‘She’s really good,’ he said. ‘Could have been on stage.’
Kate smiled back. Barratt was right. The woman on the other end of the microphone wasn’t anything like the Sam Cooper that she knew.
‘So your husband took some persuasion to attend the clinic?’ Matthias was asking. Sam must have confirmed this because Matthias carried on. ‘And how did that make you feel?’
Barratt rolled his eyes.
‘If I’m honest,’ Sam said, ‘it made me angry. Why should it all be up to me? Why do I have to make all the decisions and arrangements? He’s the man so why can’t he take some responsibility?’
The uncertainty in Sam’s tone had gone and she sounded genuinely aggrieved. Kate listened for another fifteen minutes as Cooper described her disappointment with her fictitious husband, prompted by occasional comments from Matthias. There was nothing to suggest that Matthias had anything other than a professional interest and his contributions were all entirely appropriate for his role. Checking her watch Kate shook her head at Barratt. They’d been listening for half an hour and everything sounded like a meeting between a client and a therapist. This wasn’t going to work. She hoped that Sam had an opportunity to implement the next part of the plan. She needed to either get rid of Matthias for a couple of minutes or get herself access to the rest of the house by asking to use the toilet.
‘To be honest, I think it’s his fault,’ Sam was saying.
‘In what way?’
Kate held her breath. This wasn’t in the script.
‘I’m worried that he’s infertile – that’s why he’s been resistant to all this.’
‘Shit,’ she said. ‘This isn’t part of the plan.’
Barratt glanced across at her, worry etched into the lines of his face. ‘She’s smart,’ he said. ‘I’m sure she knows what she’s doing.’
Kate wasn’t convinced and scrabbled in her pocket for her phone.
‘No,’ Barratt said. ‘Give her a minute. She’ll probably ignore you anyway if you ring to warn her.’
He was right. Kate had to trust that Cooper knew what she was doing.
‘Do you have any evidence of this?’ Matthias asked.
‘No. He won’t tell me any details of the tests that he’s had. I know he told you that his sperm had low motility but I’m not sure what to believe any more. I thought if I could get him to counselling we might get past it but, after we left the clinic, he was even more resistant. He keeps saying that if it’s meant to happen it’ll happen naturally.’
‘So, what if it turns out that he can’t father children?’
Silence stretched the seconds into a minute as Kate cupped her hands round the headphones, listening for the slightest indication that Cooper was in trouble.
‘I’ll divorce him,’ Cooper said finally. ‘I don’t want to be with him if he can’t give me what I want.’
‘That’s a bit drastic,’ Matthias said. ‘There are other options. Don’t you love your husband?’
‘I do,’ Kate could hear the fake reluctance in Cooper’s voice. ‘But I want a family. And I know we could adopt or use a donor but it’s not the same. I want a real partnership with a man and if he can’t give me what I want without having to get somebody else involved then what’s the point in staying with him?’
‘Would you see your husband as less of a man if he’s infertile? If he can’t give you children?’
That was enough. Kate scrolled to Cooper’s name on her phone and tapped, hard. Two rings and she’d hung up. Cooper was still speaking.
‘It’s not that he’s less of a man, it’s just that he wouldn’t be the man I thought I’d married. If I’d known he wasn’t able to have kids I wouldn’t have married him. I think most women would feel the same. It might be different if they found out later but none of my friends would knowingly get into a relationship with a man who couldn’t give them kids.’
Kate rang Cooper’s number again. She was completely off script now and improvising dangerously.
‘Well, that’s an interesting perspective,’ Matthias said. Kate could hear the tightness in his voice. Sam had rattled him. ‘Perhaps we should discuss it at our next session?’
‘I’d like that,’ Cooper said. Kate heard rustling and then footsteps. Obviously the session was over. She opened her eyes and watched the monitor, waiting for Matthias’s door to open. More sounds from the microphone and then Matthias’s voice, clear and angry. ‘You’re all the same aren’t you? Fucking bitches! Take, take, take and the minute you get what you want, you’re done.’
There was no response from Cooper. Kate pressed the headphones more tightly to her ears. Was that Cooper trying to speak? There was a retching sound, then a thud.
Chapter 42
Hollis checked the satnav for the fifth time in less than twenty minutes. He thought he’d be able to remember the way even after all these years but he’d only been a teenager the last time he’d been here; he’d never had to drive these narrow, drystone wall-bordered lanes. The left turn that he was supposed to have taken was barely a farm track and hadn’t looked at all familiar so he’d continued slowly, looking for a more likely access road. Two minutes later he felt his stomach flip as he went up and over a railway bridge and there it was. Dentdale. Location of happy childhood holidays.
He swung left and eased the car down a steep hill into the valley proper, imagining the signal bars on his mobile phone blinking out with each foot of descent. He’d loved this place. Most of his friends had been taken abroad for their holidays and he’d listened to accounts of their drunken exploits in Lanzarote and Tenerife with only the slightest niggle of jealousy. Yes, he’d have liked the opportunity to experiment with alcohol and he envied them the swimming pools and beaches but, in this tiny corner of the Dales, he’d had something more important. He’d had peace.
Dan’s mum and dad had first brought him here when he was eight. Three months after he’d gone to live with them they’d asked him if he’d like a holiday and he’d responded in the negative. He really didn’t have much idea what they meant but his real mum had often told him that she’d been on holiday when he’d been left with a foster family for a few weeks so he hadn’t imagined that it could be anything good. And then they’d arrived in Dentdale and his understanding of the word holiday had changed completely.
For the next eight years he’d spent at least one week every year walking in the hills, fishing in the streams and generally enjoying the freedom and security of a family break. He’d had his first legal drink in the White Lion when he was sixteen – a half of lager with a meal – and he’d lost his virginity in a caravan to a girl from Lancaster whose name he couldn’t recall but he still remembered her red hair and the freckles on her shoulders.
When Fletcher had phoned to tell him about his dad, Dan’s thoughts had immediately been drawn to the Dales. His parents had bought a caravan of their own six months ago and kept it pitched on a new, small site nestled next to an old Victorian viaduct in one of the valley’s tiny hamlets. Aware of the lack of phone signal in the valley, Dan had decided to drive across to see if his hunch was correct but, as he turned into the gateway of Scale Gill Farm, he wasn’t sure which would bring him the most relief – if his dad’s car was there or if it wasn’t.
Following signs around the farmyard, avoiding ewes protectively guarding lambs that would be taken from them in a couple of months, Dan swung into the camping field. Three large tents with fluorescent yellow guy ropes were lined up against a drystone wall, their flysheets flapping in the gentle breeze. Two of the three were zipped up, their owners obviously absent and the entrance to the third was guarded by a pair of border terriers lazing in the sun on a fleece blanket. Beyond the tent area, a dozen or so caravans were arranged in an arc around the top end of the field. Next to the furthest one, the one highest up the hill, was a dark blue Golf.
He’d found them.
A corner of the field had been allocated for ‘visitor parking’ so Hollis dumped hi
s Sportage and set off towards his parents’ caravan on foot. The sun warmed his back as he walked and lapwings swooped and dived around him, their strange call reminding him of childhood video games. The caravan wasn’t new but it looked like it was in good condition. The outside looked like it had been recently washed and the awning was tightly stretched across a curved pole and tidily pegged down. He peered around the nylon door. Two chairs were set up at either end of a small table that had been laid with two plates and two sets of cutlery. The door of the van was open and he could hear voices within. Dan checked his watch. Lunch time.
‘Anybody home?’ he said, raising his voice slightly.
A figure appeared in the doorway of the caravan holding a glass and a tea towel.
‘Dan?’ His father looked at least ten years older than when he’d last seen him and his eyes skidded across Dan’s face as though he couldn’t look his son in the eye. ‘I didn’t expect them to send you.’
‘Didn’t expect who to send me?’
‘The police. I wouldn’t have thought you were allowed to arrest members of your family.’
Dan smiled, trying to reassure the older man. ‘I’m not here to arrest you, Dad. I need to talk to you. Can I come in?’
Joe looked over his shoulder. ‘It’s a bit cramped in here to be honest. Stay there. Mum’s making lunch, do you fancy a sandwich?’
Dan wasn’t really hungry but it seemed impolite to refuse so he asked for cheese and pickle and settled on one of the seats in the awning while his dad disappeared back inside the caravan.
He reappeared a couple of minutes later with a third folding chair that he positioned at the awning’s entrance. ‘Not much room here either,’ he mumbled before sitting down. He seemed distracted and a little disorientated.
‘You okay, Dad?’ Hollis asked.
His father smiled sadly. ‘It’s just that I’ve been expecting somebody to come for me. You can’t hide anything these days and I knew as soon as I heard that she was dead that somebody would make the connection. Didn’t expect it to be you, though.’
His father still couldn’t look at him and, for the first time, Hollis felt a flicker of doubt. ‘What did you do, Dad?’
‘What did who do?’ Maggie was standing in the doorway holding a plate in each hand. Where Joe looked tired and haggard, Dan’s mum looked exactly like she always did. She even had an apron tied around her waist like she did when she was cooking at home. Her shrewd dark eyes flicked from her husband to her son and back again and Dan wondered exactly how much his dad had told her.
She stepped carefully down into the awning and placed the plates on the table. Hollis noticed that his sandwich was cut into quarters just like she used to do when he was a child. He couldn’t help but smile at the nod to his place in the family.
‘I’ll ask again and I expect an answer. What did who do?’ She crossed her arms and scowled at the two men, making Dan feel like a naughty teenager who’d just been caught out in a lie.
‘It’s something I did,’ Joe admitted.
‘It’s about that woman, isn’t it? Suzanne? I told you he’d find out.’
‘You don’t know the half of it,’ Joe said, his voice thick with misery.
Maggie sat down next to him and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. ‘I don’t know what you’ve done, love,’ she said. ‘But whatever it is I’m sure you thought it was for the best.’
Dan felt tears prickling behind his eyes. He’d taken it for granted that his parents loved each other but he’d never seen such stark proof.
‘I’ve been stupid,’ Joe admitted.
Dan took a bite out of his sandwich. ‘Start at the beginning, Dad. There must be a way to sort this out.’
Joe nodded, staring miserably at his own sandwich. ‘I found out where your… where Suzanne had been staying from her sister and I arranged to meet her,’ he began. ‘We talked and I told her to leave you alone but she just laughed at me and called me a stupid old man. And then she went all sly like and said she’d leave you alone if I gave her some money. I just laughed at her but she was serious.’
‘She asked me for two grand to back off.’
‘She asked me for the same amount,’ Joe admitted. ‘Of course I said I didn’t have it, so she said that she’d make your life a misery. Came out with all sorts of foul stuff, she did. In the end I decided to pay her off. She swore that she’d leave you alone if I gave her the cash and I believed her.’
Joe picked up his sandwich and looked at it as if he had no idea what he was supposed to do with it. ‘So I arranged to meet her again – with the money.’ He glanced at Maggie. ‘I’m sorry love, I know I told you it was only a couple of hundred but I had to give her what she asked for. I couldn’t have her hurting Dan any more than she already had.’
Maggie’s lips set in a thin line that Dan recognised from his childhood as her stern face, but she nodded for her husband to continue.
‘So I met her again in a car park and gave her the cash. She counted it and just walked away. Didn’t even thank me.’
‘What did you do then?’ Dan asked, unable to conceal the tremor in his voice.
‘I drove home. What else could I do? I knew I’d have to explain where the money had gone to your mum, but all I could think about was getting as far away from that woman as I could. I thought I’d done the right thing.’
‘So you didn’t see her after that?’
Joe shook his head. ‘I heard on the news that her body had been found but I didn’t kill her, Dan. She was alive when I pulled out of the car park.’
Hollis tried to think about what he’d just heard. What were the implications for his father? How could he even begin to prove that Joe wasn’t a murderer? ‘What about when you got home? Was mum there?’
‘I was at bingo,’ Maggie said. ‘It was a Tuesday.’
Of course it was. Joe would have planned that so he wouldn’t have to explain his absence to his wife.
‘Dad. The police have you on CCTV giving an envelope to Suzanne. They think you were the last person to see her alive and you’ve got a good reason for wanting her dead.’
Joe smiled sadly. ‘Why do you think I’m here, son? As soon as I heard it on the news I knew they’d come for me eventually and I don’t have an alibi. I just wanted a few days with your mum before they lock me up.’
‘You’re not going to be locked up,’ Hollis promised. ‘We’ll find a way to prove that you didn’t kill Suzanne. There has to be something.’
Chapter 43
Kate leapt out of the van gesticulating wildly at the undercover officers who had been taking pretend measurements around the access shaft in the pavement.
‘He’s got Cooper. Go! Get in there now!’ Kate yelled running towards Matthias’s front door. She saw one of the yellow clad figures bend and grab a battering ram from his tool box before sprinting across the road. She arrived at the door breathless as the officer took a swing at the door. The frame around the lock started to give and he swung again.
‘Police!’ Kate yelled. ‘Step away from the door.’
With a splintering creak the wood gave and Kate leapt forwards into the tiled hallway. Cooper was slumped on the floor, her back against the wall, eyes closed.
Barely aware of the figures pushing past her Kate squatted next to her colleague and felt for a pulse in her bruised neck. Nothing. She steadied herself, took a breath and tried again slightly higher up. There it was, weak but regular.
‘We’ve got you, Sam,’ she said easing the younger woman onto the floor and folding her jacket behind her head. ‘Help’s on its way.’
Cooper smiled weakly as Kate entered the hospital ward. She was sitting up in bed and looked much better than when Kate had last seen her – unconscious and being loaded into an ambulance. She was still pale and the bruises on her throat stood out like dark clouds against a light sky but her eyes were bright and alert. If the bruises had been covered up she’d look like a teenager with a really bad hangover.
> ‘Brought you something,’ Kate said. She held out the slim package that Nick had helped her to select. She knew that Cooper wasn’t much of a reader but she did like comedy shows. Kate had bought a tablet computer and downloaded episodes of most of her favourites. She’d included some stand-up shows and a couple of series of dramas that she thought Sam might like. It was a small gesture and did nothing to assuage Kate’s deep sense of guilt. First Dan and now Cooper. She wasn’t being much of a leader to her team. She needed to be stronger; to do better.
‘There’s headphones in there so you don’t inflict your appalling taste on anybody else. And the pin is your birthday – you might want to change that.’
Sam’s smile widened into a full grin.
‘This is amazing thanks. You really didn’t—’ Something over Kate’s shoulder caught Sam’s attention and she stopped midsentence, smile fading.
‘I was wondering when you’d show up.’
Kate turned to see Abbie leaning against the door jamb, arms folded across her chest, face furious. She was dressed in a jeans and a baggy jumper, despite the promise of heat in the air outside and, as she spoke, she tucked her hands into the opposite sleeves, wrapping her arms around herself as though for protection. Her face, however, wasn’t fearful, she was furious.
‘You had a plan you said. She’d be safe, you said. What a pile of shit.’
‘Abbie…’ Sam started to say something but her partner shook her head sending her dark red curls into a tsunami of disapproval.
Bad Seed: a gripping serial killer thriller (DI Kate Fletcher Book 3) Page 27