‘A Chinese thing.’
‘Was she wearing anything else?’
‘No,’ Sean said. He frowned hard, bit at his lip. ‘That’s why I covered her up. Made her decent.’
Oh, you dickhead, Janet’s first thought. Sean had completely compromised their crime scene. Behind her she heard Rachel shift about, prayed she’d keep her lip buttoned. His misguided attempt to show Lisa some respect would make it that much harder to obtain solid forensic evidence for the case. Janet could have broken the interview there, to alert Gill to the new information, but judged it wise to keep going a few more minutes.
‘Did Lisa usually shoot up?’ Janet asked.
‘No, she smoked. She didn’t like needles.’
‘OK. Where did you get the duvet from, Sean?’
‘The bedroom.’
‘When you covered Lisa up, did you touch her?’
‘No,’ he said, quickly, his face drawn, eyes troubled, frightened by the thought.
‘Did you notice anything out of place?’
‘The table was broke,’ he said.
‘Which table?’
‘Coffee table,’ he said.
‘Where was the coffee table?’
‘Next to Lisa.’
‘Lisa was between the table and the sofa?’
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘Did you touch anything else in the room?’
‘No.’ He looked away, staring at his hands.
Janet paused a moment to see if he’d renew eye contact, but he didn’t. ‘Did you take anything from the flat?’
‘No,’ he answered, almost before she’d finished asking the question. Defensive. Something that made him uneasy.
‘I’m going to have to ask you some very personal questions, Sean. I’m only asking them because they are crucial for our investigation, you understand?’
He dipped his head once.
‘When did you and Lisa last have sex?’
‘Last night,’ he said. ‘I mean, the night before,’ correcting himself.
‘Sunday night,’ Janet clarified.
‘Yeah.’
‘OK, and did you use a condom on that occasion?’
He shook his head. ‘She’s got an implant.’
Janet smiled. Safe-sex messages had obviously gone right over this lad’s head. ‘After you covered Lisa with the duvet, what did you do?’
‘I went outside and rang the police. I couldn’t stay in there.’ He pressed a fist to his mouth, scowling, eyes downcast.
‘Sean, do you know how long you spent in the flat before you called the police?’ He’d got there at half three, the call for help was five past four. What was he doing in that time?
‘No.’ Suddenly he was swiping his fingers at his eyes, no longer able to keep from weeping.
Janet waited a moment, then spoke: ‘Sean, we’ll have a break now,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry this is so distressing for you, but it helps us to do our job, it helps us find out who did this to Lisa. Is there anything else you want to tell me before we break?’
