“Tell me the thing you said you’re sorry for, and then we can talk.”
“Excuse me?” Adam interrupted, but he didn’t look upset.
Nige sat forward in his chair. “It’s my job to run background on players involved in the Bennetts’ business. I’ve never missed a fucking trick before.”
I glanced at Adam out of the corner of my eye. He looked worried.
“Did you look into me, then?”
Nige frowned, knocked off track by my question. “Did I what?”
I glanced at Adam. “If you knew that I was involved with Adam…”
He shook his head. “That isn’t what I wanted to apologise for. I swear, I didn’t intrude on anything private of yours.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You know that I have a younger sister, I mean… they thought Adam was dating my under-age sister, right? That’s because of you.”
Nige facepalmed. “Okay, Jesus fuck. I’ll apologise for that too. In my defence, the messages between you both were fucking terrifying, when looked at in that potential context. And he was hiding you from us all. We had no idea he was seeing someone. We just saw him with some petite girl, and then he was texting about fuzzy pyjamas, and not telling mum and dad. I mean, seriously!”
Adam flipped a rude gesture at him. “Get on with your story so you can sod off, yeah?”
Nige was shaking his head. “I see you haven’t lost the attitude problem, Mr Teller. You really should work on that.”
I stared at Adam. I was starting to get frustrated with them both, and he could see that. He swallowed, and looked at Nige.
“Can you get on with it, please, oh great one? I’d like my lady to get some rest.”
Nige nodded, taking a deep breath.
“I missed something, when I looked into that bastard Jeff Clarke.” I shuddered at the mention of his name.
“What did you miss?”
“Two sexual assaults locally, matching the M.O. of multiple attacks over the years, wherever the bastard was living. Police never caught onto him for them, and the regular moves meant that he took his crimes with him, and they were never connected. Until now.”
I wrapped my hands around my coffee, feeling a sick tremor deep inside.
“He raped other girls around here?”
Nige nodded, staring down at his drink. “There was no sign of anything in his past. He was damn careful, or extremely lucky. I wish I could go back, and find that information even a day earlier. I’m so sorry, Julie. I feel responsible for what happened to you. I failed. I failed you.”
I chewed my lip. “So those two girls are alive?”
He nodded. “He doesn’t kill.”
“He killed his wife. He told me that. And he said he likes to see the light leave a girl’s eyes, while he’s fucking her. That would suggest he’s killed other women.”
“Fucking hell!” Adam spat, running a hand over his hair.
“I’ve not seen any record of that, but it’s possible he even used a different M.O. when he intended to kill. It could have stopped the police from linking the crimes. I’ll take another look. I did wonder about the wife, though.”
Adam stood up. “Okay, you’ve said your piece, Nige. Now I’d like to politely invite you to sod off.”
Nige snorted as he stood up. “I’ll be out there… somewhere… until the Bennetts return.” He nodded at me, and left the room.
“You don’t need to be so rude to him.” I admonished, and Adam turned to grin at me.
“Please, little angel, it’s one of my favourite pastimes.”