Make Believe (15 page)

It was ha
rd now to pull apart the two cases, as if the details resisted being untangled.  It made any analysis more complicated.

Janine froze, the skin on the back of her neck prickle
d and she took a quick breath. 
Woken by the builders.
  Wasn’t that a contradiction?  She rifled through the statements.  Yes.  There.  She found the other reference. 

She picked up
the pages and went to the door of her office.  Called out to the team.  ‘Statements from Ken Stafford – second statement, quote: “Saturday, back from the night shift, just got off to sleep when the builders start up.”  Luke Stafford tells us his dad complained about it.’  She pulled out the other page.  ‘The initial door-to-door testimony from Ken Stafford, and I quote, “Don’t see them for days, then they’d turn up at the crack of dawn”.  Join the dots.  If they are so bloody lazy then why do they suddenly pitch up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday morning?  Lazy builders on the job before daylight.  It’s the builders we should be talking to.  The bloody builders!’

‘Breeley and McEvoy,’ Janine said, ‘pull together everything we have so far, every whisper, every mention we have of them and do background checks.  I’ll give you half an hour then we’ll see what it tells us.’

When they
re-assembled Janine got the ball rolling.  ‘Both men have been working on the site for six weeks.  Owner’s abroad?’

‘
That’s right,’ said Lisa, ‘we spoke to him to verify that.  And he’s hired them before and had no complaints.’

‘
OK, starting with Joe Breeley,’ Janine said.  ‘Breeley has an alibi for the early hours of Saturday morning from his wife.  If it is him – his wife is covering.  Breeley has an alibi, but Donny McEvoy doesn’t.  McEvoy lives alone, no family.’

‘
That make it any more likely?’ Richard said. 

‘
No-one keeping tabs on him,’ Janine said.

‘
Has its advantages,’ Richard muttered.  Although he was contributing, he kept giving her dirty looks and his manner was decidedly frosty.  To do with last night, she assumed. 

‘
Breeley was fixing the car when we first went round,’ Richard said, ‘their car broke down, on the Friday afternoon, the eighteenth of April.  AA were called out.  Mandy was driving.  So if that was out of action, if it was Breeley, he’d have used his van to move the body to the site.’

‘
From?’ said Janine.  Shrugs and shakes of the head.  If only they knew.  She thought about her visit to the Breeleys, had there been anything off-key? 

‘
Breeley had been on the sick,’ she said.

‘
Yes,’ Richard agreed, ‘that’s what he said at first then he changed his story, said that the weather was slowing work down at the house so he hadn’t been in.’

‘
Bit odd,’ Janine said, ‘young family to feed, and he’s a steady reputation, wouldn’t you want to be bringing in the money?’

‘
Might be paid for the job.  Do the hours as and when,’ said Butchers.  ‘Common enough in the building trade.’

‘Yes, he said as much,’ she remembered. 
‘Anything else on Breeley?’

No-one
spoke.  ‘ OK then, Donny McEvoy.’

Shap said,
‘McEvoy was already at Kendal Avenue when Breeley turned up for work on that Saturday.  Plus McEvoy was there when the body was recovered, he didn’t actually find the body but …’

‘
He’s shown a very public interest in the case,’ Janine said.  That type of  close involvement was a feature of killers on occasion, a combination of fascination they had with the awful deed they’d committed, a need to be at the centre of attention but also a useful way they could keep tabs on what the police were doing.  ‘Is he just after his fifteen minutes or is there more to it?  He’s been eager to talk to us so far …’

She looked at Shap who nodded.

‘Right see if he’s happy for us to take a look round his place.’

‘
The murder scene?’ Lisa asked.

‘
Worth a look,’ Janine said, ‘anything to suggest the victim was there.  Or at the other site where McEvoy’s been working?  Find out if he’s access there out of hours.  We ask both men in turn about that early morning visit on Saturday nineteenth.  Given the fact that McEvoy has no alibi and he’s been rubber-necking I think we have grounds to bring him in and talk to him here.  Shake him up a bit.  Let’s get cracking.’ 

As the meeting broke up she was aware
of the tension between herself and Richard.  She could have ignored it but she didn’t want it to fester.  ‘Richard?’ she said, ‘A word?’

She moved with him to her office, made sure to shut the door, hoping for privacy.

‘Is this about last night?’ Janine said.

‘
What?’ he said.

‘
This: the glacial tone, the moody stare?  Did I pop your balloon?’

He rolled his eyes. 
‘You were a right cow to Millie.  You could barely say her name, ‘Millie,’ he mimicked Janine.  ‘Patronising her, sticking your nose in.  Maybe you don’t remember?  That was just before you made a complete prat of yourself with the boss.  What is your problem with Millie?  Is she some sort of threat?’  Richard was livid, hands on hips, his eyes burning.

‘
I work with her, I don’t have to like her,’ Janine said.  ‘Have you seen today’s papers?’  They were making much of the confusion of the cases, pointing the finger at the police.

‘You’re blaming Millie for the coverage?’ he said, incredulously.  ‘She’s doing her best in a very difficult situation.  You know what that’s like, to be up against it.  You’ve been there.’ 

He was right.  She had been there, got the DVD.  She was being a cow because she was pissed off with Pete. 
Pete and bloody Tina.  And Millie, with her poise and her brains, her youthful beauty and her claim on Richard, had been a handy target.  She missed her mate Richard, she missed the buzz there used to be between them, the easy company, the patter and the unspoken support.  She winced as she recalled bawling out Richard over talking to Millie about the case and then omitting to inform Millie about Felicity Wray’s arrest.  Petty behaviour.  She wasn’t being straight with him.  Janine swallowed.  She did not want to be like this, act like this.  As if she was no longer in control.

‘
It’s just,’ she said, ‘I’m just—’ she looked away, down the corridor.

‘
What?’ he said irritably.

‘Tina’s having a baby,’ she blurted it out.  ‘
Pete always told me he didn’t want any more children.  That was something we had.  He didn’t even have the bottle to tell me himself,’ she said sadly, ‘I had to hear it from the kids.  I hate the whole idea of it.’

‘
But you and Pete, it’s finished, right?’ he said, some confusion in his eyes.

She sighed.  ‘I’ve told him I want a divorce.’

He was still puzzled.  He didn’t get it, he really didn’t get it.  ‘Well, what d’you expect,’ he said, ‘you can’t have it both ways.’

Janine was stung.  B
efore she’d formulated a response Richard had walked out.  Well, that went well, she told herself.  She felt like crying but contented herself with kicking her desk, which brought tears to her eyes.

She was startled by a knock on the door. 
Christ!  Couldn’t she have five minutes peace?
She sniffed hard, sat down.  ‘Yes?’ she said.

Millie opened the door. 
‘I’d a voicemail from Richard, I thought he was here.  Sorry to bother you,’ she said formally, making to leave again.

‘
Come in,’ Janine said.  ‘We’ve had a break, he probably wanted to tell you – Ken Stafford’s statement puts one of the builders at the scene early Saturday morning.’

‘
Who?’ Millie said, alert.

‘
Can’t eliminate either of them yet,’ Janine said.

‘
Anything else?’ Millie said.

Was she
expecting an apology?  Janine felt discomfited but decided that keeping it all professional was the best way forwards.  ‘You could issue a statement: new information has given us some positive leads.  I’m very hopeful.’

‘
That true?’ Millie said.

Was it?  Hardly.  Janine didn
’t dare to be very hopeful any more.  Hope was a scarce commodity.  ‘No.  It feels like I’m smacking my head against a brick wall, actually, but that doesn’t scan so well.’

‘
I could dig around a bit, do an archive search?’

Janine
accepted the offer.  It felt like an olive branch of sorts.  ‘Thanks, that’d be great.’

Janine watched her go.  She was so pretty, young too, Janine guessed a good ten years younger than Richard and her.  And obviously good at her job. 
And am I not
, Janine asked herself.  Where had all her confidence gone?  All that energy and conviction?

McEvoy sat beside a duty solicitor and Janine was sure he was still enjoying the attention.  He made a show of watching keenly as she loaded the tape and did the preamble to the interview.

‘
I’d like to talk to you about your whereabouts on the nineteenth of April, the Saturday,’ Janine said.  ‘In your statement you said you arrived for work at approximately nine am.’

‘
That’s right,’ McEvoy said.

‘
We have a witness who heard work start at Kendal Avenue much earlier,’ Janine told him and watched his face change, the expression of avid interest changing to one of consternation.

‘
It can’t have been me.  I didn’t get there till nine,’ McEvoy insisted.

‘
Were you the first?’ Janine said.

‘
Yes,’ said McEvoy

‘
When did Joe Breeley show?’ Richard asked.

‘
Just after.  You think he might have something to do with it?’  McEvoy leant forward, mouth forming a salacious smile.

‘
You’re the one in the interview room,’ Richard pointed out.

‘
That’s bollocks,’ McEvoy reared back.  ‘I went round to sort out the flood on Monday, I was the one reported it.  Why would I do that?’  He looked askance.

‘
You tell me,’ Richard said.

McEvoy sa
id nothing and for the first time Janine felt he was taking on board the seriousness of the situation.

‘
You’re a true crime fan, am I right?’ Richard said.

McEvoy nodded
.

‘
You’ll know then, that there are some people who attract particular attention in a murder inquiry,’ Richard continued.

McEvoy c
ouldn’t resist showing off.  He nodded eagerly, ‘Family and close friends.’

‘
Also the last person to see the victim alive, the one who finds the body, anybody showing an excessive interest in the case and a person who returns to the scene of the crime,’ Richard said.

‘
That’s three out of four,’ Janine said unsmiling.

‘
No way,’ McEvoy shouted.  ‘You’ve got it arse over tits.  I was working there and I called in the flood.  That’s just circumstantial that is.’

‘
You’ve been trying to sell your story to the papers.  What exactly is your story?’ Janine said.

‘
It’s human interest, it’s in the public domain,’ he said.  Then he became defensive.  ‘I’m entitled—’

‘
What vehicle do you use for work?’ Richard said.

‘
An old transit,’ McEvoy said.

‘Diesel
?’

‘
Yeah, why?’

‘
Handy that – if you wanted to move something, hide something,’ Richard said

‘
I’m not hiding anything,’ McEvoy said hotly. 

‘
As you know we have a team searching your house.  Are we going to find anything there?’ Richard said.

‘
No, nothing, nothing at all.’  He wasn’t smiling anymore.

‘
Do you know who the child is?’ Janine asked.

‘
No!  Look, you’ve got it all wrong,’ he said, ‘the papers, and that, I was just trying to help.  That’s all.’

He stuck unwavering
ly to his account of arriving at work on that day at nine and no earlier.  As the interview went on he pleaded with them to believe him.  ‘Honest, on my mother’s grave,’ he said more than once.

They let him go with a warning that they might well want to speak to him again.

‘What do you think?’
she said to Richard.

He shrugged, shook his head
.  ‘Don’t know.’

No
, she thought,
neither do I
.