Chapter 70

‘Go easy, guv,' Bryant said as they knocked the door of the house that belonged to Toyah's father.

‘I'm fine,' she growled.

‘Not really. Your face has been stuck on that expression since Stacey called.'

She ignored him, but he wasn't wrong. It took a lot to get Stacey worked up, so she could only imagine the level of Tony's rant, and no one got away with treating her team like that except her.

Thankfully it was Toyah who answered the door.

‘May we have a minute?' Kim asked, stepping forward.

Toyah nodded, moving out of the way. ‘Look, I'm sorry about?—'

‘Through here?' Kim asked, heading towards the kitchen.

She appreciated Toyah's effort in offering an apology, but it wasn't her manners at fault. She would go easy, give Tony the benefit of the doubt and assume he'd thought better of his behaviour.

Kim entered the kitchen, but before taking a seat, she focussed her attention on Tony, who was reading the paper at the table. ‘Mr Shaw, I understand that this is a stressful time for you all, but please don't ever speak to any member of my team in that manner again.'

A multitude of emotions passed over his face: irritation, rage, disgust. Kim could see that he wasn't the slightest bit sorry and in fact was ready and waiting for round two.

She held his gaze and tipped her head. She was happy to take the next bout.

Mr Shaw senior entered the room, and Tony glanced away. It appeared they now understood each other.

‘Inspector, do you have an update?' he asked.

‘Not as yet, Mr Shaw. We just need to clarify a couple of things with Toyah.'

‘You couldn't have called?' he asked with a smile.

‘We tried,' she said, looking pointedly at Tony, who pushed back his chair and headed for the kettle.

Mr Shaw beckoned for them to sit. ‘Do you want us to leave?' he asked, looking over at his son.

Toyah immediately looked uncomfortable, and Kim shook her head as she sat down.

‘It's minor details. We'll only take a minute,' she said before turning towards the young woman.

‘Toyah, we just need clarification about the time you left the pub on Tuesday night.' She saw the look of horror that passed over Mr Shaw's features. ‘It's procedure,' she reassured him. ‘We have to be sure of everyone's whereabouts. One small detail can ruin an entire case in the courtroom.'

Mr Shaw nodded his understanding, even though his son muttered something under his breath over at the sink.

Kim ignored him and prepared to continue. She hadn't lied. That was exactly the reason they checked the accuracy of all timings. Defence lawyers were becoming increasingly focussed on attempting to discredit police investigations to get their clients off the hook. She chose to omit the fact that Toyah was the only daughter who didn't currently have an alibi for any of the murders.

‘You said you left at eleven?' Kim clarified as Bryant took out his notebook.

‘Did I?' she asked, frowning. ‘Sorry, I think it might have been closer to ten. Then we went to the Cantonese place just down the road. I think we left there around eleven.'

A little bit different to what she'd originally said, Kim thought.

As though reading her mind, Toyah continued, ‘Sorry, I didn't realise when I was asked that I needed to detail everything I'd done that night. I thought it was a general question.'

‘Okay, no problem,' Kim said. It was checkable with receipts and further CCTV.

‘And may I ask where you were on Tuesday morning?'

Mr Shaw frowned but said nothing.

‘I was at home, with Mom,' she said as her eyes filled with tears.

Hmm…not so easily checkable.

‘And finally, yesterday morning?' Kim continued.

‘Here, with me,' Tony spat from the other side of the room.

Bryant was recording her responses for checking later. It wasn't something Kim was comfortable with pursuing further right now. Not least because there was another question she wanted to ask before she totally outstayed her welcome.

‘Thanks for that. That's all we need. But while I'm here, can I just ask another question?'

‘Of course,' Toyah said, but Kim could tell that her guard was up. She hadn't stopped chewing that thumbnail since she'd sat down at the table.

‘When we spoke the other day, you told us that you loved doing pageants with your mom.'

‘I did,' she said.

‘And that when you'd had enough, you simply stopped and went on to other things.'

‘That's right.'

‘Are you sure about that, Toyah? Cos we're hearing otherwise.'

Panic registered on her face, and her stricken gaze immediately went to Tony.

‘Inspector, is this really necessary?' Mr Shaw asked.

When she'd been asking his daughter where she'd been during three murders, he hadn't said a word, but he was speaking up when she was asking about pageants and Toyah's reason for quitting. Something wasn't right.

The air in the room had suddenly become charged. All three of them looked from one to the other.

‘Of course it's fucking necessary,' Tony bellowed from the other side of the room. ‘She won't be happy until she knows every last detail about us. Tell her whatever you want. I don't fucking care any more,' he said before storming out of the room.

His footsteps thundered up the stairs.

A distraught Toyah looked imploringly at her father.

‘Go,' he said, waving her out of the room.

Mr Shaw took a seat as Kim wondered what the hell had just happened.

She waited.

Mr Shaw sighed heavily. ‘I didn't tell you the whole truth the other day. I told you that Andrea got more and more into the whole thing and so did Toyah. She loved every minute of it. The events were always held at weekends, and I was normally working, so Tony had to tag along. Neither of us had any close relatives to babysit, and Tony didn't have many school friends.'

For some reason, Kim wasn't surprised.

‘Tony hated every minute of it. He wasn't great with crowds of people, and he didn't like being the only boy around. Even some of the other moms used to tease him.

‘As Andrea got more and more involved, she wouldn't even listen when I tried to tell her that Tony was suffering. She wouldn't hear it. She insisted that when Tony found something he was passionate about, she'd be just as enthusiastic. Over time things got worse. Not only did the pageants take over our weekends, but weekdays were taken up with learning and practising new routines. From that point on, Tony didn't get a look-in. He literally spent no time with his mom. He withdrew even more due to the arguments between me and her, but I couldn't make her see that he needed her.' He paused to take a breath. ‘And then when he was fourteen years old, he tried to take his own life.'

Kim shook her head. The young man was far more troubled than she'd thought.

‘I found him. He'd taken tablets. I'm still not sure if it was a serious attempt or a cry for help, but either way, it got everyone's attention, including Toyah, who has been plagued by guilt ever since. There was no question that the pageant days were over.'

‘But the marriage ended anyway?' Kim asked, thinking that was something else the kid had had to deal with.

Mr Shaw nodded. ‘Unfortunately it was too late. Much as I tried, I couldn't see Andrea the same way afterwards. Every time I looked at her, I pictured Tony lying unconscious on the sofa. I blamed her, which wasn't fair. I could have done more, and she never stopped trying to make it up to him.'

‘He doesn't like to talk about it,' Kim stated, thinking about his earlier reaction.

‘He has anger issues. He's very quick to react to stressful situations and has enough trouble trying to find work. If this comes out, it'll ruin his chances even further.'

‘I'm sorry we had to raise it,' Kim said.

‘It's not your fault. It can't be helped. It's just that the timing of all of this could not be worse for him.'

‘Why so?' Kim asked.

‘It's the ten-year anniversary this week.'