At the station, Tom Stoddard was waiting in one of the cells. He had turned down everything from the presence of a duty solicitor to a drink of water and refused to speak other than to repeatedly insist that he’d had nothing to do with the death of Keira North.

In the main office, Alex and Chloe referred back to the description Jade had given of the man who had provided Amy Barker with the drugs: Late teens/early twenties, quite tall – about 5’11” – with dark messy hair. He was wearing a black jacket, skinny joggers and bright blue trainers with a yellow tick on the side.

‘She said they were quite distinctive, didn’t she? The trainers.’

Alex gave Chloe a sceptical look. ‘I don’t know now. It seemed to make sense when we saw them at the house, but I’ve never identified a suspect from a description of a pair of trainers before. First time for everything, I suppose.’

The trainers were definitely distinctive: Alex had noticed them the first time Tom Stoddard had been brought in for interview, and now she thought about it, she remembered seeing them again when she had gone into his bedroom on the day she’d taken Keira’s parents to the house. Yet she hadn’t made the connection when Jade had given her description. Her mind had been unfocused and she couldn’t afford for it to stay like that. She glanced at Chloe, grateful that she had compensated for her error.

‘This particular brand of trainers is pretty popular, isn’t it? There are probably countless other young people in South Wales wearing similar pairs.’

Chloe nodded, unable to keep the disappointment from her face. She tried to suppress a yawn, but Alex didn’t miss it.

‘You sure you’re not burning the candle at both ends?’ she asked, knowing she sounded like her mother.

‘I’m just a bit tired. It’s not affecting my work.’

Alex raised an eyebrow. ‘I hadn’t suggested it was.’

Chloe had waited a long time to find happiness, and Alex didn’t begrudge her that. If anything, there was a part of her that envied it. If she thought hard enough, she could remember what it had felt like to be young and in love. But only just. The memory of it was already so distant that it wouldn’t be much longer before it evaporated altogether.

‘The rest of the description is a match,’ Chloe said, keen to return the focus to Tom Stoddard. ‘How about we do a virtual ID?’

Alex tapped the desk for a moment, lost in thought. ‘Where’s Dan?’

‘Out with uniform, I think.’

She nodded. ‘It shouldn’t take long to find a few matches with Tom, should it?’ she said, thinking aloud. ‘If you could get that set up and sent over to him, I can start interviewing Tom about Keira and those texts. Ask Dan to get straight over to Jade Richards’ house if he can.’

---

In the interview room, Tom Stoddard wore the same lazy expression he had carried with him the first time he’d been there. He kept his gaze fixed to the wall somewhere behind Alex, as though by avoiding her eyes he might be able to conceal his guilt. It wasn’t enough to fool her into believing that this young man considered himself without a care in the world. He was a liar; that much they were already sure of. All she needed to do was apply sufficient pressure for the cracks to begin to show.

‘I’ve got a train to catch,’ he said, still refusing to make eye contact.

‘I imagine you’ve missed that one by now,’ Alex said. ‘There’ll be another.’

Tom sighed and shrank further into his seat, his long legs stretched out to the side of the table. Either this was an elaborate pretence at nonchalance or he really was completely arrogant, Alex thought. Whichever, she was ready to put an end to it.

‘I’d like to talk about our previous conversation about Keira.’

‘OK. I don’t know what there is to talk about, though. I’ve told you everything.’

‘Really.’ Alex reached for the file on the desk and removed the transcript of the text message dialogue between Keira’s number and Tom’s. ‘You told me your relationship with Keira had been friendship, nothing more. You still sure about that?’

Tom said nothing. To illuminate her point, Alex began to read the text messages Chloe had relayed to her in the car.

‘Doesn’t sound like just friends to me, Tom.’

Tom sighed, threw his head back and looked up at the ceiling. ‘I slept with her once. About six weeks ago. That was it.’

‘So why not tell us that when you were here last time?’

‘Because I know how it makes me look.’

‘How does it make you look?’

He lowered his head to meet Alex’s gaze, but didn’t reply.

‘If you had no involvement in Keira’s death, you’ve got nothing to hide. Have you?’

The boy eyed her defiantly, his jaw strong, his grey eyes fixed on her intently. He might have liked to think himself tough, but Alex suspected the opposite to be true. In the face of solid evidence, Tom Stoddard’s resolve was likely to crumble. They needed that evidence soon.

‘Where were you on Monday evening?’

Tom looked away. Guilty, thought Alex.

‘Why?’

She shrugged. ‘Just curious. Monday must have been a difficult day for the three of you, your housemate having just died like that.’

‘I was in the house.’

Alex nodded. ‘What were you doing?’

‘I don’t know … watching TV.’

‘What did you watch?’

Tom’s eyes narrowed. ‘I don’t remember.’

Alex paused and exhaled. ‘And Leah or Jamie will be able to corroborate this?’

There was a knock at the door, and Tom was saved from having to answer the question. Chloe’s head appeared around the doorway, gesturing for Alex to join her in the corridor.

‘Has Dan seen Jade?’ Alex asked, closing the door behind her.

Chloe nodded. ‘She gave a positive identification straight away, apparently.’

‘Cocky little shit,’ Alex said, looking at the door to the interview room. Tom’s unexplained text message to Keira played on her mind: Promise you won’t tell anyone. Was it a reference to his drug dealing? Had Keira found out what he was doing, and had someone pushed her off the ledge to keep her quiet?

---

Tom looked up suspiciously as the two women entered the room, his composure clearly shaken. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Watching TV on Monday,’ said Alex. ‘You sure about that?’

‘Yes.’

‘So you didn’t leave the house at all? Didn’t pop out anywhere?’

‘No … I told you. What the hell’s going on? I thought this was about Keira?’

‘A young girl’s in hospital, Tom. Sixteen years old. She took a pill on Monday night and ended up in a coma. You’ve probably seen it on the news, with all the TV-watching you do.’

‘What has this got to do with me?’ Tom’s voice was different now; panicked. He looked from one woman to the other, seeming to search for some sort of reassurance. He wasn’t going to find any.

‘Fusion nightclub. You been there before?’

Tom shrugged. ‘Probably. Last year, maybe.’

‘You weren’t there on Monday night?’

‘No.’

‘OK. The thing is, someone matching your description was seen offering to supply Amy Barker with the drugs that landed her in hospital.’

Tom’s stance eased suddenly, his shoulders visibly relaxing, his tensed jaw slackening. ‘Right,’ he said, dragging the word into a drawl. ‘And how many other blokes my age fit my description?’

‘Good point,’ Alex said, rewarding his self-assurance with a nod. ‘Or it would be, if we hadn’t already had a positive ID.’

Tom opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He looked again from Alex to Chloe, seeming to accept that his attempts at getting out of the situation were likely to prove futile.

He leaned back in his chair. ‘I want to see a solicitor now.’

‘All in good time. Tom Stoddard, I’m arresting you for the possession and supply of a class A substance. You do not have to …’

‘What?’

‘… say anything, but it may harm your defence …’

‘No, this is ridiculous.’

‘… if you do not mention when questioned something you may later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’

‘I was there, all right. I was there on Monday night. But I didn’t give anyone any drugs.’

‘So you’re admitting you were at an under-eighteens’ night?’ Chloe said. ‘You’re in your twenties, Tom. Why would you be hanging around with teenage girls?’ She raised her eyebrows and turned to Alex. ‘Gets better, doesn’t it?’

The panic on Tom’s face was quickly spreading, the insinuation leaving him smarting. He refused to make eye contact with either woman and silently followed Chloe down the corridor and into the holding area, where she showed him to a cell.

‘We’ll let you know when the solicitor arrives,’ she told him, closing the door and locking it behind her.

It seemed at that moment a minor victory; she imagined Alex felt the same. But she knew Tom Stoddard was a small fish in a huge pond; charging him with the supply of drugs was unlikely to mean getting any closer to the real perpetrators, the main suppliers who were bringing the stuff into South Wales and distributing it to the dealers.

And then there was Keira North. They might have Stoddard in custody, but none of them had wanted it to be for this reason. Unless they found something to link him to Keira’s death, he was going to walk away from at least one of his crimes.