Chapters (49)
She glanced up, and then paused to think. ‘I think that might be right. In the queue, and then for a bit afterwards.’
Charlie frowned and turned to them. ‘There was a girl who kept falling off her chair, or into people. She was absolutely shit-faced, and I was quite worried about her but she did take herself off home in the end. It’s not … this isn’t about her, is it?’
‘We don’t really know,’ Jonah admitted. ‘All we do know is that Alex Plaskitt ended up dead.’
‘Him?’ Charlie looked shocked. ‘I figured this must be about something he’d done.’
‘I’m afraid not. So if there’s anything more you can remember …’ Jonah suggested, gently.
Charlie looked at Alex’s photo again, and then shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. But I can ask the others if he had any arguments.’ He shivered. ‘Fucking hell. How did he end up dead?’
‘It looks like he was attacked,’ O’Malley told him. ‘We’ll know more soon.’
‘Could you give an estimate of what time he left?’ Jonah added.
‘Not really …’ Charlie pulled a slightly helpless face. ‘You don’t really clock-watch when it’s busy, and people drift around. He could have headed downstairs and been here until closing, and I probably wouldn’t have seen him.’
‘You mentioned CCTV on the phone …’
‘Yeah, we’ve got one by the door. The data files go to my computer. I’ll be heading home in an hour, so I can pick it up. It’s a bit erratic, to be honest, but if there’s anything at all, I’ll send it over.’
‘Thanks,’ Jonah said. ‘That would be appreciated.’
As he and O’Malley climbed into the car, his sergeant said, ‘I sort of see everyone’s point, about Alex not being an obvious victim.’
‘Yes, though he could have been incapacitated by drink,’ Jonah commented. ‘Or –’
‘Taken by surprise,’ O’Malley said, nodding. ‘Yeah. Which implies an attack that came from an unexpected quarter.’
‘Are you thinking of the apparently shit-faced brunette?’ Jonah asked him.
‘They wouldn’t be the first to pull off a sting,’ O’Malley said. ‘There was a couple I helped arrest when I was a DC who had a whole routine worked out. They’d go to a bar, she would be all over some guy, apparently very drunk, and then at some point she’d either slip his wallet out or lead him outside, where the boyfriend would act drunk and aggressive and extort money.’ O’Malley shrugged. ‘Could be something there.’
‘Yes,’ Jonah said, thoughtfully. ‘An extortion gone wrong is possible. But then anything is possible at this stage.’
He just hoped that there was some working CCTV somewhere between the club and Saints Close. Something to explain how Alex Plaskitt had ended up dead in a suburban garden.
