your question, I would have been in the apartment on the night of Wednesday, the fourth. All night.’
Helena, who’d been scribbling again, put her pen down.
‘Alone?’ she asked.
‘Well, until Danny came home from work. Then it would have been the two of us.’
‘OK.’ Helena paused for a moment. ‘Two other dates. Recent ones this time. We need to know where you were on the nights of Tuesday, the twelfth of February and Wednesday, the twenty-seventh of February this year. The nights Mervin Elliott and Ryan Jones were murdered. The two men Devon here mentioned to you in a previous meeting?’
‘What?’ Gemma sat still, looking stunned, for a moment, then stood up suddenly, pushing her chair back so violently that it toppled over and crashed to the floor.
‘WHAT?’ she said again, her voice tight and angry. ‘Are you serious? You really think I could be involved in those deaths, just as you think I’m involved with whatever’s happened to Danny? I mean, look at me. Come on, look at me.’
She put both hands on the table, angling her body across it towards them.
‘I’m a journalist. I work from home, writing articles about woolly hats and Pilates and lip glosses, for fuck’s sake. I’ve never been in trouble with the police in my life, not once. So do you seriously believe that now, at the age of thirty-four, I’ve suddenly decided to take up murder as a hobby? That I’ve spent my time in Bristol popping out every other night to kill some random man? Why? Why would I do that?’
She straightened up again, backing away from the table and taking a deep, shuddering breath.
‘I was at home, on both of those nights, OK?’ she continued. ‘Danny and I didn’t go out together at all since we moved here, because we were too busy sorting out the house. I went to yoga a few times, and for drinks in the evening once, with some new friends, but that wasn’t on either of those nights. Otherwise we stayed in. And yes, I’m saying WE, because despite what you think Danny was here in Bristol, alive and well, living with me for the past few weeks, until he disappeared exactly a week ago today, OK?’
She was breathing heavily now, her face red again. Helena sat in silence, watching her, but Devon held out a placatory hand and stood up.
‘All right. Let’s take a moment. Gemma, I know this is difficult, but getting angry isn’t going to help, OK? Sit down.’
He moved around the table to pick up the fallen chair and gestured for her to sit in it. She did, still panting slightly, her fists clenched.
‘Are you all right to carry on?’ Helena asked.
Gemma nodded, eyes fixed on the table in front of her.
‘Sorry, again,’ she muttered.
‘It’s OK. We understand that you’re going through a lot right now,’ Helena said. ‘But you must also understand that we are now very, very concerned for your husband’s welfare, and on all of these dates we’re asking you about, men who bear a striking resemblance to Danny were killed in what so far remain unsolved cases. So as you see …’
Gemma’s head had snapped up, her eyes locking onto Helena’s.
‘All of them? What, those two London dates too? Men were murdered in London as well? So that’s … that’s four?’
Helena paused for a moment, then nodded.
‘Four, yes. We don’t know if any of them are connected, not yet. But there are certain distinct similarities, and as Danny is now missing …’
Gemma was shaking her head, an incredulous look on her face.
‘Oh my GOD,’ she said. ‘You really do think I’ve got something to do with all this, don’t you? OK, so if you really don’t believe me about Danny only being missing a week, what exactly did I do then? Show me some proof that I hurt him, that I hurt any of them. Tell me how I overpowered my big strong husband, slashed him to death with a knife and then … well, then what? Carried his body out of our apartment all by myself, and hid it somewhere? Buried it? All without anyone else noticing a thing? Where is it then? And again, look at me, for fuck’s sake. I’m five foot four, and Danny’s over six foot. I don’t know why his blood is all over that room, I can’t explain that. But I didn’t hurt him. He was absolutely fine when I last saw him. I didn’t do anything, to any of them.