‘How many guys are you testing?’ he asked, taking a seat.
‘There’s nothing to worry about,’ Penn reassured.
‘Yeah, you folks say that,’ Reece said, filling out the form.
‘If you didn’t sleep with Rosalind Daynes there’s no issue, is there?’
‘Yeah, sure, cos there’s no chance of you folks mixing up the results, is there? Ain’t nobody innocent in prison.’
Penn could sense the nerves coming from him in waves. The man was worried about something.
He waited until Reece put the pen back on top of the form.
‘Can you take your cap off for me, Reece?’ Penn asked, putting on the latex gloves.
‘Sure,’ he said, taking it off and placing it in his lap.
Penn hid his surprise. He hadn’t seen the man without his baseball cap and had aged him late twenties. Without the cap, the thinning hair and receding hairline added a good seven or eight years to that. Definitely too old to be living with his parents.
‘Okay, Reece, open your mouth for me.’
‘You’re not gonna shove it right at the back, are you, and make me gag?’
Bloody hell, the guy was a baby.
Warren Cox was a kid in his teens and hadn’t made a bit of fuss.
‘I’m going to swab the inside of your cheek. It’s not invasive or painful in any way. Are you happy for me to continue?’ he asked. No way was he going to be sued for taking a sample without consent.
‘Go ahead,’ he said, opening his mouth.
Penn angled the swab in and stroked at the inside of his cheek.
It was over in seconds.
‘Okay, you’re all done,’ he said, once the swab was sealed in the bag.
Both samples were being expedited to the UK’s Forensic Science Service which prioritised on request and obtained a result in around eight hours.
‘That’s it?’
‘Yep. Told you it was nothing.’
He smiled as he put his cap back on, as though he was proud of himself for surviving the ordeal.
‘I wouldn’t hurt her, you know,’ he said, heading for the door.
‘Rozzie?’ Penn asked.
‘Yeah. Well, any of them. They were all pretty decent,’ he said, closing the door behind him.
Penn shook his head and collected together the sample and the completed form.
He frowned at a detail that he hadn’t noticed.
‘Oh shit,’ he said, grabbing everything before bolting from the room to head back upstairs.
FIFTY-EIGHT