‘Have you ever thought about hurting Angelica?’
Hesitation.
‘No…’
‘Ever thought about hurting anyone?’
‘No.’
‘Have you ever killed anyone before?’
‘What?’
And that was the end of it. Tomek had hoped his quick-fire round of questions would garner more fruit, but not on this occasion.
‘Where are you going with this?’
‘Nowhere,’ Tomek lied. Time for a change in direction. ‘Where were you on Friday night?’
‘At home.’
‘Your home?’
‘Yes.’
‘Alone?’
‘Yes. Why? What happened Friday night?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Then what are you asking me all these questions for?’
Tomek shrugged. ‘Curiosity.’
‘Has something happened to her?’
‘Who?’ Tomek asked, being deliberately obtuse.
‘Angelica! Has something happened to my angel?’
Tomek let his brain absorb the sentence before responding, ‘I’m not sure what you mean.’
The excitement on Shawn’s face quickly turned to rage, his expression filling with venom. He turned to Rachel, and pointing to Tomek, asked her, ‘What’s fucking going on here?’
‘I’m not sure what you mean, sir.’
Shawn slammed his palm on the table.
‘Are you fucking kidding me? What fucking bullshit is this? I don’t have to fucking sit here and take this.’ He started out of his chair, waited for either Tomek or Rachel to stop him, and when neither of them did, he slammed the chair into the table and stormed towards the door.
‘Didn’t you want to look at pressing charges?’ Tomek called.
Shawn paused, frozen, with his hand wrapped around the handle. The rise and fall of his chest was visible from the table, the sound of his breath louder than the air conditioning unit.
‘Fuck it,’ he said. ‘It’s you two I should be pressing charges against.’
And then he stormed out, slamming the door shut behind him.
With the noise of his heavy footsteps receding, Tomek turned to Rachel, and said, ‘My, my, what a temper.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Tomek bumped into Rose Whitaker on his way out. The jewellery shop owner was flustered, disgruntled. She clutched her bag, tucked beneath her arm, tightly against her chest, and swivelled her head like a dog on high alert. She was in the reception area, anxiously waiting for someone to approach her.
‘I presume you’re here to speak to your husband?’ Tomek asked light-heartedly.
‘I almost didn’t come,’ she snapped.
‘No?’
‘It’s the last thing that fucking piece of shit deserves.’
Tomek sensed there was something else going on, something other than the inconvenience of having to close her jeweller’s early to pick up her husband who’d stupidly got himself arrested for assaulting someone outside a police station. If there was, she didn’t choose to elaborate.
‘I’m glad you’re here, actually,’ Tomek continued, then pointed down a corridor. ‘I was wondering if I could grab you for a few minutes to ask you some questions about your husband and Angelica?’
Rose rolled her eyes. ‘No problem. The fucking idiot can wait as long as I tell him to.’
