Free No Lovelier Death by Graham Hurley Page B

she just seemed to lose it. Vodka, mainly. With lemonade.’
    The first sign of real trouble, she said, was a bunch of guys she didn’t know doing lines of coke on the upstairs landing.
    ‘It turned out there was a dealer with them. They called him Danny.
    I don’t know whether it was his real name or not but apparently he was practically giving the stuff away. They couldn’t get enough of it. I tried to tell Gareth but he was pretty pissed too. When he finally cottoned on he made me promise I wouldn’t call the police. He was really worried about Rach’s dad finding out. He was sure Rach would get the blame.’
    By now, she said, the house was full of strangers. That’s when it really kicked off.
    ‘I heard this terrible yelling. Then a stamping noise and the sound of breaking glass. Rach heard it too. Her dad’s study’s up on the first floor. I was sure we’d locked it but someone had kicked the door in. Her dad’s got a big leather-covered desk and some of these kids were dancing on it. They’d piled all the family photos they could find on the desk, nice shots in frames, and they were just trashing them. There was a girl on the desk too. She was the one who told the kids to … you know …’ She gestured at her lap.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Piss. Piss all over them.’
    ‘And they did?’
    ‘Yes. Right in front of us. Rachel just freaked. You can imagine. I don’t think she really grasped what was happening. She did her best to stop them but they just laughed at her. Told her to fuck off. That’s when Matt appeared.’
    Matt, she said, had taken charge. The kids seemed to know him. When it got difficult he just started hauling them off, one by one. A couple of them tried to have a go at him but he just threw them into the hall. Then he took Rach off.
    ‘Where to?’
    Once again Faraday sensed reluctance. He repeated the question. Finally, she shrugged. ‘The bathroom.’
    ‘And?’
    ‘I think he tried to get some sense into her. When I next saw her, there was water on her T-shirt and she seemed to have sobered up a bit.’
    Faraday glanced across at Suttle.
    ‘Were they in there a long time?’ Suttle asked.
    ‘Quite a long time.’
    ‘And was the door locked?’
    ‘How would I know?’
    ‘Because I expect you tried it.’
    Sam stared at Suttle for a long moment.
    Then she nodded. ‘I did.’
    ‘And was it locked?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Why do you think that was?’
    She wouldn’t answer. Suttle was looking at Faraday.
    ‘What happened after that?’ Faraday asked. ‘Did you talk to her at all?’
    ‘Yes. Just to ask if she was OK. She said she was. She said that Matt had been … you know … brilliant.’
    ‘And her boyfriend? Gareth? Where was he?’
    ‘I’ve no idea. It was just chaos by now. Kids everywhere. One of them had a paint aerosol. Black. He was tagging with it. It was everywhere, all over the place - the walls, the panelling, the doors, everywhere. Rachel’s dad had some oil paintings. It was unbelievable what they were doing.’
    ‘And still no one said anything? Tried to stop them?’
    ‘No. It’s hard to explain. Most people were off their faces. Friends of ours. The chavs. Matt’s mates. People didn’t care any more. You could see it in their faces. People you thought you knew, people you thought you could trust, they looked like strangers, they were strangers. It was weird. It’s really, really hard to explain.’
    ‘What about you? How did you feel?’
    ‘I was frightened.’
    ‘Of what?’
    ‘Of everything. It was just … totally alien, totally strange. You feel … I dunno … helpless. There’s nothing you can do.’
    ‘You could have phoned us.’
    ‘I thought about that. But then you’d have busted us all. And Gareth was right. Rach would have got the blame. She got on OK with her dad but I knew he could be really strict.’
    ‘So you did nothing?’
    ‘I tried to calm things down, tried to keep a lid on things.’
    ‘And no sign of