Page 119 of Maybe Tomorrow
‘Sure.’
‘Come through, Stephen.’
Freya watched as Stephen walked through a police station that was once familiar to him. He walked slowly and seemed to be in great pain with every step. When he sat on the plastic seat in the interview room, he winced.
‘What type of cancer is it?’ Freya asked.
‘It started in my liver. Now it’s spread to, well, I don’t think there’s a part of my body it hasn’t spread to,’ he smiled sadly.
‘Is there anything they can do?’
‘No. I’ve been told I’ve had my last Christmas.’
‘Stephen, I’m so sorry.’
He waved off her apology. ‘My own fault. I’ve been drinking like a fish since I was about sixteen.’
‘How’s… I’m sorry, I can’t remember your wife’s name.’
‘Karen. We split up years ago. She lives in Gran Canaria now. Married again. They own a bar overlooking the beach. A bit different to life in Whitby.’
Freya didn’t know what to say. She offered him a sympathetic smile. It was sad to see how his life had turned out, but at the end of the day, he’d been instrumental in her husband’s premature exit from the force, a job he had wanted since childhood, and despite making a success of the luxury car hire business, it was evident he missed being a detective. She couldn’t forgive him for that.
‘Why have you come here?’ she asked.
Stephen coughed, which sounded hollow in his chest. ‘I was watching TV this morning. That’s all I seem to do these days. Pauline Winstanley was on talking about her son. She’s still fighting, I see, even ten years later. She mentioned that she’s looking for Tania Dove. Do you remember her?’
‘Of course, I do.’
‘She did lie, Tania. But not in the way they think she did.’
‘What do you mean?’ She frowned.
‘She didn’t go out that night, because of the storm. She spent the night in her flat. She lived on the seafront, and she was sitting at the window watching the waves come crashing in and the flashes of lightning on the horizon. And she saw Anthony Winstanley standing by the wall, looking out to sea, getting soaked. She spent over an hour watching him. He didn’t move once.’
‘How sure was she that it was Anthony?’
‘Because he was standing beneath a lamppost. And she did know Anthony because he watched the prostitutes working, but he never did anything. He never played with himself. He never approached them. He never interfered. He just watched, and occasionally he chatted to them.’
‘Why did she say?—?’
‘Bishop paid her,’ Stephen interrupted. ‘He had the weight of the press on his shoulders screaming for an arrest. He couldn’t find the killer, so he manufactured one. Anthony was an easy scapegoat, so he made the evidence fit. He paid Tania fifty pounds for her statement and then gave her more to lie in court.’
‘I always knew Bishop was a bastard, but that… that’s just…’
‘I know.’
‘But you knew about it.’
Stephen looked down.
‘And are you only here now because you saw it on TV and you want to salve your conscience before you die.’
‘Now, that’s not fair.’
‘No. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.’
‘Look, I know Bishop did some dodgy things in his time, but he always got results. The Alice Patterson case was the only one where I know he blatantly lied and arrested the wrong man.’ Heswallowed, which seemed to cause him more pain. ‘Look, Freya, I want to give a statement.’
