Cath Staincliffe - Dead To Me

‘No pressure, no innuendo, no bullying, no snidey little comments.’

‘I know.’ Rachel was almost running on the spot, so eager to get at it.

‘You’ll plan and prep with Janet, and I’ll be watching you in interview. This will count towards your application for the tier three course. So, you will be grace incarnate. I want that man to come away feeling smug and safe and valued.’

‘Yes, boss.’

‘You understand why?’

‘Of course,’ she said impatiently.

Gill turned her hand round in a circle. ‘Enlighten me.’

‘Because we want him to open up, we want him to talk, then when he gives us a shedload of lies, we’ve got him by the balls.’

‘And if we jumped the gun – slagged him off, shouting, screaming, making threats?’

‘He wouldn’t tell us anything.’

‘Right.’ Gill stepped back to let her leave. Pointed two fingers in a V-shape at her own eyes and then back towards Rachel. I’ll be watching you.

‘Janet,’ Andy came to her desk, ‘Lee says Ade’s downstairs, he wants to see you.’

Her stomach dropped. Ade never came to work. He knew! He’d found out. How? She looked at Andy, saw he was worried too, his face pale, eyes alert.

‘Shit. Do you know…?’ she said.

Andy shook his head quickly.

‘Right.’ She got up, fluttering in her belly, her chest tight. Self-consciously she smoothed back her hair. Would he make a scene? It wasn’t Ade’s way in the general run of things, but then this wasn’t a normal occurrence. Maybe Ade, being cheated on, would turn into some raving loony, go berserk and shout the house down. Give Andy a bloody nose.

Janet saw Gill peer across from her office, antennae twitching. Sharp as a tack. Janet forced a smile Andy’s way for Gill’s benefit.

She went downstairs, trying to relax her face muscles, bracing herself.

Ade was sitting in the foyer. She saw him before he noticed her. He didn’t look particularly agitated. He was tapping on his phone – surfing the news pages, Janet saw as she reached him.

‘What?’ she said.

‘We’ve had a phone call,’ he said.

‘Yes?’ Who? Some tittle-tattler? Who knew? No one. Had someone seen them leaving the works do together?

‘Mr Fairley, he wants to see us with Taisie after school. Today, if possible.’

Oh, thank fuck for that! She felt weak at the knees. ‘You could have rung me,’ Janet said, cross now that she had been panicked, going on the offensive.

‘I was passing, thought we could sort it out now.’

‘Well, I can’t go,’ Janet said.

Ade gave a snidey little laugh. ‘You never can.’

Had he come to pick a fight? Janet took a breath. ‘Slight exaggeration, but this week, no way. I assume this is about the sugar-plum business?’

Ade shrugged. ‘Wouldn’t say. Didn’t want to discuss it over the phone, said it wasn’t appropriate.’

Pompous dick. Mr Fairley would get on a whole lot better if he hadn’t been so up himself. ‘Shit,’ Janet said under her breath. ‘I hoped we’d killed it before he found out. Unless it’s something else? You’ll have to do it without me.’

‘Same as bloody usual,’ he snapped. And went. Leaving Janet wondering what on earth that was all about.

Rachel had done the plan and prep with Janet and that had gone well. If Her Maj was letting her have a crack at Raleigh, Rachel assumed that Marlene had not followed through and lodged an official complaint.

When Raleigh arrived and she went down to reception to meet him, Rachel felt a surge of animosity hot in her belly. Something she must hide well if she was to do this right. He was taller than she remembered and broad-shouldered. He wore navy chinos, a white shirt and a navy wool sweater. She could smell aftershave. Shiny and squeaky clean. She put on a big smile, shook his hand, thanked him for coming in, made an inane comment about the weather.

‘You released Sean,’ he said. ‘How come?’

‘I’m sorry, I can’t discuss that with you,’ she said as she took him through to the interview room. He looked puzzled when he saw the set-up, the tape recorder, the video camera in the corner, Janet with her notepad.

‘Sorry if it looks a bit official,’ Rachel said, ‘but we record all witness interviews like this now. And there are a number of things I need to make you aware of – protocol.’

He shrugged, gave a smile. ‘OK.’

She went through them with him: the fact he was not a suspect (you so are, mate!) was free to leave and so on, free to consult with a solicitor.

Her instinct was to lean forward, arms braced on her knees to question him, but she remembered what Janet had told her about posture and settled back. Act as if you’re a market researcher (Rachel had grinned at that, though she hid it quickly) really interested in getting the answers, but not at all bothered what they are. Neutral .

Consciously Rachel relaxed her hands, balled like fists, and her feet. ‘Thanks very much for coming in, we do appreciate it. Please can you tell me first how you know Lisa Finn.’

‘I was her personal advisor, since she left Ryelands.’

‘What did that involve?’

He exhaled. ‘Whatever she needed, really – help with claiming benefits, managing her finances, career guidance, liaison with medical services. The aim is to make sure the young person makes a smooth transition from being looked after to being fully independent.’

Rachel nodded a couple of times as he spoke, to show she was paying attention. ‘How often did you meet with Lisa?’

‘Weekly at first, then just once a month.’

‘The last time we spoke you told me you hadn’t seen Lisa since November the twenty-fifth?’

‘That’s right.’

‘How was she then?’

‘Not too bad. I was a bit worried about her boyfriend, Sean – he was an obstacle to her addressing her drug dependency. That wasn’t anything new, though. We were aiming to get Lisa into rehab, but we weren’t making much progress. The family – her mother, Denise – wanted that to happen, but Sean was a complicating factor.’ He smiled ruefully. His teeth were even, startlingly white; bleached, Rachel imagined. Vain git.

‘And on November twenty-fifth,’ Rachel repeated the date, ‘did she mention any trouble, any threats of violence, harassment, arguments, anything of that nature?’

‘No, nothing. She had divulged in the past that she and Sean had a somewhat chaotic relationship, arguments would lead to violence, domestic abuse,’ he added, ‘but in November she didn’t mention anything about that.’

‘And you didn’t see Lisa after November twenty-fifth?’

‘No.’ He shuffled slightly, crossed his ankles.

‘Did you hear from her after that?’

‘No.’

‘Thank you.’ Rachel surprised herself with how genuine she sounded. Now she had to be careful. She and Janet had discussed the wording for this next question; it was vital that it didn’t make him defensive, set off any alarm bells. ‘We are building up a picture of Lisa’s movements last Monday and collating details on any callers to Fairland Avenue and even people passing through the estate. Were you in the neighbourhood at any time on Monday?’ She tried to keep her expression bland, as though she expected him to answer in the negative.

‘No, no.’ He waved away the suggestion. ‘Office all morning, then case conference at the town hall in the afternoon.’

Got you! Rachel’s pulse accelerated. ‘The office is in Newton Heath and then you were at Manchester Town Hall?’

‘Yes.’ He looked at his watch, uncrossed his ankles and put his hands on his knees, signalling he thought they were nearly through and he was ready to leave.

‘I think that’s everything.’ Rachel gave him a smile. ‘Is there anything you’d like to add your statement?’