Flyte

FLYTE

spent the rest of the day in the Bronte incident room feeling like a spare part. But as she was heading home, DI Bacon caught up with her in the corridor. ‘Ah, glad I caught you,' he said. ‘We've finally got this "Charly Detective" – real name Charlotte Wiggins – in interview room one and it never hurts to have a female present.'

frowned. ‘To get her to open up?'

‘No, so that I can scare the bejesus out of her while you work the sisterhood angle,' said Bacon with a piratical grin.

*

‘So let me get this straight, Charlotte.' Streaky was still smiling at this point. ‘You didn't actually get this story about Ethan Fox strangling his lovers for kicks from one of his ex-girlfriends, did you?'

‘It came from someone in the know,' said Charly, leaning back, combat-trouser-clad legs splayed, playing the defiant journalist. ‘But obviously I'm not revealing my source.'

Bacon turned to with an exaggerated look of confusion. ‘Did I ask anyone to reveal their source?' She shook her head. ‘Oh good, I thought I was losing it for a moment there.' He levelled a neutral look at Charly. ‘I'm asking you whether you spoke directly to someone who claimed he had strangled them during sex.'

Charly gave a sulky shrug/headshake. ‘Not directly. But that doesn't make it any less true.'

After eighteen months living in Camden, was inured to the pink buzz-cut hair, the tunnel ear-piercing and tattoo reaching up her neck, but the girl's attitude made her itch to reach across the table and give her a slap.

‘Here's the thing, Charlotte,' said Bacon with an insincere smile. ‘I could walk out of here and say that you admitted to killing Bronte yourself. There's no tape recording because you aren't being interviewed under caution .?.?. yet. So how would anyone know that I was lying?'

Charly sat up a little straighter. ‘Obviously I'd say you misquoted me.'

‘There you go. But without the testimony of Ethan's mystery ex-girlfriend, there's no opportunity to confirm or deny this so-called story either. In court, the unconfirmed testimony of a third party is called "hearsay". It's more commonly known as gossip.'

Picking up an invisible cue from Bacon, took over with a smile. ‘Look, Charly, I realise that you were motivated by concerns that Ethan might have a history of abusing women.'

‘Exactly!' she said, grasping gratefully at this offered straw.

‘Talk me through how you came across the photo showing these supposed bruises on Bronte's neck would you?'

‘It was on a tiny online site a while ago, but nobody else had spotted the bruising – least of all the cops.' Charly sent a look at Bacon, who didn't react, preoccupied with using his little finger to excavate the contents of one ear.

‘I've seen a lot of domestic abuse cases,' told Charly, her tone confidential. ‘So an image like that is obviously a red flag.'

‘That's right!' said Charly, leaning forward.

‘Could I see it again? Because the original doesn't appear to be online anymore.'

‘I .?.?.'

‘It's surely on your phone?' – indicating Charly's phone sitting in front of her on the table.

There was a yawning pause while Charly considered her options. In the end she tapped at the phone, before turning the image to show . Leaning across the desk, apparently to get a closer look, 's hand shot out like a cobra to take it.

‘That's better,' she said, before tapping the edit button.

‘You can't .?.?.' Charly was open-mouthed.

‘Oh, what have I done?' she asked Bacon.

‘It's reverted to the original image,' he said, peering at the screen. ‘Zoom it up?' He gave a disbelieving chuckle. ‘I haven't seen one of those since the school disco in 1976.'

sent Charly a concerned look. ‘It's a love bite, isn't it, Charly? Filtering and darkening the image makes it look like serious bruising.'

Charly had gone bright red.

handed the phone back.

‘It could be fingermarks,' Charly protested. ‘I was only trying to get you lot to investigate properly.'

Streaky leaned towards her, elbows on the table, his face like thunder. ‘Shall I tell you what you've actually achieved? My officers have spent hours poring over other images of Bronte looking for signs of injury and reinterviewing all her close contacts to uncover any potential evidence of physical abuse. They found none. Nothing. Nada . Right now I should be out there' – pointing to the door – ‘pursuing actual leads, not wasting my time investigating your .?.?. chuffing clickbait.'

His tone had become quite heated so cut in again. ‘I feel I should warn you that Ethan Fox's solicitor has been in touch to ask if we have any reason to support this allegation of physical abuse. We have told him there is none. So, you might find yourself being sued for libel.'

‘And never mind a civil action,' said Streaky. Looking up at the ceiling, he quoted from memory: ‘"It is an offence to cause a wasteful employment of the police by knowingly making a false report that they have information relevant to a police enquiry." Criminal Law Act 1967.' Turning to he said, ‘Remind me of the maximum penalty?'

‘Six months imprisonment,' she said, making a sad face.

‘But it was just social media,' Charly wailed. Her body language had gone from fearless to pathetic in the space of a minute. ‘What can I do?' – opening her hands on the table in appeal.

‘If I were you, I would delete the posts and admit you were wrong,' said . ‘And publicly apologise to Ethan Fox.'

‘Will I .?.?. be charged?' – sending an appealing look to Bacon.

Ignoring her question, he stood up and said, ‘We'll be in touch.' Telling the uniform stationed outside the door to see her out.

As they took the lift back to their floor, Bacon sent an admiring look. ‘Has Ethan's solicitor really been in touch?'

‘Oh, did I give that impression?' asked demurely.

Bacon chuckled. ‘I'll brief the press office to put it out there that we've questioned her, and that we're considering pressing charges. With a bit of luck that might put the wind up the rest of these keyboard detective wankers .'

didn't like the use of bad language, especially in a professional context, but this time, she felt able to make an exception.

*

Walking back into the incident room, they saw a huddle around Craig's desk.

‘What's all this then? A hen party?' asked Bacon, going over.

Craig turned to him, looking excited. ‘Ethan Fox has been attacked by a couple of muppets in The Hawley Arms. It's all over social media. He's been taken to A & E.'