The Silent Suspect

by Nell Pattison

  In response, he leant harder against me, mashing my face into the brick wall and pressing hard on my lower back. The sharp pain in my face was followed by the warmth of blood seeping out of my damaged skin. His hand crept up my side and under my arm, and I braced myself for what was coming next when the front door to the block of flats flew open.

  Almost immediately I was released, and I sagged to the ground. I looked behind me but all I could see was a large figure dressed in black, running in the opposite direction. Gathering my knees to my chest, I started to shake, not even noticing that it was Anna who had opened the door.

  God, what happened? she asked me, looking at my belongings scattered on the ground next to me. She put a hand to the side of my face.

  Paige, you’re bleeding. What happened? Who was that?

  I couldn’t answer; I was shaking too hard. All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and close my eyes. A moment later, however, I pulled myself up, leant over the wall and was sick in the gutter. Anna held my hair back, then helped me up before guiding me inside and up to our flat.

  She bustled around me, taking off my shoes and wrapping a blanket around my shoulders as I continued to shiver. A couple of minutes later, a cup of tea was pushed into my hands and I took a sip, then recoiled at the sweetness of it.

  Mum always said you should have sweet tea when you’ve had a shock, Anna said, nodding at the cup. Did he take anything?

  I put the cup down so I could reply. No, I don’t think so. My signing wasn’t clear, with the alcohol and the shaking, but she understood.

  Did he … do anything to you?

  I shook my head. He was threatening me. I don’t know what he would have done if you hadn’t come out … The realisation of what had happened hit me and I burst into tears.

  I’m so stupid, I told her. This is all my fault. Everything in my life is going wrong, and it’s all my own stupid fault.

  Anna sat down next to me, hugged me and let me cry for a couple of minutes, then pulled away from me.

  I need to get you something for your face, she told me. Wait here.

  A moment later she was back with the box we used as a first aid kit. She got some wet cotton wool and dabbed at my cheekbone, and it was only when a searing pain shot through me that I realised it was more than just a scratch. I got up to check it in the bathroom mirror before she could stop me: a large patch of the right side of my face was grazed, scarlet drops of blood oozing out from the dozens of thin scratches in my skin. There was going to be no way of hiding it, and I dreaded to think how much it was going to hurt when the booze wore off.

  I went back through to the living room and threw myself down on the sofa, wincing as Anna tried to clean it and apply antiseptic cream.

  Stop squirming. You don’t want it to get infected.

  She was right, so I forced myself to sit still until she’d finished.

  Right, tell me what happened, she instructed.

  Anna, please, can I just go to bed?

  No, you need more fluid in you first, or you’re going to have the mother of all hangovers. And you might as well tell me what happened first, because you’re going to need to repeat it for the police report.

  It hadn’t even occurred to me to call the police. I was so busy blaming myself for getting involved with Lukas’s case and thinking it served me right that someone had done this to me, I didn’t think it was something I should report. If I reported it, though, I’d probably have to tell them what Sasha and I had been doing. Rav would be furious if he found out I’d put myself in danger. With how shit the last week of my life had been, having him mad at me too would probably be about par for the course. I knew there was no way Anna would accept me saying I wasn’t going to report it, however, so I just let her comment pass without replying.

  She went to the kitchen and got me a pint of water, and I obediently drank half of it before putting it down on the coffee table.

  Come on, she signed, watching me carefully. Tell me what’s been going on.

  After considering for a moment how much I should tell her, I gave her a very brief summary of Lukas’s case – that he’d been charged with a crime Sasha didn’t think he’d committed, and that she and I had been talking to a few people to try and find any witnesses who might be able to tell the police what had really happened. I made it clear that Sasha was the one spearheading it, and that she had a lot more faith in the theory than I did.

  So who was the man that attacked you? she asked.

  I grimaced. I expect he works for the guy Lukas owes money to. I spoke to him yesterday, so maybe he’s warning me off.

  Is he a viable suspect? Her eyes lit up with interest, and I shook my head.

  I don’t know, but that’s not the important thing.

  Of course it is, she replied. Come on, tell me who your suspects are and what you’ve got on each of them so far. I can help you organise everything. Then maybe you can figure out exactly who this guy was, for when you report him.

  No, Anna, I told her firmly. I’m doing this to help Sasha support one of her clients. I’m not going to get you involved.

  She rolled her eyes. It’s a bit late for that, Paige. If you’re going to be looking into the sorts of people who loiter outside your front door and attack you in the middle of the night, you need as much help as you can get.

  I knew she was trying to protect me just as much as fulfil her curiosity about the case, but I didn’t let her argument sway me.

  No. Honestly, we’ll be passing it all over to the police soon anyway. We’re seeing Forest about it tomorrow.

  Anna was slightly appeased by the mention of the DI, but I could tell she was still annoyed with me for not including her. As she forced me to drink another glass of water, I couldn’t help but wonder if we were already out of our depth, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to give up on this until Sasha knew exactly what had happened to Nadia.

  Two hours before the fire

  Mariusz crept down the stairs with his shoes in his hand and his rucksack already on his back. His mum was in the living room watching some crap on the TV, so he hoped she wouldn’t notice he’d gone. She never checked on him much these days anyway. He’d left his music playing, so she probably wouldn’t even bother looking in before she went to bed.

  They’d told him to meet them later, but he wanted to get out of the house already. Unchaining his bike from the fence at the side of the house, he hopped on it and rode up the road. He cycled around the streets aimlessly for a little while, not wanting to go anywhere in particular, but enjoying the freedom of being out on his own. The group of friends he’d made recently would be waiting for him soon, but he was near his dad’s house and decided to go past.

  As he slowed down, he saw a car parked at the end of the road that looked familiar. There was no one inside, so he carried on past, glancing back a couple of times. He knew he’d seen that car before, and he was sure who it belonged to. What was it doing outside his dad’s and Nadia’s house? Mariusz didn’t like it. He looped round a couple of times, but nobody returned to the car.

  Checking his watch, he knew he needed to go and meet his friends soon, but he made a mental note to tell his dad about it later. In recent weeks he’d been feeling pretty defensive of his dad, and he didn’t want to find out someone was taking advantage of him.

  Chapter 23

  Monday 22nd April

  There was a dull ache in my head when I finally opened my eyes the following morning, but it was nothing compared to the burning pain in the side of my face. I took a gulp of water from the glass on my bedside table then dragged myself out of bed, squinting in the bright morning sunlight filtering through my curtains. A glance in the mirror told me there was going to be no hiding my wounds from the attack, so I’d better come up with a decent cover story. Would people believe I’d fallen and landed on my face? It was possible, I decided, especially if I took the self-deprecating route and suggested that I’d had a bit too much to drink.

  Sasha
and I had a busy day ahead, so I was going to have to grin and bear it. I hoped that we would only see Forest when we were in the police station, though, and not any of the other officers. She probably wouldn’t even be that bothered about the mark on my face.

  Sasha was surprised to find me a bit more keen to help her than she did yesterday: far from warning me off, the events of the previous evening had spurred me on further to find out what had happened the night of the fire. After all, if we were completely missing the mark, why would someone feel the need to threaten me? No, I had obviously hit a nerve somewhere, so I needed to push and find out where.

  Sasha had a couple of client meetings that morning, and she’d managed to get an appointment with Forest around lunchtime, so I was kept occupied driving to different parts of Scunthorpe and interpreting while we were there. One of them was a woman who could sometimes be aggressive, but I think she sensed something was wrong this morning and was unusually compliant. Sasha certainly didn’t complain, though I could see her giving me sideways looks a couple of times. I had told her the truth about how I grazed my face, and I could tell she was wondering how I felt about being threatened by someone related to Lukas’s case. She knew I’d talk about it if I wanted to, and right now I didn’t.

  My phone had stayed resolutely silent all night, and I found myself wishing for a message – not from Max, but from Singh. This longing to connect with him surprised me slightly, but of all the people I felt I could rely on at the moment he was the one I really wanted to talk to. Should I tell him that I’d split up with Max? But if I started down that path and found that he wasn’t interested in me, then I didn’t know if I could take it.

  After we left the second meeting, Sasha looked at me searchingly. Fancy going for a coffee? she asked.

  Sure, I replied, because agreeing was the easiest course of action. We found a little coffee shop with a couple of tables outside and I ordered for the two of us, wondering what Sasha wanted to talk about.

  Do you want to talk about last night? she asked me once we both had our drinks.

  I shook my head, taking a sip. She nodded.

  Okay then. But I’m here for you, if you need anything. I feel bad that I’ve put you in this position, she signed, indicating the graze on my face.

  I nodded, unsure of what to say, but before I had a chance to think, Sasha had moved on.

  Anyway, I’ve been thinking about Lukas, she began. I tried not to feel annoyed that she’d changed the subject so quickly. I wondered if we should mention Nadia being accused of stealing when we see Forest this afternoon. Maybe it’s not something they’ve been looking into.

  Okay. I nodded my assent. If I knew DI Forest, she wouldn’t let us know much about her investigation, but it was worth a try, though I wondered why Sasha had suddenly switched her focus to the thefts. The attack the previous evening had lifted Roy to the top of my suspect list, and I didn’t think much could move him off the top spot. I was surprised that Sasha didn’t feel the same, but her lack of sympathy about what had happened to me kept me from saying anything about it.

  Even though Lukas was Sasha’s client, and I hadn’t had much contact with him before this, I now felt a strong desire to help him. When I’d interpreted for him at his addiction support meetings he’d always been both polite and friendly, trying to charm me with compliments and witty stories. Now, though, he had begun to remind me of my dad, and the times when he would just let something slide because it was easier than trying to make his point understood when the communication barrier became too much.

  Despite the fact that Lukas’s situation was far more serious than anything my dad had experienced, there was still something about his attitude that reminded me of the way my dad had been, that resignation to being misunderstood because you couldn’t communicate well enough with the other person. There was obviously something else going on, though. Even if he felt like his life wasn’t worth anything without Nadia, that wasn’t a good reason to go to jail for someone else’s crime. He had a son, for one, and I knew he’d talked to Sasha in the past about wanting to be a good role model for Mariusz. Something wasn’t right, and I realised that for the first time since Lukas was arrested I didn’t completely trust Singh to get to the bottom of it, because he was limited by his unfamiliarity with the Deaf community and how Lukas could be feeling, as well as by Forest.

  Right, we’d better get moving, Sasha signed, pulling me out of my thoughts. She screwed up the paper cup from her coffee and put it in the bin. Miriam gets stroppy if I’m late.

  I smiled. Miriam was one of Sasha’s favourite clients, even if she would never admit to it. They both enjoyed Sasha’s regular visits, whatever either of them might say, and however much they might grumble about each other. Miriam was a model client – she always kept her appointments, called Sasha if she needed help with something but didn’t monopolise her time, and was always receptive to whatever Sasha suggested. She had learning difficulties that impacted on her ability to look after herself, and she lived in an assisted living facility in the middle of Scunthorpe.

  When we arrived, Miriam made a show of checking her watch, but she was clearly pleased to see us. The meeting itself was uneventful, but her cheerfulness helped to take my mind off the dull ache coming from the graze on my face, and thinking about whoever it was who had attacked me.

  The time for us to leave seemed to come round quite quickly even though we had been with Miriam for over an hour, and we were crossing the lobby when Sasha’s phone rang.

  I need to take this, she signed, indicating that she was going to step outside for some privacy. Before I went out to my car, someone else came into the lobby, walking in the direction of the outer door, and I paused to watch her. Her uniform looked familiar, and I realised that she worked for the same care agency as Nadia.

  ‘Excuse me?’

  She stopped and turned to look at me, with a half-smile that suggested she didn’t want to be rude, but she also wasn’t in the mood to talk to strangers.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I continued, ‘but I just noticed your uniform. Did you know Nadia? Nadia Nowak?’

  The woman’s face softened and she nodded. ‘I did. Horrible, what happened to her.’

  ‘I know, I can’t believe it myself,’ I replied, hoping she would stay and talk to me for a moment. ‘I know her husband, Lukas,’ I explained, but didn’t give her any further information. People were often reluctant to talk to anyone connected to social services and I’d learnt my lesson from the other day with the people hanging around outside the scene of the second fire.

  The woman’s face darkened slightly, and I knew she’d heard that Lukas was in prison for Nadia’s murder. Would she still want to talk to me?

  ‘It’s awful. They say he killed her. I can’t believe it myself – they always seemed so much in love. But then you never know what’s going on behind closed doors, do you?’

  I shook my head and took a step closer to her, willing her not to leave before I could ask her a couple of questions. ‘No, you don’t. But the police will be looking into it.’

  She made a noise that sounded like ‘huh’.

  ‘I heard Nadia had some trouble at work, a little while ago,’ I said. ‘Did they ever get to the bottom of it?’

  ‘Oh, the thing with the thefts?’ She waved a hand dismissively. ‘That was nothing. It was all a misunderstanding. The old woman hadn’t lost anything after all; she just didn’t know where anything was.’

  ‘That’s a relief,’ I replied, deciding to follow her lead in order to keep her talking. ‘I didn’t think she was the type of person to steal anything.’

  ‘No, not Nadia. She was lovely, and she was always great to work with. Some of the others, they don’t do their share, and if you’re paired up then you know you’re going to have a hard day of it while they fanny about and leave the crap jobs to you. But not Nadia – you could rely on her to work hard. I always liked working with her.’

  The woman had leant back against the
wall, and I could see the sadness in her eyes as she talked about Nadia.

  ‘I’m glad she had friends at work,’ I replied with a smile. ‘That makes all the difference.’

  She nodded, and I thought she was going to say something else, but then she closed her mouth. I wanted to push her a bit more about these theft rumours – I was sure Paul had mentioned there being more than one accusation.

  ‘What happened about those other thefts, then?’ I asked. ‘It all seemed a bit strange, coming after the one where she was accused.’

  A dark look crossed the woman’s face, and she looked out of the door as if she was checking that nobody else was coming into the building. When she looked back at me, she leant forward slightly and kept her voice low.

  ‘That wasn’t Nadia. They weren’t even proper thefts. Everything turned up eventually, after a week or two.’

  I frowned. ‘What do you mean, weren’t proper thefts?’

  ‘I mean nothing was actually taken. All of the people who made complaints were convinced something had gone missing, when it hadn’t.’

  ‘Really?’ I tried not to sound too excited by this revelation, but it sounded like something I wanted to know.

  She nodded. ‘And I’m pretty sure I know who it was. But Paul, the boss, won’t listen to rumours; gets really cross if we go to him with petty stories, and I can’t prove it. But she looked pretty smug when the rotas all got changed. She knew it was because of these alleged thefts, and them thinking it was Nadia, although I think she really hoped Nadia was going to lose her job.’

  ‘Who was it?’ I asked, trying to sound casual.

  ‘Caroline Nowak, Lukas’s ex. He and Nadia met through Caroline’s work, and that’s always pissed her off. I don’t know why she suddenly decided to try and mess up Nadia’s life now, but I’d swear it was her.’

  I stood looking at her for a moment, before I realised my mouth was open, and swiftly shut it. She must have noticed my shock, because she nodded.