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So it took a lot less than that for you to become fixated on one of your neighbours, she wanted to say.
‘I just wondered what you talked about.’
‘None of your fucking business, and if you’re not having this same conversation with every other person she ever spoke to, I’ll be suing you for harassment,’ he said, taking a step towards her.
Stacey stood her ground, wishing for just a minute she’d let the squad car stay.
Well, temper wise he was already at DEFCON 2 so she had nothing left to lose.
‘There’s no chance that you’d become fixated on—’
‘Oh, piss off, you stupid cow. If you’re trying to pin this on me cos of my relationship with Charlotte, you can go fuck yourself,’ he said, glancing down the street.
Stacey held firm.
‘It wasn’t really a relationship though, was it, Mr Birch? Whatever your feelings were, Charlotte didn’t return them. You were very slow in getting that message so I can’t help but—’
‘Sometimes people are slow to understand who they are meant to be with. Charlotte is my soulmate and eventually she’ll realise that too.’
Stacey was glad that Charlotte had moved far away because this man was not going to give up while there was breath in his body. Not one of the deterrents had quashed his belief.
‘So don’t even think about comparing my feelings for Sandy to my devotion to Charlotte.’
Stacey quickly realised that her best interviewing technique right now was to stay quiet.
He’d just admitted to having feelings for Sandy.
‘You lot had no business getting between me and Charlotte. It’s because of you that she’s left the area again. She wasn’t gonna keep waiting around while you lot trumped up crimes and kept sending me away. If it wasn’t for you, we’d be together right now.’
How was it possible for two people to have such opposing views of the same situation? Stacey wondered. Charlotte had moved continents to get away from this man, and he was convinced she was going to return to him one day, to live happily ever after.
She couldn’t work out if he was delusional or mentally ill.
She was tempted to ask how many times she’d visited him in prison or if he’d kept her letters, but she suspected greater minds than hers had tried to unclasp him from his obsession.
‘She’ll be back when she realises fate is on our side, so why would I ruin that by cavorting around Hawne after some random psychic, eh?’
‘Mr Birch—’
‘Enough,’ he said, throwing his hands up in the air. ‘I’m not saying any more. You wanna talk again, fucking arrest me. Otherwise leave me the hell alone.’ He turned and stormed back up the garden path.
He’d admitted having feelings for Sandra Deakin and had also made it clear he knew where she lived.
Stacey had paid him this visit to rule out any emotional connection to the victim and to cross him off as a suspect.
She was leaving unable to do either.
THIRTEEN
The small storefront in Dudley High Street was sandwiched between a pound shop and a women’s boutique.
Kim got out of the car with the vision of David’s apoplectic expression and Betts’s humiliation still at the forefront of her mind. The air had been charged when they’d left the house, and even if Betts hadn’t been thinking of leaving the man before, there was a good chance she was considering it right now.
There was no doubt in her mind that David had turned up at Catherine’s house early to curtail his wife’s exposure to a woman he hated with a passion. The fact that Betts had finished her evening while he waited in the car was a testament to the woman’s growing strength. Regardless, Kim had fired off a text to Stacey, instructing her to do background checks on both David Ford and Lisa Brown.
She stepped into the small space and was hit with the smell of jasmine incense and the sound of pan pipes.
On her left was a selection of tie-dyed clothing which gave way to crystals and jewellery, then self-help books and CDs. There was one other customer, and with her and Bryant, the store felt cramped.
