‘I instantly knew Ben was trouble when you first brought him to the teachers’ Christmas meal. He had this look, like he thought he was better than us because he owned his own business, and he refused to talk to any of the rest of us. I remember the two of you left the meal before dessert, and I could see he’d been badgering you to go. Call me old-fashioned, but partners shouldn’t behave that way. It was your night, your chance to enjoy yourself, and he should have been supportive.
‘I was devastated when you announced the two of you would be getting married, but I made a promise to myself that I would be civil to him if we met at your wedding. Then you didn’t invite me to come along. That was hard to stomach, but it didn’t stop me coming to the church on Saturday and watching from the choir balcony. You really did look sensational in your dress. Like an angel sent from heaven – and Ben the devil with his grubby hooves all over you.’
‘You think you’re in love with me?’ Alice asked as her brain tried to process his declaration. ‘And you thought the best way to show that was to leave sinister letters accusing Ben of crimes he didn’t commit?’
‘I really wish for your sake he is as innocent as you blindly believe, but he isn’t. He’s a killer, Alice. He got away with it once, and now he’s going to get away with it again, unless you stop him. I’m terrified that you’ll be the next victim they discover, and if that happened, I don’t think I’d be able to carry on – knowing that I could have saved you and failed.’
The comment stirred something inside her – she knew the guilt he was feeling as it was the same she’d been feeling about both Kerry and Faye for the last week.
‘Ben hasn’t killed anybody, Andrew. The police have arrested the person responsible for Kerry Valentine’s death. It had nothing to do with Ben.’
Andrew’s eyes stared tearfully at her. ‘Even if he didn’t kill that dancer, he has definitely killed before. It was eighteen or so years ago, but he pushed an innocent woman to her death so he could claim on her insurance policy.’
Alice narrowed her eyes. ‘How could you know about that?’
‘Mary,’ he said plainly.
‘How do you … how could you …?’
‘We were at school together,’ he shrugged. ‘She was one of the few girls who would talk to me, and I was even at her wedding to Ben all those years ago. We lost touch, but recently we reconnected at the birdwatching club. Remember, I told you I’d bumped into someone I hadn’t seen for a number of years?
‘Fate brought us back together so we could save you from making the same mistake she made. When she told me what Ben did to her and her mother, I knew it was my calling in life to do something.’
Andrew blinked several times as sweat ran from his brow to his eyes. ‘I never meant to hurt you. I knew if I came and spoke to you in person I’d get flustered and you wouldn’t want to listen to me. This was the only way I could see to get through to you. But even after my first two letters you still didn’t leave him, which is why I had to come and see you in person – so that you would know I was telling the truth.’
‘Don’t pretend you care,’ Alice said. ‘She’s used you, that Mary, you know that, don’t you? She’s a spiteful and vindictive woman.’
‘She freely admits that her relationship with Ben wasn’t good, but her motivation for reaching out now is to stop him hurting you as he has others. I know you don’t want to believe it, but we think he killed that girl in Bournemouth, too.’
‘You’re wrong! It couldn’t have been Ben; he was tied to a lamppost when she died. Plus, the police examined his clothes and found no trace of Kerry’s DNA.’
‘Maybe he bought replacement clothes which he gave to the police. And the photographs of Ben tied to that lamppost could have been staged at any time.’
Alice pulled out her phone and opened the images app, determined to shut Andrew up with cold, hard fact. ‘Here you go. Just look. Here’s Ben, securely tied up with his mates looking on.’ She swiped right, ‘and here’s Ben again, an hour or so later when they came to let him go. See!’
Andrew squinted at the phone. ‘That isn’t evidence! The shirt doesn’t even look the same. In this one his shirt sleeves are rolled up, but in the other one they’re down.’
She pulled the phone back and stared at the image. How hadn’t she noticed that detail before? Sure enough, in the later image the cuffs of both sleeves were rolled up, revealing a line of embroidered material inside. The pattern was hard to determine, even with the image zoomed in, but there was definitely a pattern of some sort. She couldn’t recall Ben’s white shirt having any such material inside the cuffs, but then maybe he’d bought a new shirt for that night. Returning to the first image – the one with the cuffs rolled down – she saw something else she hadn’t noticed before. She zoomed in, moving the screen closer to her eyes, before skipping back to the later shot.
Andrew had noticed her sudden urgency. ‘What is it? What have you seen?’
She wasn’t prepared to utter the words aloud.
It was impossible, but according to the images, if Ben’s version of events was to be believed, not only had he managed to roll up the cuffs on both sleeves despite having his hands bound at the wrist, but somehow a breast pocket had miraculously appeared on his shirt.
FIFTY-EIGHT
Alice’s eyes remained firmly fixed to the image on the screen.
‘I didn’t want to be the one to break your heart, but you see it now, don’t you?’ Andrew sighed.
It was impossible, wasn’t it? Since he’d been released on bail on Sunday morning, Ben had sworn blindly that he’d spent at least an hour tied to that lamppost while Kerry Valentine was being murdered; a story echoed by Dave and the others, even under police interrogation. How many in the group knew that Ben hadn’t been tied to that lamppost? In fact, had the whole thing been staged for her and the police’s benefit?
If he wasn’t tied up where they’d said, where had he been and why had it resulted in the need to change his shirt?
‘I can stay with you,’ Andrew offered. ‘If you want, that is.’
Before she could even consider the offer, the front door burst open and Ben strode in. ‘The police are on their way. I explained that this creep was trespassing on our property and is the same man responsible for the criminal damage to our security cameras.’
Andrew ignored the jibe and focused his attention on Alice. ‘I don’t have to go.’
Ben clearly didn’t like the implication and shoved Andrew up and out of the chair. ‘I feel sick just breathing the same air as scum like you,’ he said, dragging Andrew away from the table.
‘Alice? Alice?’ Andrew called out.
‘Don’t hurt him,’ Alice called out, as Ben pushed Andrew towards the front door.
Suddenly alone in the kitchen, Alice was finally able to suck in a deep breath. None of the conclusions her mind was racing to made any sense, yet for the first time it felt like her eyes were truly open.
Still, she tried to find an innocent explanation. The two images she’d taken from Dave’s phone – the before and after shots – didn’t prove that Ben had been involved in what had happened to Kerry. Wasn’t it possible that the angle of the image could have made it appear like Ben’s shirt hadn’t had the pocket, when actually it had been there all along? Was she now seeing things because it fit a predetermined outcome?
There was only one way to know for certain. Moving to the counter, she typed the PIN into Ben’s phone and unlocked the screen. She wouldn’t have long – the moment he opened the front door, he’d see her with his phone.
Opening the images app, she scrolled through to the folder of received images, and looked for what Dave had sent over to him on Sunday, the ‘evidence’ they planned to share with the police.
Working backwards, she found the two images she’d been looking at on her own phone, and zoomed in on both shirts. The second shirt definitely had a breast pocket, but the angle of Ben’s arm in the first made it difficult to tell
. So she continued to scroll backwards, through the images of a naked Ben tied to the chair, covered in cream. Kerry gyrated around him, yet Alice felt no animosity towards her; she’d been doing her job.
Finally she came to the group shots, but in most Ben was either turned to the side, or had somebody standing in front of him. All the group had been wearing white shirts and dark trousers, looking like gangsters from the twenties.
Then she found it: a selfie snapped by Dave of him and Ben, presumably just before they reached Bournemouth, taken in the back of the taxi. Dave’s shirt had a breast pocket, Ben’s didn’t. She shuddered as the evidence stared back at her. Yet despite what she could see, something continued to niggle somewhere at the back of her mind, something she still couldn’t quite glimpse. Forwarding the images to her own phone, she froze as she heard keys jangling in the front door. Locking the phone, Alice darted back to the table, desperately hoping Ben hadn’t seen what she was doing. He walked into the kitchen and leaned in to kiss her cheek. Her skin crawled as he did.
‘Are there any more crazy stalkers at your school I should know about?’ he asked, searching the fridge for a snack.
She didn’t respond, still disappointed that even Andrew had been keeping things from her.
He closed the fridge door, having failed to find anything to eat. ‘Are you okay? You look pale as a sheet.’
‘Mum phoned,’ she quickly lied. ‘She’s had a fall – not a major one – but I said I’d go round there.’
‘Oh no, not again, is she okay?’
‘She’ll be fine, she’s just a bit shaken up I think. I guess with everything that’s going on with Scott, and her rattling about the place alone … I shouldn’t be too long.’
‘You’re going now? My parents are due any minute. Dad phoned and said Mum’s feeling guilty about keeping the divorce from you. I think she wants to explain why she agreed not to say anything, and to tell you what Mary was really like. Mum was never keen on her, and neither was Dad. They could see her for what she was, and I blindly ignored them to my detriment.’
The last thing Alice wanted was to hear whatever excuses Ben had enticed his parents to come and share. ‘I’m sorry, but Mum needs me.’
‘How about I drive you over there, and we bring her back to stay with us? We’ve got the room, and it would give our mums the chance to get to know each other better.’
‘No,’ Alice practically shouted, before softening her tone. ‘There’s really no need. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the offer, but it doesn’t need two of us to go across there. Besides, if I go on my own, I can use you as an excuse to get away and back here. I’ll be fine.’
He gave her a cursory glance before nodding. ‘Okay, well if you’re sure.’
She forced a thin smile. ‘I’ll try not to be too long.’
Grabbing her keys from the dish on the side, Alice headed for the front door, jumping as her eyes fell on a figure in the doorway.
‘That’s good timing,’ Ray said, smiling, his jacket draped over his arm.
Hermione’s face poked out from behind her husband. ‘You two off out?’
‘Alice’s mum’s had a fall,’ Ben explained, pulling the door wider, allowing them to enter. ‘She just needs to go and visit her.’
Hermione’s face crumpled in concern. ‘Oh I’m so sorry to hear that. Will you send her our best?’
A wave of nausea swept through Alice as her own lie wreaked havoc with her moral compass.
‘Oh, I think I’ve blocked you in,’ Ray said, turning and pointing at the Range Rover he’d abandoned in front of their cars. ‘Why don’t I drive you to your mum’s? It’ll give us a chance to talk.’
‘That’s kind of you,’ Alice said, ‘but I could be a while.’
‘I won’t take no for an answer,’ Ray said warmly, heading towards the vehicle, fishing in his pocket for the keys.
‘Hey wait,’ Ben said, reaching for her arm. ‘Don’t I even get a kiss goodbye?’
As Ben pulled her into him, his lips felt so foreign on hers.
‘I’ll see you later,’ she said, breaking free of the embrace.
The air felt cooler as she stepped outside into the darkness. Three figures still huddled near the gate with Andrew while they waited for the police to arrive.
‘You really don’t need to drive me,’ Alice tried again as Ray reached the passenger door and opened it for her. ‘If you just pull back, I should be able to get my car out.’
Ray didn’t respond, nodding instead to the open door.
Alice reluctantly climbed in, deciding that she could phone DC Hazelton from her mum’s house, and send her the images of the changed shirt. Confronting Ben about it would only lead to more lies, of that she had no doubt.
‘He’s a good lad, our Ben,’ Ray said, starting the engine and pulling to the end of the drive. ‘He’s made mistakes, it’s true, but you shouldn’t ever doubt how he feels about you. I see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice whenever he speaks about you. I’ve known him all his life, and he’s never been as smitten with anyone as much as he is with you. I know I’m biased, but you really could have done a lot worse than Ben.’
The gate slid open, and Alice avoided looking at Andrew’s nervous eyes as they moved through it.
‘This mess with the police,’ Ray continued, ‘really wasn’t his fault. He had no idea that Dave and Scott had arranged for that girl to come and dance for them. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and in case you have any lingering doubts, I know that my son isn’t capable of killing anyone. He doesn’t have that kind of hate in his veins.’
Staying silent, Alice removed her phone from her handbag and flicked to the photos she’d sent from Ben’s phone. How had she not noticed the changed shirt sooner? How had the police missed it too? Unless Dave and Ben hadn’t actually provided the police with those images after all. Had Hazelton mentioned seeing them? Alice couldn’t recall. Hazelton had said they hadn’t found any of Kerry’s DNA on the shirt they’d taken from Ben, but he owned several white shirts and could have just as easily given them a different one he knew wouldn’t contain Kerry’s DNA.
Looking back to the initial group shot of the ten men, she tried to piece together the fragments of the timeline she’d been given. Scott had left early to meet the dealer, and had then phoned Dave when things went wrong. By that stage, Ben would have already been tied to the lamppost. Flicking to the picture of Ben at the lamppost, the group were fewer. There was no longer any sign of Gary, Duke, or Michael, but Abdul, James and Pete remained, along with Johnny, Dave and Ben.
Alice shuddered as she saw Johnny’s face. What was she missing? She’d become so convinced that Johnny had to be responsible for killing Kerry because he’d been violent towards Faye, but his shirt in all the images remained consistent. Unlike the others, Johnny’s white shirt had a black collar, making him stand out from the crowd. Did that mean he couldn’t have killed Kerry? Surely there would have been blood spatter on his shirt. If not Johnny, then who did that leave? The police had arrested Abdul; but if he was guilty, had he acted alone, or had the group bound together to help their friend cover up the crime?
Alice skipped back through the images and then forwards again, holding the phone out, allowing her eyes to glaze over, looking for any minute detail she’d missed. Blinking, her brain suddenly shifted into focus, and she realized what had been niggling at the back of her mind.
FIFTY-NINE
‘What you looking at?’ Ray asked.
Alice quickly locked the screen, her mind racing with one question. ‘Nothing really.’
‘Are you able to direct me to your mum’s house? You can punch the postcode into the satnav if that’s easier.’
The road before them was dark and narrow, with only the Range Rover’s headlights to keep them from drifting into a ditch. Surrounded by shadowy fields, there were no street lights in the vicinity.
Alice typed the postcode into the small screen on the dashboard, and
was relieved when it confirmed they were less than ten minutes away.
Holding the phone tightly in her lap, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it sooner. In an age when everybody was taking selfies and updating social media with filtered pictures of themselves, she hadn’t realized that with the exception of the photo in the taxi, each of the pictures Dave had sent to Ben had been taken by someone missing from the images. While it was possible the group had taken it in turns to be photographer, in the large group shot, all ten men were in the image. That meant they’d either asked a stranger to take it, or there was another guest at the party she’d failed to account for.
‘Ben tells me the two of you are planning to start a family soon,’ Ray said warmly.
Alice’s head snapped around, her cheeks flushing. ‘Did he?’
‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ Ray said quickly, sensing her discomfort, ‘I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I think he’s just so excited by the idea of becoming a dad. He deserves to be happy – you both do – and you are going to be an amazing mother. The way you are with Ben, and how you looked after Isabella when Faye was … well, you know, it just shows how kind a person you are.’
Alice frowned. ‘How did you know about Faye?’
‘Ben phoned last night. You know what he’s like, we talk all the time. Don’t be offended, we don’t talk about things between you and him, he just likes to use me as a sounding board from time to time.’
Something stirred in Alice’s head. ‘So what else do the two of you talk about? Did he tell you what happened in Bournemouth? What really happened, I mean.’
The road ahead widened, and a street light appeared, casting Ray in an orange glow. He gave her a curious look. ‘I know about what happened with your stepbrother and Dave if that’s what you mean?’
Till Death Do Us Part Page 28