Kay paced the tiled floor beside a row of visitors’ chairs halfway along a seemingly endless corridor and scrolled through her text messages.
Both Marion Blanchett and Damian Beech had been charged, and Daisy Stiles’ future lay in the hands of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Laura’s name appeared at the top of the screen alongside a new message that confirmed that Gary Lovell’s body had been released to his family, with his and Felicity Gregor’s funerals arranged for the following week.
Kay released a shaking sigh as she read Dave Morrison’s message about the dead sixteen-year-old, Chantelle Evans.
Fostered from a young age, Chantelle’s biological mother had insisted on attending the funeral as soon as she heard the press would be in attendance.
Two of the overdose victims had been released from the hospital that afternoon, although long-term complications would mean months, if not years, of rehabilitation and potentially more surgery.
‘Found him, guv.’
She looked up at Barnes’s voice to see the detective sergeant hurrying along the corridor towards her, and put her phone away.
‘Please tell me that he didn’t try to do a runner,’ she said.
‘No chance.’ He pointed to a stairwell off to their left. ‘They moved him from the IMU ward to a general one prior to him being discharged. Phillip Parker has stayed with him. He’s found a private room we can use for the interview, and apparently there’s a new solicitor in attendance.’
‘How does he seem?’
‘The solicitor? Fed up – apparently Xander hasn’t stopped talking since he found out his mum’s been charged, and isn’t listening to any advice from his brief.’
Kay followed him up the stairs and along a narrow corridor, weaving between orderlies with trolleys while an aroma of hot food wafted from the wards she passed.
Her stomach rumbled in protest.
Finally, near the end of the corridor, she spotted Phillip Parker standing to attention outside a door before Barnes turned to her.
‘Here we go, then. He’s in here.’
Kay gestured to the handle. ‘All yours, Sarge.’
‘You can lead, if you want to, guv.’ He grinned. ‘My ego’s already been dented by Piper finding out about that patent.’
‘Ah, you do it,’ she said, giving him a gentle shove. ‘The Chief Super will never forgive me if Peter Gregor finds my name anywhere near the paperwork for this, even if they did call a truce on my involvement.’
‘There’s always an ulterior motive,’ he muttered, then winked and thanked Phillip as he opened the door for them.
Kay closed it behind her, and saw that Xander seemed to have shrivelled in size since she’d seen him that morning, as if the seriousness of his situation had finally struck home.
Marion Blanchett’s youngest son was sitting in a chair underneath a tattered poster for a safety initiative for staff, the bandages that had been covering his face replaced with clean dressings and his hospital gown exchanged for a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt.
A man in a worn black suit turned from reading a cork board covered with various notices, and handed Barnes his business card.
‘Matthew Barrett, duty solicitor,’ he said. ‘Shall we make a start? I believe my client wishes to make a full statement.’
‘Will that include a different story to the ones you’ve provided us with to date?’ said Barnes, pulling out a chair opposite Xander. He recited the caution and then eyed the bedraggled and beaten man. ‘Three people dead, Xander. Because of you. Start talking.’
‘She hates me.’
‘I presume we’re talking about your mother?’
‘Nothing was ever good enough for her.’ Xander wiped his nose with the back of his sweatshirt sleeve. ‘She never wanted anything to do with me unless she needed me to do something for her.’
‘So, when she asked you to break into Turner’s Veterinary Practice and steal the vials of ketamine hydrochloride that had been delivered that morning, you agreed without hesitation, did you?’
Xander scowled but said nothing.
‘What I don’t understand is why someone like you, with no prior history of violence or theft, breaks into a vet’s surgery, and not only steals the drugs but then attacks the owner of that surgery such that he ends up in hospital.’ Barnes shook his head. ‘Why was that?’
‘She said she’d help me out if I did. Like she does with Damian and his computer company. She said she’d pay for some proper studio time for me so I could get some songs recorded and released.’
‘So why didn’t you hand over the drugs to her?’
‘I figured I could make her give me more money. She wasn’t offering much – I’d only have about a week’s worth of studio time.’
‘So, you blackmailed her, is that right?’ said Barnes. ‘When did Felicity find out?’
Xander sighed and stretched out his legs in front of him, his bottom lip downturned. ‘She overheard me talking to Mum on the phone. Damian had organised an impromptu catch-up at a bar on Bank Street on Tuesday night after work and a few of us went along…’
‘By “us”, you mean Damian’s breakfast club?’
‘Yeah.’
‘How come you went along?’
Xander shrugged. ‘Damien suggested I ought to go. I didn’t have anything better to do, and the food was free so I figured I might as well.’
‘What happened when Felicity overheard you?’
‘I forgot she had a habit. Not many people knew. She was good at hiding it.’ The young man leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees and stared at the floor. ‘Up until then, Damian thought I was making arrangements with Mum to hand over the drugs. Felicity overheard what was really going on, and demanded I let her have some of it before I gave it back. She said she’d go to the police if I didn’t, and that her dad knew some people who’d be interested in what I’d been up to. I didn’t have a choice.’
‘You did.’ Kay glared at him. ‘If you didn’t hand it over, Felicity Gregor wouldn’t be dead.’
‘She would, just not last week,’ Xander sneered. ‘It was only a matter of time with her – she was out of control. Not that anyone else would tell you that. They all thought she was wonderful, didn’t they?’
‘What did you do when you heard she’d fallen from the multi-storey car park roof?’ Barnes prompted.
‘I panicked, didn’t I? I figured someone would trace whatever she had on her back to me.’ Xander exhaled. ‘I had a gig booked for the Friday night, and I reckoned I’d never see that money from Mum so I might as well make some money selling it off. I figured I’d just dump as much as I could of the powder to users there, and then get rid of the other vials. It’s a pain in the arse to make anyway. Took me ages to clean up afterwards the first time.’
‘How did Gary Lovell get involved?’ said Barnes, unable to keep the shock from his voice at the other man’s matter-of-fact tone.
‘He nicked some out of my pocket when I wasn’t looking when we were at breakfast on Friday morning.’ Xander looked at Kay. ‘So you can’t blame me for his death. He did that himself.’
‘Did you warn him you thought the drugs were dangerous?’ said Kay.
‘Didn’t get a chance. He was off and running, and I didn’t want Damian to find out what I’d done, so I let him.’
‘And then we interviewed Damian, and he put two and two together,’ said Barnes.
‘He told Mum.’ Xander pushed himself to his feet and turned to face the wall. ‘And she sent him over to the flat to get the rest of the vials.’
‘What happened?’
Xander spun around.
‘I told him where to go,’ he said, his eyes fierce. ‘I told him I’d had enough of them telling me what to do. I said if she wanted her drugs back, she could pay me for them. After all, she’s always giving him money. Have you seen how much that company of his is worth?’
‘Pretty much nothing, after this,’ said Barnes.