Shrine to Murder (20 page)

‘
Really?’ Malloy said. ‘Do you think so? You are so much more understanding than the Inspector.’

Angel
blinked.

‘B
ut I do think you should put the dagger down,’ Carter said. ‘You have made your point most eloquently, I thought. You know, Mr Malloy, it might be possible for you to take up writing plays for the stage or television. You could become another George Bernard Shaw or Alan Ayckbourn. Had you never thought of it?’

Malloy
’s voice changed. It was softer and thoughtful. ‘Writing plays?’

‘
If you have to go away for a while, you could write a play or a whole series for television. You would only need paper and a pen.’

Malloy
’s voice changed. ‘I’ve certainly lots of ideas. Characters are always bouncing around in my head at night; they keep me awake. I never sleep for long. Some nights I never sleep at all.’

Angel
watched and listened. He didn’t move.

‘
You need some peace and quiet, Mr Malloy,’ she said. ‘Let’s start by getting rid of that dagger.’

Malloy
blinked. Thought a moment, then lowered his hand with the dagger in it to his side.

‘
Shall I take it, Malcolm? Can I call you Malcolm?’

‘
Nobody has called me Malcolm in years. What’s your name?’

She
stepped up to him with her hand open.

She
forced a smile at Malloy. ‘DS Carter,’ she said.

Malloy
looked at the dagger, gave a little shrug, turned the dagger round so that he was holding the blade and offered it to her.

Malloy
was about three feet away from them both.

She
reached out for it.

Angel
held his breath.

Malloy
smiled, then when she was almost touching the handle, he swiftly pulled his hand back and said, ‘Do you think I’m so stupid?’ In a split second he reversed his grip so that he was holding the dagger firmly by the handle and he reached up to make a stab at her.

Angel,
who had not taken his eyes off the dagger, dashed forward and made a snatch for his wrist. Malloy looked amazed. He pulled against Angel’s grip but it was useless. He withdrew his hand from the other pocket and Carter saw that he had another knife. Malloy pressed the end and a blade flicked out, which he plunged into Angel’s back.

Carter
saw blood spurt out, screamed, looked round for a weapon of some sort. She reached up to the crude altar beside her, snatched up the nearest candlestick, tossed out the lighted candle and landed a tremendous series of blows at Malloy’s head, chest and hand until her strength ran out.

Eventually,
Malloy dropped the flick knife, turned, stared into her eyes and fell full length in front of her.

Angel
fell over the top of him, now holding the dagger in his hand.

Flames
flared up around the altar from the discarded candle.

‘
Cuff him,’ Angel said panting and got to his feet.

As
she did so, on her knees, she said, ‘I may have killed him.’

Angel
saw the flick knife and kicked it towards the door. ‘Self-defence, if you have.’

‘
Yes, but -’

‘
He might be better off. If he’s alive, he’ll be sent to Rampton and never see the light of day again.’

Suddenly
there was a roar of yellow flames as one of the sheets behind the altar caught fire. There was a carpet on fire and the covering on the altar was alight. The whole room was ablaze with candles and with fabrics and curtains on fire.

They
set about stamping out the burning fabrics, dragging them to the floor and stamping on them. Smoke added to the confusion. There was a shortage of oxygen causing them to gasp. The flames took hold on the wallpaper and the curtains round the window. Angel took off his coat and tried to damp down the flames. As fast as they put one fire out, another developed.

Angel
took out his mobile and tapped in a number.

‘
Control Room.’

‘
This is DI Angel. Send an ambulance to 12a Mulberrry Place. Also report a fire there, also send two uniformed men ASAP. Don’t mess about. Matter of life and death.’

‘
Right, sir.’

He
closed the phone.

The
figure on the floor wriggled.

Angel
noticed and looked at Carter. She’d seen it too.

More
flames roared up behind them.

‘
Let’s get him out.’

Malloy
was on his face, his handcuffed hands behind his back. They each put an arm through his and tried to move him. It was slow but they dragged him on to the landing, which was filling with smoke. One of Malloy’s trouser bottoms had caught fire. Angel stamped on it and put it out.

The
room was an inferno of flames and candles and the heat was increasing. Angel, shielding his face with his arm, went back to the door and tried to close it. It was too late it fell to pieces in flames.

Malloy
moved again. His eyes opened. Carter stooped down to look at him.

Angel
looked back into the room. ‘We can’t do any more in there,’ he said. He moved further away from the doorway and began to put on his coat. There was blood on it. He looked at it surprised. Carter saw him.

‘
He caught you with the knife.’

‘
Where? I didn’t know.’

Angel
found that it was near his side. It didn’t hurt, but it was oozing blood.

Carter
looked at his bloody shirt and pulled a face.

There
was a crash as something in the room fell down. The fire had developed a roar, and a regular crackling of burning timber.

Malloy
groaned.

They
looked down at him. His mask had partly melted in the heat and the scuffle.

Angel
said, ‘We’ll have to get out of here.’

‘
How,’ she said.

He
looked down at the floor said, ‘Hey, Malloy. Can you stand up?’

‘
What?’

‘
Can you stand up?’

Malloy
slowly shuffled round into a sitting position, then Angel pulled him up by the back of his shirt neck.

‘A
re you all right?’

The
man blinked and swayed a couple of times.

Angel
said, ‘Can you walk?’

Malloy
struggled with his shoulders and arms. ‘My hands. What have you done to my hands?’

‘
Are you all right?’ Angel called out above the roar of the fire.

‘
You bastards. You’re a right pair of bastards.’

‘
Can you hear me, Malloy?’

‘
Of course I can bloody well hear you.’

Angel
looked at Carter and said, ‘You do it, lass.’

She
nodded, turned back to the man and said, ‘Malcolm Malloy, I am arresting you for the murder of Luke Redman, Ingrid Underwood and Angus Peel. You do not have to say anything…’

Chapter Sixteen

It was 8.28 a.m. the following morning, Thursday, 4 June. Angel arrived at his office whistling, ‘Oh what a beautiful morning. Oh what a beautiful day…’

He
hadn’t reached his chair before the phone rang. It was Taylor. He sounded very bright. ‘I hear you got him, sir? Congratulations. Who would have thought it was Malloy all the time.’

‘
Thank you, Don. You did your share.’

‘
By the way, sir, this morning I realized that that piece of timber with the fancy Norwegian letter “ø” stencilled on it, used by him to sprag the accelerator pedal in the van, would likely have been from a crate of newsprint used by the printing press of
The
Bromersley
Chronicle
.’

‘
Most likely,’ Angel said. ‘We’ll make a detective out of you yet, Don.’

Taylor
grinned.

Angel
replaced the phone.

There
was a knock on the door.

‘
Come in,’ he said.

It
was Ahmed with the morning’s post. ‘Good morning, sir. And congratulations. I understand you’ve solved the serial murder case. And that you’ve arrested that clerk from
The
Bromersley
Chronicle
office. That’s great, sir. We all knew you would do it.’

Angel
pursed his lips, then said, ‘Well, DS Carter needs credit for making the actual arrest.’

He
looked surprised. ‘Really? And she only weighs eight stone, four pounds.’

Angel
frowned. ‘How the blazes do you know what she weighs?’

‘
We were talking about diets and stuff, and she told me, sir,’ Ahmed said putting the envelopes on the desk in front of him.

Angel
frowned and shook his head. ‘The things you talk about…’

Ahmed
went out.

Angel
began fingering through the envelopes, when there was another knock.

‘
Come in.’

It
was Carter. She came in all smiles, carrying a notepad. ‘Good morning, sir. I hope you slept well.’

He
looked up, pointed to the chair by his desk.

She
sat down.

Angel
said, ‘You don’t have to continue the social chit-chat you used to mesmerize Malcolm Malloy last night, you know.’

‘
It worked, sir,’ she said with a big smile.

‘
Not really. Anyway, it might work on vain people. Not on hard nuts like me.’

She
laughed then said, ‘How’s your back, sir? What did they say at the hospital?’

‘
It’s all right. In their lingo, it didn’t perforate any vital organs.’

She
nodded. ‘I bet it’s painful.’

He
frowned and looked at her. ‘What do you want anyway?’ he said.

‘
A question, sir.’

‘
Go on.’

‘
I only remembered this morning. In that room…that shrine. There were
four
blood-stained sheets hanging down. And
four
photographs on the table. Yet, as far as we know, there are only three victims?’

‘
Yes,’ he replied and licked his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue. ‘I noticed.’

‘
Did you manage to see who the people were in the photographs?’

‘
No, I didn’t. I had a few…other things on my mind.’

‘
Yes, sir. Of course.’

The
phone rang. He reached out for it. ‘Angel.’

The
caller said something to which Angel said, ‘Right, sir. I’ll deal with it straightaway.’

He
replaced the phone and turned to Carter. ‘That was the Super. A triple nine just in. Another body with a wound in the chest. The landlord of the Wentworth Arms has found the body of a man behind some dustbins at the back of the pub.’

‘
That’s
the fourth victim, sir.’

Angel
nodded. He rubbed his chin, sighed and said, ‘It’ll be Kenneth Lamb. He lives at…lived at 72 Wentworth View. It’s just behind there.’

‘
Must have happened sometime yesterday,’ Carter said. ‘He
wouldn’t
go into hiding.’

Angel
’s lips tightened back against his teeth. He shook his head. ‘It would have saved his life. Why don’t people listen to us?’

‘
Poor Mr Lamb,’ Carter said, then looked down and shook her head.

Angel
stood up and said, ‘Well, come on, Flora. Let’s get on with it.’

She
looked at him in surprise.

If you enjoyed
Shrine to Murder
you might be interested in
Night and Silence
by Aline Templeton, also published by Endeavour Press.

Extract from
Night and Silence
by Aline Templeton