The Night Stalker (Detective Erika Foster 2)

‘WHAT DO THEY WANT NOW?’ she bellowed, looking annoyed.

‘NOTHING, JUST TAKE PETER,’ shouted Penny.

The old woman gave the police officers a suspicious look and nodded. ‘COME ON, PETEY,’ she said, her voice high and reedy. Peter took her pudgy hand and sloped off into the living room, looking back at them for a moment. The sound of the blaring television dropped when the door closed.

‘Mum’s deaf, and in a world of her own,’ said Penny. The sound of a car backfiring on the street outside made her jump and begin to tremble. She craned her head round them and looked up and down the street as an old red Fiat roared past, driven by a young man in shades and no T-shirt.

‘What is it, Mrs Munro?’ asked Erika.

‘Nothing… It’s nothing,’ she said, unconvincingly. ‘Come through to the kitchen.’

10

They sat in a tiny sweltering kitchen cluttered with ornaments and frilly tea towels. The window overlooked a back garden even more infested with gnomes than the front. Erika found their manic rosy faces creepy and wondered if they were super-sized so Penny’s mother could see who was who.

‘Last time I spoke to him – Gregory – was three days ago,’ said Penny. She remained standing, leaning against the sink with a look of disbelief on her face. She lit up a cigarette, grabbing an overflowing ashtray from the windowsill.

‘What did you talk about?’ asked Erika.

‘Not much. He was going off to France, for some conference.’

‘The British Medical Association?’ asked Moss.

‘He’s one of their senior members.’

‘And was it odd you hadn’t heard from him, that he’d arrived safely?’ asked Erika.

‘We were getting a divorce. We only phoned each other when we had to… I rang him to check he was still going, and that I could keep Peter. We’ve got… We had an agreement that he would stay with his dad on Saturday nights.’

‘What else did he say?’

‘Not much.’

‘Is there anyone you can think of who would do this to your husband?’

Penny stared out at the garden and flicked her cigarette ash into the sink.

‘No… There were people he’d fallen out with, but everyone has that. I can’t think of anyone who hated him enough to break in and… suffocate him.’ She began to cry. Moss took a box of tissues off the kitchen table and offered her one.

’Thanks,’ Penny said.

‘The house had a security system. When was it put in?’ asked Erika.

‘A couple of years ago, after the extension was completed.’

‘Did you always use it?’

‘Yes. Gregory always set it when we went away. He used to put it on at night too, but when Peter started walking there were a few times when he came down in the dark for a drink and set it off, so we stopped… But we added extra locks on the windows and doors.’

‘Can you remember the name of the security company?’

‘No. Greg arranged it all. How did… whoever did it… break in?’

‘That’s what we are trying to find out,’ said Erika. ‘May I ask why you and Gregory separated?’

‘He’d grown to hate everything about me: the way I dressed, the way I talked, the way I was with people. He said I was too flirty with men in shops, he thought my friends weren’t good enough. He tried to cut me off from my mother, but his mother was always welcome, always there. And he didn’t get on with my brother, Gary…’

‘Was he ever violent?’

‘Gary wasn’t violent,’ Penny said, quickly.

‘I was talking about Gregory,’ corrected Erika.

A look passed between Peterson and Moss, and Penny noticed it too. ‘Sorry, I’m confused. No. Gregory wasn’t violent. He could be intimidating, yes, but he never hit me… I’m not stupid. The relationship wasn’t always bad. When he met me, he thought I was a breath of fresh air: exciting, a bit mouthy and funny.’

Erika looked at Penny and saw how men found her attractive; she was pretty and down to earth.

Penny went on: ‘But men just want flings with those kind of girls. When we got married, he expected me to change. I was his wife, his representative, that’s what he said. I was representing him in society! But I wasn’t going to be that kind of wife. I think he only realised that afterwards…’

‘What about Gregory’s mother?’

‘How long have you got? Their relationship makes Oedipus Rex look like a sitcom. She’s hated me since the word go. She found him, didn’t she?’