Chapter Twenty-One
Luke lay on a small uncomfortable bed set against the side wall of his cell.
Morning light poured in from a narrow window above, opaque glass obscuring any view of the outside world.
Not that he wanted to look there. Better to simply lie here, gazing at the ceiling.
So many things were buzzing around his head.
The worst of them was not only the fact his arrest had taken place so publicly in the middle of the service department, it was also the way Gareth had looked when they came for him.
He tried to put a name to it. Was it embarrassment?
Discomfort? Yes, both of those, but there was something else; disappointment.
No doubt he thought after all the years of financial and emotional support he’d given him, he’d been let down badly.
‘I’m not guilty!’ he wanted to tell him, but couldn’t.
Their eyes met briefly as they handcuffed him and Gareth quickly turned his attention to the floor.
Issuing a brusque warning to the three other mechanics to get on with their work, he’d simply walked away.
Luke called after him, asking him to let Cat know what had happened to him.
There was no response. As they led him away, the echo of a slamming door told him Gareth had left.
Since then there had been no attempt to organise a solicitor.
The initial questioning which followed his processing at Truro Police Station had been carried out alongside an allocated duty solicitor.
The pale balding man in his fifties had badly bitten nails, which he continued to snack on during the recorded interview.
His tight shirt front, where small pouches of pale flesh peeked between the buttons, indicated a love of the wrong food and dislike of exercise.
He advised Luke to offer ‘no comment’ to the questions he was asked in a tired, almost bored voice.
DI Phillips, who was taking the interview, fired questions at him relentlessly while beside him Cousins continually fixed him with a dark stare.
He now knew Marika had been murdered. Beaten around the head with a blunt wood and metal object.
Something no doubt they were currently scouring the seashore, trying to locate.
Things looked bleaker than ever especially when the hotel’s CCTV confirmed he had indeed gone down to the beach returning ten minutes later.
Eventually, after what seemed like hours, Luke was returned to his cell: bare walls, thin mattress – if indeed it could be called that – and a small partition wall between the bed and a well-worn stainless steel toilet.
An evening meal arrived, following which he slumped onto his bed, exhausted, and fell into a fitful sleep.
He woke and used the toilet. Soon afterwards breakfast arrived.
As his watch had been taken from him he had no idea of the time.
The young officer who came to collect his breakfast things told him it was nine thirty.
A whole day alone. Nothing to read, no one to talk to, no way of making contact with the outside world.
His mind see-sawed between frustration and fear but he managed to calm himself.
He fixed his mind on the most important thing: Cat.
He wondered whether Gareth had even bothered to tell her, although by now it was almost certain most people in Carrenporth knew what had happened to him.
Would she try to see him? They certainly weren’t allowing him any visitors here.
He needed to speak to her; to tell her to stay away.
He knew they planned to charge him soon, and he couldn’t bear her seeing him handcuffed and in the dock.
Sadly, he had already used up his one precious phone call trying to contact his uncle.
His PA took the call and listened sympathetically as he told her about his current situation and asked for proper legal representation to be arranged.
Unfortunately, from his lack of response, it was clear Gareth had completely washed his hands of him.
He sensed Evie’s interference in this somewhere; she had never liked him and it was probably just the opportunity she had been waiting for to cut him adrift.
Not since his mother had killed herself had he felt so powerless, his life now in the hands of strangers.
They were people who looked at the facts and saw black and white, not the grey areas smudging the edges, which might cause them to hesitate in their judgement.
No, he knew all too well that unless a miracle happened his current situation meant he’d be going to prison for a very long time.
Closing his eyes, he prepared himself for another long, despairing day.
‘I need you to see something,’ Nathan said as he joined Cat at the table for breakfast and began helping himself to cereal. ‘It might help Luke’s case.’
‘There is nothing that will help.’ Cat shook her head despondently. ‘As far as the police are concerned Luke was responsible for Marika’s death. The evidence is overwhelming.’
‘Finish your breakfast,’ he said calmly, reaching for the coffee pot, ‘I need you to see—’
‘What?’ Cat interrupted sharply. ‘What is it?’
‘The CCTV footage from the camera covering the steps to the cove.’
‘But I thought the police had taken all the discs.’
‘They did. I took an extra copy.’
‘And there’s something on it?’
‘Yes.’
Cat watched Nathan as he worked his way through his breakfast discarding his cereal bowl and reaching for the toast. She knew any more questions were pointless; they would only make her even more uptight. Helping herself to another cup of coffee she waited for him to finish.
‘So what exactly have you found?’
Breakfast over they were now sitting side by side in the small security office where Nathan inserted the USB stick into the unit.
‘Wait and see,’ he said as he selected the playback icon and double clicked it.
The screen immediately came to life, showing a brightly lit corner of the car park where there were a series of wheelie bins running at right angles to the access to the small cove. The first few treads were visible before the steps disappeared into the darkness.
‘Right.’ Nathan fast-forwarded the disc to ten past ten and then let it run.
Moments later, Marika, dressed in a short dress, her shoulders covered in a light cardigan, could be seen making her way slowly past the bins.
As she reached the top of the steps she hesitated and turned to quickly scan the car park before disappearing down to the small cove.
‘Now nothing happens until…’ he pressed fast forward again then stopped ‘… ten fourteen when as you can see,’ he pointed at the screen, ‘Luke arrives.’
Cat immediately identified Luke in his jeans and white shirt as he walked calmly between a couple of parked cars and disappeared down the steps. Nathan moved everything on another seven minutes then let it run again. Luke reappeared and headed back the way he had come.
‘Now I have a theory … I’m pretty sure the police only ran the tape to confirm Luke’s movements,’ Nathan said, turning to look at her.
‘Let’s face it, he’s admitted to being with Marika at the time.
He’s also confirmed there was an argument and she scratched his face.
The DNA evidence is damming. And I think if they had seen this …
’ he ran the whole thing forward to ten-twenty five ‘… things might have been slightly different.’
Cat peered at the screen. ‘Ah, yes. Someone sneaking by on the far side of the bins and slipping down the steps.’
‘Exactly, and not only that.’ He fast-forwarded again. ‘Eight minutes later they return the same way but this time, see,’ he froze the screen again, ‘they seem to be carrying something.’
‘It looks as though they’ve covered their head too. Is it a man or a woman, d’you think?’ Cat peered at the dark figure creeping back behind the bins trying to avoid being caught by the camera.
‘Hard to tell. They’re wearing trousers so it could be either. Can you make out what they are carrying?’
‘Long, light coloured, maybe a piece wood?’
‘That’s what I thought. But it can’t be the murder weapon because the fisherman walking his dog who found Marika’s body told Jed at The Smugglers she had been hit around the head with something that left deep gouges in her skin.
Even with such a vicious attack a piece of wood wouldn’t do that.
No, something metal had to have been involved. ’
‘What about nails?’ Cat asked. ‘They weren’t carrying the wood when they went down, so they obviously found it down there.
Part of a broken pallet or box washed in by the tide, maybe?
It could still have had them embedded in it.
’ She winced at the thought of the horrific injuries Nathan had just mentioned.
Nathan nodded. ‘Yes, it could be. The thing is, Cat, now we’ve discovered this other person, we have two choices. We go to Phillips to confirm they haven’t seen it or …’
‘The duty solicitor who’s looking after his case? Well what are we waiting for?’
‘I told you it would have been better to wait for Phillips to contact us,’ Nathan said later as he and Cat shared a lunchtime drink in the hotel bar. Grudgingly, Cat had to admit he’d been right.
They’d learned after an earlier call to the police station that both Phillips and Collins were in court all day.
Cat, with her usual impatience and determination to get things moving, managed to get the name of Luke’s solicitor’s practice.
Although he was in the office and took her call, he seemed to think she was some sort of practical joker.
He referred her back to DI Phillips and told her to stop wasting his time before terminating the call abruptly.