Silent Voices

to do with me.’
    ‘You were very close to Danny.’ Vera fired the words back at him. ‘Or so his mother says.’
    ‘That’s somewhat of an exaggeration.’
    ‘He admired you,’ Vera went on as if there’d been no interruption. ‘Admired your drive and the way you went for what you wanted. It must have been flattering to have a bright lad like that hanging off your every word.’
    And Morgan couldn’t help giving a little smile. Even here, with the two cops watching on, he couldn’t help being pleased with himself. ‘We had a couple of interesting discussions. As you say, he was a bright lad. Working in a place like this, you can miss intelligent conversation.’
    ‘Of course,’ Vera said. She had to bite her tongue to stop herself from asking if that was why he’d taken up with Mattie and Freya. For the quality of the conversation. ‘When did you last see him?’
    ‘The afternoon before he died,’ Morgan said. ‘It must have been then.’
    ‘Tell me about it.’ This chair was comfortable, more comfortable than any of the furniture in Morgan’s flat. Vera had to force herself to concentrate. Suddenly she thought it would have been very easy to drift off to sleep.
    ‘We met for a coffee in the lounge. Something we did most of the days when our shifts coincided.’
    ‘How did Danny seem?’ She shuffled her bum forward so that she was in a more upright position.
    Morgan took time to answer and that made Vera suddenly feel wide awake. Was he putting together a story in his head? That would mean he had something to hide.
    ‘I thought he was a bit jumpy,’ Morgan said at last.
    ‘In what way, jumpy?’ She leaned forwards, elbows on her knees, right in his face.
    ‘You know, tense, wired up. Perhaps he’d just had too much coffee. There could have been no more to it than that.’
    ‘Mr Morgan, you’re used to interpreting people’s physical responses. It’s how you make a living, how you persuade unhappy people to trust you. People like Lisa, who works here. People who can’t really afford your charges. And then you get your patients to confide in you. I want to know exactly what you made of Danny’s state that afternoon. And exactly what he said.’
    The room was very small and there was no natural light. It had a background smell that was faintly aromatic, a result of incense perhaps or scented candles. But now Vera could smell fear on the man who sat so close to her.
    ‘Like I said, he was wired up,’ Morgan said. He wouldn’t meet her eyes. ‘Hyper. At first I thought it might be drugs, but I think it was just adrenalin.’
    ‘And what did he say?’
    ‘Nothing specific. Really. Nothing that would help you find his killer.’
    ‘I really don’t think you’re qualified to make a decision about that.’ Vera’s voice rose in volume so that it filled the room.
    ‘He was asking questions,’ Morgan said. ‘About Jenny Lister and her part in the Elias Jones case. “You knew her, man. What was she like? Was she as prim and self-righteous as the papers made out?” It was rather distasteful actually. I’d have thought Danny would be above that sort of gossip.’
    ‘Did Danny tell you that he’d met Jenny? That Jenny’s daughter had once been the love of his life. That he blamed Jenny for splitting them up?’ Vera hadn’t put this thought into words before, but she was sure it was true. And it gave Danny a motive for murder.
    ‘No,’ Morgan said. ‘He didn’t tell me any of that.’ His voice was quiet and measured.
    ‘It doesn’t surprise you, though!’
    ‘No, it doesn’t surprise me. The interest he was taking in the Jenny Lister murder sounded like more than voyeuristic prurience. It seemed to me that it was personal.’
    ‘Do you think he killed her?’
    There was a pause. Morgan looked at her, said nothing.
    ‘It must have crossed your mind. All those questions.’ Vera waited again for an answer. At last it came.
    ‘He could have done,’ Morgan said. ‘Yeah, he was so wound up that he could have done.’
    But you would say that , Vera thought. If you were the murderer, what else would you say?
    Morgan looked around the room, like some performer, Vera thought, waiting for applause after a particularly dramatic moment. Well, she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. She continued the interview in the same tone as before. ‘Do you remember anything else about your conversation with Danny the day before he died?’
    Morgan frowned. ‘He went on