Bad Samaritan Read Free Page B

Then he dumped her and started going out with her best friend.’
    â€˜Ouch,’ says Ale.
    â€˜Aye. Ouch right enough. Wee bastard. We treated him like family. Felt like a betrayal, you know. Even took him on holiday with us latterly.’ Pause. ‘She kind of went off the rails for a wee while after that. Coming home drunk, or high. We had a few rows I can tell you. And a few attempts to ground her. Which she totally ignored. Strong-willed, just like her mother.’ He outlines a scenario that will surely be playing through a million homes across the country.
    â€˜Routine question, Mr Banks,’ I say. ‘Where were you and your wife last night?’
    â€˜Here. We’re always here,’ he answers. ‘Don’t have much of a life outside of work. And Aileen.’ He swallows, picks up the bear and grips its waist. ‘After dinner we watched some telly. Can’t even remember what we watched. Then we went to bed. Neither of us sleep well until we hear Aileen’s key in the door…’ He pauses. A sob. His face twists with the pain. ‘We must have dozed off eventually because the next thing,’ he screws his eyes shut, ‘the police were at the door.’
    â€˜I got ready for work.’ He releases the bear from the torture he is inflicting on it and moves both hands down the air in front of his body as if to demonstrate his work clothes. ‘Kept on going with my usual morning routine because it can’t be true. It’s someone else’s Aileen. Not my wee girl.’ He holds a hand over his mouth. His eyes screw shut. His shoulders shake in silent pain.
    We give him a moment.
    â€˜It would be helpful if we could have a look at her bedroom,’ Ale says.
    â€˜Top of the stairs. Second door on the right,’ Kevin manages to answer. He crosses his arms in a movement that comes across like he’s trying to hug himself.
    â€˜Would you like to come up with us, please?’ I ask. My tone suggests I would rather he did. Thankfully, he’s in compliant mode. Too numb to be anything else. He gets to his feet slowly, as if age was his problem rather than the early stages of grief.
    We make a slow procession upstairs. He reaches a door. It has a small plaster plaque at eye level, pink flowers with the name Aileen embossed in white. He pushes it open and stands aside to let us past.
    A double bed rests under the window. Pink fairy lights are wrapped around the metal frame of the headboard. A thick quilt bears the outline of a body that had been pressed against the down. It emphasises how the room has recently been made vacant. Kevin steps forward and places the bear on the pillows. He then smooths out the shape of the body that had recently rested there. From the size of it I guessed it had been made by him.
    I look away to study the room. The walls are painted the same neutral colour the rest of the house wears. The wall to the right has a mirrored floor-to-ceiling wardrobe, and a dressing table rests against the wall on the left. It has a pile of books at one end and at the other an array of cosmetics. In the middle sits the glossy black rectangle of a closed laptop. In the corner there’s a bookcase. I can see Harry Potter , Jacqueline Wilson and more than a few vampire books.
    â€˜Aileen loved that Twilight series. Kinda grown out of it now, but refused to get rid of the books.’ Kevin catches my line of sight. ‘When did vampires become the good guys?’
    â€˜What was she studying?’ Ale asks.
    â€˜History,’ Kevin answers. ‘Such a nothing degree in my opinion. I want her to do something more practical. Something that would lead to an actual job, you know. But girls nowadays,’ he shrugs, ‘there’s no telling them.’
    He looks out of the door and across the landing. I follow his line of vision and can see into another bedroom. It’s in darkness, heavy curtains closed, but I can make out