Page 22 of Too Busy for Love

Jock looks at me. ‘Wait,’ I whisper. Now I’m here, I can’t stomach the idea of going away for half an hour. What would we do? Sitting quietly in a chair is probably the best thing for me right now.

‘Fine,’ the custody officer says. ‘Take a seat and I’ll let them know you’re here.’

By ten fifteen, I’m in total meltdown and wondering if this is some kind of mad power game they like to play. Make you wait longer, just to soften you up before they deliver the fatal blow. It’s working; I’d probably be prepared to confess to pretty much anything, just to end the waiting. I’m sure the clock has been running deliberately slowly, as this is by far the longest forty-five minutes of my life. At one point, my teeth started chattering and Jock took my hand in his in an attempt to reassure me. I’ve been hanging on to it like grim death ever since, even though both our hands are sweaty and it’s not actually that pleasant a sensation.

At twenty-five past, the door finally opens and DS Hollis appears, along with another detective I don’t recognise.

‘Beatrice, you’re with me,’ he announces. ‘Andrew, I think you know my colleague DS Harvey.’

‘Good luck,’ Jock murmurs to me, planting a kiss on my forehead as he lets go of my hand and gets to his feet. It takes all my willpower to force my legs into action and get out of the seat,and I follow DS Hollis unsteadily to the same interview room I was in last week.

‘Take a seat,’ DS Hollis instructs, holding the door open. ‘We’ll be with you in just a minute.’

The click of the door closing and the lock engaging sound so final that, before I know it, the tears are pouring down my cheeks. This is it, the beginning of my incarceration, I just know it. I may be innocent, but that doesn’t mean anything in here. You hear about people who serve years and years before they manage to clear their name, and they made it very obvious that they didn’t believe a word of my story last time I was here. This whole week has just been a cruel game, I realise. It’s like when a cat catches a mouse. It lets the mouse think it’s escaped before pouncing again and again until the mouse is dead. That’s what the police have done to me, and I almost wish they’d kept me in custody rather than let me hope like I have been. I’m full-on sobbing now, and I can feel a river of snot running onto my top lip.

‘Sorry to keep you,’ DI Winter says as she and DS Hollis re-enter the room. ‘You have no idea how much paperwork we have to fill in. Goodness, are you all right?’

‘Sorry,’ I sniff.

‘DS Hollis, fetch a box of tissues, will you?’ DI Winter instructs. ‘And some sweet tea.’

‘It’s fine,’ I tell her. ‘Let’s just get this over with.’

‘Are you sure?’

Her kindness doesn’t fool me. What’s the point of tea and tissues now, when the van is probably already outside, waiting to take me to prison?

‘Yes,’ I tell her.

‘Fine.’ She plonks a large file stuffed with papers onto the table between us, and she and DS Hollis sit down opposite me.

‘So, the good news is that we have concluded our investigations, as far as you are concerned anyway. We have consulted with the Crown Prosecution Service, and they agree that there aren’t sufficient grounds to formally charge you with an offence.’

‘I’m sorry? What does that mean?’

‘It means we won’t be taking this any further and you’re free to go. Do you have any questions?’

I can’t make sense of this at all. I was so convinced that I was going to prison that my mind just doesn’t seem to be able to comprehend the fact that I’m not.

‘How? Last week, you said you didn’t believe me.’

‘You’re right. There were a number of aspects of your story that didn’t make sense in isolation. However, when we combine it with the other evidence we’ve gathered, it actually checks out.’

‘What other evidence?’

‘I’m afraid that’s confidential. What I can tell you is that we’ve learned that you were deliberately kept in the dark. It was important that the hotel appeared respectable, on the surface at least. That’s what your role was.’

‘Did Madame tell you that?’

‘Eileen?’ DS Hollis laughs. ‘She may be a slip of a thing, but she’s tough as nails, that one. She’s not giving anything away.’

‘Thank you, DS Hollis.’ DI Winter’s tone is disapproving and I briefly wonder if she has to tell him off a lot.

‘So Madame – Eileen – is she going to prison?’

‘That will depend on whether we put forward enough evidence for a jury to convict her. Is there anything pertinent to your own case that you’d like to know before you leave?’

‘Can I have my phone back?’

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