The Payback Read Online Free PDF Page B

with a pet name, suggesting that it’s possibly a lover. Would you have any idea who that might be?’
    Tina felt her jaw tighten as she met his gaze. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘It’s me.’

Four
     
    Keeping her demeanour as cool and professional as possible, even though she was churning up inside as different emotions – grief, embarrassment, and most of all guilt – swirled about her system, Tina asked if she could see the notes.
    ‘They’re definitely genuine,’ said Weale. ‘His wife recognizes the handwriting.’ He too looked embarrassed at Tina’s admission, having clearly not expected it. It made him look even younger somehow.
    ‘Did she see the one he wrote to me?’
    ‘No.’ Weale rubbed his head a little self-consciously. ‘We didn’t feel there was anything to be gained at the moment by letting her know he was having an affair.’
    Tina sighed, feeling relieved. ‘I know you don’t have to show me the letters, but I’d still appreciate it if I could take a look.’
    Weale seemed to think about this for a moment, then nodded and produced three transparent evidence bags from a tattered leather briefcase propped on a box in the corner of the room. ‘Ican’t let you touch them, I’m afraid, but you should be able to read them through the plastic.’
    Each note was laid out flat inside the bag and he held them up one by one for her to read. They were all very short and apologetic, as he said sorry to those he was closest to for what he was about to do, and Weale was right, they’d definitely been written by Nick. She recognized his distinctive, very messy handwriting, as well as the doodle of a smiling face that he’d put at the end of the note to his daughters. He’d drawn a similar one on the birthday card he’d sent her a few months back. He’d also addressed her as ‘T’, the name he’d always called her by, and signed it ‘Mr P’, the name she’d sometimes used for him. It was also clear that Nick had made a real effort to make the words legible, which they just about were. No mean feat for him at the best of times. Damn near a miracle after he’d necked half a bottle of gin.
    She swallowed hard, desperate not to look weak in front of DS Weale, and just about managing it.
    ‘Look, I’m not here to judge what happened between you two,’ said Weale, putting the bags back in the briefcase. ‘And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t get made public.’
    ‘Thanks.’
    ‘How long were you seeing him for?’
    She sighed. ‘I worked with him on and off for about a year, and we’d been seeing each other for the last three months. But it finished two weeks ago.’
    ‘Who finished it? You or Mr Penny?’
    ‘I did.’ She paused, then looked Weale squarely in the eye. ‘I know how bad this looks, but it wasn’t suicide. How much of Nick’s background do you know?’
    ‘I know about his run-in with Paul Wise. And’ – he lookeduncomfortable – ‘I know about Wise’s connection to you.’
    Just the mention of Paul Wise’s name filled Tina with a cold, intense rage. ‘Nick and I were looking for any evidence that could be used to reopen the case against him,’ she told Weale, seeing no point in keeping the subject of their meetings secret. She’d been warned by her superiors in the Met not to say anything publicly about Wise, nor to get involved in investigating him, on pain of dismissal, but it was going to come out soon enough anyway. ‘Nick was doing most of the digging. I was helping him when I could.’
    ‘How?’
    ‘By giving him information where he didn’t have the authority to get it himself. That kind of thing.’ She hoped Weale wouldn’t ask for details since what she’d been doing could easily cost her her job.
    He nodded slowly, clearly having trouble taking this all in. ‘And had you found anything that could be used?’
    She didn’t say anything for a moment. In truth, she’d been hugely disappointed by Penny’s progress.