Deserving Death Read Online Free PDF Page B

Tessa moved his head to the correct position, tilted back a little so that the back of his tongue fell clear of his airway, and the snoring ceased. Carly smiled at her and got a small smile in return.
    The siren was close now, and Carly felt the sun warm on her shoulders as she took another set of obs, then remembered about Alicia.
    *
    In the car on the way to Kings Cross station, where John Morris was waiting, Ella said, ‘So tell me about him.’
    ‘You really haven’t heard his name?’ Murray said.
    ‘How often do I play dumb?’
    He lifted his fingers off the wheel. ‘Last year people were saying he’d assaulted and raped the probationary constable he was working with. I don’t know where you were hiding to have not heard about it.’
    Ella felt sick. ‘What happened?’
    ‘She made a complaint. He denied it and claimed the sex was consensual and the bruises on her back were from a tough arrest. She said, yes, there had been a rough arrest, but that wasn’t the cause of the bruises, Morris was. He continued to deny it, and said she was failing and had made up the accusation in an effort to make him pass her. She went to hospital and there was evidence of sex but not conclusive evidence of force, apparently.’
    ‘And of course everyone had to talk about it,’ Ella said.
    ‘You wanted to know,’ Murray said mildly. ‘In the end she withdrew the complaint. But –’
    ‘People still talked,’ she said.
    He inclined his head. ‘And she failed, and she left.’
    Ella stared out the windscreen. ‘Any more stories about him like that?’
    ‘Not that I’ve heard.’
    Ella thought of the power imbalance in a probationary/senior officer relationship, the evils of a ‘he said/she said’ situation. Accusing a colleague broke the unspoken rule of loyalty too. The woman would’ve been afraid her fellow officers might not back her up if she called for help.
    ‘We need to talk to her.’
    Murray accelerated through an orange light. ‘That we do.’
    *
    Ella sipped the bitter station coffee then put the cup down. Opposite her sat Constable John Morris, half a metre back from the table, shoulders straight, legs apart, hands clasped in his lap. She’d been watching his face since they first met, ten minutes ago in the station’s main office, and was almost certain that his expressions were carefully chosen and arranged. He’d looked upset initially, frowning, biting his lip, but now appeared concerned and attentive: the very model of the reasonable cop who just wanted to help.
    Murray started the tape. ‘Just a precaution,’ he said, then recited everyone’s names.
    Ella watched Morris’s gaze move steadily between her and Murray. He’d shown no surprise or exasperation when they said it’d be a formal interview. This was going to be interesting.
    She moved the cup aside and leaned forward. ‘John, you mentioned when we arrived that you already knew that Alicia Bayliss was dead. Can you tell us how you found out?’
    ‘A mate rang me,’ he said. ‘He’s on the desk at Newtown today and heard people talking about it.’
    ‘How did you feel?’
    ‘I was shocked and horrified, of course. And sad. Alicia and I had been close. And murder’s always awful.’ The upset frown again.
    ‘Did you have any immediate thoughts about who might’ve done it?’ she asked.
    ‘There’s that housemate,’ he said. ‘Hibbins. No doubt you know about what he did, how he came onto Alicia a couple of times?’
    ‘How did you hear about that?’ Ella said.
    ‘He told me himself. I saw him at the hospital and he said now that she and I had split up I wouldn’t mind that he asked her out, would I? I said something about her having better taste than that and he smirked. I saw her later and told her to look out. She said he’d already tried it on, more than once, and that it was none of my business who she did or didn’t see.’
    ‘Was that when you grabbed her?’ Ella said.
    Morris looked at her. ‘We argued,