Page 67 of Gone in the Night
‘We’re here about Lydia Williams.’
‘Yes, it’s terrible news.’
He didn’t look as if he was overly upset by it, Morgan thought, then she asked, ‘Were you and Lydia close?’
He shook his head. ‘Not particularly, I’m not close to any of my staff. That’s not my job, I’m here to make sure they do their work and meet the targets.’
‘So, you weren’t friends or seeing each other?’
Justin’s face was turning pinker by the minute, and he was beginning to squirm.
‘No, what gave you that idea?’ He was staring in Karen’s direction.
Ben intervened. ‘We’re just trying to find out if Lydia had any problems at work, any other staff members that didn’t get along with her, any issues with anyone overstepping their boundaries. That kind of thing.’
Justin was beaming now; his cheeks were so red, Morgan thought if she held out the palms of her hands, she’d feel the heat emanating from them.
‘Lydia was very quiet; she didn’t have any friends here. She did her work and went home, leaving her job behind.’
‘What does that mean? Don’t all of us do that when we leave our place of work? I know I do.’ Morgan had her fingers crossed because that was the biggest lie she’d ever told, but he didn’t need to know that she could never switch off when she went home and was always thinking about the current case she was working.
‘Well, yes. Some of us are a little more dedicated to our jobs though. I work lots of extra hours, late evenings, weekends if I have to.’
Morgan said, ‘Karen mentioned that you often asked Lydia if she’d stay behind on a Friday when everyone else was leaving. Why was that?’
Justin was openly glaring in Karen’s direction now.
Ben coughed into his fist and asked, ‘Could you tell us why?’
Justin looked awkwardly at Morgan.
‘If I review the footage from last Friday, will I find out you were the last person to see her before she died?’
Justin snapped his head back in Ben’s direction. ‘I liked her okay, I flirted a little with her and she flirted back. I wanted to get to know her, but she wasn’t really into me, so nothing happened.’
‘Were you okay with this? You seem to me like a guy who is used to getting what he wants.’ Ben winked at him, and Morgan knew he was trying to play into Justin’s ego, but it made her skin crawl all the same.
‘Of course, I’m not some total creep. She didn’t want to have a bit of fun or go for drinks, that was completely her choice.’
‘And your wife wouldn’t have minded you going out late on a Friday evening with one of your employees?’ Morgan couldn’t stop herself and knew she was goading him, but he was a sleazeball.
‘Well, of course she would.’ He was getting flustered now.
‘So, why did Lydia text Karen to say she’d quit her job because you were a total creep?’
Justin’s expression was one of pure fury. ‘How dare she say that. I did nothing wrong. I just asked her for a drink after work; it wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to any of my team members.’
‘Ah, yes. I believe you like to hit on all the female team members, especially the younger women. Do you make a habit of this, Justin? I mean how many sexual harassment cases have been filed against you in the last twelve—’ She didn’t get time to finish her sentence because Justin flew across the desk fists curled, spittle spraying out of his lips as he launched himself towards her.
Ben stepped in-between them and did some kind of jujitsu move that the personal safety trainers up at HQ would have given him a standing ovation for. Justin’s arm was twisted at such an angle and he was flipped onto his back and on the floor with Ben straddling him so he couldn’t move.
Morgan pulled a pair of cuffs out of her pocket and snapped them on his wrists whilst Ben read the guy his rights. The whole incident took less than two minutes. They pulled Justin up to stand with the entire office now standing up behind their desks and watching with grins on their faces. Whilst Ben marched Justin out past them all to the exit, Morgan couldn’t resist.
‘I think you guys can grab an early finish.’
Everyone began to clap and cheer. Morgan waved at them all as she followed Ben out towards the lift. She radioed for a van to meet them and transport Justin to custody because there was no way they could take him in the back of the small Focus they were driving. He might try and attack them again.
Well, that hadn’t gone how they’d expected, but at least they had a good suspect in custody. He’d proved he had the rage to stab Lydia multiple times. The question was, did he know orhave reason to kill Sharon or Jack? If he was innocent, why had he reacted to their questions with such violence?
