The Verdict by Nick Stone Read Free Book Online Page B

because he couldn’t get a licence to open up.
    ‘Every month or so we’d go to France. Calais. We’d load up on cheap fags and drink. This was long before the EU regulations, so prices were low. We’d fill the van up and take the ferry back. Rodney’d sell the fags and booze in the shop cheaper than anywhere else in town. Made a fortune.
    ‘The family moved out of our road and into a semi-detached house in Stevenage Old Town. The posh part. But me and VJ still did our walk to school. I’d stop by the shop to pick him up, because he worked there with his dad in the mornings,’ I said.
    ‘Then, in 1989 Rodney was murdered. The police found him in the shop’s backroom. He’d been stabbed. Twenty-two times.’
    Karen’s mouth dropped and her eyes widened.
    ‘
Christ.
’
    ‘The cops reckoned it happened just before Rodney was closing up. He was always on his own then.’
    ‘Did they catch anyone?’
    ‘No. There was no CCTV in the shop. No witnesses.’
    ‘Was anything stolen?’
    ‘Yeah. The safe and till were empty. And a load of fags and booze too.’
    ‘How did Vernon react?’
    ‘He was shocked, obviously, at first. But there were no tears. And I hate to say this, but afterwards he – well, he blossomed. Physically it was like he grew a whole foot taller. He became a lot more confident, socially.
    ‘We never talked much about the murder. He did once say it was a shame his last memory of his dad was a bad one. The morning of the murder they’d had an argument in the shop, right in front of me and all the customers. Rodney wanted VJ to leave school and work in the shop full time. VJ had his heart set on going to Cambridge. Rodney said – or shouted, more like – “
You’ll go to university over my dead body
.” And VJ said, “
Hurry up and drop dead, then
.”’
    ‘Famous last words,’ Karen said.
    ‘That’s one way of putting it,’ I said.
    Now, we’d arrived at the crossroads moment of our Big Talk.
    On my way back from Janet’s house I’d decided how much I could afford to tell Karen about my past – how much
more
, that is. My Dark Ages were about to become darker still.
    Karen had an expressive face, as good as transparent when it came to telegraphing thoughts and emotions. It made the day-to-day easy in our marriage, as I could foresee potential arguments and conflicts and head them off in time.
    Looking at her across the table, I watched the doubts and questions convening quickly behind her brow.
    Here it came…
                      the obvious question:
    ‘Did he…’ she started, and then paused for the right words. Not that there was a delicate way of asking what she wanted to know.
    ‘I mean… Do you think he could’ve…’
    ‘
Killed his dad?’ I prompted.
VJ had done me wrong in two big ways. I was about to reveal the first, but not the second.
That
wasn’t relevant. Not to Karen, not to the family, and not to the matter at hand. I was keeping
that
out
of it.
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘I honestly don’t know. At the time – when it all happened, when we were still friends – I was
sure
he hadn’t done it. I was
convinced
he was innocent. Just
knew
it. That’s why we gave him the alibi.’
    ‘
The
…
?
You
what
?’
    ‘We gave him an alibi. Said he was with us that night.’
    ‘Whoa! Rewind, Terry.
Alibi?
… Your
family
?… You’re losing me.’
    I leaned in, lowering my voice so the kids wouldn’t hear.
    ‘His mum and sister were out of town. Up in Birmingham visiting relatives. VJ was home alone that night. He told me he’d been studying.’
    ‘But he had no one to back him up?’
    ‘That’s right,’ I said. ‘Stevenage was a rough old place back then, but murders were pretty rare. Rodney’s killing was big news. All anyone could talk about. The police were under a lot of pressure to catch someone.
    ‘The lead detective was a bloke called Quinlan. I forget his first name. He interviewed VJ for two hours. VJ came round mine straight