Anna perched on a stool while Barolli remained standing in the doorway. “I need to know exactly how long you have been living here.”
“Five-odd years.”
“When you moved in, were the blinds already in place?”
“They was, everythin’ was here, but the ones in the kitchen soon got broken, and then the ones in the box room fell down. I never even bloody touched them. I had a lot of aggravations with me central heatin’ and me gas cooker. I was gonna complain about the blinds as well, ’cause if they’d fallen on my kids, they could have cracked their heads open. Look, I’m not being made to pay nuffink, as it’s been bloody five years.”
“When you complained, did someone come round to fix them?”
Emerald shrugged, saying sullenly, “I never told them nuffink. It was me central heatin’ I was worried about, but I might have told the bloke they sent to look at the boiler... and he might have passed it on to the people at Strathmore. Yeah, they did send someone. Yeah, that’s right. I remember now.”
Anna stared at Emerald, willing her to help them. “It’s very important,” she said. “Can you recall who came to repair them?”
“Why?”
“It’s possible we are interested in talking to this person.”
“Well, I dunno, it’s a long time ago. He came twice or maybe three times, but you see, the kids were just small then.”
“Emerald, I’m not here for any other reason than wanting to know about the person who came to fix these blinds.”
The young woman took out a packet of Silk Cut and lit one, then she sat on one of the stools. “Jesus, let me think... I remember a bloke did come, but he said I’d need a new cord or something, or maybe the little chains had busted. They’re all linked with these chains, and he was here for ages.” She gestured at the kitchen window blinds.
“Can you describe him?”
She puffed out the cigarette smoke, thinking. “He wasn’t English, good-lookin’, I think... no, wait a minute. He took the ones from in ’ere away, and they was brought back by another geezer.”
“Did you talk to this second man?”
“Yeah. He done them up in here, and...” She frowned, inhaled, and blew out a cloud of smoke. “He also got us some new ones for the spare bedroom — not like these ones, different wooden ones. Said he had some the right size in the van.”
“Wooden slatted blinds?”
“Yeah, that’s right, but they fell down a couple of years ago, and I haven’t bothered to replace them. It’s just used as the box room now — the kids have it as a playroom.”
“Can you describe this man?”
“Not really. He was sort of tallish, dark-haired, and I had to go out, so I left him with...” She hesitated.
“Was someone else staying with you?”
“Oh, I’m with you,” Emerald sneered. “Those bloody Social Services — it was fucking years ago! They trying to prove I rent out a room, are they? Well, it’s not fucking true! I don’t, and I never have done.”
“Who was in the box room, Emerald?”
“Maggie, she was here — one of her drop-in and passing-out nights. She was here, so I left her to sort him out.”
“Margaret Potts was here in the flat when this man fixed the blinds?”
“I just said so, didn’t I? She was gone when I come home, and the blind was up. I paid him some cash before I left.”
Anna stood up and asked if she could see the box room. Emerald stubbed out her half-smoked cigarette and put the butt in the pocket of a bathrobe she was wearing. She hugged the gown closer, saying she was going to get dressed. “I took the kids to school and then come back for a shower, that’s why I’m in me dressing gown.”
“Just show us the box room, please.”
The room was packed mostly with what looked like broken toys. A small single bed had a box of LEGOs sitting on top of a stained child’s duvet. The only remaining part of the blind was a brown wooden pelmet; the rest lay in pieces on the floor.
“When did you see Margaret again?”
Emerald sighed and said she’d been over this time and time again, but she didn’t see her for ages after that. Folding her arms, she said that she had also told Margaret that she couldn’t stay. “I just didn’t like her turning up, usually stoned out of her head or drunk, and so I never saw her for ages. Next thing, she gets murdered. I told all this to you.”
“Do you remember the name of the company that fixed up your blinds?”
“No. Social Services and the housing association arranged it. They done the place up, all I did was pay this bloke a bit extra ’cause he said he could get a blind for this room on the cheap, and I didn’t want to involve the housing association again. I dunno who he worked for. I only met him the once, and that was for only a short while, ’cause I had to go out.”
“Did you see what vehicle he used to bring the blinds into the house?”
“No. I’m on the third floor.”
“Did Margaret ever mention talking to the man?”
“No. She’d gone when I got back — I just told you.”
Barolli asked if he could look around the rest of the flat, and Emerald told him he could do what he liked, then led the way back to the kitchen. Anna asked if Emerald would be prepared to come in to the station, where they would get a number of men on video. If she would agree, perhaps she could identify the man who was at her flat.
“Christ, this just goes on and on, doesn’t it? It was a long time ago, and like I said, I hardly spoke two words to him.”
“It’s possible that this man could have been involved in Margaret’s murder.”
Emerald relit the butt of her cigarette. “You know, I wouldn’t put it past Maggie to wake up and give the bloke a blow job if he paid her a few quid. She was like that.”
Anna next asked if Emerald could recall the exact date she last saw Margaret Potts — this would be after the time she had stayed in the box room — but Emerald was very vague. “Does it matter?” she asked.
“Yes, it does. Where did you see her?”
“Listen, I feel a bit bad about this, but I never actually saw her again. I remember she rang me up once, a long time after, and wanted to come over and collect her stuff, and I told her that I wouldn’t be in. I honestly didn’t like her coming here, and that was the last time I ever spoke to her. Poor cow was dead not long after that...”
“Did she say anything to you that concerned you, anything unusual?”
“I think she was drunk.”
“What time of day did she call you?”
Emerald wrinkled her nose and said that it would have been around nine in the evening.
“So was she calling you from the service station?”
“Might have been, I dunno. It was a pay phone — I remember that. This was all such a long time ago, it’s hard to remember. All I know is, I said she couldn’t come over.”
Anna nodded and made a few notes in her notebook. “I really need you to think about the date that Margaret stayed, when you left her here with this man fixing your blinds. It’s very, very important.”
Emerald leaned forward, tapping Anna’s knee. “I’ve remembered what she said when she got in touch. She said, ‘Have you got the Evening Standard?’ She sounded right pissed. Oh yeah, I remember now — that was the first call. It was earlier than what I said because I had to go out to work, but she did ring me again when I wasn’t at home. She left a message with the babysitter, saying again that she wanted to come over and pick up her suitcase. I never heard from her again.”
Anna made a note and underlined the word suitcase.
“I remembered that, but I’ll never work out what friggin’ date we had the blinds done.”