The Two Towns (The Lakeland Murders) by J. J. Salkeld Read Free Book Online Page A

care if I’m in a meeting, or anything.’
     
     
    Jane looked round the unfamiliar interview room with rather more interest than Pete Graham was showing. He’d been cautioned, and had insisted on the duty solicitor being present. Dixon smiled at the man, whose name he’d forgotten, but who he always thought looked a bit like a character from Dickens. Not that he’d ever read any. One of the old ones anyway, who probably owned a goose or something. White, that was his name. White, just like his hair.
    ‘I want to talk to you about your brother’ said Dixon, and Jane focussed on Graham’s eyes, and then on his thin, pale lips.
    ‘Oh, aye. That’s nice. Which one, like?’
    ‘Johnny.’
    ‘What about him?’
    Jane zoomed her gaze out. Had he answered a bit too fast? Had he stiffened in his chair as well, just ever so slightly? She was almost sure that he had.
    ‘When did you last see him?’
    ‘Dunno. He’s always at school, or doing his homework. I hardly ever see him. We keep different hours, see.’
    ‘Think harder, Pete. When did you last see Johnny?’
    ‘My client has already told you that he has no precise recollection of that, so can we move on, please?’ White spoke slowly and deliberately, as if he was being paid by the word.
    ‘All right’ said Dixon. ‘How about by phone, or by text? When did you last have contact?’
    ‘Dunno. Last week. The week before maybe. I’m a popular bloke, like.’ He winked at Jane. ‘Popular with the older ladies, I am.’
    Dixon let it go, and Jane didn’t react at all. She’d heard it all before, and worse too, much worse.
    ‘Look at this sheet of paper. Can you confirm that the number at the top is yours?’
    ‘Aye.’
    ‘This is a log of all the calls and texts made between two phones. You’ve just confirmed that one is yours, and the other one is Johnny’s. I want you to look at last Wednesday for me. You called your brother three times, between 4pm and just after 7pm. What did you talk about? And ‘I don’t remember’ isn’t going to be enough for us, I’m afraid.’
    ‘Well I don’t remember. Not exactly, like. But I was probably asking him to pick up some food, like.’
    ‘What, three times? You must have been hungry.’
    Graham glanced across at Mr. White. He didn’t glance back.
    ‘I remember now, aye. He knocked me back, that were it. So I had to call him again.’
    ‘And where were you, last Wednesday between four and seven PM, when these calls were made?’
    ‘At home, I expect. Maybe round a mate’s house.’
    ‘Well which was it? Did your brother normally act as a take-away delivery service?’
    ‘Aye, sometimes. Our ma says they take too long, those delivery lads. She says the stuff’s cold by the time it arrives, like. Kicks right off at them, she does.’
    ‘So did your brother go out and get the food, eventually?’
    ‘Aye. I mean no. No, he didn’t.’
    ‘You don’t seem very sure.’
    ‘I’ve just told you, haven’t I?’
    ‘All right. Let’s move on through the evening of last Wednesday. You sent your brother some texts, can you see them on the printout? You said that you wanted to meet him.’
    ‘Aye, I did.’
    ‘But why? I thought you were at home?’
    ‘Or at a mate’s house. That’s what I said, isn’t it, mate?’ He turned to White who nodded, slightly and eventually. ‘That’s it then, I must have been at a mate’s house.’
    ‘So why did you want to see your brother?’
    ‘I don’t remember, mate. Just something and nothing, I expect.’
    ‘I don’t think so. Because look, you tried again on Thursday morning, didn’t you? So how can it have just been something and nothing?’
    ‘Look, mate, I can’t help you, all right? Now what’s Johnny done, to attract all this bloody attention from you lot?’
    ‘Your brother has been missing since Thursday. Didn’t your mum mention it?’
    ‘Oh, aye. So that’s why she only ordered two pizzas last night, like. Where is he at then?