When Susan spoke, it was with absolute honesty.
‘My husband, DCI Ridley, was a drunk, a gambler, a womaniser and... and he could be a violent man. He was weak in that sense. But he loved the law. He felt terribly let down by it — his sister was murdered, his brother’s locked away in a system that clearly doesn’t work — but he respected it.’ Unconsciously, she straightened her back, raised her chin and all the love she had ever felt for Mike could be seen in her watering eyes. ‘I’ll help you. And I think we’ll discover that Mike had nothing to do with your train robbery.’
Ridley stood and smiled.
‘I hope you’re right, Mrs Withey,’ he said as he left the room.
Susan’s former mother-in-law, on the other hand, was a less than co-operative witness. Audrey sat back in her chair, arms folded, lips pursed, eyebrows down, totally closed off. She was on autopilot and, as soon as Jack opened his mouth to ask her if she needed anything, she’d instinctively said, — ‘No comment.’
‘You do know you’re not under arrest, Mrs Withey? You’re helping us to find out who killed your son, and we’re very grateful for that. Very grateful. I didn’t know Mike, but I’ve heard great things. I want justice for him, as I’m sure you do... Do you mind if we record our chat so we’re not distracted by note-taking?’
Laura was in awe. Audrey should have been putty in his hands, after that little opening speech.
But Laura was wrong.
‘You’re as shit as the rest of them,’ Audrey said, and got up and walked out.
On the front steps of the police station, Audrey sucked in half of her cigarette in one go, before coughing out a long plume of smoke. Behind her, Susan stepped out of the main doors. As she spotted the back of Audrey’s damp, frizzy head, her jaw muscles flickered and her eyes narrowed.
‘I’m sorry we lost Mike.’
Audrey spun round. Susan’s expression was nowhere near as sympathetic as her words.
‘He was on a slippery slope, Audrey, and while I was trying to hold on to him, you were giving him a big old shove.’
Audrey’s mouth dropped open, but no words came out.
‘He needed to look to the future and you... You couldn’t stop dragging him back into the past, could you?’ Susan continued calmly. ‘You were so obsessed with Shirley, so focused on destroying Dolly Rawlins, that in your warped search for justice, you destroyed Mike as well. You did “something”, Audrey, I know you did. You did “something” and, from that moment, Mike had no chance. Losing his job, the drinking, the gambling, the aggression towards me... Oh yes, your boy put me in hospital more than once.’
Audrey opened her mouth.
‘Be quiet!’ Susan snarled as she stepped closer to Audrey. ‘I don’t want to hear anything you have to say. My husband would be alive if his mother wasn’t such an almighty fuck-up. If he robbed that train to right a wrong that you started, I swear to God, I’ll see you banged up. Fuck the no-grassing code of honour, I will shout it from the rooftops!’
Tears rolled down through Audrey’s deeply wrinkled cheeks. Susan didn’t let up.
‘Mike’s dead because of you. They’re all dead because of you. You’re poison. So don’t imagine for one second that I’ll allow you to do the same to your grandchildren, because I won’t. You’ve seen the last of them.’
As Susan walked off, Audrey remained frozen to the spot. The pain welled up inside her and flooded out in a stream of long-overdue tears — but even now, Audrey was crying for herself. The world was cruel, God had forsaken her, everyone was set against her; nothing was her fault.
Watching from behind the bike rack at the corner of the police station, Jack almost felt sorry for Audrey. He’d come across many people like her. She was one of life’s victims; it was all she knew. If she was ever honest enough to take responsibility for her own behaviour, she would probably die from the shame.
Connie snored like a bulldozer on Angela’s sofa. Aggie and Riel giggled from the lounge door, pushing their palms tight over their ears in exaggerated pain. Angela sneaked past them and placed a fry-up on the coffee table, together with a cup of tea. The fabulous smell took about three seconds to wake Connie, who sat bolt upright, almost falling out of her pyjama top as the buttons strained under the pressure of her breasts. Riel gawped at Connie’s cleavage for the length of time it took for Angela to usher them both out of the lounge.
‘Teeth. Go!’
Angela stood by the window, looking out over her modest domain, and sipped her cup of tea.
‘Don’t you wake up starving after a night on the booze?’ Connie asked through a mouthful of bacon and fried egg.
‘I ate with the kids about an hour ago,’ Angela said. ‘They love having you for a sleepover because they get sausage sandwiches for breakfast.’
‘They’ll love me even more when they’re eating banger butties on a sunbed by a pool in 80 degree heat! We’re nearly there, aren’t we, Ange? We’re honest-to-God nearly there!’
Angela couldn’t control the grin that crept across her face.
Jack was beginning to worry about Audrey. She hadn’t moved in at least ten minutes. Just as he decided to go and see if she was OK, she finally snapped out of it and lit herself another cigarette. Now Jack had stepped out of his hiding spot, he had no option but to continue towards her.
‘Are you all right, Mrs Withey?’ he asked.
For a good few seconds, she said nothing. She just smoked. When she was ready, she clipped her cigarette and put the unsmoked half back into the packet.
‘I got summat to say.’
Jack took Audrey into the Soft Interview Room. Decorated like a sparse living room complete with sofas, lamps, coffee tables and children’s toys, on the back wall was a large, plain mirror. This room was normally reserved for abuse victims and children who were giving evidence, but Jack wanted Audrey to feel like this interview was completely different from the earlier one — she could be the key to their investigation. He sat her down and then left under the pretence of making hot drinks for them both. Once outside, he asked a passing PC to put the kettle on and get Laura to come down from the squad room. He went into the observation room where, through the two-way mirror, he could see Audrey sitting on the sofa, wringing her hands, glancing around and looking generally very nervous.
When Laura came in with one tea and one coffee, Jack got her up to speed.
‘Audrey never left. Something’s on her mind. Can you stay here and watch?’
Moments later, he appeared in the Soft Interview Room and sat on the sofa opposite Audrey. He put the drinks down on a coffee table, and gave her time to compose herself before beginning.
In Raeburn’s office, Ridley was listening politely to her rant.
‘It’s a can of worms!’ she said furiously. ‘And it’s impossible to shut it down now. We’ll have to identify a pile of bones no one has even been looking for, and we’ll have to fend off the ensuing court case that’s inevitably going to come once the relatives are finally notified.’
Ridley could only agree. There was little point in doing anything else.
Audrey wasn’t here to do the right thing. She was broken. She was a woman with absolutely nothing to live for, so she was here for redemption before she finally curled up into a ball to die. Susan’s words rang in her ears as she sipped her coffee: Mike’s dead because of you. They’re all dead because of you.
‘It started with the diamonds.’ Audrey looked down into her mug as she spoke.
Up in the observation room, Laura breathed out an excited ‘Ooohhh!’ Down in the interview room, Jack remained a picture of calm professionalism.