Naked honesty was her only hope.
‘Mrs Reynolds, when I read that letter from your son, I felt something.’ Stacey tapped her chest. ‘It started here and ended here,’ she said, touching her stomach. ‘I really can’t explain it,’ Stacey said, feeling every angle of inadequate.
‘But there’s no doubt, is there?’ she asked. ‘I mean…’
Stacey shook her head. ‘No, Mrs Reynolds, there is no doubt that Justin took his own life but I’m curious to know why.’
The tears sprang into the woman’s eyes. ‘I can barely live with the fact that I’ll never know.’
Stacey ached to reach out and comfort her, but she kept her hands in her lap.
‘It’s that one line,’ Stacey said. ‘Do you have any idea what he was sorry for?’
Mrs Reynolds shook her head as she wiped furiously at her cheek.
‘It’s the question that has kept me awake since his, since he—’
‘Have you spoken to his friends?’ Stacy asked, to prevent her from saying the words her mouth was struggling to set free into reality.
‘I barely even know who his friends are any more. I don’t think he was in touch with many of his old school friends. They drifted away after…’
‘After what, Mrs Reynolds?’ Stacey asked.
‘The accident,’ she said.
‘Go on,’ Stacey urged.
She swallowed deeply. ‘Two years ago, Justin’s father and sister were killed in a car accident.’
‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ Stacey said, wondering how much pain one woman could take. When the body was being pounded with physical blows the flesh eventually checked out. Major organs began to close down. But the heart was different. How much loss and grief could the body take before it finally gave up?
‘After that he closed down completely. He lost his job, got into some fights, refused to leave his room. Eventually his friends stopped calling and texting, and he seemed okay with that. But recently he seemed better. He’d started to go out occasionally. He was looking for another job.’
She shook her head.
‘But that still doesn’t explain the comment about being sorry for what he’d done,’ Stacey said, gently.
A flicker of understanding came into Mrs Reynolds’ eyes, as though a question had just been answered.
‘Actually, officer. I think it does. He was there, you see. Justin was in the car. His father and sister were both killed instantly in the front of the car. Justin walked away with barely a scratch.’
‘But he still wasn’t responsible for the accident or either of the deaths,’ Stacey said. ‘It wasn’t anything he did.’
‘Oh, but it was,’ she said, nodding vigorously. ‘Because he gave the front seat up for his sister.’
THIRTY-FOUR
After circling the car park at Russells Hall three times, Kim took a spot reserved for maternity parking.
‘You shouldn’t really do that,’ Travis said, disapprovingly.
She took the keys from the ignition and held them out towards him.
‘Here, feel free to drive around all night while I go in on my own.’
He ignored the outstretched hand and got out of the car. Yeah, with evening visiting fast approaching, she didn’t think so.
‘So, you want to lead this one or are you happy to let me do all the work?’ The words did not sound as conciliatory in the air as they had in her head.
‘As ever, our perception of events is completely different,’ he said, bitterly.
She hadn’t meant for the simple comment to fuel the animosity that still sat between them like a pungent smell. Five years of hostility could not be erased by one traumatic incident earlier that day.
‘Still blaming everyone else, Tom?’ she shot out.
He ignored her, and they made the walk to the ward in silence.
They were buzzed through, and Travis almost collided with the food trolley that was being wheeled into position at the end of the corridor.
Kim held her smile in check as Travis sought directions from the ward sister.
She followed him through an assortment of smells that signalled the distribution of the evening meal. Oh yeah, hospital food was sure to cheer the patients right up. Vegetables fit for a hockey match; mashed potato that had lived in hope of a sprinkling of salt and a piece of unidentifiable meat. Or if you were lucky, a brown MDF sandwich. No wonder people were so desperate to escape.
Kim was more surprised to see Fiona sitting beside the bed than Fiona was to see her. The set expression was already on her face.
‘Miss Cowley, Mister Cowley,’ Travis said, nodding at them both. Fiona Cowley offered a slight incline of the head. Billy Cowley did not.
Kim could see why. The dressing on the left side of his neck was as padded as a newborn baby’s nappy.
Travis moved to Billy’s left-hand side. Both Billy and his sister eyed her colleague suspiciously. Kim remained at the foot of the bed.
‘It’s good to see you looking better, Mr Cowley. May I call you Billy?’ he asked, gently.
Billy hesitated then nodded.
‘Probably a stupid question but I’m going to ask it anyway. How are you feeling?’
Billy opened his mouth but the answer came from his sister.
‘He can’t speak due to his injury,’ she said, as she took Billy’s hand in her own. ‘And yes, it is a stupid question.’
Travis smiled disarmingly at Fiona, accepting her rebuke.
Kim stood and watched with interest. This was a side of Travis she hadn’t seen for a very long time.
Travis continued to offer small talk, while Kim observed the siblings. Billy Cowley looked younger than his twenty-six years. His fair hair flopped over warm blue eyes that were busy darting between his sister and Travis.
Fiona, on the other hand, looked older than her twenty-eight years. There was a grey pallor to her skin that reached into the temples of her dark brown hair. But it was more than just her severity in both appearance and manner. The relationship between the siblings presented more as parent and child.
‘So, can you tell us a bit more about the shooting incident, Billy?’ Travis asked.
Kim liked the way he continued to aim his questions at the victim despite his sister’s determination to dominate.
‘It was an accident,’ Fiona said, squeezing her brother’s hand.
‘Oh, I see,’ Travis said, amiably. ‘And he told you this?’ he asked, subtly calling her on the fact he couldn’t speak.
Kim saw the panic in Billy’s eyes.
Fiona recovered quickly. ‘My father told me what happened. He saw the whole thing.’
‘Really?’ Travis asked, surprised. ‘We arrived before the ambulance, and your father told us he was alerted by the sound of a gunshot but hadn’t actually seen a thing.’
A smattering of colour flushed her cheeks. ‘It had just happened. He was in shock. He remembers it now,’ she said.
I’ll bet he does, Kim thought.
‘No problem,’ Travis said, agreeably.