Ian looked down at the floor and sighed. “Okay. Let’s go.”
Half an hour later, Alice stood back as Ian opened the front door on Portobello Close. The alarm beeped, and they hurried inside, shutting the door behind them before Ian disarmed the alarm.
“Put it on night mode,” Alice said. “I’d feel safer.”
Ian nodded and tapped at the panel. “It’s set.”
“Good. I’ll make a coffee and then clean the bedroom. Those SOCO guys made a mess.”
As Alice brewed the coffee, she gave a start when her phone rang. She took it from her bag and checked the display before she answered. It was DS Kapoor. “Hi Alice, it’s Meera. How are you today?”
“Um, okay. I guess. I’m at home.”
“Home? I thought you were at a hotel?”
“We’re spending the nights there. Ian is with me and the alarm is on here. You don't think he’d, you know...?”
“I think you'll be fine during the day as long as you have someone with you. Anyway, I wanted to give you an update.”
Alice brought her hand to her mouth and ran her finger along her lips. She resisted the urge to pull at the skin on her knuckle with her teeth. “Uh huh?”
“We’re looking at the possibility there is a connection between the South Kensington attack and the stalker. We are working on a list of people who were at the scene and had friends or relatives killed or injured during the attack.”
“Like people still blame me?”
“The posts and comments on social media at the time suggested that, yes.”
“Supposing the person wasn’t there during the attack? It could be someone who posted the Twitter stuff, right?”
Kapoor seemed to hesitate before she replied. “Yes. But we have to start somewhere. We’re liaising with SO15. Like I said, we’re working on it. I can't give you specific investigative details, but trust me, we’re doing everything we can.”
“How long must I stay in the hotel?”
“It’s difficult to say. I suggest you wait until we’ve identified and interviewed people that match our profile criteria.”
“And if it’s not one of them?”
“We’ll worry about that later, okay?”
“I suppose. Were you able to recover the videos on the camera? What can I expect?”
“Nothing terribly embarrassing. Sure, you're naked, but there’s no sex and a lot of the footage is grainy. Further, you're not recognisable in most of it. I wouldn't lose any sleep over this. I can share them with you if you like? That way it may be less of a worry.”
“Please, yes. Can you put them on a file sharing app? Like DropBox?”
“Sure. I’ll send you a link. Other than that, how are you?”
“Okay, I guess. I have an appointment with a counsellor in the Havens later.”
“Good…” Kapoor paused. “Um, Alice? We watched the footage of the assault and saw how you fought him off. You never said you sprayed him with something? Was it, um, perfume?”
“Oh. I see.” Alice scratched her head and ran various options through her head. Was Kapoor prompting her? “I… I must have forgotten that. He took perfume from the bathroom and sprayed it on me. Yes. I sprayed him in the eyes. It must have helped.”
“Good. That explains that. Call me if you have any questions, or if you see anything unusual.”
When she ended the call, Alice poured a coffee and said to Ian, “They’re working on it with SO15...” She paused at Ian’s look. “Yeah, I know. The ones who arrested me.”
“Bastards.”
“She’s going to send me a link to the videos they recovered from the camera in the bedroom. She says you wouldn't know it was me in most of them.”
“At least that’s something good.”
“Maybe. But I had to lie about the mace again. I said it was perfume.”
“They believe that?”
Alice shrugged. “I think they know. Maybe Kapoor is all right, like she’s a good one.”
“Do you want me to get rid of it?”
“Wait until they catch him.”
“Any suspects?”
Alice shook her head. “Don't think so. Checking people connected to victims of the attack.”
“I hope it’s one of them and not a random guy. How will they identify a random guy?”
“Positive thinking there Ian, huh? How do you think that makes me feel?”
“Sorry. Don't mean it like that. I’m sure they’ll catch the guy soon.”
Alice took a sip of her coffee. “Sometimes I think they'll catch him, and all this goes away. Other times I think I’ll be looking over my shoulder for ever.” She set down her coffee and held her head in her hands. Ian came over and put his arms around her. He stroked her hair and she rested her head against his chest. “What does this guy want?”
89
When Kapoor ended the call to Alice, she spread her palms and turned to Manning. “I lied Liz. Damn well lied. We don't even have the list from SO15 yet, and I’ve spent most of my time on the Natalie Johnson case.”
“The rape?”
“Yeah. Two guys she knew raped her at a party, they say it was consensual, she says it wasn’t. I was with her all morning, now I’ve got to update the damn computer.”
“I’ve got other cases too. Four domestics with a violent partner still in the same house. One is a real nasty bastard. I’m sure he's going to kill her some night, but there’s little we can do. She won't press charges, either from fear or dependency...”
Kapoor put up her hand. “Sorry, Liz. I know. I know. It's a shit world for some people but we can't save them all. It’s not possible. However, we can save some. Yes, we have to prioritise, and I’m juggling Alice and Natalie. With Alice it’s about prevention, with Natalie it’s about justice.
