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Rhian was awake early the next morning. Warm and sleepy underneath the duvet as the rain bounced off the windowsill, she turned to face Joe. He was on the other side of the bed with his back to her. She didn’t mind – it was how they always woke up – but she stretched out luxuriously, making sure she touched his leg with her toes. Maybe it would wake him and they could have a repeat performance of the night before. But he didn’t stir.

After the sex last night, they’d lain together for ages on the settee. It had been good to get time with Joe at last, even though she had nodded off. And – she grinned at the memory – she could take the loneliness when it led to glorious orgasms. The older man
certainly
won over guys the same age as her when it came to experience at good loving. She moved across and snuggled into his back. But, although he pulled her near, he slept on.

Ten minutes later, she looked at the clock. It was only half past six but, with her mind alert as the rain sleeted noisily across the windowpane now, she decided to get up. Slipping her feet into fluffy slippers, she tiptoed downstairs and into the kitchen.
Closing
the door behind her, she switched on the kettle and the radio and pulled herself onto a stool at the breakfast bar. If she’d had her way, this old kitchen would have been ripped out by now and replaced. Even though she’d been with Joe for two years, most aspects of the house still had ‘bachelor’ stamped over them. The kitchen units were dark wood with cheap Formica worktops, and the stainless-steel sink was nasty and scratched. To her mind, it really let the house down.

With coffee made, she reached into a drawer for the kitchen brochure she had ordered online and flicked through the pages. The designs she was interested in were turned down at the corners – glossy white, aubergine and pale grey.

She hoped Joe would come round to her suggestions soon; so far he’d been reluctant to splash the cash. Why is it that men always thought what they had was good enough until they were shown something else? She wondered again if she dared to go ahead without his consent and order the work to be done anyway. He’d surely be able to cough up funds, with the long hours he was working lately. And that cash he’d thrown at her last night amounted to two hundred quid, so he wasn’t short at the moment.

The hourly news bulletin came on. She stopped with her mug halfway to her mouth when she heard the update.

‘Police are looking into the death of local glamour model Suzi
Porter
, who was found murdered in her home in Red Street, Longton, yesterday evening. Ms Porter, known previously as Sandra Seymour, was found with multiple stab wounds. A spokesperson for the Police say
s th
at her husband, Kelvin Porter, was brought in for questioning but has now been released pending no charges. They have no further comments at this time and a press conference will be held later this morning.’

Rhian’s hand began to shake and she struggled to put her mug down.

She raced to turn the radio up but the news reporter had already moved on to the next story. She stood in the middle of the kitchen, covering her mouth with her hand, wondering if she’d caught the right name. But then she realised how stupid she was being. She had definitely heard the reporter say Suzi Porter. The report had also said Red Street in Longton. Rhian had only ever sat outside number twenty-two in Joe’s car but she had been told a lot about it by Joe’s son, Jayden.

Red Street was where he lived with his mum.

Suzi Porter was Joe’s ex-wife.

Chapter Eleven

‘Are you sure it was her?’ Joe got out of bed quickly. He grabbed for a shirt from the wardrobe.

‘Of course I’m sure!’ Rhian stepped back before he knocked her out of the way in his haste. ‘It said her name and her
address.’

‘What else did it say?’

‘That she died of multiple stab wounds last night.’

‘What time – do you know?’

‘It didn’t say.’

‘Fuck!’ Joe ran a hand through his hair. ‘Do they think it was Kelvin?’

‘No, they questioned him but he’s been released.’ Rhian paused. ‘Joe –’

‘This has nothing to do with me!’

‘I know that, but . . .’ Rhian stepped forward again. ‘Well, the police are bound to question you, too.’

‘Why would they do that?’

‘You’re family.’

‘I
was
family.’ Joe pulled on a pair of jeans. ‘She’s my ex.’

‘You see?’ Rhian drove home her point. ‘So it would be better if
I
knew where you really were last night.’

‘I told you! I was at work.’

‘I can tell you’re cagey about something – and if I can, so will the police.’ She sighed. ‘If I need to cover for you, I will, but you have to tell me what you were doing.’

‘I wasn’t anywhere near Suzi’s house. Christ, I need to get over to see Jayden.’ Joe paused. ‘He’ll have to come and stay with us.’

In her haste to tell him the news, Rhian hadn’t stopped to think of that. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ she said.

Joe frowned. ‘Why not?’

‘He’s going to be traumatised. Maybe he’d be better staying with Kelvin and Ollie, people he’s with all the time.’

‘I’m his father, for fuck’s sake. I know him better than anyone.’

‘You know what I mean.’ Rhian went to him and touched his arm. ‘Ollie is his brother. You can’t split them up when they’ve both lost their mum.’

Joe gave a dry laugh, its tone nasty. ‘Don’t worry. I knew he wouldn’t be able to stay here. You’re hardly mother material, are you?’

‘Joe!’ Rhian dropped her hand as if she’d been burnt by his touch.

‘Well, you’re not, are you? You’re too full of yourself to care about anyone else.’ Joe stopped. ‘I need to take a shower.’

‘But you’ve just got dressed! Joe – Joe!’

Joe turned back to her as he got to the en-suite. ‘You tell the police nothing, do you hear?’

‘I don’t have anything to tell them.’ Rhian scowled. ‘But you’re clearly hiding something.’

He grabbed her roughly by the arm and pulled her near, until she was an inch away from his face. ‘Nothing! Do you hear?’

‘Yes! I hear you.’ Rhian tried to shrug away her arm. ‘Let go, you’re hurting me!’

‘Say it!’

‘I won’t tell them anything!’

Joe pushed her away before slamming the door in her face. She moved to sit on the edge of the unmade bed. Christ, the morning was going from bad to worse.

There had been no love lost between her and Suzi. Neither
of them had liked each other from the moment they had met. Yet,
even though they’d been divorced for a long time, any moron could see that Suzi still had feelings for Joe. Rhian cast her mind back – what had she called her when they’d first been introduced? A trophy girlfriend, something young to show off on his arm. Suzi had told Joe that he was having a mid-life crisis. Suzi had told
her
, very unkindly she’d thought, that Joe was on the rebound and needed to be careful of people like her – the cheeky bitch. They’d been separated for seven years by that time – how the hell could Joe be on the rebound?

God, but dead. As shocked as Rhian was, though, she couldn’t help but think that Suzi Porter had got what she deserved. She was a bitch – Joe was always telling her that. And it did get her out of the picture for good now – despite the circumstances, Rhian was definitely thankful for that. Perhaps now Joe would be able to concentrate on her more often too. He’d always been sloping off
to mee
t Suzi, saying there was a problem with Jayden that she wanted to discuss with him.

A cold shiver ran through her. Had they really been meeting to discuss Jayden? She frowned as her mind went into overdrive. Something wasn’t adding up and she was determined to find out what it was.

Where had Joe really been all those nights he said he’d been working late?

Joe stripped off again quickly, stepped into the shower and turned on the water. As the spray poured over him, he lifted his face,
letting
his tears mingle for a moment before slapping his palm against the tiled wall. He wanted to scream, but Rhian would hear him. How could Suzi be dead?

But then panic set in. Rhian was right. The police would come sniffing around; he’d be one of the first suspects. It was always the family who were questioned first. This was such bad timing for him. But, more to the point, he couldn’t believe the stupid bitch would even
begin
to question him about where he was last night.

Fuck – what if the police started digging around to see what he was really doing? And if Ryder got wind that he was to blame for bringing the law into his offices, then he’d be in trouble anyway. Screwed, no matter which way he turned.

Joe had worked as general manager at Car Wash City for three years, ever since the last manager had disappeared and Terry Ryder had been sent to prison. Before that, he’d worked for Terr
y d
oing one odd job or another for over ten years. The car washes were legitimate businesses – they raked in a fair bit of money each week throughout the city. But the police didn’t know what Ryder had really been up to. Joe didn’t know either; Terry kept that side of his business close to his chest. And if the police did have intelligence, all six offices would have gone when Terry Ryder was no longer there to look over them.

Working for Terry was lucrative and kept Joe in the style he was accustomed to. He knew that was what Rhian liked about him. She thought he was a player when in reality he was only the
caretaker
. But he made a purpose of keeping himself to himself, not wanting to trust anyone in this game. He’d heard what happened to people who crossed Ryder and he didn’t want any part of it. He enjoyed the money he was paid too much for that. Although it was never enough.

So when Ryan Johnson, another of Terry Ryder’s acquaintances, had come with news of a lucrative job, who was he to turn down the opportunity to make a few grand on the quiet? No one would be any the wiser – providing the police didn’t come snooping around. Even more so, the job was being sewn up soon so, even though it was lousy timing, he needed to go down to London for a few days next week.

He shuddered again, his thoughts momentarily returning to Jayden. Maybe he would be better staying with Kelvin and his half-brother, Ollie, as long as Kelvin was in a fit state to look after them right now. Kelvin would most probably stay with family, or at a hotel. Until the police had completed all the forensics and removed all traces of the murder, Joe supposed he wouldn’t be allowed back into the house. That’s if he ever wanted to return there. Suzi was bound to have shed some blood.

Pushing aside his guilt, he convinced himself it was the right thing to do. More than likely, Kelvin would want to keep both boys with him anyway – they’d grown up together since Ollie had been born. Yes, he’d persuade Kelvin that they would be grieving for their mum – let them stay together for a while and then once this job was over, they could work out what was best for them.

Nothing could go wrong – an injection of cash was all he needed and he’d be okay for a while.

As investigations continued that morning around the murders of Mickey Taylor and Suzi Porter, Allie left Perry with a team of officers going house-to-house on Red Street and Sam with a list of tasks that Nick had given to her during the morning’s briefing. While they cracked on with those, at Nick’s instruction she went to see both Suzi Porter’s husband and ex-husband.

Kelvin Porter was staying at his parents’ house. Allie wondered if he might not ever go back to live in Red Street. She knew she wouldn’t be strong enough to live with the memories; she’d already had quite a job compartmentalising the image she had of Suzi
Porter
slumped on the chair. Every time Kelvin went into their kitchen, he might see her sitting there, dripping blood, tied up for all to see.

Allie had learned that Suzi Porter had two sons. The youngest one, Oliver, was five and from her marriage to Kelvin, and the
oldest
, ten-year-old Jayden, was from her previous marri
age to
Joseph Tranter. Both boys had lived with their mother. Allie thanked the Lord for small mercies that neither of them had been home that evening. But she hadn’t ruled out the possibility that the killer might have known this – was it convenience or coincidence that he’d struck on that particular night?

Trentham was in the south of the city and a couple of miles from the Porters’ home in Longton. Allie walked up a path beside a well-kept garden and knocked on the door of a large semi-detached house. A minute later, she was shown into their living room by
Kelvin’s
mother.

Mr Porter stood up as he spotted her. ‘Is there any news?’ he asked.

Allie could hear the plea in his voice. ‘We’re making lots of enquiries at the moment, Mr Porter.’ She pointed to the settee. ‘May I sit down?’

‘Yes, of course.’ He sat down again across from her.

‘Would you like a cup of tea?’ Mrs Porter asked.

‘Yes, thanks.’ Allie looked up with a smile, instinctively knowing the woman would feel better if she had something to do.

‘It’s a good job I have her at the moment,’ Kelvin sighed as M
rs Po
rter bustled from the room. ‘My father died a few years ago now and she’s been like a rock ever since.’

‘Did she get on well with Suzi?’

‘Not really.’ Kelvin’s eyes dropped to the floor momentarily. ‘I think they tolerated each other, mostly.’

‘Oh?’

‘Mum never felt good enough. I couldn’t tell her otherwise. But Suzi had a way of doing that to people, making them feel small without trying. She always needed to be the centre of attention and, well, you know kids when they visit their nan. She spoils them and Suzi didn’t like it.’

‘I thought that’s what nans were for,’ Allie smiled kindly, noting the box of neatly piled toys in the corner of the room. ‘I wanted to ask you a few more things about Suzi. About Joseph Tranter, too.’

Allie watched him nod his head in recognition, waited for a reaction. But the mention of Joseph’s name didn’t stir up any kind of emotion.

‘I’m not much for the bloke but I got on quite well with him, despite Suzi’s attempts to make me do otherwise.’

Allie nodded. ‘Divorces often leave couples unable to communicate without becoming angry.’

Kelvin shook his head at this. ‘She tried to twist Jayden against him, too – that’s the elder boy, their son.’

‘That’s a shame.’ Allie paused. ‘How did she do that?’

‘She’d often bad-mouth him, try to stop Joe having access – you know, the usual nonsense. But, like I mentioned, I always found him okay.’

‘When was the last time you saw Mr Tranter?’

Kelvin frowned. ‘A couple of weeks back. It would have been on a Sunday, when he picked Jay up. He sees him every other weekend; collects him on Sunday morning and drops him off around six the same evening. As far as I can see, he dotes on the boy. I’m sure he would have seen him more if Suzi had let him.’

‘And how do you think he felt about your wife?’

‘Jay or Joe?’

‘Both, really. How was she with them?’

‘Jay’s a good kid, considering his earlier upbringing.’

‘And Mr Tranter?’

‘I’m not sure they ever got on that well. Two big egos together – it doesn’t work, does it?’ Kelvin’s shoulders rose up defensively. ‘From what Suzi told me, he used to knock her about a bit. I think that’s why she’s insecure now. It was all an act – I loved her for it but hated it too.’

‘She was a little difficult at times?’ Allie hoped to sound sympathetic rather than probing.

Kelvin smiled tenderly. ‘She often tried my patience.’