Page 43 of Now Comes the Dark

“Police,” a voice called.

There were four uniformed officers on the doorstep. One of them came inside and spoke kindly to them. Roman struggled to focus on what he said, and the officer had to repeat himself twice.

“CID and the forensics team are en route,” the officer said a second time. “My colleagues are going to secure the scene outside. What time is the bar due to open?”

Roman looked at Kat. She had stopped crying, but her eyes were raw, her face red and blotchy. “Soon,” she sniffed and looked at her watch. “Ten minutes.”

“Thank you,” the officer said. “My colleagues will take care of that. In the meantime, I need one of you to show me the crime scene.”

Kat gasped. Her hand flew to her mouth. “I can’t go up there again.”

“I’ll show you,” Roman told the officer, who looked even younger than he was. He wondered how he could be so calm in the face of such a devastating discovery. Roman led him to the upper landing. “He’s in the room at the end. I can’t go back in there,” he said.

“Stay here,” the young officer said. “I just need to make sure there’s nothing we can do for him.”

It took less than a minute for him to inspect the room. Roman heard him say something into his radio before coming back along the landing. “We can wait downstairs,” the police officer said.

What came next was a confusing blur of activity. The policeman, Officer Burrows, took statements from Roman and Kat while a succession of teams arrived, in plain clothes, uniforms and forensic overalls. Other than Burrows, Roman had no idea who any of them were. Roman felt useless. He hadn’t seen Phil since Friday night when he’d offered him the job, and there was little he could add to his statement.

He asked Kat if there had been any trouble the night before, whether there been any disgruntled customers? Did Phil have cause to throw anyone out? Was he in a relationship? Did he have any visitors?

Sometime later, Roman and Kat were still sitting in the bar when a familiar face walked through the door. Benito Copploa, his hook-up of a few weeks earlier who had turned out to be a police office on the Blyham Strangler case. Benito came into the pub and spoke to one of the PCs at the door, before looking over to Roman and Kat. He nodded and approached.

Roman got up to meet him.

Benito wore a charcoal three-piece suit with a blue shirt, pink tie and black, highly polished shoes. The suit looked sharp on his muscular frame. The last time Roman saw him at the town hall meeting, he’d been pissed off to discover he was a secret police officer, but now he was grateful to see a reassuring face.

“How are you doing?” Benito asked.

Roman shrugged. “I don’t even know. Shocked. Numb. It hasn’t sunk it.”

Benito’s expression was full of sympathy. It struck Roman how incredibly handsome he was with his classic Italian good looks, and he rebuked himself for thinking about such a thing at a time like this. “Are you part of the investigation team? Into the Blyham Strangler?”

Benito winced. “I’d rather we didn’t call him names like that, but yes, I’m on the major incident team for his case.”

It struck him that Phil would have been furious with Benito. He had little time for the police anyway, let alone a gay officer who had failed to stop so many unnecessary deaths. But Roman didn’t have it in him to be angry. Maybe later he would feel that way, but for now a deep sense of sadness made it impossible for any other emotion to break through.

“Don’t you have any leads?”

“We’ll need to conduct a thorough investigation here,” Benito said. “Interview everyone who came in last night, check out the CCTV footage from the pub and the venues close by. How well did you know Mr Logan?”

“Not well enough,” Roman said despondently. “I didn’t even know that was his surname until this morning. But he’s always been good to me, always supportive. That’s the kind of man he was. He offered me a job when I needed it.”

“Might someone have taken advantage of his good nature, used it as a means of getting closer to him?”

“I don’t know. It’s possible, I suppose, but I’m not sure how easily he would have fallen for anybody insincere. Phil had a highly attuned bullshit detector. He was no walkover. He was pretty clued in about people.”

Benito nodded. “That’s helpful. Thanks.” His brown eyes connected with Roman’s. They lingered a moment longer than necessary. “Do you still have my number?”

Roman flinched. “Sorry. I er…don’t.”

Benito opened his wallet and handed him a card. “It’s all on there. Give me a call if you think of anything else that might be useful.” He paused for a moment. “I’d love to hear from you.”

Roman pocketed the card without looking at it. He couldn’t decide if Benito was being friendly or a creep. Either way, the direction their conversation had taken made him uncomfortable. “I don’t think there anything I can add to the statement I’ve already given. I’m only here today for a work trial. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have been here at all.”

And Kat would have found Phil’s body by herself. If there was any solace to be taken from this morning, it would have to be that.

* * * *

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