‘I notice that you don’t say her name.’
‘To call her by her name gives her humanity. No,’ said Jorge shaking his head, ‘she doesn’t deserve that. I’m not even sorry that she’s dead.’ Jorge took a breath. ‘The right thing to say is that I’m sorry but—’
‘I’m not expecting you to be sorry,’ said Henley. ‘But you understand that we have to investigate her murder. To find out who was responsible.’
‘I can’t say that I have much faith in the justice system. They put her back on the street after all.’
Henley ignored the statement, not wanting to get into a debate. She indicated to Ramouter to take over.
‘Jorge, you may or may not be aware, but Sian Fox-Carnell was being electronically monitored.’ Ramouter unfolded several sheets of paper that he had in his pocket. ‘The day before she went missing her tag placed her at a number of locations including the Williams Therapy Practice in Aldgate, last Tuesday at 11.36 a.m..’
‘The Williams Therapy Practice,’ Jorge repeated, his voice shaking. ‘That’s where I work.’
‘We’ve got CCTV footage showing Fox-Carnell going into the building where your practice is based,’ said Ramouter. He turned the page and showed a screenshot of Fox-Carnell entering the building. ‘Did you see her?’
Jorge didn’t look at the picture. He kept his eyes focused on a space behind Henley.
‘Jorge, did you see her?’ Ramouter repeated, shifting his position forcing Jorge to look at him.
Jorge placed the coffee on the table behind him and stood up. ‘I’ve got my session starting soon.’
‘You didn’t answer the question, Jorge,’ Henley pressed gently.
Jorge looked across at Henley and saw that she was blocking the door.
‘I did. I did see her,’ Jorge admitted finally.
‘What happened?’ Ramouter asked.
‘She called me, not by my full name but JV. That was her nickname for me when she was looking after me. She would call me JV.’ Jorge inhaled deeply and when he looked up his eyes were dark with fury. ‘It brought it all back. Seeing her standing over me. Telling my parents that she would look after me as though I was her own.’
‘Did you talk to her?’
‘I told her to leave otherwise I would call the police.’
‘And what did she do or say?’
Jorge snorted with disgust. ‘She said I had grown up well. Such an evil … I went back inside. I don’t know where she went after that.’
‘Why didn’t you call the police? She would have been arrested and remanded in custody immediately,’ said Henley.
‘In custody but alive but I didn’t call the police and now she’s dead,’ Jorge said with a shrug. ‘Some would call that a win-win.’
Henley stepped aside and opened the door.
‘Thank you very much for your help, Jorge,’ said Ramouter. ‘We’ll leave you to it.’
‘Are you speaking to her other victims and the families of the ones who didn’t make it?’ Jorge asked.
‘We’re talking to everyone. But we will contact you again if we have more questions.’ Henley looked around the room. A trio were standing at the beverage table, and a few others had already taken their seats. They looked up but continued with their conversations.
‘Seems like a full group,’ Henley commented.
‘We usually are,’ answered Jorge. ‘A lot of them have been coming here for years. We all need support.’
‘Yeah, we do,’ Henley agreed as a man reached for his jacket on the back of his chair and quickly left. ‘Who was that?’ she asked.
‘I can’t say. Confidentiality. This is a safe place,’ Jorge said.
