Chapter 47
Forty-Seven
‘Are you kidding me?’ Kim asked as Bryant pulled into a car park to turn around. He’d already heard Stacey’s opening statement and knew where she was going to want to go next.
‘Nope, not kidding, boss,’ Stacey answered. ‘Robbie Steele got through a few schools, one of which was St James. He was there for a year, and it happens to have been a year Nadine Cowley was there too.’
‘Good enough for me. Great work, Stace,’ she said before ending the call.
‘You know, you never say that to me,’ Bryant observed.
‘Say what?’ Kim asked, her mind already chewing over what she’d just been told. The homewrecking motive was a strong one, but she couldn’t ignore the connection Stacey had found.
‘Good job.’
‘Well, what’s that tell you?’
‘Hey, we all like to be appreciated.’
‘Do something useful and I’ll say it to you. Or you could stop having mini tantrums and get us quickly to someone with a link to both of our murdered women.’
He huffed and placed his focus on the road.
But she did give some thought to what he’d said.
Maybe she did take Bryant for granted, but plenty of people told him he did a great job, not least for putting up with her every day.
For that alone, she often thought Woody might award him a medal.
But she supposed it made a difference where the praise was coming from.
Kids didn’t want to impress the parents of their schoolmates or their neighbours; they wanted the pats on the back from their own family.
And that was why the bravery award had meant nothing to her. It had come from people whose opinions mattered to her not one bit.
She was saved from considering it further when Bryant pulled up at the home of Robbie Steele and his grandmother.
‘What the fuck you want now?’ Robbie asked, opening the door before they reached it.
‘A word if you don’t mind,’ Kim said, stepping past him. She tried not to enjoy the fact he flinched as she passed by.
She turned left into the lounge to see Robbie’s grandmother in the single corner seat. On the side table was a mug of tea and a plate with some uneaten toast crusts.
‘Mrs Steele, we just need a quick word with your grandson.’
As she spoke, Bryant produced his identification, and Kim took the time to appraise the woman and what she could see of her skin. There were no bruises visible, but that wasn’t always the case.
Mrs Steele held up her almost empty plate. ‘Thanks, love,’ she said as Robbie took the plate from her.
He tapped her cup. ‘Another?’
‘If the pot’s still warm,’ she said, and he left the room.
‘How are you keeping, Mrs Steele?’ Kim asked, taking a seat. ‘We heard you’d been in the wars a bit.’
The woman coloured but met her gaze. ‘Just a couple of accidents.’
‘Any recent… accidents?’
The woman shook her head as Robbie re-entered the room with a mug of tea.
He placed it on the table and then took a seat. ‘So, what now?’ he asked.
‘We can talk in the kitchen if you’d—’
‘Ain’t nothing me nan can’t hear. I’ve done fuck all wrong.’
‘Well, we both know that isn’t true, Robbie,’ Kim said, glancing at his nan, who was cringing at his use of language.
‘I’ve told you – she has accidents.’
‘Yeah, and I’ve told you what’ll happen if she has any more. But that’s not why we’re here. Do you know anyone by the name of Nadine Cowley?’
He began to shake his head immediately.
‘Wanna give that a bit more thought?’ she urged.
‘I don’t know her.’
Kim took her phone from her pocket and held it in front of him. The photo was from Nadine’s Instagram account.
He shook his head but with less confidence.
‘You were at school with her.’
‘Which one?’ he shot back.
‘St James.’
He frowned. ‘Can I see it again?’
She showed him the photo again and then remembered something. ‘Brown hair, a rounder face, less make-up.’
‘Yeah, I think I remember. She was older than me, but she didn’t look like that. I’d have wanted to give her a good—’
‘Did you have anything to do with her at school?’ Kim interrupted to save his nan any further embarrassment. ‘Did you ask her out?’
‘Looking like she did back then?’ he asked, grimacing. ‘And she was older than me.’
‘Have you bumped into her recently?’ Kim asked.
‘Nah, I’d have remembered the chick in the first photo.’
Oh, Robbie Steele was a charmer. Some lucky woman was going to be getting him in a few years’ time. But she wasn’t prepared to take his total denial at face value. He was a suspect who’d had contact with both of their victims at some stage.
‘Where were you yesterday afternoon, Robbie?’
‘Fuck off. I ain’t done nothing, so you can shove your questions up your—’
‘He was here with me,’ Mrs Steele offered quietly.
‘Don’t say nothing, Nan. They’ll twist it and—’
‘What time?’ Kim asked, turning to the elderly lady.
‘Well, Melissa came to do my feet at one, and Robbie let her in. He can’t watch,’ she said, rolling her eyes. ‘So he went to his room. He let her out at about two, then he made us a ham sandwich while we watched a bit of snooker, and I dozed off about three.’
If those timings were correct, there was no way Robbie could have been anywhere near the crime scene, although she was pleased that he seemed to be treating his nan better.
‘Melissa who?’ Kim asked as Bryant took out his notepad.
‘Newey. Got her own place in the high street. Comes here once a month. I swear, I wouldn’t lie. He was here with me.’
Kim still wasn’t totally convinced by the alibi.
Even though Mrs Steele hadn’t known the exact times and her statement had completely covered him, she’d still be checking with Melissa Newey.
If those timings were out just a little bit, it would give him time to get there, stab Nadine Cowley and get back again.
Robbie stood and towered above her. ‘Can you bugger off now?’
His attempt at intimidation had no effect on her.
She shifted to the side and looked around him. ‘Okay, Mrs Steele, if you wouldn’t mind just running through those times again.’
Sometimes, if an alibi had been invented, being asked to repeat it helped expose it. The truth was much easier to remember than a lie.