Luke examined the woman standing on his garden path, just a few paces from his shed. She was tall and slim with dark, shoulder-length hair. Her dark wool coat was unbuttoned, and he could see a navy-blue suit and white shirt ensemble underneath. He recognised the look in her eyes. That questioning, assessing gaze that every police officer he’d ever dealt with used.
A man was standing just behind her. Similar kind of clothing and that same look.
‘This is Detective Drain,’ Rossi said.
Shit. He’d allowed himself to believe that the incident at the nightclub wasn’t being investigated, but now it looked like it was coming home to roost after all.
Idiot. He was an ex-con. If a complaint was made, of course they were going to investigate.
‘I’m sorry. I’m in the middle of something right now,’ he said, feeling a weakness in his thighs and hoping that he didn’t sound defensive.
He became aware of movement behind him and turned to see Jamie had his coat on and was clearly aiming to leave.
Luke held his hand up to stop him. ‘You don’t need to—’
‘I’ll get back to you … about that thing,’ Jamie said. ‘Sounds good.’ Then he stepped past Luke and was away along the path and out towards the front of the house.
Luke crossed his arms, deflecting his worry into irritation. ‘You scared away my client,’ he said. ‘I was just beginning to get somewhere.’
‘My apologies,’ Rossi replied, and she sounded genuine. ‘But we have some questions for you.’
‘Yeah?’
Shit.
‘Mind if we come inside?’
‘Don’t know that I have much choice,’ Luke said, and stepped aside to let the pair in.
They sat around the desk, the visitors taking their coats off first.
Rossi gave her colleague a look, then she faced Luke. ‘It’s about your connection with Rab Cameron.’
‘No problem,’ Luke answered, feeling relief that it wasn’t about the fracas at Neon, and making a mental note to call Ken and ask if he knew whether the boss actually did call in the cops or not.
Then the question slammed in: could they think he had something to do with Cameron’s death? Shit. Wasn’t it a drug death, after all? If it wasn’t, and he was the last person in Cameron’s house before he died, he could be in real bother. His mind raced through a number of scenarios as he struggled to show a calm face and answer the detective’s question.
‘He’s the biological father of Nathan, the boy I look after,’ Luke managed to say. Then he went on to explain about his deceased partner, and her wish that he adopt the boy. How after years of no contact between Cameron and Nathan, the man had turned up and basically kidnapped the child.
‘And you visited Cameron to make sure Nathan was being looked after?’ Rossi asked.
‘Yes. I knew nothing about him other than he was fond of getting high, so I was worried. Rightly so, as it turns out.’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘I arrived to see Cameron out cold on the sofa, a needle in his arm, and Nathan reaching for the needle.’ He felt himself bristle with concern all over again.
‘What happened next?’ Drain asked.
‘I took Nathan home.’
‘And Stef Cuthbert was with you all of the time?’ This time Rossi was the questioner.
‘Yes.’
‘What’s your legal standing with the child?’
‘I … eh … His mother had all the forms organised for me to adopt Nathan … just before she died.’
‘And?’
‘I was booked in with the lawyer to sort everything out. She died … and I never got round to filing the paperwork.’
‘You never got round to formally adopting Nathan?’
‘Listen.’ Luke sat upright in his chair. ‘That boy has been with me almost every day of his life, if you think—’
Drain held a hand up. ‘Just ascertaining the facts, Mr Forrest.’
Luke took a deep breath, and he was back in those days after Lisa died, head and heart heavy with her loss, trying to deal with his grief, and with Nathan’s at the same time. ‘It just felt like acknowledging that Lisa was really dead, you know? I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. But now?’ He shook his head with regret at his own inaction. ‘I’m worried the courts could take the boy off me.’
‘Was Cameron still alive when you left him?’ Rossi asked.
‘Sorry?’ Luke thought back to that moment. Pulling Nathan away from the man on the sofa.
‘Was Cameron alive when you left him?’
Luke paused for a moment.
‘You know, it’s awful, but I didn’t think to check.’