Pop Goes the Weasel | страница 115

Smiling, she headed back to her car, leaving Charlie alone with a faceless corpse for company and a very bitter taste in her mouth.

Helen was on her way back to Southampton Central when she got the call. She could feel her phone buzzing and swerved her bike into a bus lane in order to answer it. She had expected it to be Charlie with an update. For a moment she even thought it might be news of a positive sighting of Lyra. But it was Robert.

She had been summoned back to Southampton Central by Harwood, but she didn’t hesitate now, speeding round the ring road, then north towards Aldershot. Harwood could wait. In less than hour, she was walking through the atrium of Wellington Avenue police station. She had met a good handful of the CID officers based here at various Hampshire Police conferences and one of them – DI Amanda Hopkins – greeted her now.

‘He’s holed up in interview room one. We offered him a brief or to call his mum but… well, he won’t speak to anyone but you.’

It was said in a friendly manner but was an appeal for information.

‘I’m a friend of the family.’

‘The Stonehills?’

‘Yup,’ Helen lied. ‘What sort of state is he in?’

‘Shaken up. A few superficial injuries but he’s basically ok. I’ve got the other two in cells. We’ve already interviewed them – they are all blaming each other, so…’

‘I’ll see what I can get out of him. Thanks, Amanda.’

Robert was slumped on a plastic chair. He looked in a bad way – as if he had slightly imploded – with numerous scratches on his face. His right arm was in a sling. He stirred on seeing Helen, sitting up straight.

‘I got this for you,’ Helen said, placing a can of Pepsi on the table. ‘Shall I open it?’

He nodded, so Helen obliged. Grabbing it with his good hand, Robert drank it down in one go. His hand shook as he did so.

‘So are you going to tell me what happened?’

He nodded, but said nothing.

‘I can try and help you,’ Helen continued, ‘but I need to know -’

‘They jumped me.’

‘Who?’

‘Davey. And Mark.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I wouldn’t run with them any more.’

‘You told them you weren’t interested.’

‘They said I was yellow. They thought I was going to grass on them.’

‘Were you?’

‘No. I just wanted out.’

‘So what happened?’

‘I told them to do without me. That I wanted to be left alone. They weren’t happy. They left, but then they came back. Threatening me. Telling me they’d cut me.’

‘So what did you do?’

‘I fought back. I wasn’t going to be pushed around.’