Don't Push Me

by Ewan McGregor

  Stephen, Jason, Tony, Kirsty and Laura were all led to waiting police vans. It looked like they were all being detained and taken in for questioning. The interviews would be very interesting, to say the least. Kat was now as sure as she could be that her name wouldn’t enter calculations with all of these potential suspects. Why would any suspicion fall upon her?

  53

  Kat was absolutely exhausted by the time she got home. She hadn’t been sleeping properly and it had been a long, eventful day. She needed some food and a rest on the couch. However, just as she was taking off her jacket, the buzzer went. Whoever it was could wait. Kat didn’t want to see anyone.

  She looked through the peephole. Surprise, surprise – it was Mrs Paterson. Not what she needed. Although her elderly neighbour was holding a plate stacked high with food. At least that was something. Kat’s stomach was growling she was that hungry. She opened the door.

  ‘Mrs Paterson, you’ll really need to stop cooking for me,’ Kat said, taking the proffered plate. ‘I really appreciate it though – it smells lovely.’

  Mrs Paterson had a concerned look on her face. It was the same face she’d made when Kiddles had died.

  ‘What’s wrong? Are you okay?’

  ‘I’m fine. It’s just… well, I’ll come right out and say it. The girl.’

  ‘What girl?’ Kat said.

  ‘The girl from your work. The one who’s on the news.’

  ‘What about her?’ Kat wasn’t expecting this; it was a worrying turn of events.

  ‘It’s just. I saw her, didn’t I? The other day, she was coming out of here. Wasn’t she?’

  ‘Rachel Strang?’ Kat didn’t know what to say. She should have been prepared for Mrs Paterson seeing her – she saw just about everything else.

  ‘Yes, Rachel Strang. The girl who’s gone missing,’ Mrs Paterson said with a hint of irritation in her voice now.

  ‘Yeah. She was here. She was just dropping off some work stuff for me. Terrible business her going missing like that. Everyone’s just praying she’s found safe and well.’

  ‘I knew it was her,’ Mrs Paterson said. She looked pleased with herself now. ‘The thing is though, do I phone the number that’s on the news bulletins? Do I let the police know that I’ve seen her?’

  ‘Oh, don’t worry about that,’ Kat said, trying to keep the concern from her voice. ‘The police have already spoken to me. I’ve told them all about it. It wasn’t actually the last time we saw one another. I saw her in the office after that. So the police weren’t really interested that she’d come here. I felt like I was wasting their time, to be honest.’ Kat was glad she had opened the door and let Mrs Paterson in. She hoped her explanation would be enough to dissuade her neighbour from dialling the number.

  ‘That’s a weight off my mind, Kat, I can tell you. I was just about to phone them and then I thought I’d better run it past you first. I’m so glad I did. I’ve been worrying about this since I saw her picture.’

  Of all the things Kat had listed that might lead to her arrest, her elderly neighbour hadn’t crossed her mind. She should have known Mrs Paterson would have clocked Rachel. She hadn’t foreseen her elderly neighbour bringing the police to her door and possibly bringing the whole case crumbling down upon her.

  ‘No need to worry. Hopefully she’ll be found soon,’ Kat said.

  ‘I hope so, but the longer this goes on, it’s not looking good, is it?’ Mrs Paterson said.

  ‘No, I’m afraid it’s not.’ It’s not looking good for Rachel at all, she thought.

  54

  The tip-off had proved to be spot on. Everyone involved in the rammy at the park had been taken in for interrogation. The only question that remained for Prentice was who had sent the text message to let them know what was happening in the first place? No one else seemed to be concerned about it, least of all Donaldson. They were just pleased that someone had had the foresight to inform them.

  The interviews were time-consuming but very informative. There was a wide range of emotions on show. Rachel’s mother, Laura Strang, was first up. She had been in an angry rage all the way to the station and took a good while to calm down enough so the interview could actually take place. She was furious, and both Prentice and Donaldson couldn’t blame her one little bit.

  ‘Will the two of you explain to me what the hell is going on here?’ Laura said as soon as the detectives entered the small interview room.

  ‘We realise you’re upset, Laura, but we want the same thing you do. We want Rachel found,’ Prentice said.

  This seemed to focus her for a moment. ‘Aye, we want her found. Of course we do,’ she said, ‘but it’s like everyone knows something I don’t?’

  Donaldson started first: ‘Did you suspect your husband might have been—’

  ‘Shagging my daughter? Are you for real? If I’d suspected that do you honestly think I’d have kept the dirty fucker in my house… in my bed?’ Laura said. ‘So no, Mr Donaldson. I didn’t suspect Ste would do anything like that, and I hope you people are looking into him because I’ll tell you this, that lying, two-faced little weasel knows more than he’s letting on. He either knows where Rachel is or he’s ki—’ Laura broke off. Everyone knew what she couldn’t bring herself to say.

  ‘Would you like a break, Laura?’ Prentice asked.

  ‘No,’ Laura said. ‘I just want this over; I just want my daughter back.’

  ‘We know that. We’re doing everything we can,’ Prentice said.

  ‘Do you think she’s dead?’ Laura asked, tears forming in her eyes.

  ‘I’ll be straight with you. No one can say for certain either way, but the longer it goes with no contact then… it’s looking less likely Rachel’s came to no harm. We’re looking into every aspect of her life, and I know it doesn’t seem like it, but we’re making progress,’ Prentice said. He’d jumped in with the answer as he was sure Donaldson would have been a hell of a lot blunter in his response.

  ‘Do you see much of Archie Thomson?’ Donaldson asked.

  ‘Jason’s uncle? No. Jason claims he’s close to him, but I thought it was a lot of rubbish. He really is his uncle then?’ Laura asked.

  ‘Yeah, he’s his uncle. So he doesn’t come around the house then?’ Prentice said.

  ‘Nope. I’ve never even met him. Jason likes to use his name, make himself look like the big man, but he tells a lot of tall tales does that boy,’ Laura said.

  ‘We’d like to ask you about Stephen – or Ste as he seems to be known. We know you had no idea he was involved with Rachel, but you said at the park that you knew he was up to something. Can you tell us what you meant?’ Donaldson said. He wanted to get out of the interview as quickly as possible so he was trying to speed things along.

  ‘Ste’s always up to something. He’s always bloody lying or got some madcap scheme on the go to try and make a quick buck and now this? Well, this is the final straw. I’m done with him. You need to look at Ste though. I think he knows where Rachel is or he’s done something to her—’

  ‘Has Ste ever been violent with you?’ Prentice asked.

  ‘Violent? No chance. I’d batter him, but Rachel’s not like me – she’s not as streetwise. She’s too soft. So would he be violent with her? Is that what you’re thinking? I don’t know. I’d have said there was no chance of that either, but then I didn’t even spot the two of them together so what the hell do I know?’

  She had no idea where Rachel was or if she was even still alive. All she knew was that her husband had been having an affair with her own daughter. Her life had completely crumbled. Both officers were sure she had nothing to do with Rachel’s disappearance.

  ‘Who organised the meeting at the park?’ Prentice said. His curiosity got the better of him.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Laura said. ‘I got a text message telling me to go there and more information would be revealed or something like that. I didn’t know everyone would be there.’

  Prentice had thought that might be
the case. It annoyed him that no one knew who had organised the meeting.

  ‘In the circumstances, I think we’d be better concluding this interview just now and trying to find out from a few of the others that were at the park what’s happened to Rachel. You’ve got my number though, so phone me if anything happens or you think of anything else,’ Prentice said. Donaldson was already ushering Laura out of the room.

  55

  Rachel’s boss from the bank was a snivelling mess. Tony McPherson was in floods of tears before Prentice and Donaldson had even begun to ask a question.

  ‘Tony, what you bubbling for? You’re not responsible for the disappearance of Rachel, are you?’ Donaldson asked.

  Tony’s lawyer handed his client a tissue, which Tony loudly used, much to the consternation of the two detectives. They both winced as he blew his nose before speaking. ‘No. No, I just want her back so bad.’

  ‘Why do you want her back so bad? She can’t be that good an employee?’ Prentice said before Donaldson could say something similar but ruder.

  ‘You don’t understand. I love her. She’s everything to me.’ Tony sniffed.

  ‘You can’t be everything to her though, can you?’ Donaldson again. ‘She’s getting married soon and she’s been getting slipped a length from her stepdaddy.’ Donaldson looked like he was enjoying himself. Prentice gave him a stern look which he tried to ignore.

  ‘She was going to leave Jason; she just hadn’t built up the courage to tell him it was over. There was no way she would marry a Neanderthal like that,’ Tony said, dabbing his eyes with his tissue.

  ‘What about Stephen Armstrong? The “stepdaddy” as my colleague puts it?’ Prentice said.

  ‘I don’t believe a word of it. There’s no way she’d cheat on me like that. No way and that’s the end of it.’

  ‘No, Tony boy, that’s far from the end of it. You and I both know that Rachel likes to put it about.’

  Donaldson was going to go into one; Prentice had seen this before. He knew the mess sitting across from him wasn’t ready to hear it, but there was no putting it off. He needed a reality check more than most so he let his colleague continue.

  ‘She’s got, by my count, three blokes on the go and who’s to say that’s where it ends? Maybe she’s got a whole football team lined up. You, Tony my friend, are the runt of the litter. She’s been using you more than most. Now, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Stop fucking about and tell us. Do you know what’s happened to her? Do you know if she’s still alive?’

  The thought that Rachel was dead seemed to be a new idea to Tony. A new thought he wasn’t prepared for. He started wailing again. The tears were in full flow. Even the lawyer looked to the heavens in exasperation.

  Donaldson and Prentice looked at each other. Without saying a word, they both knew they were thinking the same thing: Tony McPherson didn’t have it in him. He was besotted with Rachel, but he was not the man they were after.

  56

  There was nothing more Kat could do. She polished off the meal Mrs Paterson had prepared for her and lay back on the couch with her feet up. She could barely move off her chair – a combination of the tiredness at not sleeping properly since Rachel’s demise and the massive amount of home-made casserole she had just demolished. It was the first proper meal she’d eaten since the fateful incident.

  The day’s events spun in her head. She wondered about everyone who had been taken away in the police vans, and she smiled at the thought that she was responsible for it all happening. If it wasn’t for her then the police wouldn’t be any further forward in their enquiries. They’d still be scratching around like headless chickens looking for Rachel. Kat was glad Mrs Paterson had knocked on her door, and not only for providing the lovely home-cooked meal that had gone down a treat. The old lady could easily have put her foot in it by telling the police that she had seen Rachel visiting Kat. It would have led to many awkward questions, not least why Kat hadn’t bothered to inform the police about it. Hopefully, Mrs Paterson would take Kat at her word and not phone the information in.

  There was nothing else Kat could do just now in any case. She had done her level best to try to point the finger of guilt at Stephen, but if the police didn’t go for it then there wasn’t much she could do about that. For the first time since this all began she felt a little helpless. Things were now being taken out of her hands. She would have to rely on the police not classing her as a person of interest.

  Kat wondered how the police interviews were going. She wondered what they would all say to the police. How would they react? Who would the police be looking at as suspects? Kat turned it all over and over again in her head.

  Kat was sure of one thing though. She was absolutely exhausted. She was doing herself no favours at all by avoiding sleep and proper eating. If the tiredness persisted she was bound to make a vital mistake which could cost her everything, including her freedom. Kat set the alarm on her phone for the morning, closed her eyes and lay back on the couch. She tried to stop worrying about things out with her control and let herself drift off. Within two minutes she was fast asleep.

  57

  The fiancé Jason Thomson was a more interesting candidate. An altogether better fit. Prentice liked the boyfriend as a suspect. His uncle would have the means to dispose of a body, no question about it. He’d done it many times before and still hadn’t been caught. Prentice and many others had tried for years to make something stick to him, but he always wriggled out of it. Archie Thomson was the Teflon man, and it had led to many of the Glasgow underworld coming to the conclusion that he was a grass.

  The only sticking point to Jason as a good fit for the murder – and make no mistake about it, the vast majority of the detectives on the case were convinced this was murder – was the fact he actually name-dropped his uncle. He wanted to be known as some sort of gangster it seemed, but when the question of his guilt was asked outright he shrivelled up beneath their eyes. He was like a little boy who was one step away from asking if his mother could sit in with him instead of the duty solicitor. No, Prentice wasn’t convinced about Jason’s murder-suspect credentials. Donaldson wasn’t having any of it.

  ‘Why do you feel the need to tell us your uncle is some two-bit gangster?’ Donaldson was in no mood for niceties. He hated name-droppers with a passion. He used to work with a guy who constantly told anyone unfortunate enough to be listening that he had once played football in the same team as George Best. It was a complete and utter lie.

  ‘Whit? My uncle’s no two-bit gangster. He’s feared, mate,’ Jason said. He put his hands behind his mop of blonde hair and looked like he wanted to put his feet up. The solicitor looked to the ceiling; he’d seen this all before.

  ‘Feared? Don’t make me laugh, son,’ Donaldson replied. ‘Why don’t you take that stupid grin off your face and help us find out what’s happened to your lovely little fiancée, eh? The way we hear it, she’s been putting it about left, right and centre.’

  Jason’s grin swiftly disappeared. ‘Don’t you dare speak about her like that.’ He was standing now and looked like he wanted to pick a fight. ‘Don’t you fuc—’

  ‘Sit down. Tell us about Rachel. Where do you think she is?’ Prentice had seen enough. Jason had been riled by Donaldson’s comments, but he wasn’t sure how far it would get them with their enquiries.

  Jason did as he was told. Sat down. ‘I don’t know where she is. I’ve tried phoning her, texting her, looking for her everywhere. I’ve even phoned a couple of her pals. She’s nowhere. I can’t find her.’

  ‘Do you think she’s come to harm?’ Prentice asked.

  ‘I dunno. Probably. It’s not looking like she’s coming home anyway.’

  ‘Do you think she could have done a runner? Maybe there’s someone else on the scene we don’t know about and she’s away with them?’ Donaldson said. ‘I mean she’s engaged to you, seeing her boss at work and having it away with her bloody stepdad. Who’s to say there’s not any more? May
be it all got a bit too much for her?’

  Jason scowled at Donaldson. ‘Listen, that bastard Ste is the one you should be speaking to. He’s the one. I’m telling ye. He knows what’s happened to Rachel. I’m sure of it.’

  ‘What makes you so sure?’ Prentice asked.

  ‘He’s a fucking liar, that’s what makes me sure. He’s always had some sort of hold over Rachel and her stepsister. They both worship the ground he walks on for some reason. He snaps his fingers and they both jump.’

  ‘Who’s to say that you’ve not done anything to Rachel?’ Donaldson said. ‘You seem to have a temper – maybe you found out she was having an affair with her stepdad and you snapped? Did something you regret?’

  ‘No chance. You’re not pinning this on me.’

  ‘Maybe your best buddy Uncle Archie helped you get rid of the body?’ Donaldson said.

  ‘Uncle Archie had nothing to do with any of this. He’s… he’s never even met Rachel.’

  ‘So you did this all yourself then?’ Donaldson continued.

  ‘I’d never do anything to hurt Rachel,’ Jason said. ‘I… I love her.’ And with that he burst into tears. The transformation from wannabe gangster to a teary-eyed teenager was quick and complete. Maybe he wasn’t such a good fit for the disappearance after all, Prentice thought.

  ‘People do strange things in the name of love,’ Donaldson said.

  ‘No,’ Jason said through tears, which were streaming down his face now. ‘I just want her back; I need her. Please find her. Please.’

  58

  There was definitely something fishy about Stephen Armstrong’s daughter Kirsty. She had no reason to be that obstructive. She had no reason to be that defensive. She didn’t seem to want to help progress the enquiry in any way, shape or form, or realise the seriousness of the situation.

  ‘You know your dad’s bang to rights here, and I think you’ve got something to do with all of this.’ Donaldson started the interview with a bang.