Moss glanced across at Erika. Vicky’s face was difficult to read. She seemed to be cycling through several emotions: fear, disgust, impatience at being asked. She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it.
‘What? Vicky? Do you think he killed Sophia? Is that what you’re scared of? Please. We can only help you if you talk to us.’
‘No!’ she said, pushing her chair back and getting up. Such was the force of her reaction to the question, her feet hit the table and it upset her half-full mug of tea. Erika and Moss sat in the silence for a moment as they heard the tea splatter onto the stone floor. ‘No… No. It’s late. I’m so tired. No. I want to leave. You said that I can leave at any time. So I want to leave. Now! Please… officers… I haven’t slept properly. I need to sleep. I can go and you need to let me go now!’
Erika looked at her watch. It was gone half past eleven. She felt like they’d barely scratched the surface of what had happened, and so much was disturbing in this situation. But she’d have to be patient. They needed to coax the information out of Vicky and to win her trust.
‘Okay. Thank you, Vicky. We’ll arrange for you to go to your sister’s house.’
‘Yes. Thank you.’
‘You have to understand that you won’t be able to go back to your flat for a while.’
‘I don’t ever want to go back,’ said Vicky. ‘Now, please. I need to go.’
30
Erika drove Vicky back to Blackheath from Lewisham Row, and it was midnight when they pulled up outside Tess and Jasper’s house.
‘Vicky. I know that you don’t want to talk any more tonight—’
‘I don’t!’ she said with gritted teeth. She went to undo her seatbelt.
‘Then can I ask you to listen for just one minute? It might make you feel better.’
Vicky sat back and gave a long sigh, which made her seem younger than her twenty-seven years. Like a teenager being disciplined.
‘If you know the person who did this, I promise you, promise you that you can tell me who they are and be safe. I will keep you safe… I have spent my whole career as a police officer going up against corrupt bastards, and many times they have been corrupt bastards in the police force. Officers who have a higher rank than I do…’
Vicky stared back at Erika in the darkness.
‘How would you protect me?’ she said in a small voice.
‘I can call on resources to have police officers protect you, if you want to tell me anything.’
‘And how can you be sure that you’re not sending the corrupt ones to protect me?’
Erika realised she shouldn’t have brought up the subject of corrupt police officers. Vicky hesitated, and Erika thought she was going to say something, and then she unclipped her seatbelt.
‘Please. I want to sleep. I want to see my sister.’
‘Will you come back first thing tomorrow and talk to me again? Informally, of course.’
‘Yes.’
‘Can I pick you up here, at, say, half past nine?’
‘Okay.’
They got out of the car and went to the front door. There were no lights on inside the house when Erika rang the front doorbell. A moment later a light sprang on in the window above and then Tess opened the front door. She wore a thick woollen cardigan over a frumpy flowery nightdress.
‘Oh God. Vicky. Why didn’t you call me?’ said Tess, grabbing her and pulling her into a hug. Vicky’s face was muffled for a moment, as she sobbed into her sister’s chest.
Erika could see Jasper in the kitchen, standing at the hob.
‘I’ll come back at nine thirty tomorrow,’ said Erika. Vicky pulled away from her sister, her face red and blotchy, and nodded.
‘Good night,’ said Tess crisply, and slammed the door. Erika hung around for a moment, but couldn’t hear anything through the door so she went back to her car.
Erika was frustrated. She knew very little, and this was a delicate situation. Technically, Vicky had fled the scene of a murder, and that was a crime, but she didn’t want to go down that road yet. She hoped that Vicky would start to talk of her own accord.
Erika started the engine and drove the short journey home.
‘I thought you were dead!’ cried Tess, staring at Vicky with a mixture of anger and relief. The small living room felt hot, and Vicky stared back at her sister’s accusing face.
‘Why didn’t you phone?’ said Jasper, remaining behind the kitchen counter. It was like a barrier, keeping him distant.