The Lost

‘So he called an off-duty firearms officer for help instead of requesting emergency back-up?’ One of Fletcher’s eyes had started watering. Taking out a tissue, he began to dab at it unhurriedly. ‘Trust me, Colley, whatever McKinney was doing in that warehouse, he wasn’t undercover. And it wasn’t part of any investigation.’

Jonah was more confused than ever. ‘Then what was he doing there?’

‘That’s the question, isn’t it? Which reminds me...’ Fletcher folded the tissue and put it away. ‘Bennet, will you do the honours?’

The policewoman reached into her satchel again and handed Jonah a small evidence bag. His phone was inside, scuffed and scratched beneath the plastic. He flashed back to it skittering across the warehouse floor when he’d accidentally kicked it. The memory left him clammy.

‘Is that your phone?’ Fletcher asked.

‘Yes. Thanks.’

‘Oh, I’m not returning it,’ the DI said before Jonah could open the bag. ‘I just wanted to confirm it’s yours. And I’ll need your passcode and permission to examine it.’

Jonah felt as though the temperature in the room had dropped ten degrees. ‘Why?’

‘I’d like to check the call data to see when McKinney called you.’ Fletcher’s smile was predatory. ‘We found his phone at the warehouse, but we’re still trying to unlock it. I’m sure you’ll want us to corroborate your story.’

As much as Jonah hated the idea of his private life being pored over, he knew if he refused it would look like he’d something to hide.

‘Have you got something for me to sign?’

Bennet handed him a form and a pen. He made a show of reading it, but the words might as well have been a foreign language for all he could take in. His fingers felt wooden and reluctant as he filled in the form, hesitating over entering the pin number, before finally signing. Bennet took the form and his phone, putting them both back in her satchel.

‘Let’s talk about you and Gavin McKinney,’ Fletcher said. ‘You met at school, didn’t you? Both of you came through the fostering system. He got put in care as a kid, you never knew your parents. Must have given you a shared bond, wouldn’t you say?’

Jonah couldn’t see where this was going. ‘I suppose.’

‘More than “suppose”. McKinney’s wife said the pair of you were thick as thieves at one time. Joined the Force together, best man at each other’s wedding. He was even your son’s godfather.’

There was something about the way Fletcher looked at him that kindled Jonah’s unease. He said nothing.

‘Then about ten years ago the pair of you suddenly lost touch,’ Fletcher went on. ‘McKinney’s wife couldn’t say why, but something must have changed. You’d been best mates for most of your lives and suddenly you stop talking. What happened?’

Jonah didn’t want to talk about this. ‘We’d got families, commitments. We just drifted apart.’

‘Just drifted apart.’ Fletcher nodded, as though that was perfectly reasonable. ‘A pretty abrupt “drift”, if his wife’s to be believed. And it happened not long after you lost your son.’

The question felt like a punch to Jonah’s heart. ‘A lot of things changed after that. I got divorced, I lost touch with people. It wasn’t a good time.’

‘I’m sorry if it’s painful for you,’ Fletcher said, not sounding it. ‘I’m just trying to establish why McKinney would call you for help after a gap of ten years. Not one of his colleagues, not someone he was still in touch with. You. There has to be a reason, and a good starting point would be understanding why the pair of you went your separate ways in the first place.’

‘It wasn’t because of Theo.’ Jonah was trying to stay calm but he could hear the emotion in his own voice. ‘If you want to ask me about the warehouse, go ahead. I’ll tell you everything I know. But leave my son out of it.’

The DI’s jaw moved, as though he were chewing something. ‘So there was no falling-out between you and McKinney? You didn’t hold any sort of grudge against him?’

‘If I had, why would I have gone to help him?’ But a cold feeling had begun to grow in Jonah. ‘You think I’m lying? Jesus Christ, you don’t think I killed him, do you?’

‘We’re just trying to establish the facts,’ Fletcher said.

Which wasn’t the same as a no. Jonah felt he’d slipped into a nightmare.

‘Is that why there’s a police guard outside the door? Because I’m a suspect?’

Fletcher gave a shrug. ‘The guard’s a precaution. The press have been all over this. We’ve been keeping a tight lid on details, including your name, but it’s only a matter of time before something leaks out. I’m sure you wouldn’t want a reporter waltzing in here any more than we would.’

‘So I’m not a suspect?’

‘What you are is the only witness from a multiple homicide,’ Fletcher snapped with sudden heat. ‘We’ve only your account of what happened, and frankly I’m finding some of that hard to believe. So you’ll have to excuse me if you don’t like some of my questions.’