The Silent Suspect by Nell Pattison (epub e ink reader .TXT) 📕

Glancing up, I could see Sasha standing by her car watching me, so I hurried out to join her, my mind reeling. No wonder Caroline didn’t want to talk to us. If her attempts to get revenge on Nadia at work hadn’t been successful, how far would she have been willing to go to try again?

Chapter 24

‘Absolutely not,’ Forest snapped. ‘This isn’t an episode of Midsomer Murders. We’re not sitting around twiddling our thumbs in the hopes that some interfering amateurs will come along and solve our cases for us.’

She glared at me, and I knew she was wishing she’d seen the back of me the last time I interpreted for a police investigation. Our appointment hadn’t gone as well as I’d hoped, and Forest had not been pleased with Sasha asking for information regarding the evidence against Lukas. Sasha had tried offering her the things we’d found out about Lukas being in debt to Roy, and about Nadia being accused of theft, but that just seemed to make Forest even angrier.

Sasha refused to be cowed by the DI, however, and she stood her ground.

Lukas is innocent, and if he ends up in prison for the rest of his life that will be on you. We’re bringing you some information about him that might be useful, and it’s up to you what you do with it. If you choose to ignore it, that’s your choice, but I won’t stand by and watch one of my clients be convicted of a crime he didn’t commit.

‘Admirable,’ Forest replied drily. ‘If I decide we need your help, I will ask for it, Ms Thomas. For now, I’ll respectfully ask that you leave my office.’

I could see that Sasha wanted to argue, but I could have told her it was futile; I’d had arguments with DI Forest in the past, and I knew it wasn’t worth it, even when you were convinced you were the one in the right.

Forest was standing by the door, holding it open expectantly. Sasha looked at me but I gave her a quick shake of my head, so we both stood to leave. On our way out I caught a glimpse of Singh coming down the corridor and our eyes met for a brief moment, but Sasha and I were ushered out before I got a chance to say anything to him.

Once we were in the car park, Sasha leant against the side of my car and frowned at me.

That was a waste of time. Why are they so reluctant to listen to us? You’d have thought they’d want to avoid sending an innocent man to prison.

I think they do, I replied, but I think they don’t feel that we know what we’re talking about. And you can understand their point of view – Lukas is in court today, so they must have built up plenty of evidence against him.

It’s not right, Sasha snapped. I don’t believe they can prove he did it.

I don’t know any more than you do, I told her, holding my hands up. I think the only way we’re going to get them to look into it further is if Lukas actually makes a statement and tells them who he thinks is responsible, and why.

Sasha let out a hollow laugh. Do you think that’s likely? You saw him the last time we visited. How am I going to get him to make a statement now? It would be easier if he’d told me exactly what had happened, but we don’t even know which parts are true. Did he and Nadia have a row, or not? Did he go out to the pub when he said he did? What about the time he came home? How did he get the bruises? She made a frustrated noise in her throat.

I know, I signed, putting my hand on her shoulder. We’ll work something out. Right now we need to think about where we go from here, now we know that Forest has no interest in talking to us.

I was about to continue when my phone rang. Pulling it out, I frowned and turned to look at the police station behind me. Singh’s name had flashed up on the screen; why was he calling me from inside the station?

‘Hello?’

‘Hi,’ he said, his voice low. ‘I can’t talk for long. Can you meet me in about half an hour?’ He named a coffee shop about five minutes’ walk from the police station.

‘Sure. What do you want to talk about?’ I asked, but by the time I’d finished the question he’d hung up. I was puzzled, but told Sasha what Singh had asked.

I have a client meeting in an hour and a half, she reminded me. I can’t cancel it – I’m catching up from last week. What do you think he wants?

I don’t know, I replied. From what he’d said when I last saw him, and Forest’s reaction today, I was worried he’d tell us we were wasting our time, or even worse, to back off.

If it’s another telling-off from his boss, I’ll be pissed off, she warned me, and I nodded my agreement. A nervous sensation churned in the pit of my stomach; I liked Rav a lot and I didn’t want to find myself in a position where I’d lost his respect. Having said that, I also didn’t think I could sit back while a man I believed was innocent was sent to jail.

It was nearly forty minutes later when Singh met us in the coffee shop. Sasha had been getting ready to leave, and she wasted no time in telling him that she couldn’t be late for her next appointment. He looked a little put out, and I wondered if maybe he wasn’t here to have a go at us.

When he looked at me, he did a double take, and his hand automatically went out to touch my face. His fingers brushed my jaw as he took