A Lesser Evil - Lesley Pearse [85]
All at once she was blurting it out in one long flood of words, crying at the same time. They were gentle with her: Roper even took her hand and patted it, telling her that she was doing just fine, while the younger man made her tea.
After Fifi had drunk it, Roper went back over what she’d told them, getting her to explain how and why she went into the Muckles’ house in the first place. His voice was calm and soothing as he asked her questions, and Wallis took notes.
As Fifi told them about seeing the Muckles leaving at nine that morning, and what she’d overheard, the noise level from the street was growing. She could identify some of the voices, sharp and questioning, perhaps wanting to know why the police were in with Fifi.
‘I shouldn’t have gone in there. I should have called you,’ Fifi said, breaking down again. ‘I wish to God I’d never seen it.’
‘But we couldn’t have gone in there straight away without any evidence of a crime,’ Roper said evenly. ‘What you did was perhaps foolhardy, but none the less brave. You have at least prevented the little girl’s death being concealed.’
‘What would he have done with her body?’ Fifi asked, then shuddered at the possibilities that brought into her mind.
Fifi knew the moment Dan turned into the street as the voices outside grew louder still and she heard people running down the road.
‘Do they know what’s happened?’ Fifi asked fearfully. ‘If that’s my husband they are running to, what will they tell him?’
‘They know that Angela Muckle is dead and they’ve probably guessed that you found her,’ Roper said. He looked hot, running his finger around the collar of his shirt as if he longed to unbutton it. ‘We won’t be telling anyone anything else, and we have to ask that you don’t discuss anything that you saw with anyone, as it might prejudice our investigation.’
Even beneath the grime from the building site, Dan looked pale and apprehensive as he came up the stairs. Fifi ran into his arms crying and he held her tightly, looking at the two police officers for an explanation.
Roper told him the gist of it, then said they would have to leave now to continue with their investigation. ‘Obviously your wife will need to talk to you about it,’ he said, looking sternly at Dan. ‘But I have to ask that you keep it between yourselves. Until we have made an arrest, and all the evidence has been examined, it is imperative that no one else knows the details your wife has given us.’
‘How did Angela die?’ Dan asked, his voice rasping with emotion.
‘We can’t be absolutely certain until the pathologist has examined her. But it appears to be asphyxiation.’
‘The bastard,’ Dan spat out. ‘I should have ripped his throat out the last time he hurt her.’
‘Don’t, Dan,’ Fifi implored him, knowing he was now going to blame himself for not going to the police then. ‘We couldn’t have known it would come to this.’
‘He might have been doing a runner this morning!’ Dan said, his dark eyes wide with horror.
‘We don’t think so,’ Roper said firmly. ‘It’s like a tip over there, but it doesn’t appear to have been abandoned. Don’t you worry, we’ll get him. We’ll have officers everywhere around here waiting for him to come home. Now, Mrs Reynolds, we’ll need to take a formal statement from you soon,’ he went on to say. ‘Not tomorrow, you need to calm yourself first. Monday morning will do, if you wouldn’t mind coming down to the station at about ten.’ He looked at Dan then, who was still holding Fifi tightly. ‘I think you should call the doctor to your wife. She’s had a terrible shock.’
A terrible shock! That was how anyone would describe it, yet it didn’t come even close to describing what had happened to Fifi. Deep down inside her she had expected to find something nasty in number 11. But what she had found was way beyond any horror she was capable of imagining.
After the police had gone, she wanted to talk to Dan about what she’d seen, but she couldn’t. The bare