Cold Justice (Willis/Carter #4)(50)

‘No. I wanted to ask you about your staff here.’

‘Sorry, I can’t give out confidential information about my staff.’ He turned his back on Carter and began cashing up the till.

‘Hello? Yes, you can.’ Carter showed his warrant card. ‘An official investigation is going on here.’

‘Into what?’

‘Staff names and addresses, please. If you wouldn’t mind? I’ll wait.’

Weston shrugged. He had his back to Carter again and Carter drew in a silent but deep breath. He wasn’t an angry person, far from it, but he also wasn’t someone who would suffer fools. Weston turned round.

‘Will the morning be okay?’

‘No. It won’t take you long, will it? After all, you have nightly lock-ins here in the bar and my presence seems to have been announced and to have cut short any thirst for late-night drinking; so you take as long as you like and I’ll wait here with my pint. If you’re too long, I will come and find you.’

Weston didn’t answer, just gave the till drawer a shove – it crashed noisily shut before he walked off towards the kitchen door.

Carter looked around the bar as he waited. The rain was spraying across the black windows. He checked his phone – Willis hadn’t been in touch yet. He texted her to ask her to call him.

After ten minutes Weston came back with the file. He put it on the bar in front of Carter.

‘I also wanted to ask you about the public phone here.’

‘In the hall on your way up the stairs.’

‘Is it used a lot?’

‘God, yes. Everyone uses it. The signal down here is crap.’

‘Is there any way I can check who’s used it and at what time?’

‘You’re the detective, what you asking me for?’

Carter smiled.

‘Is that everything?’ Weston asked.

Carter nodded. ‘Think so. I’ll take it with me if you don’t mind.’

Weston hesitated and then gave a resigned nod, but he didn’t make eye contact. Carter finished the last of his pint and picked up the file. He walked to the end of the bar and through the door, and headed right up past the hotel reception, which was a booth inside a recess. The light was on and he saw Weston enter and pretend to be busy. Carter took the stairs up towards his room on the second floor. The creak of the stairs and the tick of a large grandfather clock on the landing above was all that he could hear. Then from somewhere below he heard a fire door close with a whoosh and a compressed thud.

He reached his landing, treading quietly on the old carpet. The floorboards creaked and whined beneath his feet. Inside his room he checked his phone for signal and saw just one bar. No reply from Willis. He went towards the window and saw a shadow pass.

He dialled Robbo’s number.

‘Can you have a look for me for any mention of an attack by Toby on a young fourteen-year-old woman here in Penhal? This would have been when Toby was fifteen, so about 2000. She was raped. There must be some mention of it in police files even if the investigation got dropped.’

‘Christ, that’s a big accusation.’

‘Yes. And made by Raymonds, who is adamant it happened, just not convinced it was worth investigating.’

‘What reason does he give?’ Robbo asked.

‘They were both minors.’

‘Okay I’ll find out all I can.’

‘Thanks.’

Carter checked his phone and tried to ring Cabrina but it went straight to answer machine. He left her a voicemail then he picked up his keys and left.





Chapter 22


Carter walked across the cliff top to the sound of the roar of the crashing waves as they sucked up sand and spewed it back as shingle on the beach. The moonlight touched the line of foam as the wave breached. A few stars had found their way through the rain clouds that had kept the temperature above freezing. The walk across the cliff top was along a narrow path; Carter’s eyes got used to the dark. The jagged black outline of the gorse to his right kept at waist height as the path dipped and rose on its descent down towards the village. He turned his head to listen for the sound of someone else. He heard nothing until the wind dropped as he ascended the last twenty yards and the hedges rose around him.

Willis was expecting him. As she met him at the front door she whispered that Lauren had fallen asleep on the sofa, and he took a few steps backwards as she pulled her coat on and closed the door.

‘Let’s walk,’ he said.

‘Is she all right?’ Carter asked as he waited for Willis to tuck the house keys in her jacket pocket and zip it up. ‘What’s the inside of that place like?’

‘Interesting, like Pascoe said. Not your average holiday let – all heavy curtains and dark walls. Lauren’s okay. Before she fell asleep I told her I’d have to go out for a while. She has my number if she wants me.’

‘I’ve learned some things about Toby this evening – Raymonds says there was an allegation of rape against him which was never investigated.’

‘Against Toby?’

‘Yes, I know that doesn’t sound likely but apparently, according to Raymonds, it led to the rift in the father-son relationship,’ Carter whispered. He opened the gate for him and Willis to slip through. ‘I had a very odd conversation with him this evening.’