‘Can you remember when?’

‘I think it was her first time. Some time back in September, maybe. I… we bumped into one another at the bar. She seemed nervous, a bit shocked by it all. I tried talking to her, but she wasn’t very receptive. I think she was a bit out of her depth.’

‘But the two of you grew closer in following meetings?’

Emilia dipped her head. ‘The second time, I bumped into her again – she always wore the same outfit, so I knew it was her – and then we spent the night together with a man dressed as a donkey.’

Florian.

So far everything checked out; before they’d come to speak with her, Micky Tatton had explained the bare bones of everything he’d seen, picked up, or overheard about Emilia and Angelica’s developing relationship. It was now up to Emilia to apply the meat to the skeleton.

‘The three of us spent the night together. I think… I think it was her first time with a woman, I’m not sure. But she enjoyed it. We were gentle with her. Careful.’

Just as Tomek opened his mouth to ask a question, a teenager on a bike rushed past them, blasting music from a speaker hitched to the back of his bike.

‘Did the two of you ever spend the night together alone?’ he asked.

‘Twice,’ she said. ‘It was… How much detail do you want?’

‘As much as you’re willing to share,’ Tomek answered, then braced himself.

‘It was magical,’ she answered. ‘Some of the best sex I’ve ever had with a woman. I don’t know what it was, but there was something different about Angelica. More experienced, more accomplished, more… experimental. She was completely different from the first time I met her, and all in the space of a few visits. I don’t know if that meant she was experimenting with someone else or what, but…’ She took another sip of coffee as she trailed off. ‘Afterwards, we would sit and talk, you know? Get to know each other on a deeper, personal level. She was… she was special, you know? I know it sounds silly to say, given the context of how we met and everything, but…’

‘You started to develop feelings for her?’ Tomek said, already sensing where this was headed.

‘Yeah. She was just… so charismatic, you know? She just got me, understood me on a deeper level. Like I say, I don’t know if it was the alcohol or the drugs, but things just got deeper for me.’ A long, heavy sigh left her lips, and her gaze fell to her feet. ‘But it didn’t for her,’ she continued. ‘I got her number and tried to meet up a couple of times outside The Nights, but it just… it just didn’t work. She was always too busy, and I was running this place. She ghosted me a couple of times. But I always looked forward to seeing her again, spending the night with her at the manor, you know?’ She hesitated, took another sip. ‘And then I saw her with another woman, some woman dressed in black overalls and a welder’s mask. I don’t know her name or what she looked like underneath her costume, but her and Angelica became inseparable. I didn’t spend another night with her after that. She was gone, had moved on to the next thing.’

Tomek didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t really the sort of thing you consoled someone over. And even if it were, he didn’t have the first idea how to respond. And judging by the bemused and lost look on Oscar’s face, nor did he.

‘How did that make you feel?’ Tomek asked in the end, as the cogs in his brain began to turn. ‘Angry? Upset?’

‘Betrayed,’ Emilia answered.

‘Did you love her?’

‘I… I think so. Even though it sounds silly to say it.’

‘Not if that’s how you felt,’ Tomek remarked. He decided to change course. ‘How long have you been doing hair and make-up for?’

‘All my life. It was all I was ever good at at school, so I got my qualifications and I’ve been running my place for about five years now. Before that I was doing hair and make-up for a couple of the television shows on BBC and ITV.’

‘Nice,’ Tomek said. ‘You must have a lot of patience for that. I hear sometimes it can take hours to do hair and make-up.’

She shrugged, nodding. ‘It can. But once you know what you’re doing, you can shorten that time substantially.’

Now it was Tomek’s turn to nod and take a sip from his drink. For a long moment, nobody said anything. Tomek watched a group of mums wheel their prams across the field. One of them let a dog off the lead, and with the help of a catapult, launched a ball fifty yards across the grass. The dog bounded across the field for it, eventually catching it in its mouth before racing back to its owner.

‘We have to ask,’ Oscar started, breaking the silence. ‘But what were you doing last Friday night? Not the one just gone; the one before.’

Emilia began playing with the cup in her hands, composing herself. Thirty seconds later, she answered the question.

‘I was out with my friends. We were at Memo bar in Southend. I saw Angelica at the bar, dancing with some guys, but I don’t think she recognised me. I was going to go over to speak with her, but to be honest, by that point, I was done with her. I didn’t want anything more to do with her.’

Interesting, Tomek thought. Perhaps Emilia was so done with her, so upset and betrayed by Angelica’s actions, that she’d reacted and killed her.

CHAPTER FIFTY

There were few times in Tomek’s life when he felt genuinely concerned. Like the time he’d come face to face with his brother’s killer, or the time he’d been dangled over a bridge across a train track. But none of them came close to the concern he felt when he saw DC Chey Carter’s face as he returned to the office. The smirk on the constable’s face was wide, leering, creepy. And to make it worse, there was a demonic look in his eyes, as though he’d been possessed by something and Tomek was his next victim.

‘Oh God,’ Tomek said. ‘What have you done? You’ve either fucked up badly or you’re about to give me the best news ever.’

Chey said nothing. Instead, he gestured for Tomek to follow him into a small room. In his arms, the constable carried his laptop. As he shut the door behind them, Tomek said, ‘You’re not handing in your notice, are you?’

‘What, and lose any chance of becoming your best friend? I don’t think so, Sarge. You can’t get rid of me that easily.’

‘Nor can I get rid of that fucking smile,’ Tomek replied. ‘Stop it. It’s scaring me.’

The constable’s face fell on command.

‘Better?’

‘Better. Much, much, much better. Don’t ever smile like that again. You’ll get yourself arrested.’

‘I’d be more than happy for you to arrest me, Sarge. And after the stories I’m hearing from the weekend, you might be happy to do it.’

Tomek held his breath. ‘The fuck is that supposed to mean? What stories have you heard? What’s Rachel been telling you?’

He knew it was a bad idea putting the two of them together. They couldn’t be trusted. Rachel – she was the problem. She had enjoyed Friday night far too much. He knew she’d want to tell everyone on the team what they’d seen, and he’d been foolish to think they could keep it a secret, despite their agreement.

‘Nothing juicy, sir. Just that you attracted quite a lot of attention,’ Chey answered.

Tomek puffed his chest out and tried to hide his embarrassment. ‘I did all right, thanks.’

‘So did Rach. Though not the type of attention she was looking for, if her account’s anything to go by.’

‘We were there strictly on police business, Chey. Nothing happened.’

The constable set his laptop on the table in the middle of the room and lifted the lid. ‘Do you reckon you could get me an invite to one of these things, maybe?’

Tomek didn’t answer.

‘On a strictly professional basis as well.’

‘You whore,’ he replied, sniggering. ‘The organiser wasn’t too keen on having us there in the first place. I can’t imagine he’s going to be too thrilled when we start multiplying and different people turn up every month.’

Chey rolled his eyes. ‘Killjoy.’ Then the young man turned his focus to his laptop, and as he logged in, he explained, ‘We spoke with Angelica’s friends again, as requested. And one of them, Xanthia, her name is, well, she gave us a little more than we were hoping for.’

‘Right.’