Silas Nash book 1: Hush Hush Honeysuckle Chapter 15 (b)

Nash took the new pictures and put them in front of the ones he already had. Max had a glimpse of the file, and there seemed to be a stack of photos still in there. Jesus Christ, how many was he supposed to have killed? They must think he was a one-man plague.

‘Victim five?’ Max said. ‘What? Victim five of twenty-five? You’re not sloppy, Inspector Nash. You’re playing games to wear me down. I know what you’re doing. Those photos weren’t out of order. You’re just trying to unnerve me. And let me tell you. It’s working.’

‘Intimidation, Inspector. This is your final warning.’ Pearson was as much use as botulism. She seemed to be up to her eyes in other cases and hadn’t prepared for his.

‘I’m not stupid, Nash. I bet the rest of the paper in that folder is blank—just a big stack of white noise to frighten me. I’ve told you about all the dead people I know of. I didn’t know anything about the three you hit me with last time that had been murdered. All I knew was Henry and this dog-man. I didn’t have anything to do with either of them, so you can take your victim number five shit and shove it.’

Nash laid the first photograph of Ryan Beck.

‘You know the drill, Jones. We’ve been here a few times before. Do you know this man? For the tape, I’m showing the victim evidence 23A.’

‘No. I don’t know this person.’

‘You just said you did.’

‘No, I’m being careful what I say.’

Jane Pearson glared at Max and then Nash and Brown. ‘My client has said he doesn’t know this person. Move on.’

‘That doesn’t mean I haven’t had dealings with him. I want to help you, DCI Nash.’

‘I strongly advise that you don’t say anymore,’ Pearson said.

‘Is that all you can say? Look, love, I’m not being funny, but when you came in two days late, you didn’t even know my name. You might be good, and I’ve little reason to doubt Jeremy Stillman, but I don’t think you’re good for me. I’m sorry, but I don’t need your representation anymore. Send the rest of your bill to my office.’

‘Mr Jones, I can’t advise you strongly enough that this is a huge mistake.’

Nash interrupted. ‘We would also advise that you keep your legal representation, Mr Jones. It keeps us all out of trouble.’

‘Guys, I’ve got nothing to hide. I’ll answer anything you want and take any tests you need. This place is driving me nuts now. I haven’t got long left to enjoy, and want to get this mess cleared up and get out of here. I’m an innocent man, and I’ll find a way to prove it—no offence to Ms Pearson. I’m sure she’s very nice. But I’m going to represent myself from now on.’

‘Please, Mr Jones. Think about what you’re doing,’ Pearson said.

‘I am Ms Pearson. Thank you for coming, I appreciate your time, but you can go now. I’ll be okay, and if I’m not, I only have myself to blame. Thank you.’

He realised he’d humiliated the lady and tried his best to spare her feelings. He had to go with his gut, and his intestines were telling him she wasn’t the one for him. She was putting her things back into her designer briefcase that could probably buy the Continental Bar. Max hated anybody being annoyed with him, so he touched the back of her hand as if that would make amends, and when she looked up, he smiled at her and thanked her again. She snatched her fingers out from under his.

‘You’re a fool, Jones.’

Jane Pearson grabbed her briefcase, picked up her phone and stormed out of the interview room, banging the door behind her.

Nash sighed. ‘Would you like us to suspend the interview while you hire new representation, Mr Jones?’

‘I won’t be needing that, but I would like five minutes with my new client, myself and I, please.’ Max stood up and looked at the clock, ‘Interview suspended at 08:38.’

Nash shook his head, ‘Always the joker, Jones.’ He picked up his things and left the room with Brown. When they returned, they did the preamble for the tape again.

‘It’s my duty to inform you that it’s in your best interests to have a solicitor to speak for you. Would you like us to appoint a duty solicitor?’

‘I’m good, thanks.’

‘You are either very confident or very stupid, Max, and I can’t for the life of me decide which it is. Going back to Mr Ryan Beck.’ Nash tapped the photograph.

‘What can you tell us about him?’

‘Literally, not much. I saw him in the street kicking the shit out of his dog, so I threw some money at him and took the pup. I don’t know if that’s classed as stealing, and if it is, I’ll take it.’ Max was pale, his hands were shaking, and it had been hours since they’d brought him his medication and more hours before it was due again. Nash had told him that he’d sought medical advice regarding Max’s condition. If he needed to stop at any time, the interview could be suspended for him to rest. But Max didn’t want to stop. He wanted to go home. He clasped his hands together to stop them from shaking and realised he was about to make things worse.

‘Look, I’m going to get myself into a world of crap here, but you’ll find out anyway, so I suppose you ought to know. I roughed him up a bit as well. Assaulted him, I guess.’

‘Was this at the same time?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did anybody see this assault, as you call it?’

‘No. Yes. Some cars went by. They must have seen, but they didn’t stop. I didn’t kill him. He was alive and well when I left.’

‘What did you do to him?’

‘I choked him until he was almost unconscious. And then he slumped to the ground. He coughed a bit, but he was okay.’

‘And you’re a doctor who knows this for a fact. I take it. Showing the suspect item 23C.’ It was a close-up of the man’s face and torso. He was badly beaten, with two black eyes, swollen lips and a face caked in cuts, bruises and dried blood. His body was black and blue. There was also considerable bruising around the neck and a thin line where something had been used as a garrotte.

‘Hell, no. Before you ask, I didn’t do any of that. Well, maybe some of the bruisings around his neck, but that’s all. I know it looks bad, but I swear, all I did was choke him. Christ, I wish I hadn’t let that Pearson woman go now.’

‘You and me both. Was the choking in self-defence or to stop him from hurting his dog again?’

‘Neither. It was because I wanted to hurt him.’

Nash said, ‘At this point, we should remind you that this interview is being taped and video recorded, Mr Jones and anything you say can be used at trial.’

Max reminded them that he wouldn’t live to make it to trial. ‘Was he beaten to death?’ He asked Nash. He felt a second of pity for Beck and then remembered the state Mia was in when he first saw her. He was glad this piece of human waste was dead.

‘The beating didn’t help, that’s for sure, but the cause of death was strangulation. We believe a wire was used. In particular, a string that had been removed from Mr Armstrong’s upright piano linked the two crimes. The bloody piano string was found inside the old pub. It was an effective weapon. Do you know anything about it?’

‘I cared more about Mr Armstrong than I did about my own mother. I didn’t kill him, and I certainly didn’t touch his piano strings. But going back to dog-man, I’d like to shake the hand of the person that murdered that piece of scum.’

‘Your feelings are clear. Are you sure you didn’t go too far? Maybe you just intended to give him a little dig to teach him a lesson when the red mist came down, and you couldn’t stop?’

‘No. I didn’t kill him.’

‘But you returned to the scene the next day?’

Max laughed at the ridiculous nature of the situation. ‘I did. I don’t know how to explain it without digging a bloody big hole for myself, so I’m just going to tell you how it is. My mate Jon and his wife, Emily. They’ve never so much as had a parking ticket. If Emily did, she’d pay it the second it arrived, not leave it until it’s doubled like the rest of us. And she’d still cry for a week because her copybook had been blotted.’ He smiled and spoke about them with a fondness that warmed the room.

‘Go on. What’s this got to do with a man getting beaten to a pulp and then garrotted?’

‘I laid a massive poor me. I’m dying, guilt trip on them and pretty much forced them to take the dog off me. The stupidest thing is, you can’t tell Jon about the kind of guy this was. He wouldn’t get it. They agreed to take Mia, but only if I went back to get a dumb receipt and her microchip records, for god’s sake. As if that poor bugger was ever chipped.’

‘Go on. I’m sure this story is fascinating.’

‘I tried to talk them out of it, and I said the bloke wouldn’t be calling the police, but they wouldn’t have it and insisted I went to talk to him to get some kind of paperwork and medical records. I figured I’d walk past the building once. Hell, I didn’t even know if he was one of the squatters there, judging a book and all that. One walk past would fulfil my promise, and I could go back and tell them I didn’t find him. I didn’t expect him to be lying dead in the doorway.’

‘You realise how far-fetched this sounds?’

‘Oh yeah. I wouldn’t believe me either.’

‘Okay, let’s get the rest of the evidence out of the way so we can move on.’

Brown took a plastic bag out of the evidence pack and slid it across the desk. Max’s shoulders slumped in defeat. ‘Showing suspect item 23D. Do you recognise this?’

‘Yes. It’s Mia’s old dog tag. I found it in the street.’

‘Was this before or after you killed Mr Beck?’ Brown said.

‘It was the day after I took his dog when I was on my way to the squat. It must have flown off her collar when he was kicking her. It was in the same place, and I don’t know why, but I picked it up.’

‘You picked it up?’ Brown was still in the driving seat, and if anything, Nash seemed disinterested.

‘Yes. It was just there. And it made me sad. It was a part of Mia, and I felt that she should have it. I don’t know how to explain it. Like, when a mother abandons a baby on the church steps, and they keep the blanket she was wrapped in. The same as that. Even though it was a bad past, horrible, horrendous—it was still hers. I picked it up to give to Jon.’

‘You like shiny things, it seems.’

‘What’s that meant to mean?’

‘Nothing Mr Jones,’ Nash said.

‘Please notice the honeysuckle beside the body. Any comments?’ Brown asked.

‘No, but I can give you a couple of observations if you like. Nice choice. Lilies would have been too obvious. And, your job would be a lot easier if you wore trousers and flat shoes.’

Nash covered his lower face with his hand and coughed.

‘And your life would be a lot easier if you weren’t a murderer, eh?’