‘Yes.’
‘They were together at least six hours.’
‘Yes.’
Parker seems to have forgotten about his own tea. He can’t keep his eyes off the photographs.
He says, ‘Do you think…’
‘What?’
‘I mean, if you were to carry on with your investigation, do you think…’
‘That I could gather more evidence? Absolutely. This is just the beginning. Well, that’s assuming you want to retain my services, of course.’
Parker nods. ‘Yes. Yes, I think I would.’
Franklin smiles. This is going perfectly.
He says, ‘Then that’s grand. I don’t suppose you have any more biscuits, do you?’
10
This Maniac’s in Love with You
– Alice Cooper
Cody’s at his desk, typing up yet another report. It’s at times like this he wonders whether he should invest some time and effort in learning to touch-type. His spelling is excellent, his grammar spot-on. He can put together sentences of which his English schoolteacher would have wholeheartedly approved. He just can’t type for shit.
His desk phone rings just as he types the word phone. Spooky, that.
He answers the call. ‘DS Cody.’
‘Hello? Yeah. Hi. It’s Liam here. From Heswall Leisure Centre?’
‘I remember. Hi, Liam. What can I do for you?’
‘So, I was just wondering. Did you speak to the guy I told you about? Toby Hooper?’
‘We did, yes. Thank you for bringing him to our attention.’
‘No probs. Was my information useful?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Good. That’s good. I don’t suppose… I mean, I guess you’re not allowed to say much about whether he had anything to do with it? With Alexa’s death, I mean.’
Cody wonders where this is going. ‘No, I can’t say anything about that.’
‘Right. That’s what I thought. But anyway, just in case it wasn’t him, there was something else that occurred to me. I don’t know, but maybe you’ll find it helpful.’
‘What’s that, Liam?’
‘It was when I spoke to Toby about his behaviour, and I told him it wasn’t acceptable. He got kinda defensive, which I guess isn’t surprising. But then he said something I didn’t think much about at the time. To be honest, I thought he was just bullshitting to get himself out of a hole.’
‘What did he say?’
‘He said – this won’t be word for word, you understand – but he said there were others who’d done a lot more than he had with Alexa.’
Something catches Cody’s eye. A female uniformed officer has just walked into the incident room, carrying a large bouquet of flowers.
‘Did you ask him what he meant by that?’
‘Yeah. He said that she’d slept with at least one other guy that he knew of.’
The uniform goes over to Webley, who looks up in surprise.
‘Did he give a name?’
‘No. Like I say, I thought he was clutching at straws, maybe trying to put Alexa in a bad light. You know, like a character assassination thing? But now… well, I don’t know. I thought you guys should have all the facts.’
Webley is questioning the uniform, who smiles and shrugs and walks away, leaving the flowers on Webley’s desk.
‘You’re absolutely right, Liam, and thanks again for your assistance. Leave it with us.’
‘Yeah, okay. And if I think of anything else, I’ll let you know. I, er, I might still put in that application for the police one day.’
‘You definitely should. Goodbye, Liam.’
