, and then I didn’t see it again. Just…‌the more you think about things…‌Yeah.” The other end of the line buzzed. “That’s all I know, I swear.”

The line went dead.

Brian made his way back to the station. The rain washed away the sweat on his body. Something wasn’t quite right. He didn’t want to believe Danny. His gut told him he was more involved than he’d been letting on to. But the bracelet. And the “seeing someone else”. He’d have to have another think about things. He’d have to bring Danny in and have a proper chat with him.

Price and Cassy were already waiting for him at the top of the stairs when he reached the station.

“Nice of you to join us again, fatty.” Price folded his arms. “You’ve got a bit of explaining to do.”

“Detective Inspector, I‌–‌”

“It’s all right, McDone,” he said. “Your partner here’s done half the work for your lazy ass. Cassy, brief this fucking dodo, would you?” He turned away and bombed back down the corridor towards the main offices. Cassy was shaking.

“What’s going on?” Brian asked.

“A charity car.” Cassy’s shifty eyes met Brian’s.

“What do you mean, ‘a charity car’?”

“The man who we brought in at one o’clock. I spoke to him. He saw a bloke leaving Foster Road around one a.m. in a black charity car. That’s just minutes after Nicola Watson’s death.” She pulled a magazine from underneath her arm.