Ramouter tapped the recording button on the touchscreen. ‘We’re good to go.’
‘Before we start,’ said the legal representative, a serious but young-looking woman, named Kalia Ghatak, whose black hair hung like silk curtains on her back. She kept her head down asshe wrote her notes. ‘Mr Durant is hearing impaired. You may not have noticed that he wears a hearing aid in his left ear. They failed to mention that on his custody record.’
As if on cue, Durant’s hearing aid released a low whistle.
‘I’m more than happy to put you back in the cell whilst we make arrangements to get a BSL interpreter here if that will assist you,’ said Henley.
‘No,’ Durant answered quickly, putting a finger to his hearing aid. ‘I can manage. Let’s get on with it.’
‘Fine,’ said Henley. ‘DC Ramouter, do you want to make the introductions?’
Henley checked the notes she’d made when talking to Anthony as Ramouter completed the introductions, explained to Laurence his entitlement to legal advice and the caution.
‘Right, we’ll start,’ said Henley. ‘Laurance Durant, you’ve been arrested for an offence of attempted—’
‘I didn’t do it.’
‘Let the Inspector finish,’ Kalia said.
‘As I was saying, you were arrested this morning at 6.27 a.m. for the attempted murders of Tabitha and Graham Ashcroft on the twelfth October at their home on Cullen Lane in Dulwich Village. Your legal representative has received full disclosure about the allegations and now I’m going to ask you questions about your involvement. Do you understand?’ asked Henley.
‘I wasn’t involved,’ said Larry.
‘Do you understand?’ Henley repeated.
‘Yes.’
‘Good. So, let’s start.’
Henley paused, allowing the silence to grow uncomfortable as she scanned the questions she’d prepared. She turned the page over and decided to change tack.
‘We have no idea how we’re going to respond to death do we, Larry?’ she said.
‘What do you mean?’ Larry replied as he turned his head slightly, watching the door.
‘It’s one of the life events that we can never really prepare for. We tell ourselves that it’s a fact of life and that we will be strong and won’t break. We think we’re going to be different and then the unimaginable happens and someone you love dies. I don’t think it makes much difference if the person is sick, and you know they’re going die or if it happens out of the blue. It hurts. You hurt. Do you agree?’
Larry cleared his throat. ‘I do,’ he eventually said.
‘Some people break down straight away and with others, it’s a very slow walk through denial until something innocuous sets them off. So, which was it for you when your wife was killed?’
Henley held her nerve despite Larry looking at her as though she were a piece of shit under his shoe. She was prepared to hit low and pinch all of the pressure points if it meant she would get what she wanted.
‘I couldn’t believe it at first. I thought they’d gone to the wrong house. My neighbour Tony is an alcoholic and spent last Christmas in hospital because he stepped out in traffic, drunk out of his skull. I didn’t think they were coming for me,’ said Larry.
‘Were you angry?’
‘Not at first. I didn’t believe that … that she was gone. They drove me to the hospital, and I was running through all these different scenarios. Maybe someone stole her purse and the person who got hit had her credit cards or it was someone who just happened to have the same name, but then I got there.’
Kalia took out a tissue from her bag and handed it to Larry.
‘It was her.’ Larry rubbed roughly at his eyes, reddening the thin surrounding skin. ‘The weird thing was that her face was fine, and she was still warm. I told her to wake up. Reminded her that we had a trip booked. But she didn’t wake up.’
‘When did you get angry?’ Henley asked.
‘I’m not sure really. I woke up one day and I was angry with everyone and then I went to the funeral director’s the day before the funeral. Seeing Sherri in the coffin … it did something to me.’
‘I’m not sure how making Mr Durant relive the loss of his wife is going to help you with your investigation. Are you going to actually ask any questions to do with the reason why you arrested Mr Durant?’ Kalia cut in.
