Page 75 of No Safe Place
All this – it was all something to do with the paper, David’sfucking crusade against shit therapists that had got him promoted and talked about and launched his career.
‘My fourth question—’ then Field smiled. ‘Halfway there now.’
It felt like they’d only been talking for a few minutes. Callum was relieved, at the thought of it being over, of going back to bed.
‘When was the last time you saw David, before Friday? And how did he seem?’
Callum shut his eyes. Technically two questions, which would make the total nine.
He steadied himself. It was part of the same question; it was all one thing she wanted to know. It was fine.
And anyway, he thought, already not believing it,it doesn’t even matter if she does ask nine questions. It’s just a number.
‘I don’t see him, I speak to him on the phone,’ Callum managed, his voice strained. ‘I spoke to him on Tuesday morning. He called me—’
‘But that wasn’t your usual appointment slot, was it?’ Field frowned. ‘You were only on the phone for five minutes, and you terminated the call.’
They had been looking at David’s phone records. It made him feel sick again. The unreality of the situation, its bizarreness, kept being punctured by the realisation that this was an investigation. It was real.
‘Next question,’ the lawyer prompted.
‘Actually, Mr Greyson,’ Field said, with a tight smile. ‘I was waiting for Callum to expand on that last point.’
‘It wasn’t an appointment. Sometimes I speak to him when I needed to. It was a benefits thing.’ They looked at him blankly. ‘He was letting me know that they were stopping my disability living allowance.’
‘Okay,’ Field said.
God. Madman on the loose and she wanted to talk about his fucking dole money. Today of all days, they must believe he was mental enough to deserve it.
Under the table, Lily put a hand on his thigh. Gentle squeeze.
The room was heating up, the smell of food getting stronger. The label in his T-shirt was infuriating him, and he had a layer of sweat on his skin. Lily squeezed his leg again.
Two.
He nearly missed Field’s next question.
‘When you found Sam, on the doorstep. What did you do?’
He blinked. Her tone was harder, like she was getting impatient.
Well, he was getting impatient too. Impatient for this to be over. To be back in the dark where it was cool and he could take the T-shirt with the itchy label off, and be left in peace.
He jerked his leg and Lily took her hand away.
‘It wasn’t the doorstep. She was on the pavement, beyond the gate.’ He shut his eyes.
One moment he was totally fucked, but then he saw the figure on the ground, and he was instantly sober. Like he’d not had a drop.
They were waiting for him to speak. ‘I didn’t recognise her at first because of the blood. Straight away I could see her neck was the worst, so I pressed down on it and then I realised it was her. Sam.’
Everyone was looking at him, rapt.
‘And I shouted for help, and I tried to stop as much of the bleeding as I could. I was scared I was strangling her, but I had to, didn’t I? Press down?’
The room was dim enough that he could imagine himself back in the dark again, with Sam. Crying out for someone to help, the unbearableneedto take his phone out and call an ambulance.
If he had …
