‘Yes.’
‘And what did you tell her?’
‘That I’d tripped and ended up in some gorse bushes on my way back from the car park.’
Phillips fixed Luke with his pale blue eyes. ‘Why did you lie, Mr Carrack?’
‘I wanted to keep Cat away from Marika.’
‘Why? Was there more to your relationship with Ms Stefanski than you are admitting? Were you lovers?’
‘Absolutely not.’ Luke struggled to find his next words. ‘Look, I know this may seem crazy to both of you, but if I had told Cat what was going on she would have wanted to become involved. Marika was one of her father’s employees, her behaviour could have affected her job. And if Marika had discovered I’d been talking to Cat, well, who knows what might have happened.’
‘Care to expand on that statement?’ Phillips looked at him curiously.
‘Marika was becoming unstable, as you can see.’ He indicated his face. ‘I couldn’t take the chance she might become violent towards Cat.’
Luke closed his mind to the memory of the final threat she had made and the potential damage Marika could have caused had she come face-to-face with Cat. Also if he told the policeabout it, he’d be admitting he’d had a first-class motive for her murder.
‘Yet she made no attempt to confront Jordan Hunter?’ Luke pulled himself back to the interview as Phillips fired another question at him.
‘No.’
‘Why was that, do you think?’
‘Because being aggressive would have wrecked any chance of getting him back, wouldn’t it? And that was the last thing she wanted to do.’
Phillips cleared his throat and looked at Cousins. ‘Right, well I think we’re done for now. We’ll need to take a DNA sample before you go.’
‘Of course.’
Luke pushed back his chair and got to his feet. He’d been open and honest in his interview. It was pointless lying. But he realised how implausible parts of his story must appear to two total strangers. Two strangers whose job it was to find Marika’s killer.
Free from that room, the two police officers, and a string of challenging questions, he now had to face his toughest test of the day, if not his entire life. He needed to talk to Cat and tell her the truth, damaging though it was. In fact, more than damaging; there was a chance he could lose her completely.
As he walked through to the front of the hotel he saw her standing out on the terrace talking to a waitress who was busy clearing away empty glasses. Finishing her conversation, Cat turned, spotted him and waved, before making her way over to join him.
‘Luke? Are you all right? You look very pale,’ she said as she reached him. ‘Not a nice experience, eh?’ She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. ‘Those two certainly don’t pull any punches.’
‘I’m fine,’ he reassured her, hoping his smile appeared convincing enough.
‘Terrible news, isn’t it? I know she wasn’t the easiest of people, but murder?’ Cat shook her head. ‘And here of all places. Still, hopefully we’ve now both been eliminated from their enquiries. Not that we were ever suspects in the first place,’ she joked.
Luke had no forward plan; no idea how he was going to explain what had happened and how foolish he had been. His involvement with Marika had now placed him in a very precarious position. There was every chance he could be charged. He pushed the thought from his mind. No, it couldn’t happen. After all, he’d told them the truth, he’d not hidden anything. Besides, there were others, especially people she’d worked with, who he was sure would corroborate how volatile she was. If anyone was a suspect in all this surely it had to be Jordan? But that still left him here, now, with Cat, and a lot of explaining to do.
‘Luke, are you sure you’re alright?’ He heard her voice from far away.
‘What? No, I’m not, I …’ He rubbed a hand over his face. ‘I need to talk to you somewhere private, away from here.’
Cat drove to a remote spot just off the Newquay Road where she knew there was a solitary bench facing the sea. It was an ideal place for the complete privacy Luke had asked for. She seated herself alongside him, waiting for him to begin. She had no idea what this was all about. When he confessed to his involvement with Marika it came as a complete shock.
‘God, Luke, what were you thinking? Didn’t you know what she was like?’
‘At the start? No. She came over as a little naive and totally overawed with Jordan. He’d dumped her and she was desperateto get him back. I tried to persuade her that it really was over and she needed to move on. She was very upset,’ he ran a hand through his hair, ‘so I gave her my number as a precaution, you know, just in case she needed someone to talk to. I had no idea I’d be pestered night and day.’
‘But why didn’t you come to me? Why didn’t you say something?’
‘I was worried if she found out I’d been talking to you you’d end up being targeted. By that time she was becoming very, very angry; blaming everyone for her problems and lashing out. I thought it would be better if I dealt with it alone. And then, when you began asking questions, I felt trapped. I didn’t know how you’d react if I told you what was happening so I invented this fictitious customer of Gareth’s.’ He hunched over, elbows on his knees, as he buried his face in his hands. ‘I’m sorry, Cat, how could I have been so stupid? I made everything worse.’
