‘And you said?’

‘I said, fine. I was leaving anyway.’

‘And what happened then?’

‘I drove her home, she got out and I drove home.’

‘You didn’t get out of the car and see her to her door?’

‘No, I didn’t. I didn’t even really watch her go inside. I just left. Then I parked up at home and walked to The Imperial.’

‘Were you alone?’

‘Yes. I was a bit pissed off because I was supposed to have my son stay over last night, but he made other plans.’

‘So, no one can corroborate your story?’

‘Sorry, no.’

‘OK. Let’s talk about you for a moment,’ Sneddon said with a heavy sigh, clearly not enjoying this any more than Adrian.

‘I thought that was what we were doing.’

‘Are you in a relationship?’ Sneddon asked.

‘Not that it’s any of your business, but no.’

‘I heard your last relationship ended rather traumatically. Is that correct?’

‘Do they ever end well?’ Adrian said, trying to make light of it.

‘Have you sought any counselling for what happened? It’s hard losing someone to an act of violence.’

‘I’m dealing with it just fine,’ Adrian lied.

‘Have you ever dated anyone in the station?’

‘I had a casual relationship with Duty Sergeant Denise Ferguson, but that ended a long time ago. I haven’t had a relationship at all since Lucy died.’

‘Anyone else?’

‘Why does this matter?’

‘Just answer the question.’

Adrian thought about Imogen for a moment. Should he mention it? It wasn’t a relationship, it wasn’t even sexual, but somehow it was important. Far too important to talk about here.

‘I went out with PC Tessa Burgess briefly and a couple other officers who have since transferred out.’

‘Does briefly mean a one-night stand?’

‘Yes. But there wasn’t any drink involved or anything. It was a consensual situation and it was before she worked in this division.’

‘We’ll speak to her, but for now, you can see yourself out.’

Adrian left the interrogation room feeling worse than he had done before he went in. Everything he had said made him sound like a complete scumbag.

Imogen was waiting outside. He struggled to even look at her at the moment. It was taking all of his energy not to just throw himself in front of a bus right now.

Chapter Eleven

Imogen had tried to explain her feelings about Caitlin Watts to DCC Sneddon without making her sound like a psychotic vampire. It didn’t sit well with her at all, not believing the victim. She felt like she was betraying every rape victim that had ever walked through the door. Imogen tried to imagine what she would feel had she not met Caitlin beforehand and immediately distrusted her. Did that distrust automatically mean she was lying now? For all she knew maybe she was all of those things that Imogen thought about her beforehand. That didn’t exclude her from being attacked, that didn’t mean she would never tell the truth ever again. Sometimes people lie, sometimes they tell the truth. If it were any other man, she might even have given Caitlin Watts the benefit of the doubt. But this was Adrian.