Killer Plan Page 12

  ‘What do you want? I went to the police station and spoke to someone there. I gave my statement. I got nothing more to say to you.’

  Geraldine considered. She was going have to proceed carefully. He would be easily scared off.

  ‘We’re investigating a murder,’ she said firmly. ‘Everything has to be thoroughly looked into.’

  ‘I get that, but I already told the policeman everything I know.’

  ‘Let’s go over it one more time. I’d like to hear it from you.’

  ‘Don’t you trust your colleague to get it right?’

  Geraldine ignored the provocative remark. Will was riled at being questioned again.

  ‘What happened the day before the murder? What did you see? Describe it to me.’

  ‘Nothing happened. There was a row. I told the policeman about it. There’s nothing else to say.’

  Geraldine tried to sound reassuring, hiding her sudden alarm.

  ‘What do you mean, a row?’ she asked quietly.

  Will looked at her for the first time, reacting to a change in her voice. ‘They were having a row,’ he repeated, frowning. ‘Like I said, they were having a row. You know, a barney. Jesus! I thought you people were supposed to be clever. I don’t know what more you want me to say.’

  ‘Who started the row?’

  He shook his head, growing defensive in response to her intensity. ‘I don’t know. I didn’t see. They just started having a go at each other. They were so busy at it, neither of them noticed me behind the pallets, but I could see them all right through the slats. I was scared to come out in case they thought I’d been watching. They were pumped.’

  Geraldine chose her words carefully. ‘Who threw the first punch?’

  ‘I didn’t see any punches.’

  ‘But you said they were fighting.’

  ‘I wouldn’t call it a fight, exactly.’

  He fidgeted, seeming to appreciate that her tone had altered without understanding what had worried her.

  ‘Tell me everything you saw.’

  ‘I heard voices first off. They weren’t shouting or anything, but I could tell they were angry.’

  ‘How did you know they were angry?’

  A faint smile flitted across his dour face at the question.

  ‘Because I could hear them. And then Dave give him a shove.’

  ‘A shove?’

  ‘Yes. Pushed him, you know.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Where did he push him? Show me on your own face or body exactly where he pushed him.’

  Will shrugged. ‘Here.’ He touched his right shoulder.

  ‘Not on his face?’

  ‘Does it look like my face?’ he retorted, pointing at his shoulder.

  ‘And then what happened?’

  She forced herself to be patient, remembering Max’s complaint that getting information out of Will had been hard work. She held her breath, waiting to hear that Greg had retaliated violently. She was disappointed. According to Will, far from launching a counter attack, Greg had stepped back, dodging Dave’s second lunge completely. Dave had sworn, Greg had sworn back, and they had hurled insults at one another. Just as Greg warned Dave it wasn’t over, and he hadn’t heard the last of it, the foreman walked in and the two men had hurried off.

  Geraldine frowned. ‘I need you to be absolutely clear about this. You’re saying Greg didn’t fight back?’

  ‘Him? Stand up to anyone in a fight? Are you joking? He’s a right chicken…’ He broke off abruptly, afraid of saying too much.

  ‘Why did you tell my colleague you witnessed a fight between them?’

  ‘I never said I saw them fighting. I said they had a row.’

  ‘You said they were fighting.’

  ‘Well maybe that’s what I said. What’s the difference?’

  ‘So there was no physical fight?’

  ‘No. They were still fighting though.’

  Geraldine reminded him that he had told Max he was convinced Greg had killed Dave. Will nodded energetically.

  ‘What makes you so sure?’

  ‘Stands to reason, doesn’t it? They had a fight – all right, a row – and Greg was threatening Dave. Said it wasn’t over. The next day, Dave’s killed. It’s obvious what happened, isn’t it?’

  Will meant well, but his statement was a waste of time. He had no proof Greg had killed Dave. On the contrary, if anything, his ambiguous testimony seemed to imply that Greg had avoided a physical conflict with Dave. Max had been too ready to take what Will had said at face value. Now Geraldine had another problem to address. She would have to find time to make it clear to her sergeant that he must constantly guard against jumping to conclusions. She wished she could point that out to her detective chief inspector as well, but it wasn’t her place to do so.

  She returned to the police station, excited about seeing Nick again, yet apprehensive. To her disappointment, the office was empty. He was often away from his desk all day. It was absurd to worry that he might be avoiding her. More than once she stopped herself phoning him to check if he was thinking about her. He would not appreciate her calling him, for no reason, while he was working. But the more she tried to put him out of her mind, the more she was plagued by the memory of their night together.

  30

  As Caroline approached the end of her road, her legs felt weak. She tensed with the expectation of hearing a voice summoning her from the shadows in the trees. Shaking with fear, she struggled to keep going.

  ‘Come on, mum,’ Matthew called to her. ‘It’ll be dark soon.’

  She hurried after him. Once she had passed the trees, her mind cleared. It felt strange to be taking Matt to the park by himself. His lone figure looked horribly solitary on the pavement up ahead of her. It was hard to imagine, but this must be what it was like for people who had only one child. Dreadful to her, for many parents it was normal. She trotted to catch up with him and then regretted it because as soon as she reached him he started whining about Ed again.

  ‘When’s he coming home?’ he asked. ‘It’s boring without him.’

  She didn’t answer.

  The park was empty when they arrived. Matt kicked the ball around on the grass in a desultory fashion. She could tell it was no fun for him without Ed. He perked up after a while when a few other kids appeared and asked to play. Matt was the one with the ball, so he took charge. For a brief time he seemed to forget about his missing brother as he shouted out directions. Watching him engrossed in his game, she wondered what their lives would be like if Ed never returned. It wasn’t a prospect she had allowed herself to consider before. She blinked as her eyes began to water. Whatever happened, she had to stay strong for Matt.

  The bench jolted almost imperceptibly. Someone had come to sit beside her. Without turning her head she knew who it was. She stared doggedly at the boys kicking the ball around. It wasn’t clear where the goal posts were. For no apparent reason the group of boys all started shouting at once. Matt was jumping up and down, yelling something. There must have been a goal, but it wasn’t clear who had scored.

  ‘It’s a lovely evening,’ he said quietly.

  An outside observer would have agreed. A slight breeze ruffled the leaves overhead. A single bird sailed across the clear sky, high above them, ragged wings and curved beak marking it out as a bird of prey. The boys were playing happily on the grass. The scene was idyllic. Only she knew the sinister truth behind this conversation in the park.

  ‘Don’t you think it’s a lovely evening, Caroline?’

  Her name crackled on his lips like a threat.

  ‘Where is he?’ she muttered without looking at him.

  At her side she thought she heard muffled laughter, but when she glanced sideways Brian was staring ahead with a tranquil expression. She followed his gaze. He was watching the boys playing football. Matt was preparing to kick the ball, his face set in ferocious concentration. Several of the other kids were yelling at him, bu
t she couldn’t hear what any of them were saying.

  Brian hissed so softly she barely caught the words. ‘He must miss his brother.’

  ‘You have to bring him home right now.’

  ‘All in good time. It won’t be long now.’

  Her heart seemed to miss a beat. Brian had agreed to bring Ed home, if not now then soon. Her son was alive. She struggled not to cry. Her throat seemed to close up with the effort to speak.

  ‘When?’

  ‘As soon as you’ve done what I asked.’

  Disappointment threatened to choke her. Then came an anger so sharp, she wanted to lash out. Dave was dead and Ed’s life was in danger. Now Brian wanted her to commit a murder. She would do anything in her power to save her son, but she couldn’t deliberately kill a stranger. The one man she hated enough to kill was the only person who knew where Ed was being held. The situation was complicated. She would have to be cunning to outwit Brian. Instead of rejecting his demand outright, she would play along with his crazy plan and see where it led. Perhaps she could warn the man Brian wanted her to kill. That way, her intended victim could go to the police on her behalf, and put an end to this insanity. It was an unlikely plan, but she had to do something.

  ‘What if I agree to do what you want? What then? How can I trust you to bring Ed back home?’

  ‘You can trust me.’

  ‘Tell me again where to find the man your wife ran off with.’

  ‘She didn’t run off with him. She wanted to, but he was already married. She wanted him to leave his wife, but then she died.’

  A horrible thought struck Caroline.

  ‘She didn’t kill herself, did she? You did it. You killed her.’

  He was silent for a moment.

  ‘Ed’s waiting for you,’ he said at last.

  She understood he didn’t want to talk about his wife. Best not to provoke him. To change the subject she asked again about the man she was supposed to kill. With a sense of unreality she listened as he gave her the details again. He spoke as calmly as though they were arranging a trip to the cinema.

  ‘Now give me your word that you will carry out your part of the bargain,’ he concluded.

  Despite the fact that she had never entered into any such agreement with him, she had no choice but to humour him for now. It was too late for regrets. If only she hadn’t met him in the park that first time. If only she had never spoken to him that day. If only she hadn’t rushed to give him her address or let him take a photo of the two of them together. If only she had warned Dave, and gone straight to the police – but no one would have believed her. In any case, he had given her no indication of his true intentions at their first encounter. She had believed him when he had said he was going to make Dave jealous by showing him a photo of her with another man on his phone. It had never occurred to her that he was going to kill her husband.

  ‘Remember, if you go to the police, or if you fail to finish the job, you will never see your son again. If you try to double cross me, I’ll know. As soon as the police knock at my door…’

  He drew one hand across his throat making a horrible choking noise in his throat to indicate someone dying. She looked away. His reference to committing murder as a ‘job’ was chilling.

  ‘If I’m arrested, I won’t be able to take care of him. No one will ever find him. He’ll be left locked in a room to starve, all alone. You wouldn’t let that happen, would you?’

  His face relaxed into a smile. She wanted to punch him.

  ‘What if I can’t do it? What if someone stops me?’

  ‘You know the terms. A life for a life. Either you end a guilty man’s life, or your son dies.’

  Brian smiled at her. He sounded so reasonable, she struggled to believe what she was hearing. She had no choice but to play along with his madness. Completely insane, he alone knew where her son was. If she contacted the police, she believed Brian could actually be crazy enough to keep Ed’s whereabouts to himself. He had been crazy enough to kidnap him in the first place. Unless he had told someone else, it was possible no one would ever find Ed. She couldn’t risk alienating Brian.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ she agreed wretchedly. ‘I’ll try.’

  ‘I knew you would,’ he said. From his voice she could tell he was smiling. ‘But remember, if you go to the police, you’ll never see the boy again.’

  They sat in silence for a moment. When she looked round, the bench beside her was empty.

  31

  Caroline had drummed into Matthew that his brother had gone to stay with a friend of hers, and wouldn’t be home for a few days.

  ‘You said he’d be home today,’ Matthew whined at breakfast.

  ‘I know, that’s what I thought too, but then my friend called this morning before you woke up and invited him to stay on for a few days. I spoke to him and he said he wanted to stay there and I said he could.’

  Matthew was only ten and he trusted her. Nevertheless, she was relieved when he accepted what she had said, although he continued to complain that it wasn’t fair.

  ‘How come he gets to miss school?’ he grumbled into his Coco Pops. ‘If he’s not going to school how come I have to go? It’s not fair. I’m having to do stupid work and he’s not.’

  ‘My friend’s a teacher,’ she lied desperately. ‘She’ll be giving him lots of work to do so he doesn’t fall behind.’

  Matthew sniggered and she relaxed slightly. The problem of keeping Matthew quiet about his brother’s disappearance had been resolved for the time being. Now she had to face the real problem of rescuing Ed.

  Matthew dragged his feet as he crossed the playground. Standing at the school gate, Caroline watched him make his way up the steps to vanish in the throng of children entering the building. Without his brother he looked isolated, in spite of the other children milling around him on the steps. As soon as he was out of sight, she telephoned the school office and explained that Ed was struggling to come to terms with his father’s sudden death. He was too upset to return to school just yet. She was keeping him at home for a day or two. Matthew had a lively imagination. No one would take any notice if he gave a different explanation for his brother’s absence. She had a couple of days’ grace. Soon Matthew would start asking questions again. It wouldn’t be long until the school grew suspicious. Neighbours might become curious, noticing she was now accompanied by only one child. But apart from the fear of discovery, she had to find Ed and bring him home. She refused to consider it might already be too late to save him.

  First she had to discover Brian’s full name. Without that she had no chance of tracking him down. As soon as she reached home, she googled her primary school and phoned up. Understandably, the secretary was reluctant to divulge the names of boys who had been in her class.

  ‘You don’t understand.’ Caroline tried to stay calm. ‘I went to Cartpool Juniors. I was there. It’s my own class I’m asking about. I want to organise a reunion.’

  ‘If you give me your contact details I can certainly pass those on, but we can’t give out any personal information from our records.’

  ‘I’m not asking for any personal information. I just want the names.’

  However hard Caroline tried to persuade the school secretary to help, the other woman refused point blank to give her the names she wanted. Unless she could discover where Brian was living, there was no way she could find Ed. She had to think fast. Even if she broke into the school, she might not be able to find class lists from over twenty years ago. They might not even exist any longer. Brian had warned her not to speak to the police, but they were the only ones who could possibly have access to the information necessary to trace Brian’s address. Afraid of what he might do if he discovered she had defied him, she was apprehensive about going to the police, but she had no alternative. By herself, she was helpless. Somehow she had to speak to a detective without his knowledge.

  ‘If you go to the police, I’ll tell them you talked me into killing your husband. They’ll tak
e your children away from you... if I don’t kill them. You know I can do it. I’ll kill them if you don’t do exactly what I want.’

  The words seemed to ring inside her head as she reached for the phone. She wasn’t sure whether to dial 999 or try to contact her local police station. Probably it would be best to speak to someone local, but she didn’t know the number. The police station wasn’t far away. It would be easier to just go there. It would certainly be difficult to explain herself over the phone without prompting a visit from the police. As soon as she mentioned a missing child, they were bound to send a police car to her house, with flashing lights, and sirens blaring. She had seen it happen so many times on TV shows. It had always looked so exciting on the telly. However careful she was to insist they didn’t come to the house, the policeman on the other end of the line might misunderstand her concern. Brian had warned that he would be watching. It was too risky.

  After dithering for a while, she raced upstairs and rummaged in her wardrobe. Five minutes later she left the house, a large handbag over her shoulder. She crossed the main road and headed straight for the Tesco a few blocks away. She walked up and down the aisles for a while, looking at the shelves, surreptitiously studying the other shoppers. There was no sign of Brian. Finally she slipped into the toilet. Once she was safely inside a cubicle, there was no time to waste. Quickly she unzipped her bag and pulled out a rolled-up beige mac, a paisley scarf and leather gloves that were too big for her. Hurriedly she pulled them on, tucking her hair out of sight beneath the headscarf. Tears welled up in her eyes as her fingers groped their way inside Dave’s gloves. Now only her ankles, shoes and face remained the same as they had been when she had entered the toilets. Blinking furiously, she felt in her bag for a pair of sunglasses she had brought with her. She was undecided whether to wear them or not. On such an overcast day they might attract attention. With sudden inspiration, she pushed out the lenses. The empty frames made her look as though she was wearing ordinary glasses. She was ready. Before leaving the cubicle she took a quick gulp from the small bottle of whisky she had brought with her, to give her courage. Stepping out into the shopping centre, she glanced around. There was no sign of Brian. It didn’t matter anyway. He thought he had outwitted her, but she could be clever too. If he saw her leaving the toilets, or going into the police station, he wouldn’t recognise her.