63
Phil was pushing the Audi as fast as he could without breaking the speed limit down the Avenue of Remembrance on the way back to the centre of Colchester. Beside him, Anni was feeling troubled.
‘Boss,’ she said, with evident trepidation.
‘Yeah?’ he said, not taking his eyes off the road.
‘I think there’s something I should have told you.’
He risked a glance at her. Her head was angled away from him but he could clearly see the tension in her neck. ‘Go on.’
The engine seemed to roar in the silence between them. Eventually Anni spoke. ‘It’s about Clayton.’
Phil waited.
‘He’s…’ She sighed. ‘I saw him. The other night. When I was staking out Brotherton’s house.’
Phil looked at her, frowning. He said nothing, waiting for her to continue.
‘He was… he brought Sophie Gale back home. In his car.’
Phil took his eyes fully off the road. ‘He did what?’
‘And…’ She had to keep going. There was no turning back now. ‘And she gave him a blow job. In the car.’
Anni turned her face away to the window once more. She could feel Phil’s eyes on her, burning into her intensely. The road taking care of itself.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ His voice quiet, controlled.
Anni knew that wasn’t a good sign. ‘I… I didn’t know if it was my place, boss. I just thought he was being a dick. I confronted him with it.’
‘And what did he say?’
‘He said he would tell you. Sit down and tell you everything. ’
‘Everything? What’s everything?’
Anni sighed, shook her head. ‘About… Clayton used to work vice. He knew Sophie from back then. Was one of the team she used to be an informant for.’
‘Why the fuck didn’t he tell me?’ His voice seemed all the louder in contrast to its previous quiet and control. His hand left the steering wheel, began massaging his chest. Anni noticed he seemed to be having problems with his breathing.
‘You okay, boss?’
He ignored her question. ‘Why didn’t he tell me?’
‘I don’t know. He said he was going to. But he didn’t. But it made me look into her background. That’s when I came up with the whole prostitute thing.’
‘Which he wasn’t going to say anything about.’
‘I… I don’t know. Boss.’
Phil sighed and kept sighing, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps.
‘Boss…’
‘Christ…’ His hand clenched harder at his chest. Anni began to worry that he might be having a heart attack.
‘Shouldn’t… shouldn’t you pull over?’
Phil gave an angry shake of his head. ‘Call him. Phone him now. I want to know what the hell he’s playing at.’
Anni took out her mobile, speed-dialled Clayton. She waited. Looked at Phil. ‘Answerphone.’
‘Bastard… leave a message. Tell him I want to see him back at the station. Now.’
Anni did so, hung up.
‘He was in the office when we left,’ said Phil in between gasps. ‘Call them. See if he’s there. No, call Marina. Ask her.’
Anni did what she was told, spoke to Marina, listened to the reply. Rang off.
‘He’s gone. Left just after we did.’
Phil seemed to be breathing through clenched teeth. ‘Did… did she say why?’
‘She said he went to talk to Millhouse just after I did. Then left in a hurry.’
‘And you were asking Millhouse about Sophie Gale.’
‘Yeah.’ Realisation hit her. ‘Oh God…’
‘You know the way to his place?’ said Phil.
Anni nodded.
‘Direct me. Now.’
Phil put the siren on.
64
‘Oh God, oh God…’
Marina stood in the toilet cubicle, the door locked. She didn’t care if anyone heard her or not.
After Anni’s phone call she had started to feel unwell. She couldn’t describe what it was exactly, just a pain in her lower stomach. Sharp, stabbing. She knew that wasn’t right. She hurried off to the toilets, locked herself in. And had her worst fears confirmed.
Blood. She was bleeding.
‘Oh God… the baby…’
The baby. All the conflict she had been undergoing disappeared in an instant. There was something wrong with the baby. She had to get it sorted. She clutched her stomach as another wave of pain rippled through her. She gasped, rode it out. Then reached for her phone. Speed-dialled her GP. Hoped he could see her straight away.
Her call was answered, an emergency appointment booked. She made a note of the time, closed her phone. Case or no case, this was important. She hadn’t realised just how important until this moment.
She flushed the toilet, just in case anyone was listening outside, rearranged herself, went off to the doctor’s.
‘Sophie?’
Clayton rushed into his flat, left his keys on the side table in the hallway, ran into the living room, looked round. He saw her over by the window. She was sitting in an armchair, unmoving. The blinds were drawn behind her. He let out a sigh of relief.
‘Thank Christ, I thought somethin’ had happened to you.’
‘I’m fine,’ she said, without moving.
Her voice sounded strange, remote. Not at all like he was used to. But he didn’t have time to think about that. He had too much to tell her.
‘Listen,’ he said, crossing the room, sitting on the arm of the chair, ‘they’ve found a connection. Between you and Graeme Eades, the husband of the last victim. From when you used to… when you were workin’.’
She said nothing. Clayton frowned. He had expected a bigger reaction than that. He pressed on.
‘They want to talk to you, yeah? So we’ve got to think of the best way to do this. How it looks like I’m gettin’ in contact with you and you’re comin’ in, yeah? To chat. How we goin’ to do that, then?’
Sophie said nothing. Just continued to stare straight ahead.
Clayton began to get exasperated. ‘Sophie…’ He stood up quickly as if the arm of the chair was too hot to sit on any longer, paced the floor until he stopped in front of her. ‘Have you been listenin’? Sophie, we’re in trouble.’
She moved her head to the side, inclined her eyes upwards to him. ‘
‘What? We both are! We’ve got to, got to…’ He put his hands to his head, screwed his eyes up tight, beat his
