Fatal Witness (Detective Erika Foster #7) (58)

38





Later that afternoon, Jasper was released from hospital and agreed to be interviewed at Lewisham Row station.

Erika sat across from him in an interview room, flanked by Peterson and Jasper’s solicitor. Jasper had a bandage on his forehead and a ripening bruise on the side of his head.

‘Why did you run from us?’ asked Erika.

He sat staring at the table, then took a deep breath. ‘I was trying to clock out,’ he said.

‘What does that mean?’

‘Leave. I want to leave. I’m clinging on. And I can’t do it anymore. We’re not going to make rent next month on the restaurant. We’ll miss our fifth mortgage payment for the house. I didn’t know about Vicky when I drove away…’ He shook his head and looked genuinely horrified. ‘Tess found her body?’

‘Yes.’

‘They had their rivalries, as sisters, but Jesus. This will destroy Tess.’ He shook his head and looked down at the table.

‘Do you still want to leave?’ asked Erika.

‘I can’t now, can I?’

‘Where were you between midnight last night when I dropped Vicky off, and this morning when we saw you drive past in the car?’

‘I slept at the restaurant. There’s a room upstairs where I sleep sometimes.’

‘Can anyone corroborate this?’

‘No, but I have CCTV at Goose. I can give you tapes which show me arrive and leave. And it’s on the main high street.’

Erika looked at Peterson. Just because he had CCTV didn’t mean he was there the whole time. She leafed through a file she had on the desk, and reached the page she was looking for.

‘We know you have a criminal record, Jasper.’

‘Who told you?’

Erika didn’t want to tell him that they had to find out from some scally on the Forbes Estate.

‘We have it all in our database. You served eight years in prison for stalking and harassing one woman, and raping another. And you were running a drugs ring inside which put extra time on your sentence.’

‘Have you told Tess?’ said Jasper, his voice hoarse. He was now turning red and shaking.

‘Tess doesn’t know you were in prison?’ asked Erika, sitting back in surprise.

‘She knows I was inside, just not, why, exactly.’

‘Why did she think you were inside?’ asked Peterson.

‘Tax fraud,’ he said, after a beat.

Jesus, thought Erika. Tess had no idea who she was married to, and I put Vicky in that house.

‘No. We haven’t told her,’ said Erika. Jasper sat back and seemed to sag in his chair.

‘Very good. We are now all aware of my client’s previous offences,’ said the solicitor. There was a tone to his voice that indicated he wanted to move on from this. Erika turned to the pinstripe suit, the upper-class accent, and saw the obvious disdain he had for the police.

‘What’s your name again?’ she asked him.

‘Martin Semple,’ he said.

Erika opened the file in front of her.

‘Mr Semple. On the 14th August 2004 the first woman, eighteen-year-old Kelly Chalk, was walking home from a night out in Brixton. Your client followed her home, and into the communal hallway where she lived. He pushed her into her flat, where he raped her. The second woman, Tina Rogers, was luckier. Your client broke in through the open window of her ground floor flat and found his way to her bedroom, but then her flatmate scared him off.’

The solicitor blustered a little and fiddled with his pen, looking down at the table.

‘As I said, we are all aware.’

‘Do you have a daughter, Mr Semple?’

‘I really don’t think this is appropriate… Detective Inspector.’

‘It’s Detective Chief Inspector,’ said Erika. ‘And I am bringing this up for a reason.’

He tilted his head in acknowledgement, but didn’t correct himself.

‘Addressing me personally is unprofessional and at worst distasteful. And I will remind you that my client is here voluntarily.’

‘Distasteful,’ repeated Erika. ‘You might want to check what side of the table you’re sitting on.’

‘Is that what this is? A game of sides?’

Jasper was now looking between Erika and his solicitor with a morbid fascination.

‘Erika. Can I have a word. Outside?’ asked Peterson. She saw the look of concern on his face. She nodded.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked when they were out in the corridor. Erika leant against the wall, and folded her arms.

‘Have you read the case file?’

‘Not all of it. It’s been a very busy day,’ said Peterson, on the defensive.

‘Okay, well, Kelly Chalk, the young woman he raped, was just eighteen. A student. She’d only left home three weeks before… The second woman, Tina Rogers, had grown up in care. She had no family there to support her at the time or afterwards. Jasper was educated at a very good fee-paying school, he has a family, people who care about him. His psych report mentions that he had – has – sadistic tendencies. James, I brought Vicky back to London to answer questions, I promised she would be safe, and then I go and stick her in a house with a fucking convicted rapist!’