Paparazzi by Jo Fenton (best free e reader .txt) 📕

him a few minutes, but when I see Molly heading towards us, I realise our time with him is limited. I hold up my hand to her, to delay the inevitable. To my relief, she nods and turns away.

I turn again to face the back seat.

“Troy,” I say gently, “I’m so sorry. We want to help, but we’ve not got a lot of time to talk here. Are you able to tell us what happened?”

He sits up, his face even greyer than before. His red-rimmed eyes are stark against the rest of his face, making him look like a haunted demon.

“I got home late last night. The gig went well, and I went for a few drinks afterwards with the rest of the band. Oh God.” His head returns to his hands.

“I’m sure that wouldn’t have made any difference, Troy,” says Joanna.

“Maybe not. They said she’d been gone a couple of hours by the time I got home.”

“What time was that?” I ask.

“Ten to one. I went into the kitchen to get some water, and…” His breath comes quickly, and he struggles to speak.

“Hush, it’s okay. Take a minute.” Joanna soothes, but he turns to her, anger in his eyes.

“It’ll never be okay again. Not ever. What the hell do I tell my daughter?”

“A family liaison worker will help with that sort of thing. Have they sent one to you yet? Where is your daughter?”

“She’s with Linda’s parents, Olivia and Mike. Emma usually goes there on a Friday night if I’m at a gig. Linda often goes out with a couple of her girl-friends but last night she said she’d have an early night, as she was a bit tired. I phoned her parents last night after I called the police.”

I give a brief thought to his in-laws, and how they must have taken the news that their daughter had been murdered. Will they have told their grandchild anything yet? I glance at my watch. It’s almost midday.

“Have you heard from the family liaison officer yet?” I ask.

“Yeah. Some woman popped in, then said she was going round to see Olivia and Mike, and she’d see me later.”

“Do you remember her name?” It’s not that important, and I can ask Finn later, but I’d like to know if it’s someone I can work with.

“Isabel? Annabelle? Something like that.” He runs a hand through straggly hair. “Does it matter?”

“I just want to make sure you and your family are being well looked after. Was she a tall lady? Late forties?”

“I didn’t really notice. Yeah maybe.”

“DC Janice Rose?”

“Yeah. Could have been.”

“She’s lovely. She’ll do her best for you and your family. You can trust her.” I worked with her many times over the years. Janice is a couple of years younger than me and joined the force at around the same time, but she’s never been ambitious. She always just wanted to help people, and has the incredible inner strength to make family liaison work her vocation.

A nervous flutter in my chest reminds me I must be careful. I can’t afford to get too far drawn in. I need to keep a healthy distance from ex-police colleagues, and this isn’t the way to do it. Getting involved in a murder case was not part of the plan.

“Sorry. Carry on if you can, about what happened. You said you’d gone into the kitchen.” I hoped I’d distracted him sufficiently for him to carry on now, but I know it will be difficult.

“Linda was on the floor near the sink. Someone had stabbed her, like, loads of times. It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and my poor… Oh God, my poor Linda. She hadn’t stood a chance.” He balls his fists into his eyes. Joanna rests a hand on his shoulder in silence, interrupted only by a tap on the window. Molly opens the back door.

“You’ve had long enough now,” she says to me and Joanna. “Mr Cassidy, my colleague is going to take you round to your in-laws where your daughter is waiting for you. I’m sure these ladies will resume their discussion with you some other time.”

Obeying the Sergeant’s signal, we all get out of the car. Molly takes Troy to another car, parked a little further down the road. Joanna and I, sharing a quick glance, head over to Finn, where he’s consulting with the head of the forensic team, another old friend.

Finn looks up and gives a half-smile. Somewhere between friendly and resigned.

“Alec, you remember Becky, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. Becks, my dear, I’d give you a hug, but I’m all geared up here.” He points at his chest to show his full protective suit – worn to prevent him depositing anything inappropriate in the crime scene.

“Sure, the hug can wait. It’s good to see you, Alec. How’s Deb? And the baby?”

“All well. How are you? It’s lovely to see you again too. We were worried about you. You disappeared after everything happened, and no one knew where you’d gone.”

“It took a while for me to pull myself together. And there are a few people I want to avoid, so I changed a few things. Get Finn to send me your number again, and I’ll put it in my new phone. I’ll call you one evening if that’s okay.”

“That would be great. Who’s your friend?”

I introduce Joanna. There’s no need for us to stay much longer. I know I can pump Alec and Janice for all the information I need, and my body is beginning to betray me. I’ve been in this crime scene for too long and seen too many familiar faces for one day. I have to leave.

“Sorry, guys, we need to be going. I don’t want to keep you from your work any longer. We just had to speak to our client, but that’s done now. I’ll call you both in the week if that’s okay.”

They agree, and Joanna and I head towards my car. I know this area fairly well, as it was