James Carol - The Quiet Man

‘Back in a second,’ Winter whispered to Anderton.

He stood up and went out into the hall. The bathroom was behind the second door he tried. Four toilet rolls were piled up on top of the cistern. Winter grabbed two and went back through to the living room. He handed one to Cody, the other to Hooper. Eyes were wiped dry, noses blown.

‘We need to ask Cody some questions,’ Winter said. ‘Is that okay?’

‘Is that really necessary?’ Hooper said. ‘He’s already been questioned today.’

‘This is important. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be asking.’

Hooper glanced at Cody. ‘Is that okay, buddy?’

Cody nodded reluctantly. He looked nervous and scared. The way he was sitting, nestled into the beanbag, he could have been a baby bird. Winter understood where he was coming from. He’d been a year older than Cody when his world came crashing down, but he could still remember every last detail. The days following his father’s arrest had been filled with confusion and misinformation. Up had become down and down had become up. It was like he hadn’t known anything any more. Winter got off the sofa and sat cross-legged on the floor. He was still a whole head taller than Cody, but at least they were closer to the same level. When he spoke, he did so quietly, gently. No sharp syllables, no sudden movements.

‘I’m not going to lie to you, Cody, this is going to be tough. You’re going to feel like you don’t want to talk to me, so I’m going to need you to be brave here. Now, I’m going to make a promise. I promise that I’m going to track down the person who did this to your mom, but to do that I need your help. When it feels like you can’t answer any more questions, I want you to remember that. Can you do that for me?’

Cody’s head went down and up. It moved only a fraction of an inch, but that was enough. When dealing with traumatised witnesses you grabbed everything you could get. Winter took a moment to consider the best way to approach this. The kid had been questioned in detail about what had happened this morning. There was nothing to be gained from rehashing all that again. Nothing but a whole lot of pain.

‘Your bedroom window looks out over the street,’ Winter said. ‘Have you seen anyone you don’t know hanging around out there during the last couple of weeks?’

Cody shook his head. ‘No,’ he whispered.

‘What about when you were outside? Have you ever had the feeling that someone’s been following or watching you?’

Another shake of the head. ‘No.’

A worried expression clouded Hooper’s face. ‘Do you think the killer was watching him?’

‘It’s possible.’

Anderton passed her cell to Winter. The photo composite filled the screen. He handed the phone to Cody.

‘We think this is the man who killed your mom. Take a good look. Have you ever seen him?’

Cody looked at the screen. The hand holding the phone started shaking.

‘Have you seen this man?’ Winter repeated in his gentlest voice. ‘It’s really important that you tell us if you have.’

Cody was still staring at the cell-phone screen, his hand shaking worse than ever. He glanced up at his father.

‘It’s okay, buddy. You’re not in any trouble.’

‘I might have,’ Cody said quietly. ‘He didn’t look exactly like this, though.’

‘When?’ Winter asked.

‘A couple of days ago. I was having a picnic at the park with Mom. He’d lost his dog and was asking people if they’d seen it. He had a picture of it on his phone.’

‘How tall was he?’

‘He was smaller than my dad.’

‘How much smaller?’

‘A lot.’

‘Can you remember what he said?’

Cody paused. One second became two, became five. Winter was tempted to jump in with another question but kept quiet.

‘He said that his dog had been missing for a week and then he asked if I liked dogs,’ Cody said quietly. ‘I told him that I wanted one, but Mom and Dad wouldn’t let me. He tried to persuade Mom to get one, but he was joking. Mom thought it was funny.’

‘Did he seem friendly?’

‘He was real friendly. And he seemed real sad that he’d lost his dog. I felt sorry for him.’

‘Did he say anything else?’

‘He asked me what my favourite MLS team was. It was probably because I had my ball with me. I told him the Whitecaps. He wanted to know what position I play. I said in midfield.’

‘Anything else?’

Cody shook his head.

‘Look at the picture again,’ Anderton said. ‘You mentioned that the man you saw looked different. How did he look different?’

‘I don’t know. His hair was shorter maybe.’

‘Anything else?’

Another shake of the head. ‘I don’t even know if it was the same person. Maybe it wasn’t.’ Cody looked at the phone again then handed it back. ‘I don’t think it was him.’

Winter passed the phone back to Anderton. ‘We need to get Tarantini over here as soon as possible.’

‘Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking.’ She turned to Cody. ‘We’re going to get someone to come and see you. Would you be able to tell them how the man you saw was different from this man, so they can make a picture of him.’

Cody nodded.

‘What park were you having the picnic in?’

‘Alexandra Park.’

‘Can you remember where you were sitting?’

‘Near the bandstand.’

There was a knock on the front door and Hooper went to answer. He came back with Jefferies and one of the detectives Winter had seen in the incident room, a stern-looking thirtysomething woman. Jefferies was holding a computer printout of the photo composite.

‘I suppose you just happened to be passing,’ he said.

‘Something like that,’ Anderton replied.

‘Do you have anything you feel like sharing?’

‘Only that Cody recognised the man in the picture. You’ll need to get Geneva Tarantini over here to speak to him.’

‘And how exactly did you get hold of the composite?’

Anderton just smiled.

‘I think we can take things from here.’

‘Of that I have no doubt. I have every faith in you, Detective Jefferies.’

Anderton stood up to leave and Winter followed suit. She thanked Hooper for his time, then they headed for the door.

Anderton was on her cell the second the apartment door closed. The conversation lasted just long enough for them to get outside to the sidewalk. Fast, punchy questions, lots of affirmatives, plenty of head nodding even though there was no way for the person on the other end to read her body language. She killed the call.

‘It’s like I thought. Freeman is having the photo composite shown to the husbands.’

‘Will your VPD contacts let us know if it rings any bells?’

‘Of course.’

She tapped the phone against her palm a couple of times then made another call. There was no answer this time. She didn’t leave a message, just hung up and started working her phone screen, thumb swiping, finger jabbing. One final jab, then she put the phone away.

‘Sobek?’ Winter asked.

Anderton nodded. ‘He’s not answering so I’ve texted him. If the composite sparks anything with him, I want to know about it sooner rather than later.’

‘It’s probably going to be later. Like after the sun sets.’

She gave him a quizzical look.

‘He’s at the cemetery,’ Winter added. ‘Isabella’s grave is in a spot where there’s no cell coverage.’

‘You say that like it’s a fact.’

‘I was there this morning.’

Anderton fired off another look.

‘It was all very friendly and civilised. He even offered to share his coffee.’ Winter paused. ‘You know, Sobek could have headed straight to the cemetery after being at the Hooper house. The times work.’