So Say the Fallen by Stuart Neville

Author:Stuart Neville
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crime Fiction
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 2016-07-10T17:07:33+00:00

29

Flanagan took the seat opposite DSI Purdy.

“Well?” he said.

“I want to question Roberta Garrick,” Flanagan said.

“I thought you already did.”

“Here,” Flanagan said. “I want to bring her in, do it in an interview room, put the fear of God into her.”

Purdy chewed the end of his spectacle arm for a few seconds before saying, “No, absolutely not. You can’t hit her that hard with so little to go on.”

She considered arguing, but knew this was not a fight worth having. “Do you have any objection to me questioning her at home?”

“What sort of tone?” he asked.

“Firm,” Flanagan said. “I’ll not let her know what I’m after specifically, but I want her to know I’m suspicious. If she’s innocent, it’ll probably go over her head. If she’s guilty, it’ll rattle her. Put her on the back foot. I’ll learn a lot just from her reaction.”

“Prearranged or drop-in?”

“Drop-in. Not tonight, of course, but tomorrow.”

Purdy nodded and put his glasses back on. He leaned back and said, “You know, I’ve got mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I’ve no desire for this to turn into a murder investigation, so I hope you’re wrong. On the other, if you are wrong, if you’ve been pursuing a recently bereaved woman for no good reason, then you’ll have gone down in my estimation.”

“I understand that, sir,” she said, feeling the weight of his gaze on her.

“This will be the last investigation of yours that I oversee before my retirement. What I said to Allison on the phone the other day, that was true, you’re probably the best I’ve ever worked with. I don’t want my last memory of you to be a monumental fuck-up.”

She looked at her lap. “No, sir.”

He leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “Look at me,” he said.

She did so. “Sir?”

“I’ll give you one chance, right now, to drop this. You let it go, and I’ll forget everything you told me about the brother and the baby, all of that. You can put this case behind you and move on, no harm done.”

“I can’t do that,” she said, keeping her eyes hard on his.

“All right. But know this: if you go chasing after a murder and the whole thing blows up in your face, there’ll be sweet fuck all I can do for you.”

“I know, sir.”

“Okay. Have at it, then.”

Flanagan made it home before dinner, in time to eat with her family. It seemed like the first time in forever. She called Alistair on the way, asked if he’d started cooking anything yet. He hadn’t, and she offered to grab a Chinese takeaway. She picked up a bottle of wine and some beer while she was at it, and now all four of them sat around the table, sharing sweet and spicy food. Flanagan took a mouthful of cold Czech lager, savoured the sharp taste, the burn of the carbonation on her tongue, and felt a gladness in her heart.

Ruth and Eli talked about school, their friends, the film they were looking forward to at the cinema.

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