Sebastian’s, summoned by the paramedics, and then issued an alert on the news for people to be on the look-out for us. The taxi driver must have called the police on us. Perhaps he thought it better that we got arrested than his cousin did.
‘With all the evidence we have, you’re looking at twenty to twenty-five years for Kate’s murder,’ Reza informs me. ‘And an additional ten for the attempted murder of your landlord.’
Oh dear God. I stare down at my hands. They’re trembling in my lap.
‘How old is your daughter?’
I can’t breathe. Marlow. I can’t go to jail. She needs me. My foot starts tapping out a staccato rhythm as my anxiety grows, crawling up my body like big, fat spiders. I take a deep, gulping breath and then another, trying not to think about Marlow and the fact I might never see her again. Twenty-five years, longer even! I’ll be an old woman. She’ll be grown.
‘Look,’ I protest, desperately scrambling for something to stave off the panic, to stay Reza’s hand. ‘Sebastian was spying on us. Speak to the people in the upstairs apartment I stayed in with Kate. Sebastian had cameras hidden everywhere. I found them. He recorded me and Kate. There was footage of her, videos of her leaving the apartment! He was trying to stop me from getting away, from telling you about it!’
Reza glowers at me but I can see I’ve said something that’s caught her interest. I try to reel her in, keep her listening. ‘It’s true. I swear. You just have to go and look in his apartments. You’ll find the cameras. You’ll see I’m telling the truth! Maybe he even recorded the fight we had.’
‘We’d need a warrant to search his apartments. And no judge is going to give me one based on the crazy accusations of someone under arrest for one murder and one attempted murder.’
‘Please!’ I say. ‘Please. You have to believe me! There were some German tourists staying in the apartment we stayed in. Go and speak to them!’
She keeps staring at me, and I can’t tell what she’s thinking, but finally she stands up and walks over to the door. ‘I’ll be back,’ she says and walks out, leaving me with Nunes, a tall, dark presence in the corner of the room. He walks over and sits down, clearly taking advantage of the boss being away to try to crack the case.
‘You’re going to prison for this,’ he says, leaning over me menacingly. ‘So you may as well confess.’
‘But I didn’t do it,’ I protest angrily.
‘Confess and you’ll do ten years, maybe fifteen. A sympathetic judge. People will understand. She was your friend. She betray you. Give us Konstandin and maybe we can strike a plea deal. You’ll get out in time to see your daughter grow up.’
‘She came here!’ I shout. ‘Kate came here and made a report!’ I can’t believe I’ve waited until now to remember this.
‘What?’ Nunes asks, frowning at me.
‘The night she died,’ I say, eager to share now I think it might help derail the train that’s rushing towards me. ‘She came here to file a report about her stolen bag.’
‘How do you know this?’ he asks. ‘Why did you not mention it before?’
‘I only just found out.’ I swallow. ‘It’s why I was with Konstandin tonight. We tracked down the taxi driver who brought her here.’
‘We would know if she came here,’ he retorts, sarcastically.
‘Why don’t you check?’ I urge, sitting forwards, feeling the sting of the handcuffs rubbing my raw wrists. ‘Konstandin and I were trying to find evidence to clear our names, that’s all.’
He stares at me, unmoving. I meet his stare, pleading with him silently. Why isn’t he going and checking? ‘Fine,’ I huff. ‘I’ll tell Detective Reza when she gets back. At least one of you is doing your job.’
I say it to rile him as I know he’s hungry to make the case. If I can poke him, and make him look like he’s missing an opportunity, he’ll probably jump to it. But he doesn’t move. Instead a look of panic crosses his face. It’s brief. He covers it quickly, but not quickly enough. My heart bursts like a bomb in my chest.
Oh God. Everything slips into place.
I lift my eyes from the tabletop and stare at him. It was Nunes. He was on duty that night. I can tell just from the look on his face. He took Kate’s statement. I don’t need confirmation because