‘If you disliked her perhaps the fact that Garth pursued her over you made you dislike her even more.’
‘I knew she was seeing some older guy. She wasn’t a threat.’
‘And what did you think when Candice was murdered?’
‘I was shocked.’
‘But not sorry to see her go?’
‘What do you want me to say, that I was glad to see her dead?’ The mortification in her voice seemed genuine.
‘So Garth hung around with you and the other students in The King of Denmark pub?’
She nodded once. ‘He still does. I don’t.’
‘Because you’re an item now?’
‘Probably,’ she said sullenly.
‘Aren’t you worried he’ll be hitting on your other classmates. Or are you sure he will be and just don’t want to be there to witness it?’
‘I trust Garth. I trust him,’ she insisted, like a well-rehearsed mantra.
‘So you two don’t have any secrets from each other?’
‘We’ve been going out for half a year.’
‘That wasn’t an answer. Do you know about The Skinner’s Arms?’
‘Another pub?’ she said dismissively. ‘I don’t follow him every place he goes.’
‘So you don’t know about it?’
‘You obviously do, why don’t you try looking for him there?’
‘I have. What do you know about his friendship with Neil Vicar?’
‘That loser? They’re not friends.’
‘Neil says he plays pool with Garth.’
‘He probably does but so do lots of people. Doesn’t make them friends.’
‘So why did he say he was with Garth in The Skinner’s Arms the night Candice was murdered?’
Chapter Forty-Nine
Kirsten was speechless.
‘We have Neil Vicar next door.’ Fabian jerked his thumb at the wall. ‘And he’s adamant that he was.’
Her eyes darted in the same direction. ‘You can’t trust what he says. He was probably high,’ she said, irked.
‘Drunk actually. But he was still sober enough to remember seeing Garth in the pub when he was meant to have spent all night with you. Now what would he have to gain from saying that?’
Kirsten shrugged.
But Fabian could tell her reserve was crumbling. ‘Why did you lie for him, Miss Parr?’
Kirsten filled her chest, breathed out and seemed to come to a decision. ‘Garth said his job would be on the line.’
‘Why?’
‘He told me about visiting The Skinner’s. Garth is an occasional user. Nothing serious, just a bit of recreational coke. If it was revealed he’d been in a notorious druggies’ pub, that would have been the end of his career. He’s on his last warning at the college.’
‘This is what he told you?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you were happy to lie to the police for him, to conceal his habit?’
‘It wasn’t a habit. We only… Garth knew what getting caught could do to him.’
Fabian had begun to get the picture. ‘Were you both using?’
Kirsten looked at the recorder but said nothing.
‘So it was easier to say you were together rather than Garth was out scoring something for both of you.’
‘What does it matter, anyway? If Garth was in The Skinner’s Arms it means he didn’t kill Candice.’
‘No. All we’ve established is that Garth was in The Skinner’s for the first half of the evening. Vicar can’t be sure he was in the pub when he left much later on. There’s a large chunk of time that hasn’t been accounted for. What time did he really get home?’
‘I don’t remember.’
‘Don’t lie again, Miss Parr. I want you to tell me exactly what happened. He brought coke home for you that night?’
Kirsten looked uncomfortable.
‘He didn’t?’
‘He said he’d got into a disagreement with his dealer there.’
‘Who was his dealer?’
‘Some guy called Dr Ex.’
DREX. Fabian recalled the tattoo on the knuckles of the man in The Skinner’s Arms.
‘I think Garth owed him money. Said he wouldn’t fix him up.’
‘So he came straight home from The Skinner’s when he couldn’t?’ But Fabian already knew what her response would be.
‘He had a few drinks afterwards.’
‘Odd, isn’t it? If he’d got into a disagreement with his dealer d’you think he’d want to hang around there? What time did he get in?’
‘Just before midnight,’ she admitted. ‘We had a big row.’
‘Why? Because he didn’t have the coke?’
‘I thought he was seeing someone else. He kept insisting he wasn’t and that he’d tried to score elsewhere.’
‘Where?’
‘He didn’t say. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. Then he showed me a big bruise on his rib. Told me it was where Dr Ex had punched him.’
Or Candice Langham had struck him with her handbag. It had been found ten feet from her body.
‘And you believed him?’
‘I did then. He nearly walked out on me.’
Fabian imagined the scene. That would have deflected her accusations nicely.
‘I’d been giving him a hard time.’
‘That was understandable, given his reputation.’
‘I trusted him after that night. It… brought us together.’
‘Lying for him?’
She nodded, eyes closed.
Her concealing his drug habit from the police and saving his professional reputation would have given her a nice chunk of power over him as well. ‘We really need to find him, Miss Parr. Can you think of anywhere else he’d go?’
She shook her head. ‘I still don’t believe he could have killed Candice.’
‘He never spoke to you about pursuing her?’
‘No. He wouldn’t have.’
‘Because of your animosity towards her?’
‘I didn’t like her but I didn’t hate her.’
‘I want you to think hard. Where else did he go?’
‘I told you. He disappeared sometimes. Wouldn’t answer his phone. That’s why I thought he was seeing other women.’
Fabian’s phone buzzed. He looked at the display and saw it was Harriet.
‘DS Banner’s going to give you some other dates now. I want you to tell her if you were with Garth.’
Fabian let the interview room door close behind him and moved to the other side of the corridor. ‘Any news?’
Harriet sounded out of breath.
Fabian discerned her feet thumping on stairs. ‘Harriet? What’s going on?’
‘Tilly called.’
A door slammed the other end. ‘Is she OK?’
‘Yes. Fine’ But it didn’t sound like it.
‘Where has she been?’
‘She had her phone stolen.’
‘She’s OK though?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why the hell didn’t she just call?’
‘She thought she’d lost it in the pizza restaurant and was trying to find it. She didn’t want to tell us because you only just bought it for her birthday. But the phone company says it’s already been used to make calls.’
But Fabian felt uneasy. There was no relief in Harriet’s voice. And her explanation seemed rushed. ‘What’s really going on?’
‘I’d just hung up on her and— please come home.’
‘Why?’
‘Toby’s trying to get into the house.’
Momentarily Fabian thought he’d misheard. ‘Toby?’
‘Yes.’
A key turned in a lock.
‘He’s what?’
‘I think he’s trying to get in through the back garden. Just hurry.’
Fabian checked his watch. It was nearly half midnight. ‘Call the police.’
‘No. I don’t want to do that. Please, just get here as soon as you can.’
/>
Chapter Fifty
Fabian used his headset to call Harriet from the car, and she picked up straight away. ‘Any sign of him?’
‘I’m looking down from the bedroom into the back garden but it’s too dark.’
‘Are you sure it was him?’
‘Yes. He called and when I tried to send him away he tried to force his way in through the front door.’
‘What the hell? What did he say?’ Fabian recalled the conversation he’d had with him outside the house. ‘Did you speak to his father about his drunk driving?’
A thud.
‘What was that? Harriet?’
Harriet breathed erratically against the mouthpiece. ‘I think he kicked the back door.’
‘Can you see him?’
‘No. I’m standing here with the lights off.’
‘Stay on the line. I’ll be there soon. I’m going to get a patrol car around there.’
‘I’ve said no, Tom. Promise me you won’t,’ Harriet said emphatically.
‘What’s going on, Harriet?’
‘I’ll explain when you get here. Just hurry.’
But Fabian had to slow the Audi as he reached the rear of a long queue at the lights. He jerked the wheel right and headed down a side street.
‘Harriet?’
She didn’t respond.
Fabian couldn’t find a parking space in the street but left the car running and rushed up the drive to the house. The hallway light was on. He rang the bell and tried the phone again. It was still engaged. Harriet had obviously put it down without hanging up. Nobody came to the door.
He fumbled in his pocket for the keys. Shit. Were they in his drawer at the station? Scarcely noticing the rain, he trotted down the side of the house and slowed as he reached the back garden.
‘Toby?’ he said aloud as he looked around the corner to where the doorstep was. Then he saw the shattered pane of the little dining room window. He rushed to it and looked in. There was a figure seated on the couch in the dark. Only a small amount of light filtered in from the hallway. ‘Harriet?’
She looked up and nodded.
Then Fabian noticed there was somebody else seated with her, head on her shoulder.
‘Give us a moment. Toby’s just leaving.’
Fabian could see the flowerpot that had been used to break the window and the soil scattered across the carpet.
‘Can you just give us a moment? I’ll let you in through the back.’
Suddenly he felt like the intruder and moved to the rear door. He heard Harriet whispering from the dining room and then footsteps into the hallway. A few moments later the bulb came on in the kitchen, the bolts were shot and Harriet opened up.
‘Are you OK?’ He could see she was shaken.
She nodded and turned.
Fabian followed her into the dining room, and she switched the lamp on. ‘Where’s Toby?’
‘He’s let himself out through the front.’
Fabian strode towards the hall.
‘Let him go. Please.’
Fabian paused at the door. ‘What happened?’
Chapter Fifty-One
Harriet surveyed the broken glass. ‘I’ve talked to him. He won’t be coming back now.’
‘What was he doing here?’
‘He’s still upset about his mother. That’s what it’s about more than anything else.’
‘I’ve got to report this.’
‘No, you don’t. This was my fault.’ Harriet pointed to the armchair.
Fabian reluctantly sat.
She perched on the edge of the couch where she’d just been with Toby. ‘I don’t want you to tell Tilly about this either.’
‘So he took their break-up a lot harder than she thought.’
‘He knew that he and Tilly wouldn’t be forever. But when his mother died he really needed somebody. His father was in denial. There was no comfort there.’
‘Tilly stayed with him…’
‘She did.’ Harriet shifted on the edge of the cushion. ‘But even though her intentions were good… Tilly was only a distraction from what had happened. Toby didn’t want to open up to her. Was afraid of showing her his emotions.’
‘So he thought he’d come around here and break our window?’ Fabian reminded himself that it was her window. ‘We can’t let him walk away from this.’ He gestured to the shards of glass.
‘It was just a moment of anger, Tom. It’s passed.’
‘You could have been injured.’
‘Just… I don’t want you going to see his father.’
‘Harriet, what are you not telling me?’
Harriet exhaled and shook her head.
But Fabian suddenly saw the situation through a new lens. ‘So Toby opened up to you.’
She nodded.
‘And then what?’
Harriet swallowed loudly. ‘He knocked on the door last February. When Tilly wasn’t here. Told me he wanted to talk to me…’
Fabian waited for the rest but felt the cold rush of anticipation.
‘It happened once. It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.’
Fabian watched her lips but didn’t hear half of her explanation. ‘Toby?’ He heard himself say with incredulity.
‘I’m not going to make any excuses. It was selfish.’
Fabian felt dizzy. ‘He’s your daughter’s boyfriend.’
‘Tilly was leaving home. And leaving Toby behind.’
‘And you. Leaving you behind.’
Harriet nodded and bit her lip.
Fabian knew she did that when she wanted to control her emotions. His phone buzzed but he ignored it.
‘It was before Martin. Before I believed there could be more for me after she’d gone.’
‘You’ve always got me.’
‘No, I haven’t. I’ve never had you,’ she said simply and looked briefly at his phone.
It was the sort of comment that would have ignited past arguments. Before and after he’d moved out. But Fabian couldn’t recall the last one they’d had. And as he looked at the soil that had spilled from a flowerpot she’d bought on a holiday she’d had with Tilly in Portugal that he hadn’t been part of across a carpet she’d laid herself it suddenly struck him that the conversation they were having was about her life and not theirs. But he still couldn’t process the idea of her with Toby.
‘He seemed happy Tilly stayed with him. But that meant he was still coming to the house. I thought we had an understanding but that all changed when he suspected Tilly was going to end things. He started calling around when she wasn’t here. I didn’t let him in. Told him it could never happen again. When he dropped Tilly off after their dates I knew he came back. Would stay parked outside my bedroom so I could see him from the window.’
‘So he was obsessed with you and not Tilly? How do you know for sure he’s not going to come back?’
‘We’ve talked. He’s agreed to go and see a bereavement counsellor.’
‘Half an hour ago you called me because you were fearing for your safety.’
‘Let me handle it.’
‘I’m going to speak to him.’
‘No,’ she said firmly. ‘This is my mess. Leave me to deal with it. I mean it, Tom.’ She met his eye.
Fabian sighed and they sat in silence for a few moments.
‘Thank you for coming over.’ She rubbed her hands against the chill coming through the broken pane.
Fabian tried to calm the emotions pinging about inside him. ‘I’ll sort that when I can.’ He indicated the window.
‘I’ve got some plastic sheeting I can tape over it. It’ll be fine,’ she said, falling back on her usual practicality.
‘Are you going to be OK here on your own?’
‘Of course.’
‘Look, you’ve got the spare key to my flat. Why don’t you sleep there tonight?’ He was saying the right thing but Fabian could feel a bubble of anger expanding inside him. ‘I’m not going to be home.’
‘Wh
at’s going on?’
‘Plenty to keep me occupied.’ Fabian stood.
‘I’m sorry if I dragged you away.’
‘I’d feel better if you used my place. Will you do that? For me.’ He tried not to snap at her.
‘OK.’
‘Give me a call when you’re settled in. Heating should be on.’
‘Thanks.’ She regarded the dirty carpet.
He knew Harriet was willing him to be gone. She felt foolish and didn’t want him to see her like it. And he wanted to be gone too. ‘And Tilly is fine?’
‘Only nervous about letting you know her phone was stolen.’
‘Tell her to call me. I’ll put her out of her misery.’
‘Thanks, Tom.’ She looked into his eyes briefly and away again.
He left, closed the front door behind him and scanned the street for Toby, but there was nobody outside or sitting in a car.
He turned back to the house. Harriet and Toby. He knew Harriet was lonely but he hadn’t realised just how much. But now she was seeing Martin. Was that leading anywhere? With Tilly gone he guessed that, on her own, she probably felt like she was haunting the remains of her old life. He knew that feeling.
He checked his phone. Nothing urgent from Banner. Just a text saying that Kirsten Parr was demanding to be released. He dropped back into his Audi and headed back to the station.
Chapter Fifty-Two
Fabian hit traffic again and while he sat numbly in it and watched his wipers chopping rain droplets from the windscreen his phone rang. It was a number he didn’t recognise.
‘Hello?’
‘Dad? It’s Tilly…’ His daughter’s voice sounded like she was walking on eggshells.
But Fabian was just relieved to hear it.
‘I’m probably catching you at a bad time?’ Growing up Tilly must have heard her mother use that opener so many times it was automatic to both of them.
‘I’ve got a few minutes.’ He wondered how long it would be before he was being summoned to another murder scene.
‘You’ve spoken to Mum?’
‘Yes,’ he replied discreetly. It was over between Tilly and Toby. She didn’t need to know about what had just happened.
Never Say Goodbye: An edge of your seat thriller with gripping suspense (Detective Tom Fabian Book 1) Page 15