The Marriage - K.L. Slater (story books to read .TXT) 📗

‘No,’ he grunted, the vulnerable boy of yesterday nowhere to be seen.

His face looked drawn. Now when I looked at him, I didn’t see Jesse’s arrogance or surly expression. I saw a sad young boy and felt a swell of pity and fondness instead.

He looked around the room, his gaze lingering on the framed photographs, mostly of Tom, dotted about on tables, shelves and the wall. There was a group photo of Tom and his friends, including Jesse and Coral. Ellis stared at it.

I heard the office door open and Robert came out. Ellis sat down and took his Nintendo console out of his small rucksack.

‘Hello again, Ellis.’ I’d assumed Robert would be grumpy at finding the boy here. He didn’t like his routine disrupted. But he sat down at the other end of the sofa. ‘I’m so sorry to hear you lost your mum. I knew Coral back when she was still at school. Did she tell you that?’

Ellis shook his head.

‘Well, I’m very sad indeed to hear what happened. How are you sleeping?’

‘I’m not, much.’ Ellis stared at his console but he didn’t turn it on.

‘That’s understandable, but it will get better, you know. The secret is to keep yourself strong. Drink lots of water, eat plenty of fresh food and if you can do a bit of exercise, that’s brilliant. It will all help you sleep a little better and you’ll feel more able to cope. Do you promise you’ll try?’

Ellis nodded. ‘I will.’

It was astounding to witness Robert with his counsellor’s hat on. I felt quite touched that he was taking the time to help Ellis. If only Tom was here to see it.

Robert handed Ellis a business card. ‘If you want to talk at all or get anything off your chest you don’t want to bother your nan with, give me a ring, OK? Anything we talk about is confidential.’

‘OK,’ Ellis agreed.

I opened my mouth to say that might not be appropriate, but then decided against it. I imagined Bridget’s wrath if she discovered Ellis was confiding in Robert instead of her.

‘Good man.’ Robert looked at me. ‘I’m popping into work to pick up some client files.’

For once, I didn’t feel irritated with him. I’d seen with my own eyes why he was so much in demand from the students he worked with. When he was in counsellor mode, he lost the fuddy-duddy attitude and actually talked to young people on their level. Ellis had seemed to respond to him in a way he didn’t with anyone else.

Why wasn’t Robert like this with Tom when he was growing up? What was it, really, that he disliked about his own son? Tom was such a lovely boy growing up and I’d seen another side to Ellis the last couple of days. In fact, he reminded me at times of Tom. I looked across at Ellis, took in his thick hair, his nose in profile.

The mad flurry of thoughts that came so quickly made me dizzy.

One after the other and barely making any sense. Until they began to join up and then, the resulting possibility nearly knocked me off my feet.

Fifty Nottinghamshire Police

‘Will you be interviewing both of us together?’ Bridget Wilson’s voice was tense. Hesitant.

‘We’ll need to speak to you separately,’ Irma said briskly. ‘Shouldn’t take too long. Mr Billinghurst first, please.’

Tom and Bridget exchanged glances, then she took a seat in reception while he followed the detectives through to Interview Room 3, a slightly larger than usual space that the team jokingly called ‘the parlour’ on account of the softer chairs and the yucca plant in the corner that broke up the scuffed wall-to-wall magnolia paint.

Tyra ran through the necessaries. ‘… and we’ll be both voice-recording and video-recording the interview. Do you understand?’

‘Yes,’ Tom said.

She pressed some buttons and then nodded to Irma that the set-up was ready.

‘Mr Billinghurst, can you tell us your whereabouts yesterday afternoon?’

‘I was at home. As you discovered when you visited the house.’

‘Of course. But did you go out at all before we called to tell you about Miss McKinty’s death?’

‘I popped out briefly. I wasn’t gone long,’ he said, pulling at the neck of his polo shirt.

Irma nodded. ‘So let’s talk specifics. What time did you leave the house and where precisely did you go?’

He thought for a moment. ‘Honestly, I didn’t notice the time when I left. I’d say it would’ve been about four o’clock. I got back about an hour before you lot came to the door.’

Tyra picked up a pencil and twirled it between her fingers. ‘And where exactly did you go, sir? From leaving the house?’

‘I’d been to the gym late morning and I had to go back again to pick up something I’d left behind.’

‘Which gym is that?’

‘Bannatyne Health Club on Briar Lane.’

Tyra made a note. ‘Where did you go when you left there?’

‘Straight home. I took the long way back.’

‘The long way meaning where, exactly?’

‘Around the area.’

‘To local woodland?’

‘No … just around! I don’t know, Blidworth, the surrounding area. It was a pleasant day, too nice to be cooped up in the house. It’s a long time since I’ve had the freedom to drive, and I’m getting my confidence back after being out of it so long. I didn’t go far.’

‘So you were near Blidworth Woods?’

Tom frowned. ‘I suppose so – in the vicinity, anyway. Blidworth is very close to Ravenshead, don’t forget.’ He hesitated. ‘I want to make it perfectly clear, I didn’t see Coral McKinty. I didn’t see anyone I knew.’

‘I see,’ Irma murmured. ‘Did it not occur to you yesterday to mention the fact that you’d been “in the vicinity” of the very woods we found Coral’s body?’

‘No. I mean … why would it? I didn’t know exactly where Coral had been knocked over. The woods are vast.’ Tom ran his hand through his hair as his eyes darted between the two detectives. ‘You drive around here and you sort of pass through places. Ravenshead, Blidworth, Rainworth.