LITMIR.BIZ

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audibly, exhaling and then holding her breath again.

      ‘There’s something else, I’m afraid,’ she said.

      ‘If you call my parents they can pay for the damage.’

      ‘I’m afraid it’s more complicated than that.’ Adrian paused and looked at Imogen. ‘There was a body found in the signal box,’ he said.

      The force of Adrian’s words knocked the colour out of Gabriel’s face. ‘What?’

      ‘There was someone in the room below when the building caught fire. There’s every likelihood it was a homeless man, but we don’t know for sure at this point until there’s been a thorough examination of both the site and the body.’

      ‘No … it was just us,’ he said faintly, his chest heaving.

      ‘Are you all right?’ Imogen asked. Gabriel was shaking; he looked as though he was going to throw up.

      ‘It might help your case if you tell us who you were with; they can corroborate your story about the fire.’

      ‘Can you call my parents? I think I need a lawyer or something, I don’t think I should say anything else.’ His breathing was shallow and laboured. He started to wheeze, fighting to inhale.

      ‘Gabriel, do you have asthma?’ Imogen asked him urgently.

      He nodded as he struggled with the leather buckled corset around his waist. He looked like he couldn’t get enough air.

      ‘Interview suspended at 00:15,’ Adrian said as he stopped the recording.

      ‘Help me get him on the floor,’ Imogen said.

      Adrian helped his partner lower Gabriel onto the ground; he was cumbersome, but they needed him to calm down. He arched his back and stretched his neck, rasping for air.

      ‘Can I help you take that off, Gabriel?’ Imogen asked, gesturing to the corset as the teenager nodded, tears falling from his eyes and trickling down the side of his face.

      ‘Do you have any medication on you? An inhaler or something?’ Imogen said.

      He shook his head.

      ‘What do I do?’ Adrian asked.

      Imogen pulled at the buckles on Gabriel’s cincher until it was undone and yanked it off; he breathed in air greedily and Adrian watched as Imogen stroked his forehead. His breathing seemed to normalise a little.

      ‘You’d better get some help.’ Imogen turned to Adrian who tried to hide his surprise at her tenderness; there was something maternal about the way she was handling Gabriel Webb. He went to the door and called to one of the constables, instructing him to get a doctor.

      ‘I’m OK,’ Gabriel wheezed. ‘I’m fine, it just happens sometimes.’

      ‘We’ll get someone to sit with you until you can be checked out by the duty doctor. OK?’

      Gabriel started to get up slowly, still breathing in short bursts but much calmer than a few moments previously. Adrian held out a hand to him and helped him stand up. He remembered only too well the feeling of being nineteen; you’re a man but you’re not, he thought. You’re not a child, you’re kind of nowhere. It was a horrible age.

      ‘What happens now?’ Gabriel sat back down, his eyes glassy and full.

      ‘Depends on the outcome from the scene of the fire.’

      ‘Do you understand that if we don’t get to speak to your friends, the people with you at the signal station, then in all likelihood you’re going to go down for this?’ Imogen interjected.

      ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘Gabriel, if they determine its arson, then we’re going to have to charge you with manslaughter.’

      Adrian stood by his car and lit a cigarette; he had given up on giving up and he felt much better for it. Imogen walked out of the station, pulling her hair back into an updo. She was shaking her head.

      ‘God, I hate this job sometimes.’ She took the cigarette out of Adrian’s hand and sucked on it before giving it back to him.

      ‘You believed him then?’

      ‘Absolutely. Shame it doesn’t matter what I think.’

      ‘It will matter to him. He liked you, I can tell.’

      ‘What about his parents? Did Denise get hold of them?’

      ‘Yeah. They said they’ll come tomorrow. They think a night in a holding cell will do him good.’

      ‘He seems like a nice kid, though. I feel so bad for him.’ Imogen couldn’t help but feel a pull towards Gabriel, maybe it was just her self-preservation in action because he reminded her so much of herself at that age, before she decided to become a police officer.

      ‘I’m sure those big sad blue eyes and that cute little cleft in his chin have nothing to do with that.’

      ‘OK, he is good-looking, but that kind of makes it even worse. I hope he’s strong enough to handle it on remand.’

      ‘First Dean Kinkaid and now this kid. I think I know what your type is, Grey. Convict.’

      ‘Piss off, it’s not like that. Don’t be gross. If I was ten years younger, then yeah – he would have been the kind of guy I looked at, but not now. I don’t know,’ she paused, ‘I think he reminds me of me.’

      They both stood contemplating for a moment as they shared the remainder of Adrian’s cigarette. Two minutes of silence as they processed what had just happened, and what was most likely about to happen. It didn’t seem as though Gabriel had any intention of saying who the other people were, and there was no way to ID them from the video. Hoodies and miniskirts were standard clothing for anyone under twenty and that was a significant proportion of the population, it would be like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

      ‘Anyway, tonight sucked. Are you hungry?’ Adrian finally spoke as he put the cigarette out.

      ‘No, not really. I can’t help worrying about what’s going to happen to him. That kid’s going to be eaten alive in prison.’

      ‘What can we do?’

      ‘We can start with identifying that body.’

      ‘Let’s get going then. My weekend has been screwed over yet again by Dominic and Andrea, they’ve taken Tom to London to see a show or something.’

      ‘Again?’

      ‘He’ll be sixteen next year, then he can spend his weekends where he wants.’

      ‘And you’re sure they’re safe?’

      ‘Dominic wants me to know he’s got my family, it’s not about hurting them, it’s about winding me up. I think they’re safest where they are for now, until I get some concrete evidence on him. Gary’s working on it for me.’

      ‘I’m not sure I could be so calm about it.’

      ‘I’m not sure if calm is the right word. I like to keep busy to keep my mind off it.’

      Adrian had been investigating his son’s stepfather for around four months now, since Tom had come to him with a suspicion that Dominic was cheating on his mother. While Adrian had managed to disprove the cheating, he’d found out some things he couldn’t ignore. Financial irregularities of large sums of money, money that couldn’t be explained legally. Until he had proof though he was powerless to act and he couldn’t open an official investigation. He had no evidence. Every time he got the chance he would look into Dominic, with the help of Gary Tunney, the forensic computer technician at the police station, who also loved to solve puzzles in his free time. But Dominic was good; so far they hadn’t found anything that would stick. A little over two months ago, Dominic had somehow found out that Adrian had been snooping around in his affairs. They

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