Blood Line

murdered in the bedroom then carried into the bathroom, due to the amount of bloodstains discovered in both rooms.’

‘I don’t understand any of this,’ Tina said, and placed her hands over the offending photographs.

‘It’s very difficult for us to understand, Tina, especially as you claim that the last time you saw Alan Rawlins was—’

‘I’m telling you the truth!’ Tina burst out. ‘I don’t know anything about this, I really don’t. I am telling you the truth!’

‘But if you changed the bedlinen, you must have been able to see this.’ Anna snatched the photograph of the blood pooling by the bed and slapped it down in front of Tina. ‘You must have known about it! How else did that section of carpet get to be in place over the stain?’

‘I told you – Alan spilled wine, and he must have done it.’

‘When did he do it?’

‘I don’t know, maybe the same day he had a migraine.’

‘Really? And yet Forensics have been unable to discover any wine stain left on the underlay in the living room or the piece of carpet in the bedroom.’

‘Well, I saw him spill wine and he was upset because it was a big stain and he cleaned it up.’

‘You recall the spillage as a reason for the carpet being cut by Alan, correct?’

‘Yes, that’s right.’

‘Whether or not there was a stain, the sofa was moved across it. We know that the section cut out was wide and long enough to cover the exact area of the bloodstain beside your bed.’

‘Alan must have done it,’ Tina repeated.

‘When did he do this?’

‘I don’t know exactly.’

‘I think you do know, Tina, because I think you cut that section of carpet and you thought it would not be noticed. You cut the exact size of carpet needed to hide the bloodstain; you then moved the sofa over the missing section in your lounge and returned to—’

‘I DID NOT.’

‘Why did you subsequently order a new roll of carpet, Tina?’

Jonathan Hyde leaned forward, frowning. ‘I was not told about this. What carpet are you now referring to?’

Anna explained that whilst she was at his client’s flat the caretaker had taken possession of a new roll of carpet that Tina had ordered. Tina looked at Hyde rather than Anna as she explained.

‘I’d ordered it weeks ago ’cos I couldn’t clean off the fucking wine and other food and drink stains in the lounge. When the landlord comes round to check before we leave, we gotta have everything as it was when we moved in. He says he’s been done before and wants the flat to be left as we first saw it. I told you this; I said all this to you! We had to leave a big deposit.’

Paul passed Anna a receipt in a plastic cover.

‘This is a receipt from Wall-to-Wall, a carpet warehouse. As you can see, the order was placed after Alan Rawlins disappeared.’ Anna pushed it across the table to Hyde.

Tina didn’t even glance at it, but continued, ‘I wanted it done because I’m not plannin’ on staying. That place has got too many bad memories for me.’

‘Are these the bad memories, Tina, the bloodsoaked carpet?’

‘No, I didn’t mean them! I meant because of Alan leaving.’

Anna gathered the photographs up as Hyde carefully checked the receipt and the agreed delivery date. He passed it back to Paul, making a note in his notebook.

Paul looked to Anna, who leaned over and whispered to him. He opened another file and took out a report.

‘We discovered further forensic evidence from the sheet and pillowcase on your bed, Tina. We have semen stains that don’t match the blood DNA, and hair that is not Alan’s as it’s seven inches long. From recent photographs of Mr Rawlins we can see that his hair is cut short. Can you explain how this evidence came to be there?’

‘No, I can’t.’

‘You have claimed today that you and only you stayed at the flat – no one else – but this is a lie. You are lying, aren’t you, Tina?’

‘I am telling you the truth.’ She turned to Hyde and tapped his arm. ‘For fuck’s sake, why don’t you say something and stop all this because I am telling the truth. I never had nobody sleeping with me. I was there on me own.’ Her accent was slipping more towards cockney as she grew increasingly upset.

‘Miss Brooks, the officers are required to put the evidence in their case to you, and you do not have to answer unless you want to. I assure you I am more than aware of Detective Travis’s accusations, but this is your opportunity to tell them your version of events . . .’

‘It’s the truth! I mean, I never hurt Alan and she’s been telling me that he had this other life – right? Or was that you trying to make me implicate myself?’

Anna pursed her lips, saying, ‘We have uncovered records of substantial amounts of money that Alan had acquired, also a property in Cornwal—’

Tina interrupted her again. ‘I don’t know nothing about any money or what you said about him being a queer. I’ve been telling you the honest-to-God truth.’

‘Then please explain to me, if you still insist that you and you alone slept in your flat after Alan’s disappearance, why we have evidence that indicates another man was in your bed.’

‘One moment.’ Hyde tapped the table with his fountain pen. ‘You have as yet been unable to identify whose blood was discovered beside the bed or who left the evidence found on the bedlinen, correct?’

‘Yes, that is correct. We have been unable to acquire DNA from Alan Rawlins for a direct comparison.’

‘Then surely it is possible that the evidence uncovered from the bedside plus whatever DNA has been found on the bedlinen, could well belong to someone other than Alan Rawlins?’

‘That is possible,’ Anna said curtly.

‘Then isn’t it also possible that Alan Rawlins not only murdered someone else, but changed all the bedlinen and cleaned the flat? He would have had the entire day whilst my client was at work.’

‘YES!’ Tina half-rose from her chair.

‘Please remain seated, Miss Brooks.’

Tina sat back in her chair with a smug look on her face. She jabbed the air with her finger.

‘He could have removed the carpet, he could have shoved the bed over the bloodstain. I wasn’t thinking when I got back from the salon that we’d got different bedding on – right? That fucking semen stain you say you got could be his, right? Well, am I right?’

‘Just stay quiet, please, Miss Brooks,’ Hyde said coolly.

‘But that makes sense, don’t it? And it’s just coincidence that I ordered the new roll of carpet. I’ve been telling the fucking truth since I’ve come here.’

Jonathan Hyde closed his notebook, pocketed his pen and gave half a smile.

‘I think, Detective Travis, that until you are able to identify who the victim is, you really have no option but to release my client.’

Anna knew she was cornered and said that Tina should remain available as they might well need to question her again.

‘Is that it, then?’ Tina said, smiling.

‘Just one more thing. You have denied knowing Michael Phillips?’

Hyde looked up enquiringly.

‘Miss Brooks’s neighbour,’ Anna explained. ‘Do you still maintain that you do not know him?’

‘I didn’t, but I do now. I met him coming in one night recently and I was so upset. I wanted some change of clothes, remember I asked you for permission. He was going into his flat and I was trying to get my key out to go into my place. He asked if I was all right and I just broke down crying. He was ever so nice. He asked me in for a