Free The Headhunters by Peter Lovesey Page B

it.’
    ‘You do?’
    ‘I was there today for that stupid identification parade.’
    ‘You?’ There was a pause, then a despairing, ‘Oh, Christ.’
    ‘They made me do it because it was me who discovered the body on the beach. I was supposed to see if I recognised one of the men I’d seen. Jake, it freaked me out when I saw you in the line-up. God knows what the police think they’re doing. Anyway, you’re home, are you?’
    ‘Mm.’ He sounded preoccupied, still absorbing what she’d told him.
    ‘How did you get my number?’ she asked.
    ‘Number?’
    ‘The phone. I’m ex-directory.’ How it was done didn’t matter squat, but talking about it was giving her time to get her own jumbled thoughts in order and decide what to say next.
    ‘Gemma,’ he said.
    ‘Of course. Good old Gem. She’s in the book. She put you onto me. I really appreciate this call, Jake.’
    ‘Can we meet?’
    ‘Meet?’ Her pulse quickened. ‘I’d love to.’
    ‘To talk.’
    ‘I understand. All right. When? Tomorrow?’
    ‘Tonight.’
    ‘Are you sure? You looked out on your feet.’
    ‘A pub would do.’
    ‘What’s the one near the beach in Selsey? The Lifeboat Inn.’
    ‘I can come to Chichester.’
    ‘I won’t hear of it after all you’ve been through,’ she told him. ‘Selsey. Definitely Selsey.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Eight-thirty in the Lifeboat?’

    HE WAS already at a corner table with a pint in front of him when she arrived. The sight of him here, a free man again, was a huge reassurance. The dark rings were still around his eyes, but some of the strain had gone from his face. She said she’d have a tonic.
    ‘How long did they hold you at the police station?’ she asked when he put the drink in front of her.
    ‘Since yesterday morning.’
    ‘Oh my God. Is that legal?’
    He nodded.
    ‘But you haven’t done anything.’
    ‘It’s a murder case.’
    ‘They told me you were seen by someone at the beach the day I found the body,’ she said. ‘Surely that isn’t enough for them to arrest you. Were you really there? I didn’t spot you.’
    ‘Thought I might get lucky,’ he said.
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘You said . . . ’ The words stopped coming.
    ‘Go on.’
    ‘ . . . you walk there sometimes.’
    Her heart felt like Big Ben striking. ‘You were there because of me?’
    He shrugged. ‘Anyway, it’s not a bad place to walk. Normally.’
    If his remark was meant in humour, it escaped her. She was seized by the need to let him know she’d shared his idea. ‘That’s why I went, in hope of meeting you. How could we have missed each other? Jake, I’m sorry. If I’d known you were about, I wouldn’t have gone back to the car. Do you know who it was who spotted you?’
    ‘Some local guy.’
    ‘And what was he doing there?’
    ‘Walking his poodle dog.’
    ‘Him! In combat clothes. I saw him. I told the police about him, but they didn’t show any interest.’
    ‘He knows who I am.’
    ‘It doesn’t mean he’s in the clear. He could be shifting the interest away from himself. I was really shocked when I saw you in that line-up. Did they rough you up? You looked awful.’
    His mouth twitched into a half-smile. ‘So what’s new?’
    ‘I don’t suppose you slept at all. They should have found out in the first two minutes that you had nothing to do with it.’
    He sighed and stared into his drink. The broad shoulders sagged. ‘There’s something you don’t know.’
    Her skin prickled. Were the new shoots of joy about to be trampled? She was so certain he was a decent man, unfairly accused.
    He said, ‘I’ve got form.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘A record. Been in prison.’
    She shook her head in disbelief. ‘Tell me.’
    ‘When I was nineteen . . . ’ He primed himself with a sip of beer. ‘When I was nineteen, in Cornwall, there was a main road built near where I lived, a bypass.’
    She nodded, but so much was going on in her own shocked brain that she was hearing his voice as