Her Secret Past: A completely gripping and heart-stopping crime thriller

by Kerry Watts

  The sound of sirens drew the two detectives’ attention and they both got up to see an ambulance hurtling towards the burnt-out ruin of the Fergusons’ property.

  81

  David paid for his two cups of tea and thanked the cashier. He even dropped a small tip on the plate by the till. He was disappointed that she hadn’t shown up because he’d looked forward to seeing her ever since her phone call. He knew – after all those years apart – that it might take time for them to get to know each other, but he was excited about the prospect of doing just that. They’d lost so many years they could have had if things had been different.

  There was no point dwelling on the past, she’d told him. Moving forward was the only thing that they could do now. She was right, but that didn’t stop the lingering feeling of bitterness that remained. The money, though, would go a long way to sweetening that for them both. He was going to tell her about a flat he’d seen. He hoped she’d be happy that he’d put a deposit down and paid the first month’s rent. It wasn’t a huge place but more than big enough for them. He wanted her to live with him so he could start taking care of her the way he should have been doing all these years.

  David held the door open for the young woman pushing a pram with an irate toddler screaming and offered a smile as she passed. He tugged his collar up against the cold breeze that swept along the street then jogged on to wave down the oncoming bus. He paid the driver and took a seat at the back as the driver indicated into Kinnoull Street, then rested his head against the window and closed his eyes. He tapped the envelope in the pocket of his jeans. If she wouldn’t come to him then he would go to her. He wanted her to know he planned to take care of her.

  A while later, David pressed the bell and made his way to the front of the bus. He thanked the driver and waited for the bus to move off so he could cross the road to her flat. It wasn’t right that she lived in a place like this. He walked up the stairs and knocked on her front door then waited. He knocked again but still got no response, so he pulled the envelope from his pocket and stuffed it through the letterbox.

  82

  The caller who had contacted the emergency services hadn’t left their name. Jessie wondered if they knew more about the attack on Kenny than they let on. Whoever had made the call, whether involved or not, had saved his life, though. He was unconscious when paramedics arrived but breathing, however he’d regained consciousness in the back of the ambulance and was lucid and talking by the time they arrived at the hospital. Jessie smiled as she approached him, her gaze skimming the huge bandage wrapped round his head.

  ‘Hello, Kenny. How are you feeling?’ she asked. ‘That’s a nasty knock you’ve taken.’

  ‘DI Blake.’ Kenny was curt in response as he sat up in the hospital bed.

  Jessie didn’t get a chance to say much more as Rachel swept past her and pulled Kenny into her arms. That call had sent shivers right through her whole body. For all his faults – and there were plenty – Rachel was struck by the fear of losing him.

  ‘I’m all right, don’t worry,’ Kenny reassured her and tried to smile. ‘Takes more than a bump on the head to knock me off my perch.’

  Rachel took his face in her hands and kissed his cheek. ‘I was so worried about you.’

  Kenny waved away her words before she could finish. ‘Enough of that. I’m fine.’

  ‘Did you recognise the person who attacked you, Mr Ferguson?’ Jessie piped up. ‘Did you manage to get a look at them?’

  Kenny shook his head. ‘It all happened so fast. I remember hearing what sounded like footsteps so I turned to see who was there and the next thing I remember was a crushing pain in my head.’

  ‘My colleague DC Logan is at your house with a forensics team to see if they can identify who was present at the time you were attacked. You have my word we’re doing everything we can to find who did this to you.’

  Kenny shook his head then looked away with a sigh.

  ‘We’ll be in touch when we get any new information, and in the meantime, if you remember something more, please don’t hesitate to give me a call.’

  It was when Jessie was about to close the side-room door behind her that Kenny called her back. She ignored the text that buzzed on her phone and rejoined the couple.

  ‘You remember seeing someone?’ Jessie asked as she watched the confusion grow on Rachel’s face too.

  Kenny sat up in the bed. ‘No, no, it can’t be.’ He scratched at his bandage and winced.

  ‘What is it? You’re scaring me,’ Rachel announced.

  ‘I didn’t see anyone but I smelled them,’ Kenny remarked.

  Jessie frowned and her eyes met Rachel’s.

  ‘You smelled them. What does that mean?’ Jessie chirped.

  ‘I smelled her perfume.’

  83

  Jessie’s gaze met Rachel’s. Their interaction at the flat earlier had seemed odd. Jessie remembered sensing something off in Caroline’s demeanour. She could see Kenny’s mind whirring at a million miles an hour.

  ‘She wasn’t very happy with me the last time I spoke to her,’ he informed Jessie.

  ‘Don’t be so ridiculous. You’re not suggesting it was Caroline that did that to you?’ Rachel pointed to the bandage on Kenny’s head. ‘Why would she?’

  Kenny looked anxiously at Jessie then back at Rachel. ‘Look, can I talk to DI Blake alone for a minute.’

  ‘Erm, sure but—’ Rachel tried to say.

  ‘Please,’ Kenny whispered and reached for her hand.

  Rachel pulled her hand back far enough to avoid contact with his before turning and walking out of the side room.

  ‘What’s on your mind?’ Jessie asked. ‘Clearly something you don’t want your wife to know.’

  ‘You must understand I love my wife.’

  ‘What’s that got to do with you getting hit on the head, Mr Ferguson?’ Jessie was losing patience with him. ‘Just tell me what you know.’

  Kenny sighed. ‘Caroline and I – we’ve been having an affair. I told her I thought we should cool things a bit. Gave her money to take a holiday. She got upset then took the money and left.’

  ‘Rachel doesn’t know, I assume.’

  Kenny shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. I’d appreciate it if she didn’t need to.’

  ‘I can’t promise she won’t ever find out,’ Jessie told him. ‘Especially if this case comes to court.’

  Jessie watched the horror spread across his face.

  ‘God, this is such a mess.’

  Jessie spotted Rachel’s face appear in the window of the room door and opened it for her. Rachel came in and placed a plastic cup of coffee on the table next to her husband.

  ‘Is everything OK?’ she asked.

  Jessie looked at Kenny, who nodded. ‘I’ll be in touch. Hope you feel better soon.’

  She pulled the door closed behind her and headed for the lift, irritated not to get signal on her phone. She pressed the button for the ground floor and watched the doors close then considered Kenny’s news carefully. It certainly warranted checking out even if it seemed doubtful that a woman as small as Caroline would be able to floor a large man like Kenny with such ease.

  She stepped out of the lift and turned the corner towards the exit. She pressed Dylan’s number on her phone and waited for him to answer.

  ‘Hi, it’s me, meet me at—’ Jessie stopped dead. Her heart raced at the sight of him standing in front of her. ‘Sorry, Dylan, I’ll have to call you back.’ Jessie slid her phone away from her face and stared, unable to speak.

  ‘Hello, Jessie. It’s good to see you again.’

  84

  ‘I have to be somewhere.’ Jessie started to move past Dan until he reached out and touched her arm.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he responded and pulled his hand away. ‘How are you?’

  Jessie stared at him. ‘If you’re waiting for me to thank you for saving me then you’ll be waiting a very long time.’

  ‘That kid was going to kill
you.’ Dan pushed Jessie aside as a trolley moved past them quickly.

  Jessie scoffed and shoved him aside. ‘And that excuses you being there in the first place, does it?’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean? If I hadn’t been there—’ he started to say.

  ‘Yes, he would have killed me. I know – you’ve already pointed that out.’

  The door to the ladies’ bathroom along the hall opened to reveal a tired, pale-looking Haley.

  ‘Does she know, hmm? Does Haley know about your act of heroism?’

  ‘No, she doesn’t,’ Dan spat.

  There it was in his eyes. The venom Jessie knew well.

  ‘Goodbye, Dan.’

  Jessie started to walk away until Haley’s voice called her name. She stopped and turned to say hello.

  ‘It’s good to see you, Haley. How have you been?’ Jessie painted on a smile.

  ‘Has he told you?’ Haley chirped. ‘I know it’s a bit sudden and unexpected but sometimes if it’s right you just know, don’t you?’

  Jessie frowned as she shook her head. Dan wrapped his arm tightly around Haley’s shoulder and kissed her cheek. His hand drifted down to her stomach.

  ‘Didn’t I mention that we’re having a baby, Jess?’

  Jessie’s blood ran cold. She didn’t know what to say. Jessie wanted to scream. She felt sick.

  ‘Congratulations,’ she murmured and turned and walked away to the sound of her phone ringing. Her stomach was in knots.

  ‘Hi, Dylan. Kenny has given me some information I think is worth checking out. I’m going to send you an address. I need you to meet me there.’

  Jessie said goodbye to him and jogged back towards her car, trying to put Haley’s baby out of her mind.

  85

  Jessie instructed that two officers be stationed outside Kenny’s hospital room until further notice and called Dylan back from the Fergusons’ house to join her at the address Kenny had given her. She waited outside the old stone block in Perth’s Chaffey Street – a street with not the best reputation in town and a postcode often visited by both police and ambulance services due to the high population of drug users in residence. From her car, it wasn’t hard to spot discarded needles amongst the array of rubbish scattered up the narrow street. Black plastic rubbish bags lined the entrance to the alleyway into the block and a single light blinked on and off sporadically. The text Jessie had initially ignored was from an unknown number – again. Dan must have acquired another phone. The message was simple: all he wanted was to talk. For them both to be able to talk without their past coming between them. Jessie had scoffed loudly at that.

  Jessie hadn’t noticed Dylan’s car pull in further back up the street and she jumped when he tapped on her window. She got out to join him and the smell struck her first. The whole street stank of rubbish, old, decaying trash, even soiled nappies, on all sides.

  ‘So he says it’s his PA that cracked him over the head?’ Dylan remarked. ‘Ouch.’

  ‘Well, he says he didn’t see her. He smelled her. He recognised her perfume before he passed out.’

  Dylan glanced around at the mess around them. ‘What a tip. I didn’t realise it was this bad down here still. I’ve not been here for years. Last time would have been when I was still in uniform.’

  ‘I think uniform are here most days, Dylan. Come on, let’s see what she has to say.’

  Jessie and Dylan wound their way up the circular staircase to the first floor, being careful not to lean on the ramshackle handrail that barely clung to the wall, held in place by two screws. Jessie tried not to breathe in too hard and covered her nose with the cuff of her jacket. A strong stench of urine penetrated the air.

  ‘It’s this one – 5A.’ Jessie stopped outside what seemed to be the cleanest front door in the block and glanced down at the ironic welcome mat. She rang the bell and waited. When she got no response, she hammered the door hard with the palm of her hand, causing it to move and swing slowly open. Jessie gave Dylan a wide-eyed stare. She hadn’t expected that. She listened for movement.

  ‘Hello, Caroline, it’s Detective Inspector Blake. Are you in?’

  ‘What do you want to do?’ Dylan reflected as he looked along the hallway at the chaos of clothes and broken furniture. ‘Something’s not right, Jess.’

  ‘Shh, listen,’ Jessie announced and leaned her cheek inside the hall. ‘Caroline, it’s the police. We’re coming in.’

  Jessie and Dylan stepped carefully over the doorway.

  ‘You go that way. Check the bedroom,’ Jessie whispered. ‘I’ll go through here.’

  ‘Sure.’ Dylan put on a pair of plastic gloves while he acknowledged her instruction and split off to the right of the hall.

  ‘Caroline, are you here?’ Jessie repeated as she entered the kitchen, aghast at the state of the room. The air in the kitchen was stale, flavoured with something rotten that clawed at Jessie’s nose and throat. There were dishes piled high, encrusted with food at varying stages of decay. Stagnant water with a film of gunge across the top filled the bottom of the sink.

  Jessie covered her nose and tried to stop the retching that threatened. She put her gloves on and began to open the cupboards to find little in the way of food. A few tins, a jar of tomato pasta sauce and some cheap, dried spaghetti. The cooker wore a layer of dust on the stove top. Clearly Caroline didn’t cook much. The microwave on the other hand was sprayed with the remnants of several ready meals. A pile of laundry lay in a heap on the small pine fold-away kitchen table under the window. There were two chairs, one either side.

  Jessie opened the drawer closest to the fridge. Inside she found a collection of letters wrapped in a pink elastic band. Jessie undid the band and noticed the letters were addressed to a Miss Caroline Law and several of the letters had different addresses.

  Wow, I did not see that coming, Jessie thought as she opened the letter on the top, which was dated November last year. Jessie’s eyes scanned the pages then stuffed it back into its envelope before devouring another then another. She gasped at the enormity of her discovery. She really hadn’t seen this coming.

  ‘Wow,’ she murmured and placed the letters into an evidence bag.

  Jessie heard her name being yelled and jogged quickly to where Dylan was standing in Caroline’s chaotic bedroom. He held up both hands, each holding an item of interest.

  ‘Where were they?’ Jessie asked as she rushed over and took them from his grip.

  ‘Boots in the wardrobe. Hairbrush stuffed inside.’

  ‘Caroline Peters is not who we think she is, it seems,’ Jessie told him.

  She handed him one of the letters and watched the realisation grow on his face.

  ‘Does this mean she wants some kind of revenge? Some of this stuff in here is pretty explosive.’ Dylan tutted. ‘Do you think they’re Rachel’s boots and hairbrush?’ he suggested.

  Jessie was about to answer when a man’s voice called out Caroline’s name. Jessie slammed the boots and brush back at Dylan and spun on her heels to intercept the arrival, but Caroline’s visitor had heard the detectives and was making his way at speed out of the block. Jessie gave chase, trying not to touch the filthy walls as she made her way outside. She could see the figure moving quickly away.

  ‘David, stop! I know everything,’ Jessie yelled as she pursued him. ‘Where is she? Where is your sister?’

  86

  The man she was chasing stopped after Jessie called out his name. He turned slowly and pulled down the hood of his jacket. Jessie walked towards him.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell us Caroline was your younger sister?’ Jessie asked. ‘When we came to talk to you about Rachel, you should have mentioned it then.’

  David Law shrugged. ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’

  ‘I think the fact that your sister works for Rachel is very important. I mean, does Rachel know?’

  Jessie doubted she had any idea, nor Kenny. Kenny would never have hired her if he’d known there was any conne
ction between Caroline Peters and David Law, Jessie was sure of that. That couple had lived with and tried to keep that secret buried for thirty years. There was no way they would risk that getting out.

  ‘Caroline works for Ferguson Haulage, not Rachel.’

  ‘Stop being pedantic, David. You knew what I meant.’

  David shrugged. ‘I don’t know where my sister is if that’s what you’re about to ask. She hasn’t been in contact for a couple of days. She was supposed to meet me. I’ve been getting worried.’

  ‘What did she say when you last spoke to her?’

  ‘Nothing much. She just mentioned that Rachel had been arrested.’

  ‘How did that make you feel?’

  David shook his head slowly. ‘No, you don’t get to ask me that. You don’t get to insinuate I’d be happy to see Rachel behind bars or – worse – that I put Caroline up to it. Is that what you think now?’

  ‘Why does your sister have Rachel’s hairbrush?’ Jessie’s question seemed to startle David. ‘And her riding boots?’

  He frowned while he tried to regain some composure.

  ‘How should I know?’ he retorted.

  ‘What connection did Caroline have to Malcolm and Jean Angus?’

  ‘Why are you asking me that?’ David remarked and lifted a hand to wave away her question. ‘I’m not answering any more of your questions. I’m here to see my sister and she’s clearly not here.’

  David started to walk away.

  ‘I can arrest you,’ Jessie pointed out. ‘Withholding this information constitutes attempting to defeat the ends of justice.’

  David stopped dead and spun round to glare at Jessie and Dylan, who had joined them.

  ‘Cuff him, Dylan,’ Jessie instructed.

  ‘Wait, wait, no, hang on a minute,’ David protested. ‘Look, I’ll tell you everything I know – just please, no charges. I’ve done enough time to last me a lifetime.’