The journey back to Hawes didn’t take long. Not just because Matt raced along the lanes like an idiot, but because Harry was so tired that he soon nodded off, his head ricocheting off the window in the passenger door with a dull thud, and the rattling heater between him and Matt turning the Land Rover cabin unnecessarily toasty and warm. It brought back memories of his para life, thundering along in the back of a truck, his body suffering from levels of exhaustion he never thought possible. They were good days, Harry thought to himself, and with that his eyes closed, and he was gone.
Chapter Sixteen
‘So if I’m not under arrest, then why am I here? And it’s a bit bloody late, like, isn’t it?’
Harry looked at his own watch. Nick had a point. It was nearly ten thirty. And here they were, him, Matt and Nick, sitting down around a table in the police office at the Hawes Community Centre, helping themselves to a plate of chocolate bourbons. Three mugs of tea also sat on the table, but they were still too hot to enjoy.
‘You ran off,’ Harry said. ‘If you hadn’t, if you’d just come in for a chat, we could have got this over and done with at the pub. So we’re here, right now, because of you.’
‘You can’t blame me!’
‘I’m not blaming you,’ Harry said. ‘I’m just stating a fact. You ran off. We persuaded you to stop doing exactly that. And now we’re here.’
‘I didn’t know who you were!’ Nick said. ‘And you didn’t persuade me about anything, did you? You just ran out of the pub and charged at me!’
Harry sighed. ‘You were running already. I made chase.’
‘You charged at me!’ Nick shouted, repeating himself. ‘That face was like the devil coming at me! I was scared for my life!’
‘And why would that be?’ Matt asked, jumping in.
‘You could’ve been robbers!’
Harry coughed on his biscuit and turned an eye to Matt. ‘Did he really just use the word robbers?’
‘I believe he did that,’ Matt said. Then, to Nick, ‘You’ve still not told us why you were running to begin with. Or to where. It’s not like you live in Reeth, is it? So why were you over there?’
Harry tried his tea. It stung his mouth, but not enough to stop him taking a gulp. ‘Look at it from our point of view, Nick,’ he began. ‘You find John dead, and you do the right thing and call it in. Then we hear that you’ve done a runner, but not only that, we hear as well that you didn’t just find John in the field, did you? No. You received a text from him, which we all know is pretty hard for someone to do if they’re actually dead. And John was a little more than just dead. It’s now taken us all day and most of the evening to find you. And when we eventually did, through luck more than anything, you hot-footed it out of there and tried to run off! If you were wanting to give us the impression that something is a little amiss, then you did a bloody good job!’
There was something else Harry wanted to ask Nick as well, about what Bill had said he’d seen on Saturday morning, but he was saving that for now. Didn’t want to spook him too early.
‘Suspicious, that,’ Matt muttered. ‘Very, very suspicious indeed.’
‘You can’t think it was me!’ Nick said, panic in his voice. ‘I already said I didn’t do it! I didn’t! I couldn’t have! And I wouldn’t have, neither!’
Harry leaned forward to rest his hands on the table. ‘If that’s so, then why didn’t you just come in and tell us? I’d have forgiven you being a bit spooked and nicking off for a while if you’d have come back. But you didn’t, did you? And from what I can tell, you had no intention of ever doing so. Running away is not the best way to make a good impression with the police!’
‘Still not shown us that phone of yours either, have you?’ Matt added. ‘Why’s that, then?’
Nick, Harry could see, was displaying all the behaviour of a trapped animal. Part of him wanted to see what would happen if they really pushed him, but he wasn’t quite sure right there and then that it was the best approach.
‘Look,’ Harry said, working hard to look relaxed and unthreatening, which wasn’t all that easy with a face from Hell and a voice that even when it was being friendly came across a little like the rough growl of a bear with a sore head, ‘we just need your help, Nick, that’s all, okay? The last thing you want is to be caught up in something that has nothing to do with you, right? You found your friend dead, and I understand that’s difficult to deal with, I really do. I’ve been there, I know.’
At this, Harry saw Nick visibly relax. They had a connection now. That was good. ‘You’re worried about showing us your phone, right? Well, how’s about DC Dinsdale and I promise that we won’t go snooping around? In fact, all I actually want to see is the text that you received, and the number. How does that sound? Actually, you know what? Don’t even give us the phone! Just show us the text, the time you received it, the number, and we’re good. How’s that for a start? Make you feel any happier?’
Nick took a nibble from a biscuit. From outside the building came the sound of laughter, voices rolling along the road between pubs, Harry guessed, folk out enjoying themselves, blissfully unaware of the darker goings on being dealt with just a few steps away from them behind closed doors.
‘It’s got private stuff
