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  ‘I didn’t see any reason not to let him come in. I didn’t know it was him. I thought it was just some confused old man who had lost his niece’s current address. So we went into the kitchen and he sat down on a stool.’ She paused.

  ‘And what happened then?’

  ‘He was sitting in the kitchen and Ashley came in and saw him. He hadn’t even seen her yet, but she threw herself at him and knocked him right off the seat. I didn’t know what was going on but she kept yelling, “It’s him! It’s him!” I thought she’d gone mad. He’d landed on his knees on the floor and I still thought he was just some old bloke so I was going to help him when he pulled a gun out of his pocket.’

  ‘Your gun,’ Ian said.

  ‘What? No!’ Leah cried out. ‘It wasn’t my gun. It wasn’t.’

  ‘Never mind that,’ Geraldine interrupted her impatiently. ‘Let’s get back to what happened yesterday. The killer was on his knees on the floor, Ashley was yelling, you were about to go and help him to his feet, and then he pulled out a gun. What did you do next?’

  Leah shook her head. ‘I didn’t do anything. I was – I think I was screaming. Ashley lunged at him and they were struggling. I remember thinking he seemed pretty fast for someone that old, and then somehow she got hold of the gun. I think he must have dropped it when he fell off the chair. Anyway, she was holding the gun and the next thing I knew there was a loud bang and…’ Leah dropped her head in her hands, sobbing. ‘It was an accident. It was an accident. He was going to kill us. He was going to kill us all.’

  ‘Why didn’t you call for help? Leah, why didn’t you contact the emergency services straight away? Ambulance? Police? Leah, your friend shot someone. By not calling for help you made yourself an accessory to her crime. You need to answer the question. Why didn’t you call for help?’

  Leah straightened up in her chair with a shiver. Her voice shook. ‘Ashley said he was dead so a doctor couldn’t help him.’ She hesitated. ‘I wanted to call the police, but Ashley said we’d both be done for murder, and anyway he had it coming and we shouldn’t lose any sleep over his death. She said we’d be safe now.’ She let out a sob, and clapped her hand over her lips to suppress another one. ‘I just wanted to be safe. It’s been a nightmare. A real nightmare.’ She paused to blow her nose again. ‘Ashley said all we needed to do was get rid of the body, get it out of my flat, and that would be that. She had her car outside, so…’ she shuddered at the memory.

  ‘What happened, Leah?’

  ‘We cleaned the kitchen. It took hours. I didn’t want to, but Ashley said we had to.’

  ‘How did you move the body out of your flat?’

  ‘We squashed him up and wrapped him in my duvet and tied it all up in a big bundle. Then we cleaned the kitchen and waited until dark before we shoved the body out through the back window, rolled up in my duvet. We’d tied the ends together so it couldn’t fall out, and between us we managed to drag it to the car. It weighed a ton. Ashley was parked right outside the house, and there are no street lights just there so it was dark enough to put it in the car without anyone seeing.’ She took a deep breath. ‘And then we drove down to the town without any lights on in the car, and left it by the canal. There was no one around at that time of night so we untied the duvet and it just fell out… she said she’d get rid of the duvet. It had all the blood… she didn’t even drop me back home,’ she added. ‘She said it was better if we didn’t see each other again. She just drove off and left me.’

  Geraldine frowned. ‘You told me before that you and Ashley weren’t the best of friends at school?’

  Leah looked miserable. ‘We weren’t not friends, exactly, it’s just that I wasn’t one of her clique. You know how it is at school.’

  ‘Why was she staying with you?’

  ‘I told you, I was afraid the killer might come back, and she said she’d spend the weekend with me. It was nice of her. Although she only came because she didn’t like where she was living. She was trying to find somewhere else in York.’

  In any event, Ashley was the one who had pulled the trigger, and they needed to find her urgently.

  ‘So where’s Ashley now?’ Ian asked.

  Leah said she didn’t know.

  ‘You do realise it’s vital we find her,’ Geraldine said. ‘And you know that we will. It won’t take us long to discover where she’s gone. Listen, Leah, this is important. We need to make sure she can corroborate your story, otherwise you might end up in prison, if a jury doesn’t believe what you’ve told us.’

  Leah shook her head, her face taut with fear.

  ‘Not only that, but she has a gun and she’s used it once,’ Ian added.

  They paused to allow his words to sink in.

  ‘No, no,’ Leah gasped. ‘It was an accident. We never meant it to happen.’

  Her plump face seemed to dissolve in front of them, quivering and twitching with the effort to regain control of her emotions. Watching her break down in tears again, Geraldine sighed. Ian suggested they take a break, and while a female constable took a cup of tea in to Leah, they went away to discuss what she had told them. They were inclined to believe Leah’s account of the events of the previous day, but where Ian believed both girls must have been too terrified to know what they were doing, Geraldine wasn’t convinced. She couldn’t help wondering whether it had been coincidence that Ashley had arrived at Leah’s flat just when it seemed possible that Tim might return there. And in the meantime, Ashley was at large and armed with a gun which she had just used to kill her ex-boyfriend.

  ‘We have no idea of Ashley’s mental state right now,’ she said when they discussed the situation with the detective chief inspector.

  Eileen turned to stare at her.

  ‘She’s disappeared, and we know she has a gun,’ Geraldine went on.

  ‘We’d better find her then,’ Eileen snapped.

  Geraldine and Ian exchanged a worried look. With the murder of their suspect, the investigation had taken a terrible twist.

  66

  On her way home that evening, Geraldine tried to call Sam but there was no answer. Either her former colleague was busy, or else she was avoiding speaking to Geraldine because she still hadn’t been to visit Helena. Geraldine swore and hung up. A moment later her phone rang. Expecting to hear Sam’s voice, she was surprised to hear who was on the line.

  ‘I need to talk to you,’ Ashley said.

  ‘Tell me where you are and I’ll send a car to fetch you right away.’

  In the brief silence that followed, Geraldine was afraid Ashley had hung up.

  ‘I need to talk to you,’ Ashley repeated at last, ‘but we’ve got to meet somewhere private, and you have to come alone.’

  If the conversation hadn’t taken place in the middle of murder enquiry, Geraldine would have been tempted to smile at Ashley’s melodramatic demands.

  ‘Why don’t I come and pick you up and we can go along to the police station together, and then you can tell us about your ordeal?’ Geraldine did her best to sound reassuring. ‘We can arrange for you to have some support, if you feel you need it.’

  ‘What do you mean, support?’

  ‘Sometimes victims benefit from counselling after they’ve undergone a traumatic experience like you have. You and Leah were lucky to survive. I don’t know if you realise how dangerous your visitor was.’

  Ashley didn’t answer, but she didn’t hang up either.

  ‘Are you still there?’ Geraldine asked.

  ‘If I tell you where to find me, you have to promise me you’ll come alone.’

  It was easy to agree to Ashley’s condition, and truthful, as Geraldine was by herself in her car. What she didn’t add was that she was going to request that several patrol cars meet her at the pub Ashley had mentioned. It wasn’t far away so as soon as she set off Geraldine called for urgent assistance. If Tim’
s death had been an accident, Ashley would have her chance to prove her innocence. In the meantime, Geraldine wasn’t taking any chances.

  ‘Alert an armed response unit. The suspect has a gun which she’s already used.’

  There was a chance Geraldine would be first on the scene, since she was already close to the destination. Weighing up possible outcomes she decided not to wait for backup to arrive, for fear Ashley might change her mind and slip away before any of the police reached the pub. They couldn’t afford to lose sight of her again. With the possibility that she was volatile, and the likelihood that she was armed, it was vital she was apprehended quickly and with minimal risk to the public. The immediate concern was that she could be sitting in a busy pub with a gun in her pocket. Drawing up in the pub car park Geraldine scanned the vehicles looking for Ashley’s registration number. She spotted it easily, parked near the entrance. Preparing herself for the worst, she approached the pub.

  The bar was full of young people, chatting and laughing, oblivious to the danger that threatened them. Ashley must have been looking out for her, because as Geraldine entered and looked around she saw her getting to her feet, one hand raised in greeting. Aware that Ashley was probably armed, Geraldine watched her make her way through the crowd of youngsters gathered around the bar. Waiting in the doorway, she wondered how she could persuade Ashley to step outside. As long as they remained in the pub, innocent members of the public could be in danger.

  As it turned out, Geraldine needn’t have worried about the safety of the pub customers, because Ashley was also keen to leave. ‘Come on,’ she said, jerking her head in the direction of the door. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  Above the noise of traffic Geraldine heard the wail of several sirens, but her relief didn’t last for long. Ashley slipped the gun out of her coat pocket. Concealing it beneath the long sleeve of her coat, she pointed it at Geraldine, and ordered her to walk towards the car park exit.

  ‘Get in,’ she snapped as they reached her car.

  Geraldine climbed in just as two patrol cars sped into the car park and screeched to a halt.

  ‘Give me your phone and get us out of here,’ Ashley said.

  ‘Ashley, you don’t have to do this. We know Tim’s death was an accident. You’re not in any trouble. You can stop this now.’

  ‘Drive!’

  Geraldine weighed up her chances of surviving the encounter if she risked waiting for another car to come and block off the exit, but Ashley was growing increasingly agitated.

  ‘I said drive! Don’t think I won’t use this. Now give me your phone.’

  ‘You’ll never get away with threatening a police officer,’ Geraldine replied as she drove slowly out of the car park, with the two patrol cars on her tail.

  She wondered if they could see the gun in Ashley’s hand.

  ‘Give me your phone. I need to get rid of those cars.’

  ‘I can’t reach my phone. It’s in my pocket.’

  Ashley stretched across with her free hand and felt for Geraldine’s phone. With a gun pointing straight at her, Geraldine didn’t dare risk trying to resist.

  ‘Give me the number,’ Ashley said.

  ‘What number?’

  ‘Stop playing games and give me the number to call!’ Ashley repeated, her voice becoming shrill.

  Reluctantly Geraldine gave her what she wanted and Ashley called the police control centre to make her demands clear.

  ‘They want to talk to you,’ she said.

  ‘Do what she asks. She’s armed,’ Geraldine called out.

  With a satisfied nod, Ashley dropped the phone out of her window. ‘Now get us out of here!’

  Conscious of the gun lying in Ashley’s lap, Geraldine obeyed. Glancing in the rear-view mirror she could see the patrol cars had dropped out of view. ‘No one’s following us. You can put the gun away now.’

  ‘Let’s get out of the city first,’ Ashley said. ‘We want to go somewhere we can talk without being disturbed.’

  They drove for a while without speaking. Geraldine wondered whether Helena would grieve for her if she was killed, and how Celia would cope with her loss.

  ‘It was Leah’s fault,’ Ashley said suddenly. ‘She shot him. She insisted on my going to stay with her, and then she shot him right in front of me. She set me up. I’m innocent.’

  ‘All the more reason for you to come with me to the police station, and tell us everything that happened.’

  ‘No way. How do I know I can trust you? It’s her word against mine.’

  Geraldine hesitated. It would be for a jury to decide whether Ashley was telling the truth or not.

  ‘Ashley,’ she said gently. ‘You don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with. You’re a victim in all this, and we want to offer you support. Everyone will understand you’re acting bizarrely because you’ve been traumatised by your experience. You just witnessed a man being shot dead. You’ve already told me it was Leah who shot him, and I believe you. But in any case it was self-defence, so neither of you has anything to worry about. You’ve done nothing wrong.’

  ‘I didn’t do anything. It wasn’t me. She did it. Not me.’

  ‘OK, it’s OK, I believe you,’ Geraldine lied. ‘Why would I say I believe you if I don’t?’

  ‘Because I’m pointing a gun at your head, ready to blow your brains out if you don’t do what I want.’ Ashley gave a curious bark of laughter. ‘Now let’s get away from here.’

  67

  The marked police cars had been recalled. Geraldine kept glancing up at the rear-view mirror but she couldn’t see any sign of pursuit. Overhead there was no roar of helicopters. To all appearances she had been abandoned to the whim of a maniac wielding a gun. Yet, far from deserting her, she knew that her colleagues would be doing everything in their power to save her, even if it meant taking Ashley’s life. Police marksmen might already be in place waiting to take Ashley out the instant Geraldine somehow managed to distance herself from her captor. She looked in the mirror again, and all around. Still there was no sign that they were being accompanied as they left the built-up area of York, driving along the main road towards Leeds. The traffic was light now they had left the city. Although there were cars in sight, there were none nearby.

  ‘Turn left here,’ Ashley snapped suddenly. ‘Now!’

  Geraldine wondered what Ashley would do if her instruction was ignored and they continued along the main road all the way into Leeds. Ashley could hardly shoot her while they were driving at speed, but they would have to stop, or slow down, at some point, and when they did Ashley would be able to shoot her without risk of crashing. In the meantime, it was best to avoid upsetting her. Besides, if there was to be any shooting, it was better for it to take place on an empty road where there would be no other casualties. Above the hum of the engine she could just about make out the distant roar of a helicopter. She wondered if Ashley realised they were being observed from a distance as they turned off the main road on to a narrow lane.

  ‘Don’t slow down!’ Ashley warned her, jiggling the gun in her lap.

  ‘I have to. There might be something coming the other way.’

  ‘I said don’t slow down.’

  With a shrug, Geraldine accelerated. At least she wasn’t likely to be shot while they were travelling fast.

  ‘There’s a farm building about a mile along the road,’ Ashley said after a while. ‘There it is,’ she added as the roof of a solitary barn came into view through a dip in the hedgerow. ‘Turn off there and park the car inside.’

  Driving through a gap in the hedge, Geraldine held her breath as they bumped along a muddy track. She was terrified that a jolt might cause the gun to go off, but they reached the cover of the barn without accident. Unusually for her, she could feel sweat trickling down her forehead. She wiped it away with her sleeve and as she lowered her arm she
saw that her hand was trembling. She swallowed, hard. Her mouth felt dry and she was afraid she might cry. Struggling to suppress her emotions, she gazed around the barn. Open on one side, it offered shelter from direct sunlight and would have been pleasantly cool in hot weather. Right now, it was freezing in there.

  Ashley’s apparent reason for coming to the derelict barn was that the car would be out of sight there. Clearly she hadn’t bargained on the barn itself being spotted from a helicopter. Now they were no longer driving, a powerful engine could be heard circling above them. Geraldine glanced at Ashley, but she seemed oblivious to the overhead surveillance team. Staring through the window behind Geraldine as though she had forgotten her presence, she kept the gun pointing steadily at her.

  All at once Ashley’s expression relaxed into a smile and she turned to Geraldine. ‘There’s no one there. Don’t look so worried. The police aren’t going to let you die. You’re one of them, aren’t you? You know they’re going to do whatever it takes to save your life.’

  ‘What do you want from me?’

  ‘That’s obvious, isn’t it? You’re going to negotiate for me.’

  ‘Negotiate?’

  ‘Yes. They have to give me what I ask for or else…’ she jerked the gun and laughed. ‘Come on, lighten up. We both know they won’t risk it. They’ll be only too happy to give me what I want in exchange for your life. I won’t ask for anything they can’t give me.’

  Geraldine controlled the urge to tell Ashley that she would never get away with what she was doing. Instead, she resolved to do her best to humour her. If only she could get close enough to her captor to disarm her, the situation could be quickly resolved. Failing that, all she needed to do was keep Ashley talking until the police had the barn surrounded with police marksmen. Before long they would hear the voice of a negotiator, hailing Ashley through a megaphone. Meanwhile, time seemed to have slowed down. Now the engine had been turned off, the air inside the car was cooling down rapidly. Geraldine could feel the cold seeping through her jacket, and up through the soles of her shoes. There was nothing in the barn apart from the car itself and its uneasy occupants.