Линда Ла Плант - Cold Shoulder

‘Without Didi you were nothing. She had to tout you around — you couldn’t even pick up a john without her.’

‘Fuck you, that’s bullshit.’ Nula’s hands were on her hips. Her lawyer tried to make her sit down but she stepped away.

‘She told me, said you were a useless piece of garbage.’

Nula swiped at her again.

‘And then when you found out she’d kept a ring, you just snapped, didn’t you?’

Nula looked at them all smugly. ‘I know what you’re trying to do. Well, I’m not saying another word.’

She sat down and smoothed her skirt as Lorraine walked to the side of the room and propped herself against the wall. ‘Nobody’s asking you to, Nula, because we know. We know that you tried to get the ring off her finger — even threatened to cut it off — but she wouldn’t part with it. She told you to piss off so you punched her, like the man you really are. All this paint and wig, all the glam clothes, you’re just a heavy-handed man underneath it all, aren’t you, Mr Simmons? But Didi, she was really beautiful, wasn’t she?’

Nula elbowed her lawyer. ‘Tell her to shut the fuck up. This isn’t legal. I want to leave.’

Bickerstaff calmly looked at the lawyer. ‘Tell her she won’t be leaving here for a long time.’

Nula stood up again and lunged forward. ‘You’re all jerks, all of you, you’ve got nothing on me, nothin’ but what that wimp Lyall has told you and he’s full of shit.’

‘Then why don’t you tell us what really happened?’ Bickerstaff asked.

‘No fucking way, you asshole, I’m not sayin’ another word. I know my rights, I don’t have to tell you anything because I know all you’ve got is his word against mine. That’s all you’ve got and until we make a deal and make me a prosecution witness, I’m not talking.’

Lorraine was still standing by the wall, arms folded. ‘Tell us about Holly. Why did you kill Holly?’

Nula shouted, ‘I never touched her, I never touched Didi, I never did anything and I know you got nothing on me, nothing. Janklow killed them, just like he killed all the others — it’s in the papers. It’s Janklow — I’ve got nothin’ to do with anything.’

‘But he didn’t kill Holly and he didn’t kill Didi.’

‘ Yes, he did? .’ Nula was red in the face with fury. ‘He was a sicko, everybody knows it, he’s nuts, can’t even stand trial. Don’t you follow what’s going on with your so-called investigations? I know what you did. You put poor Art in prison and you killed him. You gave a big press conference, “We got the killer” and you were wrong. How come nobody is standing trial for that? He was innocent. I’m innocent.’

Getting no reaction from anyone she turned back to Lorraine, pointing at her. ‘I’ll scream it all out to the papers about you, Mrs Page, about what’s going on in this room. Janklow has admitted to killing Holly and Didi, Janklow is a sicko, a pervert and—’

‘So are you,’ Lorraine said softly.

‘ Get her out of this room or I’ll—’

‘You’ll what, Nula? Kill me like Holly?’

‘This isn’t right, she shouldn’t be allowed to do this to me, she’s saying things to get me going. Well, I’m not gonna say another word. If you got the evidence then arrest me, charge me. Go on, let’s hear you do it.’

Bickerstaff checked his watch. It was almost nine thirty. He suggested they take a break and continue the interview the following morning.

‘Does that mean I can go?’ Nula asked.

‘You will be held in custody pending further inquiries.’

‘But you haven’t charged me,’ she said. ‘Can they do this?’ she asked the lawyer.

‘Yes.’

‘Bastards,’ she muttered.

‘You’ll meet plenty of them, Nigel,’ Lorraine said quietly. ‘How many will be in her cell with her? Three or four?’ she asked Bickerstaff. He made no answer.

‘I want to be put in the women’s section,’ Nula demanded.

‘That won’t be possible,’ Bickerstaff said flatly and turned to the lawyer. ‘Please explain to your client that as she is listed as male on her birth certificate she cannot be placed in a female wing.’

For the first time, Nula seemed frightened. She clung to her lawyer. ‘But I’m a woman. They can’t do this to me.’ He whispered to her and she looked at Bickerstaff, then Lorraine, lunging at her, knocking over the table. ‘You bitch! You did this to me! You know what’ll happen to me in with those animals.’

Lorraine ducked and sidestepped Nula as an officer grabbed her. ‘Then talk, Nula. At least they can segregate you. Tell us the truth about Holly.’

‘Shut up, you schmuck.’

‘Tell the truth, Nula. It was an accident, wasn’t it? You never meant to kill Didi, did you? She was your best friend — I know that, ‘I’ve seen you two together.’ Lorraine saw the change sweep over Nula in her body language; she lost all the fight.

‘Yes, she was,’ Nula said softly, and then averted her face. Her eyes filled with tears. ‘Best friend I ever had.’

The room fell silent as if everyone knew it was coming. Nula looked up at the ceiling, her eyes brimming with tears, and Lorraine moved silently back to her own seat. Nula blew her nose on a tissue and then began plucking at it. ‘Oh, all right, there’s no point, is there? You’ll find out, I suppose. She fell and hit her head on the side of the glass coffee table. Craig started to panic because we couldn’t find her pulse. We thought she was dead and what with—’

‘The blackmail? You were worried about that, were you?’ Lorraine asked softly.

‘It was all getting out of hand, right? We suspected Janklow was doing these killings because he was a real crazy fucker. He always paid up like it was a joke, like he got off on it. He never argued or nothing but paid up once a month regular as clockwork. But Art began to get greedy, kept on pushing him for more and what was so sick, we were blackmailing him because of all his drag pictures but he still wanted more of them. We all kinda knew he was going to crack someday. That was maybe why Art kept asking him for more money, more jewellery, like he knew he was gonna break.’

‘But why did you think it was him murdering these women?’

Nula was tired; she supported herself on her elbow. ‘Art put it all together, don’t ask me how. He always was an intuitive shit but instead of backing off, he asked for more. We were against it but he wouldn’t listen to us. I mean, we were doing okay, we had dough and then he opened that gallery. There was no need to be so greedy, we even had the other business, the photo sessions. We’d all never had it so good—’

‘How did you collect the money?’

‘We’d just go to his garage, one or other of us, pretend we were looking for cars. Art used to drive an old Bentley. He’d bought it from S and A, so he was able to go in and out of Janklow’s place. We’d not go in dragged up, anything like that. We were pretty cool, changed into straight gear.’

‘How did Hastings fit into it?’ Lorraine asked.

‘Well, Art and Didi saw him at the garage. Didi recognized Hastings, because she’d been doing his wigs and make-up at Craig’s studio. Well, this panicked Art for a while, then he discovered that Craig’s at it, like he’s picked up our tricks and he’s only doing Norman Hastings himself. Craig’s such an oaf, he couldn’t even pick a guy with dough. Art was furious — it could’ve all come out — and what got him worried was that Janklow and Hastings knew each other, and could put two and two together, cause trouble.’

‘But Janklow must have known who you were?’ Lorraine said.

Nula shrugged. ‘Maybe, but if he did he never contacted the cops. Like I said, he seemed to get off on it, like it was punishment. Anyway, we thought we should just back off — besides Art had plenty more, not with as much dough as Janklow, but he did all right...’