Dan watched her go. They were close to getting all of this mess sorted out. It felt good. He rang up to the incident room and got Lizzie Singh to do the hospital checks. Then he walked down to Annie Garrett’s cell and slid open the hatch.
She sat on the bed, a blanket tucked behind her back like a cushion. ‘What now?’ she asked. ‘What did you do to Merlin?’
‘I wondered if you’d heard that,’ he said. ‘Let’s just say that it came as a surprise to Merlin to learn how the Stewarts died. Just you and Moss, then, Annie?’
She shrugged her round shoulders. ‘Always was just me and Moss. Merlin, he’s soft, couldn’t stand up to his father. Wasn’t prepared to do the difficult stuff, was he?’
Dan struggled not to confront her with the evidence he’d gathered, but he’d already charged her, so it would have to wait until he could charge her with the new crime. He thought he might try asking her about Barry Garrett again, though. ‘When we asked you about your ex-husband, Annie, you didn’t say if he abused you physically?’
‘Every way he could,’ she snorted. ‘I put up with it for the sake of the kids, and then, when they were old enough, I threw him out.’ She gave Dan a sideways glance. ‘And I hope the miserable bastard is rotting in hell, wherever he is.’
He slid the hatch shut and walked back up the corridor. She was not exhibiting signs of having murdered her abusive husband. None of her swagger.
Could Moss Garrett have murdered his father? Dan leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. Could he? Yes, of course he could. He had the strength and the anger. But that interview would have to wait until tomorrow when he had recovered from the anaesthetic. Could Merlin have done it? Yes, him too. Any of them.
Sally waited for him outside the interview room with three cardboard cups of tea on a tray, chatting to PC Evans. ‘Back in, then?’ she said.
‘Yeah, let’s see what he knows about the body.’
Merlin Garrett was more composed. He took the tea, winced at its sweetness and gulped it down hot. ‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘That was all a bit of a shock.’
‘Right, Merlin,’ Dan said. ‘Can we ask you why you ran away from The Retreat earlier this evening?’ He took the photo of the dead body from Sally and held it close to his chest.
Garrett eyed the photo. ‘What have you got there?’ he asked.
‘Just answer the question, please Merlin.’
Garrett shuffled and played with the cardboard cup, tearing a piece from the rim and shredding it.
Dan and Sally drank their tea more slowly, allowing Garrett to decide whether to tell them the truth or not.
‘It would be better for you to tell us what happened of your own free will, Merlin,’ said Sally. ‘A court would look favourably on a confession.’
Garrett’s eyes darted from one to the other but he didn’t speak.
Slowly, Dan placed the photo on the table, facing Garrett. The image of a skeleton, dressed in shoes and remnants of clothing, for all the world looking like an old-fashioned field scarecrow, stared sightless from the green tarpaulin in the back of the Land Rover.
Garrett looked away. ‘No,’ he said. ‘No.’ His hands knotted into fists on the table.
‘Yes,’ said Dan. ‘Look. You know who this is, don’t you? It’s your father, isn’t it, Merlin? And you killed him and hid him in the Land Rover, didn’t you Merlin?’
Garrett tried to shove the screwed down table at them. Frustrated, he made a break for the door. Gareth Evans loomed in front of the glass window. Garrett banged on the toughened glass and howled and howled to be let out.
Dan stood and pushed Sally to the back wall. ‘Merlin, you’re in a police station,’ he shouted. ‘Listen to me. You can’t run.’ He beckoned to Evans who shoulder-charged the door, pushing Garrett back into the room. He and Dan cornered him, turned him round and Evans cuffed him. ‘Sit down, now,’ Dan shouted, anger lending his voice a rough authority. ‘Stop this, Merlin.’
Evans pushed Garrett into the chair and attached his cuffs to the ring on the floor. The young PC then stood in front of the door, alert to any movement from inside.
Sally moved away from the back wall and resumed her seat. ‘So, this is a photo of your father, isn’t it, Merlin? How did he get to be here?’ She placed a finger on the photo and looked up under her eyebrows at Garrett.
Dan took his place next to her. ‘You can’t run. Isn’t it time you told us what happened?’
‘It must have been awful having this on your conscience all these years. Because you’re a good man, aren’t you, Merlin? The good son?’ Sally spoke softly.
Garrett stared into a corner of the scruffy room, re-living the night when he had killed his father, tears leaking from his eyes. ‘He was strangling her, over the cooker. She poured boiling water over his arm as I got there, but it just made him madder and he got a knife off the counter and slashed at her. So I…’ Eyes full of anguish, he faltered.
‘Go on,’ Sally said, voice as gentle as the adrenaline would allow, ‘tell us what happened.’
‘It was when we were all living in this tiny flat, ’cos we had no money and Dad had drunk the bit of rent and food money Ma had earned. Ma shouted at him, which was a big mistake. So he went for her, and I… I couldn’t stand it any more.’ More tears threatened to overwhelm him.
‘Just tell it, Merlin,’ said Sally. ‘It’ll make you feel better, trust me.’
He snorted mucus into toilet roll and blew his nose, hard. ‘Right. Right. I basically smashed him over the head with a pan of potatoes. He dropped like a stone. Drunk, as usual. She was yelling and screaming that he had to go and bleed all over the floor. So I said I’d take him into town, soon as he came round, and tell him to stay away. Only…’
‘Only he didn’t come round?’
Merlin’s anguished face crumpled. ‘No. That one blow had killed him. I didn’t know what to do. I panicked.’
‘You carried him out of the house?’ Dan prompted.
‘Yeah. Brian Stewart had me given his old Land Rover, told me to sell it for scrap and keep the money. So I just put Dad in the back, and then I drove it down to the far field at The Retreat and left him in there. I put some corrugated iron in front to hide it.’
‘And no-one ever knew?’
‘Didn’t say anything to anyone. Never have until today. The Stewarts were selling to Ma, and no-one went down there except me. Moss wasn’t bothered.’
‘And then, what, you just forgot about him?’ asked Dan.
Garrett shrugged. ‘No-one ever asked about him. We were relieved he was gone. Then Ma said we had bought The Retreat off the Stewarts and we moved in. I don’t know what else to say. Things were good for years, until Moss decided to supplement our income.’ His body convulsed in a shudder. ‘I needed to say it.’ He choked back a dry sob, ran a hand over his face and beard and gave a shaky laugh, ‘I’ve been sitting on that for so many years and I’m glad it’s out. Glad.’
‘Thank you, Merlin,’ said Sally.
Dan breathed out. A full confession. More than he could have hoped for. ‘In a minute we will formally charge you, but you have a strong mitigating case if your mother confirms that what you have told us, is the truth. You were protecting her from an attempt on her life. Sergeant Ellis, please charge Mr Garrett, and take down a formal statement.’
‘Merlin,’ he said, ‘you really will need to see a solicitor and the sooner the better.’ Dan left the room and headed downstairs to see Annie Garrett. He should have left it until the following day, but he felt she should know what had happened before the story got out to the press.
He pulled the hatch open and she sat up instantly, awake and, for the first time, fearful.
‘What d’you want? Why can’t you let me get a bit of rest?’
‘There’ll be plenty of rest for you Annie, where you’re going, don’t you worry. No, I just thought you’d like to know what we found in your back field.’
Incomprehension clouded her face. �
�What are you going on about?’
‘Merlin told me about the circumstances under which you threw out your husband.’
She swung her legs to the floor and came to stand close to the hatch. ‘What d’you mean? Barry tried to kill me. Merlin knocked him out and threw him out. Never saw him again.’
‘You would have seen him if you’d looked inside that old Land Rover over in the far field. Merlin killed him when he hit him with the pan of potatoes, Annie. Then he hid his body, and he kept quiet all these years. He did it to protect you. He’s not such a softie, after all.’
Annie slumped to the floor, and he heard her sob. Whether from relief or shock he couldn’t say. ‘I just thought you should know,’ he said, ‘better it came from me than you saw it on the telly.’
Only the sounds of broken sobbing disturbed the silence in the cell-block.
He nodded to the open-mouthed duty sergeant, and headed up to the incident room. His legs might still be shaking from adrenaline but he was almost giddy with relief. What a day.
50
The incident room was empty apart from Lizzie Singh, who was doing her usual thorough job on the hospital records. ‘All three of the Garretts have been in hospital many times over the years, sir,’ she said as he walked in. ‘Broken arms, legs, cheekbones… you name it, they’ve had it.’
‘No surprises there. At least that gives Merlin a chance when his case goes to court. Dani Bonner?’
‘Yeah.’ She shuffled through bits of paper. ‘Paula spoke to her at her parents’ home in Bath. As expected, she was thrown out of uni after failing her second year, and was surviving on what she could get by working in The Retreat café and making the MCat for Moss. She took a shine to Merlin and Moss didn’t like it. He threatened her, so she just took off and went home. At least she’s not dead, sir.’
‘Thanks Lizzie, that corroborates everything we learned tonight from Merlin. At least they aren’t actual serial killers, thank God.’ He scrubbed his hands through his hair and stretched. ‘What a day, Lizzie, eh? Can’t believe I thought it was going to be boring down here after the Met.’
He looked more closely and saw fatigue under her smile. ‘Tell you what, go home now. We have a huge amount of paperwork to bring this case in, and you may as well do it on a good night’s sleep. Good work today.’
He rang upstairs and Oliver answered her own phone. ‘Didn’t know if you’d still be here. Would you like an update, ma’am?’ he asked.
Dan checked his watch and was surprised to see it was coming up to ten o’clock. He wasn’t sure where the day had flown to. He trudged up the stairs and took a moment to compose himself. Was this going to be the right time to mention the DCI job? Maybe it would wait. Maybe not. He’d play it by ear.
He was starving and a bit light-headed, but nothing would stop the grin from transforming his tired face as she called him into her office. ‘We got them, ma’am. We got them all. The only one who hasn’t confessed is Moss, and there really is no point in him hanging on. Annie and Moss killed the Stewarts and just took over the business. Looks like they did it on the day they were supposed to take the Stewarts to the airport.’
Oliver looked up at him over her glasses. Her desk, usually spare and tidy, was covered in application forms. Blue shadows underscored her eyes. ‘Right, and Annie Garrett has confessed to that, has she?’ she asked.
‘Well, I haven’t had time to take down a formal statement from her about that, but she told me it was all her and Moss, and we do have evidence from Merlin Garrett about that day ten years ago. And,’ he said, unable to stop excitement making his voice tight, ‘and, Merlin Garrett has identified the other body as that of his father, Barry Garrett. Merlin killed him accidentally while staving off a murderous attack on his mother. He put the body in the Land Rover. Annie and Moss never knew about it.’ Dan sat down and took a breath.
‘Bloody hell’s teeth, Daniel, a full set. Hah!’ A broad grin lit up her narrow face. ‘I can’t believe it. What a result. Fantastic work.’ She sat back in her chair, chewing the arm of her glasses and shaking her head. ‘Was it just greed, do you think, that made them kill the Stewarts?’
‘I think they were left with nothing when Barry went bankrupt, and took advantage of the Stewarts’ kindness. And, of course, they had no money at all, so a bit of murder was an easy way into a home and a job for all of them. And when you don’t suffer from a guilty conscience, there’s nothing to worry about, is there?’
‘And if it hadn’t been for Elspeth Price’s little dog, and that nice Doctor Pargeter, they would never have been discovered,’ she said.
‘That’s about the size of it. Shame about the rescue centre, though. We think it’ll go to the estate of the family in New Zealand.’
‘Who will no doubt sell it and a load of houses will go up there in a year or so. You’re right, it is a shame, especially for Merlin Garrett.’
‘The good son, yeah. Thanks, ma’am. I’d better start on my report,’ he said. ‘You’ll need it for the press in the morning.’
She looked at him, eyes crinkled in concern. ‘You know what, you look ready to drop. Why not go home, get a good night’s sleep and we’ll do a formal press briefing at, say, two o’clock? That should give you time to get me what I need.’
‘Excellent management decision, if I may say so, ma’am,’ he said. ‘And one you should take yourself, by the looks of it,’ he said indicating the desk full of papers. ‘You not finding the right shortlist?’
She covered her eyes and sighed. ‘The calibre isn’t there. I want someone to head up both units, to be independent, experienced and ready to walk in and get cracking. And what I’ve got are keen newbies and people on their last move to Devon ready for retirement. We just don’t have the cachet of London or the big cities to attract the best candidates.’ She gave a short bark of laughter. ‘It’s been driving me potty, to be honest. And I’m under pressure to make the appointment or lose the position altogether.’
‘I smell the influence of ACC Bishop and his cost-cutting measures.’
‘Indeed. I’m so reluctant to appoint the wrong person just to fill the job.’
Dan steadied himself. Now… ‘Well, if you think it would be appropriate… I know I’m still new here, and I only had a couple of years under my belt in the Met, but…’ he stared at his hands, clasped on the desk in front of him and removed them. He didn’t want to look like he was bloody praying. ‘I’d like to do it, ma’am.’
‘You’d apply?’ She stared at him.
‘I would, I’d love the challenge.’ He smiled at her. ‘If I can keep the same teams, of course. And assuming we’ve got a decent DI waiting to transfer in from somewhere. Yeah, I’d love to step up.’ He didn’t add, and not have to work for some pillock from who knows where who thinks he’s God’s gift.
Oliver stared at the desk for a moment, grabbed a handful of applications from the desk and threw them up in the air. ‘Yahey! Thank heavens for that,’ she said. ‘You know, that might just work out very well indeed, Dan, very well indeed.’ She stood up and grinned at him. ‘Write your application over the weekend and get it to me first thing on Monday.’ She handed him a pack of information. ‘Interviews are at the end of next week. Oh,’ she said, pulling another piece of paper from the pile on her desk. ‘There’s a presentation to a panel, too. You’d better get practising. Here you go.’
Dan stood up too and felt a bit sheepish when Oliver came around the desk and gave him the pack of papers and a hug rather than shake his hand. ‘ Err… Right, thanks ma’am. That’s brilliant. Who’d have thought it?’
‘Me, I would. I think you’ll be great. There’ll be more paperwork, you know that?’
‘My favourite. Report writing,’ he replied, still smiling.
‘It’s going to be a tough interview. No favouritism, and I don’t make the final decision. You know that, don’t you?’
‘I get it. I’ll prepare properly. Thanks, ma’am.’ He extricated himself and trot
ted down the stairs whistling.
Sally waited in his office, waving a sheet of paper at him. ‘Merlin’s confession, thank God. I’m completely whacked,’ she said. ‘Are we done?’
Dan slapped the interview pack on his desk and grinned. ‘We are. We bloody well are. Moss Garrett can wait until tomorrow.’ Much to Sally’s surprise he picked her up and enveloped her in a hug. ‘You’ve been brilliant, Sal, thanks.’ He swung her round and put her back down.
Flustered, Sally straightened her jacket. ‘Thanks, Dan,’ she said. ‘Shall we go home?’
‘I told Oliver I’d apply for the DCI job,’ he said, clearing everything on his desk except the interview pack into the drawer in one sweep and locking it.
‘Good for you,’ she said, then, ‘Oh no. That means I’ll have to train up a new DI, won’t I? I’ve only just got you house-trained.’
‘Unless you want to apply?’ he asked, glancing at her face.
‘Nah, it’s not for me,’ she said. ‘I want to spend time with my kids before they’re too independent. No, we’ll find someone good, don’t you worry.’ She pushed open the door and held it for him.
‘Was Merlin the good son, do you think?’ asked Sally as they headed to the car park.
‘You know, I think he was,’ he said. ‘Annie said he was soft, but he saved her life, and took it all on his own shoulders.’
‘Yeah, I agree. I just hope the courts see it like that, too. Moss and Annie, however, they can lock that nasty pair up and throw away the key.’
Epilogue
Dan burst awake. He couldn’t breathe. A huge weight was pressing down on his chest. He was panicked, disorientated. What the…?
Purring, so loud Dan needed ear defenders, came from the centre of his chest. He opened one eye and spied the white, recumbent form of Rufus the cat. Rufus opened his one blue eye and stared back, blinking slowly to show how happy he was to be crushing the life out of Dan.
Death on Dartmoor Page 28