Driving Dead

by Stephen G Collier

  A few moments later, the officer came out. ‘They’ve gone.’

  ‘What do you mean they’ve gone?’ Jake demanded.

  ‘Nobody in the house that we can see.’

  ‘Keep searching, they’re somewhere inside.’

  Jake went in. He was trying to remember the layout, from when he had visited with Kirsty. He was sure there was a cellar. The house was certainly old enough to have one. He searched the house from top to bottom. The only room he was unable to get into was the study. The door, which was locked, was made short work of, again.

  One wall of the study was floor to ceiling in bookshelves. Nothing like the type of shelving you’d find in a stately home library, but cheap, bending under the weight of books and journals. There was a desk with an iMac computer, a printer and a photocopier in the corner. But toward the far end was another door, made to look as if it was part of the wall. A crude disguise.

  He opened the door and revealed a short corridor down a slope with another door at the end. It was locked. He withdrew and sought his other officers, explaining the presence of another locked door.

  It was just an ordinary internal door and he felt that the people he was looking for were behind it. He called out. ‘Can anyone hear me in there?’

  Silence.

  ‘Unlock the door now or we will break it down.’

  Silence.

  ‘Final time. I won’t ask again.’

  Silence. Jake indicated to the officers to break down the door. It splintered with ease under the weight of two officers, and opened to reveal a fully equipped laboratory – and Kirsty lying on the floor. Jake rushed to her side and knelt down. He felt for a pulse. Slow and regular.

  ‘She’s still alive, Jake.’ The voice came from the darkest corner of the laboratory. ‘If it wasn’t for the fact that I once considered her my friend, she’d be dead by now.’

  ‘Why, Tanya? Why did you want to hurt Kirsty?’

  ‘I didn’t… no, couldn’t, let her leave. She knows too much. She’s put it all together. Bright girl.’

  ‘I need to get to the hospital, Tanya.’

  ‘No, not yet. She’ll be fine. I made an antidote for my drug, just in case anything happened to me or my Simone. She’ll be fine in a few moments, no after effects.’

  ‘Other than the trauma, of you hitting her, by the look of the bruise on her face,’ Jake commented. He stood up from Kirsty’s side, fists clenched ready to pounce on Tanya.

  ‘Did you attack DI Randall?’ He called.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why all this then?’

  ‘It’s a long story.’

  ‘I think we’ll have plenty of time.’ Jake moved towards the voice. ‘Will she really be OK?’

  ‘She’ll come round in a few minutes.’

  ‘Then you’d better come with me,’ Jake said, as he took a step closer.

  ‘I can’t do that, Jake.’

  Suddenly the dark corner lit up brightly, as a door was opened onto a floodlit stairway, which Tanya fled up. Jake chased after her and called to the other officers to seize her, but she managed to get into her Mercedes and screech off the driveway, clipping the police van as she did so. Jake called it in and went back to Kirsty, who was sitting up and being comforted by Prentice and Stevens.

  ‘Tanya’s on her toes,’ Jake said. ‘Call an ambulance for Kirsty, while I go after her.’

  ‘Not without me,’ Kirsty said groggily.

  ‘You’re in no fit state, Kirsty, you can’t.’

  ‘Nevertheless, I am coming.’

  Jake sighed. He knew not to argue.

  By the time they’d got onto the road the force helicopter had traced the Mercedes and followed it from overhead. It was not being driven erratically or at any speed. Ground vehicles were in the area and picked up Tanya heading towards the A43. Jake was listening to all this over the force radio. Then came the news that the car had stopped near the M1 on the over-bridge at Rothersthorpe. A ground patrol was soon on the scene and stopped a short distance from Tanya’s Mercedes.

  By the time Jake and Kirsty arrived, Tanya was standing on the bridge, the wrong side of the safety barrier. The situation was not helped by the growing intensity of the rain, accompanied by the relentless rumbling thunder and lightning. Jake got out of his car and approached Tanya.

  ‘Don’t come any closer!’

  ‘You don’t really want to do this, Tanya.’

  ‘I have no option. I’m not going to prison.’

  ‘Better prison, than this type of ending. We can help you. Help you recover from this.’ He was shouting against the rain, wind and thunder.

  ‘You wouldn’t understand.’

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘I just do!’

  ‘But if you don’t tell us, how can we help?’

  ‘There is no help for me, not now, not ever.’

  Jake felt a presence by his side and found Kirsty standing next to him, trying to protect herself from the wind and rain.

  ‘Let me try.’

  Jake nodded.

  ‘Tanya, come back over the barrier. We can talk?’

  ‘I’ve nothing to say, Kirsty. I’m sorry about what I did to you.’

  ‘But it’s no way to end up like this.’

  ‘I can’t. I just can’t go on. It’s been years of suffering. My life’s work has only been to seek revenge. But I know now that was wrong. So you see, I have no alternative. This is the best way.’

  Jake could see that Tanya was crying and trying to wipe the tears and rain away from her face, while holding onto the safety barrier with one arm.

  Jake had requested the Traffic Officer Service from Highways England to stop the traffic on the northbound carriageway, but they seemed to be taking their time about it. He looked towards the northbound traffic and saw some orange flashing lights approaching with some blue mixed in. Finally.

  The traffic came to a stop, held back by the traffic officers and the police car some five hundred yards away from the over-bridge. Already, he saw that people were out of their cars, taking pictures. Vultures, he thought, and hoped that the rain ruined their photos.

  Tanya saw that the traffic had stopped. ‘No!’ she screamed. ‘Why have you done that?’

  ‘To prevent ruining those drivers’ lives if you do this, Tanya. Think about that. About what you would put them through. Think about it, Tanya. You are a doctor. What about your Hippocratic oath about doing no harm. Think, Tanya. Think.’ She started to move nearer.

  ‘No closer, Kirsty.’

  ‘But I want to talk to you, Tanya. I can’t hear you above the wind.’ She took a step closer. Tanya didn’t make any further comment, until Kirsty was about ten feet away.

  ‘Can you hear me now?’

  ‘Yes, I can. Come back over the fence and we can talk.’ She started to cry again.

  ‘I miss them, Kirsty.’

  ‘Who do you miss?’

  ‘My parents, my son, my husband.’

  ‘Make me understand then.’

  ‘I told you that my son and husband died in a car accident, but what I didn’t say was that it was all my fault.’

  ‘How can it be your fault.’

  ‘Because I was in the car when it happened. We knew we shouldn’t have gone out in tornado weather. It’s my fault they’re dead. It’s my fault I grew up without my parents.’

  ‘You can’t blame yourself for any of that, Tanya, you just can’t.’

  ‘I can, and the only way to get rid of my demons, is to get rid of myself.’

  ‘If you do that, are you not thinking of Simone? You’ll be leaving her alone. No mother to turn to. She still needs you as much as you need her.’

  Tanya turned to Kirsty. As she did, her foot slipped, but she held on. Kirsty went to grab her, but she s
huffled away still on the edge of the bridge.

  ‘Do you really think she’ll still need me?’

  ‘Of course she will.’

  ‘But I’ve got her mixed up in this – vendetta. It was I who told her to try it out on her boyfriend, Ian. I needed to stop and rid the world of drugged drivers, but ended up just making more of them, causing families to end up in the same situation as myself.’

  ‘You won’t be able to help anyone if you’re dead. What if you can carry on your work legally?’

  ‘That’s not going to happen, is it? We’ll go to prison for the rest of our lives for what we’ve done.’

  ‘You have some special circumstances. Perhaps they’ll give you a reduced sentence, if you cooperate and come with me now.’

  Tanya stood thinking, crying, looking out onto the stationary traffic, stopped in both directions. Jake had managed to manoeuvre himself across from the other side of Tanya, approaching from her right.

  ‘I know you’re there, Jake.’

  ‘OK I’ll just stand here.’ Jake indicated to Kirsty to try to grab her.

  Tanya turned to Kirsty, took her hands off the safety barrier and mouthed, ‘I’m sorry.’

  As she leaned over, Jake rushed forward and grabbed her as she fell. With Kirsty and the help of other officers, they pulled Tanya back over the safety rail.

  Tanya lay on the footpath. She was sobbing. She rolled over and pulled herself into the foetal position. Her breakdown now complete. Kirsty moved to comfort her friend, holding her in her arms as she cried herself to sleep.

  61

  When Randall got out of the hospital, his first reaction was to go and kick Jordan’s arse, while at the same time asking Stevens who he thought his boss was. But a visit to the DCI in the Major Crimes office convinced him that was probably not the best course of action.

  His final interview with Philpott and another visit to Barry Fulborough revealed an even more intriguing story. Along with a conversation with Stevens and Fred Martin about the Nicholls’s. A story that he was now about to reveal to the DCI.

  When he arrived at his office, Freeman suggested that they have the conversation out of earshot of others in the incident room. They made their way to the conference room, where Randall was convinced he was going to be given a right bollocking.

  In the middle stood a large oval-shaped table that was almost as big as the room itself. Randall was surprised to see Jake, Kingsfield, Stevens, Parker and the collision investigator, Andy Thomas, in the room.

  ‘How are you feeling?’ Jake asked.

  ‘Better, no thanks to you.’

  ‘What have I done?’ Jake exclaimed.

  ‘It was your suspect, who attacked me.’

  ‘She wasn’t a suspect at the time. Still, at least you had a rest,’ Jake smiled, trying to make light of the situation.

  ‘I’ve seen plenty of hospital wards,’ he said, touching the scar on his face, ‘I really didn’t need the rest.’

  ‘But you look so much better for it, boss,’ Stevens chipped in.

  ‘Don’t you start, Clive! I’ve got my own bone to pick with you.’

  ‘Me?’ Stevens replied, gesticulating towards himself.

  ‘Yes, me.’ It was no good. Randall couldn’t keep up the hard DI image anymore and chuckled at Stevens.

  ‘Anyway,’ Freeman said, ‘how are we with putting these two cases to bed?’

  Randall sat down at the table and poured himself a coffee from the pot someone had brought up from the restaurant. He took a sip and sat back in his chair.

  ‘Philpott squealed, once he realised he’d got no option, despite protestations from the solicitor. And a conversation with Barry Fulborough tied together all the loose ends. We’ve charged Philpott with concealing the two bodies. Both of the remains have now been identified, thanks to the DNA evidence presented by Dr Kingsfield.’

  He looked towards her and smiled, and she thanked him.

  ‘So, who do those remains belong to?’ Stevens asked.

  ‘If you were here, instead of galavanting off with traffic, you’d know, wouldn’t you, Clive? In fact, I think I’ll put you in for a transfer.’

  ‘Not on your life, boss. I’m happy here. Anyway, it’s far too dangerous, all that high-speed stuff. I’m more of a sedate sort of chap.’

  Everyone chuckled and threw a few more insults towards Stevens.

  ‘Right, the remains that were found about twelve months ago were Vanessa Tyler, aged twenty-four. She was the daughter of Avril Tyler and Albert George Fulborough, 16th Earl of Fulborough.’

  ‘You’re kidding me!’ Jake said.

  ‘Not at all, Jake. It seems ludicrous, but when you consider that Avril Tyler was raped by his Lordship, hence the paternal line, it becomes obvious.’

  ‘We did a DNA test on Barry Fulborough that confirmed the familial line,’ Kirsty put in.

  ‘How did Vanessa die so young?’ Jake asked.

  ‘That’s where your lot come in. You remember the PM report on Vanessa’s remains, provided by Kirsty? It recorded an open book fracture of the pelvis. The most common cause for this type of injury is… ’

  ‘… Motorcycle,’ Andy Thomas muttered.

  ‘That’s correct, Andy, and that’s exactly what it was.’

  ‘But her hyoid bone was broken as well,’ Kirsty added.

  ‘Correct again, but I’ll come back to that. What you won’t be pleased to hear was that her death was caused by her brother.’

  ‘Who is?’ Jake asked, having already guessed the answer.

  ‘Bingham Tyler.’

  Kirsty shuddered and looked down. ‘Am I ever going to get away from that man?’ she whispered to Jake, who took her hand to comfort her. But he didn’t remove it straight away. This action was noticed by all the others in the room.

  ‘How did that happen?’ asked Parker.

  ‘Apparently, according to Philpott and he’s the only one we’ve got to rely on for this information – how much is fabrication I don’t know, but Vanessa was a bit of a tearaway. Good tearaway, if there is such a thing. She wasn’t a criminal, there is no record of her. But she rode a motorcycle regularly, given to her by her father in a roundabout sort of way. One day during the summer, she had her younger brother Bingham on the back and he was encouraging her to go faster and faster. Close to Fulborough Wood, she lost control and collided with a tree, causing her horrendous injury.

  ‘But there was nothing else broken,’ Kirsty said.

  ‘And in regard to that, if Bingham didn’t do what he did then, she might still be alive.’

  ‘Don’t tell me, he choked her?’ Jake said.

  Randall nodded.

  ‘So, he always was a little shit!’ Kirsty said, with vehemence in her voice.

  ‘I’m sorry, Kirsty, this must be a bit hard for you.’

  ‘I know, but at least I know that he’s dead as well.’

  Freeman, who had sat quietly up to that point listening to the story said, ‘So how did Vanessa get into the wood?’

  ‘Philpott – he buried her in the same place as her mother.’

  ‘Why would Philpott help Bingham?’

  ‘That’s easy. Philpott was Bingham’s father.’

  ‘Hold on a minute,’ Jake interjected. ‘So the woman who was murdered back in the nineties, that you, Steph and Jim went to wasn’t Bingham’s mother.’

  ‘Correct,’ Stevens said, ‘Our information was that she was only the foster parents. Her husband killed her in a fit of rage He’s doing a full term somewhere up north.’

  ‘What a tangled web. Why didn’t he look after him after Vanessa’s death?

  ‘Instructions from the old Lord, if he wanted to keep his job.’

  ‘So he had no further contact after that accident?’

  ‘Not as far as we’re aware
.’

  ‘This all sounds incredible,’ Freeman said. ‘The sort of thing you’d see on the television.’

  ‘Truth is stranger than fiction – to use a cliché,’ said Stevens.

  ‘I know, but this is just one family, all of whom are dead as the result of the action of one Lord,’ Freeman said.

  ‘Indeed.’

  Jake sat thinking. ‘What if Bingham didn’t die at Fenton’s Folly? For a psycho, he was quite bright.’

  ‘But we picked up all his bits, didn’t we?’ Kirsty said.

  ‘We picked up sufficient to determine that he was in the vehicle at the time, but remember, the traffic Volvo was destroyed, after being hit by the express train, travelling at about a hundred miles an hour. We didn’t find any large pieces of body, which I found quite unusual.’

  ‘Jake, please don’t go there,’ asked Kirsty.

  Jake still had hold of her hand and squeezed it lightly.

  ‘What are you saying, Jake?’ asked Freeman.

  ‘I don’t really know, other than perhaps the whole family is not dead. What if Philpott knows that his son is not dead and is keeping him in hiding?’

  ‘Really?’ exclaimed Stevens. ‘I can’t see that. The bastard disintegrated in the crash.’

  ‘You’re probably right, Clive. It’s just my overactive imagination.’

  ‘What about your fatals then?’ Randall asked, moving on the discussion.

  ‘We discovered that the people we asked to check out the drug were the people who were committing these crimes.’

  ‘There was only ever one person. Dr Tanya Nicholls. She convinced her daughter that it was for the greater good. She even got Simone Nicholls to try her drug out on her boyfriend, Ian Morton – the contractor for Fulborough Wood. So she left him there for us to find. She admitted that in her other interviews with Stevens and Fred Martin.’

  ‘But who made the drug?’

  Kirsty sat up and leaned on the table, letting go of Jake’s hand. ‘Tanya made the drug at the laboratory in her house, with drugs she had stolen. She had been working on it for years, as a way of seeking revenge for the drug driver who killed her parents and her own family.’

  ‘Seems a bit drastic,’ Parker said. ‘She ends up providing the drug by spiking people’s drinks in the first place?’