Page 25 of Child's Play

‘Fuck off,’ he bristled.

‘Love you more,’ Lynne joked, sitting beside him and nudging him in the ribs.

Doug’s face relaxed as he put his phone on the table.

‘Any news on Dexter McCann?’ Penn asked of the missing witness. He was no longer in the West Mercia email loop.

Doug shook his head.

‘Not gonna lose too much sleep over it,’ he said, adding two sweeteners to his drink. ‘Their witness not ours. Gotta be lying anyway. We know we got our guy.’

‘But why lie?’ Penn asked. ‘He’s only a neighbour, so what’s he got to gain?’

Doug narrowed his eyes dramatically. ‘You switching sides, dude?’

Penn had to admit that one of the things he didn’t miss was just how annoying Doug could be when the mood took him.

Penn shook his head, ignoring the ‘dude’.

Doug turned to Lynne. ‘You think Dexter McCann is lying?’

Lynne thought for a minute and then shook her head.

‘I think he’s confused. He knows the guy calls his dog to come into the house at ten thirty every night. How can he remember every single night exactly?’

Which was precisely what they’d all said at the time.

She sipped her drink and continued. ‘I reckon we’ve got enough bother with our own witnesses without worrying about the ones for the other side.’

‘Yeah and wasn’t that a bloody slip-up?’ Penn asked. He turned to Lynne. ‘That’s what he said, wasn’t it? I mean from the very first statement?’

Lynne gave him a look of irritation mixed with something else he couldn’t quite read.

‘Nah, I made it up cos like I really don’t know how to take a statement,’ she snapped, slamming her cup back into the saucer.

‘Come on, Penn,’ Doug said, looking at Lynne and then at him. ‘It’s what the tosspot has said throughout. He made a mistake.’

‘A mistake?’ Penn asked. The guy had forgotten what he’d been doing when he’d actually seen the guy on the premises.

‘You saw him up there,’ Doug continued. ‘Overconfident, drunk with being on the right side of the law. He got cocky and slipped up.’

Penn couldn’t help wondering how being an arrogant prick affected your memory of events but he wasn’t going to argue with his colleague and friend. Judging by Lynne’s pensive expression, he’d done enough of that already.

‘Anyway, no permanent harm done,’ Doug said, reaching for his phone. ‘Jury didn’t take much notice and seemed to believe him.’

Penn remained silent and took a sip of his coffee.

Yeah, the jury seemed to believe Ricky Drake, all right, but Penn wasn’t sure he did.

Eighteen

Stacey switched off her computer at 5.45p.m. and sat back in her chair. The boss had told her to go home and she’d learned to read the signs.

She glanced around the empty room as a memory came back to her.

She’d been new to the rank of detective constable and freshly assigned to the team. On the first day, the boss had called in and told her to go home.

As she’d gathered her things together her new colleague, Kevin Dawson, had looked up at her aghast.