‘Come for dinner tomorrow night with your father, tygrysek.’ It was clear from Babcia’s tone that this was more instruction than invite, and Cassie knew she was right. Since her dad’s OD she’d been texting him regularly to check up on his health but she’d been avoiding seeing him in person.
‘Do you mean tomorrow and not Sunday, Babcia?’
‘I haven’t lost my marbles yet, thank you. We have a special guest I’d like you to meet.’ But she refused point-blank to say any more about the mystery visitor.
After agreeing to go over, Cassie found her mind returning to the missing link between Luke Lawless and Steadman. Although Steadman had shot himself, she hated the idea that he would probably never be found responsible for Luke’s cold-blooded killing.
An hour later, she was stepping through a shop doorway on the Roman Road in east London. It was the first time she’d knowingly set foot inside a beauty parlour – or whatever they were called these days – and the air keened with the reek of solvent. She asked the girl doing a customer’s nails if Bethany was around.
When she emerged from the rear, Bethany looked startled to see Cassie there. ‘Let’s go next door, grab a coffee,’ she said, picking up her fake fur jacket and saying to the young woman, ‘Holly, I won’t be long.’
In the Costa next door they sat looking out on pavements thick with punters. ‘Good spot for a beauty parlour, I imagine?’ said Cassie, eyeing Bethany’s face. She was as thoroughly made-up as ever, but her eyes were bloodshot and there were streaks where she hadn’t blended her foundation. And from the smell of alcohol coming through her pores she was drinking more than her liver could metabolise.
‘Salon. Yes, it’s been a really good little business. Keeps the wolf from the door.’ Bethany fiddled with her vape device, unable to use it indoors.
‘You’ve heard the news about DCI Steadman topping himself?’ asked Cassie.
‘Yeah. The cops called. They said they’re working on the assumption that it was him who killed Sean.’ Flashing her a look. ‘Didn’t I say you can’t trust the cops? They asked me a load of questions about the money sent from Canada. Sent by this Steadman as it turns out.’ Dropping her eyes as she said his name.
‘Were you able to tell them anything useful?’
‘I’ve told them everything I know.’
Cassie noticed that Bethany wasn’t keen on eye contact.
‘Anyway,’ she went on, ‘I’ve put the flat on the market and given notice on the salon. I’ve just signed the lease on a little place in Gran Canaria. I want to be a long way away when the tabloids start crawling all over Sean’s life.’
‘Yeah, I don’t blame you,’ said Cassie. ‘By the way, did the cops mention a reporter called Luke Lawless? Who was found murdered on the heath?’ Flyte had told her that Luke had doorstepped Bethany at her flat.
Bethany gave a shrugging assent, gaze slithering away again. ‘I already told them he turned up asking all kinds of personal questions about me and Sean.’
Cassie left a silence until Bethany lifted her gaze reluctantly to meet hers. ‘But he came back a second time, didn’t he?’ said Cassie.
Bethany’s face crumpled.
It turned out that the day before he was murdered Luke had come to the salon to tell her about the lead he was following. He said that a year before Sean’s disappearance he’d been arrested by a cop called Nigel Willets for a gay sexual offence in Hackney. This Willets was now a detective in Camden and Luke believed that he was responsible for Sean’s murder.
‘What did you do?’
‘I sent him packing,’ said Bethany, her voice harsh. ‘Poking around in Sean’s life – both our lives – to smear him, just for a sleazy headline?’ She fidgeted with her vape. ‘But . . . I couldn’t stop thinking about Sean. I took that money from Canada, knowing that it must have come from his killer.’ She looked at Cassie, regret in her red-rimmed eyes.
‘So you decided you owed it to Sean to tell someone?’ said Cassie gently. ‘That Willets might have been involved in Sean’s death.’
‘Yeah. I thought it was tied up with the steroid dealing – maybe Willets was on the take, you know, and things turned ugly.’
‘So you found out who Willets’ boss was and went straight to DCI Steadman.’
She nodded miserably. ‘I called him on Monday morning and told him everything Luke had said. He seemed to take it very seriously, and promised to look into it. Said he’d make it a “personal priority”.’
Oh, he’d made it a priority all right. Luke had been murdered on Monday night.
‘I swear I didn’t even know that Luke was dead till today, when the cops called to tell me about Steadman.’ Bethany paused, blew out a breath. ‘Basically, I killed him, didn’t I?’
‘I get why you’d feel that way,’ said Cassie. ‘But there was no way you could have known what Steadman would do, what he was capable of. I mean, he was a senior cop.’
Bethany nodded eagerly. ‘Exactly – and he was crystal about one thing: not to breathe a word about Willets to anyone. He said it would “compromise any investigation”.’
And once Luke had been eliminated, the story would go away – or so he had hoped.
‘You haven’t shared this with the cops? The fact that you told Steadman about Luke’s investigation just before he was murdered?’
She shook her head.
Cassie leaned across the table. ‘Listen, Bethany, I totally get why you would want to sod off to the Canaries and start over, put this whole ugly business behind you. But there’s still no proof that Steadman killed Luke as well as Sean.’
‘What difference does it make?’ She shrugged. ‘Anyway, why the fuck should I help the cops clear up this mess?’
‘Forget the cops. This is about Luke’s dad. All he knows is that his only son was choked to death in a gay cruising spot with GHB on him.’ She let that sink in for a moment. ‘If you tell the police what you’ve told me they can’t ignore it – they’ll have to pull out all the stops to look for evidence that Steadman murdered Luke. It’ll all get aired during the inquest and his dad will find out the truth: that his son was killed while going after a scoop.’
Bethany bit her lip, not yet buying it.
‘How was it for you the last eight years, not knowing what had happened to Sean?’ asked Cassie. ‘Knowing he was almost certainly dead but not knowing who did it or why?’
Bethany fell silent. Then she said, ‘There hasn’t been a single day since he left when I haven’t wondered about that. I never really stopped loving him you know. And I think he did love me. Is that possible? Even with him being . . . gay?’
‘Yes. Not many people are one hundred per cent gay or straight. What you and Sean had together was real. The time you had together, it meant something.’
‘Thank you for saying that,’ said Bethany in a quiet voice. She blew out a long breath. ‘OK. I’ll talk to the cops.’
‘You’re doing the right thing,’ said Cassie. And she was telling the truth. Not just for the sake of Luke’s dad. For Bethany’s sake, too.