“Ah, yes, then. That was a long time ago.”
“He still gets a lot of pain. I presume he’s taking tablets for that — caught him taking a handful this morning. Is he still having problems?”
“I don’t know.”
“We got some added details coming in regarding that murder Sonja Smiley told you about. Nothing confirmed yet, but they did have a cold case, and the victim was a Chrissie O’Keefe, so Mike will be hoping to get more details this morning.”
“Good.”
“So this new man in your life, what does he do?”
“He works in Barfield Prison.”
“Oh, well, that’s going to be quite a drag for you, going up and down to Leeds.”
“No, he’s starting work in London after we’re married.”
“Oh, working in a prison down here, is he?”
“No, he’s a child psychologist and will be working with mentally challenged children.”
“So he’s a bit more than a security prison guard?”
“Yes.”
“That’s nice. Do Joan and me get to buy new hats?”
Anna laughed and said they should, as it would be a formal wedding.
“Oh, you’ll be wearing white, then?”
“Yes.”
“I would have liked a decent wedding myself, but we just went to a register office. It’s not the same; they wouldn’t even let anyone throw confetti.”
Langton walked in, and Barbara turned to him. “I know — a chicken and bacon sandwich, no tomatoes.”
“No, I’ve already eaten.”
Barbara scurried over to her desk as Langton looked at Anna. “We go in half an hour. Smiley’s lawyer is already here.”
He crooked his finger toward her. “You know, we might get a lot of unpleasant details if I’m right and he starts talking.”
“I think, with the added information from his wife, it could be in the cards. Barbara mentioned the cold case and that Chrissie O’Keefe is being checked out. Will they be sending over the case files?”
He nodded and then touched the knot of his tie. “You can handle it?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. Right, then, let’s go get the bastard.”
Smiley was brought up from the cells with Gregson at his side, the latter looking refreshed and smart. His client, by contrast, looked much the worse for wear. He had a bruise under his right eye and hadn’t shaved. His tie had been removed, along with his shoelaces, so his shirt was open from the collar, and the sweat marks on it were clearly visible. He asked if he could remove his jacket and did so, revealing sodden patches of sweat beneath his arms. His body odor was strong and unpleasant, almost as pungent as his wife’s.
Langton proceeded, repeating Smiley’s rights and saying that they would tape and video the interview. He began by explaining to Gregson, not even glancing at Smiley, that subject to Sonja Smiley’s statement the previous evening, there could be another charge leveled against his client in connection to a fourteen-year-old murder inquiry.
Gregson puffed out his cheeks. “I should have been given details of this before we started this session.”
“I’m afraid we don’t have them.” Langton shrugged. “We are waiting for confirmation from the team who investigated the murder of Chrissie O’Keefe, so I am being up-front with the possibility that your client was involved.” He looked directly at Smiley. “Your wife has claimed that she gave you an alibi for the night of O’Keefe’s murder. Do you wish to give details now or prefer to wait until we have been able to—”
Smiley interrupted. “I can tell you what I did do — the biggest mistake of my life. I married the bitch, that’s all I will admit to doing. She’d rake up anything to get me into trouble. You saw what she did to me, how she attacked me. Crazy fat bitch.”
“You’ve certainly changed your opinion of her,” Anna said softly.
“Yeah, it’s called telling the truth.” Smiley pushed his chair back slightly to rest his elbows on his knees. “You have no idea what I went through; you get into a situation, and then it goes out of control. I never wanted to marry her, I’d already finished with her. She came on like the Virgin Queen with me, wouldn’t let me screw her, although I knew most of the lads had given her one — and for money — but she wouldn’t let me near her, and it pissed me off, so I finished with her.”
Anna wasn’t sure why Langton appeared disinclined to press for details on their victims; instead, he leaned back in his chair, nodding.
After a moment, encouraged, Smiley continued. “You know, I had to put up with a lot of snide remarks from the lads about marrying her, and I just had to take it, understand?”
Langton nodded again, still not saying anything.
“So I got into the situation, right? I also had to take on her halfwit of a mother. She was senile, and I had to shell out money for her. Sonja wanted her to move in with us, but I drew the line there. I wasn’t having that, and I kept on making excuses. By this time I was in civvies and I got the job with Swell Blinds, worked my arse off for Arnold Rodgers, and then the old lady died, so that was one weight off me.”
Langton nodded as if he understood where Smiley was coming from. Anna, like Smiley’s lawyer, was baffled by the rambling history of Smiley’s marriage and why he was being allowed to continue. Both sat back, listening, while Langton appeared to be even more interested, giving Smiley his full attention.
“You have kids?” Smiley asked.
“Yes,” Langton said.
“Then, maybe you can understand. First came my boy, Stefan, then two years later, my daughter, Marta. I love those kids, I loved them from the moment they were born. And Sonja was a good mother — I’m not saying she wasn’t — and we was living in Kilburn in a rented house, and I was workin’ my way up the ladder with Swell Blinds. You see, somewhere in my head, I’d reckoned I’d be able to walk away from her one day, leave her, but when the kids came along, there was no way out. No way was I going to leave them.”
“And she must still have threatened you?” Langton said it as if he were on Smiley’s side.
“Right. She’d never actually put it into words, just hints, know what I mean? If I went out for a pint with my old mates, she’d gimme a hard time; she was on my back like a leech, sucking the blood out of me. You have no idea what it was like to live with someone who monitored every move I made, who kept me short with pocket money. I had to tell her where I’d been, and I couldn’t stand it. I hated her.”
“Why didn’t you kill her?”
Smiley smiled. “Don’t think I never thought about it, but with two young children, I was trapped — understand me?”
“So she was virtually blackmailing you, is that right?”
“Yes, but like I said, she never came out with it. It was just always there, in the background.”
“Sorry, I didn’t quite understand. What was always there?”
“That she’d lied for me over Chrissie O’Keefe, given me the alibi.”
“Did you ever admit to Sonja that—”
Smiley interrupted Langton. “I told her it was an accident. Truth was, I was no longer interested in Sonja. I started to see Chrissie, but she went and did the same thing to me, coming on to me, getting me all excited, and then pushing me off her. It got me so mad! I knew both of them were a right pair of slags who gave it up for all me mates, but with me, they wanted a commitment, know what I mean?”
“Why do you think that was?”
“Most of the other blokes were already married. I was younger and single, that’s what I put it down to.”
“You were a catch, then?”
Smiley nodded. “Yeah, yeah — that’s right.”
“But you punished Chrissie, didn’t you?”
“Too right I did. Served her right, but I’ve paid the price. I had Sonja squeezing me and always the threat that she’d tell the cops if I didn’t do the right thing. Sometimes it felt like I was on a leash. All that was missing was the fucking dog collar.”