Page 138 of Reinventing Cato
“Oh God, and I wanted to get rat-arsed and just throw the nameMarciein there to see what happened.”
Vigge raised his eyebrows. “According to her friends and family, she didn’t have a boyfriend, but I’m wondering if one of your housemates has either been a boyfriend or wanted to be her boyfriend and was turned down by her, and subsequently discovered she’d been seduced by a good-looking charmer called Cato Smith.”
“Sam’s gay.”
“Is he?”
Cato frowned. “Well, he… I’m sure he is.”
“Has he ever brought a guy back to the house? Have you ever seen him with a guy? Has he talked about a guy? Maybe he’s bi, like you. Maybe he’s straight and pretending to be gay.”
Cato sank back in his chair. “Christ.”
“What about Pedro?”
“I’ve hardly ever seen Pedro with anyone. He works really hard. I can’t get my head around it being either of them.”
The food arrived and conversation ceased until they were on their own again. Cato stared at his plate.
“You have to eat.” Vigge reached across the table, picked up Cato’s fork and poked him with it.
Cato took it from him with a sigh.
~~~
By the time they were walking back to the house, the last thing Cato felt like doing was co-hosting a party, particularly a party when it seemed likely one of his co-hosts was setting him up as a serial killer.The bastard!The more time that passed, the less likely Aaron was to come forward. Vigge said he’d deleted the recording he’d made because it raised more issues than it solved after Cato had sort of threatened the footballer. No matter how often Vigge said he believed him, Cato wished Aaron had just come out and said he’d been with him the whole night in a London hotel and so couldn’t have been in Brighton.
Vigge slung his arm over Cato’s shoulder. “We need to find a way to block that route into your bathroom. Or alternatively, you need to move out. I’m worried about what else might get planted if they discover the letter opener has gone. Maybe we shouldn’t have gone out for lunch.”
Cato shuddered. “What else? Bloodstained clothes? DNA? Would the police really think I’m stupid enough to keep a weapon, keep any evidence of what I’d done?IfI’d done it and I didn’t. I don’t claim to be an expert in how to commit the perfect murder, but I do have enough intelligence to know not to keep stuff in my room that would incriminate me.” He sagged. “Sorry. That was a bit too close to what Hendry did.”
Vigge squeezed Cato’s shoulder. “Tonight is crucial. We need to find out as much as we can about your housemates without alerting them to what we’re doing. Talk to their friends. One of them has a link to Marcie Nolan. Step-brother, relative, boyfriend, wannabe boyfriend, stalker, friend of a friend, colleague, neighbour, school friend…”
“I thought you said she didn’t have a boyfriend.”
“Not at the time she was killed, but she probably went out with someone before that. So a jealous ex? A guy who was dumped and blames you? A guy who wanted her but she turned him down?”
Cato frowned. “If someone who wanted to go out with her, saw her with me, why would he kill her and not me?”
“Heiskilling you. Just in a different way.”
“Jesus.” Cato turned to look at him. “That implies an obsession with Marcie that someonehadto have noticed. And, I mean, has he got a taste for killing now? Why not just set me up for Marcie’s death and have done?”
“Because that might well have been a crime of passion. He hadn’t planned it so he wasn’t sure where you were that night. Killing two others that you’d been with means you’re more likely to be charged with all three murders. It’s just his good fortune that Aaron won’t come forward. Maybe he registered he needed to know where you were when he killed the one in my patch.”
“At home on my own. Both Sam and Pedro knew I’d had something cancelled.”
Vigge nodded. “I think it’s a stretch to link the pattern of wounds on Marcie to the others. Her injuries looked more like a frenzied attack than anything deliberate, but the weapon…yeah, that was similar. Long, sharp and pointed. We can’t have her examined again. She’s been cremated. All we have is the post-mortem report.”
“Most of this is supposition.”
Vigge nodded. “True. I could be way off here, but I don’t think so. I’m not certain of the motive, but opportunity to plant evidence, the chance to turn things to your advantage isn’t difficult when you live with the guy you want to implicate.”
“You’re not safe,” Cato muttered. “He could go after you next.”
“I think he’s done.”
“Think isn’t good enough. I don’t want you to be in danger.”
