Free The Advent Killer by Alastair Gunn Page A

ran down the path, leaving Hawkins no choice except to watch their only lead escaping.
    But as he opened the tall gate at the end of the garden, his luck changed.
    Mike’s powerful frame blocked his escape, and this time it was De Angelo’s turn to be the smaller man. They both said something she couldn’t hear through the glass, and then De Angelo swung at him.
    Mike swayed, evading the fist. In the same motion, he stepped into De Angelo’s body and, using the flailing arm as a lever, flattened him against the brick wall opposite.
    He turned and produced a pair of Plasticuffs, raising his eyebrows at her. Hawkins nodded her approval and watched Mike read De Angelo his rights.

14.
     
    Despite the careers advisor at school suggesting she train as a nanny, Hawkins had never liked the idea of looking after other people’s children. And, as she formally introduced the room’s occupants to various recording devices, the twenty-eight-year-old sitting four feet away was reminding her why.
    ‘I didn’t kill nobody,’ Marcus De Angelo repeated as soon as she’d finished. He looked like a defiant teenager, slumped in his plastic chair, staring at the interview room’s dirty grey wall somewhere above her and Mike’s heads.
    ‘So you keep telling us.’ It was the thirteenth time he’d said the same thing since they’d left Silvertown.
    ‘I had no reason to do her in. She was a good shag.’
    ‘How romantic.’ Hawkins couldn’t resist. ‘I can’t believe we ever suspected you.’
    De Angelo responded with a patronizing smile.
    ‘We just wanted to ask you some questions, Marcus.’ Mike leaned forwards in his chair. ‘You got
yourself
arrested when you got all Muhammad Ali with our officer.’
    ‘Little prick – eyeballed me all the way here.’
    ‘We’ll come to that.’ Hawkins took over. ‘First tell us if you knew either Glenis Ward or Tess Underwood.’
    ‘Not that I remember.’ De Angelo wasn’t taking this seriously at all. ‘But I’ve known a lot of girls, if you get my drift.’
    ‘Ever kill any of
them
?’ Mike asked.
    ‘Fuck off, mate.’ De Angelo’s hand returned to the mark on his cheek where Mike had braced him against the wall. ‘Or I’ll have you done for GBH.’
    Hawkins shot a sideways glance at her colleague, warning him to back off. De Angelo still hadn’t requested his solicitor’s presence, and she didn’t want to encourage him, but this display of confidence worried her. He obviously knew they had very little linking him to Jessica’s murder, let alone either of the others.
    ‘If you’re innocent,’ she said, ‘why didn’t you come forward two days ago?’
    De Angelo held Mike’s stare for a few more seconds before transferring his gaze back to her. ‘Reason’s right there in front of you, darling.’
    ‘For the record,’ Hawkins said, ‘Mr De Angelo is referring to a copy of today’s
Sun
newspaper, dated December twenty-first. And why is that, Marcus?’
    ‘I was doing her.’ De Angelo smirked. ‘And they paid me ten grand to talk about it. I don’t reckon your offer would have been so generous. So what else do you want to know?’
    She paused, mainly to ensure De Angelo didn’t hear the rising temper in her voice. ‘We’d like to hear your side of the story.’
    ‘Don’t you read?’
    Hawkins picked up the paper. The headline shouted: MY AFFAIR WITH MURDERED JESSICA , above an image of De Angelo’s face. She began flicking through the pages.
    ‘Even the
Sun
gets things wrong occasionally, Marcus.’She kept her tone casual. ‘Sometimes by mistake, other times to sell more papers. Have you read it through?’
    Silence.
    ‘Interesting.’ She had his attention. ‘Shall we check some key facts, just for your peace of mind?’ Still no response, but he had started chewing his lower lip.
    ‘This is nice.’ Hawkins paused at a double-page spread covered with male-model style shots of De Angelo, and a biographical interview. He certainly had the