J-J's slow nod put a smile on Crewdson's face. He reached out and patted J-J on the shoulder, then turned back to the door, calling for the jailer through the open hatch. J-J watched his every movement, something new in his eyes, and Faraday's heart began to sink again.
The interview started forty minutes later. Rick Stapleton had driven across from Highland Road, bringing another detective Alan Moffat with him. Faraday had been in charge of both DCs for three years on division, and once again he tried to defuse the awkwardness of the situation, this time with a brisk handshake. Stapleton was a lean thirty-three-year-old, openly gay, a detective whom Faraday had always rated extremely highly. Moffat, a slightly older man, had served on the Force Surveillance Unit before returning to the grind of volume crime. Neither man returned Faraday's smile.
The bare, white-walled room was equipped with both audio and video facilities. Central had been chosen to pilot video recordings of all interviews, and two cameras mounted high on the wall offered coverage of the table that dominated the room.
Stapleton and Moffat sat on one side of the table, J-J and his father on the other. Hartley Crewdson fetched a spare chair from an adjoining room, and stationed himself to J-J's left.
Stapleton raised an eyebrow and glanced at Faraday.
'OK?'
Faraday nodded, watching Moffat as he cued the video recorders. The audio machines were on the table, backed against the wall. Moffat sat down again, leaving Stapleton to reach for the printed checklist and go through the preliminary announcements that preface every interview.
Stapleton introduced himself and Moffat, confirmed the time and place, established that the interview was being recorded, and then turned to J-J.
'Please give your full name and date of birth.'
Faraday signed the request. J-J looked confused for a moment, then shrugged. Surely his dad knew the answer? There was a brief silence before Faraday supplied the details. Stapleton glanced at Moffat. This was new territory.
'Your lad's supposed to speak for himself.' He frowned. 'If you see what I mean.'
Stapleton returned to his script. After explaining what would happen to the recorded tapes and CDs, he glanced quickly up, looking at J-J, before ducking his head again.
'You do not have to say anything,' he read. 'But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you may later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.'
He paused, then looked at Faraday. 'You want to tell him all that?'
'I just did.'
'And he understands?'
'Of course he does.'
'Good. So let's start with yesterday. As I understand it, you've been involved in the production of a video. Would you like to tell us something about that?'
Faraday hesitated a moment, then passed on the question. A shake of J-J's head would have been enough for 'No comment.' Instead, J-J bent towards the table, eyeballing Rick Stapleton, inviting the detective into his life, offering him a long account of exactly how he'd first met Eadie, how he'd shot black and white stills for her Dunkirk documentary, how she'd taught him to use a video camera, and how his involvement in Ambrym had slowly extended into a research responsibility for her new drugs project. The work, he signed, had been brilliant. Hard, but brilliant. He'd met loads of people. And Eadie had been right. Everyone should know about this stuff.
'Who's Eadie?'
'My dad's girlfriend.'
'And the research was down to you?'
'Yes. I had to find the people we were going to tape.' He extended his arm and mimed a syringe. 'The users.'
For Faraday, struggling to keep up with the blizzard of sign, this experience was quickly becoming surreal. This was the last year of J-J's life going onto the CDs and audio cassettes. Whatever happened to 'No comment.'?
When Stapleton paused to scribble himself a note, Faraday shot a look at Crewdson. The solicitor was gazing at J-J, appalled.
Stapleton took up the running again. When did J-J first meet Daniel Kelly?
'Couple of days ago. There was a girl called Sarah. I think she really wanted to be part of the video, help us make it. She thought it was a cool idea. She knew Daniel and told me about him.'
'You met him?'
'Yes.'
'What was he like?'
'Lost.'
'Lost?'
'Confused. Sick.' J-J clawed at his heart and pulled a face. Faraday hunted for the right word. 'Wounded,' he managed at last.
'Did he have friends?' Stapleton didn't take his eyes off J-J's face.
'I don't think so. Only Sarah.'
'What about family?'
'His mum's in Australia. He never sees his dad.'
'Would you say he was vulnerable?'
'Definitely.'
'An easy target?'
Crewdson leaned forward, reaching towards J-J, trying to still those busy hands.
'This is totally inappropriate,' he told Stapleton. 'You're leading my client on.'
'You think so?' Stapleton's eyes were stony. 'I'd say we were simply establishing the facts. Mr. Faraday?'
On the point of supporting Crewdson's protest, Faraday realised that the question was directed at J-J. When he signed it to his son, J-J merely shrugged.
'I haven't got a problem,' he signed back, looking at Stapleton. 'Ask me whatever you want.'
Faraday hesitated. The temptation now was to treat these answers with a certain degree of latitude, if only for J-J's sake.
'My son would prefer if you kept to the point,' he muttered at last.
'He's happy to help with the facts.'
'OK.' Stapleton's gaze lingered on Faraday for a moment or two, then he returned to J-J. 'Let's be clear about the situation here, Mr.
Faraday. Your job was to go and persuade Kelly to be in this video.
Kelly was a mess. That's why you were there, that's why you went to see him in the first place. Do you really think he was in any fit state to make a sensible decision? Be honest.'
There was a brief pause while J-J thought about the question. Finally, he shook his head.
'The second time I saw him he was in a terrible state.' The clawing motion again, then the syringe. 'He needed heroin. He hadn't got any.'
'The second time you saw him?'
'Yesterday. Before we did the interview.'
'Did he want to do the interview?'
'I — ' J-J was frowning 'don't know.'
Once again, Faraday was tempted to embellish the answer. J-J's despairing shrug, though, spoke for itself. Stapleton looked down at his notes, taking his time.
'But the interview happened, didn't it?' he enquired at last.
'Yes.'
'So why did Kelly say yes? What made the difference?'
Hartley Crewdson intervened for the second time. In his opinion, this line of questioning was definitely prejudicial, planting suggestions in J-J's path, luring him into self-incrimination. Faraday was looking at the ceiling.
