“Had you taken any substances that could’ve led you to hallucinate these events? Given you were at a music festival, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that you had.” He sounded bored.
“No. Nor had I drunk any alcohol.”
He made another note.
“Can you describe what happened when the man attacked you?”
Abby went through the description for a second time. She’d already given it to Ste.
“Any distinguishing marks that you can remember?”
“He had a broken nose by the end of it.” She was getting a little fed up of Garrison’s attitude towards her now.
“Do you think he might press charges against you for assault?”
“I hope so, because then we’ll know who he is.”
Garrison dropped his pen. “Do you know any reason why someone would want to attack you?”
“The man told me to tell him where she was. I believe he was referring to my sister who I reported as missing April two years ago.” She looked at Alex whose expression gave nothing away. “My sister’s boyfriend was in one of the Manchester gangs. He was an associate of Alfie Fletcher.”
“This is Severton, Miss Walker. The most exciting thing that happens here is that an alpaca gets lose and terrorises the town for a bit. Your attacker is likely someone from out of town who took a liking to you. You did well to get away.” Garrison closed his notebook. “I believe your top has gone off to forensics to have the blood analysed. We may get a match, we may not. My advice is to not take short cuts.” His stare went to Alex. “I’m sure DC Maynard can advise you on personal safety in future. Consider yourself lucky, Miss Walker.” He stood up to leave.
“That’s it?”
“Indeed.”
“You’re not going to ask any more about the threats he made or why he might’ve made those threats? About my name change or for more information about my sister?”
“Not today. If you receive any more threats or are followed again, let us know and someone will come out to take your statement.”
“I was followed a couple of weeks ago, and my house was broken into. The place where I work also had an attempted break in. Don’t you think it’s a bit of a coincidence, Detective?” She’d stood up also.
Alex shook his head, telling her to leave it there.
“There’s such a thing as coincidence, Abby. Take care of yourself. There are a lot of bad people in the world, but not many round here. We’ll be in touch if we need any more information.”
She watched him leave the room and then Alex rubbed his face.
“He’s dirty. Don’t push him.”
“Really?”
“Sure enough that’ll I say it in here where there are cameras. They won’t be working though. He’ll have had them turned off while he spoke to you so he can write what he needs in his report.”
There was a knock at the door and Ste entered. He looked worn out and exhausted enough to be ready to drop to the nearest flat surface to sleep.
Abby had met him several times since she’d been staying with Alex. He was a nice man, a couple of years younger than her, although he seemed much younger than that.
“I’ve been suspended.”
Alex looked stunned. “What?”
“Over the paperwork yesterday. Apparently I didn’t file one of the forms after I did the search and the lad it was about had a sharp on him. He got into a fight with the bloke you arrested and almost cut him up bad. I did the search, Alex; I did the fucking search.”
Alex went to him and put his hand on Ste’s shoulder. “I know you will have done.”
“It’s him – fucking Garrison.” Ste sounded on the verge of tears. “Didn’t give me a chance to get the copy I took or anything.”
