2
Armstrong had left Pitt Street after the interview with the two uniforms – telling Irvine that he wanted to catch up on his other work. He promised to be back before five to go and see Suzie Murray with her.
Irvine typed up statements for the officers and filled out internal reports. She hated the paperwork and it took her more than three hours to finish all of it. Sometimes she thought that modern policing was more about documenting what was done – rather than actually doing it.
She called Jim Murphy at four in the afternoon to chase up the post-mortem results and to see if anything of note had turned up from the lab analysis of whatever was found at the locus.
‘I think the drug squad instincts are right,’ Murphy told her.
‘How so?’
‘Well, blood analysis isn’t back yet but I’m betting that she died from an overdose. I spoke to the pathologist and his preliminary view is that she wasn’t killed by someone. There are no signs of violence and no water in her lungs.’
‘She was dead when she went in the water?’
‘Yes.’
‘CCTV show up yet?’
‘No.’
‘Call over there and see if they can put a rush on it, will you.’
‘I’ll do it now. Talk later.’
Five o’clock came and went with no sign of Armstrong. The clock crept towards six, then past it. She called her mother to ask her to pick Connor up from the childminder and endured a lecture about parental responsibility. After that, she called Armstrong’s mobile and left a message on his voicemail to call her when he could.
Then it was six-thirty.
Her phone rang and she picked it up without looking to see who it was.
‘It’s about time,’ she said.
‘What?’
It was Logan.
‘I thought it was someone else.’
‘You waiting for a call? We can speak later if you like.’
‘No. No, it’s fine. I’m a bit frustrated. Are you still planning on coming over later?’
‘I am. It’s just that, well, I wanted to ask you about something. About the phone you got for Ellie.’
She’d forgotten about that.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘Ellie asked me not to.’
‘She’s a kid, Becky. Did you not think I should have known about it? I could have helped her. I mean, who knew how she was going to react to hearing Penny’s voice. She could have regressed.’
‘What about Penny’s voice? You’re not making any sense, Logan.’
He told her about the message on the phone.
‘I didn’t know. How did she react?’
‘She’s fine.’
He sounded terse, angry.
‘I said I didn’t know,’ she told him, aware that he was reacting this way because he was upset – probably unsure how he felt himself about hearing Penny’s voice again.
He didn’t respond. She closed her eyes and rubbed at them with her free hand.
‘Listen, I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘If I’d known about the message of course I would have talked to you about it first.’
He sighed.
‘We can talk about it later,’ she said. ‘I’ll call when I get home, like I said.’
‘Fine.’
Click
Was there any other word in the English language so often used to mean something entirely opposite to its meaning as fine? She didn’t think so.
She called Armstrong again, still pissed off at him. Got his voicemail and left a short message that she would go and see Suzie Murray on her own and he could meet her there if he liked.
She put on her jacket, grabbed her bag and headed out of the building.
Way to stay out of trouble.