Page 44 of Salvation

I wasn’t surprised. No doubt Vicky had gone telling tales to her father, the chief of police himself, and he had sent round his finest officer to give us a dressing down.

“She arrived early hours of this morning, did she not?”

“If that’s the information you’ve received, what right do we have to contradict the fine resources you possess?”

“So where is she?” Officer Bradley persisted.

“Why are you asking?”

He gave me a tight smile. “I have a couple of questions for her.” I noticed Hacksaw slip out of the door behind Bradley’s back.

“I’m afraid she’s not here at the moment. You’ll have to come back another time,” I said, hearing the click of the door that led to the house at the back and realising what had happened. I heard the hushed voices of Rachel and Hacksaw as he caught her up with what was happening.

“No need.” I tensed as I heard her soft voice approaching from behind me. I folded my arms and glared at Officer Bradley as he eyed her up and down.

“Ahh, there she is. You’re looking well, Rachel.”

“Here I am,” she said, ignoring his compliment. “I’m getting déjà vu here, officer. You’re not going to leave here crying this time, are you?”

“Cute,” he said, his smile getting tighter. “I have a couple of questions about your whereabouts last night.”

“Well, that’s easy,” she shrugged, stepping closer to me. “I was driving here. Speaking of which, I drove throughout the night, arriving early hours this morning. As I’m sure you can imagine, I’m pretty tired. Can we wrap this up, so I can take a much needed nap?”

“I’m aware you were driving. Those were certainly some speeds you were doing.”

“Are you here to arrest me for reckless driving?” She all but smirked at him. “My, we must be busy.”

“You’ll receive your correspondence about that through the post in due course. No, I actually come with bad news.”

“Oh?” she said, tensing slightly.

“She said she’s tired,” I cut in. “Surely this could have waited until the morning? If you knew she was driving, then you must know she needs sleep.”

“This will only take a minute,” he said to me and then flicked his eyes back to Rachel. “I’m sorry to tell you, your friend Hayley was found dead this morning at her home.”

Officer Bradley’s eyes were glued to Rachel’s face, but to give her credit, she gave no reaction other than a small frown. “Oh, that’s incredibly sad. She was a lovely woman.”

“You were close friends?”

“We werefriendly,” she smiled back, not at all put off by his informal interrogation. “But we were not friends. She ran a bakery. Are you making home visits to all of her customers, or am I a special case?”

“You’ve always been a special case for me, Rachel. You know that.” He gave her an easy smile.

“I’m flattered. But that’s all I know, I’m afraid.”

“But you were—”

“I’m sorry,” she interrupted. “Is this an official line of questioning?”

“No, but—”

“Okay, so unless you’d like to issue a warrant for my arrest and question me under caution, I have nothing else to say to you without my lawyer present. I’ve played enough of your games, and I’ve no intention of repeating it because you’re bored, or you’ve run out of parking fines to give out.”

“Is there a need for a lawyer?”

“Of course not,” she gave him a sickly sweet smile. “But after the heinous crimes you accused me of last year, I’d like a formal trail of your harassment going forward.”

“I’d hardly call a friendly warning harassment,” he said with a nervous chuckle.

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