Harris adjusted his position in his seat, licking his index finger. He rubbed at a tiny mark on the dashboard. “Yeah, I was gonna talk to you about that.”
“About Nikki?”
Harris cleared his throat, still fingering the dash. A long silence, then, “I bought a ring.”
“You did what?”
“An engagement ring.”
Anna took advantage of a red light to turn and face Harris. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, can hardly believe it myself.” He looked across at Anna. “Am I doing the right thing?”
“That’s not for me to say, Jez. Only you can know that. Go with your heart.” Anna turned back to the road, shaking her head in disbelief. “Now I’ve heard everything. Battersea’s most eligible bachelor, ready to settle down? And with a professional model with two kays. When are you going to tell Barry?”
“Never mind Barry. I’ve got to tell Nikki first.”
Chapter 34.
“Timothy Preston?”
“That’s me.” The clean-shaven youth at the door eyed them both with suspicion.
“DS Hargreaves. This is my colleague, DC Harris,” Anna said, with a weary display of her badge. “Is it alright if we come in?”
“Look, this is harassment you know,” Preston started to say. “I’ve—”
“We’re here about Stuart Walker.” Harris shuddered as though someone had left a window open in a storm.
“Stu’?”Preston visibly relaxed, flicking a hand through floppy, bleached hair. “What’s he done his time?”
“Could we do this inside?” Anna asked.
“This isn’t about me?”
“Not as yet.”
“You’d better come through.” Preston stood aside.
Harris followed Anna into the tiny flat. Preston made no offer for them to sit, so they stood in the compact living room. Harris inspected the décor Sherlock Holmes style, while Anna did the talking.
“When was the last time you saw Mr. Walker?” Anna asked.
Preston considered the question carefully. “Before he left for work yesterday, about half six. Why?”
“Six thirty yesterday morning?”
“Evening. He works nights. The big Tesco’s around the corner,” Preston said, flopping down into a chair. Still no offer for Anna and Harris to sit. “Is he in some kind of trouble?”
“So he was here Saturday daytime?”
“All day. He stayed over Friday night. Left for work as usual, then he would have gone to his girlfr…” Preston dried up, squirming uncomfortably in his chair.
“It’s okay, Mr. Preston,” Anna assured him. “We know about Katie.”
“And the kid,” added Harris.
Preston stared at them, bewildered.
“What time would Stuart have finished work last night?” Anna continued.
“About eleven. Short shifts at weekends. Then straight round to Katie’s for his oats. He always stays with her Saturday nights, so he can spend Sunday with the kid.”
“He didn’t make it to Katie’s, Mr. Preston. I’m very sorry to have to tell you this,” Anna said quietly, “but we found Mr. Walker’s body at a nearby hotel shortly after three thirty this morning.”
“Body?”
Anna and Harris studied Preston as he sank back into his chair. “Stuart? Dead?”
Harris pulled a notebook from his pocket. “Can you tell us where you were between midnight and five this morning?”
Anna glared at Harris. Harris shrugged, staring at Preston.
“What do you mean, dead? An accident? He’d beaten the smack. He can’t have ODed surely?”
Anna shook her head. “He was murdered, Mr. Preston.”
“Oh my God,” Preston stammered, half getting out of his chair, then sinking back, burying his face in his hands. “How?”
“I can’t say at this stage.”
Preston looked at Harris, speaking to Anna. “Why does he want to know where I was? You think I did it?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Preston. But we have to ask. Were you here last night?”
“All night,” Preston said, his tone muted.
“Alone?”
Preston nodded. Quietly, “Who would want to…” He looked up at Anna. “You’re sure its Stuart?”
“Katie has identified the body.”
Preston stared at the floor. “Is she okay?”
“As can be expected. Do you know her well?”
Preston nodded. “We’re all good friends.” He looked up at Anna. “No rivalry. No jealousy. It’s a three-way relationship. Very modern.”
“Not anymore,” Harris sneered.
“Thank you, Jez,” Anna said firmly. To Preston. “Were you aware Stuart would be at a hotel last night? You didn’t seem too surprised.”
Preston cupped his hands beneath his chin and brought his knees-up into foetal position. “I thought he’d stopped all that.”
“All what, Mr. Preston?”
“Prostitutes. Escorts, he called them, but it was still paying for sex. As if he didn’t get enough between me and Katie. So what was it, queer-bashers?”
“I can’t say any more at the moment, Mr. Preston. What can you tell us about these… Escorts?”
Preston shrugged. “Not a lot. Stu went through a phase with them when Katie fell pregnant. That was a real turn off for him. She understood that. Me too. I mean, it must be like shagging a beached whale.”
It was Anna’s turn to be offended. “Some men find pregnant women very sexy, Mr. Preston.”
“Yeah well Stu wasn’t one of them. We both thought he’d stopped after the baby was born. Guess we were wrong...”
“Katie knew about the escorts too?”
Preston managed a smile through tear-filled eyes. “I told you, it was a very modern relationship.”
Chapter 35.
“I didn’t say I wanted to marry her. Just get engaged.”
Anna briefly took her eyes off the road to look at her passenger face-on. “The two tend to go together, Jez.”
“In your day, maybe.”
“Oh, so this is another modern relationship, is it? Like Timothy Preston, Stuart Walker and Katie?”
“Don’t remind me. Oh, and thanks.”
“Thanks?”
“For passing the Preston follow-up to Pete and Lee. I thought I was going to puke in there.”
“Tell me about it. I was worried you were going to say something totally out of order and have us both up on a discrimination rap. As your sergeant, Jez. I’m going to have to recommend to Red that you get more awareness training.”
Harris looked askance at Anna. “You wouldn’t?”
“Sorry. You cannot be a copper in the twenty-first century Met with your Neanderthal attitudes towards gays, blacks, women… You’ve really got to buck your ideas up.”
Harris stared out of the window. “I thought we were working pretty well together.”
“We are,” Anna said. “But I had to cut that interview short because you were getting het up about being in a gay man’s house.”
“I was not.”
“Jez, you were practically spelling it out. What is it they say, your arse was so tight you couldn’t have got a pin up it with a jack-hammer?”
“You can’t be too careful.”
“Face it, Jez Harris, You’re a homophobe. “
“I am not.”
Anna sighed in defeat. “So what about Nikki then. What’s the big rush with this engagement business?”
“I just want her to know I’m serious. And let everyone else know she’s not available.”
“But what do you know about her, really? You’ve barely met her.”
“Six weeks now,” Harris said defensively.
“Exactly.”
“I know we love each other. What else matters?”
“You’re still living at home with your parents. You can’t afford a place of your own on a DC’s salary. Has Nikki got somewhere?”
“She’s go
t a flat in Brixton. Just right for the two of us. And she’s given me a spare key. Shows she’s serious about me.”
“When you became a cop, Jez, you married the job. Does Nikki have any idea what that means?”
Harris shrugged. “You’re just jealous.”
“How can I be jealous of another woman?” Anna grinned mischievously. “Now the Guv on the other hand… Though I don’t think Nikki is her type, somehow.”
“Don’t be so sure. I saw her staring at Nikki’s tits the other night.”
“Hard not to. They enter the room five minutes before she does.”
Harris beamed. “And I want to spend the rest of my life with them.”
“The thing is, Jez,” Anna said, “does she want to spend the rest of her life with you?”
Chapter 36.
Red took her eyes off the traffic to glance across at Barry Taylor. “So, things not going great with Margaret I take it?”
“Eighteen bloody months now.”
“You must miss the kids.”
“And some. I barely get to see them as it is, without days like this…”
“I know, I’m sorry. None of us want to do it.”
“Not your fault, Guv. I just feel like I’m letting them down, that’s all.”
“Look, when this case is over, why don’t you take a few days leave? Take the kids off somewhere. Margaret can’t object to that, surely?”
Taylor sat upright in his seat. “Really?”
“Sure. I’ll clear it with the Super. As soon as we nail this case.”
“Thanks, Guv.” Taylor paused. “Listen, about out little... misunderstanding, after that night out…”
“Don’t go there, Barry,” Red said. “Besides, we were quits, remember? It’s all forgotten about. Okay, here we are.” Red swung the car into the kerb. “Hotel’s there. Cab rank’s there. Someone must have seen something.”
Red glanced at the barred, cracked window of the cab office, the neon Taxi sign blinking on and off like its batteries were running out. “Classy joint. Doubt they’re going to be very co-operative.”
Taylor squared his shoulders. “I’m sure we can get something out of them with a little friendly persuasion.”
“Come on, Braveheart, and let me do the talking.”
A loud beep sounded as they pushed open a steel door. A young girl looked up from her magazine. “Ten minutes for a car,” she said.
Red held out her badge. “DCI Rose. DC Taylor. We don’t need a cab, just a quick word”
The girl put her magazine down warily. “Police?”
“Nothing to worry about. What’s your name?”
“Mary, and I haven’t done anything.”
“I didn’t say you had, Mary. We’re investigating an incident that occurred between 01.00 and 03.00 this morning.”
“The hotel, you mean?”
Taylor looked out across the road the lines of yellow police tape at the hotel entrance. “Sharp as nails, you are, love.”
“Thank you, Barry.” To Mary, “We need a list of all your drivers that were on duty through the night. Say from 9pm until dawn?”
Mary shrugged. “Sure, I can do that. Is it true it was the cock-chopper again?”
Red winced at the term. “I can’t say. The list?”
Mary reached over and pulled a clipboard from the wall. She handed it to Red. “Here, take it. I’ll print another one off in a sec. The drivers work eight hour shifts. Midnight ’til eight, eight ’til four, four ’til midnight.”
Red scanned a list of names and times. “Shit.” To Taylor, “We’ve missed them all.” To Mary, “I’ll need addresses and telephone numbers for these drivers.”
Mary looked at the clock on the wall. “The graveyard shift are going to be asleep. You can’t just go waking them up.”
Taylor leaned forward, placing his huge hands on the desk. “Wanna bet?”
“Hold on, Barry,” Red said. “Mary’s right. Even you and Jez wouldn’t go knocking on witnesses doors at three o’clock in the morning.”
Taylor gave the statement some thought. “We might, if the OT was good.”
“What I mean is, for those drivers on the midnight shift this will be equivalent to their early morning.” Red turned back to Mary. “Will they all be back in tonight?”
Mary took the list back and scanned it. “Should be. You gonna come back at midnight?”
“I’m not.” Red looked at Taylor. “But my colleague will be. You did say if the OT was good, right, Barry?”
Taylor managed a resigned smile. “Walked right into that one, didn’t I, Guv?”
“You can be here at four pm too and catch the evening shift. They might have seen something before midnight.”
Taylor’s smile disappeared. Then reappeared. “I can’t do an interview on my own, right, Guv? Does that mean Mac will have to come along too?”
Red grinned. “I’ll let you tell him the good news. Thanks for your help, Mary. My colleagues will be back at four this afternoon and again at midnight.”
Mary looked disappointed. “Is that it?”
Red hesitated. “I think so.”
“What about me?”
“You?”
“The night shift don’t take their own calls, you know. Someone has to be sat here.”
Red looked out through the window. A clear view of the hotel entrance. “She double-checked the time on her mobile. You were here last night?”
“Double shift. I had to come in at midnight to cover for Lindy. She phoned in sick. Obviously the drivers can’t work overtime just like that, but we’re okay.”
Taylor shifted his bulk back to the counter. “Did you see something?”
“I might have. It gets a bit boring you know. There’s that stupid telly, but you can never watch anything properly because someone always wants a taxi just at the exciting bits.But it’s more entertaining watching the drunks go by.”
“Did you see anyone enter or leave the hotel?” Taylor demanded.
“Duh. It’s a hotel. People coming and going all the time.”
Red stepped forward and edged Taylor to one side. “Specifically between midnight and three?”
Mary laughed nervously. “I’d just made a coffee, about two-ish. and when I came back to the switch, I happened to look out the window.”
“Go on,” Red said gently.
“I only noticed her coz of the fancy dress she was wearing. Chanel it was.”
Taylor sighed. “Not a hooker, then.”
“Classy, if she was.”
“About two o’clock,” Red repeated. “Can you describe her?”
“Chanel dress. Calf length. Hard to be certain with the street lamps, but I’d guess red. Long blonde hair. Past her shoulders. High heels. Two inches, maybe?”
“Would you recognize her again?”
Mary shrugged. “I’d recognize the clothes. Dunno about here. Didn’t really see her face. I wasn’t paying that much attention.”
“Enough to notice her.”
“I thought it was odd that a woman was coming out of the hotel on her own and not coming over here for a cab, that time of night. You can’t be too careful round here.”
“Maybe she had a car parked up nearby? Did she have a bag with her?”
“Small handbag. Louis Vuitton I think, bit don’t hold me to that. Looked like it matched the dress. But again, that could just be the street lamps.”
“Unaccompanied?”
“Definitely.”
“And you didn’t see her go in? So you’ve no idea how long she was there?”
“Might have gone in before I came on at twelve. Might have gone in five minutes before she came out. It’s not like I spend all night staring out of the window. From midnight to one-thirty it’s chaos here.”
Red nodded. “You’ve been a great help, Mary.”
Chapter 37.
“Update whoever’s here. I’ll be back in an hour or so,” Red said as she dropped Taylor at the Station. “As s
oon as Jim gets in you’ll be with him. Until then, Anna’s in charge. Don’t let me hear you’ve given her a hard time.”
Taylor slipped into the seat next to Harris just as Metcalf and Roberts came in.
“Well, can safely eliminate Timothy Preston as a suspect,” Pete Metcalf announced.
Anna Hargreaves looked up from her laptop. “Don’t tell me. Good cop, bad cop?”
“Pete let me be good cop this time,” Roberts said gleefully.
Harris punched Taylor on the arm. “See, those two swap. I told you that it’s not fair if you’re bad cop all the time.”
Taylor brushed Harris away. “Don’t talk to me, traitor. While you’re swanning about with Anna I’m lumbered with By The Book Mackenzie. It’s good cop or nothing. I can’t even fart when he’s about. Which reminds me.” Taylor put his hands on the seat of the chair, lifted himself and let rip. A big grin. “That’s better.”
“You smelly bastard!” Roberts shouted.“You got a dead rat stuffed up there?”
“Curry last night, Barry?” Harris beamed.
“Can’t you lot grow up?” Anna groaned.
Pete Metcalf had his head buried in his hands. “Animals, the lot of you.”
Taylor glared at him. “What, African-Americans don’t break wind?”
“I was brought up to know better,” Metcalf said. “And Barry, I am neither African nor American. I was born right here in London.”
“But that’s what we’re s’posed to call blacks, innit?” Taylor demanded.
“Only if they are Americans whose ancestors came from Africa,” Metcalf said calmly. “I’m British and my parents came from the West Indies.”
“Yeah, but you still must have come from Africa originally.”
“Barry, we all came from Africa originally.”
“Not me, mate,” Harris said.
“Jez, Africa is where the human race evolved. That’s why it’s called the cradle of civilization.”
Taylor saw Anna’s warning glare and sheathed his response. Instead he asked, “So what do we call you then?”
Saffina Desforges' ROSE RED Crime Thriller Boxed Set Page 37
