How to Kill Men and Get Away With It(70)

The man opens his mouth to say something but he’s cut off by his partner. No wonder he’s in love with her. She’s a phenomenal presence. I’d probably have a crush on her too.

‘We’re fine. Thanks for the offer though. So, I’m DI Taylor and this is DS Marsden. We’re looking into what happened on the night that Ruben Reynolds was found dead at his home.’ She eyes me.

I nod, deliberately keeping the silence.

She breaks first and Marsden takes out a notebook.

‘So according to witnesses,’ he says, in a voice that is clearly being put through its paces with a forty-a-day smoking habit, ‘you were one of the last people to see Ruben alive. This was at Raffles nightclub on the night in question.’

I nod again. ‘Yes, that’s right.’

‘A Miss Emily Whitely has said you and Mr Reynolds were chatting for much of the night and she says he left shortly after you. Is this right?’

‘I was talking to him, yes, but it wasn’t for much of the night. I was only there an hour or so. And I don’t know when he left because … well, I’d gone.’

‘And can you remember what you spoke about?’

‘It’s actually a bit embarrassing,’ I say, pulling the blanket tightly around myself so only my head is visible. ‘I was talking to him for about twenty minutes, thinking he was actually his brother, Raphe. That’s actually why I didn’t stick around. It was pretty humiliating.’

Marsden is scribbling stuff down – do they not have iPhones? – but Taylor is still eyeing me.

‘And it was Raphe in particular you wanted to speak to? Why was that?’

‘It’s quite embarrassing too,’ I say. ‘Charlie and I had broken up. I wanted to make him jealous. When I saw Raphe, well, who I thought was Raphe, come into the club, I thought it would be a good idea to try and get some photos with him for Instagram. It’s childish.’ I give Charlie big, sad eyes. ‘I’m sorry. I was still hurting so much. I wanted you to be jealous.’

He smiles weakly at me. ‘Don’t worry.’

‘Okay. So, at what point did you realise that it wasn’t Raphe you were talking to?’

An image of Ruben, slumped on his floor, clutching at his neck as blood spurted out, pops into my head. I have to squeeze my eyes closed and shake it away. The police people are looking at me strangely when I open them again. Luckily Charlie steps in.

‘She’s had to start taking medication,’ he explains. ‘She’s still getting used to them. They give her brain zaps sometimes. Do you want some water, Kits?’

What I actually want is a fucking huge measure of vodka and some horse tranquilisers. But water will have to do. For now.

‘Yes. Thank you. It was about two minutes before I left. He’d topped up my drink. I put my hand on his arm and said, “Thanks, Raphe.” He started laughing, said something like “I’ve just spent twenty minutes talking to someone who thinks I’m my brother”. He found it funny. I was embarrassed, so I left.’

‘So, it’s possible that Ruben left to find you and make sure you were okay?’

I shrug. ‘It’s possible. I don’t know. I’ve not been very well. I sort of had a bit of a breakdown.’

Taylor is nodding. ‘Yes. So we gathered. You attempted suicide, according to the hospital. You must’ve been in a very dark place to do that.’

‘It wasn’t a suicide attempt.’ I feel like I should get some cards printed with this. ‘I was feeling low …’

‘She was pregnant, she lost the baby,’ Charlie says. I let it go this time. I mean, he needs to move on from this though.

‘I was very depressed and I must’ve accidentally taken too many sleeping pills. And I know they say not to mix with alcohol, but I did. I’m lucky Charlie found me.’

‘Okay,’ Taylor says, standing. ‘Well, thanks for your time. We’ll let you know if we need anything else.’

‘Is that all?’ Charlie asks.

Taylor and Marsden nod in unison. Synchronised.

They’re definitely fucking.

‘We wanted to talk to everyone who Ruben was with that night. Everyone has said pretty much the same thing.’

‘What about CCTV?’ Charlie, will you shut the fuck up.

‘Very strange. The cameras at the club weren’t recording that night. And Ruben’s home security was all off. We think this made him an easy target.’

‘Target for who?’ I ask.

‘It looks very much like a robbery gone wrong. We think Ruben may well have disturbed them. There were signs of a struggle and forced entry.’

There were?

‘Anyway, thanks again for your time, Miss Collins.’ Taylor holds out her hand and I untangle myself from my blanket fort to shake it. ‘Glad you’re feeling better. Hopefully you’ll be back online soon? My little sister has been moaning that you’ve not posted anything for ages.’ She smiles at me again, but this time I can feel it’s genuine.

Marsden doesn’t say anything but nods and they let Charlie show them to the door.

Signs of a struggle and forced entry?

What the fuck? Have I actually gone mad?

I pick my phone up from the coffee table and open Instagram. I’ve promised Charlie and my therapist that I’d take at least a month away from social media, but I need to look. I open the app and the messages and, sure enough, there’s one from him. The Creep. I’d almost forgotten about the bloody stalker with everything else that’s going on. I really need that drink now. My hands are trembling and I worry that I’m about to lose the plot. There are too many balls in the air and my hands are slippery with blood.