‘Do you really believe that?’ Annie asked.
Jason said nothing.
‘The matter at hand, Ms Cabbot,’ said Ms Lucas. ‘No sense going off on ideological tangents.’
‘Lisa didn’t see her attacker,’ Annie said. ‘She had no idea what colour he was. He came from behind, knocked her down.’
‘She saw his hand.’
‘Did she? Or did you convince her that she did? You got her so confused, Jason, that she thought she’d been attacked by a dark-skinned person because you believe they’re the ones who do all the raping and assaulting in this country, don’t you? You see, Lisa never mentioned that he was dark-skinned when we started our investigation, when DC Masterson first questioned her.’
‘She was in shock then. Confused.’
‘It was you who confused her. Your own sister. Just to fit in with your sick beliefs.’
‘DI Cabbot, is any of this really relevant?’ asked Ms Lucas.
‘I’m trying to discover whether this was a hate crime,’ Annie said. ‘I’d say that’s a reasonable line of inquiry, wouldn’t you?’
Ms Lucas sighed. ‘Very well. Carry on. But you’re on a short leash.’
Annie squared her shoulders. ‘Were you getting your revenge for what happened to Lisa, Jason? Taking it out on the first dark-skinned person you could find? Did you do it for Lisa? Because she couldn’t go to a posh school? Because she got assaulted on her way home from a dance at the local comprehensive? Did you kill Samir for Lisa?’
Jason put his hands over his ears. ‘Stop it! I don’t want to hear any more. I didn’t kill anyone. I want to go home.’
‘Look,’ said Banks, gently taking over the questioning again. ‘I understand, Jason. Honest, I do. You had all this stuff going around in your head about migrant hordes, Lisa had been assaulted, you’d been smoking marijuana, then all of a sudden this young Arab lad just turns up out of the bushes. He was running away from someone. Someone he thought was going to harm him but was simply charged with taking him home. But he ran into you, didn’t he? He startled you. That’s understandable. And you took out your knife and stabbed him. Why? Did you think he was armed? Did you think he was going to attack the two of you? Big strapping lads. Bigger than him, older than him.’
Jason started shaking his head from side to side and banging his fist on the table. Ms Lucas put her hand on his shoulder to calm him. Banks glanced at Annie. There wasn’t much point going on right now, he thought, so he gave her the nod and they left the room.
‘I’m not going to lie to you, Chris,’ said Banks, ‘but Jason is very upset back there. I think he finally realised the enormity of what you’ve both done, and it’s overwhelmed him.’
Chris Myers gave a sly grin. ‘Jason’s no fool,’ he said. ‘Besides, we weren’t in the park that night, so why would he say we were?’
‘I’m not saying he admitted you were. But something about our questions upset him. Where were you that night?’
‘What night?’
‘Sunday before last.’
‘At home studying.’
‘You didn’t see Jason?’
‘We’re not inseparable, you know. Yes, he’s my mate, yes, I give him a lift to school, but we’re not joined at the hip.’
‘Would your parents vouch that you were at home that evening around half past ten?’
‘I suppose so. If they remember. I was up in my room most of the evening revising, and they were downstairs watching TV, so I didn’t see them.’
‘It wouldn’t have been too hard to nip out without being seen, then, would it?’
‘Why would I want to do that?’
‘For a smoke.’
‘I don’t smoke.’
‘You know what I mean. And you do have a track record with drugs.’
‘Oh, that fucking stupid party again,’ said Chris. ‘I wish I’d never been there. Do you know, I had no drugs at all that night? I didn’t even get high. Nothing. OK, so I had a few cans of beer, and I wasn’t old enough to drink. Big fucking deal. Arrest me. I was only there cause there was a girl I fancied. A college girl. It’s not as if we’re constantly surrounded by totty at school.’
‘I think the statute of limitations has run out on your underage drinking,’ Banks said. ‘Not to mention lust.’
Even the duty solicitor, Willy Carnwood, managed a smile at that.
‘Who had the knife, Chris? Was it you or Jason? He denies it, but then—’
There came a knock on the door, followed by DC Gerry Masterson carrying a file folder. Normally, Banks would have been annoyed at the interruption, but he had asked Gerry to come immediately if anything turned up at the lab. By the expression on her face, something had.
Banks thanked her, noted what had happened for the tape recordings and took the folder. Annie edged closer to read it over his shoulder. Gerry remained in the interview room, standing by the door.
‘Hmm,’ said Banks. ‘This is interesting.’
‘May I see it?’ asked Willy Carnwood.
Banks had hoped he wouldn’t ask, but as he had, he knew he would have to pass the file across. But not just yet. ‘It’s just come in, as you know,’ he said. ‘I’ll need to refer to it during my questioning. Then I’ll make sure you get to see it.’
Carnwood nodded. ‘OK.’
‘Want to know what it says?’ Banks asked Chris.
Chris looked nonchalant, bored even. ‘I suppose you’re going to tell me anyway,’ he said with a sneer.
‘Yes. I think we might be able to bring these proceedings to a swift conclusion.’
‘You mean I can go home?’
‘Quite the opposite, I’m afraid.’ Banks tapped the sheets in front of him. ‘See, the DNA analysis of the traces of blood we found in the park is a match for the samples taken from Samir Boulad’s body. It’s Samir’s blood, Chris. No doubt about that.’
Though Chris now looked a little less nonchalant, he merely shrugged and said, ‘So what? Seeing as I’ve already told you I wasn’t there that night, I don’t see what it has to do with me. I’m very sorry and all that. It’s terrible that such a thing should happen so close—’
‘Oh, cut the crap,’ said Banks.
Carnwood shot him a reproving glance, but Banks carried on.
‘Well, in itself, maybe it doesn’t mean too much to you right now that we found traces of Samir’s blood in the woods. But our toxicologist also found two different DNA samples in the saliva from the roaches and chewing gum we recovered; your feelings might change when we have samples for comparison from you and Jason.’
‘What? No way.’
‘Oh, there’s a way, all right,’ said Banks. ‘Ask your solicitor. We’ll be taking mouth swabs or plucked hairs while he’s present. Or we can get a doctor to come in and take a blood sample, if you give your written consent. Believe me, we’ve plenty of grounds for arrest or a court order. Your choice. Anyway, the best is yet to come.’
Banks let the silence stretch and watched Chris chew his lower lip.
‘Our technicians haven’t finished the analysis and comparisons yet, but they also found traces of blood in the boot of your car. It’s being analysed further as we speak. Now what are the odds against us finding it’s a match for Samir’s, too?’
Chris swallowed and Banks guessed from his expression that he was doing a lot of quick thinking and re-evaluating his position. He hardly seemed aware of the duty solicitor’s presence. Finally, he rested his palms on the desk and said, ‘OK, I’ll make a statement. But it wasn’t me who stabbed him. It was Jason.’
As usual, the ‘celebration’ of a case solved was a sweet and sour affair, taking into account the sense of achievement in uncovering a killer, and the awareness of how many lives the revelation would ruin in addition to the killer’s and his family’s.