Dan stood in the doorway under a cracked oak lintel. He had to admit that even after three years at university in Exeter, he had never been in this pub. The walls and ceiling were covered in beer mats that appeared to have been signed by famous people. He amended that on a closer inspection to people who had played for the local football team and a couple of now dead minor celebrities. There were several small rooms and a brass-covered semi-circular bar around which they radiated. He walked through the main lounge area and spotted Chas sitting alone in a back room with a beer. He made a “want another one?” gesture and bought two beers to take through with him.
Dan reassured himself that spurning an attractive young woman’s advances did not make him a bad person, although possibly it made him a stupid one. He slid onto the bench next to her and decided to disarm her by going straight for the apology. ‘I am so sorry about last night, Chas. I wasn’t thinking straight.’
‘Looked like pretty straight thinking to me. You practically threw me out.’
Truth was, she had terrified him the night before. They had enjoyed pasta, wine and more beers, giggles and stories about music and past histories, and then gone up to his flat. Big mistake.
It had been alright at first. She had teased him about the ‘new minimalism’ of only possessing one armchair. She had had a go on his guitar and got him to sing her a couple of songs. He had been flattered, and a bit drunk. But when she had climbed up him like a monkey up a tree, looping her legs around his waist and clamping her hands on either side of his head, he had panicked. She was nineteen years old, a possible witness, if not an actual suspect in an active case, and he was about to take her to bed. It was self-preservation as much as concern for the girl that had broken through the haze of alcohol.
Within five minutes she had been dumped back on the floor, and Dan was calling a taxi.
He took a swig from the bottle and tried again, a telltale slow flush creeping up his neck. ‘We were both a bit drunk, and I do find you very attractive.’
Chas sniffed, breaking into his prepared monologue, ‘So what was all the “I just can’t do this,” nonsense?’
‘Look.’ He decided he had to be at least partially honest, but he couldn’t look at her, focussing instead on the brass rim that bound the table edge. ‘I’ve just come out of a relationship that I thought was going to last forever. The kind where you have two kids and a dog and a house in the country. I just hadn’t realised that it was a total fantasy not shared by the other party in the relationship. She doesn’t want kids ever, she wants Manolo Blatniks or whatever they’re called, a flat in Hampstead and a job that pays a hundred and twenty grand a year.’
He stopped and twisted round on the leather bench to face her. ‘I’m still hurting, Chas, and I don’t want to get hurt again.’ He hadn’t quite intended to say the last bit, but he could see from her face that his confession had touched her.
Chas reached across and took his hand. ‘Okay. Well, I’m sorry too. I can be a bit much for people to take. I tend to see what I want and go for it. Shall we have another go at being friends first?’ She smiled to see the relief on his face.
‘Yeah, I would like us to be friends,’ he said, smiling across at her. ‘That would be great. Give me time to get my mojo back, or something.’
It was more than he deserved. His behaviour had been crass and juvenile. But it was the fact that Chas forgave him so easily that made him feel queasy again. She was so young and so easy to manipulate. She really did need someone more her own age and experience, not a fast-becoming cynic like him.
She laughed at last, a little sound that encouraged him to press on.
‘The thing is, Chas, I need a favour.’
‘Favour? What kind of favour?’
‘I need to have a look round the studio without Jed being there.’ He raised both hands to quieten any response, ‘just to eliminate him from our enquiries, nothing else. I don’t think he had anything to do with Carly’s death but he won’t let us in to look round without a warrant, and we wouldn’t be able to get one until Thursday, I wouldn’t think. I don’t want to wait that long. I’ve got a murderer to catch.’
Chas’s eyes widened. ‘I can’t. Jed would sack me. And I need that job.’
Her eyes radiating alarm, she backed away from him. She looked ready to run. Dan reached for her hand.
‘He would never need to know,’ he said, soothing her by stroking her fingers with his thumb, like you might a frightened animal. ‘Just give me the keys and tell me the alarm codes. I won’t leave any prints or take anything with me. I just need to know if Carly Braithwaite was in the studio on Sunday night. I can get the keys back to you later tonight. You will be genuinely helping me, Chas.’
‘What if he’s working late?’
‘Ring him and see. Does he have anyone booked in for tonight?’
‘No, but you never know.’ She swirled her beer in its bottle. ‘I don’t want to do this, Dan.’ She looked at him properly for the first time that evening, shaking her head with each word to emphasise her worry. ‘I’m scared of what might happen.’
Dan tried for a smile. He was quite worried about what might happen, too. ‘Please? Give Jed a ring now and we can see if it’s possible. Perhaps you could suggest meeting up for a drink? That way, I’ll know you’re both out of the way. If he’s working late, I promise I’ll wait until I get the warrant and then you won’t need to do anything. We can just go back to getting to know each other. Okay?’
He knew he was pushing her hard. He also knew that he had no intention of ever seeing her again. He was surprised at how easy it was to lie to her.
He watched as the girl weighed up the pros and cons of betraying her boss to her new boyfriend. She was struggling with it. He drank his beer and gave her time, holding lightly onto her hand.
‘Okay, I’ll do it,’ she said eventually, having reached some sort of conclusion in her head. ‘I’m going to the Ladies, then I’ll ring Jed. If the studio’s going to be empty, I’ll give you the keys, but I want them back before midnight, so I’ve got them before I go to bed. And you promise me, he will never know I let you in?’
Dan promised. Another lie. How easily they came. She gave him her address.
‘You must promise me you won’t tell Jed,’ he said. ‘We probably aren’t going to find anything anyway, so no point in annoying him.’
She smiled at him, and nodded, ‘Got it.’
He watched her head off to the toilet and rang Ian. They arranged to meet at the entrance to the alley at nine o’clock assuming Chas gave them the all clear. Dan needed time to get home, change out of his suit and into something more appropriate for breaking and entering. He wasn’t entirely sure he liked this new person he was turning into.
Chas made her call when she returned. Jed told her he was going out to see a band later that evening and was at home, now. Did Chas want to go with him? Dan nodded at her - she couldn’t be implicated in the B and E if she was in a club with the owner of the studio.
Chas said she would head over to his place and ended the call. She passed over the keys, and wrote the alarm code on his hand. She kissed him on the cheek and rose to leave.
‘Don’t forget to give me back the keys.’ She winked at him. ‘I could always pop over for them later, save you coming over to me,’ was her parting shot.