Next of Kin (16 page)

‘Okay, I just want to look at my notes, Sarah. So, during this time had you seen Josh or heard from him?’

‘No, I hadn’t. One of the things Woody had done just before the wedding was to change phone companies and we’d lost our old number. And I’d already got a new mobile phone from Ryan when I lost my old one.’

‘You let Woody change your phone number?’

‘When I got in from work one day he just said that he had changed the phone company. I was annoyed about it, but it didn’t occur to me that he wouldn’t have asked to keep our number. By the time I realised we had lost our number it was a done deal.’

‘Did he say why he changed phone companies?’

‘At the time he said it would save money. Afterwards when I thought about it, I thought it was probably deliberate so that we had a different number. At first it made me think it was about Josh, but then I wondered about Farouk or maybe Woody’s parents. I thought maybe when he first moved he might have given them the house number. But certainly it felt like there was more to it than he was letting on.’

‘Okay. So then what happened?’

‘I put the letters back in the rubbish where I’d found them, so that he didn’t know that I’d seen them.’

‘I mean did you talk to him about what was going on? Did his behaviour change? Did he seem at all worried about the things his father had said? The threat of losing his allowance? I presume he hadn’t got any other source of income?’

‘I don’t know where Woody was getting his money from, but he didn’t seem at all worried. I wondered if maybe he had rung his dad or talked to him about it since getting the letters. He didn’t discuss his private life with me, and as I said when I asked him about his family he was really angry, so I’d got no way of knowing. He could have sorted it out and he just wanted to get rid of the letters.’

‘Okay.’

Ryan

‘We need to talk.’ Ryan had caught up to Woody in the road.

Woody was locking up his Beamer and heading into the house. ‘Yeah, what about?’ he said, slipping on his leather jacket and dropping his keys into his pocket, as Ryan hurried after him.

‘I’ve been following you,’ he said. ‘The last few days.’

Woody looked at him and laughed. ‘What the fuck is that supposed to mean?’

‘You went to your old flat.’

‘And? Some sort of law against it, is there?’

‘What were you doing there?’

Woody shook his head. ‘I was picking up some post and catching up with my old landlord, if you must know.’

Ryan pulled a face. Woody grinned and slapped him on the back. ‘What the fuck is the matter with you, creeping round after me? Haven’t you got anything better to do? Like work for a living? What brought this on?’

‘Something’s not right, man.’

‘Don’t talk ballocks, Ryan. The only thing that’s not right is you. Get a grip. Actually, as it happens, it might’ve been a good thing me popping round there, me and the landlord got talking and there might be some work he could put our way.’

‘What do you mean
our
way?’

‘He owns a lot of houses and flats that he lets out, and he was telling me today that he is looking for someone to help him maintain them. You know, lick of paint here, maybe a bit of basic plumbing, sorting stuff out for tenants and clearing up between lets, that sort of thing. He’s not getting any younger. Maybe you’re the man for the job? If we set up this building business maybe maintenance is something we should think about taking on.’

Ryan didn’t bite.

Woody stared at him and then shook his head. ‘What? What’s niggling you?’

‘You go there a lot,’ Ryan said flatly.

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah,’ said Ryan.

‘What’s it got to do with you where I go? I play chess with the old man, okay? He likes it. Me and him we always got on well.’

‘And what about Farouk?’

‘What about him?’

‘I thought you were frightened of him.’

Woody shrugged. ‘Things change.’

Ryan nodded. ‘You’re right, they do. You see the thing is, Woody, I’m beginning to think that there’s something else going on here.’

Woody raised his eyebrows. ‘You serious?’

‘You have to understand where I’m coming from. I’m trying to find a way to make it right for Sarah. I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I want you to leave us alone. To go. Leave. Move out.’

Woody laughed. ‘What are you on about?’ he said, sounding incredulous.

Ryan wasn’t laughing. ‘I think you set me up.’

Woody snorted. ‘What? How do you work that one out? I forced you to be a piss-head and borrow twenty grand? I don’t think so, mate. Now get out of my way, will you. I’ve got things to do.’

But Ryan didn’t move. ‘I’m asking nicely,’ he said. ‘I just want you to leave me and Sarah alone. Go, you got what you wanted, and if anyone shows up from immigration we’ll lie through our eyeteeth for you, and I swear as soon as the house is sold you’ll get the money back. Every last penny. On my life.’

‘Oh you swear, do you?’ snorted Woody. ‘That’s rich coming from you.’

Ryan sighed. ‘You’re up to something.’

‘I don’t know what you’re on about. You’re sure you’ve not had too much wacky baccy?’

Ryan slipped his hand inside his jacket and pulled out a sheet of paper. ‘So what’s this all about then?’

Woody pulled a face. ‘What is it?’ he said as he took it from Ryan.

It was a photocopy of the page Ryan had taken from the notebook on the coffee table. He had played safe, got it copied at work, and hidden the original. There were two columns of Woody’s signature, one down each side of the page. It was his trump card.

If he was shocked or wrong-footed Woody certainly didn’t show it. ‘So?’ he said, handing it back. ‘What does this prove? I like to sign my name. There’s no law against it.’

Ryan held his ground. ‘I don’t know what it proves or what it means, but I think you’re up to something dodgy, and I’m going to go to the police with what I know.’

‘What you know?
What you know
?’ Woody laughed. ‘Are you fucking crazy? They’ll arrest us all, including your precious sister. Do you want that? Sarah in prison and all thanks to you. She despises you now, how’s she going to feel if you get her locked up? Dragged through the court? In the papers? How do you think that’s going to go down? And those guys who beat the living shit out of you last time? Well, they might not be so lenient next time, you hear what I’m saying? They said you’d got it coming.’

Ryan held his hands up. ‘Look, I don’t want a fight, all I want is you gone, Woody. Away from Sarah, away from me. Gone. And if I go to the law I’ll tell them that you coerced Sarah and threatened me, but I don’t want to do that, mate, I really don’t. I just want you out of the house.’

‘So this is what I get for helping you out, is it?’ Woody said sadly. ‘Putting myself on the line for you?’

Ryan sighed. ‘Don’t think I’m not grateful, man. I am. I’m just saying it’s time to move on. Please. Leave us alone. You’ve got what you want.’

‘What makes you think that?’ Woody said, making his way up the path into the house, and then he turned and slapped Ryan on the shoulder. ‘Come on, lighten up. I thought you and I were friends, Ry. Tell you what. How about we have a drink and talk about it. I’m sure we can work something out, and I really do have a job in mind for you. I’ve finally been down to have a look at that flat by the river that I was telling you about? I mean, that with some property maintenance – now that would be a sweet little earner.’

Ryan stared at him. ‘You’re not listening to me are you? What about that?’ he said, waving at the piece of paper with the signatures on it that Woody still had in his hand.

‘What about it?’ said Woody as he unlocked the front door and crumpled the

sheet into a ball.

Josh

‘Would you identify yourself for the tape?’

‘Sure, my name is Josh Durrant.’

‘And you were in a relationship with Sarah Reynolds during the spring and summer of last year?’

‘Yes, that’s right.’

‘And would you say, Mr Durrant, that your relationship was serious?’

‘Yes. Yes, it was or at least I thought so. We’d talked about moving in together. Talked about a future together. Getting married. I thought Sarah was it.’

‘It?’

‘Yes, you know.
The one
. I thought that we would spend the rest of our lives together and I thought – I believed, I suppose I still believe – that she felt the same.’

‘And when did you find out that Sarah was married?’

‘She wasn’t, at least not when we first started seeing each other and then she was. I know that sounds crazy. It seemed crazy. I didn’t really understand what was going on. We had had this great weekend away, and then she just stopped taking my phone calls and texts. In the end I was getting this recorded message saying that the phone was switched off, but to begin with it just went to voice mail.’

‘Frustrating?’

‘Yes and no. I knew she had been through a rough time losing her dad and then her mum. And then her brother got beaten up. I mean, it wasn’t easy for her to just let go and have some time and space for herself. That’s what I loved about her. And then I thought that maybe I was pushing her too hard, that she was getting cold feet, or that it was maybe too soon, although up until that point she had seemed as keen as I was.’

‘About what?’

‘About me moving in. About us being together. We had talked about it a lot. My lease was about to run out and it seemed like a natural progression. We even talked about buying a place together after she and Ryan had sold the house. Me and Sarah together, our new start.’

‘And so what happened, Josh? Do you mind if I call you Josh?’

‘No, not at all. It just stopped. Just like that.’

‘Stopped? You mean Sarah finished the relationship?’

‘No, it wasn’t like that. It was more like someone turned a tap off mid flow. She suddenly just stopped answering my calls and texts. I went round to the house several times, but there didn’t seem to be anyone there, and then when someone did answer the door it was either Ryan or Woody. I think they told me she was out, but then Woody said that I couldn’t see Sarah and that she didn’t want to see me anymore.’

‘And you believed him?’

‘Not at first. To be honest I didn’t know what to believe. It just seemed so weird. I didn’t know what to think.’

‘And did Sarah’s behaviour strike you as odd?’

‘Odd? It was bizarre. I mean, I’ve been dumped before but never like this – and the fact that this guy Woody wouldn’t let me speak to her was weird. He was the lodger. He kept saying it would be better for everyone if I just left her alone and didn’t come back. First of all I was really worried and upset and then…’

‘And then what, Josh?’

‘I got angry. I couldn’t help wondering if this was her thing. Some sort of game. I mean, you don’t know, do you? I wondered if she maybe got off on leading guys on then dumping them. There are some real loonies out there.’

‘You thought Sarah might be mad?’

‘God no, quite the reverse. We’ve all fallen foul of crazy birds, but Sarah never seemed like that, which made it so hard to work out what was going on.’

‘So can you tell me what happened next?’

‘I was driving into the city when I saw Sarah. In the street. It took me a minute to realise that it was her, and I was driving so I didn’t stop. She looked really awful.’

‘When you say awful?’

‘Pale, thin, dark circles under her eyes. It occurred to me that maybe she was ill.’

‘Did you know about Ryan being beaten up?’

‘Only after I went round to the nursery to see if I could see her there. They told me that she had taken some time off to be with him, so I thought I’d ring again to see if she was all right, maybe go round to see if there was anything I could do to help.’

‘And what happened?’

‘I left a message on the house phone and then a little while later she rang me back and told me it was over. Just like that. No letting me down gently, no,
this is not about you it’s me
thing. Just it was over.’

‘And how did that make you feel, Josh?’

‘You sound like a counsellor.’

‘Sorry, you want to tell me anyway?’

‘I was hurt, angry I suppose, and I was confused. It had been going so well with us. The other thing is the phone call just didn’t feel right, but I didn’t really know what to do about it. I suppose I wanted an explanation and not getting one was the hardest part – but she had made it perfectly clear to me that it was over.’

‘And so you moved on?’

‘No, not exactly.’

‘What happened?’

‘I went into a bit of a spin. You know what it’s like, I renewed my lease, got drunk, worked like a dog, all the usual things men do when they get dumped, and then I got a phone call. It must have been a couple of months later.’