Acland shook his head. ‘I have no confidence in the police. The inspector said I was here as a witness . . . but he was lying. I was arrested and brought here as a suspect and I don’t even know what crime I’m supposed to have committed.’
Jones folded his hands on the table. ‘Do you want to make a complaint?’
‘Not unless you tell me you’ve found something incriminating in my kitbag or at my flat. We’ll both know how it got there if you do.’
‘Are you suggesting I or one of my team would plant evidence?’
‘Judging by the way I’ve been treated so far . . . yes.’
Jones smiled slightly. ‘You’re very alert for a man who had such a serious migraine incident last night that a doctor had to attend to you. Do vertical press-ups clear your brain, Charles?’
‘If they do, that’s my business . . . and I don’t like being filmed. This is a free country, not a police state.’
‘I’m sorry you have such a dim view of us. We make more enemies than friends in our line of business, but someone has to do it . . . Rather like soldiering, wouldn’t you say?’
Acland ignored the jibe. ‘I have a dim view of the whole of society. You’re just one face of it.’
‘Have you ever been arrested before?’
‘No.’
‘You take a dim view of Muslims as well, I hear . . .
Acland looked faintly outraged. ‘That’s ridiculous.’
‘Why? Which part of the idea offends you? That an elderly man might be gay or that he might think
‘Neither. I’m just not as obsessed with sex as you seem to be.’
The superintendent steepled his hands in front of his mouth and studied the young man curiously. ‘You’re quite a puritan.’
Acland stared back at him with a frown of incomprehension. ‘What do any of my views have to do with Mr Tutting? He poked me in the back, that’s all.’
‘I’m interested in why you seem to have taken against society. Have you been treated badly since you came home?’
‘Not particularly.’
‘So what’s changed?’
‘Me. I feel as if I’m living in a world that’s obsessed with trivial things . . . and I can’t see that any of them matter much.’ He sounded uncomfortable, as though voicing his beliefs was alien to him.
‘And what
‘I’m still trying to find out. I’ve been reading about a Danish philosopher called Soren Kierkegaard. He said, “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” That’s about as much understanding as I have at the moment.’
‘Reality can be pretty grim.’
‘It depends what you make of it.’
Jones nodded. ‘What about love? Where does that fit in?’
No answer.
‘Weren’t you in love with your fiance?e, Charles? I gather she lives in this area and you visited her regularly last year. We need her name and address.’
Shock flared briefly in the younger man’s eye. ‘Who told you?’
‘Dr Campbell.’ Jones raised a questioning eyebrow. ‘Did she make a mistake? Was the information supposed to be confidential?’
Acland hunched forward and pumped his fists beneath the table. ‘Jen has nothing to do with this. I haven’t seen her in months.’
‘Nothing to do with what, Charles?’
Silence.
‘If she lives nowhere near Mr Tutting we won’t bother her . . . but if she
‘She wouldn’t know one way or the other.’
‘Will your parents be able to give me her name and address? Your regiment?’
A flash of real dislike sparked in Acland’s eye. ‘Her name’s Jen Morley and she’s in Flat 1, Peabody House, Harris Walk . . . and if that’s anywhere near Mr Tutting then it’s a coincidence.’ He unclenched his fists and pressed his palms on the table as if he was about to stand up. ‘Why are you doing this? Don’t I have any rights over who you’re allowed to discuss my private business with?’
The superintendent spread his hands in a gesture of apology. ‘Not if I need an independent witness to confirm what you tell me.’ He paused. ‘If you’re worried that Ms Morley’s going to say something detrimental about you,
