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‘This bloody case has got more twists and turns than Alton Towers,’ Bryant remarked as they moved away from Belinda’s domain.
He wasn’t wrong, Kim thought as she heard the familiar sound of Crocs on floor tile. This time they were heading down the stairs, and unlike when they’d arrived to speak to him yesterday, he made no attempt to offer an engaging smile.
She moved further away from the reception desk, already knowing how this was going to go.
‘Inspector, these interruptions—’
‘Would not be necessary if you’d told us the truth in the first place, Mr Jones.’
He offered a frown that wasn’t as deep as it should have been. ‘I’m not sure what you mean. I haven’t once lied to the police.’
‘You haven’t exactly shared the whole truth either, have you?’
He said nothing, waiting for her to show her hand. She was happy to do so.
‘You didn’t think to mention that your father died at the institution where your love rival spent three years as a teenager; or that the group known as the Psycho Six was seen in the area where your dad fell?’
He shrugged, and Kim realised he was going to give them nothing for free.
‘Did you know Eric Gould was a member of that group when you learned that he was Teresa’s new boyfriend?’
‘Not at first. I knew the name sounded familiar, but I hadn’t given it a thought in years.’
‘You hadn’t thought about your dad’s accident?’ Bryant asked.
‘His murder, Inspector,’ he hissed as emotion began to loosen his tongue. ‘My dad had run-ins with that group all the time. He was strict and he didn’t take their shit. They hated him because they couldn’t pull the wool over his eyes. They never managed to get one over on him, and he treated them like the scum that they were. Everyone else was scared to death of them – the kids, the staff, but not my dad. I’d hear him talking to my mum about them, and no matter what they did, he wouldn’t be intimidated. So they decided to get rid of him altogether.’
Kim wasn’t prepared to challenge his view on the incident quite yet. There were other questions that needed answers.
‘I’m just wondering how you must have felt when you found out that one of the culprits had stolen your girlfriend,’ Bryant said.
‘I was sick to my stomach, but what exactly could I do about it?’
‘He’s dead,’ Kim reminded him.
‘And I’m not sorry.’
‘Does Rufus know?’ Kim asked. For some reason, the image of the two of them driving away in Rufus’s little pet ambulance had lodged in her mind.
‘About what?’
‘All of it?’ Kim asked.
Curtis coloured slightly. ‘I’m not…I mean…probably. I’ve talked about different stuff to do with it, and—’
She could picture the two of them dissecting the whole thing after a few pints. It was no wonder Rufus had been unable to warm to Eric Gould.
‘Did Rufus tell Teresa about Eric’s past?’ Kim asked.
Curtis shook his head vehemently. ‘He wasn’t going to risk losing her. He hoped the whole thing was just going to fizzle out.’
Or had he planned on eliminating Eric from Teresa’s life in a more permanent way? Kim wondered.
‘If you lot had just done your job in the first place—’
‘The force did nothing wrong,’ Kim defended, having had Penn read out the whole report to her over the phone during their journey. ‘There was no crime to investigate. The boys had been seen in the area, but the real culprit was a faulty handrail.’
‘He was pushed.’
