It was well after seven by the time I was finished with Luke Gibson and prepared to let him go.
‘Before you leave, can I remind you not to say anything to Roddy Asquith about what we’ve been discussing?’
He sighed. ‘I’d rather be straight with him.’
‘Roddy came here yesterday and gave me a no-comment interview, which means that he said nothing. I know you think he couldn’t have done anything wrong, and I’d like to believe that too, but it’s my job to persuade him to tell me what he knows. Anything that gives me an advantage is important and at the moment all I have is that I know a tiny bit more than he thinks I do.’
Luke’s mouth curved. ‘I’m sure you’ll persuade him to talk. You’re good at this.’
‘I should be. I do it for a living,’ I said crisply. ‘Look, I specifically don’t want you to mention Ash to Roddy, or anything else that we discussed about the car, but if you happen to remember anything about Ash – his surname, ideally, but anything at all that comes back to you – can you let me have it? You’ve got my card. Drop me an email or call me.’
‘Sure.’ He got up and stretched, filling the room and I hid a smile. He had inherited his father’s trick of physically dominating any space he was in, but unlike Derwent he didn’t use it as a weapon. ‘So that’s it? We’re really done?’
‘We’re done. Thanks for coming in to talk to me.’
‘I want to help.’ He looked down at me, serious now. ‘I don’t like to think of Paige suffering. My mum said I shouldn’t come in for interview again, but it never occurred to me to say no. She told me I should get a solicitor to come with me.’
‘It can be a good idea.’ I held the door open for him.
‘Waste of money, though. I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong.’
I started to walk towards reception with him. ‘Yeah, it should work that way.’
‘It doesn’t?’
‘Put it this way, I’ve never locked anyone up who didn’t deserve to be behind bars.’
He considered it. ‘That’s sort of reassuring and sort of not.’
I laughed. ‘I’m doing my best. There’s a reason solicitors exist, I suppose. And we don’t assume that if you come in with one, you’re hiding something.’ Not necessarily, anyway.
We turned the corner to reception and Luke looked surprised. ‘Mum? What are you doing here?’
‘I was worried about you.’ She stood up, a slight figure in a raincoat, her eyes worried. She turned to me. ‘Is everything OK?’
‘Absolutely fine,’ I said firmly, trying to convey I-haven’t-said-anything from my expression alone.
‘You’d swear I was fifteen or – or mentally challenged.’ Luke glowered at his mother, his jaw tight with anger. ‘I can look after myself. I don’t know why you do this. You’re so over-protective.’
‘You don’t listen, that’s why. I told you to get a solicitor.’
‘I didn’t need one.’ He took a deep breath and when he spoke again, his tone was soothing instead of angry. ‘Everything’s sorted. Really. Sergeant Kerrigan needed to check a few things with me, and I was able to answer her questions. She’s happy, I’m happy. OK?’
Claire Naylor nodded, on the verge of tears. ‘It’s just … I don’t like this.’
‘Course you don’t.’ He pulled her into his arms and hugged her, tucking his face into her neck. ‘But I’m not a kid. I can handle this.’
‘Sorry.’
‘Let’s go and get something to eat.’ Luke turned to me. ‘Thanks again. I promise I won’t say anything I shouldn’t.’
‘I appreciate it,’ I said, and started to steer them towards the door. It was raining, and I was about to make some remark about it when Derwent pushed through the revolving door and stopped to brush the water from his hair.
‘It’s brutal out there.’ A frown for me, along with a quick up-and-down that took in my thin silk shirt and total lack of a jacket or coat or umbrella. ‘You’re not going out like that, are you?’
‘No.’ I managed not to look around at Claire or Luke. ‘Seeing some people out.’
He looked past me to see who I meant because his curiosity was constant and insatiable. Neither of them held his attention for long. ‘Right. Coming up to the office?’
‘In a bit. Don’t wait for me.’
‘Who said I was going to?’ He grinned, though, to take the sting out of his words, and sauntered over to the stairs, shaking the raindrops from his jacket as he went. I held my breath as he ran up the steps two at a time, disappearing from view. When I was sure he was gone, I turned to the pair behind me. Claire was white and trembling. Luke, oblivious, peered out at the rain.
‘I think we should wait a few minutes. I bet it’s only a shower.’
Ordinarily I would have agreed with him, but I wanted them gone. ‘It looks to me as if it’s set in for the night. I’d go before it gets any worse, if I were you.’
‘Really? Do you think so?’
The lift pinged behind him, and the doors opened, and Derwent stepped out into the lobby with a frown on his face. He walked across to us and there was something tentative in how he moved.
‘Sorry – I just thought – Claire?’
‘Josh.’ She tried to smile, her mouth quivering. ‘I thought that was you.’
‘Claire Naylor, my God.’ He gave her a quick hug, then held her at arm’s length to look at her. ‘It’s been years. Decades.’
‘I’m surprised you recognised me.’
He smiled down at her. ‘How could I forget you? Anyway, you haven’t changed.’
Her hand went to her hair, but her smile this time was genuine. ‘You were always good at saying the right thing, even if it wasn’t true.’
I risked a glance at Luke, who was looking bemused. He put his hand out.
‘Luke Gibson. I’m Claire’s son.’
‘Josh Derwent.’ He gave Luke an assessing look as he shook hands but there was no recognition in it, no hint of suspicion, and I let myself start to breathe again: OK, yes, this was bad and had the potential to be very bad, but there was also a good chance we would all be going our separate ways after a brief session of do-you-remembers and there would be no harm done.
‘I’m guessing you two used to know each other,’ Luke said.
‘We were best mates when we were kids,’ Derwent explained. ‘There was a gang of us who hung round together all the time. Your mum and your uncle Vinny were part of it, and a couple of other people. We did everything together.’
‘Shame you lost touch,’ Luke said lightly.
‘Yes, it was.’ A shadow passed over Derwent’s face before he turned back to Claire. ‘I missed you, you know.’
‘Of course. We missed you too.’ It came out as a whisper. All of a sudden she couldn’t look him in the eye.
I resisted the urge to kick her in the ankle. Stop acting as if you feel guilty about something or he’ll guess you have something to feel guilty about.
‘But what are you doing here?’ Derwent asked her. ‘Is anything wrong?’
‘I had to interview Luke,’ I said briskly. ‘We’re finished. In fact, Luke and his mother were just leaving.’
‘Lucky I caught you.’ He was staring at Claire again, mesmerised. ‘I knew I recognised you. I was trying to work it out the whole way up the stairs.’
‘You never forget a face, do you?’ I took a step away from them, towards the door. ‘Thanks again for coming in, Luke.’
‘Yeah, we should go.’ He nudged Claire. ‘Come on, Mum. Swap numbers or whatever and then we’ll get going.’
Claire came to life. ‘Oh, I don’t think there’s any need for that.’
Derwent had had his phone in his hand. He slid it into his pocket as his expression went from surprised to wounded before he gained control of himself. A bored, distant look came over his face like a mask. ‘No point in pretending it’s worth trying to go back, is there?’
‘It was a long time ago.’ Claire stared down at the floor.
‘Yeah.’ Derwent cleared his throat, the tenderness breaking through despite himself. ‘It was good to see you again, though.’
She nodded, her face flaming.
He stepped forward and dropped a kiss onto her cheek. I heard him murmur, ‘If you ever want to catch up, you know where to find me.’
The revolving door hissed and a little group hurried in, talking and laughing and shaking out umbrellas. Last of all was Georgia. She looked from Luke to Derwent and beamed.
‘Wow, a family reunion! When the two of you are side by side you can really see the similarities.’
‘Georgia!’ I didn’t recognise my own voice as I moved towards her. ‘Can I have a word?’
She sidestepped me, all her attention on Luke and Derwent. I could smell alcohol on her breath and guessed she’d been to the pub for a few post-work drinks before she came back to get changed so she could cycle home. No wonder she was failing to read the situation.
‘This must be so weird for all of you. Especially you, guv. Maeve has been stressing about when she should tell you.’
‘Tell me?’ Derwent looked wary, and flicked a glance at me. ‘What did she have to tell me?’
‘Congratulations, Daddy.’ Georgia lunged forward to pat his arm. ‘You should be really proud of him. And Luke, you can be proud of having a dad like Josh. He’s lovely.’
Luke was standing completely still, as if he had been turned to stone. Claire pulled at him, desperate.
‘Come on. Let’s go. Luke, come on.’
‘Wait.’ Derwent put out a hand. ‘Hold it, Claire, for a second. Georgia, what are you saying?’
‘You’re Luke’s dad.’ She looked at him and blinked, swaying where she stood. ‘Didn’t you know? I thought Maeve would have told you by now.’
‘She hadn’t mentioned it.’
Georgia smiled at him fuzzily and I could already have cheerfully shoved her under a bus even before she added the unforgivable part. ‘That’s so strange. Maeve has known you were Luke’s dad for years. Since she met his mother the first time.’
‘You promised me.’ Claire’s voice was ragged with anger and fear. She pointed a shaking finger at me. ‘You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone. I should have known I couldn’t trust you.’
Derwent turned slowly to face me, and I felt some part of myself die of shame at the look of betrayal in his eyes.