The Look of Love (30 page)

Chrissy stood
at the main desk of the police station with Connors and Shawcroft.
She was receiving a stern warning from Connors.

“That’s the
last time you speak to Scott Headly. I don’t want you going
anywhere near him, or his house, or talking to him on the phone. Do
you understand?”

Chrissy nodded.
“I have no intention of going anywhere near either of the Headly
brothers ever again.”

“Hmmm. I wish I
could believe you, Miss Davis. But where Scott Headly is concerned,
I think your heart still rules your head. Be warned, stay away from
him.”

“I will. I
promise.”

Connors still
wasn’t convinced, but he left it at that and said his goodbyes.

As Shawcroft
arranged for Chrissy to be taken home, Connors went back to his
office to retrieve the notes he had taken during his interview with
John King. He was on his way back to the interview rooms when he
met Shawcroft heading in the same direction.

“Is Miss Davis
safely on her way home?” he asked.

Shawcroft
nodded. “I got two uniformed officers to drop her off. Are you
going to confront Scott Headly with her statement?”

“I think
so.”

“I can’t wait
to see his expression.”

“Not this time,
Mike,” Connors told him. “You chase up those membership records and
surveillance tape from the night club. I want to talk to Mr Headly
on my own.”

“Are you sure
that’s wise?”

“In this case,
yes. There’s nothing he’s going to say that John King hasn’t
already told me. It’s the chat I’m planning to have with him after
the interview that interests me, and I don’t want you there to put
him off.”

Scott was
surprisingly calm. Even when Connors questioned him repeatedly
about his meal with John King, he never got annoyed or worked up.
He just answered all the questions calmly and politely.

“Very good,”
Connors said after he had terminated the interview and switched off
the tape recorder. “I have to admire you for your audacity, but I
do think you are being rather foolish.”

“I don’t know
what you mean,” Scott replied.

“Oh, I think
you do. You see I’ve spent more than an hour with John King going
over the meal you had together. I must say he wasn’t as controlled
as you were, but he did his best. And I have to admit that I did go
quite heavily on him. In most cases your statements match, but here
and there there are errors.” Connors indicated his notes as he went
on. “Here you say you both had Balti’s. But here he says you had a
Vindaloo. You said you drank lager. But here he says you had a pint
of bitter. You say you both paid the bill in cash. But here he says
he used his credit card and you paid him the difference. There are
many more little discrepancies like that. Can you explain why?”

Scott shrugged.
“So we got a few things mixed up. We were out on the beer all
night, what did you expect?”

“Boddingtons,”
Connors said cryptically.

“What?”

“Boddingtons.
That’s the bitter John King said you drank. Is that what your
brother drinks? It was him with John King in that restaurant, not
you, wasn’t it?”

For the first
time, Scott looked slightly un-nerved. “I want Mr Billing here,” he
said quickly. “I know my rights, and I think I’ve co-operated
enough.”

Connors nodded.
“I don’t think that will be necessary. You see, I know your brother
did it, Mr Headly. I understand why you are protecting him; he is
your brother after all. But as I said, you are being rather
foolish.”

“I’m not
protecting him!” Scott exclaimed, his voice raised. “I don’t have
to protect him! My brother hasn’t done anything wrong! I haven’t
done anything wrong! So either let me go, or get Mr Billing here
now!”

Connors sensed
that he had Scott on the run at last and drove home his advantage.
“You told Christine Davis that Joanne Henshaw had dumped your
brother. You also told her that Joanne had found another boyfriend.
How did you know that, Scott? Did Max tell you he had seen
them?”

“He did no such
thing!”

“So you saw
them?”

Scott was
suddenly flustered. “Chrissy made a mistake! She was lying!”

“I don’t think
so.”

“Prove it!”

Connors smiled.
“We will, Mr Headly. And when we do, you will be faced with the
agonising decision of either having to admit to the murder
yourself, or condemning your brother for it.”

Scott seemed
un-moved by Connors remarks. “Can I go now?” he demanded.

“Yes, you can
go.”

As Scott stood
up to leave, Connors added, “Oh, and by the way, Mr Headly, Miss
Davis asked me to give you a message. She knows your brother killed
her best friend. She doesn’t believe for a second that you did it.
She also knows that you are covering for him, and she’s not happy
about it. I don’t exactly know what your relationship is with Miss
Davis, but I know where it’s heading. You see, her message is
simple: Tell the truth, or she will never forgive you and you will
lose her forever.”

Scott
hesitated, and Connors saw the look in his eyes. It was a look of
torment and sudden indecision. For a moment he thought Scott was
going to admit the truth. But Scott seemed to think again, and he
quickly turned and left.

Victoria sat in
front of the mirror in her bedroom. She was trying to brush her
hair.

“I must look
like a right dick-head,” she moaned.

She had woken
up two hours before, and had burst into tears as soon as she saw
Louise. They had lain on the bed together, crying and hugging.
Victoria felt so ashamed about what she had told Louise and
Rosanna, and about the way she had behaved. And Louise was so upset
about what she had heard. And they were both still upset about what
had happened to Jo. The overall effect was that they cried non-stop
for almost the whole first hour.

Eventually
their tears had subsided, and they lay together in each others arms
for another hour before they even stirred. They would have stayed
like that for a lot longer, but Louise had drunk so much coffee
with Rosanna that morning that she just had to go for a wee. That
was when Victoria got up and surveyed the damage to her hair.

She put the
brush down on the dressing table and just stared at her reflection.
The hair on one side of her head went down to her waist, while on
the other side it didn’t even reach her shoulder.

She sighed
heavily. “I’m such a twat, I really am. I’ve ruined it. I’ll have
to cut it all off now.”

Louise came
back into the bedroom and stood behind her. “You’re not a twat,”
she said, and put her hands on Victoria’s shoulders. “You were
angry that’s all. It was just a spur of the moment thing. Rosie
said she’ll come up after she and Dave have had their tea. I think
she likes the idea of cutting your hair. It’ll be alright, you’ll
see.”

“Is she
alright? I can remember fighting with her.”

“Yes, she’s
fine.”

“How did she
take it?”

“I think she
was more angry than upset. It was such a shock. For me too. I
suspected something like that must have happened, but hearing it
like that…”

Victoria looked
at Louise’s sad expression in the mirror, and suddenly felt
terrible. “Oh, I’m sorry, Louise. I didn’t mean to splurge it all
out like that. Not on top of everything else. I’ve never told
another soul before –except Zach, of course. You know what I’m
like. I hate talking about it. I get angry at the mere mention of
my daddy. But it just came out. I couldn’t help it.”

“It was that
sedative the nurse gave you. That and the shock.”

Victoria could
see the tears welling up in Louise’s eyes and quickly stood up and
turned to her. They fell into one another’s arms and Louise burst
into tears again. It was all she seemed to do that day. Victoria
couldn’t help herself, and soon she began to cry again too.

“Oh, Louise!”
she said between sobs. “I am a hopeless friend, aren’t I? Here you
are, suffering like this, and all I do is sleep all day and then
moan about my hair-do. I don’t know what you see in me.”

“I love you,”
Louise whispered tearfully. “I keep seeing Jo’s smiling face, but I
think about how I would feel if I lost you.”

Talking about
Jo out loud made them cry even more. But they had already cried so
much that day that their tears quickly dried up, and they soon
began to calm down.

Louise sniffed
and looked up at Victoria. “I suppose I’m being selfish, but I
can’t help it.”

Victoria smiled
at her. “You won’t lose me, Louise. Nobody is going to kill me;
they all enjoy beating me up all the time. They love the sound
their fist’s make when they hit my nose. It’s much more fun, and
they can do it over and over again.”

Louise laughed.
It was brief and stifled. The tears were still in her eyes, and she
hugged Victoria tighter.

Victoria patted
her back. “Come on. Let’s sit down. If we cry any more you’ll
shrivel up.”

They wiped
their eyes and went into the lounge. They sat down together on the
sofa. Louise lay in Victoria’s arms, and Victoria toyed with
Louise’s hair.

“How long did I
sleep for?” she asked.

“About five
hours,” Louise replied. “Rosie stayed with me most of the time. I
don’t know what she was more upset about, Jo or you. But she cried
too. I think she would have killed your dad if he was still
alive.”

“I beat her to
it,” Victoria muttered.

Louise sat up.
“You shouldn’t think like that.”

“But I do. I
killed him. Or at least I was responsible.”

“So what?”

Louise’s remark
made Victoria stare. “That’s a bit heartless coming from you, isn’t
it?”

“I don’t care
anymore!” Louise’s voice was raised, and her expression was much
more hardened and determined than Victoria had ever seen her. “Your
dad was evil! He didn’t care about how much suffering and distress
he caused you! He only thought about himself! So why should you
care about him? So he’s dead! Good! At least he can’t hurt you
anymore! I hate him for what he did to you! I hate him! And I’m
glad he’s dead! Rosie was right! He deserved it!”

Victoria put
her hands on each side of Louise’s face, holding her gently. “Hey
now, take it easy,” she said softly. “It’s all in the past. I know
I’m the last person who should be giving you advice, the memory of
it drives me mad, but I try my damnedest not to think about it, so
I don’t want you to start. It already costs me a fortune in vodka.
If the two of us start drinking to forget we’ll be bankrupt in a
week.”

“How can you
joke about it?”

“You’ve seen
what I’m like when I take it seriously. If I was like that all the
time I’d slit my throat. Now stop it. If there’s one thing you’ve
said that’s true, it’s that he’s dead, and it’s over with.”

Victoria kissed
Louise on the lips. It was the first time she had initiated any
sexual activity, and it pleased Louise greatly. They kissed again.
It wasn’t passionate, it was just caring and gentle, and it made
Louise feel warm and loved. She hugged Victoria tightly, and they
sat on the sofa quietly together.

Eventually
Louise broke the silence.

“I can’t stop
thinking about Jo,” she said. “She never hurt anyone. She didn’t do
anything wrong. She didn’t deserve to get killed. It wasn’t
fair.”

“I know, it
should have been me,” Victoria said thoughtfully.

Louise
instantly sat up. “Don’t say that!” she snapped.

“But that’s
what you meant, though, isn’t it?” Victoria replied.

“No, I didn’t!”
Louise said desperately. “I didn’t mean that at all!”

“Oh, I know
what you meant, Louise, and I know you didn’t mean it in that way.
And I’m not upset with you, but it still means the same thing. Jo
wasn’t so bad, so she didn’t deserve to get killed. But me, I’m a
slut. I’m always causing trouble and getting into fights. I dress
like a tart, lead boys on, break them and their girlfriends up. If
there was ever a girl that needed killing, it has to be me. But
life is never fair, is it? Jo was an innocent compared to me. But
she was the one that got murdered. Society tries to tell you that
only bad girls get punished, but it’s not true. Being a good girl
is no protection either.

“When I was six
I was a little angel. I was a good little girl. I was hardly ever
naughty. And I was never smacked. I didn’t have tantrums, I never
complained about the presents I got at Christmas, even if they were
totally the wrong ones. I was always polite to relatives, and I
loved my mummy and daddy. Then it started. I was like a little
flower, all delicate and pretty. Then life stepped on me, and
ground me into the muck. I was a good girl, and I got crushed.”

Victoria
sounded and looked emotional, but she wasn’t angry. Her words held
an edge of bitterness, but it seemed that speaking them unloaded
that bitterness and released it in some way. As she spoke, Louise
could only stare at her in silence, fascinated by what she was
saying, and by what she was going to say.

“When I grew
up, I didn’t want to be a good girl anymore. It didn’t make any
difference, and my daddy kept telling me how bad I was for making
him do the things he did to me. It was all my fault you see. I
egged him on, with my body and my temptations. I was a whore, a
slut. So when I got older I behaved like one. I slept with every
boy I met. I was the village bike, I was the town bike, I was the
flippin’ county bike. If a boy hadn’t ridden me he had to be either
queer, a monk, or still in nappies. I was fourteen and I was
already trash. Then one night I snapped the other way.