‘Okay,’ DC Knight said respectfully but with finality. ‘Bring us forward then to recently. No matter what had gone on before, surely you would have drawn the line with involving yourself with such brutality.’
‘We were only meant to be robbing some guy on the way back from the station. I was going to distract them once they were alone and they were just going to demand he hand over his wallet. No one was meant to be hurt.’
‘Oh, come on now!’ DC Knight protested loudly. ‘You expect us to believe that you consented to take part in a mugging and didn’t think anyone would get hurt?’
‘You’ve seen the size of Jordan,’ Lexie replied, trying to avoid sounding contrary in her defence. ‘People tend to do exactly as he tells them.’
‘So, what happened next?’ DC Knight said, scepticism still in her tone.
‘We followed him like we were supposed to but then Jordan said there was a change of plan. He wanted to burgle the house too. I asked him why and he said that it was better that way and perhaps we might get enough to be able to leave. I… I… never thought he would…’ Lexie left the rest of the sentence hanging in the air.
‘Supposing, just supposing we were to believe that you hadn’t understood the full extent of what you were getting yourself into, not only did you still stay with them but then you went on to commit more acts of the same.’
‘I know,’ Lexie lowered her eyes again. ‘I know I should have but he said that we were all now guilty and that if I ran away, he’d either catch me and hurt me and, if he couldn’t find me, he’d make sure that you knew what I’d done.’
‘So, Jordan was continuing to blackmail you then? And I suppose if I go and talk to either Taylor or Cole right now, they’ll tell me the same thing?’
‘Maybe,’ Lexie responded, her voice full of hope before making her face drop once more. ‘Although I guess they could have been in on it the whole time too…’
‘What do you make of this, DC Cooper?’
‘It’s a lot to take in,’ he replied evasively.
‘Well, I’ll tell you what I think,’ DC Knight continued. ‘It’s a fine story and appears entirely convincing except for one small issue.’ The pause that followed seemed deliberate to Lexie and she could feel the detective’s eyes boring into her. ‘There isn’t a single shred of evidence to back any of it up.’
‘But…’
‘I haven’t finished yet!’ DC Knight hissed. ‘What’s more, there’s a lot of evidence that suggests quite the opposite; that you were entirely complicit in this.’
Lexie hadn’t expected the interview to be easy but had taken how smoothly things had been going as a sign that she was winning them over. She’d come up with the notion of being raped at the last moment, sure that it would soften that icy bitch’s heart. But there was no point dwelling on what had gone wrong; she needed to focus on the present. The way DC Knight was continuing to stare her down, Lexie knew that if she didn’t think of something suitable to say and fast all would be lost.
‘I… I don’t understand.’ This time the stutter had been real.
‘Let’s try this on for size first, shall we? If Jordan is this monster you make him out to be, how come he let you keep an expensive necklace? One that, by the way, we know from the contents insurance at the third house belonged to one of the victims.’
Shit, thought Lexie. She had been so transfixed by how Jordan had taken the money out of his bag that she hadn’t even considered the jewellery she had kept for herself.
‘I hid it. I wanted something in case I found a chance to escape.’ It wasn’t much of an excuse but it would have to do. Perhaps it would sit better with a little embellishment. ‘You know, maybe trade it for a lift or something. Anything to get me as far away from him as possible.
The silence that followed was oppressive and matched by DC Knight’s stony expression. ‘Which brings me on to my second question. When DC Cooper and I arrived at the house, why didn’t you then escape? The dogs found your hoodie on the fence surrounding the hospital. You went to some length to ensure we didn’t get you, so why go to all those lengths only to choose to reunite with the incredibly dangerous man who had got you into all this?’
Lexie had anticipated this question coming up. The excuses she had thought of seemed plausible at the time, but by this stage she had expected to have them on her side. Things like revenge porn now seemed so inconsequential as to be irrelevant. Moreover, the reason for being caught in possession of the necklace was now actively working against her. In fact, the more she thought of it the more Lexie believed it had been a deliberate tactic on DC Knight’s part. She could no longer claim that Jordan had been her only means of escape and that was why she had agreed to meet up with him.
‘I can see you’re struggling there,’ DC Knight commented gleefully. ‘How about we just cut out all the bullshit and you tell us what’s really been going on?’
Lexie stared up at her, open mouthed; no longer able to control her expression. What had happened at the airport had been awful, but this was much worse. At least then there had still been some hope for her to cling on to. But now Lexie understood it for what it had been – arrogance. She had been arrogant to think they could commit such crimes and get away with it; her arrogance driving her to keep doing just one more. And yet that hadn’t been enough. Her arrogance had convinced her that she could cut Taylor and Cole out of the proceeds and it was her arrogance that had led her to believe that she could control someone like Jordan. And even then, with him having played her for the fool she was, she had still believed she could somehow talk her way out of it here.
She was fucked now; royally fucked. It wasn’t even as though she could try to keep her big mouth shut now. That ship had long since sailed and given what had gone before, saying no comment now would be as good as admitting total blame for the entire thing.
‘Unless you have anything else to add, I’m going to charge you right now.’ Triumph was dancing in DC Knight’s eyes.
Lexie opened her mouth, but to say what, she didn’t know.
The door burst open. ‘I need to speak to you right now!’ the man in the suit commanded.
‘Have you not been seeing this, guv?’ DC Knight cried out, waving her hands in frustration. ‘Whatever it is will have to wait!’
‘No, it can’t!’
Lexie’s mouth had remained open but that was through shock at this bizarre, almost surreal confrontation she was witnessing. A voice in her head was urging her to use the time to come up with a new plan for how to get out of this. That she couldn’t listen to it wasn’t so much that she recognised it as the dying embers her arrogance, but that the interruption was so timely as to prove entirely captivating.
The exchange between that bitch of a detective and the intruder had temporarily stopped and they seemed engaged in a stand-off. Him unwilling to say any more and her resolutely refusing to budge, as signalled by her now crossed arms.
‘There’s been another attack,’ he said, those four words not just ending the stalemate but seemingly changing everything.
Chapter Fifty-three
The scream may have been false, and entirely for the benefit of others, but Kate gave herself over to it; enjoying the sense of release.
‘Madam, it’s the police. We’re going to come up now. You’re perfectly safe.’
Kate screamed again for good measure. ‘Don’t touch me!’ she cried, scrabbling to the back of the loft and away from the man emerging through the hatch.
‘Madam, I’m a police officer,’ he responded gently but firmly. ‘You’re no longer in any danger.’
Kate regarded him suspiciously, trying to read if there was anything other than kindness in his expression. ‘Where… where’s Scott?’
The officer took a deep breath. ‘Let’s just get you down from here, okay?’
‘I want to know where my husband is!’ Kate demanded, allowing the anger to fall from her face. ‘He’s not… not hurt, is he?’
The
officer paused ominously before answering: ‘He was attacked and… and I’m very sorry to say but he didn’t make it.’
Kate opened her mouth as though to seek clarification for this slightly ambiguous statement but then widened her eyes in what she hoped looked like dawning realisation. She buried her head in her hands and sobbed; the distance and the relative darkness ensuring that she didn’t require real tears for it to appear authentic.
‘Grace, you’d better get up here.’ The voice was muffled and not just because Kate now had her head buried in her arms. The officer had withdrawn from the hatch and was enlisting the help of a female colleague. Kate was hardly surprised; men liked to take the lead, right up until the point that the going got tough.
But she was happy to go along with the stereotype if it served to make the scene appear as normal as possible and, after showing more hesitancy, especially as the young woman approached her, Kate allowed herself to be led carefully from the loft.
A paramedic was waiting for them on the landing but as he was about to attend to her Grace intervened. ‘Perhaps it would be better if you did this in the van,’ she suggested, putting emphasis into each word and, although Kate had her head bowed in grief, she could imagine the insistent look the paramedic was being given.
‘Er, yeah, good idea. We have more equipment in the ambulance so…’
‘Great,’ Grace declared hurriedly, virtually pushing Kate into the paramedic’s arms. The slight struggle she offered was not entirely put on; there to help or not she didn’t like being touched by another man.
The manner in which the paramedic then proceeded to lead her down the stairs was almost comical and if Kate didn’t already know where Scott’s body lay, the way her view through the bannisters was being shielded would have been a dead giveaway. She was tempted to break free and cause a commotion but feared that doing so would be to over-egg the pudding. Instead she meekly enquired where Scott’s body was when she had safely been led out of the front door.
‘I know it’s hard but it wouldn’t be a good idea,’ came the gentle reply as the paramedic picked up the pace. ‘Just sit on the bed here,’ he instructed, once Kate had stepped up into the back of the ambulance.
She allowed herself to be poked and prodded until, bathed in the lights of the other vehicles, she saw an unmarked car pull up. Her suspicions were confirmed a few moments later when the front doors were flung open in unison and out stepped a man and a woman; neither of them in police uniform. Kate appreciated that the arrival of the detectives signalled the start of the second and even more crucial phase. Although she was confident she had set the scene well and not aroused any suspicion with her conduct so far, now would come the real test.
Kate was given a few moments longer to appraise her opponents. That was until the officer who had first attended her in the loft pointed in her direction. Kate lowered her head to appear caught up in her own thoughts and by then she had seen enough anyway. Even if it wasn’t for the gender difference, the man looked older and therefore likely to be more senior. But as she began to overhear their conversation it soon became apparent that the balance of power between them wasn’t nearly as skewed as she expected.
‘The DCI will be here within the next couple of minutes, I really think we should wait...’
‘And he can take over then if he wishes, but for the moment we’re the lead investigators and I fully intend to do some investigation.’
It was the forcefulness of the woman’s tone as much as anything that impressed Kate.
However, her admiration for the woman’s ability to buck the system and refuse to be subjugated purely on the grounds of gender quickly disappeared; to be replaced, first by confusion, and then by fear.
‘And perhaps, seeing as we have most of the suspects in custody, you won’t be so quick to assume this is the work of the gang this time,’ the female detective had said.
Chapter Fifty-four
‘I want to see the two detectives!’ Lexie shouted, banging on her cell door for the third time. ‘I need to speak to someone; anyone!’
The initial feeling of having been granted a reprieve by the unexpected but hugely welcome interruption in her interview had needed revision. The relief that had accompanied the detectives’ swift departure had faded into an understanding that all she had achieved was a stay of execution unless she could make good use of the time she had been given.
Lexie had spent the following half hour in her cell thinking everything through. Although still cross with herself for not anticipating the interview to be so tough, she appreciated that whilst formulating her plan on the journey back from the airport, she was only going off the information she already knew. To look at it positively, the police had already played their hand, undoubtedly a strong one, but Lexie now had a chance to consider her best countermove.
But the more she thought about it the more she appreciated that this perspective was an over-simplification. In exactly the same way as she had allowed herself to be tricked by having the necklace in her possession, whilst she remained in the dark over what there’s been another attack meant, trying to use it to her advantage might only see her tie herself in knots once more.
The small hatch in the door swung open, with a copper’s face filling up the gap and causing Lexie to recoil in surprise. ‘Keep it down in there,’ he instructed. ‘You’re not the only one here, you know!’
Lexie understood all too well that she wasn’t the sole occupant in the short row of cells. Even if she hadn’t read upside down in the duty sergeant’s logbook which cells Taylor and Cole were in, theirs were the only ones she passed with their hatches shut. She would just have to hope that they were straining their ears to hear her conversation with this officer, having already alerted them to her presence with her banging and shouting from before.
‘Please,’ she said, trying to make herself look as vulnerable as possible. ‘I heard there has been another attack. Surely it doesn’t mean…?’
‘Who knows?!’ he replied with a dismissive shrug and moved to close the hatch again.
‘Wait!’ Lexie hoped the instruction sounded desperate rather than bossy. Convincing him to tell her anything was going to be hard enough, even if he did buy into this innocent victim routine. She was encouraged by the officer putting his face to the hatch once more. ‘I bet it’s him,’ she said, gradually raising her voice. ‘Jordan, I mean. He’ll do anything to escape. You’ve got to tell your officers that he’s a very dangerous man and should be approached with caution.’
The officer smiled. ‘No, this is just another aggravated burglary; hardly the actions of a fugitive, especially someone who is leaving the area.’
‘Then it most likely is him!’ she cried, holding her hands to her face in mock fear. ‘He said there wasn’t enough money to start a new life elsewhere and we needed more.’
‘Look, miss,’ the officer responded impatiently. ‘This has got nothing to do with me; I was just sent down here to tell you to keep quiet. Now if you don’t pipe down soon, I’m going to have to come in there and restrain you.’
‘Okay, okay,’ she replied, holding up her hands plaintively before taking a deep breath ready to shout one final time. ‘Just make sure you tell Detectives Cooper and Knight that Jordan’s running two groups and exploiting everyone to fill his own pockets. Actually, scratch that, don’t say anything – anything at all, you hear? Leave it up to me and I guarantee I’ll have this sorted by lunchtime!’
The officer’s quizzical look was all the response Lexie received and after a brief shake of his head, he slammed the hatch shut. She wouldn’t know how strong her play was until she was back in front of that bitch Knight again but at least she now had a play to make. If she could convince them that Jordan remaining at large posed a continued danger to the public then she might be able to cut herself a deal whereby they accept her help in hunting him down.
Now it was just a case of waiting until she was needed again.
Chapter Fifty-five
‘I would have thought you’d have gone a little softer,’ Cooper whispered as they walked away from the ambulance.
‘Because I’m a woman?’ Ruby asked bitterly.
‘No, because you’re a decent person. Her husband’s just been murdered, and she must have thought the same thing was going to happen to her.’
Ruby sighed. ‘Doesn’t all this seem just a little odd to you? It was only this morning you were telling me that this sort of thing doesn’t happen in St. Albans and now that we have most of the gang in custody it just happens again?’
‘Maybe this is bigger than we thought; that the gang is larger than the four of them.’
‘Taylor said there were only another two and—’
‘That’s not strictly true,’ Cooper interrupted. ‘You started by asking him who the other two who ran from us were and he told you.’
Ruby wanted to remind her partner that extracting the names from the lad was far harder than that and probably wouldn’t have happened at all if it hadn’t been for her skilful manipulation of both suspects. But that wasn’t the point Cooper was getting at.
‘Okay then,’ she conceded. ‘But the search of the house came back as having just the four occupants.’
‘There might be others involved who didn’t live there. You heard what the girl said about the ringleader.’
‘The woman,’ Ruby corrected sourly. ‘And don’t you find it a little convenient that the one person who got away apparently is the ringleader in all this? But that’s my whole point. Everything’s just too convenient. I get that we have a lack of physical evidence at the moment but that’s where we need to concentrate our efforts rather than all this speculation we’re doing.’
‘Why does it have to be so complicated with you?’ Cooper had stopped walking and was now directly facing Ruby. ‘Sometimes the simplest explanation is the right explanation. From my experience…’
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