Henley gathered the pages of the report together as she watched Laurence grow smaller as he made his admissions.
‘How much trouble am I in?’ he asked.
‘I’m not sure yet,’ Henley admitted. ‘Are you telling me that you were definitely not involved in the attacks on the Ashcrofts.’
‘I promise you,’ Laurence said vehemently. ‘I didn’t do anything. Not a thing.’
‘You didn’t see the blood on the back seat of your car?’
Laurence lowered his head. ‘I didn’t check the back of the car.’
‘Did Don contact you again?’
‘No, I think he knew that I was done, that I was out but I saw what had happened. There were photos in the group. I wish I’d never met him.’
‘I’m going to terminate the interview at 11.46 a.m.,’ Henley said, tapping the stop button on the touchscreen.
‘I’ll do what I can to convince the CPS to take no further action against you, but I can’t guarantee it,’ she said as Larry leaned forward on the table with his head in his hands and began to cry.
‘I just wanted her to say sorry,’ Laurence said his cries becoming louder and uncontrollable. ‘That’s all I wanted. For her to say sorry for killing my wife.’
41
‘Thanks, boss,’ Ezra said, rubbing his stomach. ‘That was much needed.’
‘I can’t believe you convinced me to buy you an all-day breakfast,’ said Pellacia, closing the door to the café.
‘Excuse me, I was here at the crack of dawn. I was here so early that I met the cleaners for the first time and, to be honest, you looked like you needed it. Late night, was it?’
‘You know what, I let you get away with too much cheek,’ said Pellacia as he pulled his cigarettes out of his coat pocket.
‘And you should really give that up. You’re too pretty to die.’
Pellacia laughed as he looked at the packet in his hand and put it back in his pocket. ‘Thanks. If anyone asks, I’m at the Yard. Should be back before the end of the day, but any problems, then—’
Ezra patted Pellacia’s shoulder affectionately. ‘I know, you’re always available,’ he said. ‘Such a devoted boss.’
‘You really are a joker,’ Pellacia said, shaking his head as he walked off in the direction of Greenwich train station.
Ezra didn’t wait for the lights to change to red and crossed quickly. The time he’d spent serving a sentence in Coldingley Prison had made him hyper aware. He noticed things that wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to most people. No one would have thought twice about the man sitting on the bench that faced Greenwich police station, where the serial crimes unit was based, but Ezra did. To Ezra the man seemed as though he was in the middle of making a choice and was waiting for someone.
Ezra walked past but then something made him stop. He turned around as the man who was wearing a baseball cap raised his head.
‘I know you,’ Ezra said, curling his fingers around his staff ID card, unsure exactly how he would use it as a weapon if needed. ‘You’re the … Kaiden. Soteria.’
‘Is there somewhere we can talk?’ Kaiden asked. ‘I really need to talk to you. I called the office, but I was told you were out for lunch.’
‘You want to speak to me and not the Inspector?’ Ezra asked, looking around as though checking to make sure that no one was playing a prank on him.
‘No, you. I want to talk to you about the—’
‘I am not a police officer. Ones and zeros, that’s what I deal—’
‘I’m the one who did it,’ Kaiden hissed, his eyes wide with panic.
Ezra stared at Kaiden. ‘You’re Spectercipher393?’
Kaiden rubbed his face with distress.
