Woman in Black (39 page)

Edward entered back into the area with the knife and set it down on the floor next to Jessica. Instinctively she tried to move towards it but her limbs were incapable of responding. He started to walk around. Plastic sheeting was pinned to the ceiling and shielded the gaps in the walls where the windows would go. Jessica could hear the rain falling but it sounded louder because, aside from the sheets, there was nothing to separate them from the outside. Edward talked loudly as he wandered around the space where the pool would be before ending up back next to Jessica.

‘I know you’re not stupid so you’ll know by now that this is where all those bodies ended up. Charlie, Lewis Barnes, Jacob Chrisp, Matthew Cooper and Steven Povey are all in the foundations of the pool. I’ve got a company coming around on Thursday to put the sealant in and get a proper bottom down. For obvious reasons I’ve had to do a lot of the foundations myself; I couldn’t really get a company in to help me bury bodies, could I? I don’t really know what I’m doing. This other company dug it all out for me and I’ve just been burying them then pouring the concrete into the space they created. It was actually a little easier than I thought.’

Edward paused and coughed, kicking a bit of plastic sheeting before continuing. ‘When you were around the other week I was worried you’d take me up on the offer and have a much closer look around here. The covering sheets were all out and luckily you didn’t pay too much attention. There were no bodies on show but it was a bit of a mess. I dreaded it every time you came around because, on the second occasion, Charlie’s phone went off. I’d been keeping it just in case but obviously forgotten to turn it off. I was surprised the battery hadn’t died.’

As he finished his loop, Edward crouched near to the edge of the pit. ‘There’s still a space at this end and I’ve got loads of cement left. It’ll be a waste of a day and I’ll have to do something with your car but at least the driveway’s long enough so no one will see it for now. I’m a bit pissed off you spoke to the neighbours actually but I can just say you came and went. I’ll think of something. Maybe I’ll use your phone to send a text then ditch it?’

Jessica was still trying to concentrate on breathing but panic was beginning to set in. The knife was on the ground mere inches away but her body wouldn’t move.

Edward stood and moved to stand directly in front of her. ‘Right, to business,’ he said, clapping his hands. ‘I know it’s a bit of a cliché but I figure you may as well go out actually knowing what’s gone on, so what the hell. I’ve got to be quick though because I’ve got a body to bury and a car to get rid of, though you already know that.’

The man’s cheeriness was incredibly unsettling and he continued speaking in the same tone. ‘Right, here goes. I am your woman in black. It was pretty funny actually when I saw those headlines. At first, it was just a disguise but then I realised it really had confused you. I was a bit pissed off with those robbers who stole my disguise but I guess it didn’t do any long-term harm. Either way, I dress up in women’s clothing now and then, so what? I might have to have “words” with my nosy neighbour though. I know the city pretty well and, once you realise where the cameras are, it’s pretty easy to get out of places without being spotted.’ He paused for a moment, then added, ‘Any questions?’

Jessica couldn’t have spoken even if she’d wanted to. Edward smiled. ‘No, right, well, it was me who reconciled with Charlie. The guy’s a complete dick; I bet you didn’t know that. I was the one who looked after Dad and he left me the house. Charlie whined on about his share and then pissed off to London. I got in touch a few months ago and gave him a sob story about signing over half the house and making up and so on but it was just because I needed him for this. He was the key one because I wanted the story to come out about what they’d done to Samantha but I couldn’t do everything as Edward because you lot would know it was me. So I came up with the idea of killing “me” off and becoming Charlie. That way you’d have no way of knowing I was involved. Well, in theory anyway.’

Jessica found his tone and mood difficult to judge. He spoke about the killings in a matter-of-fact voice with no emotion at all. He seemed almost put out by the entire affair and, although he clearly intended to do her harm, he almost seemed regretful about the whole thing.

He began to speak more quickly, clearly becoming impatient. ‘You probably want to know why I sent you the fingers. I should really apologise because it can’t have been nice to get something like that in the post, especially when a big package arrives. Whenever the post van turns up, I always get a little excited wondering what’s inside. I feel like a kid again whenever something with my name shows up that I haven’t specifically ordered. Anyway, sorry about that. It was just because I didn’t want you to forget. That was the reason I gave the thumbs-up and waved at the camera too – I wanted you to find the reason for it all so people would know. I figured you might have been struggling to identify everyone and I wanted to keep you interested. I couldn’t make it too obvious, which is why I used the fingers and called you over for that first picture. It almost worked out.’

Edward tapped his hand on the floor as if wondering what else he should say. ‘Umm,’ he muttered to himself, tutting. ‘Right, I suppose the only other thing is to tell you why.’ He stood, pacing a couple of times before sitting directly in front of Jessica. He moved the knife away from her and made sure her eyes could meet his. She had no choice but to look at him.

He lowered his tone and his voice cracked a couple of times as he spoke. ‘I was a virgin, you know. I met Samantha on holiday and we had a really good time. We’d talked about meeting up again when we got back to England. She was the first girl who ever really showed much interest in me. I know you know most of this now about the attack on her. I wanted to tell them to stop but Jacob was so much bigger than me. I didn’t know what to do; I was just some scrawny kid.’

Edward looked away, then met Jessica’s eye again. He sniffed and then spoke even more quietly; his demeanour had changed completely from being breezy and cheerful to sounding far more solemn. ‘I wasn’t always like this. You know in “The Shining” when Jack Nicholson goes a bit crazy in a big house on his own? I’ve felt a bit like that since Dad died. I’ve got all this space and don’t know what to do. I paint and cook but it’s only for me.’

He paused for a moment. ‘I’ve not had girlfriend since Sam. The dressing up is just for show. Manchester’s the right place to be for all of that with other men but I don’t really know what I am. I started to think all of this through about a year ago. I figured that, if I could make the other men pay for what they did to Sam, maybe I would be able to get over it too? It took ages to find out where everyone was but the Internet’s a wonderful thing. After that, I had the problem of it being obvious it was me. That’s when I thought of using Charlie too. Believe it or not, after all the planning, it really wasn’t that hard.’

Edward stood again, sounding a little cheerier. ‘I think that’s everything. At least you should be happy now.’ He played with the knife before putting it back down and muttering under his breath, ‘Bit messy’. He made a ‘hmm’ noise then began to speak again. ‘Sorry about all of this, I’ve never done it like this before. The men were easy because it all happened in the storage unit which was easy to clean out.’

Jessica continued to try to move but her body refused to respond to her commands. Her arms and legs felt heavy and she couldn’t shift them. She didn’t know any of the correct medical terms but Edward had clearly gone mad. She could perhaps just about understand his motive but everything had been exacerbated by his isolation. Jessica wondered about the effect of seeing his girlfriend assaulted and how it had changed him. It sounded as if he were just a normal teenager before that but now he had turned into a killer whose moods shifted drastically.

He was clearly artistic and clever, while everything must have taken a huge degree of planning. Somewhere along the way, though, he had lost his conscience. The casual way he was talking about getting rid of her but being unsure how to do it was almost as disconcerting as the fact he was happy to kill an innocent person. Jessica tried to keep herself cool and focused on trying to move her right arm. She could twitch it ever so slightly more than she could before but still nowhere near enough to do anything of note. It was hard to stay calm but she realised getting frustrated would do no good either.

The man was still muttering to himself but quickly stopped pacing, turning to look directly at Jessica. Everything that had happened in the previous minutes almost felt as if it were occurring to someone else but, for the first time, Jessica felt genuine fear at the steel in Edward’s eyes. Something had changed in his thought process.

‘You do look rather pretty sat there all helpless,’ he said. His tone was level and Jessica felt a chill go down her back. It was the most feeling she’d had in a while. ‘The others were all men and not for me but it would be such a waste to leave you there.’

Edward reached towards the belt buckle that was holding up his linen trousers and started to undo it. ‘At least we can have a bit of fun before you have to say goodbye,’ he said casually. ‘Given the reason all of this has happened, it’d be fairly apt, don’t you think?’

THIRTY-SIX

Suddenly realising the horror of what Edward intended, Jessica tried as hard as she could to move her limbs. Her legs weren’t responding but her right arm had a tiny amount of motion, although barely enough to lift it. She wanted to scream but no sound came out. The man dropped his trousers and Jessica tried not to look at him, closing her eyes tightly.

While she stared into the darkness of her eyelids, time almost seemed to hang still but her feeling of terror was interrupted by the doorbell sounding. Jessica opened her eyes and looked up at Edward. He was on his knees in front of her and had stopped to pull his trousers back up. ‘Bollocks. That had better not be the pool people, I told them Thursday,’ he said breezily.

His tone of voice, as if they were old friends and this was the most normal thing in the world, would have been funny if it wasn’t so terrifying. He stood, refasening his trousers as the doorbell sounded again. ‘I should have told you how pleased I was you liked my art by the way,’ he said. ‘I wanted to tell you it was mine of course but it would have given everything away. Anyway, be right back.’

As he left the room, Jessica saw a flicker of movement from her left by one of the plastic sheets hanging from the ceiling. They were clear but translucent but she thought she could see a glimpse of something red. Emerging slowly from behind one was DC Diamond. ‘Are you okay?’ she whispered loudly. Jessica wanted to say she wasn’t but couldn’t move.

The constable stepped closer, glancing from side to side before fully emerging into the room. She had climbed through the space where the window should go. ‘We were waiting at the bottom of the drive like you said but, when no one came out, we thought we’d see what was going on. Are you all right?’

Still looking towards the open doorway, Izzy moved quickly towards Jessica, stopping to look at the knife on the floor and then picking it up. She leant in towards her. ‘Jess?’

She must have realised to some degree what was going on because she reeled back. ‘Oh God, Jess. Can you speak?’

Jessica tried to say something and really pushed to move her arm but nothing happened. She could hear faint voices from the hallway. Izzy’s eyes widened. ‘It’s Dave out there.’ The constable stood quickly, knife still in her hand and left the room. Jessica closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jessica took a deep breath and leant back into the seat before downing the rest of her pint. She only drank lager on special occasions but would have probably enjoyed whatever was put in front of her at that exact moment.

‘Get ’em in then, Dave,’ she said, looking to the constable next to her.

‘Isn’t it your round?’ Rowlands asked.

‘Yeah, but I’m still a patient.’

He laughed, before turning to Izzy. ‘Whatever. Do you want the same?’

‘Yeah, but make it a double.’ Dave slid out from the booth in the pub closest to the police station and headed towards the bar. The atmosphere was relatively upbeat and Jessica was trying her best to join in with her friends, even though she had kept so many of the details surrounding what had happened in Edward Marks’ house to herself.

It had been a week since the man had been arrested. Between the two constables, Edward had been subdued. Jessica didn’t know the entire story as she had first spent time in hospital, then at home. The pub visit was the first time she had gone anywhere near the station. Her doctor had signed her off work for a fortnight but she had avoided all calls from anyone at the station except from Izzy and Dave. It was partly because she didn’t want sympathy from any of them but also because she felt embarrassed at charging into a situation almost on her own. By taking the two constables with her, it showed she had learned her lesson from two years ago when Randall Anderson had almost choked her to death. Jessica was still aware she had been just moments away from something awful happening.

It was largely that which kept her away from the station. She had tried to block out the look in Edward’s eyes but it was constantly in the back of her mind. Jessica had not said a word about it to anyone and, although it was obvious she had been drugged, no one knew the extent of what had almost gone on – and she had no intention of telling them.

‘Are you okay?’ Izzy asked.

Jessica tried to speak with a confidence she wasn’t feeling. ‘Yes, I was a bit unsteady for the first couple of days. The doctor said the dosage of the drug Edward injected into me could send some people into shock or cause permanent damage. I feel all right but I’ve got more tests tomorrow.’ She looked at the empty glasses on the table. ‘I probably should have stayed off the booze.’

‘Are you back at work the week after next, then?’