‘I is helping too, just like Miss Dewsi, and I can tell youse I knows a thing or two,’ Marisha said, wagging her finger.
‘Have you been drinking, Marisha?’ Barolli asked.
Marisha shook her head, and then sucked air through her teeth in annoyance.
‘I told youse, Officer Perrolli, I’SE DON’T DRINK!’
Marisha was slurring her words and Barolli knew that she was lying. Checking her eyes he noticed her pupils were dramatically enlarged.
‘Have you been taking drugs, Marisha?’ he pressed.
‘DRUGS, no way, mon. I’ve not touched the ganja for years.’
Marisha licked her lips and started to shake slightly. ‘Can someone tern de heating down. I’se burning up in here and me mouth’s no spit left,’ she said, but showed no signs of sweating.
Barolli leaned towards Marisha to smell her breath and smiled at her.
‘You had some of that spiced rum with your coffee?’
Marisha grinned back, giggling, and leaned in close to his face to whisper: ‘Well, only a little one fer a bit of da Dutch courage, before I’se come and see ya to tell you what I knows about da rich bitch.’
Her voice was so croaky that Barolli pushed his own bottle of water across the desk. Marisha squinted, trying to focus on it, and grabbed at thin air in her attempt to pick it up. Barolli noticed her breathing was becoming heavier and there was a faint rasping sound. He picked up the bottle of water and put it in Marisha’s hand, then turned his back towards her so he could have a whispered conversation with Dewar.
‘She doesn’t look too good to me. She’s clearly had a skinful so I don’t think it’s appropriate to interview her at the moment.’
‘You’re being overcautious,’ the agent insisted. ‘She’s only had the one rum and her wheezy breathing is down to her being overweight.’ Before he could reply, Dewar started her questioning: ‘I want to ask you some things about your brother Samuel.’
‘De good lord knows she done for ma nephew,’ Marisha said, her voice becoming more agitated as she started to rock backwards and forwards in her chair, constantly licking her lips.
‘The date he went back to Jamaica is important, as I believe Donna Reynolds is trying to frame him for murder,’ Dewar said firmly.
‘Frame who for murder?’ Marisha asked with a confused look on her face as she began to scratch her lower left arm repeatedly.
‘Did Samuel ever meet Donna when he was decorating?’ Dewar asked, growing exasperated.
‘Decorating Donna, yes, ma’am, he also decorate Esme’s real good.’ Marisha again sucked air through her teeth and began to shake even more.
‘Will you please answer my question?’ Dewar said, becoming frustrated.
Barolli was concerned. ‘Marisha, are you okay? I can get a doctor to come and see you if you feel ill.’ Dewar glared at him, but he quietly told her that he didn’t think it was a good idea to continue, as Marisha was clearly on another planet and due to her condition anything she might say would be ruled worthless as evidence. Dewar, latching onto Marisha’s comment about Donna, ignored his advice.
‘When did Samuel go back home?’ Dewar asked, leaning forward, pressing for an answer. Marisha stared into space and began to sway and shake even more, as Barolli noticed that her pupils had got larger and she had scratched her arm so roughly that she’d drawn blood.
‘Answer my question, Marisha, or I will arrest you for perverting the course of justice,’ Dewar said assertively.
Marisha’s breathing had become even more erratic.
‘Samuel never steal no money, the rich bitch give it to him.’ Her shaking was now uncontrollable.
Barolli could see the woman was incapable of understanding the questions and it was time to get her medical assistance.
‘Stop now, Agent Dewar,’ he said.
‘She’s lying, she knows something. Tell me why Donna gave Samuel money, Marisha.’
‘Ask de lord, he knows she done for my Samuel as well!’ Marisha shouted at the top of her voice.
‘He helped Donna so she paid him off, didn’t she?’ Dewar asked loudly.
Marisha suddenly squeezed her chest with both hands and her eyes began to roll in their sockets as she bent forward, apparently in great pain.
‘Where is he, where is Samuel now?’ Dewar persisted.
Marisha couldn’t speak; it was as if she was suddenly starved of oxygen, and she looked at Barolli as if begging for help. He jumped up, opened the interview-room door and shouted for someone to call an ambulance. As Marisha slumped to the floor, Dewar knelt down beside her and unzipped her jacket and the top button of her blouse.
‘She’s lying to protect Samuel and I-’ Dewar started to say as Barolli knelt down.
‘Shut the fuck up, Dewar, and help me with CPR.’
By the time the ambulance arrived, Marisha was unconscious, but still alive thanks to the continuous CPR that Barolli and Dewar had given her. Having seen their witness safely off to hospital accompanied by a uniform officer, Barolli phoned Mike Lewis to tell him what had happened, stating only that they had just started to interview Marisha when she collapsed and had a suspected heart attack. Mike Lewis told Barolli that he and Dewar were to wait, as he was on his way over to speak with them both, and on no account should either of them leave the station.
Barolli paced around Travis’s office, racking his brains about what to tell Mike and whether or not he should defend Dewar. He knew that the whole incident had been captured on CCTV but was somewhat relieved that being a witness interview room the system was video only and no sound.
‘What are you looking so worried about, we’ve done nothing wrong,’ Dewar remarked.
‘You don’t get it, do you, Jessie? We are in serious trouble here. If Marisha dies, it will be treated as a death in police custody.’
‘But she wasn’t under arrest,’ Dewar said.
‘It doesn’t fucking matter, she was in a police station when she collapsed. I told you we should have got her medical attention right away.’ Barolli rubbed the base of his neck, which was tight from stress.
‘I only did what I thought was right,’ Dewar said emphatically.
‘What was right? You threatened to arrest her without a whiff of evidence that she was involved.’
‘She said Donna killed Josh and Samuel knew. Marisha’s trying to protect her brother. Question is, why and where is he now?’
Barolli looked at her with disbelief. ‘She didn’t know what time of bloody day it was. I suggest you tell Superintendent Lewis that you continued to question Marisha as you feared for Samuel Peters’ safety and current whereabouts.’
‘Okay, if that’s the way you want to play it. I’ll do it for your sake, if it will keep you out of trouble.’
An angry Mike Lewis informed Barolli and Dewar that Marisha was in a coma after a serious heart attack and still in a critical condition. Barolli breathed a sigh of relief as Mike told him that there would be no suspension from duty, but as a matter of course the Met’s Department of Professional Standards would interview him and Dewar later in the day. Mike went on to tell Dewar that the only reason he was allowing her to stay on the team was because of Barolli, and if he didn’t people might become suspicious and suspect some sort of cover-up. He also informed her that she was on her final warning, and then asked her to leave the room while he spoke to Barolli. She hesitated, glancing towards Barolli, but he wouldn’t meet her eyes.
When it was just the two of them, Mike asked for the full story, off the record, and so Barolli told him the truth about what had happened and what Marisha had said whilst intoxicated.
Mike rubbed at his head with frustration. ‘This bloody case has more directions than a guidebook. Do you think Samuel Peters is involved?’