Читать книгу COLD KILL - Neil White - Страница 12

Laura tapped her pen against her hand as she sat opposite Don Roberts.

He was a thickest man in tracksuit bottoms and a black T-shirt, two gold chains around his neck. His grey hair was cropped close to his head and large tattoos dominated his forearms: a bulldog in boxing gloves and a black panther, the claws scraping along the veins that bulged under his skin. Middle age was making its mark, and although Don was well-built and muscular, the curve of his paunch was visible under his T-shirt.

Don hadn’t said anything since their arrival. He had stared at Carson, and then at her, and then at Carson again. But Laura could see the hurt in his eyes, the desperate need for someone to tell him that it was all a mistake, that his daughter would walk into the house and they would all go back to normal. His hands were trembling, but he continued to stare fixedly at Carson, ignoring his wife’s wails from the kitchen.

‘Mr Roberts,’ Carson began, but then fell silent as Don raised his hand.

‘Why didn’t you find her?’ Don Roberts asked, his voice quivering and loaded with emotion.

‘We don’t know how long she was there,’ Carson said. ‘Once we’ve done a full examination…’

‘Bullshit,’ he snapped. ‘Jane was missing and you didn’t find her because you weren’t looking hard enough, because of what you think of me.’

Laura saw Carson take a deep breath to calm himself, because what he really wanted to say was that if the call had come in earlier, then perhaps they would have had a better chance of finding her. Instead, Carson shook his head. ‘We treated her like we treat everyone,’ he said. ‘Just tell us what you can about the last time you saw her.’

Roberts clenched his jaw. ‘That won’t bring her back,’ he said, his teeth gritted.

‘It will help us catch her killer, stop him from doing it again.’

‘Where are you looking?’

‘We haven’t started yet,’ Carson said. ‘We’re hoping you might help us, give us some pointers. Who were Jane’s friends? What about a boyfriend?’

Roberts stiffened at that, and then took a deep breath and sat forward, slowly and deliberately, the leather chair creaking softly underneath him. ‘I am not having you dig into Jane’s life. It will become about me, not her, because I’m hated in this town.’

‘Who hates you?’

Roberts shook his head. ‘I know who hates me, so I’ll do the searching. And since you couldn’t find Jane alive, I’ll be the one to find out who killed her.’

‘Mr Roberts, please, let us do our job.’

Don slammed his hands on the arm of his chair and rose quickly to his feet. ‘Why should I?’ he bellowed, his face contorted by rage, tears in his eyes. ‘Would you, if you were where I am, because even if you do find the killer, which I fucking doubt, it will all be for nothing, because how long will he go away for? Ten years? Fifteen? And then he’s out. That’s if you even put him in jail. And you want me to spend those years waiting for him to come back onto the streets, back into my community?’ He stood over Carson, his hands balled tightly into fists. ‘I’ll find the murdering bastard, and I’ll make sure it won’t happen again, you can trust me on that.’ He jabbed his fist towards the door. ‘You need to go, now.’

‘Mr Roberts,’ Laura said, to deflect Don’s attention away from Carson. ‘We need to find out what we can about Jane.’

‘So do I,’ Don said, and then he stood up to leave the room.

Laura exchanged quick glances with Carson, but then she was taken by surprise when Roberts gripped her arm and hauled her to her feet.

‘I said out!’ Don said, and pushed Laura towards the door.

Laura looked at Carson, unsure what to do, but Carson pushed past her, pausing only to put his business card on the mantelpiece.

‘If you want to tell us anything, Mr Roberts, give me a call,’ Carson said, his voice measured. ‘I investigate murders, nothing else. This will be about Jane, not about how you make your money.’

Don Roberts didn’t say anything as they left the house, and when they were back on the path outside the front door, the door slammed behind them. There was silence for a few seconds, but then it was broken by the sound of sobbing from Mrs Roberts, audible even outside.

Laura blew out. Murder was just as much about the living as it was about the dead. She looked at Carson, who shook his head and then walked towards his car. He didn’t need to say anything, Laura knew that. Don Roberts was blinded by his dislike of the police, and if he found the killer before they did, there would be another death to deal with.