‘No, he didn’t. It hadn’t been going on for long. I keep telling you it was only a fling, but you seem to be building it up into some great love affair. It wasn’t, and it certainly wasn’t worth telling Kenny about it. Mr Goody Two Shoes. Never put a foot wrong Kenny.’
Tom smiled inwardly, not allowing his face to alter, but he remembered Diane’s words about accidentally sleeping with Kenny West. It was pretty clear these two best friends didn’t keep each other informed about things in their life that strayed from the norm.
‘So after your… erm, kiss and cuddle down by the pond, what happened then? Didn’t Carla care that you were out till late at night? Didn’t she suspect?’
Holly knew Carla hadn’t suspected her husband of adultery. If she had, it would have been in the journal, and she would have been cheering him on.
‘Good God, no. And I was never out that late. She went to bed every night about ten, usually because she was working next morning. And I wasn’t out every night, despite what you’re thinking.’
‘Do you make a habit of sleeping around, Graham?’ Tom asked.
‘No. Do you?’ Graham countered.
‘I’m not under suspicion of murder, unlike you.’
Graham spluttered. ‘I haven’t murdered anybody, and I resent that.’
‘You expect an apology?’ Tom grinned. ‘Dream on, Graham.’
‘Answer my question, please,’ Holly interrupted. ‘What happened after the kiss and cuddle?’
‘Can I have some water?’
‘No.’
‘I walked her home. We went across the playing field and towards her house. I left her some distance away because of Charlie, but I always watched her until she was inside.’
‘Ah yes, Charlie. Did he know?’
‘Lord, no. I’ve still got both legs in working order, that proves he didn’t know.’
‘Did you burn down his house?’
Graham laughed. ‘No, I would have done it with him in it, not while he was on remand. He wasn’t that nice to Tina, you know. A proper bastard with everything, to be honest. For Tina, he was an escape from her mother but she would have been better off staying at home. Charlie Linwood was no escape for anybody. He treated Tina like dirt. She saw me as her escape from Charlie, but that was never going to happen. I loved my wife and my kids. I didn’t, and never could, love Tina.’
‘Bit of a bastard all round then,’ Holly said, glancing through her file and speaking quietly.
‘Can she say that to me?’ he asked Tom.
‘She can say what she likes to whoever she likes, I’m happy to say. Perhaps she wouldn’t be saying it if you’d been open and honest with us from the start, and maybe… maybe Tina Jackson would still be alive.’
There was a short sharp knock on the door and it opened slightly.
‘Sir?’ a young PC said.
Tom stood and left the room, leaving Holly to notify the recording.
She waited patiently, and when he and the PC returned, Tom was holding a piece of paper. He sat down.
‘I hope you don’t have anything cooking in the oven at home, Mr Andrews,’ Tom said, his face serious.
‘No.’
‘Good. You won’t be going back there for a while, I suspect.’
Graham Andrews tried to rise, but the PC, on full alert, pressed Graham’s shoulders and he sank back down onto the chair.
‘What’s going on?’
‘We have forensic evidence placing you at the murder of Tina Jackson. Would you care to explain how your fingerprints are on the knife that was used to kill her?’
There was silence for the first time. Total, absolute silence.
And then Graham Andrews slumped forward and rested his head on the table.
‘I need a solicitor,’ he said, his voice muffled by the sleeve of his jacket. ‘Get me a fucking solicitor.’
‘Nice one, Tom,’ Holly said as they walked back to their office. Graham Andrews had been removed to a cell pending the arrival of his solicitor, and Tom and Holly felt quite justified in carrying large coffees back to Tom’s room to celebrate.
‘Why has it taken them so long to come up with this match?’
‘According to the report, dog saliva. Specifically Mabel’s saliva. They’ve had to be careful, but there’s no doubt the fingerprint is a match for the fingerprints we took from the coffee cups. We’ll be taking them properly now.’
They reached his room and high-fived before sitting down to enjoy the euphoria of knowing they were one down, two to go, plus a disappearing teenager.
31
Leo and Jack were up the tree, staring across the playing field, their legs swinging.
Jack had woken early, and, with no exams, had ditched the books and gone out for a run. He had met Leo doing the same, his leg back in full working order. They had called at the petrol station for two coffees, and nursed them, both lost in thoughts of Isaac.
Leo ignored the ping of his phone, not wanting the world to intrude on such a lovely morning, but when it pinged again, reminding him he hadn’t opened up the message, he took the battered phone from his pocket.
‘Fuckin’ ’ell.’
‘You okay?’
Leo turned to Jack. ‘Sorry, mate. They’ve arrested Graham.’
Jack felt his head spin, and he dipped it to hold off the promised faint. After a minute, he turned to Leo.
‘For Mum? He killed Mum?’
‘No, for Tina Jackson.’
‘Shit. I’ve got to go and find Dad.’ Jack left his coffee balanced on the branch and climbed down. Leo followed and they raced across the grass towards the West home.
With no car in evidence, they carried on running, heading towards the garage, guessing Kenny would have gone to work. He’d been furious the night before, ranting about a wasted day with the same questions he’d already answered being asked over and over again.
He was standing outside the open double doors of the workshop, talking to one of his men, and looking at a Corsa parked at the kerbside. He stepped away and waited for the two boys to reach him.
‘Dad,’ Jack panted.
‘Is it Isaac?’
‘No, it’s Graham. He’s been arrested.’
Kenny froze. Arrested? For Carla and Lorraine’s murders? He tried to slow down the sudden acceleration in his breathing.
‘What’s he done?’
‘It’s for Tina’s murder. That’s all we know. Leo got a text from his mum telling him.’
‘Go back home, lads, I’ll be there in five minutes.’ Kenny felt sick. Tina’s murder? Why the fuck would Graham be arrested for that? Why would he kill her? It made no sense.
Kenny watched as the two boys walked back towards home, and he ached that Isaac wasn’t with them. He felt, somewhere deep inside him, that he would never see his son alive again. He’d been missing for too long, and there had been no sightings, no use of his bank card, no use of his mobile phone.
Kenny walked back into the workshop, told his men he was going home, and jumped in his car.