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I scowl at Jay’s laughing face. Jumping from the car, I clip him round the ear. “You scared the shit out of me, Jay.” He steps away as I attempt to swipe him again.
“Damn. You been taking lessons from Rick?” I let out a chuckle at that. “Come on, Princess, let’s get this over with and you back to Seb before he sends out a search party looking for your arse.”
“Oh, please. He’s probably at home right now queueing up his next lay.” The words taste bitter in mouth, and I’m not really sure what made me say them.
Jay stops walking, halting my steps with a hand on my arm. “Jamie, if you think that, then you don’t know Seb at all,” Jay says with a curious frown.
“You’re right, I don’t know Seb that well, but I don’t need to, to know he’s a player, Jay. Much like yourself, I dare say.” I brush his hand off my arm and stride towards the entrance. He jogs to catch me up, coming round to stop in front of me and blocking me.
“I resent that assumption,” he says as a look of feigned hurt crosses his face. At my obvious disbelieving look, he recants. “Okay, fine, you got me banged to rights. But Seb isn’t like me, Jamie. Yeah, he may have indulged in the occasional one-night stand, but he’s far from the player you have him labelled as.” I blink several times and bite my lip as confusion wars with the possibility that what Jay said is true. “If you knew his father, then you’d understand better. But that’s not my story to tell.” He pauses, realising that perhaps he fucked up by telling me even that small nugget of information. Shaking it off, he steps beside me, linking his arm with mine. “Come on,” he says, stepping forward and pulling me with him.
Having no other choice, I let him lead me inside the police station, but his words ring in my ears on a loop.
My thoughts are quickly turned to the raucous noise coming from a more than pissed off guy in a grey suit. As I take him in, I tense, realising I recognise him from my mum’s house.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jay asks beside me.
I continue to watch the guy shouting at the cop behind the reception desk. “That guy. I know him, Jay. He was at mum’s the other day, and it didn’t seem as though he was there for a cuppa and a chit chat.” Jay pulls me aside, out of his line of sight, and I’m glad.
There are several other groups of people inside the station, talking loudly, which makes it difficult to hear exactly what he’s saying. Jay stands in front of me, and I ask him if he knows the guy. His hesitant no and deep frown don’t exactly fill me with truthful confidence.
I hear the word client bandied around a couple of times, and then a veil of silence descends over the room at the exact moment he asks to speak with Detective Williams before the chatter picks up again, and I’m unable to hear anything further.
My breath hitches in my throat and an overwhelming need for air washes over me. My feet itch to carry me out of here, but I stay where I am knowing that I need to do this. For Alex. I feel Jay’s hand slip into mine, and I give it a gentle squeeze in silent appreciation for him being here with me.
Logically, I know there are many reasons why this guy would want to speak to Jasper, but even the most obvious, which points to him being a solicitor, doesn’t allay my fears. Because if that’s true, what was he doing at my mum’s house? My mum works part-time at the council as a secretary in the planning department, so her contact with solicitors would be minimal, and most definitely not with one that looks like he might need to represent himself one day.
As my mind whirls with all kinds of scenarios, a door to the left of me beeps, and Jay moves me just as it swings open, revealing Jasper. A smile lights his face when he sees me, but it’s soon replaced by a scowl that has the vein at his temple throbbing as his eyes land on Jay beside me.
Jasper steps forward, and Jay makes the smallest of movements that has Jasper pausing for a split second before composing himself.
“Jamie. Just give me a few minutes, and I’ll be with you.” He moves off without so much as a glance at Jay and approaches the suit guy at the desk.
“Are you okay? If you want to leave, we can, and you can give your statement to someone else.”
“No. I want to get this over with and get the hell out of here.” I don’t add that I intend to go and see my mum as soon as I can.
We wait ten minutes before Jasper returns and leads us, through the same door he exited from, to a room similar to the one he interviewed me in last time.
When Jay goes to follow me into the room, Jasper stops him, claiming that as a witness he’s not permitted to sit in on my interview and will need to give his own account of last night. At which point, another officer appears pointing Jay to the room opposite mine, while a further officer steps up beside me. I shake my head at Jay when he goes to protest and tell him it’s fine.
In the room, I take a seat at the small table as Jasper and the other officer take the two seats across from me. I can’t shake the feeling that separating us was intentional, but Jasper’s mood has done a complete u-turn from seeing me in reception, and whilst his manner is professional, it’s relaxed and puts me at ease.
I give Jasper my statement, and short of a few simple questions, the interview is over and done with quickly. The other officer exits the room leaving Jasper and me alone, and I use the opportunity to ask if he’s okay, hoping to glean as much information as possible.
“I’m fine, just a little knock to the head. I was more worried about you,” he says looking up at me as he gathers the papers and folder together from the table.
I give a nod of my head with a small smile. “I’m fine too.” I stand from my chair and as I grab the back to push it beneath the table, Jasper does the same, his hand landing on mine. I stop myself from snatching my hand back, simply finishing the action before slipping my hand from beneath his as naturally as possible.
As we walk out of the room and down the corridor, I ask Jasper what happened after we left, and he confirms what Jay already told us, but nothing more.
We stop at the door that leads back out to the reception area and before he opens the door I casually ask, “What was that guy’s problem earlier? He seemed really pissed off, and at one point I thought he was going to get arrested.” Giving a little laugh, I add, “Is it always like that here?”
“Pretty much, yes,” he replies, opening the door and gesturing for me to go through. He skipped right over my question about the guy, and I’m certain it was intentional.
Jay is waiting for me when I step through, and I see the relief on his face as he catches sight of me.
“Hey. Everything okay?” he asks as I walk to meet him.
