Skin Deep (30 page)

‘She’s not well.’

‘Yeah, I could tell. But she’s up and at ’em now. Snapped right out of her black dog, she has. Let them deal with it. You’re her kid – they expect her to give them grief.’

I pulled back from Cole, though I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay where I was – safe. ‘I didn’t do it.’

He mussed my hair. ‘I know that, you stupid bastard.’

‘I did have a fight with him though. My DNA might be on him. I think they’ve got the results back.’

‘Yeah, so Karen told me.’ He gripped my face between dinner plate hands. ‘Now listen – you tell them everything. You tell them it was your mum who said you should keep quiet. You tell them she’s ill. You tell them all that, you hear? Exactly what’s wrong with her. Whatever it takes. You get me, Ryan? You don’t know what they know so all you’ve got is what really did happen that night.’

But Jenna . . . I couldn’t tell them that . . .

I realised there was something I hadn’t said to him. ‘Thanks, Cole. For coming. I didn’t know . . . I didn’t . . .’

‘No need for that.’ He butted his head on mine. ‘Now focus, we’ve got to get you out of here.’

The solicitor turned up not long after Cole arrived. ‘Ryan Gordon?’ He held his hand out. ‘I’m James Gregson.’

‘I didn’t do it,’ I said immediately, then I realised I was supposed to shake hands with him. ‘Oh, sorry.’

‘He definitely didn’t do it,’ Cole said. ‘Now tell him what to say to get him out of here.’

‘Well, um . . . now, it doesn’t quite –’

‘Christ!’ Cole sighed and slumped into a chair. ‘Just explain his rights to him.’

Gregson briefed me. I didn’t really understand it, but Cole did. Then two detectives turned up, both guys in their thirties. They introduced themselves and sat down opposite me.

I nodded at them, my mouth dry when they asked if I was ready.

‘Can you tell us in your own words what happened on the night Steven Carlisle was killed?’

‘I got home from work. Me and Mum had a row and I took off to the shop in the village. I bought some vodka and Carlisle jumped me when I came out. We had a fight and some woman from a cottage came and yelled at us. Carlisle ran off and I went the other way.’

‘And this was around what time?’

‘Half six-ish.’

‘Go on.’

‘I didn’t want to go home because my mum was mad at me so I headed over to my girlfriend’s. I drank the vodka on the way over to hers. I let myself into the feed store next to where she stables her horses. It was cold and I was feeling dizzy from the booze so I pulled some straw out of a bale and crashed out on it. I didn’t wake up until next morning and I stayed there until it got light.’

‘So the last time you saw Carlisle was around half-six?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why did he attack you?’

‘He doesn’t like me.’

The detective doing the questioning stared at me, his eyes unreadable. ‘Why?’

‘Because I’m a traveller. Because I’m seeing Jenna and he’s got an attitude over her dad running that campaign.’ I remembered Cole’s words about being straight with them. ‘Because I decked some guy he knows when he did something really shitty to my girlfriend.’

He consulted his notebook. ‘This would be the incident at Whitmere Rugby Club?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Take us through that.’

I went over it all again: how I’d decked Ed, then how Carlisle came after me, how he threatened me when the guy from the club split us up.

‘Did you take his threats seriously?’

‘No, I just thought he was a bigmouth showing off in front of his mates. You get used to it when you’re a traveller. And I didn’t see him again until that night in Strenton.’

‘Did you kill Steven Carlisle?’ the second detective broke in, catching me off guard.

‘No!’ I swallowed and tried to stay calm. ‘No. The last time I saw him, he was alive and running off. I swear.’

But they didn’t believe me. I could see it in their faces.

I sat cross-legged with my back against the boat door
.
Half-five, and a sliver of moon stood out from behind the clouds over the willow trees. It lit the water beneath silvery grey. The rest of the canal bank lay in darkness.

I pulled my coat tighter round my body and hugged my knees to my chest.

He should have been back by now. And where was Karen?

A fox screeched from the willow copse, setting my teeth on edge.

Mum and Dad would know I’d snuck out by now. They were supposed to be going out for dinner. They probably wouldn’t now.

My phone rang – Dad.

‘I’m fine,’ I said over him yelling. ‘I’ll be back later. Leave me alone.’ I snapped the phone shut and set it to silent. He called again and this time I blocked the call.

I leaned my head on the door and waited.

The clouds moved and covered over the moon.

In the distance, I heard an engine thrumming through the night, a motorbike, a big one. It halted on the bridge for a minute and roared off again.

I tucked my hands into my sleeves to defrost my fingers.

Feet crunched on gravel. I turned the torch on and flashed it to the towpath.

Ryan blinked as the light hit his eyes.

‘Where’ve you been?’ I jumped up, knees stiff, to go to him, but he got to me first. His arms went round me and I could feel he was shaking. ‘What’s happened?’

‘Tell you in a minute,’ he said, hunching down so he could bury his face in my neck.

It’s not another girl
.
It’s OK
. I rubbed his back. ‘Can I come in?’

He let me go. ‘Yeah, sorry. Sorry, you’re freezing. I’ll get the fire going and put the kettle on.’ He fished in his pocket and pulled out a key.

I let him get the woodburner going and brew the tea in silence. He put the mugs on the table and tugged me on to his knee, hanging on to me as if he needed to do that to hold it together.

‘What’s up?’ I whispered.

‘Got taken in for questioning by the police.’

‘Why?’ I sat up straight.

‘Carlisle.’

‘But –’

‘They took my DNA on Monday. It’s back.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me? And it can’t be back already. Dad’s took weeks.’

‘I didn’t want to worry you. And it took ages with your dad because they had to do the forensics on the body. Matching mine up was quicker. The solicitor reckons they might’ve asked it to be rushed through.’

‘But how can your DNA be . . .?’ I stopped as understanding dawned.

‘The fight. They’ve got me on him.’

‘But –’

He stared up at me with pleading eyes. ‘I didn’t kill him.’

‘I know.’ I kissed his face. Again and again, scattering them over his skin. He sat and let me as if he was drugged. ‘They’ve let you go though, so it’s OK now.’

He shook his head. ‘I don’t know. It might not be.’

‘What did you tell them?’

‘The truth. About the fight and crashing in your stable. They didn’t seem surprised. I think they knew I wasn’t with Mum. She went out a few times to look for me that night. Maybe someone saw her and they found that out. They’ve been questioning lots of people.’

‘But you’ve got an alibi.’

‘No, I haven’t.’

‘Ryan, you did tell them you were with me?’

‘No.’

‘Ryan!’

‘It doesn’t matter. I could’ve done it before you found me.’

‘No, they questioned us, don’t forget – it happened later. Tell them.’

‘You don’t know that for sure and your dad is going ape with you already.’

‘So what? Don’t be stupid. This is a murder. My dad having a strop is nothing compared to this.’

The door opened and Karen came down the steps followed by a man carrying a couple of bike helmets under his arm.

‘You got the fire going. Nice one,’ the stranger said and he flopped into a chair by the stove, stretching out heavy booted legs. ‘Jesus, Karen, have you got any whisky? I could do with one.’ He nodded at me. ‘All right?’

I’d seen men like him before. Crowds of them gathered in the summer outside the pubs around Whitmere. They’d rip down the roads on their bikes, overtaking cars in a sudden explosion of noise that made my dad jump and swear when they passed us.

‘This is Cole,’ Ryan said, stroking my arm.

Oh! I looked past the hair and tattoos and found a friendly pair of eyes looking back at me. He winked. ‘Don’t need him to tell me who you are.’

Karen passed him a mug of whisky and faced us. Her mouth opened, ready to launch at Ryan. Cole grabbed her hand. ‘Not now, Kaz. Leave him. He’s had enough.’

To my surprise, she backed off and sat down in the empty chair beside Cole. ‘Hello, Jenna,’ was all she said.

It was awkward sitting on Ryan’s knee in front of them, though they didn’t seem to care. Maybe he felt my tension because he nudged me and said, ‘I’ll walk you home.’

Out on the towpath, he draped an arm round my shoulders. ‘They need some space to talk. Is it all right if we walk back slowly?’

‘Yeah, of course. If anything happens tomorrow, you will phone me, won’t you? Or get your mum to. Please, Ryan.’

He squeezed my arm. ‘OK.’

‘What’s with Cole being here? Are they back together?’

‘No. I called him. I had to have an adult in the interview with me. Cole . . . well, Cole isn’t fazed by stuff like that. I needed someone who wouldn’t freak out.’

‘Was it horrible?’

He didn’t answer straight away. ‘A bit,’ he said finally.

‘I wish it was me and not you.’

‘Don’t be stupid.’

‘But I do.’

‘Well, I don’t.’ He stopped and kissed me. ‘I don’t want you involved in any of this.’

I’d always thought Ryan was tougher than me. I knew then that wasn’t always true. I knew it wouldn’t bother me to sit through questions and accusations as much as it did him. What I had to walk around with every day was worse than that. But then I had a dad who’d get me the best legal help money could buy, and a village of people behind me who wouldn’t believe I’d done it, and friends. He had no proper address, a sick mum and a biker who’d walked out on them once before. Oh, and me.

Not much to take on the criminal justice system with.

‘Maybe they’re investigating other people too,’ I said.

‘Maybe.’

He held me extra tight when he said goodnight. ‘Love you,’ he whispered before he trotted off. He didn’t wait for me to say it back.

My reception inside the house was as warm as a January blizzard. Dad stood up as soon as I walked in and Mum refused to look at me.

‘Go straight upstairs to your room and stay there. You’re grounded. And you can leave your phone here.’

‘No,’ I said, forcing my voice to stay calm. ‘I’ll go to bed, but you’re not having my phone.’

‘You will do as I tell you! I am not having a fourteen-year-old dictating to me under my own roof.’

Charlie whimpered on the sofa for us to stop, but nobody paid him any attention.

‘I said no. I had to go out. The police took Ryan in for questioning. I needed to see if he was OK, so you are not having my phone.’

Dad slammed his hand on the table behind the sofa. ‘He’s in for questioning? Jenna, what kind of people are you associating with? A suspected murderer? Have you gone completely mad?’

‘Are you a murderer? They questioned you. He didn’t do it, you stupid, fucking idiot!’

So much for keeping my cool. Mum leapt up from the chair and shoved me to the door. ‘Get upstairs now. You’ve done enough for one night.’

I slammed the door on the pair of them.

When I got upstairs, I hid the phone inside my pillowcase in case one of them sneaked in and tried to take it. After I undressed, I lay in the dark fuming. I’d been all prepared to feel bad about spoiling their night out, but not now.

A lot later, I heard a quiet knock at the door. A voice whispered, ‘Jen, can I come in?’

Charlie.

He padded over to the bed and crawled under the covers like he used to do when he was younger and had a nightmare. ‘Is Ryan in trouble?’ He sounded snuffly as if he’d been crying again.

‘I don’t know. Maybe.’

‘You really like him, don’t you?’

‘Yes.’

‘I think he’s OK too.’

‘That’s only because he took you to the fireworks and played football with you.’

‘I still think it though.’

‘Charlie, what’s this about?’

‘I didn’t know the police suspected Dad.’

‘You didn’t need to know. It’s all over now anyway. They know it wasn’t him.’

‘You should’ve told me though, Jen. You should!’ His voice hitched.

‘Why?’