‘Where was the body?’
‘I don’t know. I never saw what they did with him.’
‘Did you tell them about the money in the locker at your salon?’
‘No. They said I had to go to work as normal, that they would finish cleaning the flat. They were still there cleaning up when I got home, and then they told me to go and buy an axe in the morning so they could split open the surfboard which was still in the garage. They were worried about anyone seeing them take it out, so wanted to wait until it was dark.’
‘And they remained inside your flat all this time?’ Anna asked, incredulous.
Tina nodded. ‘I thought they were gonna kill me. I was terrified that someone would think I’d done it, so that was why I took the axe back.’
‘And you just continued to go to work at the salon during all this?’
‘Yes. It was unreal because the flat looked back to normal. It was all clean and neat, and it was as if it had never happened.’
She sniffed and Anna passed her a tissue.
‘Oh God, then Sammy left and it all kicked off.’
‘What happened?’
‘Silas. I came home from work and Sammy wasn’t there but Silas was still inside the flat and I thought he was going to kill me. He said the surfboard had been split open and it was empty.’
‘So Sammy took the surfboard from your garage?’
‘Yes, like I said. What I told this bastard Silas was that maybe Alan had picked up the wrong one. They were all decorated with customised stuff. Then he asked about the money again.’
She started to cry once more, sniffing and wiping her cheeks with the sodden tissue.
‘He said that he would teach me a lesson and that if I was lying he would keep on coming back. He dragged me into the bedroom. I wouldn’t even go in there because of what had happened and he raped me – the bastard raped me.’
‘Did you tell him about the money?’
She gritted her teeth and shook her head.
Anna took a few moments to digest everything they had just been told, but Tina continued.
‘Alan’s father kept on calling and asking about him and where he was, and in the end I said to him that I didn’t know and that I thought he’d left me. That’s when he contacted Missing Persons and then you came round. That’s the God’s honest truth about what happened.’
‘All right, Tina. You’ve really explained a lot, but one thing I can’t quite understand is the fact that two men stayed in your flat and, as you said, removed a body and a surfboard from your garage, and yet nobody saw or heard anything.’
‘You come in there at night and there’s no one around. Most of the tenants go to bed at nine, they don’t ever go out even. There’s also a fire exit that leads into the back area and you could come and go that way. As I’m on the ground floor nobody would see you.’
‘But they must have had vehicles to move the body and drove in and out with a surfboard.’
Tina shrugged and said that however they came and went, she never saw what they drove or how they got the body out.
‘Did they dismember Alan’s body?’
‘I don’t know. I wasn’t there.’ Her voice was shrill.
‘Have you taken the money out of this locker you say you used?’
‘No, I just left it locked up at the salon. It’s my money. Alan give it to me – it’s mine.’
Anna decided that they would continue to question Tina the following morning and that she would remain in custody overnight in the holding cell.
‘But I told you everything. I’VE TOLD YOU.’
‘We need to check out your statement, Tina. Mr Hyde, do you have anything to say, as it’s obvious your client has withheld vital evidence.’
‘Because I was scared they’d kill me. I was raped, for God’s sake! You can’t keep me here.’
Hyde stood up and said quietly that it was within the law to hold her. Tina looked as if she was going to create havoc again, but instead she crumpled and sobbed, repeating over and over that it wasn’t fair as she’d done nothing.
By the time Tina was taken back to the cell, Anna had already organised an arrest team for Silas Douglas. Langton had been waiting for her in her office.
‘Owe you an apology?’ he said quietly.
But she didn’t feel elated, only exhausted from the lengthy interrogation.
‘Maybe I owe
‘What about Sammy Marsh?’
‘I would say that Mr Douglas had a hand in his murder, but that will be over to DCI Williams. Let’s just hope we can pick him up.’ Anna sighed.
‘Did you believe everything she said?’
‘Funnily enough I do, but it’s hard to conceive that they were able to murder and probably torture Alan Rawlins in her flat and no one heard or saw anything, let alone how the hell they got his body out without anyone seeing them do it. He was a big guy.’
‘Stranger things have happened,’ Langton pointed out.
‘I guess they have, but if you don’t mind I’ve got a lot of sorting out and double-checking to do before we have another interview with Tina Brooks tomorrow.’
He stood up and ruffled his hair, then lightly touched her cheek.
‘Good work, Travis. Your instincts always were that this case was connected to drugs and you’ve proved me wrong.’
‘Not altogether. You always maintained it was connected to Tina, but if I hadn’t gone on the trail to Cornwall we wouldn’t have been privy to so much information. I did make a big error with Silas Douglas.’
‘You may be able to verify the rape if you pick him up.’
‘If – and I would say he was also responsible for ripping the Mercedes apart, looking for the drugs.’
Langton looked puzzled.
‘It was a car Alan Rawlins was working on for his boyfriend’s twenty-first birthday,’ Anna explained.
‘Ah yeah.’ He nodded.
She was eager for him to leave, but he still hovered with his hands shoved into his trouser pockets.
‘Anything else?’ she asked.
‘Nope, but I’d throw the book at her and see if even more pressure gains further results. Right now she’s saying she lied because she was frightened, but she’s some bloody liar, and claiming that she had nothing to do with this drug-dealing doesn’t quite ring true.’
‘You suggesting we discuss this with the Drug Squad here?’
‘I’m not suggesting anything, but I still think there’s more to get out of Tina Brooks. She did a good job of lying to me about how she had always made a bad choice of previous boyfriends and was near to tears about Alan Rawlins disappearing.’
Langton paused before eventually walking out, leaving Anna to wonder if he was simply annoyed at being proven so wrong.
Silas Douglas’s car wash was closed. They had a search warrant, but found nothing connected to their murder enquiry. His desk had been cleared of papers, and left charred inside an oil drum were fragments of magazines and what may have been receipts. They knew he owned the small block of flats adjacent to the building, one of which was his London base. They used the search warrant to force entry, but like his car wash the flat was devoid of anything of interest. It appeared to be very basic: a bedroom with en-suite bathroom, living room and kitchen-diner. They did, however, take numerous fingerprints, even though most of the flat had been very well cleaned.
Anna contacted DCI Williams to give him an update, at the same time asking if the Newquay police had
