Read Online The Slowest Cut by Catriona King - Free Book Online Page B

turned it on anyway, to catch Warner’s much softer words. After Liam ran through the formalities of name, address and whatever, he sat back in silence, folding his hands demurely on the table top.
    Craig stared at their suspect, wondering what made him tick. Gerry Warner looked for all the world like an ordinary bloke. A school teacher; average shirt, average tie, average height. Sixty but looking late forties. Steel-grey hair, still all his own and not bad looking in a gaunt, sharp-jawed way. No-one would have looked twice at him in the street. Nothing about Warner said ‘killer of middle-aged headmistresses’, but then Craig didn’t believe for one moment that he was.
    Gerry Warner hadn’t killed Eileen Carragher, any more than her husband had. But he was up to his ears in something, and whatever it was had led to Eileen Carragher’s death. Craig watched the two men sit in silence for a moment then he entered the interview room, taking a seat beside Liam and introducing himself for the tape. Warner’s expression soured when he heard Craig’s rank and his sarcastic tone matched.
    “Oh my. Here come the judge.”
    Craig smiled slightly, recognising the reference to a 1960s song. It would have been released when Warner was young. Warner had managed to summarise his obvious contempt for authority in one brief phrase. Despite the fact he was a teacher, Gerry Warner obviously didn’t see himself as ‘the man’. Craig imagined him as an anarchic student, wild, free and protesting every cause, until life and a mortgage had forced him to get a job and join the herd. What a blow reality was to some people.
    “Good afternoon, Dr Warner. Thank you for helping us with our enquiries.”
    Warner snorted. “I didn’t have much sodding choice, did I?” He gestured towards Liam. “King Kong here invited me with his fists.”
    Craig’s tone was cool but firm. “Now, that’s not strictly true, Dr Warner, is it? Inspector McElroy asked you politely and you chose to assault her. The moment you did that you committed a crime. D.C.I. Cullen was merely impeding a criminal’s flight.”
    “Call it what you want, Craig. I’m getting my union lawyers on the job and I’ll make sure this is in the press.”
    “Whatever you wish. Now, we originally asked you here to help us with an urgent matter. Aren’t you at all curious what that might be?”
    “Shortage of brain cells in the police force I suppose. Sorry, I can’t help you with that. I need all of mine.”
    Craig saw Liam’s fists whiten and shot him a look that said ‘stand down’. He continued speaking in mellifluous tones.
    “Very amusing, Dr Warner, but it’s something much more serious than that. I understand that you know a Mrs Eileen Carragher?”
    Warner scanned Craig’s face suspiciously, certain that everything he said was a trap. When he’d run out of ways that Craig’s question might have been one, he answered.
    “Yes. I know her. We went to college together to do our P.G.C.E.”
    “P.G.C.E.?”
    “Post graduate certificate of education. To teach.”
    “Ah.” Craig deliberately paused for too long, just to make Warner sweat. He was rewarded by droplets forming on his top lip. “But you’ve seen her since. At college reunions for instance?”
    “Yes. I saw her on Saturday for drinks.” Warner glared at Craig and then Liam, then gave an exasperated sigh. “Look, what is this about?”
    Craig leaned forward and watched as Warner leaned back to match, maintaining the distance between them.
    “We have reason to believe that Mrs Carragher may have been the victim of a brutal assault sometime between Saturday and Sunday. We’re trying to establish her whereabouts on those days.”
    Warner’s eyes widened in shock, and something more. Craig recognised it immediately and Liam threw him a glance that said he had too. It was fear. Gerry Warner was afraid of something. Something to do with Eileen Carragher’s assault. His shock said he hadn’t known