We said nothing on our way back to the station, but the second we were in our office and the door had shut, Alex turned to me. "The cake knife. That's what we were losing sight of."
"Yes." I shrugged my coat off and started pacing again. A small box marked JADE had been put on my desk, but I ignored it. "It makes such perfect sense now. The rest of the weapons link to their victims: the bridal shoes for Iberia and the wedding cake knife for Jade. Ruby was also stabbed with a cake knife -- yet it had nothing to do with any role she'd taken on for the wedding."
"So the knife was meant for Jade," Alex said.
"Yes. The murderer made a mistake and repeated their method when they found Jade at the cake shop. But they didn't go prepared that time. They had to take a knife from the display behind the counter." I stopped pacing. "I don't even know if my theory is right. We don't know anything new. We have no evidence. But my gut believes it's the truth."
"Are we going to question Levi again?"
"Not yet. I want to connect the dots with Ethan first and see where that leads us." I went back to my desk. "While we wait for the warrant, let's have a look through Jade's tabphone."
Alex glanced at his. "It's lunchtime already."
"Was that an offer?" I sat down and dug through the bagged evidence in the box. It was all stuff that had been on Jade's person when she'd died, and there wasn't much of it. My fingers closed around her tabphone. "I could do with some coffee while you're in the cafeteria. And a chocolate bar."
My sergeant grumbled something about me being bossy, but by the time I looked up, he'd gone.
***
The last messages that Jade and Ethan had exchanged were dated from the week before. Ethan had asked Jade if they could meet at Coffee Glitch. She had agreed. They'd arranged a time.
That had been the end of that. There was nothing flirty in their messages...nothing even remotely warm, in fact. Whatever had gone on between them, I was sure it wasn't what Levi had suspected.
Ethan's arrest warrant came through as we were finishing our lunch, so we finally went to ask the man some questions.
We rode a tram to his flat without tracking him, certain that he would be at home with his twin sister and her son. But when I rang the doorbell, it only asked Danielle if we could come in.
She answered the door herself, her face pale. "I saw on Xplora...Jade's gone?"
"Yes," I said. "She was stabbed at her shop this morning. I'm sorry. I know it's a shock. Where's Ethan?"
"Buying pizza bases for dinner. He won't be long." She stepped back, slipping her hands into her pockets and lowering her head. "Come in."
We followed her through the hallway into the large living room. Benjamin was sitting on the fluffy rug again, playing quietly with an action figure.
Danielle stopped beside him and turned to face us. "Can I...can I get you something to drink? Tea? Coffee?"
I glanced at Alex. He shook his head.
"No, thank you," I said.
"Right." She sat down on the sofa and rubbed her eyes. "Well, then..."
I settled opposite her. "Where was Ethan last night, Danielle? Say around ten-thirty."
"Here." Her gaze darted between us quickly.
"Oh, really?" I raised my eyebrows. "You'd testify to that in court?"
She nodded.
"Then you'd be lying under oath. I don't suppose I need to explain to a paralegal like yourself that you'd be charged with perjury."
"I wouldn't be lying." She drew herself up straighter. "Ethan was here."
"He was at an organised street fight, and we have video footage proving it. You know that he was out, Danielle. Did you know where he'd gone?"
Her face crumpled, and tears welled in her eyes. "Yes. I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen. He said that he'd been challenged." She sighed. "And he never backs down from a challenge."
"What time did he come home?"
"I don't know. I was asleep when he got in. But Benji had a nightmare at about one." She looked lovingly at her son. "He shouted for me, and I went into him. I saw that Ethan was back -- the light was on in his room."
"Did you actually see him?"
"Well...no." She sat up straighter and met my eyes. "But, Inspector, you can't think --"
"These are routine questions I have to ask for the sake of the investigation." I leaned forward. "Were you here between midnight and two last night?"
"I was asleep in my bed -- and then in Benjamin's."
"Right, okay. Tell me: you helped Jade with some maid of honour duties in the build-up to the wedding, didn't you? And you attended meetings with Lavender Jones alongside Jade and Iberia."
"Yes." Danielle looked between us uncertainly. "Iberia wanted my insight because I've married before. But Jade was a good maid of honour in her own right. She would have given anything to get a fairytale wedding for Iberia." She shrugged, the sleeves of her jumper riding up. "They were best friends, and I do know that she was the one who got Ethan and Iberia back --"
"Wait." I looked at the sleeves that had ridden up. Very slowly, I stood. "Danielle..."
Little red burns climbed up the inside of her wrist.
She yanked her jumper back down and jumped up with me, her eyes filling with wild fear. "It's not -- it's not what you think."
"Did your brother do that?"
"H-he -- he..." She shook her head, covering her face.
Alex took my arm and pulled me back onto the sofa. Then he said, softly, "We can help, Danielle. Whoever did this, we can protect you from them."
Her eyes flicked to the door between her fingers, calculating the distance to her escape route. But then she looked down at Benjamin.
"Yes. It was Ethan." She sank back onto the sofa, her hands shaking as she lowered them. "But you can't take him away from me. Don't take him away from me, please."
"We're going to have to tell someone," I said, "and we can't promise --"
"No!" Her voice rose into a screech. "He and Benji are all I have left! Oh, please..."
Out in the hallway, the front door clicked open. Heavy footsteps clomped towards us.
The thick stink of smoke entered the room just before Ethan did. He stopped on the threshold and surveyed us, a cigarette glowing at his side. His eyes darkened and simmered. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
Alex stood up and approached him slowly. I followed. "Ethan Sharpe, I am arresting you on suspicion of affray. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."
Ethan swept his cigarette hand through the air, knocking a glass vase from its perch on the end table. It shattered on the floor. He jabbed a finger in Danielle's direction. "What did you tell them?"
She shrank back. "Nothing!"
"We have you on video, Ethan," I said. "There's no getting out of this. Now, are you going to come quietly, or...?" I tugged my handcuffs out of my pocket.
He lunged, swinging his fist at me. Danielle shrieked.
Alex caught him by the collar and yanked him back.
I gritted my teeth. "Well, then. Handcuffs it is."
***
Ethan refused his right to legal advice, so we got down to business soon after we'd arrived at the station. I said what was necessary for the video cameras in the interview room, never once breaking eye contact with our detainee. At the edge of my vision, Alex glared at him.
Ethan was sporting a split lip, two black eyes, and another large bruise on his cheek. I started off by stating the obvious as I slid my printed photos across the table. "You were at an organised street fight last night. You fought Levi Ford. You also saw Jade Beaumont."
He glared at the pictures, which were the same three I'd shown to Levi. "I didn't speak to her."
"But the fight was about her. Levi challenged you because he thought you were an item."
"That's right." Ethan tugged a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.
"No smoking."
He put one between his lips, but he didn't light it.
"Were you involved with Jade Beaumont?" Alex asked.
"No."
"Then why fight your best man?"
"Because he challenged me. I thought I'd just knock him off his self-righteous arse."
"But he won?" I said.
Ethan grunted his assent.
"Where did you go afterwards?"
"For a walk," he said. "I was pissed off."
"Can anyone testify to that?"
"No. I stuck to those backstreets, and no one was really around. Then I went home."
"What time was that?"
He scratched the back of his neck with the unlit cigarette. "Maybe just before one."
"Did you stop off at Jade's Cakes on the way?"
His jaw tightened. "No. I went home, I went to bed, and I didn't know she'd been stabbed until I saw it on Xplora this morning."
"You met up with her last week for coffee," I said.
"So?"
"Why?"
"Why not? I just wanted a friendly chat."
"What about?"
"It's none of your business."
I leaned forward. "As the senior investigating officer of her murder inquiry, it is very much my business."
"No comment, then." He put the cigarette between his lips again.
"Did you hold a grudge against Jade?" Alex asked.
"No. I would never hurt her."
"But you agree with violence," I said.
He looked away. "When people get on my bad side."
"Does that extend to domestic violence?"
"What?" He looked back at me, his eyes clearing.
"We have reasonable suspicion to believe that you're abusing your sister. We've seen the burns on her skin. Do you deny it?"
He held my gaze for a long moment. Swallowed. Then he lit his cigarette. "No."
"You can't smoke in --"
"Worried I'm going to hurt you?" He sneered. "That's just a treatment I reserve for Danielle."
"Do you hurt Benjamin?"
Ethan inhaled. Slowly exhaled a stream of smoke. Tapped the ash off on the table, his moves strong and deliberate. "No."
Every question we asked him after that was met with silence.
***
We spent the last few daylight hours in our office. I passed Ethan's details on to our domestic abuse unit and learned that Levi Ford had been released on bail. Ethan would not be.
I completed the electronic paperwork. Alex did the same. From time to time, I glanced through the glass walls of our office at the main cube and noted that the activity in there looked similarly muted.
Jade Beaumont had been murdered less than twenty-four hours ago, but while we had several suspects, we had no evidence to charge any of them with the crime.
When the clock hit five, I was ready to go. It wasn't that I wanted to throw the towel in, but I was desperate to get up and stretch my legs. My frustration was making me twitchy, and Alex kept sighing all the time.
I shoved my chair back and turned to him, just as my tabphone burst to life.
I picked it up and accepted an audio call from a distant second cousin I'd met enough times to count on one hand. Then I ran through a conversation that I'd had far too many times.
Alex was quick to point that out when I'd finished. "The time and the venue are on the e-invitations."
"I know, but people just like to double-check, I guess."
"You hardly even know her." His voice was harsh.
"Well...no...but we agreed on the guest list together." I swallowed. "If you have a problem with --"
"No." He stood up and yanked his coat off the chair. "But we're in the middle of a murder investigation. Three people are dead and we're no closer to catching the killer, so I wish they'd stop bothering you!"
I blinked. "They haven't really interfered..."
"What about the dress? What about the flowers? What about the parties? This wedding has taken over your life, and I'm sick of hearing about it." He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Why does all of this matter, anyway? Why does any of it matter?"
My stomach churned, and a lump like fire rose in my throat. I wanted to scream at him, but my tabphone -- the thing I'd been planning our wedding on -- was in my hand, and the lump grew larger. I didn't want to fight. I just wanted to sink to my knees and weep, because I loved the man in front of me.
At last, I found my voice. "It's our wedding, Alex. That's why it matters."