‘Or did she actually tell Graham…’ Tom interrupted. ‘That might make sense, they were an item of sorts, weren’t they. We need to reinterview both husbands, yet again. And this time they’ll be brought into an interview room via a police car. They’ve been warned that if they have to come in again, it will be formal.’
‘I’m fed up with this,’ Holly said, indicating the television. ‘And I’m fed up with this bloody case being our only topic of conversation. Shall we go to bed?’
Tom sat up a little straighter. ‘That’s the best idea you’ve had all day.’ He pointed the remote control at the screen, and shut down whatever programme it was they hadn’t been watching. ‘Don’t fall asleep, I’m going to jump in the shower.’
Holly was asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow, but at around three o’clock she shook Tom awake.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ she said.
He peered at the clock. ‘It’s just after three, Holly.’
‘I know. Listen, if I had a massive secret in the same way as Janice had a massive secret, who would I tell?’
‘Me?’
‘Exactly. And where is Dave Marshall’s name on that list she gave us? Nowhere. My bet is he would have been the first person she would have told, but she’s hiding it because she knows he passed the information on to somebody.’
Now Tom was awake and sitting up. ‘We’ll bring him in tomorrow. Let’s hope he only told one mate, and we can nip out and arrest that person for murder. If he told more than one, we might have a busy day.’
Holly nodded. ‘And we’re both awake…’
Tom slid down the bed and she followed him. ‘You want to talk, or do something else?’ he whispered.
‘I’m done with talking.’
Next morning’s rain was heavy, and cars were despatched to bring in Dave Marshall, Janice Marshall, Kenny West and Graham Andrews.
Holly and Tom stood at Tom’s office window and watched as the three cars returned carrying their human cargoes, the officers escorting them into the building and taking them through to the interview rooms.
‘We’ll do them all,’ Tom said. ‘It could be a long day, but I don’t want to delegate any of this. I think we need the first-hand information, and none of them are going home until we’re satisfied we’ve got everything we need.’
‘Janice Marshall doesn’t look happy.’ Holly laughed. ‘She must think we’re daft; she obviously thought we wouldn’t know Dave would be her first port of call with gossip as juicy as this.’
‘Okay, and we’re not going for coffee first.’
‘We’re not?’
‘Nope, we’re having a full English. They’ll be climbing the walls by the time we get there, so be prepared for a bit of abuse.’
‘You think I can’t give it back?’
‘I’m pretty sure you can give it back.’ Tom laughed. ‘But try to remember it will be on record.’
They gathered the files they needed and headed out of the office. There was a general buzz of anticipation, and Lucy Young called out as they reached the door. ‘Go get ’em, boss.’
‘We’ll try our best, Lucy,’ Holly said. ‘We’ll definitely try our best.’
Breakfast was good, and Tom and Holly took their time finishing their coffees. Word had got around following all the early morning activity, and several colleagues walked up to them and wished them luck.
Holly felt that an end was in sight, that they would know who had pulled the trigger, would know who had hated either Carla or Lorraine enough to murder both of them in such a brutal fashion.
They pushed back their chairs and stood. Keeping a circumspect distance apart from each other, they exited the canteen and headed for the interview rooms.
One young constable looked at his partner and smiled. ‘Told you they were together,’ he said. ‘They still think we don’t know,’ and he laughed. ‘Somebody should say something.’
‘Not me,’ his mate said. ‘Let’s leave them in ignorance. It’s been a laugh knowing they don’t know most of the station have twigged.’
29
Janice was livid. ‘Why the fuck have you brought Dave in? Don’t you know how poorly he is?’
‘Does he require a doctor, Janice?’ No more Miss Good Cop. Holly felt totally pissed off with this woman, and today she intended getting to the truth.
‘No. But he will if you go upsetting things.’
‘Then a doctor will be made available, should he need it.’ Holly’s words were clipped and to the point.
‘So what do you want?’ Janice’s belligerence was growing.
‘We think your list was incomplete. The list of people you told us knew the secret, thanks to your evil tongue. We believe you’re going to have to amend your statement, and that’s why you’re here. All this toing and froing in police cars is certainly going to give your neighbours plenty to gossip about, but you’ll be the recipient of all the stories now, won’t you, so that’s okay. And we can do this every day, Janice, until we’re satisfied we have the full truth, not the little bits you’re feeding us.’
There was a visible slump to her body as she sat back in the chair. The aggression disappeared, and she shivered.
‘I only missed one out,’ she whispered.
‘Who did you miss out, Janice?’ Tom stepped in, adding weight to Holly’s handling of the woman.
‘Dave.’
‘And you know that Dave told somebody?’ Tom pressed her further.
She shook her head. ‘No, but I know my husband. I only told him because the flight home had been a nightmare with Lorraine so upset. She cried most of the way back, and by the time I walked through our door, I was wiped out. Dave was really good to me, made me a drink and sat on the sofa and held me. He’d missed me, of course, but it was more than that. He could see something had happened, and at first he assumed Lorraine and I had had a falling out.’
Suddenly the floodgates had opened and they let Janice continue without prompting.
‘I told him the story, but I made him swear not to tell anybody. I know what he’s like. He hasn’t got a bad bone in his body, but he also opens his mouth without thinking about consequences. He’ll have told somebody,’ she wailed, ‘and now my mates are dead. And what’s worse, he’ll not know what he’s done.’
Janice dropped her head to the table, sobbing.
Holly looked at Tom, and he nodded.
‘Okay, Janice. We’re going to leave it there, as long as you’re absolutely sure there’s nobody else to be added. I’ll have a cup of tea sent in, and a PC will be along shortly for you to amend your statement.’
Janice lifted her head and wiped at her eyes and cheeks with the back of her hands. ‘I’m sorry. I’ve not known what to do for the best. I knew as soon as I told Dave I’d made a mistake, but I wasn’t in a good place. Lorraine talked about nothing else but leaving her family and getting to Leicester to be with Beth, and I would end up with Kenny and the boys on my back demanding to know everything, plus I would have lost a really close friend. It was all too much to hold in. Dave swore he wouldn’t tell anybody…’