Aftershock

Eighty-eight

The first thing about Davis Colledge that struck Becky Stallings was his height. It was not that he was a giant: at a little over six feet tall he was probably of average size for a well-nourished teenager. No, the oddity was that he was almost a foot taller than his father. The Shadow Defence Secretary was no more than five feet four inches tall; glancing down surreptitiously, the inspector noticed that the heels of his black patent shoes were almost as high as hers. After setting eyes on the towering McGurk outside the airport, the Member of Parliament seemed to go out of his way not to stand close to him.

‘Was your flight okay?’

‘Fine, thank you, Inspector,’ Michael Colledge replied. ‘The national airline still has a lot going for it. I did once fly on one of these budget jobs, on a parliamentary delegation. Not an experience I care to repeat.’

‘But I imagine that Davis had to use one yesterday, to get back from France.’

‘Needs must. These operations are okay for students, I suppose. My attitude is that if someone refuses to give me a seat number, I refuse to get on his damn aircraft.’ He paused. ‘But that’s of no consequence: we’re here to talk about your investigation into Sugar’s murder. In the light of the death of this man Weekes, is it now closed?’

‘It isn’t closed until the procurator fiscal says it is, sir. That’s the way it works up here. One of the things that’s been holding us back has been our inability to interview Davis.’

‘I understand, but reading between the lines, I’ll guess you’re getting close to a solution.’

‘Literally, a solution, Mr Colledge; you have to remember that now we have two murder inquiries in progress.’ Stallings turned to his son, as she opened the rear door of her car for them to enter. ‘Yesterday must have been a horrible day for you, Davis.’

‘Frightful,’ said the younger Colledge. He seemed subdued; his eyes were those of someone in his mid-twenties rather than a school leaver, with dark shadows underneath. There was a maturity about him, an indefinable confidence beyond his years, and undeniable attractiveness in his blond good looks. Since the start of the inquiry she had been privately sceptical about the idea of Sugar and him as a couple, but now that she had seen him Stallings could understand her being drawn to him. I could fancy some of him myself, she thought.

Still, his other features attested to his youth. He had gone for a few days without a shave, she guessed, but the growth on his jawline was soft and downy. Although he had a substantial frame, his body was lean and bony, with some filling out yet to be done. There was his clothing too. In contrast to his father’s lightweight summer suit, shirt and silk tie, he was clad in an Aerosmith T-shirt and faded denims, with a lightweight rucksack, part of the uniform of modern youth, slung over his right shoulder.

‘It must have been a terrible shock, to learn of Sugar’s death like that.’

‘It was,’ he murmured.

‘Yes,’ McGurk agreed, as he folded himself into the front passenger seat. ‘You must have gone through the gamut, right enough. Shock, then grief, and a bit of guilt too. Am I right, Davis?’

‘Guilt?’ the boy replied. ‘Yes, you’re right. I thought she’d dumped me. I went off to Amsterdam to get my hole, to spite her, and all that time she was lying dead. I’ll always feel guilty. I should have known she’d never let me down.’

‘Language, Dave,’ his father interjected. ‘A lady is present.’

For a moment the boy looked puzzled, as he ran through what he had said, until he recalled his slang. ‘Oh, yes, sorry, Inspector.’

‘That’s all right,’ she said, from behind the wheel. ‘It’s well seen you’ve been educated in Scotland. I don’t think I’d ever heard that phrase until I came up here. Tell me,’ she continued, ‘did you ever discuss your relationship with Sugar with any of your classmates?’

‘It wasn’t a secret.’

‘So some of them would have known you were going away together?’

‘Yes.’

‘So might you have felt a little bit humiliated when she didn’t appear?’

‘Humiliated? No, I’ll never see most of those guys again, my school friends. I’m going to art school, and most of them are going to uni. But wait a minute, if you’re suggesting I’d been bumming about the two of us, no way. I don’t brag about scoring.’

‘Sorry. I wasn’t suggesting you did. You were angry, though. We’ve seen the picture you left in Collioure,’ she explained. ‘You certainly look angry in that.’

‘Yes, I was,’ he admitted. ‘And I’m guilty about that as well.’

‘When did you finish it?’ McGurk asked.

‘Just before I left. I suppose I thought that if she did turn up, ten days late, it would be the first thing she’d see and serve her right.’ His face twisted, as if in self-loathing.

His father leaned forward. ‘It occurs to me, Inspector,’ he began, ‘that this journey into the city is probably unnecessary. I’m sure that your conversation with my son could take place in the airport’s VIP lounge, or in that hotel we’ve just passed.’

Stallings looked in the rear-view mirror, angling her head slightly to catch his eye. ‘You know, sir,’ she said, ‘you’re absolutely right. That should have occurred to me. But we’re on the road now, so we might as well carry on.’