‘Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?’
‘Is there a reward?’ Benny said.
‘Sorry?’
‘You know, like a reward for saying stuff.’
Christ! Had he been trying to tell her the things he thought she wanted to hear, get brownie points and land a reward? ‘There isn’t, no. But everything you’ve told me today, that’s exactly what happened?’ Janet checked.
‘Yes.’
‘You didn’t make anything up?’
‘No.’ He smiled. ‘It’s all true.’ Like taking candy from a babe.
Kevin had revisited the neighbour, Mrs Kenny, who had seen the taxi drop Lisa off and who confirmed her account. It’s down there in black and white with my signature on it. I know what I saw. But although she had seen the taxi arrive and Lisa climb out without any shopping, Mrs Kenny had returned to her television, Heartbeat recommencing, and did not see the taxi leave. If it did leave then. Kevin passed all this on to Rachel in a bored monotone, adding, ‘The old bag’ll probably kick the bucket before we ever get to court anyway.’
‘You found him on the cameras?’
‘Not yet, no.’
‘What you waiting for, then? Jog on.’
Rachel wondered if Kasim would go no comment. From the interviews she’d conducted in Sex Crimes, she knew that hardened criminals could keep this up till hell froze over. But Kasim wasn’t known to them and was not involved in the gangs, according to their colleagues who specialized in gang-related crime. He was facing up to life and an unlimited fine for possession with intent to supply. He’d likely get something in the region of eight years. There was no way he’d get off. But they needed to establish whether his involvement with Lisa extended beyond driving her home and selling her drugs.
Then Gill gave her the news that they’d made a deal. No further drug charges would be preferred as a result of anything he said to them; in return, he would answer their questions.
He rolled his eyes when Rachel came in and went through the interview spiel. Not his favourite person, perhaps, the girl who’d outrun him, but she resisted the temptation to lord it over him. Gill had drummed into her how important it was to get every last bit of detail from the guy.
‘On Monday, you picked Lisa up from Shudehill and drove her to Fairland Avenue. Did you accompany Lisa into the flat?’
‘No, she got out and I left,’ he said.
‘How well did you know Lisa?’
‘She was a customer, that’s all.’
‘How often did you pick her up?’
‘Once a week, but it wasn’t regular. Not the same day or anything.’
‘Had a relationship developed between you?’
‘No.’ He didn’t like that suggestion.
‘We believe she swapped the shopping in exchange for drugs. Did she also pay you in kind, with sex?’
‘No way.’ He scowled.
‘We are comparing your DNA to traces found at the scene of her murder. Is there anything you can tell me about that?’
‘I never left the cab,’ he said.
‘You’ve already told us Lisa took two phone calls. In one of those, she allegedly told someone she wouldn’t be home until half past three. Yet you say you dropped her at quarter past one. And we know you did arrive at that time as we have an eyewitness who verifies it. Perhaps Lisa wanted some time alone with you?’
‘I just drive the cab,’ he protested.
And push heroin. ‘You were the last person to see her alive,’ Rachel said.
‘Yeah, she was alive, she got out, I drove away.’ He was irate, showing his teeth.
‘Can you remember anything else that afternoon? People in the area? Anything outside the flat?’
He shook his head.
The interview was interrupted with a request for Rachel to come to the office. It was Kevin. If he was wasting her time, she’d deck him. He said he’d captured Kasim’s taxi, driving away down Oldham Road at one twenty, which fitted his story like a glove. And meant he’d had no time to screw Lisa or undress her or anything else. He was alibied. When Rachel went back in she focused on anything he might have noticed on the avenue. Precisely fuck all. And then carried on asking about the journey. ‘We appreciate your help, is there anything else you can tell us about the ride?’
‘I told you everything,’ he said.
‘The phone calls – tell us about them. There were two?’
‘That’s right.’
‘What can you tell us about the content of those calls?’
He shrugged.
‘Were they practical, businesslike? Did Lisa talk or just listen?’
‘They were short, that’s all.’ He closed his eyes. ‘One of them, she was upset, like.’
Now you tell us, numbnuts. ‘You didn’t think this was significant?’
He gave a quick shrug.
‘Upset about what?’
‘Just saying stuff like, “I’m sick of you interfering, my life’s none of your business, I don’t want to see you any more” – that sort of thing.’
‘Thank you. Anything else?’
He shook his head.
‘And did Lisa talk to you about the call afterwards?’
‘No.’
It wasn’t much, but it was all she could get from him. Rachel couldn’t tell whether it was her fault, something lacking in her technique, maybe his resentment at her running him to ground, or whether Kasim was simply the unobservant prat he claimed to be.
25
JANET FOUND RACHEL in the canteen while she was waiting for Sean to finish instructing his solicitor. ‘I should tell him we’ve been talking to Benny,’ Janet said, ‘and he might as well put his hands up and confess to everything. The guy leaks like a sieve.’
Sean Broughton had been badly shaken by the raid. For the first time he seemed to grasp that the police were seriously considering him as a suspect. He was agitated before they started. Janet wondered if there was any withdrawal going on, though she knew that Sean, once arrested and detained at the police station, would have been taken through the medical questionnaire and any drug dependency discussed. The custody sergeant would have determined that he was competent to answer questions.
‘Sean, the last time we spoke, you told me that you had removed Lisa’s phone from the flat and disposed of it, along with clothing she had brought from town, behind the shops on the parade on Garrigan Street. We now know that was not the case. How do you account for that?’
‘Dunno,’ he said uneasily.
‘What did you do with the phone?’
He didn’t say anything.
‘Sean?’
‘Wiped it clean, then sold it,’ he said quietly.
‘Who to?’ Janet said.
‘Bloke called Des Rattigan.’
‘When?’
‘Tuesday,’ he said.
‘What time?’
He opened his mouth as if to complain about the string of questions, then thought better of it. ‘Seven-ish.’ All his answers tallying with what they had established already.
‘Can you tell me why you sold the phone?’
‘For the money.’
‘There may have been information on that phone of use to the investigation into Lisa’s murder. Information you deleted,’ she said.
‘There wasn’t,’ he said.
‘I don’t know, do I, Sean? Because you destroyed it. And I have to ask myself whether that was because you had something to hide.’