Just Keep Breathing

by GS Rhodes

Kidd sat back in his chair and blinked. He hadn’t been expecting that at all.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Going off of Kidd’s silence, DS Sanchez chimed in. “So you were in a fake relationship?”

  Dexter sank a little further down in his chair and Kidd suddenly felt a strange affinity with the lad. He remembered what it was like being young and gay, not being able to say it out loud for fear of getting in the shit for it. Maybe that was the first time Dexter Black had ever said it out loud.

  “I…I’m gay,” he said again. “And Sarah knew about it. We’ve been friends for years, since we were babies, and she knows my parents, knows they’re super religious and the biggest pair of arseholes you could possibly meet.” He stopped and looked up. “I mean, I know they’re my parents but…they’re not, like, accepting. They’re pretty far from it actually. That’s why I wasn’t allowed out all weekend.”

  Kidd was lost. “Circle back,” Kidd said.

  “My dad found…he found that I’d been looking at…websites…” Dexter trailed off. Kidd didn’t need to know what kind of websites. He could imagine what kind of websites a curious sixteen-year-old would be looking at. “We got into a big fight and they…they said some things to me and they…they locked me up in my room for the weekend, longer actually, they wouldn’t let me go to school.”

  Kidd nearly said that’s the last thing they should be doing to a horny teenager with access to the internet but he held his tongue. “Go on.”

  “So when I had a chance to go out for a run, I took it. They’d left me breakfast outside the door and left the door unlocked so I could get it and when I realised they weren’t home, I went running,” he said. “But Sarah was trying to protect us from all that, from my parents finding out, but then I got stupid and they found out anyway.”

  “You said us,” Kidd said. “Who is us?”

  “Me and Nick,” he replied, looking down at his hands again, furiously picking at the skin until he started bleeding. Kidd winced. “She was…she was trying to protect us. We’ve been seeing each other for about a year, getting to know one another, both of us doing it in secret, really. He’s not out to his parents either. His parents would probably be fine with it, but if he came out to his parents and I met them, then maybe my parents would have found out too and I didn’t want that.” He lowered his voice. “But they found out anyway.”

  “So since Friday, you’ve been locked up in your house?” DS Sanchez asked. “Your parents could confirm that?”

  Dexter nodded. “They wouldn’t want to, but they could, yes.”

  “Alright,” Zoe said, turning to DI Kidd. “Any further questions?”

  “Yes, just one,” he said. “Who is Nick? We may need to speak with him, just to corroborate your story, you understand?”

  Dexter nodded. “He goes to my school. I can give you his phone number if you like?” Dexter said. “His name is Nicholas Ayre.”

  Kidd sat up a little straighter. The name triggered something in the back of his brain, it was a name he had heard before. He closed his eyes and thought back before he turned to DS Sanchez whose eyes were wide, staring over at Kidd.

  “He’s been a little bit off-grid for the past couple of days, but he’s still been going to school like normal. He said he was going in today, and I said I’d see him there because I thought maybe my parents were going to let me go. I mean, I was going to go anyway, when I got back from my run but… “ He trailed off. He didn’t need to finish that thought. “I thought he might have been mad or something, or worried because of what happened to me with my parents, but if I told him it was urgent I’m sure he would reply. I’m sure he’d come and meet me,” Dexter said. “They’ve got my phone so I can’t do it right now.”

  Kidd sighed and looked back at Dexter. “We’ve heard of Nicholas Ayre,” Kidd said. “Was he aware of your arrangement with Sarah?”

  “Of course he was,” Dexter said, confusion flickering across his face. “He didn’t like the arrangement, I don’t think he did anyway, but he went along with it. He thought Sarah was taking advantage of me.”

  “Did you think that?”

  “No,” Dexter replied quickly. “She was trying to help me. She’s known my parents long enough to know that they take their religion very very seriously and they didn’t agree with…” He trailed off, silencing himself, something Kidd imagined he had to do on a daily basis. Again, there he was, feeling sorry for the lad. “Why?”

  “Nicholas Ayre is someone who has come up in our investigation, someone we’ve not actually had a chance to speak to yet,” DS Sanchez said. “We understand the website that posted the pictures of Sarah and Jonno was set up and run by him.”

  Dexter stared at the two of them, his face blank. He looked down to his hands, back up to them, his eyes getting that faraway look in them again as he tried to figure out just what the heck was going on.

  “That can’t be right,” Dexter said. “He didn’t do anything to Sarah either, I know he didn’t.”

  “We can’t be sure of that.”

  “He was with me,” Dexter said quickly. “On Friday night, Nicholas was with me. After school, after everything that went down outside the school with Sarah, we spent the rest of that afternoon together at his house. It was when I got home late from his that my parents confronted me about the…about…the websites.”

  “Okay,” DS Sanchez said. “Nicholas can confirm that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, we need to speak with him then,” DI Kidd cut in. “You said he’s been off-grid for the past couple of days?”

  “Yeah,” Dexter said quietly. “I guess I know why now. He was laying low.”

  “I imagine he was,” Kidd replied. “You said he’s at school today? You’re sure about that?”

  “He messaged me this morning,” Dexter said.

  “Okay,” Kidd said. “We may need to ask you some more questions later, is that okay?”

  Dexter nodded. “I’ll do whatever I can to help her,” he said. “She’s…she was my best friend.” And the tears started rolling again. Kidd took the opportunity to finish the interview, a high-pitched beep ringing through the room from the recorder as silence fell upon them all.

  DCI Weaver wouldn’t be happy about this, not one bit.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  DI Kidd had figured out his next move by the time they were finished with Dexter Black. They’d given the lad some time to calm down before taking him back to his cell. He hadn’t wanted to go and Kidd could hardly blame him, but they needed to keep him there until they could be one hundred percent sure. He understood that.

  “I want to talk to Caleb,” Kidd said as they walked into the Incident Room. The other members of the team had returned from their door-knocking. DC Powell was just taking his coat off from being out with the FLO and the Harpers. Everyone seemed eager to hurry over to Kidd and report back. He kept talking regardless. “And we definitely need to talk to Nicholas Ayre. If he’s not at school, Dexter can help us track him down.”

  “You think he’s innocent then?” DS Sanchez asked.

  “Absolutely.”

  “DCI Weaver is going to be pressing you to get that arrest,” Zoe said. “You heard him down by the river. He thinks it’s him.”

  “Yeah, but I’m not about to convict Dexter for the sake of it. We know different.”

  “The evidence is there,” Zoe said. “For the record, I think he’s innocent too, but there are a lot of things that point to it being him.”

  “The thing pointing me away from it being him is that he wasn’t even with Sarah in the first place,” Kidd said. This case kept twisting around in all different directions, it was hard to get a handle on it. Or to have any idea where it was going to take them next. “There’s no way to prove it, of course, but who the hell is Sarah talking about on her website?”

  DI Kidd was about to move over to the computer to check the entries again when the door burst open, DCI Weaver barrelling in with such force tha
t DC Powell practically fell out of his chair.

  “Why the bloody hell is Dexter Black back in his cell and CPS hasn’t been called to charge him?” he barked.

  DC Campbell looked up from behind his computer screen, a gleeful smile spreading across his face. Kidd wanted to throw something at him. He made a mental note to do it later.

  “He’s not our prime suspect, sir,” Kidd said.

  “This is a murder investigation, he was found with the body!”

  “And she was wearing his jacket,” DI Kidd said. DCI Weaver’s eyes widened at this new information and opened his mouth to speak. DI Kidd started before he had the chance. “I know, sir, it’s damning, but after interview he’s not our guy. He’s going to help us get to the bottom of this though.”

  “I don’t think you understand what I’m saying here, Kidd—”

  “I think I do, boss,” Kidd interrupted. “You want me to charge this lad, even though we’re fairly certain he didn’t commit the crime, right, DS Sanchez?”

  “Right.”

  “We have his statement recorded from the interview,” Kidd continued. “We’re working with him to track down his alibi who will be able to corroborate that statement, and DS Sanchez here is going to go and carry on with the other enquiries that we have. Right, DS Sanchez?”

  “Absolutely, sir. I’m just about to grab my coat,” she said with a smirk. “DC Ravel, can you give the school a call and see if Caleb Kaye is in today?”

  “Sure thing,” she said, immediately picking up the phone and dialling.

  “Caleb Kaye?” DCI Weaver repeated.

  “This lot,” he said, pointing over Weaver’s shoulder, “were getting ready to tell me all about what they found out down by the riverside, and DC Ravel is already in contact with the pathologist so we can find out exactly what happened to Sarah Harper,” DI Kidd said, leaning around DCI Weaver to take in the rest of his team.

  DC Powell was watching him with his mouth hanging open, probably scared that he’d be next in the firing line if Weaver couldn’t take his frustrations out on DI Kidd. DC Campbell couldn’t stop grinning. DC Ravel looked like she was about to burst out laughing as she dialled.

  “Isn’t that right?” DI Kidd prompted.

  DC Campbell sprung into action, grabbing his notebook from his desk and walking a little closer. “We spoke to the people who are staying in the houseboats by the riverside and they didn’t see anything that night. Apparently, there are Uni students down there all the time so they’ve sort of learned to tune it out.”

  “However,” DC Powell piped up. “One of them does remember being woken up by a scream. They thought maybe it was a fox because, you know, wildlife out there. That might have been when Sarah fell, right before she hit her head.” DCI Weaver rounded on Powell, and while Kidd couldn’t see his face he could imagine it was screwed up like a raging bull ready to charge. “Just a theory, sir.”

  “Caleb Kaye is off school today,” DC Ravel called across the room. “Mother called in this morning.”

  “Perfect, thanks, Janya,” Zoe said.

  “What happened with the FLO at the Harpers?” DCI Weaver asked, his rage appearing to subside.

  “They were distraught, sir,” Powell said quietly. “Caitlyn is there doing all she can. They didn’t want to come and identify the body. They know they’re going to have to, but neither one of them want to. It’s…it’s shit, sir.”

  “One, or a couple of you, need to go and make sure they’re doing alright. Things have obviously changed quite drastically now and I want this sorted.”

  “We know, sir,” Kidd said. “We’ll follow up later on today if we can.”

  “Fine, fine, fine, good work.” Weaver grunted, turning his attention back to Kidd. “I want this wrapped up as soon as possible, DI Kidd. Otherwise, I’ll take it out of your hands. You’ve got until the end of the day or I’m calling CPS, is that clear?”

  DI Kidd resisted the urge to say that he would like to see him try, but instead, he nodded and said, “Of course, sir,” and let DCI Weaver storm out, slamming the door behind him. The air in the room was thick with the tension DCI Weaver had brought in. It was Owen who broke it.

  “I thought he was going to rip your head off, sir,” he said. “Honestly, he looked like he was about to properly erupt.”

  “Bold move,” DS Sanchez said.

  “I told you I was going to give him hell,” he said. “Are you alright to go and see Caleb at his house? Might give you a chance to talk to the mother as well. I know I sprung that on you a little bit there.”

  “Of course,” she said. “Powell, grab your coat, we’ve got work to do.” She started towards the door, DC Powell quickly collecting his things and heading out of the room behind her.

  “I’m going to talk to Dexter Black,” he said. “Apparently, he knows Nicholas Ayre quite intimately, that’s what I have as proof that he didn’t hurt Sarah.”

  “But Nicholas posted the article?” DC Ravel said. “Doesn’t look good, sir.”

  “It doesn’t look good for Nicholas, no, but if Dexter can get him here then at least we can question him about what’s going on,” DI Kidd said heading back towards the door.

  “Hold up, sir,” DC Ravel said quickly, getting to her feet to grab his attention. “We’ve got a problem.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Joe Warrington.”

  DI Kidd’s face screwed up in confusion. What on earth did Joe Warrington have to do with this?

  “What about him?”

  “He’s just updated his news page, sir,” she said. “He’s outed Nicholas Ayre as the guy who made the post about Sarah.”

  “Shit,” DI Kidd grunted. Nicholas Ayre was in big trouble.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  DS Sanchez headed out to the car park with DC Simon Powell hurrying along behind her, having to take two steps for every one of hers. By the time they made it to the car, he was a little out of breath, his face sort of red, and he seemed nervous.

  “You okay?” Sanchez asked as she pulled on her seatbelt. He really didn’t look well. “You look like you’re about to vomit.”

  “DCI Weaver just makes me nervous, that’s all,” he said. “I had a Sarge like him once and honestly, every time she came into the room I thought I was going to shit my pants.” He looked up at her, like he’d suddenly heard the words that had come out of his mouth. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

  “It’s alright,” she said, putting the car into drive and pulling out of the car park. “DCI Weaver is all bluster,” she continued. “He’ll absolutely give you the hairdryer treatment if you put a foot wrong, but mostly he just wants to get the job done.” She thought about it a little. “Not that I’m excusing his methods, it’s not how I would do things if I were a DCI.”

  There was a lot of masculine bullshit in the job. She’d had to deal with it daily since she’d started. She didn’t want anybody, especially not somebody new, thinking it was okay to manage people through fear.

  “You’d make a good DCI,” Simon said. “A good DI, too.”

  “You think?”

  “You’re a lot like DI Kidd,” he said. “But without the short fuse. You’re calm under pressure, but you have an edge.”

  “You think I have an edge?” Zoe asked with a smirk, looking at Simon out of the corner of her eye. He stiffened, his gaze fixed on the road.

  “Um…I don’t know what the right answer is to that question.”

  Zoe laughed as she continued to drive, DC Powell directing her as she went. It seemed to ease the tension. They’d not worked together an awful lot, Sanchez usually paired with Kidd because that was the way he liked to do things, or she would pair herself with DC Ravel if possible because, as far as she was concerned, women in this job needed to stick together.

  But she liked him. He was a little clumsy at times, and his nervousness needed to fade away pretty sharpish if he was going to survive as a detective, but h
e was nice. And when you sat him next to someone like DC Campbell, she would choose Simon Powell eight times out of ten. The two times she wouldn’t were maybe when they were going into something dangerous. At times like that, she was more than happy to use DC Campbell as a sacrificial lamb.

  They drove right past Sarah Harper’s family home. Zoe Sanchez shook her head, her heart going out to them. They would be in that house right now probably going through Sarah’s last movements in their head, trying to figure out who on earth would do something like this.

  “How were they?” DS Sanchez asked. “I mean, I know they wouldn’t have been good but how did they take it?”

  DC Powell shook his head. “A left here,” he said. “Neither one of them took it well. Surprisingly enough, it was Mr Harper who broke down. Mrs Harper was fairly solid. I think she’d come to terms with it in her head.” He swallowed. “Caitlyn did a good job at calming him down.”

  “She’s a good egg, Caitlyn,” Sanchez said, following Powell’s instructions and turning left. “We’ll check in later, see how they’re getting on.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” he said. “It’s just here,” he added quickly, pointing to the house.

  The Kaye residence wasn’t too far from the Harpers’ house, just a couple of minutes around the corner. Mr Harper had said that they were family friends, so that was clearly facilitated by them living so close to one another. There was probably a whole street of people who knew each other and were in and out of each other’s business. Maybe some door knocking here wouldn’t go amiss.

  The Kaye residence was definitely different from the Harpers’ house. It wasn’t quite as large, the house seemingly squeezed in between one that seemed to match the rest of the street and a one that only looked about half-finished. There was a skip out the front of the half-built house, mud covering a half-paved driveway, bits of plastic hanging off the double glazing that flapped about in the wind like a half-arsed flag parade. It made everything around it look a little more untidy.