‘What about his confession to DI Denning?’ Neeraj asked.
‘It wouldn’t be admissible in court. Marsden could argue he made it under duress. Though,’ McKenna paused to let her words hit home, ‘I believe he was telling the truth about his involvement in those earlier murders, and if anything tangible ever comes to light, we will have him.’
‘So Marsden’s going to get away with it,’ Kinsella said.
‘Depends how you look at it,’ McKenna replied. ‘He’ll almost certainly get life, maybe even a full-life tariff like Ferguson. Alan Marsden isn’t going anywhere any time soon.’
* * *
Denning’s shoulder still hurt, despite the painkillers he’d been given at the hospital. They were chatting in McKenna’s office; tidying up the few remaining loose threads to ensure they had a watertight case to put before the CPS. McKenna had offered him a leave of absence, and time to recover from his ordeal. Sarah had mentioned something about a break at a friend’s villa in Majorca. But he’d rather focus on work. They were already down on numbers in MIT and his absence wasn’t going to help. Which reminded him, ‘Molly Fisher?’ he said. ‘We’ve got a vacancy in MIT; DS Myers has informed us he isn’t coming back. Fisher has certainly proved her worth.’
McKenna smiled. ‘I’m sure if DS Fisher were to put in another request to join us, it would be looked on favourably. However, we can’t overlook the fact that she misled us.’
Denning accepted that Molly had gone against procedure, even if she’d had her reasons. But he’d put in a good word for her; it was the least he could do.
And then there was Claire. She was staying at her mother’s in Devon. She’d taken Jake with her.
So far, she wasn’t blaming him for what happened. He had no way of knowing if Marsden had meant it when he said he’d wanted to make a go of it with Claire and Jake. Maybe everything he’d done had all been about filling some kind of void in his life. Perhaps settling down to live as a normal family might have been enough to curb his psychotic urges. But Denning doubted it. Men like Marsden got off on the thrill of making people suffer. Sooner or later he would have killed again.
‘We’re checking with our colleagues in France and Spain,’ McKenna continued,’ to see if there are any other similar unsolved murders that have taken place there over the past twelve years, because I don’t believe for one minute Marsden waited until his return to UK shores before he restarted his killing spree.’
‘You think there are other murders?’ he asked.
‘I’d put money on it. Marsden’s a dangerous and damaged individual. I reckon there are other victims out there,’ McKenna said coldly. ‘Christ alone knows how many.’
* * *
It was starting to rain when Molly climbed out of the car. She was carrying a small bouquet of white lilies. White had been Bex’s favourite colour. She walked the short distance from the gravel car park next to the chapel of rest and crossed the damp grass towards Bex’s grave. It was well-tended; her family still treasured her memory. A bunch of white roses rested against the headstone, while a Japanese Anemone sat in a bright ceramic pot beside the grave.
Molly had never forgotten her best friend. She’d spent the past twelve years blaming herself for the part she had played that night: for walking away when she should have stayed. Maybe now was the time to finally forgive herself and lay the guilt to rest.
She placed the bouquet beside Bex’s headstone, and brushed away some light moss that had started to grow along the top.
Then she kissed the headstone and told Bex she loved her.
A wood pigeon fluttered out from behind a bush and she watched it disappear into the pale sky.
She returned to the car. Jon was waiting in the driver’s seat. ‘Everything all right?’ he asked.
She nodded. ‘It will be now.’
A Letter From Graeme
A massive thank you for choosing to read Know No Evil. It’s been a long journey from initial idea to finished novel, and a lot has changed along the way. Despite having a fairly clear plan of where I wanted to go with the book, the characters evolved and the story developed as I wrote it. The end result is a fair bit removed from the early concept, but I hope the book is all the better for it.
I’d love to know what you think about Know No Evil, so please consider writing a review as they can help other readers discover new authors and their books for the first time. Or maybe you can recommend Know No Evil to people you know.
Hopefully you’ll take Matt Denning and Molly Fisher to your hearts and join me on their journey throughout future books. I wanted to create two detectives who come across as real and credible; the kind of cops you’d find working in the Met Police today, but who are also interesting and complex enough to engage with readers. Both characters are flawed, but both have many admirable qualities too.
It’s always good to hear from readers, so please do get in touch via my website or Twitter page. You can also follow me on Instagram, where I mostly post cat pics.
Thank you so much for your support, I really appreciate it.
Graeme Hampton
www.graemehampton.com
Twitter: @GHam001
Instagram: graeme_hampton
Acknowledgments
So many people have helped make this novel possible and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them.
Firstly, thanks to Sarah Hull, formerly of Writers’ Essentials, who first saw a glimmer of potential in the book and helped me to make it as good as I could. And thanks to Angela Blacklock-Brown for pointing me in Sarah’s direction, as well as for her own numerous words of encouragement over the years.
Keshini Naidoo and Lindsey Mooney, along with everyone at Hera Books, deserve a massive thank you for their patience, skill and enthusiasm, and for giving me the opportunity to achieve my dream of becoming a published author.
A mention too for fellow crime writers Sarah Hilary and Angela Marsons for their wise words and good advice.
A special thanks to Tracey Caswell, Jessica Dyson, Gary Metalle, Annie Lacey, Walter Oskars and the late Nina Klein for providing me with either technical information or regular encouragement, and in some cases both.
Finally, a shout out to Jericho Writers for their support and advice, and Claridge House, Lingfield for offering the perfect writer’s retreat.
First published in Great Britain in 2019 by Hera
Hera Books
28b Cricketfield Road
London, E5 8NS
United Kingdom
Copyright © Graeme Hampton, 2019
The moral right of Graeme Hampton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781912973125
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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