‘Why not?’ I asked politely.
‘Because they have breasts.’
‘Right.’
By now I was well and truly cursing my news editor for getting me to ring this man who’d served time inside.
‘Can’t wear a stab vest properly, see? Uncomfortable for them.’
‘Right.’
We went through a few more pleasantries before I was able to say a cheerful goodbye and I could hang up the phone. Then I banged my head on the desk. Several times.
I can hardly remember now what I was supposed to talk to him about (actually I can but I have to protect my sources etc., etc.), but I do remember thinking that it was a scene I could use in a book one day (I haven’t done it yet, but there’s still time….).
Being a journalist on a busy news desk (in between forays out for scones from M&S and making cups of tea, lots of cups of tea) meant that I came across quite a few people like the notorious criminal above, and wrote many stories about murderers, serial killers and the cruel acts one human being could perpetrate against another. I interviewed people whose lives were changed in an instant through accident, chance or bad luck and learned that life was indeed, short. Which played a large part in me taking voluntary redundancy from the BBC. My first book, THE BAD THINGS, had been bought at auction in Germany and my agent was hopeful for a UK publisher (it was eventually bought by Harper Collins/Killer Reads) and I thought it was now or never. So I jumped ship and have never looked back. My second book, AFTER SHE FELL, was published in April.
