“Give me five minutes to get changed.”
Catherine remembered something and shouted at Geoffrey’s naked hairy back as he walked away with purpose. “Geoffrey!”
“Yes.”
“Me and Carol had the same arrangement.”
“Oh, yes?”
“I have a key to her place too.”
Twenty-Three
DS Laura Welshand DCI Bob Beattie walked and talked along one of the many dull corridors in Hampstead police station. On the floor, every few feet, were mousetraps. Not Laura’s job to deal with, thankfully.
“Can I lead this one?” she asked Bob.
“Not this one, sorry. Next time.”
Laura stopped moving.
Bob played dumb. “What?”
“It’s twenty-four degrees Celsius outside, Bob. Does that sound like January weather to you?”
“No.”
“Leaves? On the trees? You noticed they’re back, Bob? Does that look like January weather to you?”
“Laura.”
“After Christmas. That’s when you said I could lead an interview. It’s June.”
“June not after Christmas? I’d say it’s well after Christmas. True to my word.”
Laura stared at him. She wasn’t in the mood to be fobbed off with joviality. Bob clocked on. “Sorry. I should have let you do one. But this one, there’s too many factors at play.”
“Oh, yeah. Factors. Are you going to let me in on all those factors or what? I’ve read the file on Desmond. Investigated for corruption and cleared of all charges, but that’s not the whole story, is it? He was the boss. They were never going to do him.”
“I’m just worried about where this might lead,” said Bob. “I don’t want you going down alleyways that ain’t gonna help us. There’s shit we want to avoid. Trust me.”
“I don’t trust you, Bob. You said after Christmas. It’s June.June.You’re just a big boys’ club, aren’t you?”
Bob looked at his shoes, then up at Laura. Then, seeing the strength of her stare, he turned back to his shoes. “Look. This should be a pretty simple case. We’ve got a killer in there. I know she did it. You know she did it. I just don’t want us causing ourselves unnecessary bother.”
“If it’s a pretty simple case, then let me do it. I’ve done the reading. She confessed to everything last time around. If she did it, which, like you say, we know she did, we’ll be done in ten.”
Bob relented and stretched out his arm, gesturing for Laura to lead the way. She took a deep breath and walked in.
—
A table ina cold gray room, with Carol sitting on one side, Laura and Bob on the other. Carol took a sip of her coffee, in a chipped cup this time, and waited.
“Okay. I have a few questions I need to get through before we start,” said Laura, looking down at her checklist. “How is your mental health today?”
Carol frowned. “Fine.”
“Do you have any allergies?”
