AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can’t believe it,” Cole said, echoing my words back to me unconsciously, his voice uncomprehending, bewildered. “It makes no sense. Gabe? Who would harm Gabe?”
“I don’t know. I thought at first, maybe a burglary gone wrong, but—”
Hel’s voice came back to me, reluctant but full of a horrible kind of certainty. From what you said, this… it sounds like a hit, Jack.
“Fuck,” Cole was saying, almost whispering, as if to himself. “Fuck. Fuck. They—they cut his throat?”
“I’m so sorry,” I choked out. “I didn’t want to tell you like this but I thought the police might be in contact.”
“Jesus, Jack, don’t apologize!” It was Cole’s turn, now, for his voice to crack. When he spoke again he sounded close to tears, and I shut my eyes, wishing I had been able to do this in person. What I wouldn’t have given for a hug at that moment… “I’m just—God, I’m the one who should be sorry. What can I do? Can I do anything to help? Anything?”
“I mean—not really.” I leaned on the kitchen counter, my head in my hands, supporting myself as though the weight of all this was too much for my body to bear. “There’s not much any of us can do until the police have finished investigating. But you could tell people, if you can face that? I just— I know I should—but I can’t.”
“No, oh God, of course not. Of course I can do that. Who do you want me to tell? Everyone?”
“I mean, not a Facebook post or anything. But if you could just tell our friends, let them know what’s going on. I don’t want the people who knew him to hear about it from the evening news.”
“What about John and Verity?” Cole asked. “Do they know?”
“No.” I bit the inside of my lip, thinking. Gabe’s parents knew Cole well—he’d spent enough time at their house as a kid that they regarded him as something close to a second son. They certainly had his phone number, and there was a strong chance Verity would ring him if she couldn’t get hold of me. “I called them, but they weren’t picking up, and I have to leave now for the police station. So they know something’s wrong, but not what. I guess… I guess if they call you, then just come out with it—it’s better they hear it from you than social media. Explain I was trying to contact them. I’ll try them again as soon as I’m back.”
“Of course,” Cole said slowly. “God, Jack, I’m just—I’m so sorry. I can’t take this in. Do the police have any leads? Do they know who did this?”
“I don’t know,” I said. I rested my forehead on my hand, pressing the knuckles into my eyes. “My sister, Hel, she thinks—” I stopped. It was somehow incredibly hard to say any of this; saying it made it real in a way that was almost unbearable, but I forced the words out. “She thinks that maybe it was a hit. Because of the method. Like, someone was targeting Gabe. Do you—did he seem worried at all when you last spoke?”
“Christ.” Cole sounded like I’d punched him in the stomach all over again. “No, I spoke to him… Friday, I guess? We were talking about going for a beer—he sounded completely normal. Is that the police theory too?”
“I don’t know. They seemed completely at sea yesterday, but they rang me this morning and asked me to come down to the station, and it sounded… well, I thought it sounded like they might have found something. Maybe. But I’m not sure—I don’t know if I should be discussing this stuff.” I had no idea what the rules were. Was I allowed to talk to people about what had happened? What if the police wanted to keep some pieces of information back? “Look, it’s probably better not to repeat any of this,” I said at last. “I might be totally wrong.”
There was a long silence, as if Cole was trying to take in what I had just told him. I didn’t blame him. When he spoke again, it sounded like he was trying to pull himself together.
“Jack, listen, if I contact people—I need to know what to say. How do you want me to put this? And they’ll want to know if they can get in touch with you.”
“I—” I hadn’t thought about that one. Part of me couldn’t face the calls, the curiosity, the sympathy. It was different with Cole and Hel; Hel was family, and Cole had loved Gabe as much as I did… but Gabe’s other friends, especially the ones I didn’t know so well… “I guess just say the truth—we don’t know what happened. The police are investigating. As for me… the police have my phone. So people can’t contact me on my usual number. This one is borrowed from my sister and I’m not sure how long I’ll have it. Maybe you could tell them I’m only on email for the moment?”
“Sure. I mean of course. And I can pass on messages if anything comes up.”
“Thank you.” I looked up at the clock. “Cole, listen, I’m so sorry, I have to go. I’m due at the police station soon. Are you—”
I wanted to say, Are you okay? Are you going to be all right? But it sounded so transparently stupid. Of course he wasn’t okay. Neither was I. Both of us had just had our lives ripped apart.
“Listen, Jack,” Cole said, filling in the silence. “Anything you need, okay? Anything. I mean that. Gabe—he’s—” He stopped. I heard him swallowing on the other end of the line, trying to control himself as he corrected the tense. “He was, well, he was pretty much like a brother to me—you know? Which makes you my sister. So you call me, okay? Day or night—literally.”
“Thanks, Cole,” I whispered. And then I put the phone down and sat staring into space until Helena came down the stairs.
By the way, what did your solicitor say?” Hel asked as we pulled into the car park behind the police station. “Are they meeting you here?”
I said nothing, and she yanked on the handbrake and turned to face me, her expression stony.
“Jack. Please tell me you did call the solicitor?”
“I didn’t get round to it.”
“Jack—” Hel began, but I cut in.
“Look, you’ve made your views on this perfectly clear. But I just think—I don’t know. I just think it looks really weird and antagonistic if I start getting lawyered up. I have nothing to hide. If some lawyer starts telling me not to answer questions—that’s not what I want. I want them to find Gabe’s killer.”
“I know you do,” Hel said. “And I know you have nothing to hide. I just hope the police realize that.” She drummed her fingers on the wheel. “Look, I can’t make you do this, but will you swear to me that at any hint, any hint at all that things are going sideways, you’ll stop the interview? Don’t agree to say or do anything until the lawyer gets there. Just say, ‘I’m exercising my right to have a lawyer present, and I won’t be answering any questions until he or she gets here.’ Okay?”
