Cass knew they all gossiped about her, made her the brunt of all their jokes. She’d caught a couple of nasties in marketing imitating her and Elvis, replacing the words to some of the real Elvis’s most famous songs with jokes about how they saw her relationship. ‘No.’ The woman waited for more. Cass wasn’t going to give her any more ammunition to pass on. No was all she was getting. ‘Half an hour then?’
Melody nodded and hurried off. Pulling several old tissues from her bag, Cass covered the cake in the bin and dragged some of the dead flowers over it. If Melody saw that, it would be another thing to gossip about. She’d heard them talking about her hefty weight, citing it as funny as they never saw her actually eat. Soon things would change. She would get her friend back, tidy herself up, get her relationship back on track and they would all see her differently. For now, she had a truth to find and one way or another she was going to get it. She leaned over and slipped her shoes back on, not her low-heeled Mary-Jane’s, but the flat pair she kept for frosty days that had long passed. It was time to take action. Sitting around sending poxy messages just wouldn’t cut it.
She moved the flowers aside and lifted the tissues in the bin and stared at the cake. Just a few morsels. She poked her finger in the creamed centre, scooped it out and licked it. It was just a taste and the bin was clean. Her stomach grumbled hard. After her evening binge when Elvis hadn’t come home straight after work, she promised herself no food today but every pore of her body screamed for sugar and salt. She poked her finger into the cake again and scooped out some more cream.
‘Cassie? What are you doing? You should have just said if you wanted more cake. Why is yours in the bin?’ Melody stared, red lips in a slight o shape as she awaited an answer.
Cass grabbed a piece of paper from her notepad and wiped her finger. ‘It wasn’t what it looked like.’ Who was she trying to convince.
‘Is everything okay?’
Cass nodded, keeping a calm exterior, the one she’d practised long and hard when what was inside felt like it was shooting in all directions. ‘I best go.’ She grabbed her zip-up jacket from the back of her chair and hurried out. ‘See you later.’
Dammit! Melody saw everything.She hurried to her car, holding her fuzzy curls in place as a gust of wind caught them. Everything was going wrong. She kicked the bushes at the back of the car park, wanting to yell and scream. She had to make things right, make her own destiny.I’m on my way.
Chapter Twenty-Five
‘Phillip Brighton. Here we are again. Our murder victim, Holly Long was missing a pink tablet and we found one matching the same description during our search of your bedsit. What can you tell me about this?’ Gina held up the exhibit photo of the pink tablet.
He shrugged his shoulders and said nothing on the advice of Mr Ullah, his solicitor, who was whispering away in his ear.
‘Does this tablet belong to Holly Long?’
The suspect ignored every question, simply shuffling in his grey tracksuit bottoms.
Gina had to go through the motions for the tape, asking question after question she knew he wouldn’t answer. As she came to an end, she sighed, asking the final two. ‘Can you give us the password to the tablet?’ Gina paused. ‘How long have you had it?’
She exchanged a glance with Jacob.
‘Interview ended at twelve fifty-four.’
Gina grabbed all her paperwork and left the interview room.
‘Are we charging him, guv?’
She exhaled slowly. ‘He had opportunity, no one can confirm that he was in the toilet where he claimed to be and he didn’t see anyone. We have his DNA on file and looking at some of the reports that came back, I don’t think Phillip Brighton’s have been flagged up as being found in Holly’s room but they are still working through everything. That’s not to say it won’t come up. It would make our case tighter when we put it to the CPS.’ The Crown Prosecution Service would decide if the evidence was good enough to charge him with. ‘If we arrest him, we can keep him in again while we conduct further enquiries. Holly is missing a pink tablet and one of the same make just happened to be in his bedsit. That’s too much of a coincidence and he’s not talking. We can’t let him walk out on bail today; that might risk him tampering with any potential evidence.’ Gina turned away and marched back into the interview room.
‘My client would like some lunch.’ Mr Ullah stood.
‘Your client will have to wait. Phillip Brighton, I’m arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Holly Long on the evening of Saturday the ninth of May. You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’
She left the room, giving both Phillip Brighton and his solicitor time to talk.
‘We need that tablet cracked now,’ Jacob said. ‘Why would he want to hurt Holly Long?’
‘I wish I knew. Where is the tablet?’
Jacob followed her along the corridor. ‘It’s with the tech team. It shouldn’t take too long to get into.’
‘And we’ll be either charging him or letting him go.’
Jacob nodded. As Gina turned towards her office, Wyre’s hair shook from side to side as she jogged towards them both. ‘Guv, Francesca Carter is in the waiting room. She’s asking to speak with you about the night Holly was murdered.’
‘Thanks, Paula. Let’s hope this is the break we need. Have the forensics come back on Francesca Carter’s clothing yet?’
‘Let me just check.’ Wyre pulled out her phone and checked through their emails. ‘Yes, only this morning. O’Connor has marked this one done so it must have been added to the system. Nothing alarming found on her, only her own secretions. Her hair was found at the scene, this could have been when they all had their hair and make-up done or it could have been left there on the evening of the murder. There was also a smear of blood on her hand that was swabbed and it is Holly’s.’
‘She did go into the room and touch both the lamp and Holly. Thanks for the update. I’ve read the notes from her interview so I’ll bear all that in mind when I speak with her.’
