Cambridge Blue - Alison Bruce [105]
He passed the phone to Gary.
‘You didn’t take it seriously?’ Gary asked.
‘I didn’t know what to make of it. I never thought it really meant she was, you know . . .’
‘Dead?’
‘Yep.’ Bryn tried to push the thought away. He wanted to ask how she’d died but, at the same time, he guessed he didn’t really want to find out. So he shoved his hands into his pockets and stayed quiet.
‘I suppose your trip down the M11 is your only alibi?’
‘Won’t that do?’
‘It depends on the precise timings.’
Bryn felt his stomach make an uneasy shift. ‘I wouldn’t hurt anyone.’
‘I want to believe you.’ Gary smiled, but Bryn wasn’t too blind to see the melancholy behind it.
‘Sure, and I want you to. And I also want the patron saint of panel-beaters to pop the dent out of my Zodiac’s wing, but things like that only happen when you make them.’
‘You mean, you make your own luck?’
‘Exactly.’ Bryn said it with more bravado than he felt.
Gary seemed to be thinking things over. ‘What was supposed to be in Victoria’s diary?’
‘She called it “intimate” and said it would be humiliating if anyone else read it.’
‘And you believed her?’
‘Why not? She wasn’t very inhibited, I’m sure she did some wild stuff in the past.’
‘But she didn’t seem the apologetic type. I can’t imagine her feeling humiliated by exposure.’
They were within a couple of hundred yards of the police station and Bryn was aware that he was now walking more slowly. He didn’t want to sit in some soulless interview room sharing the details of his last twenty-four hours with a complete stranger.
‘Anyway,’ Gary pointed ahead, ‘we’re here now and it doesn’t matter about the diary. I was more interested in your reasons for believing her. And I think you’ve been very gullible.’
That comment stung and Bryn suddenly felt indignant. ‘No, remember she worked with Richard and Alice Moran on a day-to-day basis. I can understand she would have felt humiliated if it had all come out. Most normal people would find that situation pretty kinky.’
Gary scowled. ‘What are you on about?’ Just then his mobile rang, but he made no move to answer it.
Bryn hesitated, then replied, just as Gary reached into his jacket after all.
FORTY
Bryn’s most recent words echoed something else Goodhew had heard, but he just couldn’t place what it was. He struggled to retrieve the memory, but it was wedged on the edge of his subconscious.
And his mobile was still ringing. He wanted to ignore it, but knew he would find it too distracting. He finally answered, planning to promise to ring the caller back. But the voice at the other end was Mel’s, and his intended words caught in his throat just long enough for her to start to deliver the message.
She sounded awkward, or maybe he imagined she did. ‘You have an urgent message from a woman. It’s personal, she said, and made me promise to pass it on straight away.’ She paused. ‘OK?’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘She wants you to ring her on her mobile about a horse called Suze.’
He waited for more, but there wasn’t any. ‘That’s it?’
‘What else were you expecting, something about a boy named Sue?’
‘What?’
‘The song? Oh, never mind.’ She sounded embarrassed now. ‘I was being silly. Sorry.’
‘OK, fine. I’ll call her.’ He knew he sounded brusque, but he couldn’t help it. ‘I’m just about to drop off Bryn O’Brien at the station. Ring DI Marks immediately and let him know.’
He slipped the phone back into his pocket and concentrated on Bryn. ‘Did you just say something about “Victoria and the dad”?’
Bryn managed a combination of shrugging, nodding and looking apprehensive. ‘Victoria was going out with old man Moran till he died. You didn’t know?’
‘No one mentioned it. So what else do you know about them?’
‘Nothing except that he was rich and she was gorgeous. I think it was what’s called mutually beneficial.’
‘Right. You sure?’
‘Ask the Morans.’
Goodhew nodded, still fighting for that elusive memory. ‘And what did you say just before that?’