‘Make sure you use interview room one.’ At the very least, she’d be able to watch him through the mirrored glass. ‘And the second message?’
‘We’ve had a call from Diane today. She left a message saying that she remembered something else about the time Samantha Felton went missing. Samantha’s mystery lover was a weed smoker. She said she just remembered that Samantha smelt of weed back then. I suppose it was a long time ago and she’s not in the best of health.’ As Wyre relayed the latest piece of information, the room tilted as Gina almost lost her balance.
‘Here. Sit down, guv.’
Jacob pushed a chair behind her and she sat. ‘I’m okay. I just need some breakfast.’ She smiled at him and he seemed to take that as an excuse for the minor level of shock she was feeling. Steven could well be their murderer and she’d never be the one to make the arrest. Gina’s gaze slowly left the table until she met Wyre’s. ‘And Steven and Maggie were smoking weed when they were together!’
Thirty-One
‘You okay?’ Briggs asked, the plastic chair creaking as he leaned back.
‘Why wouldn’t I be?’ Gina instantly regretted giving such a short, sharp response.
‘You forget how well I know you and I know how hard you’re finding this.’ Briggs didn’t even know a smidgen of what she was hiding. He gave her a sympathetic look as he stared through the glass at her ex-brother-in-law. Steven stared back as if he knew she was watching. ‘He doesn’t know you’re here.’
She felt her fists clenching. Not only was he encouraging of the abuse that Terry had inflicted upon her when he was alive, he was now in the middle of her investigation and had taken her senior investigating officer title away from her. She now had to run everything through Briggs. All of it – his fault. And now he was a suspect, up there with Rhys Keegan. Her mind reeled, could Steven be the brains behind it all and could Rhys be a part of it? So far, she’d failed to link them until the night of the party. There had to be more to it all and she was going to unearth the sorry lot.
‘Look, being this uptight won’t help.’ Briggs smiled.
‘I’m not uptight.’ They may well have been lovers in the past, but he didn’t know everything about her. The small room they were sitting in suddenly felt even more confined. Her elbow bumped into his as she adjusted her seating position.
‘Harte, your knuckles are white.’
She returned his comment with a wide false smile and loosened her grip. ‘And you know exactly why. I just want to be in there, doing my job.’
‘And you are. Your job is to gather enough evidence to convict a murderer. Your job isn’t to hinder the case with the fact that you’ve had some involvement on a personal level with this witness.’
Witness? That was a joke. He was guilty of a lot and Gina knew he had a hidden dark side. ‘You’re right, sir.’ She took a sip of cold water as she stared through the glass.
‘Here we go,’ Briggs said as he folded his arms and stared through the glass.
Wyre and Jacob entered, sitting opposite Steven. He instantly grinned at Wyre as he unzipped his leather jacket, eyeing her up and down. Gina knew he would put his all into making her feel uncomfortable and she also knew Wyre was too good to fall for his nonsense. He linked his two hands behind his neck and leaned back in the chair as Wyre prepared. His T-shirt rode up exposing his hairy belly and a belt. Gina’s heart began to pound as she spotted the buckle, the thick, solid square-covered mechanisms that fixed onto brown leather. It was exactly the same as what Terry used to wear, the same style that had been imprinted on her thighs for days after he’d attacked her.
She placed her fingers in her cup of water and flicked a little on her face as Briggs watched what was going on through the screen. He couldn’t see her having any kind of meltdown. He’d been watching her too closely and she couldn’t let him pull her off the case on health grounds. It had taken all she had over the past few months to conceal the depths of her anxiety but she had so far succeeded. High-functioning she knew everyone called it. She would continue to function highly and do her work.
Grounding – the counsellor told her to use this technique when the overwhelming feelings of anxiety started up. She felt the desk in front of her, it was smooth and cool. Her fingers brushed the side and underneath, hard chewing gum – gross. She inhaled and the mustiness of the room made her feel slightly queasy, but at least it was real. The little room was always musty regardless of how often it was cleaned. She listened to the voices as Wyre finished with the opening formalities.
‘So, go over what happened that night?’ Wyre said.
Steven removed his hands from behind his head and leaned forward. ‘Oh it was a good one. It would have been better if I hadn’t have ended up with that munter, Maggie. Stupid bitch looks like a man. There was only one woman there that every man wanted to stick it in and that was Aimee.’
Gina wondered if Wyre would try to get the interview back on course but she hoped Wyre and Jacob would allow him to continue speaking freely, hoping it wouldn’t take long for him to hang himself. She loved their strategy, Wyre leading. She knew they’d both be able to see his character as they entered the interview room. She trusted her team to be vigilant.
Steven shrugged. ‘You can’t win ’em all. That dick, Noah, with his preened pretty-boy hair and Ken doll body ended up being the lucky one. When I left with the dog, we walked to Malcolm’s house, that’s Dawn’s brother. We lit up a spliff and she looked a bit ill. Didn’t stop her though. Stupid cow was gagging for it.’ He ran his tongue across his teeth. ‘The women are the worst for this you know. They pretend to be all, oh we’re so prim and ooh we’re not sure, but they love it. Dawn was like that when we met but boy is she a dirty bitch now, you should see her. Maggie was the same too, gagging for it by the time we got to the house. Anyway, we did it against his worktop – slam, slam, slam and she was loving it. When we finished she chucked up in the sink and I left. Couldn’t be bothered dealing with some sick bint who couldn’t hold her wine.’
Maybe the thought of being with you made her sick.Gina thought that was more the case.
‘What happened after you left Maggie Leason?’
Well played again. Steven was trying so hard to get a reaction out of Jacob or Wyre but neither were giving him anything to be joyous about. He was certainly losing the attention battle that he’d instigated.
‘It was late, I don’t remember what time. I staggered home. I’d had a few draws on the old spliff. I was all warm, post-coital and tired, you know how that feels, Detective?’
Wyre stared back at him, waiting for him to continue.
‘Bundle of laughs you lot are,’ he said as he smiled at Jacob, seeking some male support.
‘Just answer the question,’ Wyre said in a firm tone.
