Линда Ла Плант - Cold Shoulder

‘What about Thorburn?’ she asked Bickerstaff quietly.

‘We’re having him brought back from France.’ He hesitated and leaned over her. ‘How involved do you reckon the smooth bastard is?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You mean there’s something you don’t know about this business?’

‘I didn’t think he was involved.’

Bickerstaff tapped her shoulder. ‘We’ll find out soon enough.’

Now it was Nula’s turn. Bickerstaff was moving like a man on speed, talking non-stop, firing instructions right, left and centre. Lorraine remained sitting in his office until they were ready for her, thinking about Brad Thorburn.

Nula was brought up from the cells. She screamed for her lawyer and wanted to see Lyall. She was aggressive and abusive, and had to be half dragged into an interview room, kicking and spitting. Only when she saw Lorraine did she quieten down. As the door closed behind her, Lorraine entered the adjoining room, looking through the one-way glass as Nula knocked over the jug of water.

She refused to say one word without her lawyer present. He was, in fact, sitting beside Lyall, now under oath to tell the truth. He made a formal statement detailing his part in the blackmail of Norman Hastings and describing how Nula had killed Didi. He could give no details about Holly’s murder as he had not been involved.

Bickerstaff waited until Lyall’s statement was ready before interviewing Nula. By law she had to be allowed time to talk to the lawyer and he would be present throughout. Bickerstaff formally requested that Lorraine not only be present but a party to the interrogation. The entire station was buzzing with the new developments. There was no animosity, just strong professional back-up: anything Bickerstaff wanted he got.

They were ready to interrogate Nula, the last piece in the jigsaw. She now knew how serious the charges were, and that there was no hope of her being released from custody. She had become calmer, having been kept waiting for hours. She was sitting at the table, and had redone her make-up and hair. She looked almost perfect, every hair in place, her lips a deep dark vermilion with a sheen of gloss but small flecks of the lipstick stained her front teeth.

Bickerstaff, two uniformed officers and a stenographer entered the room, followed by Lorraine. Nula turned slowly to face her and then laughed. ‘I underestimated you,’ she said, completely relaxed, and apparently unconcerned by the formidable line-up. If anything, she seemed almost to be enjoying the attention. Her lawyer waited until everyone had been seated and the tape recorder switched on; the stenographer’s hands were poised.

Nula was facing two separate charges: blackmail and extortion, and first degree murder. She stated that her birth name was Nigel Simmons. Her lawyer now turned to Bickerstaff. ‘My client categorically denies any part in the charges levelled at her and she has the right to remain silent. She has been made aware of certain statements by Craig Lyall, implicating her in these said crimes, and again denies playing any part in the said crimes but will, if required, be prepared to stand trial for the prosecution and to implicate Craig Lyall as being solely responsible for the crimes.’

There was a short pause before Bickerstaff began by asking Nula directly if she had been involved in the blackmail of Steven Janklow.

No comment.

Had she struck David Burrows (Didi) during an argument and then with the assistance of Craig Lyall, carried his body to a stolen car and deposited it?

No comment.

Bickerstaff asked detailed questions for almost half an hour. Each one was answered with, ‘No comment.’

Throughout, Nula sat checking her nails, fixing her skirt, straightening her frilled blouse. She sometimes looked at Lorraine, raising an eyebrow, and then, as if bored by the proceedings, yawned, crossing and recrossing her legs. When the photographs of Didi were displayed, she averted her face and stared at the wall. When she was asked again to look at the photographs, she sighed and glanced down, then looked at her lawyer.

Holly’s pictures were laid in front of her. This time her lawyer asked her to look at the photographs as requested. She picked one up, glared around the room, and then let it drop back on the table, drumming her nails on it.

‘No comment.’

‘Are you saying you do not recognize her? Or that you do not know her?’ Bickerstaff asked impatiently.

‘My client refuses to answer that question in case it may implicate her request to act as a prosecution witness.’

Bickerstaff turned towards Lorraine. He gave a brief nod and they requested a break in the interview to enable them to confer. Both left the room.

Bickerstaff shoved his hands into his pockets. ‘This could go on for days. You want to have a try, see if we can hurry it up in there?’

‘Okay. Is it legal for the same lawyer to represent both parties?’

‘Lyall has already given his statement. It’ll be up to him to hire someone else. I would, if I was him, but that’s not my main concern right now.’

They went back into the interview room and the tape was turned on again. Lorraine pulled her chair up close. Nula giggled and leaned across the table. ‘Your turn now, is it?’

Lorraine ignored her remark. ‘She was just seventeen, Nula. Why did you have to kill her? What harm had she ever done you?’

Nula conferred with her lawyer and then sat back.

‘My client wants to know why Mrs Page is present at this interview. She is aware that she is not attached to the FBI or the police homicide division. She is also aware that Mrs Page is a chronic alcoholic. I would also like to lodge my own formal complaint as to such a woman being present.’

Bickerstaff leaned back in his chair. ‘No comment.’

‘Is she some kind of witness?’ the lawyer asked tersely.

Nula smirked. ‘They couldn’t get her on a stand in any court of law, she’d be laughed off. She’s a drunkard, she’s a whore and she’s even been paid for working with Art Mathews. She more than likely instigated the blackmail — she was certainly paid enough to keep quiet. Ask her! Has anyone asked her how much Art Mathews paid her? I never touched Holly, nor did I hurt my best friend. She’s making it all up, probably with that pervert Lyall. I can even smell the booze on her — it’s coming out of her pores. Look at the way her hands are shaking.’

Lorraine refused to be goaded. She turned to Bickerstaff and got a steely glint stare. She leaned back and imitated Nula’s smiling face, ‘I’m as sober as she is and she’s lying. I was never paid a cent by Art Mathews.’

‘You lying cunt,’ Nula spat out.

‘Takes one to know one,’ Lorraine snapped back. ‘But then you don’t have one. Is that your problem? Is that why you had to kill little Holly? Because she was young, beautiful, everything you wanted to be but—’

Nula stood up, pushing away the restraining hand of her lawyer. ‘She was about as innocent as my ass!’

‘Taking your clients away, was she?’ Lorraine shot out and Nula swiped at her across the table.

Lorraine was on her feet. ‘That’s it, Nula, come on, show what you’re really like. Show just what a mean bitch you are — and you are mean. The way you hammered poor Didi’s face after all she’d done for you.’

No one in the room acknowledged what was going on. They sat stony-faced as Nula and Lorraine shouted at each other. At one point, an officer half rose but Bickerstaff glared. He wanted this row to continue.

Nula snarled, ‘It was me that did everything for her. Don’t you know anything?’ She pointed a red-tipped talon at Lorraine. ‘She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.’