Never Return

by Stephen Barnes

  “We need a less cryptic response Eddie,” Hinton complained.

  “I hardly knew Simeon and I never had any dealings with him. It was Michael who gave him his hush money. Simeon was a mystery to me.”

  “But you knew he’d spilled the beans to Carl,” Hinton said.

  Eddie remained silent aware that he was contradicting himself.

  “He may have been a mystery but he was also a thorn in your side wasn’t he?” Evans suggested. “You had as good a motive as anyone to kill him.”

  “So did Michael.”

  “Michael claimed to have been in Hull at the time Simeon was shot.”

  “He may have been in Hull but wherever he was, he didn’t kill Simeon and neither did I. I couldn’t have done it. Violence makes me sick.”

  “That’s easy for you to say Eddie but it doesn’t make it easy for us to believe,” Hinton said.

  Eddie didn’t respond.

  “There must be something you can tell us to assist the murder investigation,” Evans said. “Unless, of course, you want to go to the top of the suspect list.”

  “Okay. This is what happened on the Thursday before Simeon was killed. He turned up at unit twelve in the early evening. He was wearing a suit so he must have come straight from work. I don’t know how he knew about unit twelve. It was a closely guarded secret. I doubt if Michael would have told him about it. I was there with Danny. He was collecting Carl’s cash. I wouldn’t have let Simeon in but he was banging on the door and making a nuisance of himself outside so Danny dragged him into the unit.

  “Simeon was naive, he’d no idea what people like Carl and Danny are capable of. He started making threats and things got out of hand. Danny called Carl and he appeared with two of his minders. It all became unbelievably scary. Simeon was mouthing off about the sideline I’d established with Michael and the money we were skimming off. I told Carl he could have the money, but only Michael knew where it was. I managed to convince Carl that I was worth more to him alive but Simeon was nothing more than a liability.”

  “But he survived for more than twenty four hours,” Evans pointed out.

  “That’s right. I was sent to find Michael and get the money for Carl but he was nowhere on the campus. He wasn’t in his room either and Sarah wasn’t at the house on Stoney Street. Michael was due to go to Hull that weekend but I think he’d found a place to hide and he wasn’t answering his phone.”

  “Where was Simeon while you were looking for Michael?”

  “They kept him at unit twelve, probably trying to get more from him about me and Michael or perhaps they thought he knew where the money was.”

  “How could he have known?” Evans asked.

  “He may have guessed from some obscure clue Michael gave him. It’s the sort of thing Michael liked to do. Set puzzles to see if people were smart enough to work them out.”

  “The pathologist didn’t find any signs of torture on Simeon’s body. If they’d wanted information, wouldn’t they have used some sort of physical persuasion?” Hinton asked.

  “I don’t think they did anything to him. He may have been happy to tell them what he knew. All I know is that when I got back to unit twelve, Simeon was sitting on the floor in the office area. They’d expected me to turn up with the money so I had to have a positive message. I told Carl that Michael had promised to get the money tomorrow that he was the only one who knew where it was. After that, Carl and the others left with Simeon. I don’t know where they took him. Carl just told me they’d be back.”

  “What happened on Friday?” Evans asked.

  “I still couldn’t find Michael or get an answer when I called him. I left messages but he didn’t call back until Friday afternoon. He said he was keeping a low profile. He was afraid of what Carl might do.”

  “If Simeon was taking money from Michael, why would he blow the whistle on him and toss away his chance of making more,” Hinton asked.

  “Like I said, I didn’t really know Simeon so I couldn’t say. Michael said he loved money and hated drugs. He told me Simeon’s best friend at school had died of an overdose. A bit of a dilemma I guess.”

  “And Michael didn’t know which way he’d go?”

  “Probably not. Michael wouldn’t say where he’d been but he told me he was going to Hull as planned. I told him Carl was expecting him to bring the money to unit twelve but he said he couldn’t do it. I thought I was a dead man but I didn’t see either Carl or Simeon again. It was like everyone had disappeared.”

  “But Danny must have reappeared at some point. What did he tell you?”

  “He said Simeon had claimed to know where the money was, that he could take them to it. Carl agreed but Simeon managed to escape. They tracked him to the university and the grounds of the hall. I guess you can work out the rest.”

  “Would Simeon have gone to where he thought the money was hidden?” Evans asked.

  “He must have done and Danny guessed it.”

  “But Simeon didn’t find the money?”

  “He may have wanted to confirm his hunch about where it was so he could go to the police.”

  “You mean he found it but didn’t take it?”

  “Perhaps he made the right choice. If so, he wouldn’t have wanted to be caught with the money either by Carl and Danny or the police.”

  “Did Danny tell you who shot Simeon?” Hinton asked.

  “No. He might have done it himself. If not, it would have been another of Carl’s people.”

  “So Simeon was shot to stop him talking to us and when his killer realised he hadn’t taken the money, he took his shoes hoping he could use them to identify the hiding place from his footprints?”

  Eddie shrugged. “I don’t know anything about Simeon’s shoes,” he said.

  Chapter 57

  “Intelligence suggests our man is Danny McRule,” Marsh told Evans during a break in the interview. “I’ve sent Gary to the hospital to see if he’s fit enough to be brought in. Fuller only managed to inflict bruising and concussion. No skull fracture.”

  “Has he learnt to speak yet?” Evans asked.

  “He hasn’t said a word,” Marsh confirmed.

  “What do you think of Eddie’s story?” Evans asked Turnbull.

  “It seems plausible Sir. Simeon’s dilemma is interesting. What does he do when the thing he hates provides him with the thing he loves?”

  “Many people live with that dilema,” Evans said. “Why do you think Eddie sacked Longthorpe and the duty solicitor?”

  “He’s given up,” Turnbull replied. “He knows he can’t escape his fate and he probably wouldn’t survive for long on the outside. He may have thought there was a risk of Longthorpe getting him bail. As for the duty solicitor, he must have decided he didn’t need him after the hearing.”

  “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Longthorpe was reinstated before Eddie’s next court appearance,” Evans speculated.

  “Do you still think the shoes are significant?” Marsh asked the Inspector.

  “We may never know but then we may not need to. Our killer is almost certainly one of Carl’s associates.”

  “We can only be sure of that if Eddie’s information is reliable,” Marsh said.

  Evans looked at Turnbull. “I believed him,” she stated, confidently.

  When the interview resumed, Hinton asked Eddie about the relationship between his mother and Carl Simpson-Divine.

  “All I know is that they were together for a while,” Eddie responded.

  “You told us she was his girlfriend,” Evans said.

  “I think she was.”

  “But not any more?”

  “No.”

  “Since when?”

  “I’m not sure. It may just have been a fling, nothing serious. You’ll have to ask her about it.”

  “Let’s go back to Shoresby,” Hinton cut in, frustrated by Eddie’s equivocation. “Tell us about the abduction of Carol and the drugs you used on her.”

  “What
abduction? She was a willing visitor to Thorbury Hall.”

  “You tricked her into going with you to the hall. You drugged her and locked her in the hidden room.”

  “Did she tell you that?”

  “We know you drugged her,” Hinton said.

  Eddie looked at the Superintendent but seemed reluctant to respond.

  “Carol told us you took her to the hall because you were part of a consortium seeking to buy it. That was a lie wasn’t it?” Evans asked.

  Again, Eddie remained silent.

  “Your only intention in taking Carol to Thorbury Hall was to keep her there as a captive while you carried out your plan,” Evans continued.

  “What plan?” Eddie asked.

  “Your plan to remove the obstacle preventing you from claiming your title. You’ve already admitted to what you did at Shoresby. You intended to goad Paul Cahill into killing Tom. You may even have followed him to the station to witness the event and when it failed, you kept Carol at Thorbury Hall so you could implement whatever alternative plan you’d dreamt up. You kept her in the hidden room and later on, Danny made you join her.”

  “I didn’t have a plan,” Eddie insisted. “Like I said, it was just an experiment.”

  “What was Danny doing in the hall apart from collecting Carl’s money?” Evans asked.

  “He was looking for the proceeds of our sideline which Michael had hidden. I knew he was still in the hall. I could have got out but I was safer where I was.”

  “How could you have got out?”

  “There’s a lever under the floorboards. It opens the door from the inside. When Cahill and the other guy arrived, I told them to use the one under the mantel shelf. I didn’t want them to know I could have escaped.”

  “How did Danny know about the hidden room and why did he force you into it?” Hinton asked.

  “I had to tell him about Carol,” Eddie explained. “He’d found her bag and wanted to know who she was. He put me in with her to keep me out of the way while he was searching for the money.”

  “How did you drug Carol?” Evans asked, providing the opportunity for Eddie to boast of his chemical artistry.

  “I used Flunitrazepam on Carol as well as Paul,” Eddie admitted. “I slipped it into Carol’s coffee at the hotel. That was easy but at Shoresby, it had to go in all the bottles. Getting the dosage right was really tricky but I got lucky. Paul’s acid trip came a little later. That part of it was almost perfect.”

  “Shoresby wasn’t your mother’s idea was it?” Evans asked as Eddie gloried in his perfection.

  “She may have put it in my head.”

  “What would you have done with Carol if your experiment had worked and she was no longer needed?”

  “I would have let her go. I only intended to keep her overnight. The sedative impairs the memory. She would either have forgotten everything or her recollections would have been unreliable.”

  “There were plenty of recollections in her statement,” Evans pointed out.

  “If Danny hadn’t screwed things up there would have been another dose. Carol may have remembered my phone call and the meeting at the hotel but everything else would have been a blur. You couldn’t have proved a thing.”

  “Well now we can,” Hinton said, smiling.

  “Whether or not you had a plan, Shoresby didn’t deliver your desired outcome,” Evans said, ignoring Hinton’s glee. “You returned Paul’s phone in the post and then you called him. You told him Carol was alive. You said you’d call again. That must have been just before Danny locked you up. What other experiments did you have in mind?”

  “I didn’t have anything else in mind,” Eddie replied. “I was thinking on my feet. I’m not some evil genius. I’m just a kid who likes to try things out.”

  Evans resisted the urge to respond to Eddie’s plea of innocence. He looked at Hinton and noted the Superintendent’s look of satisfaction.

  “Just to round things off,” Evans said, turning back to Eddie. “Can you confirm it was you who called Paul Cahill to invite him to the party and you who made the call which goaded him into his failed attack on Tom?”

  “Yeah. I got his numbers from Carol’s phone.”

  “And what did your mother know about your activities and Carl’s involvement?”

  “She could only have known what Carl told her. You’ll have to ask her about that as well.”

  “And how did you do all the work to set up unit twelve and then move the lab into Thorbury Hall?”

  *

  As Eddie described his Herculean labours, including the construction of the tunnel barrier from abandoned classroom furniture, DC Turnbull was marvelling at his work ethic.

  “He’s an obsessive planner and organiser,” she said. “If he’d diverted his energy into legal activity he could be well on the way to a legitimate fortune by now.”

  “If he’s lucky, he’ll get something constructive to do in prison,” Marsh said, less inclined than his younger colleague to see the positive side of a criminal character.

  “But he does have an obvious weakness,” Turnbull continued. “He was determined to deny the abduction but couldn’t resist showing off by explaining his experiments with the Flunitrazepam and the LSD.”

  “He likes to show off,” Marsh said. “But his attitude towards his mother seems more complex. Earlier on, he was trying to implicate her. Now, he’s trying to protect her. She must have put the drug in Paul Cahill’s whisky. It couldn’t have worked the way he said.”

  “Eddie must have thought he could get away with Shoresby,” Turnbull said. “He may even have hoped his mother would take responsibility in order to save him but I don’t think she knew exactly what she was doing. She just did as he asked. As we now know, he’s her only son.”

  *

  “Where have you put the new lab Eddie?” Hinton asked.

  “In the cellars under the west wing. I put a lock on the door. You’ll have to break in.”

  “Why did you use the name Alex Newton when you rented unit twelve?” Evans asked, taking the opportunity to clear up a less significant issue.

  “I did it for a laugh. Alex Newton is one of Tom’s old university mates. He was Simeon’s boss at the bank as well. I suppose it was a silly thing to do but I’ve done sillier things.”

  “That may be true but making a play for our sympathy is futile Eddie,” Hinton said. “Tell us about the money. Do you really have no idea where it is?”

  Eddie shook his head but didn’t reply.

  “Would they have shot Michael if he’d been the only one who knew where it was hidden?” Evans asked.

  “Half a million isn’t much to them and keeping Michael alive was too big a risk.”

  “They must have thought Michael had told you where it was.”

  “He thought he had,” Eddie replied. “Michael was a history nerd. He knew a lot about Thorbury Hall. He told me the ice money was appropriately hidden as if I’d know where to find it but I don’t.”

  “Is that the puzzle you think Simeon had solved?” Hinton asked.

  “That’s right. Michael must have given him the same clue. I guessed he meant the money was in the old ice house but Simeon must have made a better job of finding it.”

  “And what exactly is the ice house?” Evans asked.

  “An underground ice store somewhere in the grounds. I couldn’t find it and Simeon and Michael are both dead.” Eddie paused and looked at both detectives in turn. “I’ve told you everything I know,” he said. “I’m tired. I want to go back to the cell.”

  Chapter 58

  “How’s Carol?” Peter asked after taking the call from Paul.

  “She’ll be fine. How are you?”

  “It was a bit unnerving when the guns came out but there’s no lasting damage.”

  “That’s good. I need to pick your brains.”

  “They may not stand much picking but go ahead.”

  “It’s just a simple question. Was there an ice house in th
e grounds of the hall?”

  “Yes. It was near the stable block.”

  “Do you know the exact location and whether there’s likely to be any trace of it now?”

  “Why is this so important?”

  “There may be money hidden there.”

  “Eddie’s drug money?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then tell the police. You could be heading for trouble if you try to find it.”

  “There’s no harm in taking a look. If we find the money, we can take it to the police.”

  “Why not let them look for it?”

  “Carol wants to see if it’s there but I guess you’re right. It’s not worth the risk.”

  “How do you know where the money is?”

  “Carol remembered something Eddie told her. He said the ice money was appropriately hidden.”

  “And you took that to mean it was in the ice house?”

  “It’s a logical assumption.”

  “It may be logical but it wouldn’t be possible to hide anything there.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because when they cleared the stable block to extend the car park they demolished the brickwork over the ice house and filled it in. It must be more than ten years ago. There was quite a fuss about the stables. People felt they should have been preserved but the university exploited the fact that they hadn’t been listed. It was the same with the ice house.”

  “But what was the exact location?”

  “If I had to guess, I’d say it was near the edge of the car park close to the south west corner.”

  “But you don’t think it could be used as a hiding place?”

  “Not without a pneumatic drill and a spade.”

  “Right, thanks Peter. I’ll call Colin Evans.”

  Paul ended the call and told Carol about Peter’s guesswork.

  “If the money had to be buried, it could be anywhere. There’d be no reason to put it where the ice house used to be,” Carol said.

  “Burying it makes no sense to me, no matter where. If I needed to hide a pile of cash I’d find a safe and accessible location. That would exclude the ice house if it was filled in.”