In the pause she watched Harper’s Adam’s apple bob up and down, a bead of sweat break on his forehead and start to trace its path down his cheek.
‘And then you wrapped her in bin bags. Broke her face.’
‘Her face!’ He was appalled. ‘I didn’t kill her. I wouldn’t hurt her. It wasn’t me.’
‘Who was it then?’ Janine said sharply.
‘I can’t,’ Harper said fervently, shaking his head quickly. ‘It’s not safe. He…’
‘Who?’
The solicitor interrupted the exchange. ‘My client has answered your questions.’
‘He’s told me nothing,’ Janine retorted. ‘Who was it, Mr Harper?’
‘I can’t,’ he insisted. ‘Please, I can’t.’ His forehead was furrowed with lines, he grimaced, his lips pulled back, spittle at the corners of his lips. ‘I just can’t.’
Janine made to stand, fed up with pussyfooting about. She’d call his bluff. ‘Fine. If that’s the way you want it. Interview terminated.’
‘All right!’ Harper shouted. ‘All right. Sulikov, it was Sulikov. But I can’t…’ he lowered his voice. ‘It was a warning.’ He ran his hands over his face and breathed out harshly. ‘I’m sorry I can’t – he’ll kill me.’
‘What do you mean? A warning?’ Richard asked.
Harper slid his hands down his face leaving his fingertips splayed across his jaw, his little fingers covering the deep cleft in his chin. He sounded hoarse. ‘It was a warning, to the girls, to me.’ He spread his hands out now, palms upwards asking to be believed. ‘I don’t know if he actually did it or whether he paid someone else. He rang me up – on Tuesday.’
‘Sulikov?’ Richard checked.
‘Yes,’ Harper’s breath came erratically; he was panting as he gave his account. ‘He said I should have known better, helping myself to the merchandise. He said he’d taken care of Rosa.’ He stopped abruptly, wrapping his arms round himself, tucked his hands into his armpits, out of sight, hunched his shoulders. ‘I didn’t know what he meant at first – she hadn’t been found then. She never deserved-’ He stopped, licked his lips. ‘He said my car had made a lovely blaze. Any more problems, he said, and it’d be my house next, with me in it.’
‘Your car was used to carry the body,’ Janine reminded him.
‘To teach me a lesson.’ His eyes glistened. ‘I didn’t know any of this would happen. Honestly. I thought she would wait – maybe see sense about the baby.’
‘An abortion?’ she asked.
He looked uneasy.
‘You’d no intention of helping her, had you? You were just stalling.’
He didn’t answer, he was unnerved and the tic in his jaw was flickering away.
