Lynda La Plante: Blood Line

‘Fine, then you will be held overnight in the cells until I have confirmation as to whether or not—’

‘You can’t do this.’ Tina turned to Hyde. ‘Tell me they can’t do that to me. I’ve done nothing wrong.’

Anna started to pack up her files and suddenly Tina erupted, gripping the edge of the table and trying to overturn it. The water bottles fell over and Hyde pushed his chair back to try and avoid the spillage as Paul grabbed the photographs.

‘Sit down, Miss Brooks. SIT DOWN!’ Anna shouted.

‘It’s Miss Brooks now, is it? I am telling you that whatever fucking evidence you’ve got doesn’t prove I killed Alan because I didn’t. I DIDN’T!’

‘Sit down. Mr Hyde, please control your client.’

Hyde went to grip Tina’s arm but she shoved him away. He rocked backwards and then she was on her feet, running for the door. Paul was out of his seat, and as Tina grasped the door handle he prevented her from leaving. She turned and threw a punch at him. The door opened and the uniformed officer stationed outside the room stepped in as Tina struggled, frantically kicking and punching out. She was totally out of control, and as she was dragged back to the table, she tried to kick again. Eventually, with Paul holding one arm and the officer holding the other, she caved in, her body sagging as she started sobbing.

‘I think we should take a fifteen-minute break,’ Hyde said, standing up.

As Tina slumped into her chair, weeping, Anna found some tissues to mop up the spilled water and threw the plastic bottles into the rubbish bin, then set her files back down again. But Tina got some kind of second wind as she reached over to grab the files, sending everything flying off the table again.

‘Cuff her,’ Anna said, and the uniformed officer drew one arm up behind her back until Tina was screaming. The policewoman pushed her face forwards onto the table. It was an ugly scene, and Tina was still fighting as her other arm was drawn back, but with Paul’s help they cuffed her with her hands behind her back. Her eye make-up was running and her face was red and blotchy, but even cuffed she was kicking, swearing and trying to bite Paul.

‘I want a break for my client,’ Hyde repeated and Tina turned on him.

‘Shut the fuck up. I done what you told me.’

‘Miss Brooks, please calm down,’ he said.

She snarled like an animal, her face twisting.

‘Miss Brooks, MISS BROOKS, what the fuck do you know? I want to go home, I want to go home.’

‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible,’ the lawyer told her.

She swivelled around and kicked out with her high heel, catching Hyde in the knee. He grimaced.

‘Take her shoes off her, please,’ Anna said.

‘You’re not taking my fucking shoes off me. Leave me alone.’

However, both her shoes were swiftly removed and she sat panting and gasping for breath.

‘All right,’ she growled.

Anna was still straightening out her files.

‘I give up. I fucking give up.’

Anna stared as Tina closed her eyes, sighing but no longer fighting.

‘If you’re waiting for a result on the axe, it’s a waste of time. They never used it, it wasn’t sharp enough.’ She looked up and glared at Anna.

‘Do you wish to continue this interview?’ Anna asked.

‘Too bloody right I do. I’ve had enough.’

Hyde was rubbing at his knee, and shrugged as if to say to Anna it was not going to be a problem for him.

‘I can’t have the cuffs removed, Tina, but you can have them on in front of you so it’s more comfortable. However, you have to behave.’

‘Great.’

Paul removed the cuffs from behind her and she held out her hands so he could place them back onto her wrists. Anna signalled that the uniformed officer could leave the room, but to remain outside the door.

Tina asked if there was any more water left and Paul passed her one of the half-filled plastic bottles. She took two gulps and then held it out for him to take from her. She looked at her handcuffed wrists and gave a strange half-smile.

‘Broken a couple of fingernails.’ There was a pause as she remained silent, staring at her hands.

‘If you are ready to proceed then, Tina?’ Anna prompted.

‘Yeah, yeah.’

‘Previously you used the word “they” when referring to the axe?’

‘Correct. He wanted it to split open the board.’

Tina glanced at Anna and then at Paul. She gave that strange smile again.

‘You don’t know what I’m talking about, do you? The surfboard – Alan’s surfboard – that’s how he was moving the drugs around, shipping them in and shipping them out.’

‘Are you saying that Alan hid drugs in his surfboard?’

Tina gave a long resigned sigh. She then explained that along with Silas Douglas and Sammy Marsh, Alan had used the boards to hide drugs on trips back from Florida. Pure cocaine was made into a hard paste and then packed into the centre. They would then soak it, dry it out and mix it for distribution all over Cornwall.

‘But then Silas met some heavy-duty drug dealers in Miami and the next shipment was heroin.’

‘You are referring to Silas Douglas as being party to this?’

‘Party to it? He was running the show. First along with Sammy, but then Alan got himself involved and started sharing the finances. He was making money hand over fist, but Sammy tried to screw Sal. He got his hands on one of the boards, took out the heroin and started dealing, but he didn’t know what he was doing; the stuff was lethal. Alan got scared shitless. Kids had been overdosing on the stuff and so he wanted out. He was also scared of Sal, so he brought one of the boards back with him and hid it in our garage. He also had two hundred thousand in cash – Sammy’s money. He said that he would pack up and leave England. He was certain that they’d never come after him because he’d always used other names.’

Anna held up her hand. ‘Tina, I need to understand what exact part you played in this drug-dealing.’

Tina’s voice was quiet and drained as she explained that her relationship with Alan was, for the past year, more or less non-existent. She had found out about his homosexual partners and had first wanted to simply kick him out, but he had persuaded her that he would split his profits so that she would be financially secure. There was one condition, which was that she keep up the front of their so-called intended marriage. She knew about the property, she knew about his other bank balances, but because she also knew how he was making the money, she was certain that he couldn’t back out because if he did, she would tip off the police.

‘He got scared. He knew he didn’t have all that much time, and he was planning to leave England and go into hiding. He’d got Sammy’s cash and he’d also got a surfboard full of heroin.’

‘Did he intend dealing it?’

‘I dunno. He was so crazy around this time. To be honest I don’t think he really knew what he was going to do with it – he just didn’t want any more kids dying. He was snorting up coke so that made him even crazier.’

‘Take me back to the morning of the phone call to you when he said he had a migraine,’ Anna prompted.

‘Well, he rings me up and says that Sammy had somehow got onto him, that he was gonna have to do a runner. He was shaking, and when we got home he said that he would pack up his stuff and be gone. I had to take the suitcase with the money to a locker at the salon and I left him at the flat and went to work in the salon.’

Tina continued to explain that she had put two fake clients into the appointment books. Often her clients would enter the salon via the car park and back door entrance, going up the rear stairs to where she did her treatments. The girls knew she worked up there and that her clients liked privacy so she was never disturbed. She was therefore able put the money into a locker and leave the salon without any of the girls seeing her. She subsequently returned to her flat around midday, not as she had previously admitted, at six-thirty.