Chapter Eighteen
Luke stared at the wall, and the large frameless aerial shot of Boscastle village.
Arriving a little under fifteen minutes ago, he’d been keen to find Cat.
Unfortunately, reception had informed him she was upstairs in the family’s suite having breakfast with her brother. He would have to wait until later.
As he’d driven from the garage to the hotel, his mind had been doing somersaults.
He was innocent. All he had to do was tell them the truth.
But it wasn’t quite as simple as that, was it?
The truth was wrapped around all sorts of other complex issues; ones which indicated some form of association with Marika.
If not handled properly he could easily see himself taking the hit for this.
He was jolted back to the present as the door opposite opened and a short dark-haired man in a pale green shirt and brown trousers emerged. ‘Luke Carrack?’ he asked. Luke nodded, got to his feet and went to join him. ‘DS Cousins,’ the man introduced himself. ‘This way, please.’
Luke followed him into the small meeting room where a thin fair-haired man in his early forties was seated at a table.
He looked up as Luke arrived, introduced himself as DI Phillips and asked him to take a seat.
As Luke eased himself into the chair, DS Cousins joined his boss on the other side of the table.
He wasn’t sure he liked the look of either of them; the sergeant dark eyed and olive skinned; the pale eyed inspector gaunt and otherworldly.
He took a few calming breaths. As Gareth had said, this was purely a preliminary interview to gather information.
Phillips led the interview, while Cousins made notes.
And now, twenty minutes later, his head spun from the questions constantly fired at him. His story had been straightforward, or so he thought. Yes, he knew Marika, he confirmed. He told them about their first meeting outside the small supermarket in the village.
‘Jordan had finished with her, but she seemed to think she could get him back. She thought my family connection meant I’d have some influence; that I could help her but,’ he shrugged, ‘there was nothing I could do. We’re not close.’
‘So what did you tell her?’
‘Nothing she wanted to hear. But the truth is when Jordan finishes with someone that’s it; he never goes back.’
‘But it seems he made an exception with Chantelle Mason,’ Cousins argued.
‘Yes, I had heard rumours they were seeing each other again.’
Phillips leant back in his seat. ‘So what did you say to her?’
‘I told her I understood how upset she was but he wasn’t someone who was going to settle down soon. He liked his freedom and the friends he gets around with. I advised her to go out and enjoy herself, find someone else.’
‘And how did she react?’
‘She was very distressed. I felt sorry for her, alone and a long way from home so I gave her my mobile number. I told her if she needed someone to talk to, to call me.’
Phillips pursed his lips and nodded, his pale eyes meeting Luke’s. ‘Bit of a white knight, are we?’
‘I like to help people if I can.’
‘And did Miss Stefanski take your advice, you know, to get on with her life?’
‘No, she contacted me again.’
‘She called you?’
‘Texted me.’
‘Just the once?’
‘No.’ Luke hesitated, trying to remember how many times he had deleted her insistent messages. ‘On numerous occasions and there were a couple of calls.’
‘And how did you respond?’
‘I reminded her of our previous conversation. That Jordan wasn’t someone who had steady girlfriends. Again, I tried to encourage her to make friends with other girls in the hotel and go out and have fun.’
‘So, you ignored the other calls?’
‘Yes, I deleted her texts and blocked her mobile.’
Phillips nodded, tilting his head thoughtfully as once again Luke became the focus of his silent attention.
‘When was the last time you saw Miss Stefanski?’
Luke sighed inwardly. Here it was, the make or break moment. ‘Last night. She sent me a text through a new mobile number. Asked me to meet her in the small cove below Caer Gwyn – the house just beyond the hotel,’ he said to their frowns. ‘Said she had something important to tell me.’
‘And can you remember roughly what time it was?’
‘Around ten-fifteen.’
‘What made you decide to go? I mean, you’d blocked her phone once, why didn’t you just ignore her?’
‘I’m not sure. I guess I thought I’d have one last attempt to convince her she was wasting both her time and her life over Jordan. He was with someone else; he no longer wanted her. She needed to move on; to find someone who wanted a proper relationship with her and not just a few weeks of fun.’
‘And what happened when you got there?’
‘She was very wound up. She said he had to take her back. She claimed she was pregnant but I’m not sure I believed her. She was almost hysterical. When I tried to calm her down she became very angry. She told me I was useless and …’ he ran his fingers along his jawline ‘… then she struck me.’
‘Scratched you?’
‘Yes.’
‘And your reaction was?’
‘I walked away. I told her I was through with trying to help her. I ignored her abuse and returned to the barbeque.’
‘And to Cat Trevelyan.’
‘Yes.’
‘Did she notice the marks on your face?’ Cousins joined the conversation again.
‘Yes.’
‘And what did you tell her?’
‘That I’d tripped and ended up in some gorse bushes on my way back from the car park.’
Phillips fixed Luke with his pale blue eyes. ‘Why did you lie, Mr Carrack?’
‘I wanted to keep Cat away from Marika.’
‘Why? Was there more to your relationship with Ms Stefanski than you are admitting? Were you lovers?’
‘Absolutely not.’ Luke struggled to find his next words.
‘Look, I know this may seem crazy to both of you, but if I had told Cat what was going on she would have wanted to become involved. Marika was one of her father’s employees, her behaviour could have affected her job.
And if Marika had discovered I’d been talking to Cat, well, who knows what might have happened. ’
‘Care to expand on that statement?’ Phillips looked at him curiously.
‘Marika was becoming unstable, as you can see.’ He indicated his face. ‘I couldn’t take the chance she might become violent towards Cat.’
Luke closed his mind to the memory of the final threat she had made and the potential damage Marika could have caused had she come face-to-face with Cat. Also if he told the police about it, he’d be admitting he’d had a first-class motive for her murder.
‘Yet she made no attempt to confront Jordan Hunter?’ Luke pulled himself back to the interview as Phillips fired another question at him.
‘No.’
‘Why was that, do you think?’
‘Because being aggressive would have wrecked any chance of getting him back, wouldn’t it? And that was the last thing she wanted to do.’
Phillips cleared his throat and looked at Cousins. ‘Right, well I think we’re done for now. We’ll need to take a DNA sample before you go.’
‘Of course.’
Luke pushed back his chair and got to his feet. He’d been open and honest in his interview. It was pointless lying. But he realised how implausible parts of his story must appear to two total strangers. Two strangers whose job it was to find Marika’s killer.
Free from that room, the two police officers, and a string of challenging questions, he now had to face his toughest test of the day, if not his entire life.
He needed to talk to Cat and tell her the truth, damaging though it was.
In fact, more than damaging; there was a chance he could lose her completely.
As he walked through to the front of the hotel he saw her standing out on the terrace talking to a waitress who was busy clearing away empty glasses. Finishing her conversation, Cat turned, spotted him and waved, before making her way over to join him.
‘Luke? Are you all right? You look very pale,’ she said as she reached him. ‘Not a nice experience, eh?’ She took his hand in hers and squeezed it. ‘Those two certainly don’t pull any punches.’
‘I’m fine,’ he reassured her, hoping his smile appeared convincing enough.
‘Terrible news, isn’t it? I know she wasn’t the easiest of people, but murder?’ Cat shook her head. ‘And here of all places. Still, hopefully we’ve now both been eliminated from their enquiries. Not that we were ever suspects in the first place,’ she joked.
Luke had no forward plan; no idea how he was going to explain what had happened and how foolish he had been.
His involvement with Marika had now placed him in a very precarious position.
There was every chance he could be charged.
He pushed the thought from his mind. No, it couldn’t happen.
After all, he’d told them the truth, he’d not hidden anything.
Besides, there were others, especially people she’d worked with, who he was sure would corroborate how volatile she was.
If anyone was a suspect in all this surely it had to be Jordan?
But that still left him here, now, with Cat, and a lot of explaining to do.
‘Luke, are you sure you’re alright?’ He heard her voice from far away.
‘What? No, I’m not, I …’ He rubbed a hand over his face. ‘I need to talk to you somewhere private, away from here.’
Cat drove to a remote spot just off the Newquay Road where she knew there was a solitary bench facing the sea.
It was an ideal place for the complete privacy Luke had asked for.
She seated herself alongside him, waiting for him to begin.
She had no idea what this was all about.
When he confessed to his involvement with Marika it came as a complete shock.
‘God, Luke, what were you thinking? Didn’t you know what she was like?’