Lewis rose to his feet. ‘Okay, give Cardiff nick a ring and tell them to expect me. And I may well pay Heath another visit on my way back.’

‘Oh, come off it, Ray. On what grounds?’

He drained his coffee cup. ‘I’ll think of something.’

‘You need to let it go.’

‘Is that an order?’

Kesey nodded once. ‘Come up with some evidence and we’ll look at him. Until then it’s not happening.’

‘What about the feeding tube?’

‘What about it?’

‘Heath’s a qualified nurse. He’d know how to use one.’

‘So would all the other doctors and nurses in the area, and the vets too. And quite a few other people who could work it out for themselves. Are you going to visit them all?’

‘Thanks for the sarcasm, much appreciated.’

Kesey folded her arms in front of her. ‘What is it with you and Heath? I can’t understand your obsession with the man. He’s just a man who happens to live in the same street. There’s no evidence against him, nothing to suggest he’s involved in any way at all. Do some further background checks if you have to. Ask around. See if there’s anything at all to support your suspicions. But do it subtly. You can’t afford another complaint, not after the last one. The force has changed. It’s not like the old days when you could get away with just about anything. You’ve got to take the final written warning seriously. If you’re not careful, you’ll be out of a job.’

‘So, you’ll take a look at him if I come up with something, yeah?’

‘If there’s good reason, yes, of course we’ll look at him. But it has to be factual. I’m talking about actual evidence, not blind suspicion that could be interpreted as harassment.’

Lewis smiled despite the conversation’s emotive nature. ‘So, am I right in thinking you don’t want me to arrest Martin Heath today?’

‘Yeah, hilarious as always, now, piss off to Cardiff and stay clear of Heath unless new evidence emerges. Something solid that actually suggests he should be treated as a genuine suspect. And you taking a dislike to him doesn’t qualify. Are we clear?’

He bowed and curtseyed in mock salute. ‘Anything you say, ma’am. Your wish is my command.’

As Lewis left her office, Kesey doubted he’d listened to a word she’d said.

36

‘Where are you going all dressed up in your father’s clothes?’

Heath stared at his mother’s image in the kitchen window and sighed. ‘I’m going out. I would have thought that was obvious.’

‘But where to, Henry, where to? I’m not a mind reader.’

Heath pictured his dead mother following him as he entered the garden at the back of the house. He picked various multi-coloured summer flowers, taking care to make the resulting bouquet as attractive as possible. ‘I’m planning to call on the brat’s mourning mother. I saw her peeping out at me the other night when I went for my walk. Maybe I can find out what the bitch was snooping at.’