‘What is it, Anton? You look a bit shocked.’
‘Yes, not shock, but strangeness – I think that’s the right word – the results of DNA tests we did on Fulborough remains…’
‘What do you mean – strange?’
‘Not right – something wrong.’
‘Let me see.’
Anton gave Kirsty the envelope and she removed the contents. Two sheets of A4 paper. She looked them over, glancing from one sheet to another. Her eyes widened, when she realised what she was looking at. The evidence before her would blow the Fulborough case wide open.
She thought she’d better talk to Randall as it was his case. She thanked Anton and told him that she would deal with it. She went back to her desk and went to pick up the phone, when it rang. She answered it quickly, eager to deal with the caller and get the DNA results back to Randall. But before she could speak, Tanya screeched down the phone.
‘Your boyfriend has arrested my daughter.’
‘Tanya, what do you mean? Arrested?’
‘Bloody obvious; my Simone has been arrested.’ Tanya was very agitated and breathing heavily.
Kirsty told her to calm down and tell her what had happened. ‘OK look, where are you?’
‘I’m at home.’
Kirsty looked at her watch. It was just past five o’clock. ‘I’ll come and see you later. I can’t get away right now.’
‘Right, I’ll see you later. Please, Kirsty, she didn’t do this. You need to tell Jake.’
‘Let’s talk later then.’ Kirsty put down the phone. She sighed, rubbing both hands through her long hair. She tied it up in a quick ponytail, while still staring at the DNA reports. Then she rang Randall. It went straight to answerphone, so she left a message, unaware that he’d been attacked and was along the corridor in A&E.
It was almost dark when Kirsty managed to get away from the hospital. She was annoyed that Randall had not returned her calls, after the fuss he made about getting the arrests as soon as possible. She thought about contacting Jake, but it wasn’t his case. From what he had told her recently, there had been a difference of opinion between them about the investigation that Jake was conducting. She knew, of course, that the collisions were important to clear up, but there seemed little evidence from a scientific point of view that was making itself known.
As she stepped out of the hospital, there was a light autumn breeze. A balmy evening, one which she would have preferred to spend with Jake, rather than having to go and see Tanya, even if she was a friend.
Tanya had sounded distraught, when she had rung her earlier, but it wasn’t her place to go running to Jake to get him to release Simone, even if he had arrested her for some reason. And there must have been a reason.
She thought about Tanya’s company, as she drove towards her home. There was something in the back of her mind, that all was not right. And she had become defensive about her company when she and Jake last visited her. She wondered whether going to see her was a good idea. But Tanya was her friend, wasn’t she? She couldn’t see that she’d do anything to her, would she?
As she drove onto Tanya’s driveway, she saw that the lights of the house were on. Her Mercedes was parked just as it was when they’d visited before.
She parked hers next to Tanya’s and, as she got out, the front door opened to reveal Tanya, in a housecoat and dishevelled state. Her hair was all out of place, with no makeup, as if she’d just got out of bed. It didn’t take a lot of observation from Kirsty for her to realise that Tanya was drunk – not just drunk, but very drunk.
Standing on the threshold she invited Kirsty in. Her speech was heavily slurred and she had to use the doorframe and the wall to keep her balance.
‘Good heavens, Tanya! You look terrible.’
‘I’m goin-g out of my mind wizsh worry about my Shiiimone,’ she said as she staggered down the hallway towards the sitting room.
‘You’d better sit down before you fall down.’ Kirsty helped steady her, as she moved into the sitting room and plonked herself down on the sofa, sitting with at least a fifteen-degree list to starboard.
‘How much have you drunk today?’
‘Dunno, a… lot.’
‘I can see that. I’ll go and make you a coffee, strong and black, to see if we can sober you up.’
‘I don’t want shobering up,’ she mumbled.
‘I’m going to, whether you like it or not.’
‘Pleash youshelf.’
Kirsty made her way into the kitchen and looked through the cupboards for coffee and mugs, while she waited for the kettle to boil. Finding the mugs, she removed one but by taking it out, she spotted a small container with a glass vial inside. Looking closer, she saw the container was marked with the company logo and that it contained a clear liquid.
She completed making Tanya’s coffee and taking it into the sitting room, she saw that Tanya was still listing on the sofa with her eyes closed. Just as Kirsty put the cup down next to Tanya, her phone pinged with a text message.
‘WHERE R U. NEED 2 TLK’
She quickly responded.
‘@ TANYAS, SHE’S P****D, WORRIED ABT HER.’
Jake’s response was almost immediate. ‘OK, WILL C U THERE SOON.’
58
After Randall’s ordeal the previous day, he finally managed, with Martin, to resume the interview with Philpott, who appeared relaxed sitting next to the duty solicitor, a young dark-haired man with a shiny grey suit that probably needed to see a dry cleaners. Randall thought that the young solicitor was more nervous than Philpott appeared, as he constantly chewed the top of his government-issue pen.
‘Did you speak to the lawyers?’ Philpott asked.
‘Yes, I did.’
Philpott shrugged. ‘I don’t really care whether you did or not.’
‘Why, a change of heart?’
‘No, a relief.’
‘A relief? You’ve certainly changed your tune since both of your recent arrests.’
Philpott took a great gulp of air before replying. ‘People know me as a hard man. You know I’ve got convictions. Petty stuff. But I’ve never been into what I would call the big crimes and I’ve been carrying all this knowledge about the old Lord for years. Things he’d got me to do – illegal things, which had turned me into the man I am today. Enough is enough. I’m really sorry, that I lashed out at Barry. I can get pretty het up sometimes. He’s done me no wrong since taking over the estate from his father, and, in a way, it was a relief that he didn’t ask me to do things – other than grease the palm of the council about the wood. But those things happen in business anyway, don’t they? There were things that the old Lord asked me to do, which I would prefer not to remember.’
He stopped and watched Randall insert two DVDs into the recording machine and enter details on the display screen – who he was, who Randall was and whether it was just an audio or audio and video recording. After going through all the preliminaries, Randall reminded Philpott that he was still under caution and that he didn’t have to say anything.
Philpott asked, ‘Where do you want me to start?’
‘What about at the beginning? That’s usually the best place,’ Randall replied.
Philpott looked around the windowless interview room, with its battleship grey walls, isolated against letting sound in, or out. Virtually a sound-proofed-booth, where every noise made was hushed. He could make as much noise as he wanted and nobody outside the room would hear, not even through the heavy sound-insulated doors. The lighting was cold and harsh – and it was hot.
‘You look a bit flustered, Frank,’ Martin said.
Philpott pushed his shirtsleeves back. I’m not used to being inside and it’s stuffy in here.’ He sat back in his chair. ‘Did you know that I’ve got an agricultural and horticultural degree?’ he asked Randall.
‘No, I
didn’t. Is it relevant?’
‘Yes. I started work on the Fulborough Estate, I was nineteen, as a groundsman, doing all the heavy work – moving stuff around the estate on a tractor, feeding the animals, that sort of thing. After I’d been there for a little while, Fulborough suggested that I go to college, get an education, some formal qualifications, if I wanted to stay in agriculture. He sent me to Moulton Agricultural College. I enjoyed it. It was good fun and I like to be outside, you know?’
‘He paid for it, did he?’
‘Yes, all of it.’
‘Didn’t you think that was a bit strange?’
‘Not really, he could be quite philanthropic. He sent others to college as well, not just me.’
‘What happened when you got your degree?’
‘I got a bit of a promotion to a team leader and worked my way up from there.’
‘You were on your way up the agricultural ladder, so to speak?’ Stevens said, smiling.
Philpott nodded, without smiling or even acknowledging the funny side of Stevens’ comment. ‘Yes, and I knew that I would be grateful for him to keep me on as long as I needed, if I played my cards right.’
‘How has this got anything to do with my investigation?’ Randall asked.
Philpott leaned forward, pushed his chair back from the desk and rested his elbows on his knees. ‘You see, other members of the group he educated were Avril and Marjorie.’
‘Really, what did they do?’
‘He sent Marjorie to college to do secretarial studies and Avril to do equestrian studies. He thought they had promise. What I didn’t know at the time was that it was a way of keeping Avril quiet, after what he did to her.’
‘What did he do to her?’
‘He had a bit of a thing for her. Avril was a pretty girl in a plain sort of way, if you know what I mean. I remember that it was a Sunday morning. The day of the hunt. We went through the usual rituals at the start, drinking, rounding up the dogs, and all that other shit.’
‘You don’t agree with it?’
‘What? Fox hunting?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’ve never been a supporter. I may be aggressive towards my fellow humans, but never towards animals. I could never see the point of a pack of hounds ripping a fox apart. One or two foxes in a day. How’s that going to cull the population?’
Randall made no comment and raised his eyebrows at that. Unusual for a farm worker not to support hunting. ‘So what happened?’ he said after a moment’s silence.
‘It wasn’t until they got back. I never went with them, obviously, but Avril came out of the stables and started on the horses with the other stable hands. After a little while, everyone drifted away. The guests went up to the house and Avril was left on her own, finishing off in the stables, before going home for the day.’
‘She, or you, weren’t invited up to the house then?’
‘God, no, we’re just the hired help. No such luxuries for us.’
‘But his Lordship was still in the stable yard?’
‘Yes, he was hanging about, supposedly checking things were OK.’
‘But?’
‘But I thought he was hanging about deliberately waiting for everyone to go, leaving him and Avril on their own.’
‘Where did you go?’
‘I got called up to the top field. One of the sheep had got itself tangled in the fence.’
‘How long did it take you to get there?’
‘About ten minutes, I suppose.’
‘Leaving Lord Fulborough alone with Avril?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then what?’
‘I got to the field and the sheep was all right.’
‘A ruse to get you out of the way?’
‘I think so, yes.’
‘What happened when you got back?’
‘As I got back into the stable yard, his Lordship was coming out of one of the stables. He looked a bit dishevelled and was – adjusting himself – if you know what I mean…’
‘What did he do, when he saw you?’
‘He strode over to me and told me, in no uncertain terms, that I had not seen anything. I hadn’t actually. I just put two and two together afterwards.’
‘Did you see Avril?’
‘Yes.’
‘And how was she?’
‘Timid.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Withdrawn, non-communicative.’
‘Did you ask her what happened?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what did she say?’
‘She refused to talk to me and went home.’
‘What do you think happened?’
‘I think he had his way with her.’
‘You mean he raped her, or had consensual sex?’
‘Raped, yes.’
‘Why?’
‘Because of how she became.’
‘What happened to her?’
‘His Lordship sent her away to college for a year.’
‘Knowing she was pregnant?’
‘Probably. It did seem strange, that she got sent away.’
‘Did she speak to you about it?’
‘Not directly.’
‘Meaning?’
‘She felt that talking to anyone about it would have been a betrayal.’
‘Who did she think she was betraying?’
‘His Lordship and the trust that he had put in her to keep her quiet, and, of course, her education. Up to that time she was not a well-educated girl.’
‘But you’re sure she was raped?’
‘I don’t see it as anything else.’
‘We have it from a witness that she was giving his Lordship the big come-on?’
‘Ah, you’ve been talking to Marjorie. There was a rumour that they’d been having an affair, but I never saw anything like that. The common feeling around the estate was that what they did was not consensual from her point of view.’
‘But nobody knows for sure?’
‘No, not really.’
‘When did Avril leave his Lordship’s employment?’
‘She never did officially. His Lordship kept her and her baby, Vanessa, at arm’s length. Again, there was talk of Avril blackmailing him for money to keep her mouth shut about what happened.’
‘What do you think?’
‘He didn’t seem to resent paying her off for all those years. Perhaps, in his mind, he was paying for the upkeep of the baby.’
‘Even after she’d had another child?’
‘Yes, even then he kept paying until…’
‘Until?’
Philpott sat back, folded his arms. ‘One night, some years later, Avril and the two kids seemed to have fallen on hard times. She started doing drugs and whoreing. I don’t know the full details, but she went to him and demanded more money.’
‘And did he give it to her?’
‘No.’
‘Why?’
‘He told me that she’d had enough of his money to shoot up her arm and wasn’t going to get any more.’
‘How did that end?’
‘Badly.’
‘How badly?’
‘The worst type. It was a Friday evening. His Lordship was in the house on his own, when Avril turned up at the door with the two kids in tow. By all accounts, there was a blazing argument and he hit her. She fell, but was able to get up, telling the kids to run away. He grabbed her by the throat and squeezed the life out of her. When I arrived, she was lying on the library floor.’
‘Did you check to see if she was alive?’
‘Yes,’ he shook his head then looked down at the floor in front of him. ‘She wasn’t.’
‘Did you think his Lordship was capable of such an act?’
/> ‘No doubt in my mind, after working with him for all those years, he could be a right bastard.’
‘Where were the children?’
‘They left the house. They were found in the stables later that night.’
‘Who found them?’
‘Two of the young groundsmen. They called the house and spoke to me. He then called the police and told them that they were intruders and didn’t know who they were. So they got taken away.’
‘Didn’t you do anything to help them?’
‘More than my job was worth. I regret it now, of course, knowing what happened later.’
‘What happened later?’
‘That’s another story, for another day perhaps.’
Randall let that go for the time being. ‘What happened to Avril?’
Philpott stumbled a little, as he tried to compose himself. Randall saw that Philpott seemed to be haunted by some of these memories and probably didn’t want to drag them up.
Philpott took another deep breath. ‘His Lordship ordered me to dispose of Avril’s body.’
‘Did you tell him that was wrong and that he should call the police? Accept the consequences?’
‘He was more worried about being found out – by his second wife.’
‘You buried Avril, didn’t you?
‘Yes, I did. In Fulborough Wood. Where she was found.’
There was a short silence, as both took in the revelation. Philpott clearly reliving the scene.
‘You must believe me, Inspector, that I did not kill Avril. I only…’ He wiped a big hand across his face. ‘… put her to rest.’
‘You didn’t want to do it, did you?’
‘No.’
‘You were close to her, weren’t you?’
‘Yes, I actually told her not to go to the house that night. I knew that if he’d been drinking, he’d be in a foul temper.’
‘A bit like you?’
‘Yeah, but I don’t have to be drunk!’
‘After you had disposed of the body, what happened to you?’
Driving Dead Page 27