It felt like a long, cold silence. Ten seconds? Ten minutes? Eventually, Crush placed his elbows on the table and leant forward again. His breath was stale with coffee. ‘Some things don’t add up, Naomi,’ he said in a new voice which was quiet and steely.
She waited for a question. He allowed some silence, then continued. ‘Nathan shared a flat with Dan. You were Nathan’s fiancée and you’re telling us that you’d never met his brother before you got married. Never saw him at all?’
‘That’s right. Nathan told me that Dan was dangerous and that I shouldn’t meet him. I took his word for it.’
‘And who did you think Nathan lived with?’
‘A friend. A guy called . . .’ She knew how lame it sounded. ‘Guy.’ She hung her head.
‘So you’re saying that you agreed to marry a person whose family and friends you’d never met?’
‘There were reasons for everything. Always reasons with Nathan. He was so convincing.’
‘I agree,’ Crush said. ‘While your story is anything but.’
Naomi felt a little nauseous. ‘I’m telling the truth.’
‘Why did you wear sunglasses at the airport and throughout the flight?’
‘It wasn’t me.’
‘Why did you ask to be seated at the back of the plane on the spare seats they keep in reserve?’
‘I wasn’t on that pl –’
‘Why did you choose a secluded beach villa, Naomi?’ The pitch of his voice was rising, the tempo of the questions accelerating. The camera blinked right light from the ceiling.
‘It was my honeymoon. I wanted privacy. But I never got to that vil –’
‘And then a cruise. You booked a cruise, a ship which would set sail every evening. Only you planned to get lost on that ship on the first night and leave a trail of false clues so that you’d be presumed dead, after which you assumed a different identity, that of Loretta Taylor, while she was being detained by Dan Stone, and then you flew back to the UK in order to punish those who’d let you down. You publicly humiliated them and claimed they’d tried to have you murdered when you were completely unharmed. Isn’t that right?’
She thought she might be sick, actually glanced round the room wondering where she would direct it. She swallowed the feeling away and shook her head. ‘No. No it’s false. All of it.’
‘The air stewardess, Jessica Buckley who personally sat with Nathan to try and get him through the journey home, said that he slumped in a trance for the best part of fifteen hours. Wouldn’t eat. Wouldn’t sleep. Couldn’t talk. She described him as a broken man.’
‘He was broke, not broken.’
He ploughed on, undeterred. ‘You planned that whole trip, Naomi. You organised the fine details. You booked it yourself and paid the deposit.’
She shook her head repeatedly. The pit of her stomach felt like quicksand, but anger was bubbling inside her. ‘What about my dad’s car being stolen? My engagement ring that Nathan took from his own mother? How do they explain those things?’
‘Working on the car, but I’m glad you mentioned the ring.’ Crush reached for the brown file, but Bailey had already found something that he was holding out. Crush took it. ‘That’s the one.’ He balled his fist and coughed into it. ‘Following Dan’s interview, I spoke to Valerie Stone, Nathan’s mother, and took a statement from her. She said, and I quote, “Nathan didn’t steal my ring, I let him have it because he wanted a ring for Naomi. He promised to return it once he could afford one of his own.” Close quote.’
‘She’s lying,’ Naomi groaned.
‘Why would she do that?’
‘She’s protecting her son, obviously. She doesn’t realise that Nathan is twisted. He lies, OK? He manipulates. He contorts and perverts things.’
‘And yet, during our interviews, he never had a bad word to say about you. He spoke of your talent, your kindness and generosity. He spoke of his regret at having slipped up with Lorie and said he might have been stronger, but that you refused to have a sexual relationship with him until you got married.’
‘Oh, so it’s my fault then?’ she asked quietly. ‘Nathan’s claiming I’m not right in the head and you think he’s speaking highly of me? Is it also my fault that he fell into bed with my ex-best friend?’ She paused. ‘I suppose I’ve only got myself to blame that they plotted to have me murdered too.’
‘If that’s true, Naomi, if Nathan is so evil, it begs the question, why did you marry this man in the first place?’
‘Because I didn’t know him.’
‘You married a man because you didn’t know him?’
‘I didn’t know that I didn’t know him.’
Crush’s wiry eyebrows shifted upwards and he held them there and just stared at her like she was stupid. When she couldn’t stand the sight of him another second, she looked down at the table.
‘Any particular reason why you withheld yourself from him sexually?’
She shredded the tissue beneath the desk. ‘I refuse to answer that question.’
There was a long pause while Crush considered his next line. ‘Lorie Taylor’s phone. You have it in your possession. We need to take it off you please.’
Naomi’s heart-rate increased. Her face was flushing; the room seemed too warm. ‘I don’t have it anymore.’
‘Why is that?’
Naomi had to force the words out. Her tongue was reluctant to cooperate. ‘I destroyed it.’
A glance at DC Bailey, who didn’t look up from his writing. ‘You destroyed what was potentially a vital piece of evidence?’
‘I didn’t want to keep anything of Lorie’s. Obviously, if I’d realised the importance –’
‘You’re doing yourself no favours here, Naomi. The recent conversations which allegedly took place between Nathan and Lorie were on that phone, were they?’
She sunk her head into her hands; the heels of her palms pressed against her eyelids. One word rang in her head. Guilty. Hell, she felt guilty, looked guilty. Her stupidity was glaring. ‘Yes.’ It cost all her energy to say the word.
‘But you’ll never be able to prove it.’
She had nothing to add.
‘In your statement, you said that there were sheets of paper under the windscreen wipers of the Rolls-Royce. Dan’s statement said the same thing. Yet when we recovered the car, we found nothing at all.’
Naomi was mute. There were no words, just nauseating feelings clutching at her as firmly as his handshake.
She watched him reaching down for something on the floor. Nothing was real anymore. The room had a surreal glow from the strip lighting. Crush’s voice was distant. He’d produced a small gadget. Her mind cleared enough to allow one word. Dictaphone. His lips were moving. His forefinger edged almost in slow movement to a button on the side of the machine.’
‘ . . . sure you’ll recognise the voices,’ was all she caught before he made contact with the little machine. Nathan’s voice came from it.
‘What happened to your hair?’
A female voice, breathy, quivering. ‘I burned it, like I burned everything of yours and hers.’
‘What are you doing here, Naomi?’
‘I might ask you the same question.’
‘I live here. We live here. We’re married, remember? You’re my wife and I love you. Have you come home?’
‘Back off. You’re insane. I came here to see Dan.’
‘Of course, Dan.’
‘Where is he?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Don’t touch me.’
‘I’m not touching you, Naomi. Why are you accusing me of things I haven’t done? And why are you still punishing me? You’ve made your point. I’ll never understand why you chose to make it in the way you did. I suppose it was your way of humiliating me in front of the entire planet.’
There was a long wait. Naomi was back there in the lift struggling for air, same as she was now. Feeling the walls and the heat closing in. And Nathan making no sense, and smirking
as he said,
‘Look, I’m sorry OK? I’m sorry. Can you ever forgive me for making one mistake with Lorie?’
And Naomi fighting to stay conscious, same as she was now, while Nathan bent down to examine her more closely, same as Crush was leaning across the table towards her now. And then her struggle to produce one final word.
‘Never.’
13
‘What the hell happened in there, Naomi?’
Annabel was pulling Naomi along as they exited the main doors of the police station and stepped onto concrete. The light was thickening into dusk. Lampposts were responding. The air was still and rang with insistent rush-hour traffic. The relief of being outside after hours in a claustrophobic space made her light-headed. Having been quizzed for hours, she was in no mood to talk.
‘You’re crushing my arm,’ was all she said.
‘I’m supporting your weight. You’re as white as a ghost. You need to sit down.’
‘Just get me away from here.’ Naomi plodded bravely on.
They found the car. Annabel more-or-less dropped Naomi onto the front seat. Then she hurried to the driver’s side and got in.
‘Mum’s been ringing me all day.’
Naomi stared out of the windscreen. She’d forgotten she had a mother. ‘What did you tell her?’
‘I ignored her.’
‘Good.’ Naomi closed her eyes. Even so, she could feel Annabel’s eyes burning into her; she could picture the exact colour, ice-blue, and see the almond shape.
‘I thought you were never coming out of there.’
‘You’re not the only one.’ She looked at Annabel now, took in the familiarity of her face, her expression which spoke of her concern without the need for words. ‘Thanks for waiting for me.’
‘No problem.’ They looked at each other in the faded light. ‘I don’t get what happened in there. They had no right to hold you like that. You could have walked out at any time.’
‘Try telling Crush that. You should have seen the way he looked at me between questions. He believes Nathan and Lorie, Annie, it’s obvious. There were times when I could hardly breathe and he didn’t care. The worse I felt, the more he tightened the screw.’
‘The sick git.’
‘Yep. I was in trouble back there. He even questioned me about the disappearance of Simon Wilde.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Because Simon’s car was seen near Dan’s place the day he disappeared. He thinks Dan’s involved, but they have nothing on him. He thought that under pressure I might crack and give something away. I knew what he was doing.’
‘Psycho.’
The rhythm of the distant traffic disturbed the silence that followed. Annabel switched the engine on. Naomi took hold of her arm and Annabel swung her head round.
‘D’you know what changed things today?’
‘What?’
‘Who! Vincent Solomon.’
Annabel’s face creased. ‘Why?’
‘I’m not sure why or how. But basically the big boss inspector guy who’s over the case, came in. He’d interviewed Solomon this afternoon. Solomon said that on the night of the wedding, his whole group were playing cards all night. Chambers was the guy at the cemetery who touched me up, I realise that now, but Solomon gave him an alibi, well four actually.’
‘And how does this help you? Doesn’t it only make you look more guilty – like you’re making your story up?’
‘Maybe, but the truth wasn’t helping either. It meant that Dan was pleading guilty to holding a firearm, which he identified as Solomon’s. Solomon’s insisting that none of his men went near the cemetery that night, and that he’s never owned a gun. There’s no evidence for anything, and that’s what they’re struggling for – evidence. No one will ever prove that Dan held a gun to my head in an open grave on my wedding night, not without witnesses and forensic evidence. They’re not going to start desecrating graves and sifting through two tons of soil for hair and skin samples.’
‘I suppose not.’
‘When they returned the gun and the cemetery, I told them that because I was drugged, I couldn’t be sure of anything. Then Crush got really frustrated.’
‘Tough crap.’ Annabel turned the car heater on and rubbed her hands together.
‘But . . . and here’s the weird bit, Solomon did land Chambers in trouble for taking Dad’s car, and he’s been arrested this afternoon. ’
‘So much for telling the truth.
‘It’s getting me nowhere.’
Naomi looked out of the window. ‘In future, I’m telling them nothing. Seriously, I don’t trust the police, Annie. I was beginning to think I needed a lawyer or something.’ She turned to Annabel. ‘Nathan recorded our conversation when I saw him at the flat. Crush played it back to me and I broke down. It sounded like I was admitting to having set him up.’ She paused, still reliving the feelings. ‘I’d refused to answer questions when the inspector dragged Crush out for a word. Everything changed after that. I think it’d reached the point where they needed to charge me with something or let me go. They let me go. Just like that. But with conditions. I have to report back once a week, same as Dan. It’s madness, Annie. I’m a suspect.’
‘That’s insane.’ Annabel gripped the steering wheel with one hand and put the car in reverse. ‘Well, I don’t trust Solomon. He’s only lying to protect himself.’
‘I don’t trust Solomon either. But his lies seemed to have helped Dan, so –’
‘What if he’s protecting Dan?’
Naomi thought that over while the car edged backwards and she locked her seatbelt in place. ‘Why would he do that?’
‘Just thinking out loud.’
‘Well, if it means that Dan’s off the hook, I don’t care what his intentions were. I went along with them. Now we’ve got to pray that this Chambers creep will tell the police that Lorie gave him access to the car.’
Annabel slammed the car into first and the car shot forward. ‘I wouldn’t bet on it.’
‘Nathan and Lorie should be locked up.’
‘Amen to that.’
<><><>
Naomi was in bed early that night, her thoughts a jumbled mess. She’d gone to her room because there was nowhere else to go to escape Camilla. Her mind ran over the scene when she’d arrived home with Annabel. Camilla frantic, Henry confused. Cats hungry. Dinner burned. Amazingly, Camilla hadn’t resorted to calling the police, so she’d had no idea where they’d been.
‘My phone was dead and Naomi doesn’t have one,’ Annie had said nonchalantly. ‘I was going to ring you from a payphone, but I didn’t know our new number because you changed it without telling us.’
Genius! That had quietened Camilla.
‘We had a long, lonely walk, Mum, the two of us. Naomi needed some air –’
‘She needs some hair.’
‘Mum! Don’t be so insensitive. Can’t you see she’s struggling?’
That had really quietened Camilla. She sighed a lot after that and bided her time before the punchline came. ‘Anyway, your dad and I have decided.’ She waited until everyone was watching her, then sat down and crossed her legs and smoothed her skirt. ‘We’re moving back to South Africa.’
Henry was stroking a fascinating piece of fluff on his trousers at the time, and didn’t look up.
‘You can, but I’m not,’ Annabel had said, calmly for her.
‘Me neither,’ Naomi had added.
Camilla raised her voice. ‘It’s best for everyone.’
Annie cut in. ‘How do you know?’
Camilla squeezed her lips together. ‘Annabel, we had a man on our property today.’
Henry interjected, ‘You don’t know that it was a man, Camilla,’
Annabel said, ‘What man?’
‘If I knew that –’
‘What’s that got to do with South Africa?’
‘Everything.’ Camilla clapped her thighs and lost her cool. ‘I feel threatened in my own home. We’re being ho
unded. Naomi married Lucifer’s right hand man.’ Noticeably, no mention of Lorie. ‘We all need some peace. A new start. I need to know that my children are safe.’
‘One problem,’ Annie had said, apologetically to be fair, ‘we’re not children, Mum. Look, I met someone in Japan.’
‘I heard,’ she snapped, which silenced Annabel. She wouldn’t say anything else.
Eventually Naomi said, ‘And I’m going back to college, Mum.’
Camilla’s mouth fell open. Naomi didn’t dare mention that she was due to report to the police station every Wednesday at 7 p.m. and had been advised to not to stray far from the city, let alone the country. She mustn’t let Dan’s name slip either.
Camilla had looked at Henry, searched for support. Henry had lovingly fondled the fluff and couldn’t tear himself away. Camilla thundered out of the room and slammed the door. End of.
So the family had dispersed and Naomi had made herself a drink and a sandwich and headed to her room and seen the diary on the corner of her dressing table where she knew she hadn’t left it. The room grew colder; she froze in the doorway. Her bedroom might have looked appalling, but it was organised chaos. Her diary had been in the suitcase. Definitely. It was an old one; hadn’t had a new entry for a while. But still, it was the intrusion.
She collapsed onto her bed, sickened and listless, heart drumming a feverish beat as crashing thoughts washed over her until she imagined she might drown in them. The past and present merged. Her hands trembled. When the door pushed open and Tess the cat wandered in, she was dragged from the open grave at the cemetery and back into the moment. Naomi noticed the sandwich sitting beside her, untouched. It had become a corpse, brittle and cold. Tess crouched by the bed when she’d normally leap onto it. She meowed and pawed the valance.
‘If you’re going to keep me company, at least come up here.’
But Tess wouldn’t budge. Naomi was in no mood to see what had roused Tess’s interest, or to listen to her repetitive tale, so she put her out of the room and shut the door and returned to bed.
The Darkness Visible Page 13
