Into the Flames by James Delargy

Author:James Delargy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2024-07-04T00:00:00+00:00

Thirty-Four

January 21 – 00.36 – Wind direction NE – Surface speed 17km/h

17.5 hours since North Rislake evacuation

South Rislake status = Amber (Prepare for possible evacuation)

He was right. He spent an hour staring at the late shift dealing with panicked phone calls, irate residents and a couple of drunks who would need to sober up quick if the wind blew disaster in the station’s direction.

At some point he must have dozed, as Layton woke him up.

‘Russell has waived representation.’

‘Really?’

Layton shrugged. It didn’t make sense to her either. Either he was confident that he was innocent, confident that they couldn’t prove his guilt, or too cheap to hire a lawyer.

Grabbing a cup of grainy coffee, Kennard followed Layton into the interview room. After going through procedure, she kicked off the questioning.

‘We need to ask you some questions, Mr Hilmeyer, about your wife. Her murder.’

Kennard watched Russell flinch at the mention of his wife’s fate.

‘Run us through Tuesday night again.’

‘I was working.’

‘For Devon King?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Doing a job of a type that you still won’t say?’ said Layton, leading Russell down the path she wanted.

‘It was private business.’

‘This is a murder investigation, Mr Hilmeyer. There’s no such thing as private business. But we’ve spoken to Mr King. He claims you were working as a courier.’

‘I was.’

‘I don’t think that’s true, Mr Hilmeyer. We think you were debt collecting, doing muscle work. Is that the type of business Mr King is involved in?’

Russell stayed quiet, his cuffed hands clasped tightly together.

Layton continued. ‘Mr King has informed us that he can only provide you with an alibi for part of the night. Early evening to be exact. We have been given the name of a person who can provide you with a full alibi, but we cannot locate him.’

Russell frowned. ‘That’s your job.’

‘It’s to your benefit that we do.’

‘Yeah, I get that, but I only know his name. Christophe Stoltz. We’ve worked together a couple of times, that’s all. We aren’t best friends. Do you two know much about each other?’

‘We’re not the ones being questioned, Mr Hilmeyer,’ said Kennard, his anger bubbling. ‘When were you last in contact with your wife?’

‘Tuesday morning. I left her watching television.’

Kennard flicked a glance towards Layton, who stepped in. ‘We have received information from our Tech team that a ping from your mobile phone can be traced to your residence on Tuesday night.’

Worry finally caught up with Russell, shading his face. ‘Uh, I can explain that.’

‘We’re all ears,’ said Kennard, folding his arms and leaning back in his chair.

‘I didn’t have my phone.’

Kennard glanced at Layton. He wasn’t buying it. From her expression, neither was she.

Russell continued. ‘Tracey’s was broken. She’d dropped it. So, I gave her mine. She needed it in case Tony Steyn gave her more shifts. We needed the money.’

‘And you didn’t need a phone?’

‘I knew where I had to be on Tuesday and Wednesday.’

‘The information we have is that it only pinged once. On Tuesday evening.’

‘Maybe she didn’t use it, or…’

‘Or what, Mr Hilmeyer?’

‘Or she was so out of it that she could barely make it to the bathroom never mind use a phone.

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