Probably a slightly depressing chapter, but at least it's not filled with 'no comment'.
Oh yeah, this chapter is for RachelBaileyFTW :')
"I understand this must be difficult for you, Mr Riley."
"You don't understand anything."
Rachel sighed, "Well, tell me about it, then."
"Why should I?"
Mitch met Rachel's gaze, gave her the silent message to back off a little and let him continue. Yes, she was a nice girl, and a great copper, or she wouldn't be on MIT – Gill would make sure of it. But she could come across as really horrible sometimes; stroppy, and angry. She really did care, but she didn't show it very well.
"Mr Riley," Mitch said, "Can I call you Kieran?"
"Call me what you want."
"Kieran, you do understand you're not being held here, don't you? You can leave whenever you want."
"I should bloody well think so! She was my fiancée – don't you dare even suggest I might've had anything to do with this!"
"I wasn't..." he paused again. Maybe it wasn't Rachel's fault. Grief did funny things to people; they were impossible to work with, sometimes, even when they had gentle personalities normally. "You can go and get a coffee now, if you like."
He shook his head.
"Okay, well, Kieran. Can we start again, from the beginning?"
"There is no beginning. She's dead – there's only an end."
Mitch nodded slowly, tapped his fingers against his file, "As DC Bailey said, this is really difficult for you, but we want to sort this out for Rose, okay? And for your daughter, so she can remember her mum without any of this clouding it. Is that what you want too?"
"That's the problem," Kieran glanced up and met Rachel's gaze. His eyes were filled with tears. He talked to her, rather than to Mitch; maybe he was embarrassed to look at another man while he cried, or maybe Rachel's briskness helped him.
There was no point trying to hide it, or make it seem easier – his fiancée was dead. There was never going to be a marriage now; their little baby was going to grow up without a mum, and without a granddad.
"What is, Kieran?" Rachel asked gently.
"Everyone... it's on the news, all of this stuff. About what happened. About Johnny killing the doctor. And I just... they're just forgetting about Rose, and about everything else. It's supposed to be about her – we're supposed to be remembering her. All people care about is the murder now; she's just nothing."
"That's not true. We care about Rose. She wouldn't have wanted a murder, would she? We know that her dad was very upset and angry, and they think he might have had psychological issues, but she wouldn't have wanted this. So you need to tell us the truth, about what happened, and we can sort it all out for her, and let you and your daughter grieve properly."
Kieran nodded.
"Okay?"
"Yeah."
"So, what happened? You rang Mr Johnson to tell him Rose had deteriorated and he needed to meet you at the hospital, yes? She died before he got there, so he was very upset? What happened after that, Kieran, before the murder?"
He shook his head, "I didn't see him. He didn't answer my calls. I was just... just trying to arrange the funeral, tell everyone. I was trying to look after my daughter – I didn't care... about what he... was doing any more."
Rachel reached out to touch his shoulder. He pushed her away, tears dribbling down his cheeks and dripping off onto his knee. He buried his head in his hands.
Mitch stood up, "Okay, interview suspended, thirteen twenty-two. I think we need a break."
XxXxX
"Mr Johnson," Gill said softly – as softly as Gill could say anything – her eyes searching his face, "We understand that you're very upset about the death of your daughter, but we also have to remember that you murdered a man yesterday. An innocent man."
"That man was not innocent," he growled.
"Quentin Davies was an innocent man, Mr Johnson. He was a man who dedicated his life to helping save people, and to helping look after people. It wasn't his fault your daughter died – he was just one of a team of people making her final days easier. He did not deserve to be killed; can you see that?"
"It was his fault she died."
"Mr Johnson. Can I call you Johnny? Or JJ?" Kevin asked. Gill looked at him, angry, but he wasn't joking. He was just angry too – angry at the injustice of the world. She wondered if he should've been put on this case; and then she wondered if she should be at work at all either. They were great partners, weren't they?
"Mr Johnson," Gill said.
"Okay. Mr Johnson," Kevin agreed, not looking at her, "Think about how upset you are at your daughter's death. Cancer is a terrible thing; we all know that. But imagine the pain Mr Davies' family are going through now – he wasn't killed by a disease, but murdered. Can you imagine how terrible that must be for them?"
"I didn't want to hurt them. I wanted to hurt him."
"Do you not feel any remorse? Don't you see what you've done?"
"I did what I had to do, for Rose. It was his fault she died," he was almost spitting in Kevin's face, his eyes glowing, "I'm just avenging her death; I needed revenge, for her."
The trouble was, Kevin actually believed him. This man truly thought he'd done what was right for his daughter; he was blinded by grief, but it had gone too far.
Gill continued, "That man – Mr Davies – had a daughter – she was five. Can you imagine what Mr Davies' wife is going to say to their daughter? She's going to have to explain about the angels, isn't she? How hard is that going to be for her, growing up without a dad?"
"Do you have a daughter, Miss?"
"I have a son. Sammy."
He tossed his head towards Kevin, "You don't?"
"No."
"Rose had a daughter. She was called Lucy."
"She still is called Lucy," Kevin said slowly, "And she's your granddaughter. Only she's going to be left without a granddad now too, isn't she?"
"She has Kieran."
"Yes, she has Kieran. But don't you think he's going to be grieving? He's going to have to explain about the angels, but he's also going to have to explain about the big black bars that grandpa's behind as well, isn't she?"
Johnny shrugged a shoulder.
Kevin looked at Gill, and wondered how she could be so calm, "How do you think he's going to feel, dealing with his fiancé's death, and having you cloud her memory by murdering the man who tried to save her life?"
"I always said she was too good for him."
Kevin stood up and walked out.
Gill didn't even looked ruffled by that. She just reached out a hand and pressed the stop button on the tape recorder, then gathered up her files and pushed her chair out. "Interview suspended, at sixteen twenty-nine. Can you make sure Mr Johnson has a drink before he goes back to his cell, please?"
And then she left too.
XxXxX
