Chapter Thirty-Five
‘He’s in a hurry.’ Sue pulled hard on the steering wheel to avoid a collision with Bill who didn’t even seem to notice she was there. ‘Where d’you think he’s going?’
Blair shrugged. ‘How should I know? He’s always off doing his own thing, never thinks to keep anyone else informed.’
Sue reversed into the space Bill had vacated. What Blair had said was true, but she detected a note of disapproval in his voice. ‘You don’t like Bill much, do you?’
‘I never said that.’ He got out of the car and slammed the door with more effort than was required.
She joined him on the pavement. ‘OK, keep your hair on.’ But she reckoned she was right and Bill would have to watch his back when Blair was around.
Blair strode out in front of her, leading the way into headquarters. The smell of his aftershave was overpowering in the confined space of the lift and Sue was glad when they exited into the corridor.
Kate was studying the whiteboard when they walked into the team room. ‘How did you get on with Mrs Carnegie?’ She didn’t look round.
Sue flung her coat and bag on the chair and joined her. ‘She’s some weird lady,’ she said, ‘and she seems to think her daughter-in-law, Paul’s ex-wife, killed him.’
‘That was to be expected, she certainly has no love for his wife and family.’
‘It’s more than that. Apparently Diane Carnegie went to see her and there was a brawl which resulted in Patricia Carnegie handing over Paul’s address to Diane. Mrs Carnegie wants to press charges.’
Kate tapped the pen she held against her teeth. ‘Everything seems to lead back to the Carnegie family. I think we need to pull Diane Carnegie in for questioning. See if you can find Murphy, and the pair of you go and bring her in.’ She looked round the team room. ‘Where is Murphy, anyway? He’s never here when you want him.’
Jenny looked up from the computer screen. ‘He left a short time ago, said he’d something he had to do.’
Sue looked away, it was evident Kate was annoyed. But she said nothing, although Sue would have laid bets she wanted to.
‘Saw him driving out of the car park as we arrived.’ Blair had a self satisfied smile on his face.
Sue glared at him. The man was a prick.
‘He’s probably following up a lead.’ Sue knew she should have stayed quiet.
‘Then he should have shared it.’ Kate’s response was swift.
‘It’ll be something he’s not sure about and he’s checking it out first.’
‘Your loyalty is admirable, but perhaps misplaced.’
Sue bit her tongue. She wanted to tell Kate that Bill was one of the best investigators on the team, even though he often went out on a limb because he was focused on the investigation. But she knew Kate wouldn’t be receptive, and it would probably make things worse for him. Instead, she said, ‘What’s our next plan of action.’
‘We bring Diane Carnegie in for questioning. As Murphy isn’t here, it’ll have to be you and Armstrong again.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ Sue would rather have had Bill with her than Blair Armstrong, but Bill wasn’t here and she was stuck with Blair.
* * * *
Jade lay on her bed, relishing the emptiness of the house where not even the tick of a clock broke the silence. It was at times like this when the family were gone she felt at her most free.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. The room hadn’t changed much since she’d slept there as a child. Her fingers brushed the tiny teddy bears pinned to the headboard, and she smiled at the memories they invoked. Emma’s bed looked different though, with the more up to date duvet covering it while hers still had the candlewick bedspread, pink with embroidered roses. She’d always thought it looked prettier than Emma’s yellow one. When it was time to reveal herself to her family she would make sure she got a duvet as well. It wouldn’t do to live in the past.
The old computer still sat on the table in the corner of her side of the room, large and beige with the chunky monitor, not like the modern one downstairs in the study with its sleek flat screen. She preferred the study one and used it when the house was empty, like it was now. There were times she’d nearly been caught when Emma came back unexpectedly, and she often wished she could stay around to witness Emma’s puzzlement.
She wandered through the house touching things, finding out their secrets, the things they hid from each other. Like Ryan’s silk pyjamas and undies, she could imagine him wearing them. But he’d always been on the effeminate side, although he usually managed to hide it.
When the doorbell rang, Jade debated whether to answer it, or whether she should return to her hiding place, but what did she have to lose. She swung the door open before she had a change of heart.
When she saw the policeman standing on the doorstep, her eyes narrowed. Bill Murphy his name was, and he had a thing for her mother. She didn’t like that, and she didn’t like him. Her mother needed protecting, because all men were predators. Maybe her day wasn’t going to be wasted after all.
Bill smiled. ‘Is your mother in, Emma?’
Jade smiled back. ‘No, but she won’t be long. You can wait if you like.’ She stood back to allow Bill to enter. ‘I was about to put the kettle on if you fancy a cuppa.’
‘That would go down a treat.’ Bill followed her to the kitchen.
She flicked the light switch, the kitchen was always in semi-darkness because of the large tree outside the window, then she smiled again and nodded at the table. ‘Sit down and I’ll get it.’ Her fingers closed on the two jade beads in her pocket and the pill nestled beside them.
‘I wanted to talk to you anyway, Emma.’
‘Oh, and what would that be about?’
‘I wanted to ask about your father. How you got on with him? When you last saw him? That kind of thing.’
Jade’s hand tightened on the kettle’s handle. ‘I have no interest in him, and I haven’t seen him since he left.’ She poured hot water into two mugs, each containing a teabag and one of them with the added pill.
‘What about your mother? I understand she went to see him.’
‘I don’t know anything about that.’ She laid a mug in front of him. ‘Why would she want to go and see him?’
‘I don’t know, Emma. You tell me.’
She watched him sip the tea.
‘Ryan’s the one who missed him. Maybe you should talk to him.’
‘Oh, I intend to. But we need to talk to your mother first, because she was seen outside your father’s flat.’
Jade shrugged. ‘She went to ask him about Jade. She thought he’d know where she was.’
Bill nodded.
Jade noticed his eyes were unfocused. It wouldn’t be long now.
His hand slipped on the cup’s handle and he seemed to be having trouble holding it.
‘Something the matter?’ She removed the cup from his hand. ‘Better put that down before you spill it.’
‘That’s better.’ She sat on the chair opposite and studied him. She had plenty of time to do the needful. Her mother was at work and Ryan had said he’d wait for her to finish before he returned. It would be hours before they came back.
Bill slumped further down in the chair. His eyes had a puzzled expression but they seemed to bore into her, and she didn’t like it.
‘Time for your injection.’ She patted his arm. ‘I won’t be a moment.’
She left the kitchen, went to the hiding place where she kept her stash, and selected a syringe and a packet of the pure white heroin that had cost her so much. The white was better than the rough brown stuff the druggies used, because she could mix it with water and didn’t need citric acid.
Returning to the kitchen, she put the heroin and water in a spoon, flicked her lighter on and held the flame under the spoon. It was a moment before it bubbled and reached the constituency she wanted. She flicked the lighter off and replaced it in her pocket. ‘It won’t be long now,’ she said, avoiding Bill’s eyes.
While she filled the syringe she hummed a tune her mother used to sing to her when she was a child.
‘Ready now?’ She walked over to Bill. ‘We’ll need to get your arm out of the jacket though.’ She lifted the arm and pulled it out of the sleeve, unbuttoned his shirt cuff and rolled the sleeve up. ‘That’s better. You won’t feel a thing.’ She plunged the syringe into his arm. ‘There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?’
Chapter Thirty-Six
Phil nudged Ryan’s back with his shoe. ‘That’s your initiation over, mate,’ he said. He grinned at Gus who was adjusting his trousers. ‘Time to celebrate.’ He slung his arm round the younger man’s shoulders, and the two of them left the gents washroom, leaving Ryan on his own.
Ryan didn’t move. He lay face down on the floor with the smell of disinfectant so strong in his nostrils he wanted to puke. The marble tiles sent chills coursing through him, and he struggled to pull his trousers up to hide his shame. Pain burned in his nether regions, increasing as he pulled his knees up to his chest. He felt sticky and unclean and was shaking all over. How could he ever face anyone again. He wanted to die.
All those romantic notions he’d had, the curl of desire in the pit of his stomach when he saw Phil, and it had ended like this. A grotty assault in a men’s loo, an ordeal he’d thought was never going to end. A tear trickled down his cheek and he started to cry, quietly at first, until the sobs increased in intensity to match the shuddering of his body.
A hand touched his shoulder. It felt red hot against his skin. He recoiled, thinking Phil and Gus had come back.
‘It’s all right, they’ve gone. I was worried about you, and when I saw them leave I thought I’d better check.’
Ryan struggled to get his sobbing under control and looked up.
It was the girl from behind the bar. The one who didn’t make him feel inferior. The one who had tried to warn him about Phil. He wished now he’d listened to her. He could see her eyes taking in the situation, but there was no condemnation in them.
‘Are you OK?’
Was he OK? Of course he wasn’t OK. He felt like shit, but no way was he going to tell her that. He looked away from her and nodded, afraid to speak in case he broke down again.
Her hand tightened on his shoulder and she seemed to hesitate before she said, ‘Let’s get you out of here in case they come back.’ She held out her hand to him.
A surge of panic overtook him and he started to shake again. The thought of the two men returning spurred him into grasping her hand, and he stood up. The suddenness of the movement made his head swim and he clutched one of the sinks, leaning over it in case he was sick. He ran the cold tap and splashed water in his face. The dizziness and nausea abated, although it didn’t make him feel any cleaner.
‘My laptop.’ He looked around and saw it lying against a cubicle door.
‘I’ll get it,’ she said. ‘Now come on, let’s get out of here.’
She took him by the hand and led him out of the washroom, over to the bar, and into a small room behind it. She placed his laptop bag on one of the chairs, pointed to another one, and said, ‘Sit, and I’ll get you a drink.’ She left the room, quickly reappearing with a glass in her hand. ‘Drink this, you’ll feel better.’
Ryan sipped the liquid. It burned all the way down to his stomach. ‘I don’t drink whisky,’ he said. ‘In fact I don’t drink much at all, maybe wine with a meal, sometimes.’
‘Drink it,’ she said. ‘It’ll make you feel better.’
Her eyes seemed to have increased in intensity, and Ryan wasn’t sure whether they were green or grey, but they had these amazing flecks of brown in them. They had a hypnotic effect and he raised his glass and swallowed. She was right, though, he did feel better after he’d finished it. He leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes, maybe another one would deaden the memory of what Phil and Gus had done to him. He held the glass out to her.
‘I told you it would help.’ Her voice seemed to come from a distance.
He opened his eyes. ‘Thanks, you were right.’
She took the glass from him. ‘My stint here is finished until later tonight. If you want to clean up and have a shower you could do it at my flat.’
Ryan studied her, not sure whether he was being propositioned. She seemed embarrassed by his stare and shook her brown hair with its amazing crimson streaks, so that it fell over her face. He usually felt intimidated by women, who all seemed to be taller than he was, but Kara was small and slim, not much bigger than him, and she was attractive. However, Ryan wasn’t interested in women or girls, although he was no longer sure he was interested in men either.
‘My mother,’ Ryan said, ‘she’ll expect me to drive her home.’ The thought of facing his mother after what had happened, and in his present condition caused a shudder of humiliation to vibrate through his body.
‘She’s already gone,’ Kara said. ‘One of the doormen came up to tell me she’d left you the car, that’s why I came looking for you. I should have interrupted what was going on, but I couldn’t. I knew Phil and Gus were in there with you, but I’ve had a run in with them before and they scare me.’ She shivered. ‘But the offer is there if you want it, and it would let you get cleaned up before you drive home.’
‘OK,’ he said, not sure what he was getting into.
Kara slung Ryan’s laptop bag over her shoulder and he followed her out of the club, and down the stairs.
The back door swished shut behind them. Ryan paused a moment to breathe in the fresh air. It was good to be outside again after the claustrophobic feeling of the night club. The weather had changed since he’d entered it a few hours previously, the sky had darkened with a thundery look, and spits of rain pricked his face. The car still sat where he’d parked it.
‘My flat’s in the next street. We don’t have far to go.’
The flat was up two flights of stairs in an old tenement, they wound upwards inside a turret shaped stairwell attached to the rear of the building. A large window halfway up barely illuminated the stairs because the glass was dirty, and a smell of cats and rotting rubbish hung in the air. Kara stopped outside a door that looked as if it hadn’t seen a paint brush for many years. She unlocked it and led him inside.
‘We’re here,’ she said. ‘It’s not much and it’s only temporary until I get something better.’
Ryan nodded. It wasn’t as clean as his mother’s house, but nothing could be that clean.
‘The shower’s in there.’ She pointed at a door. ‘There’s clean towels on the rail.’
The shower room was small, not much bigger than a cupboard, but the water was hot and Ryan let it flow over him until all the dirt and grime washed away. However, it did nothing for his inner feelings of uncleanliness, which he thought would be with him forever. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been in the shower when he heard the tap on the door.
‘I’ve made tea,’ Kara’s voice was muffled. ‘And I’ve sponged some of the marks off your clothes. They don’t look so bad now, although they may be damp in places.’
He turned the water off. ‘Thanks, I’ll be out in a minute.’
The bath towel was large and he knotted it round his waist before exiting the shower room.
‘Feel better now?’
He nodded. Heat rose from his neck into his face and he wondered if he was blushing. What did Kara expect from him? ‘Look, I’m not . . . I can’t . . . ’
Kara laughed. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not coming on to you. I only wanted to help. I’ve been in a tight spot with Phil and Gus before and I know what it feels like. By the way, if you’re thinking of involving the police, you need to know Phil’s a killer. He wouldn’t think twice about topping you.’
‘Police!’ Ryan hadn’t even considered it. ‘The last thing I need is cops knowing about what happened and making snide comments behind my back.’
‘Good thinking. Now get your clothes on while I go into the kitchen and pour the tea.’
Ignoring the drips from his hair, Ryan dressed as fast as he could. He was towelling his hair when Kara returned.
‘Hot and sweet, get it down you before you go.’
The tea was sickeningly sweet but Kara indicated it was good for shock, so he swallowed it before taking his leave.
It didn’t take him long to drive home after collecting the car from Teasers’ car park. Once he got there, though, he was reluctant to get out, the shame from what had happened burnt too fiercely within him. He sat, breathing deeply until his nerves felt less frazzled. He couldn’t sit there forever. It was time to face his family and act as if nothing had happened.
The house was quiet and at first he thought no one was in, however a light shone in the kitchen, his mother had probably returned home. The door slammed behind him. He’d meant to close it quietly but it slipped out of his fingers. He hesitated, then ran up the stairs. He would shower again before he faced his mother and Emma.