Just Keep Breathing, GS Rhodes [best book club books for discussion TXT] 📗

“So, Mr Kaye, it’s lovely to have you back here,” he said. “Bet you were clicking your heels all the way home when we let you go on Tuesday.”

“No comment,” Norman Kaye grumbled. DI Kidd rolled his eyes.

“How wonderful, your fine legal counsel has briefed you on all the evidence we have and told you the best course of action is to say fuck all.”

“No comment.”

“Fucks sake, Norman, I thought this was going to be fun,” Kidd said, leaning back in his chair. “The least you could bloody do is defend yourself.” He turned to the legal representative who was staring at Kidd with a downturned mouth. “You really think this is the right thing for him to be doing? You are joking, aren’t you?”

“I don’t think you should be pressing my client quite so heavily, Detective Inspector,” Mr Ward mumbled. “He has every right to stay quiet if he wants to. If you really think you have the evidence to charge him, charge him.”

“Oh, Mr Ward, you’d best believe that I intend to,” Kidd said. “But perhaps a few questions first. Let’s see if we can jog Mr Kaye’s memory.” He turned his attention back to Norman. He looked shaken, his eyes trained on his hands that were handcuffed. He looked like he was about to throw up. He certainly didn’t look like someone keen on giving a no comment interview, but maybe Mr Ward thought that was his best chance at getting off with it. He would bet money on Mr Ward of Shire & Ward having a long history of defending scumbags.

But still, something didn’t sit right with Kidd. He wanted Norman to talk to him.

“Mr Kaye, we brought you in on suspicion of the murder of Sarah Harper.” Norman flinched at that, Kidd narrowed his eyes. “But while we have you, we also wanted to discuss the recent disappearance of your son.”

Norman Kaye looked up sharply.

“Got your attention, have I, Mr Kaye?”

“What about Caleb?” he mumbled. “What’s happened to him?”

“We’ll come to that,” Kidd said. Norman seemed genuinely shocked to hear it. How good of an actor was he? “First I want you to answer a few questions for me, would that be alright?”

Norman Kaye turned to Mr Ward who shook his head ever so slightly. Mr Kaye seemed torn, torn between doing what he wanted to do and what he was told would save his skin. DI Kidd decided to wade in.

“Ignore that fucker,” Kidd said. “This is about you, this is about your life. He’s going to get paid either way, you need to think about you right now.”

Norman still didn’t look sure. Kidd proceeded anyway.

“I want to know more about your relationship with the Harpers,” Kidd said. “It must have pissed you off something rotten when you found out about Alexandra and Chris.”

Norman Kaye shrugged. “They can do what they want, they’re adults.”

“Now, you say that, Mr Kaye, but the way you reacted at the school reunion just a few nights ago suggests otherwise,” Kidd said. “The anger that you showed when you saw the two of them talking to one another might be enough to, I don’t know, take drastic action against the person you held captive.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“Norman,” Mr Wade reprimanded, but his client ignored him.

“Is it, Mr Kaye?” Kidd replied, happy to have gotten a rise out of him. Now maybe they could get him to talk. “Tell me more about their one-night stand, tell me how it made you feel.”

Norman Kaye scoffed. “One-night stand.”

“Something to say about it, Mr Kaye?” Kidd asked, leaning back in his chair and gesturing to the tape recorder between them. “The floor is all yours.”

“You called it a one-night stand,” Norman said. “That’s what they said to me too. I imagine it’s what Chris said to Laura as well.” Norman shook his head. “They’re not just lying to themselves, they’re lying to me, they’re lying to Laura, it’s disgusting.”

“How do you mean?” Kidd asked.

“Their story is that it was a one-night stand,” Norman said. “But they never stopped. Once they got going, it just kept on happening. I don’t know how the fuck he managed to get away with it, to be honest.” He added. “After everything that happened the first time they got found out, you’d think the smart thing to do would be to shut it down. But neither one of them wanted that. If Laura asked, you can bet your life that Chris would claim Alex dug her claws in, but they both wanted it, even if they couldn’t admit it.”

“So they’ve been sleeping together since…?” DS Sanchez asked.

“Since we split up,” Norman spat. “And it never stopped, they just kept going, sneaking around like they had this big old secret, but it doesn’t take an idiot to figure it out. I knew that Alex didn’t work that much, all it took was a phone call to the hospital one night when Caleb was with me to find out that she wasn’t there.”

“Where was she?”

Norman shook his head. “Right under everyone’s noses,” he whispered. “That’s the thing about Chris and his career. He started to build all of these houses and then suddenly ran out of money, suddenly couldn’t pay me, couldn’t pay anybody so let us all go. He’s still got access to all these half-finished properties.”

Kidd stared at Norman, the pieces falling into place in his head. Right under their noses the entire time. The houses.

“They sneak off to these secret houses, have their fun, no one is any the wiser. He’s the only one who has access to them.”

But that wasn’t correct either. Sarah Harper had access to them too, she’d let Dexter use one to meet up with Nicholas. The one that was right next to Alexandra Kaye’s house.

“I swear he has one for every woman that he’s slept with. You’d be naive to think it was just Alexandra.” Norman tutted. “He’s a disgrace.”

Kidd shook his head. How had he missed it when it