Dani wasn’t sure whether to feel happy with the little time she’d had, or disappointed that she’d not managed to spend more than the grand total of ten minutes with her niece and nephew before they’d headed out to school with Harry’s friend’s mum. She got to see them so rarely that even ten minutes was a bonus, though it was never long enough. It felt even more strange that she saw them so irregularly now that Dani was living only a couple of miles from them, but the relationship between her and Ben’s ex-wife, Gemma, was never going to improve beyond its current level – a level of acceptance of each other – and Dani had stopped even trying to figure a way to make it anything more than that.
Not that Dani didn’t like Gemma. There was nothing particularly offensive about her; she was kind, caring towards her kids, amenable – generally, at least. And outsiders might have thought that their shared trauma, the fact that Ben had tried, and failed, to kill them both, would be something that brought them closer together. Unfortunately, it was the opposite. Ben’s crimes, his very existence, had ultimately put a huge wedge between the two of them, and Dani couldn’t erase the feeling that Gemma, in some way, blamed Dani for what had happened – simply because she shared DNA with Ben.
‘How’s the new place?’ Gemma said, coming back into the lounge which was, as ever, messy with kids’ toys and clothes. She handed Dani a steaming mug of coffee.
Dani leaned forward and manoeuvred a pile of football comics and Lego pieces out of the way to make space for the mug on the coffee table.
‘It’s fine,’ Dani said. ‘A bit lonely, but…’
She didn’t know how to finish the sentence.
For a few weeks after Damian Curtis’s bloody attack at Dani and Jason’s home in Harborne, on the other side of the city, Dani had stayed in the house alone. Those had been among the worst weeks of her life. An old, creaky house, haunted by its recent bloodshed. Jason, still in hospital in a coma. Dani, her own demons amplified by it all, had been in a nosedive and on the brink of teetering back into a normality of pills and alcohol to see her through. But she’d soon realised there was no solace there, and so, even before Jason had woken from his coma, Dani had not only forcibly weaned herself off the medication – at least back to prescribed levels – but she’d moved herself and all of their things out of their Harborne home and rented a three-bed semi in a leafy part of Sutton Coldfield. It was not only near to where Gemma lived, but also Easton. Not that their proximity had a direct bearing on the choice. It had been suggested to her by more than one person that perhaps a three-bed semi – a traditional family home – was overkill for her living on her own. But it wasn’t just for her. It was for her and Jason, even if he wasn’t yet there by her side.
‘Jason’ll be out soon, though, won’t he?’ Gemma asked.
‘I’m sure he will.’
‘You’re going to stick around here then?’
‘I really don’t know. But it’s certainly more convenient for coming to see Harry and Chloe.’
Gemma went silent at that and Dani had to push her embarrassment and disappointment to one side. She got that she wasn’t the ideal aunt. Not just because of her history, but because of her hectic, unpredictable and often macabre workload. Yet she really would push the boat out to be a bigger part of the kids’ lives if Gemma would just let her. It wasn’t as though Gemma had a big family in the local area that she put ahead of Dani.
‘So come on then, spit it out,’ Gemma said.
Dani raised an eyebrow.
‘We’ve done the chit-chat,’ Gemma said. ‘You’ve asked about my job, my crappy love life. I’ve caught up on the perils of being a murder detective. So now we can get to it. What’s Ben done now?’
Dani didn’t know whether to be angry or amused by that, though it was true that the interactions between the two of them usually came back down to Ben eventually, one way or another. An incredibly depressing predicament as far as Dani was concerned.
‘Possibly nothing actually,’ Dani said as she fished in her bag for the picture.
‘Really? Last I heard you thought he’d set that Damian Curtis guy up for several murders.’
Dani winced at that comment. ‘Kind of,’ she said.
‘What happened to that then? I read in the paper the other week that Ben’s lawyer—’
‘Daley?’
‘Yeah, that arsehole, he’s suggesting Curtis’s psychiatrist did it.’
‘Dr Collins? We don’t know for sure.’
‘Daley seems to know. Apparently he’s preparing an appeal to have Ben’s sentence overturned, because her evidence is so tainted.’
‘It’s not quite as straightforward as that. Ben isn’t innocent, they won’t get away from that. The point is that if Collins is proven to have coerced Curtis, then all of her work is irrevocably tarnished. She stood on the stand at Ben’s trial. They’ll say the outcome of his trial was compromised because of her now-tarnished testimony. It gives them scope to enter new evidence as to Ben’s mental state at the appeal. If that happens then, in theory, it’s possible Ben’s murder conviction could be reduced to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.’
Gemma’s eyes were glazed over. ‘But he could get out? That’s what you’re saying?’
‘That’s never going to happen,’ Dani said. ‘I promise you.’
Despite forcefully saying the words, she was petrified that she was wrong. What would it take for Daley to create enough doubt in a judge’s mind for them to downgrade the original murder conviction?
Dani slipped the picture across the table. A close-up of Liam Dunne, aka James Alden. Not the one taken of the Ellis Associates team, with Ben alongside. Dani wanted to test Gemma’s memory unbiased.
‘We’re dealing with a new case, and this man is a person of interest.’
Gemma looked confused by that, as though she couldn’t understand why a new case would have anything to do with her. She picked up the picture as Dani reached for her mug and took a sip of the too-milky mixture. She set it back down again.
Initially, Gemma stared at the picture with that same unconvinced frown, but after a few moments there was a flash of something else.
‘Wait a sec. Yeah, I think…’
Then her face changed to one of concern.
‘His real name is Liam Dunne,’ Dani said. ‘But he also went by James A—’
‘Alden. James Alden,’ Gemma said. The look of concern remained, though the tension in her muscles suggested she was trying to hide it.
‘That’s the one,’ Dani said. ‘He worked for Ellis Associates, for about a year, back in 2013.’
Gemma replaced the picture on the table, sat back on the sofa and held Dani’s gaze. Dani kept the silence going, waiting to see if Gemma would offer up anything else.
‘You said he’s a person of interest,’ Gemma said. ‘In a murder?’
‘An unexplained death. How did you know him?’
‘You just said. He worked at Ellis Associates. Same as Ben. I’m presuming that’s why you’re here? Although I really don’t see what it has to do with me.’
‘Yesterday we found his sister. Dead. Their parents and grandparents are all dead too, their only living relatives are all in Ireland or elsewhere, so James is her only obvious kin, and we’re struggling to find him. To find out much about him at all, to be honest. So when I said person of interest, I was perhaps being a bit strong.’
Gemma’s face relaxed just a little at that.
‘Honestly? I really didn’t know him that well,’ Gemma said. ‘I must have met him… I don’t know, two or three times, tops. Just social occasions. Ben’s office party. Team dinner. And I didn’t know his sister at all. Wouldn’t even have known he had a sister, to be honest.’
‘What was he like?’
Gemma looked put out by that. ‘How do you mean?’
‘Was he a nice guy? A dickhead? A drunk? A womaniser?’
‘He was single, I think. He was… fine. Unremarkable, I’d say.’
‘But you remembered him?’
Gemma frowned. ‘You showed me a picture and reminded me of his name. What’s your point?’
‘Did Ben get on with him?’
‘So this does have something to do with Ben?’
‘Indirectly, I guess so, but it’s complicated and there’s only so much I can say at this stage.’
Gemma scoffed and rolled her eyes. ‘Of course. I don’t know what Ben thought of him. You’ll have to ask him. I don’t think they were particularly pally, and I don’t remember the two of them ever doing anything together outside of the work crowd.’
‘Any animosity between the two of them?’
‘No. What are you reaching for, exactly?’
‘Do you have any idea where he lived. Anything like that?’
‘I think we’ve already established how little I know of him, haven’t we?’
‘Yeah. I guess we have.’
Though Dani was sure there was a little more to the story than Gemma was letting on. Her caginess was unfortunately a normal occurrence when Dani was around, but there was something else underneath here too.
Dani took another sip from her coffee, then glanced at her watch.
‘I really do need to get going,’ she said. Gemma remained where she was. ‘If you do think of anything more about him, names of friends, girlfriend, where he lived, anything at all, just give me a call.’
‘I will.’
‘And… it was nice to see the kids earlier. You know I’m always happy to help out, if you need me.’
Gemma said nothing to that. Just gave a forced smile as Dani got to her feet to leave.