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‘But you kept in touch with her parents?’ she asked, trying not to find that a bit weird.
‘Of course. I’d been part of their family for years. Teresa broke up with me, but they didn’t.’
Tricky around Christmas though, she thought, wondering why he hadn’t backed off.
‘My dad died when I was fifteen. Rufus is a big character.’
‘Father figure?’ Kim queried.
‘I suppose so. We get along well. We have things in common.’
‘Because he’s a vet?’ Bryant asked.
‘Not only that. We like the same sports; we’re both committed Albion supporters. A pint and a game of pool.’
Kim was beginning to wonder who he’d been having a relationship with.
‘I didn’t want to lose that even though Teresa and I were on a break.’
‘Is that how you felt? That the two of you would get back together?’
He hesitated and then nodded. ‘And Rufus agreed that she’d come to her senses eventually.’
Sounded to Kim as though Daddy was keeping his preferred boyfriend on ice while waiting for Teresa to change her mind.
‘And Rufus told you about the abuse?’
The man’s jaw tightened. ‘He did.’
‘And how did that sit with you?’ she asked.
‘How do you think?’ he shot back as the calm control slipped for just a second. She was willing to bet that the ward sisters didn’t see this side of him very often. ‘I wanted to jump him in a dark alleyway and get him to pick on someone his own size.’
‘But you did nothing?’
Such strong emotions normally demanded an outlet.
‘I tried to speak to her, advise her that this wasn’t right. She told me to mind my own business. There was nothing more I could do.’
‘You’re sure you didn’t take matters into your own hands?’ she asked.
‘Absolutely not, Inspector. I’m not stupid, however much I wanted to hurt him.’
‘Okay, Mr Jones, thank you for your time,’ she said, heading towards the doors.
Right now, she was finding it difficult to believe that the two men who had loved Teresa the most had stood idly by knowing that another man was putting his hands on her.
And the relationship between the two men was very unsettling indeed.
FOURTEEN
Stacey felt her heart lurch at the sound of the front door opening. She pulled herself tighter into the corner of the sofa, aware she had just a couple of minutes until Devon came into the lounge.
She knew the jig was up. She’d barely been able to stop the tears that had forced themselves from her eyes in the back of the taxi.
The harsh words from the boss about the social-media account and her other failings had rocked her to the core for two reasons: the boss had never had cause to come down on her so hard and so she wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of her sharp tongue; but secondly, and worst of all, she knew the boss was right. She wasn’t performing to her ability, and that was true of everything in her life. Only this time it had affected her work. She should have been the one to discover Teresa’s bruise and the Sentinel’s Twitter account, and normally she would have been the first to spot it. Instead, the boss had heard about it from Frost of all people. The harsh words were justified, and she sensed she’d be called in to a formal meeting tomorrow.
The fight-or-flight response in her body had opted for flight, and she’d barely been able to pay the taxi driver before getting inside and having a full-blown panic attack.
