When Night Closes in Read online

Lowri shook her head. ‘If you’re hoping to trap me into admitting something unlawful, forget it!’ She did not wait for an answer. ‘You should realize by now that it’s no good asking me about Jon. He lied through his teeth all the time we were together.’

  ‘All right, let’s get back to Sally. Did she have any reason to disappear?’

  Lowri felt as if cold water had been thrown over her. Lainey’s tone had become formal, almost cold. She watched as he lit a cigarette.

  ‘I don’t know. I didn’t know you smoked, either.’

  ‘I’d given up,’ Lainey said.

  They sat in silence for a time and Lowri swallowed hard. ‘Could Timmy have anything to do with this?’ she asked. ‘I think he was quite possessive with Sally.’ She stopped speaking as a woman police constable came into the room and placed a cup of tea in front of her.

  ‘Thank you,’ Lowri said, her heart sinking. It seemed she was going to be questioned for some time.

  ‘Possessiveness isn’t unusual,’ Lainey said smoothly. He was silent for a few moments and then he met her eye. ‘Do you know Sally’s father? She lived with him, I understand?’

  ‘Of course, Mr White wasn’t at the house either, that’s odd.’ She paused. ‘I’ve met Sally’s father once or twice but I can’t say I know him. Why? Surely you don’t suspect him?’

  ‘No.’ Lainey smiled. ‘Mr White is away, visiting his sister in Birmingham, we’ve checked.’ His smile vanished. ‘The poor man is out of his mind with worry, he’s coming back home on the first train.’

  ‘I don’t know what’s happening lately – I seem to attract trouble.’

  ‘Lowri, you were mixed up with a villain, what do you expect? Jon Brandon was a crook and you were a fool, get that fact into your head, once and for all.’ Lainey sounded angry.

  Lowri’s voice was low. ‘I thought I knew him, I was stupid enough to think I was going to marry him when all along I didn’t know him at all. I feel enough of a fool without you rubbing it in.’

  He rose to his feet. ‘I’ll get someone to take you home.’ Lowri put down her tea and as Lainey walked past her, she resisted the temptation to catch his hand.

  ‘I’m frightened, Jim,’ she said quietly. ‘I don’t even know what I’m frightened of but the world seems to be going haywire.’

  He rubbed his hand through his hair and paused. ‘I can’t authorize police protection. I don’t think you are in any danger.’

  ‘Because you think I’m hand in glove with Jon, is that it?’

  Lainey shrugged. ‘I’ll drive by your place a few times through the night just to check.’

  ‘Jim, why are you so good to me?’ Lowri thought, for one magical moment, that he was going to say something kind, something thrilling about how attractive he found her. When he spoke, her hopes were dashed.

  ‘Just doing my duty.’ He left the room and Lowri felt like a schoolgirl who had received a lecture from the head teacher. She stood up, ignoring the quickly cooling tea.

  ‘Come this way, Miss Richards.’ It was Ken Major who led her out into the yard. ‘What on earth can have happened to Sally?’ he said when they were outside. ‘I can see you don’t know anything about it. Look, try not to take any of this personally,’ he rested his hand on her arm, ‘it’s just that you were there at the house. It was inevitable you had to be questioned. Try not to worry.’

  ‘Thanks, Ken.’

  ‘I’d better get back.’

  ‘Sure.’ Lowri shivered as he strode back into the building. She suddenly felt lonely. She looked back once at the police building but only blank, empty windows stared down at her. Blank, like her life. She was jinxed and she was a failure. Once this business was over she would get her life by the scruff of the neck and change it. Perhaps she would even go back to college and complete her course.

  Once in her house, Lowri curled up on her bed and brooded on the events of the night. What had happened to Sally? Poor Sally, so flighty, so vain. So involved?

  She had a quick shower, enjoying the feel of the hot water on her skin. She was weary to the bone and worried sick. Something bad must have happened to Sally; the house had been deserted like the Mary Celeste, everything still in place but no-one there.

  Lowri locked up carefully and was just about to go to bed when the phone rang. She picked it up, half fearful of what she would hear. She sighed in relief as Ken Major’s voice echoed across the line.

  ‘Lowri, can I come and see you?’

  ‘What, now?’

  ‘Yes, it’s important.’

  She glanced at the clock: it was after midnight. She wondered briefly if Lainey would be driving past just as Ken drew up outside, it would be just her luck. He thought her a tramp as it was.

  ‘Please, Lowri, I need to see you.’

  ‘All right. But for heaven’s sake, be discreet, don’t go flashing your car lights all over the road or my reputation will be well and truly in the gutter.’

  She busied herself in the kitchen, filling the kettle, putting out clean mugs. As an afterthought, she brought out a packet of biscuits. Ken was probably still on duty, he would need something to sustain him through the long hours of the night.

  He arrived a few minutes later. He sank down onto the sofa, his eyes closed. He was silent for so long that she thought he had fallen asleep. She waited, wondering what to say, but at last he looked up at her.

  ‘It’s about Matthew.’ He took a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and held it out to her. Lowri shook her head and waited while he sparked a light and took a deep drag, blowing out smoke in a great gust.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘I think he knows something, about Sally I mean.’ He looked at the glowing tip of the cigarette. ‘He wasn’t at the station when your call came in and he should have been. When I saw him later he seemed . . . well . . . strange.’

  ‘Why strange, he could have been out on a call, couldn’t he?’

  ‘Yes, but there was nothing in the book about any call.’ He bent his head, fiddling with his lighter.

  Lowri frowned. ‘Go on, what else?’

  ‘Nothing, I wish there was more but there isn’t. Should I mention it to Lainey, do you think?’

  ‘I don’t know what you should do, Ken.’

  ‘Have you got a beer?’

  ‘No but I can make a cup of tea if you like.’

  He shook his head. ‘No, don’t go to any trouble.’

  ‘It’s no trouble, don’t be silly.’ She made the tea and put the cups on a tray. This was getting complicated. Matthew did not seem the sort of man who would get involved in anything underhand. But then, Sally could be very persuasive.

  She brought the tea and Ken took a cup. Lowri noticed his hands were shaking. ‘Ken, have you told me everything?’

  ‘I don’t know if I should say this, Lowri.’

  ‘Go on, you might as well tell me what’s on your mind.’

  ‘I heard Matthew arguing with Sally on the phone, he sounded angry, vicious even.’ He looked up. ‘Would he harm her, do you think? Women are more sensitive about that sort of thing.’

  ‘I don’t know, I’ve only met the guy a few times.’ Suddenly she felt uneasy. Did Ken have an ulterior motive in coming to visit at such a late hour? She no longer knew whom to trust, whom to believe. Men, they were enough to drive a woman mad.

  ‘Drink up!’ She heard the edginess in her tone, the sooner Ken left the better. ‘Look, go on back to the station, we’ll talk again tomorrow. I’ve got to get some sleep, I’m shattered.’

  ‘I suppose I’d better be getting back.’ Ken put down his cup and got to his feet. ‘Thanks for listening, anyway.’ He rested his hand on her shoulder. ‘I expect I’m making a mountain out of a molehill.’

  Lowri saw him to the door and watched as he walked away. Thankfully, he had parked his car out of sight. Lowri looked along the road: there was no sign of Lainey’s car. She went inside and closed and bolted the door but she was restless now, sleep was out of the question. S
he walked about the house trying to sort out her thoughts. Jon had disappeared and so had Sally. Was there a connection? Maybe, then again, maybe not.

  ‘The whole thing is one long nightmare, Lowri.’ Her voice echoed loudly in the silence. She thought of Sally: she was silly and vain, she knew more than she ever let on about Jon Brandon but she had never meant anyone any harm, Lowri would stake her life on it.

  She made herself a drink of hot milk and climbed into bed. She stared at the wall, reluctant to put out the light. She was overtired, she had been under stress and now the nightmares would come to haunt her, she just knew it. When she tried to sleep, the bed seemed full of lumps, the pillow made of concrete and she lay wide-eyed until the dawn light began to creep in through the window.

  She slept then, but for only an hour. The nightmare did not materialize. Instead, her dreams were of Lainey, of him holding her, kissing her, making love to her. When she woke there were tears on her pillow. Lainey was a good man and she, well, she was nothing more to him than another foolish woman who had put her trust in the wrong man.

  15

  Lainey looked at the young man sitting before him in the interview room and decided he was extremely composed for someone who had just been told his girlfriend was missing. He was silent, wondering if Timothy Perkins was a violent man, a man on a short fuse. Was he capable of murder, even? Lainey knew that most murders were committed by someone close to the victim. In a case like this where there was a person missing in suspicious circumstances, every eventuality had to be covered.

  Lainey tapped his pen on the desk. ‘So you didn’t see Miss White that night, then?’

  The young man shook his head. ‘No, I didn’t. She had planned to go out with Lowri Richards, her friend from work.’

  ‘But you admit that you quarrelled earlier that evening.’ The man could not deny it; he had been overheard by a nosy neighbour, shouting abuse at Sally and slamming the door of her house behind him as he left.

  ‘I asked her to come out with me but she said no. I was angry, I admit it. Haven’t I said so half a dozen times?’ Timothy’s tone was patronizing; it was clear he saw Lainey as a stereotypical Mr Plod. ‘I have agreed that we quarrelled but I never laid a finger on her.’

  ‘So what were your movements yesterday? The police were alerted of a missing person at about 8.20: what were you doing then?’

  ‘I was swotting for my exams.’ Timothy looked up at the ceiling. ‘Got a fag?

  Lainey ignored that. ‘On your own?’

  ‘Of course on my own! One can hardly study with a girl hanging around the place.’

  The man was a pain in the arse, bigoted, conceited in the extreme, but looking at his long fingers and rather effete hands, Lainey doubted Timothy had the energy or even the strength to abduct Sally.

  ‘All right, you can go.’ Lainey rose to his feet. With deliberate slowness Timothy gathered his possessions, some books and a small plastic bottle containing spring water, and sauntered to the door.

  ‘I hope you solve the crime, Inspector,’ he glanced back at Lainey, ‘but perhaps that’s a distant hope, given the track record of our police.’

  Lainey resisted the urge to swear. ‘Who mentioned any crime? Don’t get too cocky, Mr Perkins, otherwise you might find yourself cooling your heels in a cell.’

  ‘In which case, you would be sued for wrongful arrest.’ He smiled. ‘I am studying law as well as IT, didn’t you know?’

  ‘Get out!’

  Lainey watched as Timothy closed the door with a click that smacked of defiance. He would have liked to kick the young snob, jumped-up little bastard!

  Lainey walked back from the interview room towards his office and thought about Lowri Richards. He seemed to be thinking about her a great deal these days. But then she was a suspect, though for what crime Lainey could not be sure. She also had beautiful eyes and splendid legs.

  Lowri seemed to be the central cog of the complicated wheel that had been spinning ever since Brandon’s disappearance. In his office Lainey drew a piece of paper towards him and picked up a pen. He stared down at his hands, his thoughts once again turning to Lowri. She was getting to him in a big way and it just would not do.

  He doodled on a piece of paper, writing down the names of people who were associated with Brandon. Lowri, of course, Sarah the wife, Sally, just maybe, and, if Sally, Timothy Perkins as well. He stared at the paper. Some sort of pattern should be emerging but for the life of him, he could not see it.

  It seemed that each and every one of them was good at playing games. Was Lowri really the innocent she appeared to be? Perhaps it was about time he began thinking with his brain instead of his groin.

  Lainey lifted the phone and asked the switchboard to put him through to Watson Jones and Fry. When the line crackled into life, he spoke briskly, asking for Lowri Richards. The receptionist’s voice bristled back at him.

  ‘Is this a personal call?’

  ‘No, it’s a police matter,’ he replied crisply. The line seemed to go dead but after a few minutes Lowri’s voice reached out to touch him.

  ‘Mr Lainey?’

  ‘I have to speak to you again. Can you come down to the station?’

  ‘What, now?’

  ‘Yes. Right now.’

  He replaced the receiver and wondered why, suddenly, the room seemed brighter, the sun through the windows sharper. He sat behind his desk and tried to concentrate on the questions he must ask Lowri but her face, the lift of her mouth, the soft fall of her hair, all of these things got in the way of logical thought. So he abandoned any pretence of work and indulged himself in a mental picture of Lowri Richards smiling up at him.

  ‘It’s very inconvenient, you know.’ The new receptionist was no friendlier than she had been on her first day. ‘I’m sorry your friend has gone missing but you are leaving me in a difficult situation.’ Mrs Jenkins was bending over her computer, having stripped its innards. She seemed to know what she was doing as she slipped some chips into place. She glanced up and caught Lowri’s look.

  ‘I’m upgrading the RAM,’ she said, ‘Thirty-two megs just isn’t enough. In any case, I like working with the guts of the thing, I think I should have been a technician.’ She sighed. ‘Now I’ll just have to leave all this to do your work – it really is too bad.’

  ‘Sorry about that.’ Lowri was not sorry at all. She was happy to be getting out of the office, happy, if she was honest, that she would be seeing Lainey. She picked up her bag and shook her head. Her hair curled against her face, sleek and soft. It was rather a good feeling and Lowri wondered why she had ever thought that short hair suited her.

  She was changing her looks and her life, determined to make a new start as soon as possible. Sally would have said ‘new man new hairstyle’ but Sally was no longer here.

  She paused beside the receptionist, who was sliding the tower casing back into place. ‘You are so good at operating the damn thing, it would be a pity if you confined yourself to just servicing the PC.’ It was no idle compliment: the woman seemed to know more about the workings of a computer than anyone else Lowri knew. So why was she working in a solicitors’ office, hidden away in a small place like Jersey Marine? Was she genuine?

  ‘Flattery won’t get you anywhere.’ Mrs Jenkins really was a miserable sod, Lowri thought.

  ‘I could hardly refuse to see the police, could I?’ She knew she sounded defensive. The receptionist just shrugged, not even bothering to look up.

  The telephone rang and Mrs Jenkins picked up the receiver at once. ‘Yes, of course, sir,’ she said. She still did not look in Lowri’s direction.

  ‘Mr Watson wants to see you.’

  Lowri crossed the small reception area towards Mr Watson’s office. She knocked on the door and he called to her to come in.

  ‘I’m sorry I have to go out,’ she said but Mr Watson waved her to a chair.

  ‘No need to apologize, my dear. What’s wrong now, why do the police want to see you again?’

/>   She shook her head. ‘I don’t know, perhaps they think I’m mixed up in Sally’s disappearance. It is very odd, Sally leaving the house open to all and sundry.’ She glanced up. ‘Don’t you think it’s odd?’

  ‘Perhaps.’ He was the typical cautious solicitor. ‘What has this got to do with you?’

  ‘I went to pick her up, we were going out for the evening.’ She bit her lip. ‘The house was deserted.’

  ‘Lowri.’ Mr Watson leaned forward and his leather chair creaked. ‘If there’s anything you want to tell me, if you are involved in anything – well – shady, I can help, you can trust me.’

  ‘I know I can trust you.’ Lowri made an effort to smile. ‘You are one of the few people I do trust.’ She sighed. ‘I don’t know anything, I promise you.’ She shook her head tiredly. ‘I think I’m beginning to get my life together and then something else goes wrong. Why am I always on the spot when it does?’

  ‘Look, perhaps you should have a short holiday, my dear,’ Mr Watson said. ‘You could go home or if that doesn’t appeal I’ve got a nice little cottage in the country.’ He meant to be kind but Lowri shook her head.

  ‘The police wouldn’t, like that one bit.’ She regarded him steadily. ‘Don’t you mind about all this? Not just me having to take time off to see the police but all of it, the whole sorry mess I seem to have got myself into?’

  ‘Lowri, my regard for you,’ he paused, ‘and for your family, is unconditional, of course I don’t mind. I only wish I could do more to help.’

  Lowri resisted the urge to hug him. He was much more fatherly than her own father had ever been. He smiled and his blue eyes shone behind the glasses perched on the end of his nose.

  ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?’ He looked at her, his expression gentle. ‘To the police station, I mean.’

  Lowri returned his smile. ‘How would that look, me turning up with a senior solicitor? Lainey would think I had something to hide.’

  ‘Lainey?’

  ‘Detective Inspector Lainey, you know, I told you that he’s the one in charge of the case.’

  ‘And you trust him?’