Streetwise (18 page)

‘Ava?’ repeated Valerie sharply.

‘Name mean something to you?’

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It does. You might want to sit down again for a minute.’

When Ava got out of bed and wandered into the living room, it was to find the sofa empty and the blankets neatly folded. She went through to the kitchen where Tash was sitting at the table, gazing into space.

‘Has Lydia gone?’

‘Ages ago. I was up at seven and she wasn’t here then. She left a note.’ Tash picked up the scrap of paper and handed it to her. ‘Do you think she’s all right? I’m worried about her.’

Ava read the note which said simply
Thanks for everything. So sorry to have been a nuisance. I’ll call you later. Love Lydia x.
‘I’m sure she’s okay. It’s just the shock of it all.’ She put the note down and went to put the kettle on. ‘I mean, you don’t expect it, do you, someone you know getting shot like that.’

‘Maybe I should go round. I’ve tried calling her, but she isn’t picking up. It just keeps going to voicemail. She’s only down the road. It wouldn’t take me five minutes.’

‘She might be asleep,’ Ava said. ‘I don’t suppose she got much kip last night. Why don’t you give it an hour or two, see if she calls you back?’

As if she didn’t know what to do with herself, Tash folded her arms and unfolded them again, sat back and then forward. Her hands began a restless dance on the table. ‘She was so upset. I’ve never seen her like that before.’

‘You haven’t known her that long.’

Anger flashed into Tash’s eyes. ‘God, now you’re sounding just like Hannah,’ she snapped. ‘I suppose
you
think she was overreacting too.’

‘Did I say that?’

Tash glared at her for a moment, her eyes bright with reproach, her cheeks flushed pink. But then as rapidly as her rage had sprung up, it shrivelled away again. She rubbed at her eyes and shook her head. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean that. I shouldn’t have… I’m just… It’s just that Lydia’s all on her own. She hasn’t got anyone to look out for her.’

‘It’s okay,’ Ava said. ‘It doesn’t matter. I understand.’ And she understood, she thought, a lot more than Tash probably realised. What might have started off as ‘a bit of fun’ had turned into something more serious. Tash’s feelings were written all over her face. Her love for Lydia might be unrequited, but that didn’t make it any less genuine. ‘Let’s have some coffee and then I’ll walk round with you if you want.’

‘Would you?’

‘Course I will. Where’s Hannah? Is she still in bed?’

‘No, she’s gone home. She’s got one of her moods on. You know what she’s like. If I pay anyone else even the slightest bit of attention, she gets the hump.’

Ava made two mugs of instant coffee and put them down on the table. ‘Well, Hannah’s never been what you’d call the easy-going sort.’

Tash almost managed a smile. ‘You can say that again.’

‘Actually there was something I meant to ask you about Lydia.’ Ava sat down and paused for a moment while she tried to think of the right way to phrase it.

‘What is it?’

Ava noticed that Tash’s voice had an eagerness to it, the eagerness that comes from needing to talk about the person you’re in love with. She had a question to ask, but didn’t want to get Hannah into trouble. Things were fraught enough between the couple without her adding fuel to the fire. ‘Erm… I was just wondering how Lydia knew Guy Wilder. I mean, she’s not lived here long, has she? It doesn’t really matter. I’m just being curious.’

‘Guy? Oh, that was down to Maggie.’

‘Maggie?’

‘Yeah, Lydia was in the Fox one night and she was talking about how her mum came from Kellston and asking if there was anyone in the area who might have known her. Maggie suggested Guy. He grew up here and he knows lots of people.’

‘Is her mum not…’

Tash gave a little shake of her head. ‘No, she died about nine months ago. An overdose.’

Ava pulled a face. ‘Oh, that’s terrible. Was it… was it deliberate or didn’t she mean to do it?’

‘Lydia doesn’t know. There wasn’t a note or anything. She says her mum had serious problems: drink, drugs, bad relationships and the rest. They were always moving around from place to place, never settling anywhere. They were living in Glasgow when she died.’ Tash sipped on her coffee and gazed over the rim of the mug. ‘She reckons the only time her mum was happy was when she was growing up in Kellston. At least, that’s what she told her. I think that’s why Lydia came down here.’

Ava was surprised by how much Tash appeared to know. Lydia clearly wasn’t quite as evasive as Hannah thought. Or at least not with everyone. ‘And her dad? Is he not on the scene?’

‘No, she doesn’t know who he is. She doesn’t have a name or anything.’

‘She’s been through a lot, then. It’s not surprising that she’s gone to pieces over this shooting.’

‘You see?’ Tash said. ‘You understand, so why can’t Hannah?’

Ava suspected that Hannah already understood more than she wanted to. It was never easy knowing that the person you loved was interested in someone else. ‘So was Guy Wilder useful? Could he tell Lydia anything?’ she asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.

‘Yeah, a bit. Guy’s younger than her mum, but he knows a lot of local history.’

‘Is that another way of saying local gossip?’

Tash smiled. ‘Maybe. But whatever you think, Guy’s been good to her. He even helped her find the flat on Barley Road.’

‘I don’t think anything. I barely know the man.’ Although that wasn’t strictly true. She knew that he had sent a dead rat to Terry Street and that he was sleeping with Chris’s ex-wife. But then she also knew that someone had murdered his mother and that he believed Terry Street had arranged it. The whole situation was a mess, a simmering volcano waiting to explode.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and Tash leapt up, relief spreading over her face. ‘That must be her. I’ll get it.’

Ava put the kettle on again, getting ready to offer more tea and sympathy, but when Tash came back upstairs it wasn’t Lydia that she had in tow but a couple of plainclothes female officers. ‘It’s the police, Ava. They want to talk to you.’

Ava felt her heart jump into her mouth. It had to be bad news. ‘What’s happened? Is it Mum? Is it Dad?’

‘No, nothing like that,’ said the tall blonde woman. ‘My name’s DI Valerie Middleton and this is DS Laura Higgs.’ She flashed her identification badge. ‘We’d like to talk to you about a shooting that took place last night at a club called Belles.’

‘What?’ asked Ava. ‘I don’t understand.’

The other cop, the shorter, brown-haired one, threw a glance towards Tash. ‘Is it all right to talk to you here or would you rather come down the station?’

‘Here,’ Ava said, her heart beating too quickly in her chest. ‘We can do it here. But I don’t get it. What’s this got to do with me?’

‘Do you want me to stay?’ Tash asked.

Ava shook her head. ‘No, it’s okay. It’s fine.’ She looked at the cops and gestured towards the kitchen table. ‘You’d better sit down.’

Ava sat on one side of the table and the two officers sat on the other. She looked at the women, more bewildered now than afraid. ‘I really don’t see how I can help you.’

DS Higgs stared sternly back at her. ‘Perhaps you could let us be the judge of that.’ There was hostility in her voice, an edge of nastiness, as if Ava had already been judged and found wanting.

DI Middleton’s manner was less aggressive. ‘But you have heard about the shooting?’

‘Yes.’

‘So perhaps you could tell us about Jeremy Squires.’

Ava frowned. ‘Tell you? Tell you what? I don’t even know the man.’

Higgs made a huffing sound in the back of her throat. ‘You don’t
know
him?’

‘That’s what I said. I’ve never met Jeremy Squires. I don’t even know what he looks like.’ Ava paused and then quickly added, ‘Why should I? Who said I did?’

DI Middleton didn’t answer her directly. ‘You work for Chris Street, don’t you?’

‘Yes, I’m his driver.’ Ava couldn’t figure out where they were going with all this, but anxiety was starting to stir in her stomach.

‘
Just
his driver?’ Higgs asked.

Ava was about to say yes again when she suddenly recalled her conversation with Chris in Connolly’s. She was, as least as far as Danny Street was concerned, his girlfriend too. Had Danny mentioned that to the police? But why should he? Aware that the officers were waiting for a response, she didn’t have time to think it through properly. She made a fast decision that if she denied the relationship it might make her look suspicious, as if she had something to hide. ‘Is that any of your business? I don’t see what it has to do with the shooting.’

Higgs gave a smug smile. ‘So more than just his driver, then?’

‘We’re friends,’ Ava said, deliberately fudging the issue. ‘We go way back. I’ve known him since I was a kid.’

‘And have you had contact with Chris Street since the shooting?’

‘Of course I have. His brother was shot too, remember? I wanted to make sure he was okay.’

‘So you called him rather than him calling you?’ Middleton asked.

‘Yes.’

The detective inspector left a short pause before asking, ‘How did you hear about it? The shooting, I mean?’

‘How?’

‘It’s a simple enough question,’ Higgs snapped.

Ava stared back at her. She was under interrogation, but couldn’t figure out why. ‘When my flatmate came home. She told me.’

‘What time was that?’

‘I don’t know. About a quarter to ten. I’m not sure exactly. You’d have to ask her.’

‘And how did she know about it?’

‘From a friend.’

‘And this friend’s name?’

Ava hesitated. The last thing Lydia needed, especially in her current state, was the police knocking on her door, but she couldn’t see any way of avoiding a straight answer. ‘She’s called Lydia, Lydia Hall.’

Higgs leaned forward with a gleam in her eye. ‘And how did Lydia know?’

Ava had been around enough cops in her early years to be wary of their intentions. Her father’s inability to keep his mouth shut had got him banged up on more occasions than she cared to remember. Although she wasn’t guilty of anything – her conscience was clear – she was still reluctant to say too much. ‘Look, what’s all this about? I don’t understand why you’re asking these questions. I don’t know anything about the shooting, other than it happened last night and it happened at Belles.’

DI Middleton gave her a patient if not entirely friendly smile. ‘We’re just trying to establish a few facts.’

‘And what kind of facts would those be?’

‘Perhaps if you could explain the connection between this Lydia Hall and Jeremy Squires?’

‘Nothing close,’ Ava said. ‘She works in a gallery on the high street. Beast? The taxidermy place? Jeremy Squires and his wife are collectors; they go in there a lot. I think her boss rang her when he heard about the shooting.’

Higgs inclined her head. ‘And why should he do that?’

Ava gave a sigh. ‘Why do you think? I presume he didn’t want her to hear it from someone else or on the news or the radio.’

‘But Squires and his wife are just customers,’ Higgs said.

Ava gave a shrug. ‘So what? It’s still a shock when someone you know gets shot.’

Higgs reached into her handbag and took out a notepad and pen. She flicked through the pages before glancing up at Ava again. ‘Could we have the address of this Lydia Hall.’

‘Barley Road, but I don’t know the number.’ Ava gestured towards the living room. ‘You’ll have to ask Tash.’

DI Middleton painted on her smile again. ‘So, Ava, let’s get back to Jeremy Squires. You’re sticking by your claim that the two of you have never met?’

There was something about the way she said ‘claim’ that set Ava’s teeth on edge. ‘No, never.’

‘This is just routine, nothing to worry about, but would you mind telling us what you were doing last night, between the hours of… say seven and ten?’

‘Me?’ exclaimed Ava, her heart missing a beat. Suddenly her mouth had gone dry. ‘What… why… what do you want to know that for?’

DI Middleton kept on smiling. ‘As I said, just routine. There’s not a problem, is there?’

‘Yes,’ said Ava, fighting to keep her voice steady. ‘If you’re accusing me of a crime, then yes, there’s one mighty big problem. What do you think – that I… that I had something to do with it?’

‘No one’s accusing you of anything.’

‘Really? Only it’s starting to sound that way.’

‘If you’ve got nothing to hide,’ said Higgs sharply, ‘then you won’t mind answering the question.’

Ava glared at her. ‘I was here. I was in all night.’

‘And there’s someone who can verify that?’

‘No, there isn’t anyone who can verify that,’ said Ava angrily. ‘I could have quite easily nipped out, driven down to Belles and shot a man I don’t know just for the hell of it!’

Higgs looked smug, as if Ava’s response had revealed something useful. ‘There’s no need to get upset.’

‘There’s every need,’ Ava retorted. She gave herself a mental prompt to try and stay calm. Losing her cool wasn’t going to get her anywhere. ‘Look, I was in all night, okay? I made dinner, watched some TV and read a few magazines. And before you ask me what I watched, it wasn’t anything in particular. I was just channel hopping.’ She paused and then added. ‘Oh, I did watch the National Lottery, but sadly my numbers didn’t come up.’

‘And during that time,’ Higgs asked, ‘did you call anyone or did anyone call you?’

‘No. The only call I made was to Chris Street at about half ten.’

Higgs scribbled in her notebook and Ava peered across the table trying to read it. But the notebook was upside down and the writing, a series of squiggles, seemed to be in a kind of shorthand.

DI Middleton shifted forward a little, a frown settling between her eyes. ‘We have a bit of a mystery,’ she said. ‘Perhaps you can help us out.’

‘Me?’

‘Yes, you see Mr Squires was conscious for a while when he was first taken into hospital. He was heard to repeat a name several times. Do you know what that name was?’

Ava shook her head. ‘How should I know?’

Middleton left one of those short pregnant pauses. ‘Well, the peculiar thing is that the name he kept saying was Ava.’

The words hit Ava like a fist in her stomach. She felt the blood drain from her face. ‘What? I don’t understand… He can’t have meant me. How could he? He can’t have. It must be someone else. I’m not the only person in the world called Ava.’

Middleton lifted her shoulders a fraction. ‘But you see the problem we have? I mean, look at it from our point of view. Last night two men were shot and one of them was Danny Street. You drive for his brother, Chris. Jeremy Squires keeps repeating the name Ava. Perhaps there’s another Ava that we haven’t come across yet. What do you think the chances are?’

‘But this is crazy!’ Ava exclaimed. ‘It’s mad, completely mad! I swear to you, I don’t know this guy.’ She looked wildly around the kitchen as if somewhere, in one of its corners, there might be the evidence she needed to prove her innocence. ‘I don’t, I honestly don’t!’

DS Higgs watched her with a kind of dull weariness as if she’d seen this act a thousand times before and hadn’t believed it the first time.

But then, out of the blue, Ava suddenly found a straw to grasp at. ‘You can ask him when he comes round again. I’ll even come to the hospital. He’ll tell you! He’ll tell you this had nothing to do with me.’

Higgs glanced quickly at her boss, eager to be the one to reply. Middleton gave her a curt nod. ‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible. Mr Squires died from his injuries this morning.’

‘He’s dead?’ said Ava, barely able to squeeze out the words. She felt her throat constrict as fear and alarm swept through her body. If he was dead then he couldn’t clear her name and if he couldn’t clear her name then…

‘Yes,’ Higgs said. ‘Mr Squires won’t be telling us anything.’

DI Middleton stared at Ava gravely. ‘So, if there’s anything
you’d
like to tell us, anything you might have forgotten to mention, now might be the time to do it.’

Ava shook her head. ‘I’ve told you everything. I’ve told you the truth.’

‘Well,’ said Middleton as she rose to her feet, ‘we’ll want to talk to you again. Not planning on going anywhere, are you?’

‘No.’

‘Good. We’ll be in touch.’

Ava remained seated at the table as the two officers left. She dropped her head into her hands and covered her face. She felt cold and panicky, like an animal trapped in a snare. This couldn’t be happening to her, it couldn’t. In a matter of minutes her life had slipped from the normal, from the everyday, into a weird surreal nightmare.

Ava heard the coppers talking to Tash and then the heavy click of the front door closing.

Seconds later, Tash came hurrying into the kitchen. ‘What is it? What’s going on? Why did they want to know where Lydia lives?’

‘Squires is dead,’ Ava said. ‘He died this morning.’

Tash raised a hand to her mouth. ‘Oh God!’

‘You’d better call Lydia and warn her that the police will be paying a visit. Leave a message if she doesn’t answer.’

‘But why did they want to talk to you?’

‘I’ll tell you in a minute,’ Ava said. ‘You’d better call Lydia first.’ As Tash went into the living room, Ava snatched up her phone and rang Chris Street’s number. It went straight to voicemail. ‘Damn it,’ she murmured. Then, as heard the beep, she said, ‘It’s me. It’s Ava. Call me back as soon as you get this. It’s urgent.’ As soon as she’d hung up, she quickly dialled again. This time the phone was answered on the second ring. ‘Dad? Thank God you’re there. I need to talk to you. Can I come round?’