After You Die by Eva Dolan Page B

number?’
    ‘And the address.’
    Westman read them out and Zigic noted them down.
    ‘Seems like managing this place is a full-time job. Do you usually go out on site?’
    ‘Dad manages the yard. He’s getting on a bit. Should have retired years back by rights but there’s no stopping the old fella. He’s convinced he’ll drop down dead the minute he quits.’
    ‘Still, not your usual kind of project,’ Zigic said.
    ‘We can’t afford to turn down the small ones. They’re bread and butter, you know. Only so many people round here want bricks at twelve hundred pound a thousand and reclaimed Jacobean staircases.’ He shrugged his big shoulders. ‘And it’s on the estate, anyway. They like to deal with companies they know.’
    ‘Who was paying for it?’
    ‘The council. House is owned by the estate but Dawn applied for a grant to convert the garage and it came in.’ The phone on the desk began to ring and he glanced at it for a split second before returning his attention to Zigic, eyes widening. ‘Don’t tell me that’s how they got in. I’ll fucking kill Deano if he left the place unlocked.’
    ‘Does he do that often?’
    ‘Kid’s not got the sense he was born with.’
    ‘When was he last there?’ Zigic asked, itching to call in the man’s name and check his record.
    ‘Now hold on,’ Westman said, hands going up. ‘He’s a bit dense but he’s soft as shit.’
    ‘I’m sure you’re right, but we need to establish how the killer got into the house and if Dean left the door open it changes things for us. So, when was he last there?’
    Westman calmed down slightly, but the nerves were still buzzing behind his eyes. ‘Thursday morning. Both of us were there till dockey – elevenish – then we went on to another job in Yarwell.’
    ‘Was Dawn at home when you left?’
    He nodded. ‘She didn’t go out much. She was always there when we were.’
    ‘So, why would you think Dean left the door unlocked?’
    Westman didn’t answer, glanced at his feet.
    ‘Presumably you didn’t leave without telling Dawn,’ Zigic said. ‘The extension is attached to the kitchen, it’s all very open. Did you tell her you were going?’
    ‘Yes.’ Still looking at his feet.
    ‘And did she see you out?’
    ‘She saw me out,’ he said, finally meeting Zigic’s gaze. ‘Alright? You know what I’m saying now?’
    He did, but he wanted to hear the full explanation, see how Westman talked about Dawn, what emotions his recollection of that morning would provoke.
    ‘Clarify it for me.’
    Westman sat down in a wobbly leatherette chair at his desk, elbows on his knees, right hand cupping his left, hiding the thick platinum wedding band Zigic had already noticed.
    ‘Me and Deano stopped by early to get a couple of hours in. The plasterboard was due to be delivered this week and I wanted him to go clear all our stuff out so the dry liners could make a quick start. The job’s been dragging on, fucking delays with the bricks and the windows not right.’
    Too much detail, Zigic thought. Off topic. He was hiding something.
    ‘So I left Deano to get on and I went in to see Dawn.’ He gave Zigic a pointed look, willing that to be enough. ‘I don’t know how long he was working but he was already in the van when I left, so I didn’t bother checking the back door. I was a bit – well – shagged out.’
    ‘How long have you been involved with Dawn?’
    ‘We weren’t involved,’ he said. ‘It was just sex. I went there to price up and we got on okay, it just happened. You know how women are with builders.’
    ‘Married builders.’
    ‘What are you, the fucking morality police?’ Westman snapped.
    ‘Does your wife know about this?’
    ‘She knows what I’m like and she doesn’t care.’
    ‘Would she say that if I asked her?’
    Westman pressed his fist harder into his cupped hand. ‘This hasn’t got anything to do with what happened to Dawn. It was just a casual thing, we weren’t hurting anyone.