Authors: Fiona McIntosh
‘Not in —? What are you talking about?’
‘I happen to know that she was on the other side of the country today, sir.’
‘Explain yourself, Kate, or I’m leaving now.’
She did so quickly. ‘As you know, our phone consoles show where a call is coming from. When
Sophie called, it wasn’t the Devon prefix and she wasn’t on a mobile.’
Jack felt the quiet flutters of alarm in his belly take full flight.
‘And where was she calling from?’ he said through near gritted teeth.
‘Brighton,’ Kate said, unable to look him in the eye.
The silence between them became heavy with insinuation.
She continued doggedly. ‘I tracked the call to a pub in Hove actually. She used a public phone in its front bar.’
‘Who else from Danube is involved in this?’
‘Just me, sir. Sarah refused to help. She has distanced herself from all of it and is totally pissed off with me.’
Despite her admitting she was the only renegade, it gave him no satisfaction. ‘So where does this lead?’
‘There’s more, sir.’
He watched her swallow hard beneath his gaze of contempt, but he said nothing and she continued.
‘The media announcement that Sophie admitted hearing about Edward Fletcher had only been aired in the south-east by the time she heard it.’
‘And of course you’ve corroborated this?’ Jack asked, his tone dripping acid.
‘Yes, sir. The radio stations out west will only be making their first announcements in this afternoon’s bulletins. She didn’t hear this news in Devon and could only have heard it somewhere in and around East Sussex. She was definitely in Brighton and Hove today.’
‘So you —’
‘Hear it all, sir,’ she cut across his words. Jack pursed his lips, letting Kate continue her roll. ‘Something
Sophie said on the phone — I really can’t remember what — prompted me to ask whether she’d ever been to Brighton. She denied it but explained about family holidays in Portsmouth and Bournemouth.’
‘And why is that relevant?’
‘Considering who I am to her, sir — which is no one — a simple “No” would suffice. And before you say it, she wasn’t just being polite. She was going to some trouble to give me information. Even as newbies at Hendon, we’re taught to recognise when someone is colouring in far too much background, sir. And might I add that, for someone who has never been to Brighton, she seemed to know an awful lot about West Pier.’
The last two words made Jack sit forward. ‘What do you mean?’
‘She reminded me that although I had some fond memories of early childhood summers on West Pier, my memory was playing tricks — I couldn’t have had that many summers because the pier was closed in 1975. She’s right about that date — I checked — plus we know this from Sergeant Moss. A coincidence? Perhaps. But how about this? When I made the comment that I was surprised she knew so much about a place she’d never been to, she told me to ask you about some photographs on the wall of her apartment. Apparently they’re of piers — that’s how she explained away knowing about West Pier. But it sounded contrived, sir. I know I mustn’t leap to a conclusion, but you insist we work on instinct as much as fact. Sophie used that as a throwaway line — in the same way that someone might close a phone call with “Give Jack my best wishes” — she really didn’t expect me to mention the photos.’
Jack’s eyes narrowed. Every inch of him was on full alarm now, his body flooding with adrenaline. ‘They’re not of piers.’
Kate’s eyes narrowed, ready to challenge him. ‘Well, she told me —’
‘They’re of one pier only,’ he interrupted, not apologising. ‘But I don’t know which one.’
‘Sir, she definitely implied plural. But you’ve seen them and I’d go out on a limb and suggest which one it is. If I saw them, I could confirm it. I can show you on the net what the ruin of West Pier looks like, or how it looked in its heyday.’
Jack looked dazed and Kate pressed her case. ‘One more thing, sir. Sophie mentioned in passing that her father was a doctor — she used past tense, so presumably he’s dead. Does that ring any bells with you?’
Nausea rose in Jack’s throat. This couldn’t be right. They were leaping to conclusions that surely weren’t there. He played for time, tried to unscramble his own tangled thoughts.
‘What are you drawing, or rather, hoping I will draw, from this cloak and dagger investigation into the woman I’m seeing?’
Kate finally looked up at him and Jack could tell it took courage to do so. ‘I haven’t met Sophie, sir, but she’s blonde, very attractive, isn’t she?’
‘So are you attractive. So are thousands of women blonde. What’s your point?’
‘You met her almost immediately Operation Danube came into being.’
‘Yes.’ He frowned at her. ‘So?’
Kate rubbed her face, clearly unsure whether to proceed, then she knitted her hands on the table as if
to steady herself. Her voice wasn’t so steady when she spoke, however. ‘You told us this morning that Sophie uses a wheelchair. Are you sure she’s dependent upon it?’
‘I’m not going to dignify your curiosity with an answer. This conversation is over.’ Jack left the cafe, with Kate in pursuit. She pulled at his arm, fighting back her despair. ‘Wait, Jack!’
‘No, this is vile, what you’re doing to me. I deserve better. And you, Kate, can start looking for a new job — don’t expect any reference from me.’
‘Please, please, hear it all. I’m begging you, because I think you’re in danger.’
‘Danger?’ Jack barked a harsh laugh. ‘You’re kidding, right? In danger from a woman who can barely teeter a few steps unaided?’
‘That’s just it, sir. I don’t think she’s disabled at all. I think the woman that Dan saw this morning was Sophie — blonde, attractive and —’
‘Kate! You’ve gone around the bend. You’re so emotionally distressed or blinded by your misdirected feelings for me that you’ve become obssessed with Sophie. You’re a liability for all of us. Don’t even bother coming back to Operation Danube. I’ll send your things to Kingston. You’re off the case as of now.’
‘Sir, if you won’t listen to me I’m going to take this higher. I’ll tell Superintendent Sharpe,’ she warned, and Jack hoped bile was tingling through her throat at the undisguised threat to her direct superior.
She looked terrified when he turned on her and he allowed her to glimpse the depth of his wrath. ‘You’ll tell him what?’ he said in a menacing tone, the words clearly filled with warning.
‘I’ll tell him my fear,’ she murmured, clearly intimidated by Jack but not completely cowed, even though his face was close enough to hers that they could have kissed. ‘I’ll tell him that I think your Sophie could be Anne McEvoy.’
32
Anne pointed to the van parked at Hove Station.
‘Very sporty,’ Billy said, looking at her both amused and quizzical.
She laughed. ‘I’m an interior designer, I have my tools of trade, you know. The van’s great for moving around all my gear.’
‘Blimey, no wonder you catch the train whenever you can,’ he quipped, following her towards it.
‘Don’t be so rude,’ she warned, feigning insult. She pressed the remote and the van answered, its doors unlocking. ‘Hop in. It’s very comfy.’
He grinned. ‘I’m a BMW man. I’d never normally be seen dead in a transit van,’ he joked.
‘Is that so?’ she said, reaching into a cool box behind the driver’s seat. ‘Mineral water, Billy?’
Jack stared at Kate. His reaction to her claim was beyond incredulity.
‘What has got into you, Kate? Is this some sort of blackmail?’
‘Oh, get real, Jack,’ she snapped, her courage gathering. ‘Do you really think I’d make such an outrageous claim
unless I truly believed it? Blackmailing you? I’m trying to save your life! She’s killed two men and now she has another man’s blood on her hands. I have to say that I don’t particularly blame her, considering what those bastards put her through, but my job is to help stop her. Now every fibre of my body is screaming at me that Sophie is our killer. Prove that she’s not, Jack, by all means, and make me look as stupid as I must sound — ensure the only job I can ever do again is traffic police — but don’t dismiss my instinct or this scenario. I’ve given you the facts that form my suspicions, and I agree a lot of it could be coincidence, and much of it is circumstantial, but what’s in your gut now? Any doubts? Anything at all that leads you to think Sophie could have been lying to you?’
Jack felt his throat close.
‘Answer me, Jack!’
His mind was whirring in every direction as he rapidly backtracked over the past couple of weeks and things began to jump out at him. Was that really how short a time he’d known Sophie? It felt like so much longer — as though he knew her so well. Did he, though? What did he really know about her?
‘She told me she’s in property?’
He could see the relief in Kate’s eyes that he was cooperating. ‘Sit down with me, sir, please.’
Jack allowed himself to be led to a seat. Kate risked taking his hand. ‘Jack,’ she began softly, ‘can you think of anything that Sophie might have said that could incriminate her in any way?’
‘No!’ he replied automatically, his anger still burning.
She took a different approach. ‘Take your time. Think — any clues at all that can totally refute this claim then?’
He saw the distress in her face, glanced down to see her hand gripping his, and accepted that Kate wasn’t doing this to him out of any animosity. He thought of Sharpe and his warning of how vulnerable he believed Jack could be at times regarding women.
You’ve always been close to women, Jack,
the Super had said.
You and your sister were inseparable as you grew up — and you’ve said it yourself: you were your mother’s favourite and you lost her too early, in horrific circumstances. And who did you turn to for solace? Your grandmother became your greatest friend.
And then he remembered Deegan from Ghost Squad, aiming to dig up the past and reopen old wounds connected with Liz Drummond. Women seemed to be his greatest asset, but Martin Sharpe was right: they were also his frailty.
‘Jack,’ Kate urged. ‘We don’t have much time.’
Everything that was so bright and shiny about Sophie suddenly felt blighted. He hated that Kate was doing this to him, sullying something that was so beautiful in his life. He answered robotically, ‘I tried to see her off on the platform this morning at Paddington. She told me which train she was catching so I decided to surprise her with a farewell gift.’
‘And?’ she coaxed.
Jack shook his head once. ‘She wasn’t there. I rang, she said she’d caught an earlier train and that she was almost at Exeter.’
Kate waited but Jack said nothing. She pushed him.
‘What happened next?’
Jack took a breath, sat up straighter. ‘I checked with the platform attendant. He said there were no earlier Virgin trains, so then I checked more thoroughly at the ticket office and it was confirmed that not only
were there no earlier trains from Paddington, but no Sophie Fenton was booked on any train from any station in Britain today.’
Kate held her breath, let it out slowly. ‘So you already knew,’ she said softly.
Jack looked down. ‘I wanted to assume she paid cash.’
‘Fair enough.’
‘She told me that she was the daughter of a doctor as well. It was her way of letting me off the hook for keeping her waiting last Friday.’
‘Anything else?’
‘Yes’, he said, frowning as all the odd comments that had jarred but not made more than a fleeting impact at the time, returned to fall into place like pieces in a jigsaw. ‘She knew about my birthday shirt.’
‘The striped one? So?’
‘We hadn’t met.’
‘She probably saw you on TV like everyone else did. Perhaps she saw you leave the apartment building.’
He shook his head. ‘Nope. When we first met she said she’d never seen me coming or going from the building. Anyway, I left very early that day of my birthday — it was dark and I was wearing a coat and scarf. Yes, she almost certainly did see me on TV at the press conference, but if she remembered my shirt so well — clearly enough to mention it — how come she played so dumb when I introduced myself to her? She made out she had no idea who I was or what I did for a living.’
‘People look different in the flesh,’ Kate offered, wondering why she was helping him to find excuses.
‘Come with me,’ he said, suddenly standing.
‘Where are we going?’
‘To Highgate.’ And he strode away.
Kate grabbed her bag and hurried after him.
‘What’s wrong?’ Anne asked, heading out of Hove and into Hangleton.
Billy twitched a confused smile, laid his head back against the headrest. ‘I don’t know. I don’t feel very well.’
‘Drink some more water, then.’ Anne’s voice was filled with mock concern.
‘I’ve drunk more than half already. No, it’s not that. I feel dizzy.’
‘I’ll stop the car soon. We’re almost there.’
‘Where, Brunswick? We don’t seem to be heading into Brighton.’
He wasn’t slurring yet Anne was pleased to hear, but it wouldn’t be long before Billy was past the point of talking. She’d put a hefty dose of the drug in the mineral water, but she needed time to talk with him. She needed him to hold on, to fight the desire to sleep.
‘No, we’re not. I’m heading up to Devil’s Dyke, a nice spot.’
‘The Dyke? Why?’
‘I want to show you something.’
‘What?’
‘Wait. It’s a surprise.’
‘What about the apartment in Brunswick?’
‘Later.’
They drove in silence for a few more minutes as Anne took the van up Snakey Hill for only the second time in thirty years. Her last visit had been to choose the lonely place where she would end Billy’s life.
* * *
Kate watched Jack as the underground stations snaked by them. They hadn’t shared a word since he had told her they were going to Highgate. She had no idea what he had in mind, but going by the grim set of his mouth, he had some sort of plan.
‘Phone the Yard. Tell them what we’re doing,’ he suddenly commanded.
‘What shall I say?’
‘Say I wanted to swing by my home first.’
‘And what do I tell them about us being together?’
‘The truth, Kate,’ he said bitterly. ‘Tell them you found out something, met me, told me.’
‘Okay,’ she said reluctantly. Although she wasn’t prepared to let go of her theory, it felt suddenly dangerous to have Hawksworth on this mission, dragging him in her wake. What had she started? Kate began to imagine what would happen if she was wrong. She could never face Jack again, and with her private life in tatters it felt terrifying to think her career might also go the same way. He would never forgive her if her accusation was empty.
‘Sir, um —’
‘Do it, Kate. They’ll be wondering where we are. And hurry up. You’ll lose the signal any second.’
Anne switched off the engine and took a few moments to look out across the rolling South Downs and admire their beauty and peace. All she could see for miles was the colour green, cows and sheep. Birdsong was all they could hear. Billy would die in a serene place — he was lucky, she thought.
He looked to be sleeping and she knew she had to work fast now. Using strong duct tape, she swiftly bound his hands and then, with handcuffs, secured him to the van’s door handle. Now he was helpless. She slapped his face gently, flicked it with fresh water.
Her quarry roused from his doze. ‘Why are we here?’ He looked at his hands, frowning as he tried to understand. ‘What’s happening?’ he asked, surprisingly lucid.
‘Billy, I brought you here to talk first.’
He gave a dopey grin. ‘And afterwards?’ he asked, his tone filled with innuendo.
‘Afterwards you’re going to die,’ she said flatly.
Billy’s gaze had been drifting slightly but now his eyes seemed to clear and focus. ‘Die?’
‘I’m going to kill you.’
‘But what —’
‘Let’s not waste time, Billy. Let me explain. The water you drank was laced with Rohypnol. You will lose consciousness soon — it’s why you’re feeling so drowsy now. Do you remember the drug, Billy? It’s the same one that Pierrot used on me thirty years ago.’
‘You’ve drugged me?’ he asked, disbelieving.
‘Just think about how you feel, Billy — you know I’m not lying.’
He pulled himself straight in the seat. ‘Anne ... why, what’s this —’
‘What’s this about?’ She smirked. ‘It’s about the theft of my life. Your gang raped me; you killed my dog; you gave me a sentence of pregnancy, ripping away any chance I had of making something of myself. And then,’ Anne swallowed back what could have been a sob, ‘then when I’d resigned myself to life as a young
mother, decided I would make a go of it and be good at it, you attacked me again. I nearly died, Billy, and my baby did die. And now I’m making sure you die too. But first, I need some information — something Clive and Mikey couldn’t tell me.’
‘Mikey? What are you talking about?’ He shook his head, confused. ‘You’ve been away. You haven’t caught up fully with the deaths, have you, Billy?’ She watched him shake his head dully. ‘I found Mikey Sheriff and I killed him, and I did the same to your old mate Clive. After you, I’ll find Phil Bowles — actually, I already know roughly where he is. My early snooping tells me he never left Hove, the sad sod, so he won’t be hard to track down.’
‘Anne, stop this. It’s not amusing at all.’
‘It’s not meant to be. I’m deadly serious. You
are
going to die. You are going to pay for your sins.’
‘Wait! This is crazy. You told me it was all behind you.’ His words were streaming together. Time was so short.
‘Behind me? Do you really think a person can put that sort of trauma behind them? You were the brainy one of the Jesters Club — surely you can work it out. No, Billy, I never put it behind me. All I did was pretend it never happened. I had quite a nice life, to tell the truth, and that seemed to act like a bandage over the deep wound that so injured me. But we risked it; we risked it all on the chance of having a family. It was my fault and we failed and I lost everything — the man I loved, the happy home, the quiet life I was living. I was left with nothing but misery and my own memories. I can see the question
in your eyes, Billy, so save your breath — you haven’t got much left. Let me answer your question.
‘When my husband abandoned me about a year ago, life turned very dark and I began to experience the same feelings that I remembered from three decades ago. Suddenly I was there again, in that toilet block, or caught in that alleyway. Suddenly I could feel all the pain and fear again and the loss of my child.’
Billy’s eyes widened as he struggled to sit forward, but Anne held up a hand. ‘I loved that baby so much, Billy. In spite of his manner of conception, I wanted to be a good mother and lavish my child with all the affection and joy that was lacking in my life. The worst part is, I still do. Can you imagine that, Billy? Thirty years of heartache. Thirty years of pretence. I’ve covered my yearning for Peter so well — I’m a brilliant actress. But all of the pain is back, Billy, and I’m taking revenge for the ruination of my life and all of its misery.’
‘You’re planning to kill us all?’ His question came out as a croak.
‘You’ll be my third victim. Mikey and Clive are already worm food. Just two to go after you.’
‘Anne, please,’ he beseeched, his eyes unfocused. ‘I don’t ...’
‘Don’t beg, Billy, it’s pointless, as you should remember from both of those occasions when I begged you to help me.’
‘But I couldn’t —’
‘Yes, you could. There were four of you and one of him. All you had to do was say no. But you were either too weak, too dim, too cruel or too drunk to care enough that someone you knew was being hurt before your eyes.’
Billy shook his head, terror flooding his expression now. He began to scream.
She waited until his throat was raw from yelling and his energy was sapped. ‘No one can hear you. Look around you. Take one last look at your world because you’re about to leave it.’
‘None of us touched you, Anne. I swear it!’ he blathered, spittle sliding down his chin. ‘He was the one who raped you.’
‘Yes, I’ve worked that out too,’ she said, her tone telling him she was unimpressed by his news. She became matter of fact. ‘Now, you can make this go a little easier on yourself if you’ll tell me what you know about Pierrot.’
‘Easier?’
‘I’ll explain in a minute. Tell me what you know and things can be different.’
Billy sat up a bit straighter but Anne knew he couldn’t tell just how slumped in his chair he was. The drug was taking over now — they had barely minutes.
‘I’ve only seen him once since that night on the pier, Anne, I swear it, and that was by accident. He was walking with his wife and child on Hove seafront and I was there too with my girlfriend.’