Cambridge Blue - Alison Bruce [104]
Apart from the counter, the place had a token table and two chairs. They both sat down on opposite sides. Bryn spoke first. ‘What happens now?’ he whispered.
‘I need to take you in, and you have to make a statement.’
‘So why are we here?’
‘I want to ask you some questions of my own.’
‘Off the record?’
‘You’re just telling me first. And I wouldn’t be economical with the truth if I were you, it has a way of coming out in the end.’
‘That’s what my mother always says.’
‘Yeah, well, that’s what I think too.’
Bryn shrugged. ‘OK then.’
‘You made out you barely knew Victoria, and said there was nothing going on between you and Lorna. Why lie?’
‘I didn’t.’
‘You had sex with both of them.’
‘But there wasn’t anything else going on.’
Goodhew rapped the table with his knuckles. ‘Hello! Most people call that more than nothing.’
‘Why? If we’d only gone to the same gym or restaurant, now and again, then it would be fine to say there was nothing important. We just happened to . . . you know . . . that was all.’
‘Just happened to? And how did you just happen to break and enter into Lorna Spence’s flat?’
‘Victoria had a key, and she said she’d lost something.’
‘The diary?’
Bryn shook his head in dismay. ‘What don’t you know, eh?’
‘At the moment, I’d say everything that matters. She called you first, I assume?’
Bryn nodded. ‘Yeah, she phoned me yesterday, said she wanted to meet up. I didn’t mind, actually.’ Bryn pulled an apologetic face. ‘I did fancy her, she looked just like August off last year’s calendar. It was still pinned up by the kettle until recently.’
‘Then you met her and threw it out?’ Goodhew replied sarcastically.
‘No, I met her and moved it next to the phone.’
‘This is a murder.’
‘I know, I know, and I’m sorry but I was just being honest.’
Goodhew interrupted him. ‘OK. When did you decide to go to Lorna’s?’
‘Victoria suggested it as soon as I saw her again. She said she had a key and we’d be in and out in a minute. I didn’t like it, but she argued that it wasn’t a crime scene any more, and we weren’t breaking in. I thought that made sense, until we got there. Then I knew, straight away, that we were doing something we shouldn’t.’
With only minor prompting, Bryn described everything Goodhew already knew.
‘So,’ Bryn concluded, ‘even I can see that the diary was invented, which means she wanted me there for some other reason.’
‘And?’
‘I don’t know the answer.’
‘It’s common knowledge that Lorna and Victoria fell out, but supposedly over a man. You’re the only one I can find who has slept with both of them, but you are also the only person who disputes this theory.’
‘So?’
‘So, it’s my theory that, whatever they fought over, it wasn’t a lover. I think Victoria tried to make you think there was jealousy between them, after all, as a diversion from the real reason.’
‘Hey!’ The voice belonged to the surly woman with the gingham apron. They both looked up. She had her hands on her hips. ‘This isn’t a bus shelter. Are you ordering or not?’
It was a not, Goodhew decided. He jerked his head towards the door. ‘I’m going to walk you to Parkside station.’
Bryn liked to think he could take things in his stride – tackle new obstacles running – roll with the punches. Fine in theory, but the last twenty-four hours had demonstrated that his everyday life hadn’t, up until now, been very challenging. It had been hours since his Zodiac had ground to a halt, but it was only as he and Gary stepped back out into Petty Cury that his world finally stopped spinning. And it felt better that way.
‘I’m sorry I lied,’ he said and retrieved his mobile from his pocket. He hoped that sharing it with Gary might keep the brakes fully engaged. ‘I had a text from her last night.’
‘From Victoria?’
‘It arrived while I was waiting to be towed, but I