Killer Plan (28 page)

75

Matthew had known all
along that something awful had happened to Ed. He was deeply upset that his mother had lied to him about it. When he demanded to know the reason, all she could say was that she had wanted to protect him.

‘Protect me from what? I can look after myself.’

‘I wanted to protect you from being upset.’

Now he was even more upset, because she had kept the truth from him about Ed being kidnapped.

‘Why did you lie to me? Why?’ he repeated.

‘I thought you’d be upset,’ she repeated lamely.

At last he calmed down enough to listen to her.

‘What are we going to do?’ he asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘We can’t just sit around doing nothing. He’s been gone for ever! We have to save him!’

Caroline was infected by his enthusiasm. She knew it was a mistake as she blurted out that she knew where he was being kept. Matthew jumped up.

‘Come on then!’ he shouted.

Caroline shook her head. This could all go terribly wrong. She hadn’t told Matt that Brian wasn’t just a kidnapper. He was a killer as well. Matt began pestering her to tell him where his brother was being held captive. To her relief he yelled at her that they had to go and tell the police. She had been afraid he wanted to rush round there and confront Brian himself.

‘How come you haven’t told them yet? Don’t you want Ed to come home?’

‘Of course I want him home. I went to the police days ago, but they didn’t believe me.’

Another mistake.

‘Well, I believe you. Come on, if the police won’t help us, we’ll go and rescue him ourselves!’

‘At least let’s wait until it’s dark,’ she said, playing for time.

Somehow she had to persuade her son it was too dangerous even to try. If the police couldn’t save Ed, there was nothing a woman and a ten-year-old boy could do. The last thing she wanted to do was put Matt in danger as well. Yet despite her trepidation, she couldn’t help feeling excited. With Matt’s help, there was a possibility they might succeed. Together they began to plan Ed’s rescue. Matt was adamant that he would accompany her.

‘That way one of us can distract him while the other one rescues Ed.’ It sounded like a sensible plan. ‘Then we can kill him and chop him up in little pieces and feed him to the rats, and dissolve his bones in a vat of acid,’ he concluded, in a sobering reminder that he was just a child. ‘Or we can feed him to pigs. They eat everything, bones and all. They crunch the bones up with their teeth!’

She couldn’t help smiling at his childish enthusiasm. ‘Where are you going to find pigs?’

He stopped capering round the room. ‘You can find them. That’s your job. I’m the ideas man.’

‘And you have some very good ideas, but I think we should concentrate on finding Ed, and leave his kidnapper for the police to deal with.’

‘You said the police didn’t believe you.’

‘But if we rescue Ed…’ She paused, struck dumb by the enormity of what they were discussing.

They might already be too late. The idea of Matt stumbling on his twin brother’s corpse was too horrific to contemplate. On the pretext of making some tea, she went into the kitchen and poured herself a generous slug of whisky. Her husband had been the drinker, not her. But since his death it had been the only way to deaden her anguish. Feeling slightly tipsy and very brave, she returned to the living room to confront her son.

‘You can’t come with me,’ she announced firmly.

‘What?’

‘I can sort this out on my own.’

‘But it has to be two of us so one of us can distract him while the other one rescues Ed. That’s our strategy. It’s what we agreed. You said. There has to be two of us.’

‘No. It’s too dangerous.’

‘You’re going.’

‘He’s my son.’

‘He’s my twin.’

There was no arguing him out of it.

They waited until it was dark before driving to Brian’s house. Leaving the car parked a few doors away, they hurried across his front garden. It was only nine o’clock but there were no lights on in the house. Caroline hesitated. She hadn’t thought about whether they should try and break in, or march up to the front door and ring the bell. Now they were there, she was terrified Brian would see them. He had already taken one of her sons. She wasn’t prepared to risk Matt’s safety as well.

‘Round the back,’ she whispered.

Matt nodded to show he understood. Cautiously she led the way to the side gate. It wasn’t locked. She activated the torch on her phone. By its narrow beam of light they shuffled along the passageway that led down the side of the property. There were glass patio doors at the back of the house, flanked by two windows, all divided into small square panes. She tried each one in turn. They were all securely fastened. The only way they could get in was by breaking a window. She would have to do it without making any noise. She swung the torch around, looking for something to use. She wished she had come better prepared. Most of their planning had revolved around ways to dispose of Brian’s dead body in the absence of any acid, or pigs, or convenient quicksand.

There was a low dry stone wall surrounding a small rockery at the side of the garden. Crouching down, she selected a sharp stone. As she raised it, Matt put his hand on her arm to stop her. Without speaking, he pointed to a different area of the window. In the darkness his face looked ghastly, wide-eyed and pale. She looked to where he was pointing, and nodded. She had been about to smash the large central pane of the window. He had guided her to the pane beside the window catch. If she broke the glass there, it should be easy to reach inside and open the window.

Matthew was only ten, but he was more clear thinking than her. She blinked, feeling muzzy-headed, regretting having downed so much whisky before coming out. She hoped she would be able to drive home without crashing the car. That would be just perfect.

The sound of breaking glass seemed to echo across the still night air. She winced. Without a word, they both stood with their backs pressed against the back wall of the house. There was a chance they might escape notice if anyone looked out. Nothing happened. In the moonlight, high tree branches stirred silently in the breeze. No lights came on, no voices yelled out from neighbouring houses demanding to know what was going on. They waited. At last, Caroline turned her attention to the window. Concentrating on keeping her arm steady, she reached in through a jagged hole in the glass and carefully pulled the window latch. For a terrible second she was afraid it was locked in place. Then, with a jolt, the catch lifted.

The delicate skin on the underside of her forearm brushed a jagged sliver of glass. For an instant she felt nothing, then a fierce pain stabbed her. Too late, she lifted her arm. Infuriated, she wiped the blood on her T-shirt. It was only a scratch but it stung dreadfully. Worse, she had left a smear of blood on the broken glass. Shining her torch on the teeth of glass that bordered the hole, she spotted the one she had caught her arm on. Carefully she knocked it out of the window with her stone, and caught it in her outstretched T-shirt. Carrying it to the rockery, she scrabbled at the dry earth with her fingers, and buried the pointed sliver of glass. The police might still be able to prove she had been there, but she was damned if she was going to make it easy for them.

‘Come on,’ she whispered as she reached in and opened the window. ‘Be careful. There’s broken glass on the floor under the window. Don’t cut yourself.’

Gingerly they clambered into the silent house.

76

This time Geraldine was
careful to register her destination with Computer Aided Despatch herself, so the nearest patrol car would reach her quickly if she summoned backup. On the way to Brian’s house she called the station. As she had expected, Reg wasn’t at his desk. Even though it was after nine, she called him at home. To her relief he answered the phone almost straight away. Quickly she told him what she had learned from Brian’s former sister-in-law, and why she felt unable to wait until the morning to investigate further.

Reg expressed surprise at hearing that Nick had been sleeping with Brian’s wife. It was easier to speak to him about it when she couldn’t see him glaring at her. Even so, she held back from telling him about her own affair with their dead colleague.

‘He was a good officer, Reg, but he was a serial adulterer.’

‘You know that, do you? It’s not just rumours and…’

‘It’s true. There’s no doubt. Ask anyone.’

Reg grunted. She didn’t mind that he sounded put out. After all, she had disturbed him at home, in the evening. At least he was listening to her. Once he accepted what she was saying, he couldn’t ignore the significance of the connection.

‘So you think Brian killed Nick because his wife had an affair with him?’

‘I think it’s possible.’

‘But Brian’s wife died years ago.’

‘It was over three years ago. Alleged suicide...’

‘Alleged?’

‘That was the coroner’s conclusion, but the deceased’s sister didn’t believe it was suicide.’

‘She wouldn’t, would she?’

‘No. Of course it’s perfectly reasonable to suppose it was suicide, and I suppose we’ll never know…’

‘Unless he confesses…’

Geraldine smiled. Reg was taking her accusations seriously.

‘Brian may not be our killer, but he has to be a suspect now.’

‘So how does the missing boy fit in with all this?’

‘I don’t know how he fits in,’ she admitted, ‘it’s just that Caroline accused Brian of kidnapping him. She must have had a reason for suspecting him. Perhaps the boy saw something and Brian needed to make sure he couldn’t talk. Unless she’s lying to cover up for herself.’

‘Like you say, we can’t be sure of anything yet. But too many fingers seem to be pointing at Brian. We need to look into him. And given Caroline’s accusation, we need to move fast. Send a message to all traffic police, train stations, bus depots and airports, nationwide, to be on the lookout for a man and a boy travelling together, with descriptions of the missing boy and Brian Stanbury, just in case he tries to take off with the boy.’

‘I’ll get onto Max right away.’

‘Circulate his description, and say he might be accompanied by the boy.’

Neither of them suggested that Ed might already be dead.

‘As soon as I’ve spoken to Max I’ll take a look around,’ Geraldine said. ‘I’m outside the house now.’

Reg warned her to wait for backup, and she promised to be careful.

‘You know where I am.’

‘Yes, but you’re on your own there, Geraldine. Wait for backup. That’s an order. I can’t afford to lose another inspector. They’d string me up for being careless!’

Behind his joking tone, she could hear fear in his voice. Whether it was on her account or his own no longer mattered. They were on the same team.

‘I won’t go in unless I have to, but if I think the child is in immediate danger…’

‘Call for backup now!’

The house was in darkness. Geraldine stood outside the front gate, waiting for the backup team. Brian could be in bed, but there was a chance he had become alarmed and fled. She hoped she hadn’t arrived too late. He might have gone away, taking the boy with him. As she waited, she heard the sound of glass breaking at the back of the house. It seemed she wasn’t the only visitor to Brian’s house that evening. She ran to the front door and rang the bell to warn Brian about the break in, but there was no answer. She tried the lock. After a few seconds of fiddling, one of her keys turned with a loud click and the door swung open. She pressed herself against the wall beside the door and waited, listening. There was no sound. Cautiously she stepped forward and peered inside. Nothing was moving. The backup team would be there at any minute. Leaving the door ajar for them, she went inside.

There was a street lamp right outside the house. Light shone through the fanlight above the front door, illuminating the hall with a dim orange glow. Geraldine gazed around. She had been there before, but everything looked different at night. From outside, the faint drone of a passing car reached her. She stood perfectly still, listening. The car didn’t stop. Her colleagues hadn’t arrived yet. She hesitated. The obvious course was to stay in the hall and prevent anyone escaping that way onto the street. No one was covering the back, but her presence at the front door was better than nothing.

As she waited she heard voices. They were speaking so quietly it was hard to make out the words. She inched forward until she reached the door to the kitchen where the sound was coming from.

‘I told you to wait there,’ a woman’s voice muttered angrily.

‘I want to come with you. He’s here, I know he is.’

The door was open. All Geraldine’s instincts prompted her to rush forward. It was an effort to remain perfectly still, watching and listening.

More alert than Matthew, Caroline was first to notice Geraldine standing in the doorway. Her eyes widened.

Matthew broke the silence. ‘What’s she doing here?’

‘Same as us, I expect,’ Caroline answered. A faint smile curled her lips for an instant.

‘But…’ Matthew began then fell silent, evidently recalling where he had seen her before.

‘More to the point, what are
you
doing here?’ Geraldine asked, although the answer was obvious.

Caroline stepped forward, but before she could speak the boy replied.

‘We’ve come to get Ed.’

Quickly Geraldine explained that backup was on its way. There was nothing for Caroline and Matthew to do but leave matters to the police. They would search the house, taking it apart brick by brick if necessary. She didn’t add that this was no place for Matthew. As she was insisting Caroline took Matthew away, they heard footsteps pounding up the stairs. Someone else was in the house, and it didn’t sound like a team of police officers.

77

The first thing that ran
through Geraldine’s mind was that Brian had come home. With a sickening lurch in her guts, she remembered that she had left the front door ajar. If Ed was concealed somewhere in the house, dead or alive, Brian would hardly have forgotten to shut the front door when he went out. On his return, he would have noticed the door was open. She guessed he had run upstairs to check whether Ed had escaped while he was out. But she had looked in every room. There was no one upstairs. If Ed was being kept in the house, there was only one possible explanation for his silence. She couldn’t work out why Brian would have gone upstairs instead of legging it as soon as he realised someone else had been in the house, and might still be there.

‘He’s here, I know he is. Let me look for him,’ Matthew said.

The thought of Matthew discovering his dead brother was too terrible to contemplate. Before anything else, she had to protect the living. She turned to Caroline and gestured to her to leave.

‘Take Matthew and get out of here now,’ she hissed. ‘My colleagues will be here soon. We can deal with this. You’ll only get in the way. Go!’

Before either of them could stop him, Matthew darted from the room. Caroline grabbed for him, but she was too slow. Geraldine charged after him. At her heels, she heard Caroline panting. Matthew ran straight for the stairs. He bounded up them two at a time, with Geraldine racing after him. Reaching the landing, she stopped. There was no sign of Brian or Matthew. Caroline started forward but Geraldine put her hand on the other woman’s arm to stop her.

‘Come with me.’

To her relief, Caroline obeyed without question. She looked terrified. Geraldine couldn’t afford to lose sight of her as well. They looked in the nearest bedroom. It was empty. As they turned, a figure darted out of the bathroom and went haring down the stairs. It was the boy. Brian was still upstairs. Geraldine ran into the bathroom expecting to see him in there. Caroline followed her. The bathroom was empty. Geraldine’s best option was to run back downstairs and wait there. Wherever Brian was, she had to make sure he didn’t leave the house. If she didn’t succeed in finding him by the time backup arrived, he would stand no chance once the search team were in place. They would arrive at any moment. She turned and whispered to Caroline.

‘I’ll make sure he doesn’t get away. You go and find Matthew and keep him away from the hall. It could be dangerous.’

Caroline was sobbing uncontrollably. As Geraldine urged her to hurry, Brian bounded past them. Geraldine swore. She dashed forward but the momentum of his leap had already taken him out of reach. By the time she started down the stairs he was at the open front door. There was no one outside. All her muscles tensed, poised to leap. If she mistimed her landing, he might yet escape her.

A thin voice rang out. ‘Wait!’

To Geraldine’s surprise, Brian stopped in the doorway and turned round. Below her, she could see the top of Matthew’s head and Brian, staring at the boy as though transfixed.

‘Ed,’ he called out, stepping back into the hall. ‘Come with me.’ He gave a tentative smile and reached out his hand in a gesture of entreaty.

Caroline started forward. Geraldine seized her by the arm to stop her. Motioning to Caroline to stay where she was, Geraldine edged silently down the stairs, one step at a time. Brian’s gaze was fixed on Matthew who stood scowling at him across the hall.

‘Come with me,’ Brian repeated. He sounded desperate.

He edged towards Matthew. One more step and Geraldine would be able to reach out, grab his arm and twist it up behind his back to incapacitate him. She stood, poised to lunge.

‘We can go to the seaside again,’ he urged. ‘You liked that, didn’t you? And I’ll buy you ice cream, as much as you want.’

Caroline swore. At the sound of her voice, Brian seemed to come to his senses. He blinked in surprise. As Geraldine sprang forward there was a commotion below her. A burly uniformed constable charged in through the front door, yelling, followed by more officers. The backup team had arrived.

Brian’s gaze never left Matthew, not even when the constable seized his wrists. Caroline darted forward and slapped Brian’s face so hard he almost lost his balance. At the same instant, Matthew ran forward, screaming, ‘Where is he? Where is he?’

The constable lifted Matthew easily off his feet, and put him down out of Brian’s reach.

‘Now,’ Geraldine said firmly. ‘You need to tell us where Ed is.’

Standing right in front of Brian, she heard him expel all the air from his lungs. His shoulders drooped and he hung his head. But he didn’t answer.

‘Make him tell, make him tell!’ Matthew cried out. ‘Torture him until he tells!’

Fleetingly, Geraldine wished she could. Instead, she issued instructions for the search team to set to work. Immediately the hall was full of uniformed men and women. Half the team raced upstairs, the others began spreading out downstairs.

‘We need to get Matthew out of here,’ Geraldine told his mother urgently.

‘It’s OK, mum,’ Matthew said. He was crying. ‘Ed’s OK. I know he is. I’d know if he was hurting.’

Geraldine and Caroline exchanged a worried glance.

‘Come on, son, we’ll wait for him at home.’