Kay could sense the shock emanating off the man and woman sitting at the kitchen table when she walked into the room.
The woman, Tina, cradled a half-empty mug between slim fingers, her face sickly pale and her hair bedraggled.
The man – Jack – looked scared.
Kay leaned against the sink while Barnes pulled out a chair beside the housemates and rested his arm on the table.
‘How’re you both holding up?’ he began. ‘Have either of you got family or friends nearby you can be with today when we’re finished here?’
‘My mum’s over at West Farleigh,’ Tina said, her voice shaking. ‘She knows Jack, and she’s already said we can both stay there for a bit. I-I can’t believe he’s gone. Not like that.’
Barnes turned his attention to Jack. ‘I understand you found Gary and called triple nine, is that correct?’
‘Yeah.’ The young man cleared his throat, his gaze following the sounds of the coroner’s employees negotiating the stairs with the laden stretcher. ‘Although I knew there wasn’t a lot of point asking for an ambulance.’
Kay moved across the kitchen and closed the door, before giving a sympathetic grimace. ‘We know this is a very hard time for both of you, but we have to ask questions in order to find out how your friend died.’
‘I know.’ Jack shrugged. ‘I’ve seen it on TV enough times.’
‘Not quite the same in real life, is it?’ said Barnes sympathetically. ‘We’ll make this as quick as possible. When was the last time you saw Gary alive?’
‘Yesterday. About seven o’clock last night. I was on my way out to catch up with friends in town, and he was in here.’
‘Tina? What about you?’
‘Just after seven thirty, I think. I needed to borrow a phone charger and he gave me his to use. I-I should probably put it back or something…’ Her hand shook as she pushed blonde hair from her face. ‘I was rushing to get ready before a friend picked me up, and all I remember is him standing by the sink there telling me not to forget to have a glass of water when I got home so I didn’t wake up with a hangover. He’s – was – nice like that.’
‘Do either of you know where Gary was planning to go last night?’ said Barnes.
‘I don’t think he had any big plans,’ said Jack. ‘Last time we spoke, he said he’d probably have a couple of pints at the pub just down the road here. I think he was catching up with friends this morning somewhere or other.’
‘What sort of time was that arranged for?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Do you know who he was meeting?’
‘No, sorry. I mean, we all live here but we don’t stick our noses into what each other are up to. Not really.’
‘Gary was more sensible than us – less likely to end up having to sleep off a night before…’ Tina’s voice faltered, and she wiped at her eyes. ‘Shit.’
‘We found a small bag of powder on Gary’s nightstand,’ said Kay, watching the two housemates’ reactions carefully. ‘Any idea where that came from?’
Tina paled. ‘No – certainly not from me…’
‘Nor me.’ Jack dropped his gaze. ‘I didn’t know he was still doing drugs.’
‘Oh?’ Barnes caught Kay’s eye and straightened in his seat. ‘Got a history, has he?’
‘It got a bit out of hand a year ago,’ Jack murmured. ‘He scared himself. I think he took something that had been cut wrong.’
‘He wasn’t here when it happened.’ Tina looked from Barnes to Kay, her eyes pleading. ‘We didn’t know about it until he got back.’
‘Got back from where?’ said Kay.
‘I don’t know who he was with, but I think it was a bunch of friends at a party in town…’
‘He reckoned after that experience, he’d never touch anything again,’ Jack added. ‘Scared the shit out of him, it did. Hallucinations, the lot.’
‘Have you noticed anything different about the way Gary was behaving recently?’ said Barnes. ‘Anything out of character, for instance?’
Tina shook her head. ‘Not really, but we don’t hang out together. I mean, apart from seeing each other in here maybe once or twice a day, we tend to be out doing our own thing. I never socialised with him.’
‘Neither did I, apart from the occasional drink down the pub with him – and that was never more than once a month, usually if they were showing a football game we both wanted to see,’ Jack added. ‘We couldn’t afford the subscription service to watch here so the pub was the next best thing.’
‘All right.’ Kay pushed herself away from the worktop as Barnes joined her. ‘We’ll be in touch if we have further questions. You can speak to PC Walker or his colleague in the meantime if you need anything.’
She followed Barnes out to the car, pausing to watch as the stretcher bearing Gary Lovell was loaded into the back of an unmarked private ambulance.
‘Are you all right, guv?’
Her colleague’s voice jolted her from her thoughts, and she peered over the car at him.
‘I’ve got a really bad feeling about all of this, Ian.’