He leaped suddenly to his feet, fists bunched, making his chair tip back behind him. The duty lawyer gawped. Craig Power was about to hit the emergency button on the wall – the interview was being captured on a live video feed and officers would already be on their way – but Sasha touched his wrist. Wait.

Jenkins stood in the middle of the room, breathing hard, his face twisted in misery and anger.

‘Mr Jenkins.’ Sasha stood slowly. ‘Sit down, please.’

‘I shouldn’t be here. They should be here. They should be rotting in prison.’

The door opened and three officers flew inside, but Sasha held up an arm. Stay back.

‘They killed her, they killed Rhiannon,’ shouted Davey Jenkins. ‘And you people have done nothing.’

‘Are you finished?’ Sasha asked him softly.

Jenkins covered his face and began to cry. ‘And it’s all my fault because I let her go to that pub.’

‘It’s not your fault.’ Sasha nodded at the officers – We’re fine – and they reluctantly backed out of the room. Jenkins staggered to the wall and sobbed into his hands, tears pouring through his fingers.

Sasha picked up the chair, placed it upright. ‘Davey, please.’

He returned to his seat and crumpled into it miserably.

‘I took Abs for a ride, yes, so throw the book at me, it’s what I deserve.’ He wiped a sleeve across his nose. ‘But I didn’t kill Andrew Dean.’

‘Where were you, Davey?’ Sasha asked.

‘I was in town, having a meal at a restaurant,’ he said. ‘Catching up with some mates from around here.’

Sasha clicked the top of her pen. ‘What’s it called?’

‘No idea, but it’s a place in Westcliff. Steve will know, he took us all there. We were there from about ten to midnight.’

‘You have witnesses, of course.’

‘A whole restaurant full.’ He shrugged, all the anger in him burned out. ‘And I can do better than that, because I paid by credit card.’

‘Why was Stephen Gosling at Hockley train station the morning after Andrew Dean was killed?’

‘We got word from someone we knew around there about what happened, someone who was helping us out. I couldn’t believe Dean was dead, so I sent Steve to take a look.’ He sniffed. ‘It’s not going to happen, is it?’

‘What isn’t, Davey?’

‘I’m not going to find out what happened to Rhiannon before my brother dies.’

‘We’ll be charging you with kidnap,’ she told him.

‘All Rhiannon wanted is to be someone, all she wanted was to be famous. She was intending to bed him, that Abs, and she was never seen again.’ He lifted his red, swollen eyes to Sasha’s. ‘So I say it again, do your job.’

20

In the incident room later that afternoon, Sasha rolled her chair across the office when Lolly called her over. ‘What have you got?’