Killer Plan (14 page)

36

The wheels had been
set in motion on Nick’s investigation, with teams of officers drafted in to question the dead officer’s neighbours and friends, even his colleagues. Yet more constables were checking criminals who had recently been released from prison, looking into any who might have held a grudge against the dead detective. Geraldine wondered whether they ought to be questioning husbands and partners of women Nick had seduced but she hesitated to make the suggestion to the detective chief inspector. He had already lambasted her for interfering with the investigation he was heading. He clearly didn’t want to hear about Nick’s infidelities.

With nothing more she could do to support the investigation into Nick’s murder, she resolved to stay out of trouble and turn her attention back to Dave Robinson. Checking the most recent statements, she came across an odd report. His widow had come to the police station claiming that one of her sons was missing. Her statement hadn’t been taken seriously, partly because she had been drunk at the time. Geraldine went to question the constable who had spoken to Caroline. She found DC Timothy Clark at his desk. A snub-nosed young man, he looked about sixteen.

‘Oh that,’ he replied airily to her question. ‘No, that’s all sorted.’

‘What do you mean by all sorted?’

‘The boy’s not missing at all. The woman’s just nuts. Crazed with grief and all that.’

‘All what? How do you know he’s not missing? Has she reported he’s back home?’

‘Not to us, but she’d already called the school to tell them he was at home, too upset to go to school after what happened to his dad, so the boy’s not been kidnapped, even if he is at home with a crazy mother.’

‘Why did she report him missing then? Has anyone seen him?’

Timothy shrugged. ‘How am I supposed to know what’s going on in her head? She’s crazy, I told you. Maybe she’s feeling guilty because the boy’s fallen apart over losing his dad, and she hasn’t. But I can follow it up.’

Geraldine agreed that would be a good idea, although she wasn’t satisfied. What Timothy was telling her sounded strange, but she held back from openly challenging him for being so laid back about Caroline’s report. She had been criticised in the past for being unwilling to delegate. Reg had already accused her of being interfering. She didn’t want to be dogged by a reputation for being controlling. Without telling anyone, she decided to go and speak to Caroline again. If it turned out that Timothy had been correct in his conclusions, all well and good. No one need know she had been checking up on him. At the same time, she couldn’t ignore her unease. Timothy was a constable, young and inexperienced. It would be a dereliction of her duty to refuse to follow her instincts out of a misplaced concern for her own reputation.

Caroline looked dreadful. There were grey bags under her eyes, and a lifelessness about her smacked of depression. She clearly hadn’t been sleeping, which was understandable, and looked as though she hadn’t washed for days, which was probably true. She started back when she saw Geraldine, and motioned to her to go inside the house.

‘Quick, quick,’ she muttered, ‘before anyone sees you.’

That suited Geraldine, although it was odd that Caroline wanted to usher her inside so promptly, and she wondered why Caroline seemed so anxious that no one saw her. Before Geraldine could mention the purpose of her visit, Caroline turned to her in frantic desperation.

‘Have you got any news?’

‘News?’

‘Yes.’ Caroline’s eyes met Geraldine’s for a brief moment before sliding away. ‘Have you found out who killed Dave?’

‘You came to the station yesterday to report one of your sons missing. You said he’d been kidnapped. Is that correct?’

Caroline gave an impatient shake of her head. ‘No, no. That was all a mistake. I was just in a right old state.’

Her laughter sounded so fake, Geraldine was convinced she was lying.

‘You reported he’d been kidnapped by someone called Brian.’

‘Yes, that’s what I thought, but I was wrong, see? Ed came home. He’s back here now. He’s not missing at all.’ She gave another nervous laugh.

Geraldine didn’t tell Caroline she had looked into her school records and traced someone called Brian who had been in her class at school.

‘What made you think Brian took your son? Has he been in contact with you?’

Caroline hesitated. ‘Yes, I mean no, I mean I’d seen him recently, bumped into him in the park. Then he met Ed and – brought him home. I got in a panic when Ed didn’t come straight home, that’s all. I thought he wasn’t coming back. You don’t know what it’s like, without Dave here. But it’s got nothing to do with the twins. They’re fine. They’re both fine.’

‘I just want to understand what’s going on, Caroline. Why would you think Brian had kidnapped your son?’

‘I told you, he met Ed and he – took him out for tea, and then he brought him home. Why does that matter? I miss Dave.’

Caroline was clearly making up her story as she went along, but Geraldine was no closer to understanding why she would falsely accuse someone of abducting her son. She supposed Caroline was just falling apart after losing her husband, but the story of the kidnap didn’t sound right. If anything, Geraldine felt even more confused than she had done when speaking to Timothy.

For all her desperation, Caroline clammed up when Geraldine attempted to quiz her more about the alleged kidnap. Unless she was prepared to talk, there was nothing much Geraldine could do. She couldn’t pursue a report of a kidnap when the person who had made the claim had retracted it. All the same, she had a feeling Caroline was hiding something. Other than suspecting it must be connected to Dave’s murder, Geraldine had no idea what it was, and she had no evidence that Caroline knew more about the murder than she was willing to say.

She gave it one last go. ‘Unless you tell me what this is all about, I can’t help you.’

Caroline raised stricken eyes, but shook her head. ‘I don’t know,’ she wailed. ‘There’s nothing more to say.’

‘So you’re telling me both your sons are at home now?’

‘Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. Now for God’s sake, find out who killed my husband.’

There was a desperation in her demand that was more complicated than grief. Caroline was frightened.

37

Brian was so upset
by the whole episode, he could barely stand up. Afraid he might collapse, he sat in his front room, physically shaking with shock. A police constable had been to his house asking questions. If the boy had been there, the whole carefully constructed plot Brian had set in motion would have unravelled in front of his eyes. It had turned out to be a stroke of luck, the boy disappearing like that before the police came calling.

His thoughts darted around wildly. Obviously Caroline had betrayed him. The constable had given some flimsy pretext for calling, pretending he was carrying out a house to house enquiry about the missing boy. He didn’t fool Brian. He knew they suspected him of hiding the boy. They must be watching him. If they found Ed before he did, Brian might never see him again. The thought brought tears of anger to his eyes. Clearly it was risky for the boy to carry on staying in his house. When Brian found Ed, they would have to move away. The police might be back at any time. It was a pity, because they were comfortable together in the house, where Ed even had a room all to himself. He liked that. It was a shame they couldn’t carry on living there.

It was Caroline’s fault the police had called. He should have known she would be trouble. Women always were. Brian felt a brief flicker of pity for the woman who hadn’t seen her son for three days, but Caroline had another son. Brian had no one else. It wouldn’t be fair for Caroline to keep two boys for herself, when Brian didn’t even have one. In any case, she had forfeited her claim to the boy. She had failed to do what was necessary to earn him back. It had been left for Brian to finish the job himself. He had been happy to do that because it meant he could keep Ed for himself. So it had all turned out well in the end. He just had to wait for Ed to come home. If he didn’t, Brian knew where to find him. Next time, he wouldn’t let him go.

Caroline was playing a dangerous game. It was because of her that Ed had run off by himself. He might be facing all sorts of hazards out on the streets alone. He was only a child. Caroline was crazy to let that happen. And Brian’s wife had accused
him
of being mentally disturbed. Caroline was the one who should be locked up, not Brian. He was the victim. Him and that poor boy who was all on his own. When Brian found him, he would never let him out of his sight again.

He nearly didn’t answer the door when the bell rang that evening. He was afraid it was the police returning. Worse, it might be doctors come to take him away again. Last time that happened, his wife had driven him to the hospital herself. Like a fool, he had gone with her in the car. In all fairness, he hadn’t really understood what was happening. By the time he realised where he was, he had been too confused to protest. He still hadn’t forgiven his wife for standing by and watching while a softly spoken stranger had stuck a bloody great needle in his arm and explained calmly that he wouldn’t be going home for a while. He had no idea how long he had been sectioned in the hospital but gradually his thoughts had begun making sense, without the white hot anger that had sparked his incarceration. They called it treatment. Whatever else happened, he was never going back into a ward for mentally disturbed patients. He would rather die than return to that grey half-life. It had all been his wife’s fault. The bitch had deserved everything that had happened to her.

The doorbell rang again. Peering out from the side of the curtains in the living room, he couldn’t see anyone standing on the doorstep. Whoever it was, they were hiding. It must be the police, come back to lock him up. His legs felt wobbly but he forced himself to clamber upstairs. By standing on a chair by his bedroom window, he was able to look down onto the front step. Cautiously he leaned forward, holding on to the window sill. Craning his neck he saw the top of the boy’s head. He leaped from the chair, knocking it over with a clatter. Leaving the chair, he raced downstairs, thrilled that the boy had come back to him, terrified he might reach the front door too late. If he let him disappear again, he would never forgive himself.

He flung the door open, panting. The boy looked up at him with an anxious smile. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy, his cheeks flushed. He was soaking wet and had been crying. His lips quivered. Brian reached out and seized his arm, pulling him inside the house. Quickly he glanced over the boy’s shoulder, scanning the street outside. There was no one in sight, only empty cars. He closed the door and turned to the boy. First things first, he had to make sure the boy didn’t fall ill. It would be difficult explaining what he was doing there if he had to see a doctor.

‘You’re sopping wet. Go upstairs right now and have a hot shower. You can come down for supper in your new pyjamas. Bring your wet things down with you, and I’ll put them in the dryer.’

The boy smiled anxiously. ‘I thought you weren’t here. You took ages to open the door.’

Brian returned his smile. ‘Hurry up and get changed, I’ve got a lot of sausages waiting to be eaten.’

Thank goodness he’d had the foresight to buy more than one packet.

‘Sausages?’

‘Yes, and waffles.’

‘I’m starving. But aren’t you going to have a go at me, ask where I’ve been and all that?’

Brian considered. ‘You’ll tell me where you’ve been if you want to.’

‘My mum would never let me get away with it.’

‘I’m not your mother.’

‘No.’ He gazed at Brian with his swollen eyes. ‘You’re nice.’

For a moment Brian was too happy to speak. Before long he was watching Ed tucking into a plate piled high with sausages and chips.

‘You
are
hungry,’ he said.

Brian guessed he hadn’t eaten for the two days he had been missing, but he had undertaken not to quiz him about where he had been and he kept his word. It didn’t take long for Ed to open up.

‘I wanted to go home,’ he explained as he gobbled his dinner. ‘When I came downstairs and you weren’t here, I tried to find my own way back home but I couldn’t, and then I got lost and couldn’t find my way back here so I just walked around. I didn’t know what to do. I thought I was going to starve to death. And then I saw your house and so I’m here again.’

Brian hesitated, but he had to know. ‘Do you still want to go back to your mother?’

Ed looked surprised. ‘Well, yes, of course I do. As soon as you can take me there,’ he added politely. ‘I don’t want to be any trouble.’

Brian chose his words carefully. ‘You’d have to go back to school, and you’d be sharing your mother with your brother. He’s with her now. She wanted to keep him, when she asked me to bring you home with me.’

‘You said Matt was staying with another friend of hers.’

‘I didn’t want to upset you,’ Brian answered quickly. ‘You can stay here a little longer if you like. That way you won’t have to go back to school straight away.’

Ed nodded uncertainly. Brian turned away to hide his triumph. He was going to stay after all. This time he would never leave. They would go to another town, start again with new names. It was no more than Brian deserved. He had given Caroline every chance to carry out her part of their bargain. After everything Brian had done for her, giving her freedom from a life of misery, she had been too weak and selfish to do the same for him. Brian had been forced to step in. Not that he had minded. It would have been less risky for Caroline, but Brian had been clever enough to do the job himself without being caught. He hadn’t needed her help after all. Only now he had Ed, he had no intention of giving him up. Why should he, when he had earned the right to keep the boy? It was only fair.

‘Everything’s going to be OK,’ he promised Ed softly. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you from now on. You don’t need to worry about a thing.’

The child nodded, yawning. He was exhausted. ‘Thank you,’ he said politely.