Sergeant Smith appeared right behind him,
‘Sir?’
He led her back to the corridor and to the window inset within the door to the interview room proper,
‘Patrick Mars, Stella’s son.’
‘Why’s he come?’
‘Lord knows. Sarah already had his name, we were seconds from calling him.’
Inspector Glass, the head of Southney station’s uniformed division, was also there, whispering in his counterpart’s ear,
‘Is that Patrick Mars?’
‘Yes, you know him?’
‘In a sense — he runs a private security firm we’ve run up against from time to time.’
‘I knew I’d heard the name.’
‘Mars Protection; basically a lot of ex-police and soldiers hired by anyone who wants no niceties involved in removing unwanted persons from their property.’
‘Ex-soldiers… So has he served himself?’
‘No idea, but if your asking if he’s violent, then, to mangle the Good Book, through a man’s business practices shall we know he.’
Grey was quite impressed with this. The Superintendent came out of the secret room to stand beside them,
‘You good for this, Grey?’
‘If I’m not then it’s a bit late to find out.’
‘What’s your angle going to be?’
‘A friendly chat, thank him for coming. After all, we don’t know to know any more yet, do we?’
Not wanting to make the man suspicious, the officers took no longer over preparations than necessary before casually bursting into the interview room the moment after drinks had been delivered. For similar reasons no extra officers were posted in the room, or in the corridor within view from the window in the door. As they entered Grey and Cori each took in the man sat before then: Grey noting his bulk and looking for evil in his eyes; Cori that his dirty nails were incongruous with his general appearance. A devil to get out, she remembered, he had evidently been in the garden before smartening the rest of himself up to come here.
Grey began,
‘Mr Mars, this is Sergeant Smith. Thank you for waiting. I see they’ve got you a drink. We’ll be recording our talk for the file, it’s standard procedure.’
‘I hope this won’t take any longer than necessary? I am a very busy man.’
‘Indeed. You run a security company, I believe?’
The man again seemed mildly surprised at what they already knew about him, Grey not wanting to let on just how they were winging this,
‘Rest assured that we’ll try and get through this as quickly as possible, brevity being the soul of wit and all that. So, perhaps you could begin by giving your reasons for coming to see us today.’
‘Thank you. Yes, well how simply can I put it for you? I saw the news announced of the murder of my mother in this morning’s paper.’
‘It must have been a terrible shock for you,’ asked Cori.
‘Is that a statement or a question? Of course it was a shock, a terrible shock.’
‘When had you last been in touch?’
‘When she left my father.’
‘Which was?’
‘When I was seven years old.’
‘Tell us about that,’ charged Grey.
‘Well, what’s there to tell? My parents split up and I lived with my father.’
‘You didn’t see her at all though?’
‘She chose to have nothing more to do with us. I was bought up by a father that loved me, rather than two parents who argued terribly toward the end.’
‘You didn’t miss a mother’s love?’
‘I was bought up by a better parent than any child has any right to expect.’
‘Is your father still alive?’
‘No, he died when I was seventeen.’
‘Do you have any brothers or sisters?’
‘No, an only child.’
‘We’re you alone at home after he died?’
‘No, I’d joined the Navy Cadets by that time.’
‘Did you later serve?’
‘Nine years, Logistics Branch.’
‘At sea?’
‘Mostly, yes.’
‘So, coming back to the present day, did you know that your mother lived in town?’
‘No, not before this morning.’
‘And how did you feel on finding out?’
‘It was almost as much of a shock as learning that she had died.’
‘You really had no idea she was here?’
‘No.’
‘So, back at the time of the divorce it was clearly known to you that she had moved away?’
‘Yes, she wasn’t in town then, she never visited. As I say, she wanted no more to do with us.’
‘How did you get on with your mother when you were younger?’
‘You’ll appreciate I have very few memories of her, and those I do have are hazy.’
‘Pleasant memories?’ asked Grey, for he thought he had just detected the slightest smile at the corners of the man’s mouth; but this impression was short-lived,
‘Even those memories that were pleasant are rendered at best bitter-sweet by what happened next.’
‘Which was?’
‘Well, her abandonment! How many times, Inspector..?’
‘I’m sorry, but I need to know the details of the divorce: what happened and to whom.’
‘It is all contained in the papers, which I have seen.’
‘You looked them up?’
‘My father kept his own copies, and showed them to me when I was old enough to understand them.’
‘And how old was that?’
‘Fifteen, sixteen — quite old enough to need to know what had happened.’
‘Even so, a document like that’s a lot for even a teenager to take in, with a lot of long-winded legal language and terminology.’
‘I only had to understand one part of it, Inspector, the part where it gave the reasons for the action.’
‘Which were?’
‘Abandonment: abandonment of my father by my mother; and by extension, abandonment of me.’
‘Mr Mars, I appreciate how difficult this must be for you to have to answer our questions. It is only the importance of the matter than compels us to continue asking them.’
The Inspector leant back slowly in his chair, the Sergeant taking over. She looked to the printout that Sarah had passed her as they went in, of what she had that minute been able to find
out from the DVLA,
‘You live in town, Mr Mars?’
‘Yes.’
‘Mansard Lane, it says here. Just off the Stafford Road, isn’t it?’
‘Yes.’
‘Not half an hour’s walk from your mother’s last home,’ remarked Cori.
He looked dumbfounded, ‘I honestly didn’t know that. She must have moved back there only a few years ago, I’m guessing.’
‘She’d been at the Cedars twenty-four years.’
‘Well then, I’ll be damned.’
Grey leaned back in over the table, ‘There are some final and not very nice questions we do need to ask.’
‘Go on.’
‘If you could confirm where you were late Monday evening/early Tuesday morning, and again in the early hours of this morning.’
‘Very easily: I was at home both evenings, asleep by that time probably.’
‘Can anyone confirm this,’ asked Cori, ‘just for the record?’
‘My wife, Lidia. Though she’s in London for the day — she’ll be back this evening.’
‘Oh, and how long have you been married?’
‘Coming up to four years.’
‘And do you have any children?’
‘Lidia and I have no children.’
‘And she’s back this evening, you say?’
‘Yes.’
Cori took a punt, ‘And you didn’t fancy joining her?’
‘Sorry?’
‘It’s a nice day out, in London: parks, sightseeing, shopping.’
‘Alas, work keeps me here. I’ve a pile of contracts to go through this afternoon.’
‘Well, if you could leave your address and both of your contact details at the desk as you leave, and we’ll be in touch with her.’
‘One last question, if I may be permitted,’ requested Grey. ‘What was the very last time you saw your mother?’
‘One evening at home, she’d put me to bed and they were downstairs arguing — I can hear her voice now: so angry, so shrill.’