Peter Robinson - Friend of the Devil

“Why didn’t you come forward? You must have known we’d catch up with you eventually.”

“And get involved in a murder investigation. Would you have come forward?”

“Of course I would,” said Winsome. “What’s the problem if you haven’t done anything wrong?”

“Huh. Easy for you to say.” He paused and examined her closely. “On the other hand, maybe it’s not that easy. You ought to know better than most.”

Winsome felt herself bristle. “What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, come on. I can’t even imagine why you’d want to be a cop. Someone like you. I’ll bet your mates aren’t too thrilled, are they? Always getting pulled over on sus because they’re black. All you have to do is walk down the street and they—”

“Shut up. Stop right there,” said Winsome, holding her palm up, and something in her tone stopped him in his tracks. “I’m not here to discuss racism or my career choices with you. I’m here to ask you questions about Hayley Daniels. Got that? You said you knew who I was when you saw me. How?”

Zack smiled. “There aren’t any other black coppers in Eastvale,” he said. “None except you, as far as I know, and you’ve had your photo in the paper. I can’t say as I’m surprised, either. It didn’t do you justice. Should have been page three.”

“Knock it off,” said Winsome. Shortly after she had been sent to Eastvale, the local paper had done a feature on her. She managed a smile. “You must have been very young back then.”

“I’m older than I look. Grew up just down the road. I’m a local lad. My dad’s an alderman, so he likes us all to keep in touch with the beating pulse of the metropolis.” He laughed.

“You just went to see Malcolm Austin.”

“So? He’s my tutor.”

“Any good, is he?”

“Why, thinking of enrolling as a mature student?”

“Stop being cheeky and answer my questions.”

“Lighten up.”

“Lighten up?” echoed Winsome in disbelief. Isn’t that what Annie had said to her last night? She thought of making some sarcastic remark about it being difficult for someone of her color, but instead she prodded him in the chest and said, “Lighten up? I was one of the first on the scene to see Hayley’s body on Sunday morning, so don’t tell me to lighten up. I saw her lying there dead. She’d been raped and strangled. So don’t tell me to lighten up. And you’re supposed to be a friend of hers.”

Zack’s face had gone pale now, and he was starting to appear contrite. “All right. I’m sorry,” he said, sweeping back his hair. “I’m shaken up about Hayley, too, you know. I liked her, the silly cow.”

“Why silly cow?”

“She was outrageous. She got us chucked out of the Trumpeters and nearly did the same at the Fountain.”

“I thought you were well behaved at the Fountain?”

“Been asking around, have you?”

“Doing our job.”

“Just the facts, ma’am. Sure. Well, we were. Except Hayley wanted a p — She needed to go to the toilet badly, and some yobs had wrecked it. Happens all the time. Gave Jamie behind the bar a right mouthful, though it was hardly his fault.”

“Jamie Murdoch?”

“Aye. You know him?”

“We’ve talked to him.”

“I went to school with Jamie. He moved down from Tyneside with his parents when he was about twelve. He’s all right. A bit quiet, lacking in ambition, maybe.”

“In what way?”

“Jamie tried the college once, but he didn’t take to it. He’s actually quite bright, but not everyone can handle the academic life. He can do better than the pub, but I’m not sure he’s got the balls to try.”

“He was running it alone on Saturday night,” said Winsome.

“Yeah, I know. He does that a lot. Can’t seem to keep the staff. I think he’s got Jill Sutherland working there at the moment, but I’ll bet that won’t last.”

“Why not?”

“Too many airs and graces to last long in a dive like the Fountain, our Jill.”

“What about the owner?”

“Terry Clarke? That wanker? He’s never there. Got a time-share in Orlando or Fort Lauderdale or somewhere like that. It can’t be easy for Jamie. He’s not a natural authoritarian. He lets everyone just walk all over him. Anyway, Hayley got a bit mouthy when she saw the state of the bogs, called him a few names, told him to get in there and fix it or she’d do it on the floor. That was our Hayley. But we calmed her down before any real harm was done. We got to finish our drinks, at any rate.”

Winsome made a note that someone should have another chat with Jamie Murdoch and also locate Jill Sutherland. “Is it true that Hayley went down Taylor’s Yard to use the toilet?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Zack. He cocked his head and studied Winsome. “Though that’s an odd way of putting it. I mean, there isn’t an actual toilet there. Like I said, Hayley could be pretty outrageous. As soon as we got outside the Fountain, she announced to all and sundry that she was off for a piss. Sorry. She needed to go to the toilet, and she was going in the Maze.” He paused. “Maybe she should have done it on the floor, then she wouldn’t have gone in there.”

“Didn’t any of you try to talk her out of it?”

“Yes, but you can’t talk Hayley out of anything when she gets her mind set on it.”

That was what Stuart Kinsey had said, Winsome remembered. “One of you could at least have gone with her…” Winsome realized what she had said too late and let the sentence trail off.

“I’m not saying she wouldn’t have got plenty of volunteers,” said Zack with a smirk. “Stuart, for one. Maybe even me, if I was drunk enough. But I can’t say I’m into golden showers, and Hayley wasn’t my type. Oh, we all joked about going down there and jumping out at her, giving her a fright, catching her with her knickers down, but it didn’t happen. We ended up in the Bar None. And Hayley…”

“She wasn’t planning on joining you later?”

“No, she was gong to stay at a friend’s.”

“Who? A girlfriend?”

Zack laughed. “Come off it. Whatever our Hayley was, she definitely wasn’t a girl’s girl. I’m not saying she didn’t have a couple of mates — Susie and Colleen come to mind — but mostly she liked to hang around with the guys.”

“Can you give me the names of everyone who was there on Saturday?”

“Let’s see, there was me, Hayley, Susie Govindar, Colleen Vance, then there were Stuart Kinsey, Giles Faulkner and Keith Taft. That was about it. Will, that’s Will Paisley, he was with us earlier but he went off to see some mates in Leeds early on. To be quite honest, I think he’s got a boyfriend there, though he seems to be lingering overlong in the closet. Mind you, I can’t say I blame him in a place like this.”

“So most of the time, after this Will had gone off to Leeds, for whatever reason, there were seven of you, right?”

“Give or take one or two we met on the way.”

“You said that Hayley preferred the company of men. Why was that?”

“Why do you think? Because then she was the center of attention. Because they’d do anything she wanted. Because she pretty much had all of them wrapped around her little finger.”

“She sounds like a drunken lout to me.”

Zack studied Winsome closely. “But you didn’t know her,” he said. “Actually, there was a lot more to her than that. Sure, she liked to cut loose on a Saturday night, go wild, get kalied and let her hair down. But she was a good student, she did her work on time, and she had a good future. She was bright, too. Sometimes you have to dig deeper than the flashy clothes and the superficial bravado.”

“And you did?”

“I went out with her a couple of times last year. But like I said, she wasn’t really my type. And in case you were thinking of asking, no, I didn’t sleep with her. Hayley wasn’t a slag. Kept herself fastened up as tight as a Scotsman’s wallet, in spite of the sexy clothes and all. It was strictly top only for me.”