‘He certainly wasn’t with me.’
‘Why d’you think he would say that then?’
‘You’ve terrified him. And you had to have realised by now that he’s like a beached whale when he has to deal with strangers.’
‘He interacts with strangers during his tours,’ Banner pointed out.
Francesca fixed her gaze for the first time. ‘He recites facts at them. It’s a wall for him to hide behind.’
‘So if he lied about being with you last night why should we believe him about the two of you being together on the ninth of September?’
‘September the eighth,’ she coldly corrected Fabian and rolled her pale brown eyes to him. ‘Because I told you he wasn’t with me last night, but he was on the eighth and the twenty-seventh.’
‘What about the fifteenth?’ Banner pushed.
Francesca didn’t look at her. ‘Could have been. What day was that?’
‘Saturday,’ Fabian continued.
‘Likely. He visits me most Saturdays.’
‘Every Saturday?’ Fabian maintained eye contact. The fifteenth was the night Joe Middleton had been stabbed under Carlton Bridge.
‘Most Saturdays.’
‘So not Sunday? He wouldn’t have been with you on the seventh of this month?’ That was the night Janet Wells had been killed. Fabian watched her pupils roll up to the right. Right-handed people often did that when they were accessing their imagination.
‘Sometimes he stays over. We have a late Sunday dinner if he does.’
‘The twenty-seventh was a Thursday. What was he doing visiting you then?’
‘I was on my holidays. Little chalet near Broadstairs. He drove me down there.’
‘On the Thursday? Unusual day to start a holiday.’
‘He took me down the Saturday before. Came to visit me on the Thursday.’
‘And when did he pick you up?’
‘Saturday.’
‘So he came all that way to see you in between…’
‘Just for the day.’ She nodded at him. ‘To see if I needed anything.’
‘Could he not have phoned?’
‘Don’t have a mobile. Besides, he wanted to visit.’
‘Would anyone have seen him there with you?’
She shrugged. ‘Maybe.’
Fabian put his palm firmly on the tabletop. ‘Ms Cousins, if it’s discovered you’ve been lying to the police, you’re aware of the gravity of the consequences?’
‘No. Because I’ve never done it. And I certainly don’t intend to start now.’
‘So, has Stephan’s behaviour been erratic in the past?’ Banner used her bedside manner.
Francesca Cousins eyed her sourly. ‘He’s been managing it.’
‘So was there any particular episode which prompted him to be prescribed the medication?’
Francesca opened the handbag in her lap, took out and put on a pair of glasses and squinted at Fabian as if she’d misheard his question. ‘Stephan’s had difficulties coping since he was at school.’
‘And if he doesn’t take his medication?’ He watched her magnified lids blink.
‘There’s no aggression, if that’s what you’re getting at. Stephan shuts himself off. Sometimes doesn’t leave his flat for weeks.’
Fabian recalled the takeaway cartons and cider bottles strewn around his lounge. ‘We understand that he had an altercation with a woman in his local pub.’
‘I wouldn’t know about that. Stephan’s always had problems with women. Think I’m the only female he’s actually comfortable with. There was one girl, years ago, Lorraine. Didn’t go very far. Wouldn’t surprise me if he’s still—’ she stopped herself.
‘A virgin?’ Banner finished for her.
‘That’s his business,’ Francesca said finally.
‘There’s quite a… gap between the two of you,’ Banner stated diplomatically.
‘Sixteen years. He was quite a surprise for my mother. Died giving birth to him,’ she declared emotionlessly and sucked in her bottom lip.
‘Did that mean you ended up being responsible for him?’ Fabian could see why she was so protective.
‘Father was never on the scene. We both ended up in care and I more or less brought him up.’
‘No other brothers or sisters?’ Banner enquired.
Francesca shook her head. ‘Just the two of us. He’s looked after me since my arthritis put me in this chair.’
‘So you both depend on each other?’
She blinked at Fabian and nodded.
‘And you’d do anything for each other?’
Francesca’s scowl said she knew what he was implying. ‘I know my brother isn’t capable of murder.’
‘But you know he has an interest in it.’ He raised his eyebrows.
‘Who doesn’t? Has plenty of punters turning up for his tours. Are you going to take all of them in for questioning too?’
‘So there’s been no behaviour in the past to make you believe that Stephan could be a danger to others?’
‘No.’ But she briefly paused before answering him.
‘Positive?’ Fabian pressed.
‘I just said.’
Fabian changed tack. ‘So what would the two of you have been doing on the eighth?’
‘I can scarcely remember what I was doing yesterday.’
‘But you specifically remember Stephan being with you on the eighth.’
‘His visits are circled on my calendar.’ Her expression hardened further. ‘Do you want to seize that as evidence?’
‘So what sorts of things do you do when Stephan comes to visit?’
‘Same as usual.’ She sniffed.
‘Which is?’
‘He cooks for me. We watch TV together.’
‘What are your favourite Saturday shows?’
Francesca rolled her eyes. ‘What does everyone watch? Dancing, talent shows, we both enjoy those.’ She grinned humourlessly.
Fabian suspected she knew those were a safe bet. ‘You’re going to have to be a little more specific than that.’
‘I’ll have a job. I usually fall asleep between eight and nine,’ she said dismissively.
‘But you don’t sleep.’
‘I don’t sleep in my bed.’ She snapped back at Banner. ‘Ask Stephan, he’ll remember better than me.’ She took off her glasses to avoid Fabian’s gaze.
Fabian waited for her to put away the glasses and look up from her handbag again.
‘Five people have been murdered, Ms Cousins. One of them was a helpless pensioner in her seventies, stabbed in her bed and then mutilated. Another woman was attacked in her home last night. Last night when Stephan told us he was with you. I’d strongly advise you to think again about those dates.’
‘I told you.’ His severe tone didn’t alter her insolent expression. ‘He was with me on the eighth and the twenty-seventh. I’m not as sharp as I used to be, so I’m not going to recall the finer details but I’m sure he can fill all those in for you.’
Fabian didn’t doubt it.
Francesca shivered. ‘It’s like an icebox in here. Are you finished with me yet?’
‘No, not by a long chalk.’ Fabian stood. ‘I’ll get somebody to fetch a blanket for you. Cup of something?’
‘I see. You’re going to keep me locked in here until I tell you what you want to hear or I freeze to death.’
‘I promise you, we could go to any office in the building and the temperature would be the same,’ he placated.
‘It’s inhumane. I want to speak to Stephan now.’
‘You can’t do that. Not at the moment, I’m afraid.’ Fabian nodded at the door. ‘Can I get you a tea?’
‘I want a smoke.’ She took out a box of cigarettes and held one in her right hand.
Right-handed, he noted.
‘Or are you going to deprive me of that?’
‘I’ll take you out to the shelter.’ Banner stood.
‘Five minutes. And, please, think carefully wh
ile you’re out there.’
Fabian watched Francesca getting wheeled out of the interview room and then headed back up to the office.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
‘It’s your wife.’ Finch held the phone out to Fabian as he entered.
Fabian grabbed it. ‘Harriet, everything OK?’
She sounded breathless. ‘I’ve been trying to get hold of Tilly, but I’m only getting her answering service. I tried your mobile…’
‘Sorry, I had it on silent.’ Harriet rarely contacted him about Tilly. There was a lot he got to hear about after the event, so she had to be worried. ‘When did you last speak to her?’
‘Last night. She was going out with her new roommate for a bite to eat. She said she’d text me when she got back but didn’t.’
‘OK, let’s not panic. It’s…’ he regarded his watch, ‘only half ten now. Maybe she’s switched off her phone because she’s sleeping?’
‘No. I managed to get hold of her roommate by going through the campus reception. She says Tilly wasn’t in her room when she got in this morning.’
‘Where had her roommate been?’
‘She didn’t say. She left Tilly in the bar of a pizzeria. She didn’t get in until nine this morning, and Tilly’s bed was made.’
‘Perhaps she’d made it before she left?’
‘I hope so. When did you last talk to her?’
‘I only texted her.’
‘When?’
‘Yesterday evening.’
‘Did she reply?’
‘No.’ He heard Harriet sigh against the mouthpiece. ‘Has she posted anything on Facebook?’
‘She signed in at the pizzeria last night and that was her last post.’
‘Let’s give her until lunchtime. If she said she would call…’
‘She always does. It’s very unlike her.’
It was. But it made Fabian recollect what Toby had told him about his daughter seeing someone else. ‘Did Toby call by recently?’
A pause. ‘No. Why?’
‘Just wondered. Found him loitering in his car outside the house when I called in to feed the cat.’
‘What was he doing?’
‘Drink driving. I’ll have to report it, but I’ve got too much on my plate at the moment.’
‘Did you speak to him?’
‘Only briefly. It wasn’t pleasant though. Did you know that Tilly was seeing someone else?’
‘She wasn’t.’
‘I didn’t think so either, but he said she was.’
‘No…’ But Harriet’s voice sounded suddenly small.
‘What is it?’
‘Nothing.’
‘What aren’t you telling me?’
‘She wasn’t seeing anyone else.’
‘That you knew about.’
‘She would have told me.’
‘Maybe she’s getting old enough to shut both of us out.’
‘She’ll never shut you out, Tom,’ Harriet stated firmly.
‘All I’m saying is perhaps there’s things she’d prefer us not to know?’
‘You weren’t aggressive to Toby?’
‘It was actually the other way round. Was he right to be that angry?’
‘I’ll sort it out.’
‘He was drink driving, Harriet.’
‘Just leave it to me.’
‘OK, but tell him he’d better do his thinking elsewhere in future. He must know Tilly’s in Exeter by now.’ But that’s what concerned him. Had she been going out with a potential stalker?
‘Call me if you hear from her.’
He could tell Harriet was worried. Her voice always thickened when she was. ‘OK and you do the same. I’ll ring you lunchtime.’
She put the phone down and so did Fabian.
‘Everything all right, guv?’ Finch asked.
Fabian nodded but really wasn’t sure.
Banner leaned her head around the door. ‘Reid says Cousins is ready to talk again.’
Fabian headed out to the stairs, Banner was ahead of him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
When Fabian and Banner entered the interview room, the atmosphere already felt tense. Lauren Reid was perched stiffly on the edge of her chair, fingers folded and resting firmly on the tabletop. She was always an austere woman but as he dropped into his seat he got the impression her rigid expression was the result of her confab with Cousins and not for his benefit. Cousins seemed uptight as well, his back was ramrod straight and he was staring down at a blood blister under his thumbnail.
‘We’ve provided alibis for two of the relevant dates. My client needs to return home now.’ Reid’s eyes were dead. ‘He needs medication that he left at his flat. Mr Cousins has a high SPS.’
Fabian turned to Banner but she was frowning too.
Reid looked at the notes on her phone.
‘A high SPS?’ Fabian asked.
Cousins still hadn’t looked up.
Reid read from her screen. ‘Sensory processing sensitivity. It’s “an increased responsiveness to external stimuli leading to the individual feeling threatened or overwhelmed. It increases stress levels and leads to depression and anxiety”.’ She put the phone back on the table. ‘He was diagnosed in 2014 and has been taking medication for it ever since.’
‘Is that why he lied to me about being with his sister when I phoned him?’
‘Are you releasing Mr Cousins?’
‘He hadn’t been deprived of any medication when I visited him at home.’
‘Well?’
‘We still believe, with his specialised knowledge of the area the investigation is focussed on, that Mr Cousins would be invaluable to us. And we’d still like to establish alibis for the other dates in question.’
‘You’ve already put undue pressure on Mr Cousins. He’s also become concerned that you’ve been on his property or are thinking of doing so. As a man with this delicate condition he needs assurance that you haven’t been.’
‘I told him we would need a warrant.’
Reid regarded Fabian frostily. ‘I know what you communicated to him.’
‘I want to leave,’ Cousins said into his lap. ‘I need to get home.’
‘If you just let me handle this—’ Reid placated him.
‘Now. I need to go now!’ He got to his feet.
‘Please, Mr Cousins.’ Reid gently restrained him, pulling him back down and then quickly took her hand from his coat sleeve.
Cousins didn’t sit down properly but hovered and trembled beside her. ‘I can’t answer any more questions.’
‘You don’t have to but please try to stay calm for a few more minutes.’
Cousins fell silent.
Fabian tried to work out if it was a performance but could see the white spittle at the corners of Cousins’s mouth.
‘If you persist in keeping my client here when he’s in obvious distress and has cooperated with you fully—’
Cousins snorted.
Everyone’s attention returned to him as he dropped back into his seat. He tipped sideways and toppled from the chair.
‘Mr Cousins?’ Reid was on her feet but there wasn’t much alarm in her voice. ‘Mr Cousins?’ She crouched next to him.
Fabian and Banner rose.
‘He’s having a fit.’ Reid looked up so only the top half of her face was visible above the table edge.
Fabian joined them at the other side of the table. Cousins was on his side, eyes half closed and his body jerking. ‘Mr Cousins.’ He couldn’t keep the suspicion out of his voice.
‘For God’s sake, he’s having a fit!’ Reid yelled.
Banner joined her there, looked up at Fabian and nodded.
Fabian knelt down. Spittle was pouring down Cousins’s chin. ‘Mr Cousins?’
He didn’t respond.
Reid stood and grabbed her phone.
‘It’s OK.’ Banner dialled for an ambulance.
Fabian took Reid’s coat from the back of her seat and balled it up
. ‘Here, cushion his head.’
Reid supported it while Fabian slid it under and then undid Cousins’s collar.
Banner hung up. ‘On their way.’
Chapter Twenty-Nine
‘What did the paramedic say?’ Fabian asked Banner as she re-entered the interview room.
‘Suspected seizure.’
‘Or suspect seizure. Find out which ward he’s on and send a man down there right away. I don’t want him out of our sight. Metcalfe has promised me more personnel.’
‘Cousins wasn’t responding when they put him in the ambulance.’
Fabian still wasn’t convinced. ‘Reid in the car park?’ He scooped up her jacket.
‘Yep.’
‘Tell our sentry we want to know as soon as he’s been examined.’
‘This might get more complicated than we thought. If this happened because we prevented him from taking medication…’
‘We’d better let Francesca know.’
Banner nodded. ‘She’s in room 7. We’ve moved a heater in there with her.’
‘Tell her we’ll keep her updated about her brother’s condition. If it doesn’t look like he’s going to be discharged today, we’ll send her home. I’ve got to make a call and then we’ll have another chat with her. I suspect she’s only going to repeat what she’s already told us though.’
There was a knock at the door and McMann put his head in. ‘Sir, do you have a sec?’
‘Fire away.’
McMann remained inside the doorway. ‘I’ve got the credit card details for the last three months of fares in our second victim’s cab.’
‘Good…’ Fabian tried not to fixate on McMann’s cleft lip.
‘And I had another chat with Joe Middleton’s eldest, Gaynor. I got her to go into more details about some of the fares her dad had told her about. Got her to go right back. Plenty of nutters every day of the week but there was one he picked up weeks before his death that could be interesting. This guy didn’t give him any grief. But he hailed the cab only a street away from Middleton’s house.’
‘OK…’
‘She scarcely thought it was worth mentioning. But her dad had said it was a good fare because the guy didn’t seem to care where he was going.’
Never Say Goodbye: An edge of your seat thriller with gripping suspense (Detective Tom Fabian Book 1) Page 8
