Scorned

by Denver Murphy

  It probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Lexie that releasing the catch didn’t see the gate swing open. Frantically searching the pattern for somewhere she might be able to secure a foothold, she spotted the simple bolt on the other side and, without it being secured by a padlock, she was simply able to slip her hand through one of the swirls of metal and release it.

  To Lexie the screech it made as she swung it open sounded deafening and she cursed the residents for being more concerned by aesthetics than function, but an anxious glance behind her revealed there wasn’t a police car now parked outside.

  ‘Shit!’ Lexie cursed loudly once the back garden came into view. It wasn’t so much the height of the fence, more what was on top of it.

  Lexie stared at the barbed wire wondering what sort of morons took their security so seriously and yet didn’t think to secure their side gate properly. But then she saw the chimney in the background and understood that what was perplexing her hadn’t been installed by the house’s residents.

  The garden she was standing in backed onto the hospital grounds. Lexie could feel excitement mix in with the fear. If she could find some way of scaling the fence, she was home and free. Even if the police were currently unloading the dogs, as soon as she was able to mingle with the throngs of people who visited St. Albans City Hospital each day, she was confident she would be safe.

  Inspired, she headed for the shed, trusting there would be something inside that she could use to at least partly scale the fence. Lexie was already about to turn the handle when she realised that it wasn’t its contents she needed. Using the twee flower box installed under its Perspex window as a foothold, she hoisted herself onto the roof, not caring that the gritty material covering it grazed her hands. As she clambered to her feet there was a moment she thought she had misjudged the slant of the roof and was going to tumble off it, but she eventually found her balance and edged towards where the back of the shed met the fence.

  Although the peak of the roof was higher than the fence, it didn’t solve the problem of how to tackle the barbed wire. Carefully leaning over it revealed concrete on the other side which ruled out the option of trying to jump it. Instead, Lexie pulled off her hoodie and placed it lengthways over the wire, hoping that she might be able to roll her body over it without her weight causing the razor blades to puncture the material and reach her skin.

  Lexie took a few deep breaths to compose herself, but the sounds of distant barking proved more of a motivation, and saw her take the plunge, having slung her small bag over first. The initial sensation was disorientating; the spirals of wire giving more than she had expected. Then came sharp pain. The hoodie may have served to protect the centre of her body but had left her extremities exposed, slashing through her tracksuit bottoms and attacking her ankles.

  But the cuts were only skin deep, and Lexie was able to land on her feet without her legs collapsing under her. Scanning around to check her unorthodox arrival hadn’t been spotted, she reached up to retrieve her top.

  ‘Shit!’ She swore again, when a couple of firm tugs revealed it was thoroughly entangled. Seeking not to push her luck any further, she concluded the best course of action was to abandon it.

  Picking up her bag, she quickly checked that the blood from her wounds wasn’t too noticeable; reasoning she could change her trousers once sufficiently clear of the hospital. On a day that had promised so much but then threatened to be a complete disaster, she was relieved that the secluded part of the hospital grounds she had landed in quickly lead to the main thoroughfare.

  Maintaining a pace consistent with the majority of the visitors felt painfully slow, conjuring up images of the dogs already finding her hoodie and causing the police cars to be scrambled to the hospital’s main entrance, but it was essential now that she fit in as best she could.

  Following signs for the exit, her eyes flicked between the various buildings, determining where best to dash if she were confronted but, although the walk was long, she completed it unimpeded and the glorious sight of the main road eventually came into view. It was only when she saw it clear of police that she turned her attention to her secondary priority.

  Lexie knew phoning Jordan was a risk. If her initial impression had been wrong and he had been arrested, they would trace all incoming phone calls but with thousands of pounds at stake it was a risk worth taking. Of more concern to her was the likelihood of his choosing to accept her call. The arrival of the police had changed the plan and, if his evasion had been successful, there was nothing whatsoever stopping him carrying on running.

  Therefore it came as more than a pleasant surprise when Jordan answered on the second ring. ‘Lexie?’ he called down the end of the line, his tone anxious but not sounding out of breath.

  ‘Listen, we’re going to need to dump our phones in a minute. Although Taylor’s name’s the only one on the house, it won’t take them long to figure out who we are and tracing these is the first thing they’ll do.’

  ‘Okay,’ came the simple reply.

  Lexie paused for a moment, wondering what to say next. Given everything they had discussed over the past twenty-four hours, it would be naïve to expect Jordan not to have thought about going it alone, but at the same time she didn’t want to start planting any ideas in his head.

  ‘Where shall we meet up?’ she asked, deciding that fronting it out was the best course of action. ‘We’re going to have to reconsider our travel plans,’ she added, hoping that Jordan would see the value in accepting her company.

  ‘I’ll be at the Abbey Gateway in half an hour. If I don’t see you then I’ll have no choice but to…’

  ‘I understand,’ Lexie responded, ending the call and dropping her phone in the nearest bin.

  Chapter Forty-two

  The afternoon was dragging for Kate but at least it allowed plenty of time to glean every last bit of information about the previous attacks in St. Albans. Focusing on how she was going to do it prevented any of the nagging doubts she had from setting in too deep. Kate had long learned to listen to her inner voice and she would have entertained it now, if it was offering constructive criticism surrounding how she was going to carry out the task, and not trying to get her to reconsider killing Scott.

  What if you wake up tomorrow regretting murdering the man you love?

  ‘Loved,’ Kate said audibly, correcting that pernicious little bitch in her head. Whatever love she’d had, Scott had stolen from her when he decided to fuck around. If last night with David had taught her anything, it was that a grubby little affair was small recompense for throwing away an entire marriage.

  And anyway, what was there to regret? His death wasn’t there to punish him, as she had sought to do when she had allowed David to take her home with him; it was merely a practical measure. If there was any other way to prevent him running off with that whore, Kate was sure she would entertain it, but the reality was there wasn’t.

  Couldn’t you just tell him how you feel and hope that he ends it with her?

  ‘Fuck off!’ she said with enough venom that caused her nearest colleagues to glance up from their desks. She wasn’t going to give Scott the chance to humiliate her any further, nor was she going to waste what little time she had left listening to such nonsense. Picking up the headphones for the second time that day, Kate pulled up YouTube on her computer and found some classical music to sooth her mind.

  That was better; with an orchestral piece she recognised but couldn’t name she was left alone to finalise the details of tonight. Having got caught up in the complexities of trying to find herself a decent alibi, including figuring out how she might go to the cinema and slip out of a fire exit, she had decided that simplicity would be the best. Scott had justified saddling them with an astronomical mortgage as making an investment for the future, then insisting that they watch recordings of those awful daytime home restoration shows together. He became obsessed with adding value, talking about all manner of things, including upgrading the kitch
en and adding on a conservatory, but the one thing that had stuck was converting the attic.

  Promising Kate that this would be their forever house, the reminder of which provoked a derisory snort considering how he had chosen to add value to their marriage by bedding another woman, he had suggested they needed room to grow. In those days Kate had wanted nothing more than to start a family and allowed him to take a loan out against the house so they could convert the attic into a bedroom which had never been used.

  ‘Until tonight,’ Kate muttered, revelling in the delicious irony that it was there she would claim she had hidden from the supposed intruders. Scott had foregone the cost of providing more convenient access to it than a drop-down ladder attached to the loft hatch, and this would ensure his downfall. Although there were no survivors from the most recent attacks, it seemed entirely plausible that someone sneaking into the attic would evade detection.

  All she now needed to do was decide how to alert the authorities.

  The hand on her shoulder caused her nearly to jump out of her skin.

  ‘What?!’ she roared, ripping the headphones from her ears. ‘Oh, it’s you, Mark. You scared the life out of me,’ she continued, regaining a modicum of composure.

  ‘Sorry to frighten you,’ he mumbled nervously. ‘I could just see you were having a little difficulty and wanted to know if you could do with some help.’ The concern on his face turned to one of confusion as his eyes flicked to the computer screen.

  ‘Oh, um, yes,’ she replied, trying to think of a suitable excuse. ‘That tender is proving a little more challenging than I first thought, and I hoped this might help refocus my mind.’

  Seeing her colleagues watching their exchange caused Kate to consider her unintended outburst. ‘I’m sorry if I disturbed any of you,’ she added restoratively, clocking with interest the way Sandra rolled her eyes.

  ‘I’m sure it’s fine,’ Mark said, nodding to the others that they were to get on with their work. ‘So long as you’re okay, that’s all.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Kate replied, taking his hand despite the touch of it making her skin crawl. ‘You’re such a thoughtful man but, really, I’m fine. I should have the tender finished by lunchtime tomorrow if I get a clear run at it in the morning.’

  ‘Well, great,’ Mark responded with a little too much enthusiasm, withdrawing his hand and backing away.

  Kate smiled. Two hours to go. One way or another there was no chance of her being there tomorrow.

  Chapter Forty-three

  ‘Who are you starting with?’ DCI Nelson asked, anticipation writ large across his face.

  ‘Taylor,’ she replied without consulting her partner. It wasn’t just because he had been the initial suspect, everything about him suggested that he would be an easier nut to crack than his accomplice. Cole had even refused to give them his name, not that it had mattered considering the bag retrieved from one of the gardens contained his passport.

  Taylor might have only been a couple of years younger than Ruby but she trusted his youth would see him more pliant than some of the hardened criminals she had dealt with in the past. With the formalities of beginning a police interview out of the way, she saw no reason to beat around the bush.

  ‘Tell us who the other two are,’ she said, eyeballing him and then his legal aid solicitor who had been drafted in.

  ‘What other two?’ Taylor replied.

  Ruby glanced at Cooper, surprised by the response. At worse she had expected him to refuse to answer; something she had been fully prepared for. Cooper opened his mouth to speak, misinterpreting Ruby’s reaction as a request for him to step in. A swiftly raised hand corrected him.

  ‘Let me make this nice and clear for you, so we don’t get off on the wrong foot. We know you’re connected to the recent brutal attacks…’ she said.

  ‘How’s that then?’

  ‘And!’ Ruby said, raising her voice to demonstrate that she wasn’t going to allow herself to be interrupted. ‘The question is just how connected you are. Whether you go down for everything on your own makes no difference to me; justice will be seen to have been served.’ Ruby had used this speech a couple of times before and it had never failed to give her the result she wanted.

  ‘Like I said, how’s that then? You’ve got nothing on me,’ he added before sitting back and crossing his arms.

  ‘Is this really how you want to play it?’ Cooper said.

  Ruby welcomed his intervention, if nothing save for the time it gave her to think of a new approach.

  Taylor shrugged defiantly.

  ‘Don’t you think it would be better coming from you rather than your mate Cole?’ Ruby wasn’t expecting a verbal response, nor did she get one, but was that a flash of apprehension she had read on his face? ‘When we explain the same thing to him, do you think he’s going to pretend to act the tough guy too?’ she continued, keen to exploit what she had detected to be a weakness. ‘Do you think he’s going to be prepared to take the fall on this to save your skin?’

  Taylor shifted forward as though about to say something, but he must have thought better of it because he then slumped back down again.

  ‘Even if we can’t match your prints to the crime scenes, we’ll soon pick you up on all the CCTV,’ Cooper said. ‘Wouldn’t it be better to get your side of the story over before then?’

  ‘Nah, sod this,’ Ruby said, standing up. ‘We gave him his chance, DC Cooper, let’s dump him back in his cell and see what the other one has to say.’

  ‘Interview suspended,’ Cooper said evenly, reaching across the table to turn off the audio recording.

  Taylor looked up at them as though he believed this to be part of the routine. Ruby backed towards the door so she could watch his expression change. ‘Officer?’ she called, opening the door. ‘Escort him back, will you? Tell me, was a thorough search for contraband conducted when he was brought in?’

  ‘I believe so, ma’am.’

  ‘Well it pays to be careful, doesn’t it? We wouldn’t want our suspect coming to any harm, now, would we? Get them to do it again, and pay particular attention to his… well, I’ll leave that up to your imagination.’

  ‘You can’t do this!’ Taylor protested, backing his chair up as the burly officer entered. ‘I know my rights.’

  ‘You can get lost too,’ Ruby added, with the solicitor seemingly content to remain in his seat whilst all this was going on.

  ‘Don’t!’ Ruby called out a minute later. She and Cooper were in the corridor, and saw Nelson emerge from the camera room. ‘We’ve got this; we just need a moment to speak to the other guy.’

  DCI Nelson neither protested nor offered any words of encouragement. Instead he merely turned around and went back into the room.

  ‘You want to discuss this one first?’ Cooper asked in a low voice.

  ‘I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve,’ she replied enigmatically before marching down the hallway to have Cole retrieved from his cell.

  * * *

  ‘You gave me quite a workout,’ she began, receiving nothing more than a snort of derision for her trouble. ‘You do know that I would have chased you down eventually.’

  ‘Whatever you say, pig,’ Cole responded, looking away from her.

  ‘Oh, we’re quite the charmer,’ Ruby responded with mock offence before turning to her partner. ‘It’s a good thing, DC Cooper, that we decided to speak to his friend first. He was far more… how shall I put it… compliant.’

  ‘Very accommodating,’ Cooper said, nodding and making Ruby grateful that he seemed to be on the same page as her.

  ‘Look, pig, this ain’t my first rodeo so let’s cut all the bullshit. I ain’t telling you nothing and unless you got something on me then get me the fuck out of here!’

  ‘Like I said,’ Ruby responded calmly, hoping she was conveying enough confidence, ‘Taylor proved most helpful, which means we don’t need you to say anything.’ And there it was, the same flicker of apprehension she had witnessed wit
h the first interview. ‘I mean, who could blame him seeing as we had him bang to rights?

  ‘Oh, you didn’t know, did you?’ she continued hurriedly, trusting that Cooper hadn’t displayed any signs of surprise at her bold, and largely false claim. ‘Your bag may have been empty but we found one of the items reported as stolen in his.’

  Feeling Cooper shift uncomfortably in his seat, Ruby moved her hand under the table to place it reassuringly on his knee. ‘You look sceptical, Cole?’

  ‘Taylor wouldn’t do that,’ he replied simply but she took his even tone as a sign that she was making headway.

  ‘Would it help if I told you what the item is? It’s a watch, and a rather expensive looking one at that.’

  Ruby had barely finished her sentence when Cole leaped out of his chair.

  ‘I fucking knew it; the jumped-up prick!’ he shouted.

  ‘Sit down!’ Cooper commanded, also taking to his feet.

  ‘No, DC Cooper, it’s quite understandable under the circumstances,’ Ruby said calmly, remaining where she was. ‘Taylor claims he had nothing to do with it and it was you who carried out the whole thing, forcing him to sell on the stuff for you afterwards.’

  ‘That’s bullshit!’ Cole roared.

  Ruby shrugged theatrically. ‘The fact of the matter is someone has to go down for it and, from where I’m sitting, I’m more inclined to side with the person who has co-operated throughout rather than someone who’s failing to tell us anything.’

  Cole sat down and, after a brief look at his solicitor, which received no more of a response than an open-handed gesture, he turned back to face her. ‘It was him, alright, everything was him.’

  ‘For the record, could you confirm who you mean by him?’

  ‘Taylor, it was fucking Taylor, all right? He was the one who did everything. The reason why you found nothing on me is because I had nothing to do with it. Okay?’

  ‘Thank you, Cole,’ Ruby responded flatly.