Buried (DC Jack Warr #1) - Lynda La Plante Page 0,72

already lost Mike. I’m sad for the girls, but I’m finding it hard to muster any sadness of my own.’

She went into the kitchen and Jack watched her make two mugs of tea.

‘You recently spoke to my colleague about life with Mike,’ he said. ‘I have a few more questions, if you don’t mind?’

He spoke gently, but was aware that he’d caught her at a point of maximum vulnerability.

Susan shrugged. ‘Fire away.’

‘You mentioned to DC Joshi that Mike – and forgive me for mentioning this, but . . . that Mike was unfaithful. Was there any specific occasion that sticks in your mind?’ Susan didn’t look up as she stirred the milk into the teas. ‘I have to ask, you see, because we need to understand what made Mike tick in those difficult years after he left the force. Understanding him is very important for us.’

Inwardly he winced. Was he overdoing it?

Susan looked down at the mugs of tea. ‘Mike once told me he’d been part of a raid on a brothel. They went in and cleared the place out, arrested everyone they found, girls and punters. Then, in the kitchen, he found a young girl hiding underneath the sink. She was fifteen, sixteen, and she wouldn’t come out. She stayed pressed against the wall, just out of his reach, crying and swearing blind that she just served drinks. Mike talked her out, took her to the station in his own car and made sure he was the one who took her statement. He didn’t know if she was one of the prostitutes or not, but he said he believed her story that she was nothing more than a maid . . . so she went free. The following week, he started working late.’ Susan handed Jack his tea. ‘He did like his waifs and strays.’

‘Are you suggesting that Mike may have had a relationship with this girl?’

‘I don’t know what I’m suggesting, really. I can tell you that Mike had affairs. I can tell you that he liked to be needed. Did he sleep with a teenage girl? He’s capable of it, yes. I guess she’d have done anything to avoid custody. Maybe she saw him as a “hero” for some reason. Mike wasn’t a rapist.’

Just a paedophile, Jack thought, if this story was true. He glanced at the photos of Mike’s own daughters.

While they were saying their goodbyes, Jack replayed one of Susan’s comments in his head.

He didn’t know if she was one of the prostitutes or not, but he said he believed her story that she was nothing more than a maid.

Was there a connection somewhere? Ester Freeman had said that Angela Dunn was a worse maid than Geoffrey . . . and Angela had claimed that she’d let Dolly down by ‘making a mistake’ and then losing a baby. Could the raided brothel Susan mentioned have belonged to Ester? It was a long shot, he realised – but if Angela had worked for Ester as a kid, and if Mike did raid The Grange as a young PC, then they could all have known each other. Suddenly, the Grange women were right back in the frame.

Outside Susan’s inexplicably expensive house, Jack got out his mobile. Within minutes, the HOLMES database confirmed his hunch: Angela Dunn was named in an arrest report from September 1985. She was arrested on suspicion of solicitation during a raid at The Grange. Released without charge.

If Susan’s story was true, Angela Dunn had been Mike Withey’s mistress.

*

Back home, Jack leapt up his stairs, two at a time . . . and then stopped dead. He checked his watch – 10.30. Shit! He was desperate to tell Maggie about his day, but that would have to wait till morning now. He sneaked into the bedroom – the bed was still neatly made and Maggie wasn’t there. He quickly ran through her calendar in his head, certain she wasn’t at work.

In the kitchen, Maggie nursed a glass of red and stared at her laptop screen. She looked at him like a stern mum catching her teenager sneaking in late.

‘What’s up, love?’ Jack asked.

Maggie spun the laptop round so that he could see the screen, got up and poured a glass of red wine for him. On the screen was a photo of Charlie and Penny on the balcony of their cabin. The selfie caught half of Penny’s face and all of Charlie, but it was mostly sea and sky. In the bottom left corner of the image was half of a bright