Adrian had got four hours’ sleep the previous night with Imogen turning up at three in the morning and making him feel like shit for making her feel like shit.
They lay together on the bed until the sun came up and it was time to get ready for work.
He had some thinking to do. He wasn’t sure he was even fit to be in a relationship and so maybe he did need to let Imogen go, even though the thought killed him; she was more than his lover – she was his best friend, they were a team.
As it was, the situation was confusing. He wasn’t doing the best job of getting back to normal and he was pulling Imogen down with him. If they broke up, he would be losing so much more than just a girlfriend. He briefly considered telling her the truth, but the thought of how she would look at him from that moment on quickly put an end to that idea. He washed his face in the sink of the station bathroom and went back to the team briefing he had asked to be excused from because he kept falling asleep.
He sat back down at the end of the conference table nearest the door, just as Gary finished explaining the company financials to the rest of the room.
‘What did I miss?’
‘I was basically telling everyone how, as far as I can tell, there is no way to get him through the business. Certainly not quickly. It’s a dead end. Everything is just this side of legal and if there is anything untoward going on then I can’t find it. No wonder he was so eager to give us copies of his files; they are in very good shape. I have handed it on to someone in forensic accounting, but it could be a while before we get anything back on that, if we actually do. They are the cleanest-looking books I have ever seen. He’s clever; he knows how to cover his tracks. I’ll give him that.’
‘This is absolutely ludicrous. We are almost six weeks into a murder investigation and we know who did it but have absolutely no physical evidence tying him to the various crimes we suspect he is guilty of. Did you reach out to Cameron Becker?’ DCI Kapoor asked Adrian.
‘Another dead end. He didn’t have anything to say about Corrigan at all,’ Adrian said, his voice catching.
‘Do you think he was telling the truth?’
‘Yes,’ Adrian lied.
If he was right about what had happened to Cameron Becker and the police investigated it, it could lead them to discovering what had happened to Adrian. He couldn’t have that. Also he felt a little protective over Becker, wanting to safeguard his privacy, understanding that coming forward was his choice and no one else’s.
‘So, we keep looking; there has to be something,’ Imogen said.
‘So far, we suspect he killed both Simon Glover and Clive Osborne. We also think he maimed a couple of people, as well. We think he attempted to murder his wife, Angela Corrigan. And not forgetting whatever drove Leon Quick to stabbing himself in front of two police officers out of the bloody blue. There was nothing in the house in Oswestry?’ DCI Kapoor said.
‘They haven’t come back with anything, but they’d found nothing when we left. The cellar was newly remodelled when they moved in, but the Parkins permitted them to drill into the concrete to get to under the foundations and take soil samples. They are quick, simple tests on the ground and none of them threw up any trace of human remains. Forensics said that was their best bet at this point,’ Imogen said.
‘Feels a bit too much like a lucky dip for my liking. We are missing something or someone, I know we are,’ DCI Kapoor said.
‘Do you want us to take another run at his right-hand man, Jimmy Chilton? He must have some information by now,’ Imogen said.
‘You do that, DS Grey. Scare the shit out of him if you need to. He definitely knows more than he is letting on. Bring him in and make him sweat it out in an interview room. Go and speak to Quick’s parents first, see if they can’t tell you a bit more about why he left. I know you haven’t been cleared for active duty yet, DS Miles, but as these are grieving parents and not suspects, you should be fine. I think it needs to be the two of you who go and speak to them, not someone new. They’ve met you before,’ DCI Kapoor said.
Adrian was thankful at least that he had been paired with Imogen and not someone else. The thought of leaving the station was not particularly appealing after what happened at Cameron Becker’s. These days he divided his time between home, work and sometimes the church. He didn’t want to deal with anything or anyone else. He knew he would have to get over all of that if he wanted to continue as a police officer. Before the attack he had never considered being anything else. His whole life had been called into question. He didn’t even know who he was anymore.
Imogen tapped him on the shoulder and he realised the briefing had ended. His mind had wandered off again. Standing, he walked out of the room, because that’s what he was supposed to do now. Just a few more hours of going through the motions and he could go home and shower, sleep and let go of the pretence for just a while.