Peter Robinson - Sleeping in the Ground

Gerry sank gratefully into her front row chair, exhaling a deep sigh of relief. Stefan Nowak got up to speak next. Banks leaned over to Gerry and whispered, ‘Well done, DC Masterson. I told you it was a piece of cake.’

Gerry could only stare at Banks. She was still trembling inside. When she found her voice, she felt as if it was trembling, too. ‘Yes, sir,’ she said. ‘A piece of cake.’

‘We’re very sorry for your loss, Boyd,’ said Banks as he sat down beside Annie at the low round table in his office that Monday evening. Farrow wasn’t a suspect yet, so they had no reason to have their chat in an official interview room. As it turned out, Farrow wasn’t so much a boy as a fortyish man in a light grey Hugo Boss suit carrying a leather designer briefcase. A good fifteen years or so older than Katie Shea, he was handsome in a chiselled kind of way, with short dark hair, a strong square jaw, a slightly overlarge nose and a fleshy mouth. Nobody Gerry had talked to had known that Katie was pregnant, but Gerry had identified and tracked down Boyd Farrow through several emails discovered on her mobile.

‘I can hardly believe it,’ said Farrow. ‘Katie. Dead.’

‘Didn’t you know about the wedding this weekend?’

‘I knew she was going to a wedding, but to be honest I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the details.’

‘You weren’t invited?’

‘I had a business meeting.’

‘On Saturday?’

‘I’m self-employed, Mr Banks. I take my meetings when I can get them.’

‘What business are you in, if you don’t mind my asking?’

‘Not at all. I’m in website design and social media.’

‘How did you meet Katie?’

‘She’s with a small publishing firm in Leeds, and they wanted to up their profile. The full package. Website, Facebook page, Instagram and Twitter accounts. We met, we hit it off...’ He put his head in his hands. ‘My God. Katie . What am I going to do?’

‘How long had you been together?’

‘Not long. Just six months.’

‘Did you live together?’

‘No. We hadn’t got to that stage yet.’

Banks glanced at Annie, who raised her eyebrows. He shook his head almost imperceptibly. Not yet .

‘So Katie had her own flat and you have yours?’

‘Katie rented a flat, yes. I own a house. Well, a mortgage, I should say.’

‘And you lived separate lives?’

‘We spent as much time together as we could, but... well, she had her work. I’m afraid I don’t know many of her friends. We preferred spending time together rather than socialising.’

‘Of course.’ Banks paused. ‘My DC tells me that you seemed rather reluctant when she offered to drive down and talk to you in Leeds.’

‘I don’t mind the drive. It can be relaxing after a day at the office.’

Banks gave Annie the most discreet of signals.

‘Did you know that Katie was almost eight weeks pregnant?’ she asked.

Farrow spluttered and seemed set to deny everything, then he folded in on himself. ‘Yes,’ he whispered. ‘She told me.’

‘When?’

‘Ten days ago.’

‘A joyous occasion?’ Banks asked.

‘Not exactly.’

‘You mean you didn’t want children together?’

‘This has absolutely nothing—’

‘Please answer the questions, Mr Farrow,’ Annie said. ‘It’ll be over sooner that way.’

‘But why aren’t you out there catching Katie’s killer?’

‘Believe me,’ Banks answered, ‘there are more than enough people out there after Katie’s killer. They’ve been out there in the wind and rain since Saturday afternoon. Besides, according to most of the TV cop programmes I’ve watched, it’s almost always someone with something to hide who asks that question. What is it you have to hide, Mr Farrow?’

‘I’m sorry, but I just don’t—’

‘The baby, Mr Farrow,’ Banks went on. ‘You didn’t want it? Neither of you?’

‘Katie... she... perhaps more than me. But she saw it couldn’t be. Not yet. We weren’t ready. She understood that.’

‘It doesn’t sound as if you were ready for anything. I should imagine you could have made a few adjustments to your lifestyles if you’d tried. You certainly can’t claim you were too young for such a responsibility.’

‘You don’t understand.’

‘What am I missing?’

Farrow stared down at the table. ‘It just wasn’t possible, that’s all.’

‘Why not?’

‘Oh, come on, man, isn’t it fucking obvious? Because I’m married, that’s why. That’s what you’ve been wanting me to say, isn’t it?’

‘I’ve been wanting you to tell me the truth, Mr Farrow,’ said Banks. ‘So you were having an affair with Katie Shea?’

‘It wasn’t a... it wasn’t sordid like that. We were in love. We were going to get married as soon as I divorced my wife.’

‘And when were you going to do that?’

‘I’d been trying to broach the subject, then this came up.’

‘How bloody inconvenient,’ said Banks. ‘So what were you going to do?’

‘Well, we couldn’t have the baby, could we? Not yet. Not when things were like they were. Katie was going to have a termination.’

‘Well, she’s certainly had one now, hasn’t she?’ said Banks.

He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Annie gave him a puzzled and concerned glance. Farrow reeled as if he’d been thumped and started whimpering and chewing on his thumb. ‘That’s cruel. That’s not fair.’

‘I’ll tell you what’s not fair,’ Banks went on, ‘and that’s a married man getting a young girl pregnant then persuading her to have a termination. I’m assuming it was your idea? And that you were paying?’

‘She didn’t want the child, either!’

‘How do you know that? She obviously wanted to please you. I suppose she believed you when you said you were going to ask your wife for a divorce so you could marry her?’

Farrow slapped the table. ‘It’s true.’

‘Bollocks. It’s the oldest trick in the book. You had no intention of asking for a divorce, did you?’

Farrow hung his head.

‘How many children do you and your wife have?’ Banks went on.

‘Two.’

‘How old?’

‘Seven and five.’

‘The last thing you wanted was another, wasn’t it? You’d already been through it with two. Even if you did plan on getting a divorce and marrying Katie, which I doubt, you weren’t signing up for dirty nappies and sleepless nights, were you? But I’ll bet she wanted children, didn’t she?’

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s none of your business. She was no angel. She knew what she was doing. What are you, pro-life or something?’

‘That takes the bloody biscuit, that does,’ said Banks, standing up. ‘If you’d seen just half of what I’ve seen these past two days... And that included your Katie, the woman you say you love, sitting propped—’

‘Alan, that’s enough!’

It was Annie. Banks was so shocked by her sharp tone and the way she was glaring at him that he stopped mid-sentence and turned to face the window, arms folded. His breath was coming in short sharp gasps, and he was certain his blood pressure had gone way over the limit. He could feel his heart thumping in his chest. He took a few paces and looked out over the dark market square. Car headlights reflected in the puddles among the cobblestones. He’d lost his cool, and he knew it.

After an uncomfortable silence, Annie picked up the questioning in relatively gentle tones. Banks didn’t trust himself to turn around just yet. He had not felt such anger, such revulsion for someone, in a long time. He wanted to pick Farrow up by his neck and shake him. Slowly, his heart rate returned to normal.