‘You’ve got to stop beating yourself up,’ Jason said.
Dani continued to stare out of the window to the busy street below, where the main road outside the hospital was in rush-hour gridlock.
‘It’s a murder trial,’ he said. ‘O’Hare’s got nothing personal against you.’
‘Nothing personal?’ Dani spun around and glared at Jason, prone and vulnerable in his wheelchair, and he looked a little taken aback by her ferociousness. That little voice in her head sounded out but she took no notice. ‘It’s nothing but personal. She was basically accusing me of scuppering the Curtis investigation. Of sidelining our searches into Collins in order to dig up dirt on Ben.’
‘Which is exactly what happened,’ Jason said, not rising at all to Dani’s anger. ‘It’s only the motive for that course of events that she got wrong. Of course there was more weight to the investigation into Ben. Because it was quickly concluded that Collins wasn’t involved.’
‘I’m not even so sure myself any more.’ Dani pushed her fingers into her temple to try and stop the throbbing in her brain. She’d hoped the extra pills she’d taken earlier at home would lift it, but apparently not.
The problem was, the more she thought about it, the more O’Hare’s words, her accusations, rang true. Dani was desperate to find evidence of Ben’s guilt, even now. Even with the Dunne case she was busy trying to figure out what Ben’s involvement could be.
Was it just because she was so scared that one day he would be released from prison unless she could convince the world he was a monster? Or was it out of pure spite? Or just plain and simple obsession?
One thing she did know: she’d hold off making another trip to Long Lartin to see him as long as she possibly could, but eventually, if she wanted answers, she knew she’d have to go back.
‘Dani?’ Jason said. She realised he’d been talking to her but she’d not heard a word.
‘Sorry.’ She hung her head and headed over to him. ‘What were you saying?’
‘Give me a hand into the bed, will you?’
They were both soon out of breath from the effort, and Jason looked pained as he pulled his body into position on the mattress and propped himself upright. Dani took the seat next to the bed.
‘I was speaking to Dr Shah yesterday,’ he said, ‘and… well, do you want the good news or the bad?’
‘I’m not sure I can take any bad.’
His face dropped at that. Perhaps he’d sensed the genuine dismay in her words.
‘It wouldn’t be the worst thing to go back to see Dr Schulz again, you know. Get yourself back on the anti-depressants, even if it’s just a low dose.’
Ha, yeah. About that, she thought.
‘What was the good news?’ she said.
He smiled and took her hand. ‘You won’t have to bother bringing me any presents over here for Christmas.’
It took a second for her jumbled brain to make sense of that. When she did, she suddenly felt weak inside. Though it was in a good way. Kind of.
‘And the bad?’ she said.
‘You’re going to need a bigger turkey.’
She had no clue what to say. So she leaned forwards and sank her head into his chest and didn’t even try to stop the welling tears from rolling free. Jason wrapped his arms around her and squeezed – at least as tightly as his still frail body would allow.
‘Though you’re going to have to figure a way to get the wheelchair up the steps and through the door,’ he said. ‘Unless you want to just winch me in through the window.’
‘Jason, I’ll carry you home over my shoulder all the way from here if I have to.’
His grip soon became even weaker, she knew it was a struggle for him, though he held on. Dani stayed nestled into him for several minutes, barely another word spoken between them until her phone rang.
‘You’d better get that,’ Jason said, taking his arms away.
Dani really didn’t want to, but she did.
She got up from the bed and went back to the window.
‘DI Stephens, it’s Sergeant Lyle from Tipton. I was asked to give you a call about a Vauxhall Insignia?’
‘You found it?’
‘We stopped it not even a mile from the station just a few minutes ago. Two occupants, both of them currently in our cells. But… what do you want us to—’
‘Do you have their names?’
‘Yeah. What they’ve given us anyway: Victor Nistor, the driver, and Ana Crisan, or something like that.’
She’d been hoping he was going to say Nicolae Popescu. The two names meant nothing to her.
‘You’ve seen IDs?’
‘Only the fella had ID. But he gave us a home address too, for them both.’
Lyle told Dani the address, which likewise was unfamiliar. Not Brigitta Popescu’s address, even though Victor Nistor was driving her car.
‘OK. Hold them. I’ll be there as soon as I can.’
It was three hours later when Dani and Easton finally made it to Tipton. Not because the journey was long, but because Dani had stopped at HQ to first do some digging into the two people she was about to meet.
Dani had never been before, but Tipton Police Station looked more like a small yet modern office block than a police station – the kind of office a start-up tech company might occupy – and the building was curiously located with a crumbling trading estate on one side, and an expansive new housing estate on the other. Dani parked up and they were greeted inside the carpeted reception area by Sergeant Lyle, who was tall and well built, though had a youthful face that Dani found was at odds with the rest of him. The youthful face didn’t look too happy.
‘I didn’t realise you’d be so long,’ he said.
Dani and Easton looked at each other but didn’t bother to respond.
‘We’ve only got four cells here,’ Lyle said. ‘We’ve just had to take someone else ten miles away because we’ve no more space, and I don’t even know why your two are in here.’
‘It’s part of a murder investigation,’ Dani said. ‘So we’re very grateful for your assistance.’
Though the way she said it, she didn’t sound too grateful.
‘You might want to tell your prisoners that,’ Lyle said. ‘The chap was arrested for driving uninsured, and we bagged the woman for suspicion of immigration offences. The best my PCs could come up with on the spot. But the longer we hold them on potentially false pretences, the more chance there is that I get it in the neck.’
‘There’s no false pretences here,’ Easton said, and Dani could tell his hackles were raised too.
‘Why don’t you go and get them and we’ll get this moving?’ Dani said.
‘Both of them at once?’
‘Have you got a spare PC who can help us?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Two interview rooms?’
‘Three, actually.’
‘Then we’ll interview them both at the same time, in different rooms, if you can help too. That way we’ll get on our way even more quickly.’
Lyle huffed at that, though Dani really didn’t know why it was such a big problem.
‘Which one do you want?’ Easton said to Dani when Lyle skulked off to find a helper.
‘I’ll take Ana first,’ Dani said. ‘Chances are the woman, if she knows anything at all, will open up to me more readily than you. You get Victor warmed up for me though.’
‘My pleasure.’
The interview room was a bland affair, as all police interview rooms were, though the relative newness of this one was at least evident, with blemish-free light blue walls and floor, modern lighting, and functional chairs and table.
Dani was sitting next to Lyle’s colleague, PC Nawaz. Ana was opposite, eyes down, hands folded on her lap. She looked a little older than her supposed twenty-four years of age, though she had a naturally pretty face and smooth skin that Dani hadn’t had herself since her late teens.
‘Do you know why you’re here, Ana?’ Dani said.
Ana held her eye for a second, but was soon looking down again. ‘Not really. The officer said something about immigration, but I’m an EU national. I don’t know why there’d be a problem.’
Her English was excellent. Far more anglicised than Stef and Brigitta’s, though with just enough of a twang to show her origins.
‘I’m afraid there’s a bit more going on here than problems with immigration, Ana. But I’m sure you know that, don’t you?’
Dani let the question hang. It was a basic fishing attempt, but she’d already decided from the couple of hours of research into Victor Nistor and Ana Crisan, that she and Easton had undertaken at HQ before coming here, that there were a number of oddities about the two prisoners, to say the least.
‘How long have you been in England for?’ Dani asked.
‘Over six years.’
‘So you came here when you were…’
‘Eighteen. There was nothing illegal. I came on the Eurotunnel, with my passport.’
‘You’ve not left the UK since?’
‘No.’
‘What’s your relationship with Mr Nistor?’
There was a small but perceptible twitch in her face. ‘He’s my boyfriend.’
Nistor was forty-two years old. The age difference was big, but not implausible.
‘You live with him?’ Dani asked.
‘Yes.’
‘For how long?’
‘I don’t remember. I’ve known Victor a long time.’
‘This is where I’m getting a little confused. Because you say you came here six years ago.’
‘Yes.’
‘But you didn’t register with HMRC, to work here, until…’ Dani looked at the paper in her hand, for effect mostly, ‘…earlier this year, in fact. The only record I have of employment for you is with Janx Publicity Ltd, a media agency based in Liverpool. Which again, was this year.’
‘I didn’t need to work before that,’ Ana said.
‘Didn’t need to? You had a lot of savings? Or was it just that you didn’t bother to register to pay taxes?’
Ana was looking a little riled now. That was fine.
‘Is that it?’ Dani said. ‘So what were you working as? A waitress? Cleaner? Fruit picker? Taking cash and pocketing it. It’s not uncommon. But it is illegal.’
‘How dare you,’ Ana said, her face twisted in anger. ‘I didn’t come here to work slave labour. I have a good education, I…’
She seemed to lose the trail of thought, or perhaps just decided that what she was about to say actually wasn’t going to help her.
‘You’re what?’ Dani said. ‘Too good for jobs like that? I mean, looking at this…’ Dani wafted the paper in the air, ‘…at what I can see about Janx, I’d agree. Nice-looking job that. A hundred and thirty miles from here. So what are you doing back in Tipton?’
‘I came to see Victor.’
‘Your boyfriend.’
‘Yes.’
‘Just visiting?’
‘Yes.’
‘You also gave the officers your home address as the same address as Victor.’
‘We live together.’
‘You live together? But you work in Liverpool. And also rent a room in a house there.’
Ana looked shocked now. As though she couldn’t understand how Dani had figured out so much of her background already.
‘The other interesting thing is that my colleagues up north had a quick word with your landlord. Your housemate. Your employer too. Apparently, you didn’t show up for work the last three days. Your boss has been calling you non-stop.’
Ana was clenching her teeth.
‘I lost my phone,’ she said.
‘Which explains why we didn’t find one on you when you were arrested, I suppose. But you probably still could have told your boss that. Probably not the smartest way to climb the corporate ladder. Why aren’t you in Liverpool, at work, anyway?’
‘I missed Victor too much,’ Ana said, though it was even less convincing than her previous answers.
‘Yeah, I’m sure he’s a real charmer. What does Victor do for work, again?’
‘He owns a transport company.’
‘Good for him. So what do you know of Brigitta Popescu?’
Ana flinched again.
‘You do know her?’
‘She’s a family friend of Victor’s.’
‘A family friend. Is that why he drives her car?’
A confused look now. Dani wasn’t sure if that was genuine or not.
‘You didn’t know it was her car?’
Ana didn’t say anything.
‘I’ve met Brigitta,’ Dani said. ‘She doesn’t really seem like the driving type.’
‘Maybe Victor bought it off her.’
‘Maybe. Or maybe they’re just such close friends that she doesn’t mind him using it. Permanently.’
‘Is that a crime?’
‘Not at all. I’m just trying to figure out the dynamic. So how well do you know Brigitta and her family?’
‘A little.’
‘You’ve known Victor for… how long?’
‘Years.’
‘Since before you came here.’
‘No.’
‘And you’ve been living with him, but you only know a little about a family who have gifted your boyfriend a car?’
‘So this is all about his car?’ She looked genuinely confused now.
‘No, Ana. I’m afraid it’s about a lot more than that. But you must know that?’
Ana said nothing, though her façade was wearing down bit by bit. Dani felt a little bad now. Even without having met Victor, she had a pretty good idea of what she thought the dynamic between him and Ana was, and Dani wasn’t here to heap more pressure onto someone who was more likely victim than suspect, but she had to be hard first, to show Ana the reality of the predicament she was in.
‘Do you know Nicolae Popescu?’ Dani asked.
If she did, Ana now hid it remarkably well.
‘Ana?’
‘I’ve heard of him. I’ve never met him.’
‘He’s still around here, though, right?’
Ana’s eyes pinched a little. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘You haven’t seen him recently?’
‘I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him. I just know who he is. Brigitta’s grandson. I’ve certainly heard the name.’
‘In what context?’
‘I don’t remember.’
Dani paused, but Ana offered up nothing more. It was time for the photographs. Dani dug two out. One of Liam, one of Clara.
‘Do you recognise either of these two people?’
Ana spent a few seconds studying the pictures. There was no flash of recognition, or of unease now. ‘No,’ she said.
‘You’re sure? The man is Liam Dunne, the woman is Clara Dunne. They’re brother and sister.’
Ana shrugged and shook her head.
‘Clara’s dead. Liam is missing.’
Ana looked perplexed, but also increasingly fragile. Was that simply because she was slowly realizing that her being here was more serious than she’d previously thought?
‘I really don’t know what you think this has to do with me,’ she said.
Dani said nothing.
‘I don’t know these people!’
‘What about Victor?’
‘I have no idea.’
Dani leaned forwards now. She put her hand onto the desk, on top of Ana’s. Ana didn’t flinch at all, didn’t make any kind of move to take her hand away.
‘Ana, if you need help, just tell me. I will help you. But don’t hold back on me. I need to know what’s really happening here. With Victor. With Popescu. With the Dunnes.’
Ana still didn’t move her hand. She held Dani’s eye. Then opened her mouth to speak, just as there was a knock on the door.
Now Ana did whip her hand away, and Dani clenched her fist in frustration as she turned to Nawaz and indicated for her to get the door.
She’d only opened it a few inches when a suited man barged into the room.
‘This interview is over,’ he shouted, glaring angrily at Dani.
‘And you are?’ she said, getting to her feet.
‘Ms Crisan’s lawyer.’
No name, apparently. Dani looked to Ana who appeared as surprised as Dani was.
‘Ana informed us she didn’t have a lawyer,’ Dani said. ‘And told us she was happy to talk to us without one.’
‘Well, now she does have a lawyer. Ana, come on.’
The man made a move towards Ana and Dani stepped in front of him.
‘Excuse me, but Ms Crisan is here under caution. You don’t get to decide when we release her.’
‘Under caution? For what offence? And be very specific, Detective, because I will make a very clear note of everything you say to me.’
Dani’s brain whirred, but what could she say? The reality was they really had no grounds whatsoever to hold Ana any further. The checks Dani herself had carried out before coming to Tipton had shown Ana’s immigration status was bona fide. Tax offences perhaps? But there was no actual clear evidence of that. In theory they were entitled to hold her for twenty-four hours without formal charge, but was there any sort of charge even on the horizon?
‘OK, Ana, you’re free to go,’ Dani said.
‘Wise decision, Detective,’ the man said.
Ana got to her feet.
‘But Ana,’ Dani said. ‘Have a think about what I said. If you want to discuss anything at all—’
‘Yes, yes, Detective, we’ll be in touch.’
The man shoved past Dani and ushered Ana towards the door.
‘A pleasure to meet you, Mr…’
‘Green.’
That was all he said as he and Ana left the room. Dani followed them out, along the corridor. When they exited into the reception area, Dani had to hold her nerve when she saw Victor Nistor already waiting there, near the exit, arms folded, looking smug.
He beamed a smile to Ana and she somewhat reluctantly moved over to him. He held out his arms and embraced her, his eyes finding Dani’s as Easton approached looking sheepish.
‘Nothing I could do,’ he said.
Dani said nothing to him. She got it. They’d arrested Victor for driving without insurance, based on the instruction she’d given to the local police, and even though they could easily pin that on Victor, it wasn’t really a serious enough offence to warrant arrest on its own. Without other aggravating circumstances, a fixed penalty notice would have sufficed. Victor might not have known that when his car was first stopped, but his lawyer certainly did.
‘Did you at least get onto Dunne and Popescu before you were shut down?’ Dani asked Easton quietly.
‘Barely. Learned nothing.’
Ana, Victor and Green were all now moving for the exit.
‘We’ll be seeing you,’ Dani shouted out.
Green turned around and shook his head, as though disappointed by Dani’s need for a parting comment. Victor didn’t turn around at all.
But Ana did. A meek glance over her shoulder. Fear in her eyes now.
A moment later she was out of sight.
‘What a bloody balls-up,’ Easton said.
‘Not at all,’ Dani said.
‘How?’
‘Because whatever Victor is up to, the Popescus too, they’re at least properly on our radar now. We know who they are, and they know we’re looking into them. Now we just need to figure out what the hell is really going on.’