on the wall behind them.
Grace turned to see a recent image of Eddie, his arms around their as-yet-unconfirmed victim, who was built like the proverbial brick house. From the photo, she plainly recognised him as one of the men she had seen at Spice World on the night out with her team last month. Parker was tanned with shorn hair, a huge smile revealing a gold tooth. He was wearing a tight black T-shirt that was clearly a size too small and showed every curve of a torso that Grace had to admit was impressive. An image of a cartoon character flashed in front of her eyes as she noted his square chin. And no, she wouldn’t want to mess with him. Josh’s killer must have some guts. Imagine if it had gone wrong.
‘He was taken by surprise for someone to do that to him,’ Eddie added. ‘And it was outside the building, so don’t come all high and mighty with the lone worker policy thing. We look after our staff here. We always look after our own.’
She pulled her shoulders up that little bit higher, trying not to show how intimidated she felt.
‘So Mr Parker was the last one to leave the building?’ Grace started her questioning again.
‘We didn’t murder him, if that’s what you’re implying,’ Leon almost growled at her.
‘Was Josh the last one in the building?’ Grace repeated, ignoring his sarcasm.
‘I expect so,’ Eddie replied.
‘We’ll need access to any security footage you have, inside and out.’
‘We have a camera that covers the reception area but not the gym itself.’ Eddie went over to a machine, pulled out a CD and handed it to Grace. ‘And outside we have a camera on each corner of the building, but it doesn’t cover all of the car park at the back.’
Grace raised her eyebrows. It all seemed pretty convenient. And if their suspect knew this, he or she might have known where to carry out the attack with less likelihood of being seen.
‘You mentioned a signing-in book,’ she said. ‘Can you get me a list of everyone who was in the building yesterday evening – say, from six p.m. onwards? Staff, customers and guests, please.’
Eddie sat forward. ‘There’ll be around a hundred people in here during that time. It’s our busiest period.’
Leon whistled under his breath. ‘That’s a lot of people to question.’ He folded his arms and stared at Grace.
Just as she’d thought when she’d first seen them the month before, Leon was so much like Eddie that he could pass as his twin. If it hadn’t been for the faint two-inch scar visible to the side of his right eye, they might even have been able to use each other as alibis.
She had a feeling over the coming days she would get to know them regardless. Once the investigation was going at full steam, they would be sick of the sight of her and the rest of the team, who were probably already here by now.
Grace ignored Leon again, choosing to look at Jade who hadn’t said a word yet. She was crying, soft sobs and tears pouring down her face.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked.
Jade nodded. ‘It’s such a shock, that’s all. I was only talking to him on Monday. It doesn’t seem possible.’ She blew her nose loudly.
‘What time did you all leave last night?’ Grace glanced at each one of them in turn.
‘Half past six,’ Eddie said.
‘Did you go straight home?’
‘Yes. My son can vouch for me. I took him to football training at seven.’
‘I wasn’t here yesterday,’ Jade said.
Grace looked at Leon. ‘What about you?’ she asked when he didn’t come forward with anything.
‘I’d say about eightish.’
‘I’d say be more specific.’ Grace’s voice was just as curt as his.
Leon sighed. ‘It was about ten past eight.’
Grace nodded and then turned back to Eddie. ‘I was also told that Josh was your right-hand man?’
Eddie’s glare alarmed her slightly and her left eye began to twitch under the strain of it. But she didn’t want to look away. She wanted to see if grief was washing over him. She was watching them all to see if their reactions were real or put on especially for her.
Eddie swallowed. ‘He was my best friend. I’d known him since junior school.’
‘You all knew him well, I presume?’ Grace looked at the others.
‘Yes,’ Jade said before wiping her nose loudly.
‘You might have known him too,’ Leon taunted.
‘I didn’t go to your school. I would have remembered that.’ Embarrassed by the reference, Grace looked at her notepad again. ‘Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to harm Josh?’ she asked no one in particular.
‘Probably half of Stoke at one time or another.’ Leon folded his arms. ‘But no one would have messed with him if they’d seen him before he was toast.’
‘Leon!’ Jade’s sobs grew louder.
‘Sorry.’ Leon had the manners to bow his head for a moment. ‘Bit of a bitch, though. Tough to lose him.’
The room dropped into silence again as they remembered their friend. Grace took the opportunity to get out her contact cards and hand them round.
‘Is this for when we go out for a family meal?’ Leon took one from her.
‘Show some respect, Leon,’ Eddie warned.
‘I think I’ve given her enough of that already’ – Leon folded his arms – ‘so don’t tell me what to do.’
Surprised by the reference to their connection to her, Grace was desperate to get out of there and rejoin her colleagues. But she had to have her say first.
‘I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t tell my colleagues how we know each other.’ She paused for a moment. ‘I think it’s best that we investigate Josh’s murder without any hindrance.’
‘Better the devil you know, and all that?’ Eddie smirked. Leon and Jade both opened their mouths to speak, but he held up a hand and shook his head.
‘I’ll find out who is overseeing the house-to-house enquiries and ask them to keep you informed of anything that comes up while we continue with our investigations,’ Grace added. ‘We’ll be in touch shortly.’
Once outside the room, Grace breathed a sigh of relief. It had surprised her that they’d accepted her request to keep her identity to themselves, perhaps even given her reason for concern as to why. She would have expected them to stir things up, cause trouble for her straight away.
Yet even though she had felt intimidated by the encounter, a feeling of anticlimax washed over her. She’d wanted to meet
