Yaz waved a hand. ‘Yes, yes. I absolutely deny it. I had nothing to do with it, but I’ll come quietly and all that. I haven’t exactly got an escape route, have I? Take a pew for a minute. Want a hot drink or a whisky? Or even a hot whisky?’
Siv would have loved a hot whisky but shook her head.
They sat down on wooden chairs. The hut was beautiful, painted lemon and cream, with a tiny built-in kitchen, a table with benches and a radio. Paintings of seascapes decorated the walls.
Yaz sipped her drink. ‘Well, this is cosy, we three in here on a snowy night. Safe against the storm.’
Siv asked flatly, ‘If you deny being an accessory to murder, why have you run away? Why are you holed up here?’
‘Who says I’ve run away? I own this place. I needed time to think. I’m aware that Saul Robbins will have been telling terrible lies about me. I just wanted peace and quiet.’
Ali grunted. ‘That’s a likely story.’
Yaz had picked up her game. She smiled at him. ‘It’s the truth, I’m afraid. I’ve been in a terrible state, worrying over Saul’s false accusations. I’ve been calming my nerves with rest and whisky.’
So that’s how you’ve decided to play it. Crafty.
Siv asked, ‘What would those lies and accusations be?’
‘The rubbish Saul was spewing when he turned up at my home out of the blue the other night.’
Siv interrupted. ‘Robbins came to your home? He didn’t ring you?’
Yaz widened her eyes. ‘No, he was at my door, sweaty and wild-eyed. He was panicking, all over the place, saying that he’d murdered those two men and he was going to say I’d helped him. He ranted on about how Eugene and Henry had killed someone called Freya at a cottage and how he’d planned their deaths and ordered wreaths. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was as if he’d gone completely mad. Saul said he was going to use the fact that I’d dealt some drugs way back to blame me. I was utterly shocked, as you can imagine. I tried to reason with him, but it was hopeless. I was actually worried that he was going to attack me. I was on the point of trying to dial 999, but I managed to calm him a bit and persuade him to go. I was worried that he might come back and harm me. I had to clear my mind, so I headed for my refuge.’
That’s astute, casting yourself as a victim.
‘Right,’ Siv said. ‘Most people would head for their local police station in that situation.’
‘I’m not “most people”, Inspector. Never have been. I do things my way, in my own time. And I just wasn’t thinking straight. I was frightened. Mud can cling when it’s flung at you. I did tell Saul he should speak to you, but I wasn’t going to be pressured by him or the police. I know I’m innocent. The only things I’m guilty of are some bad choices in my youth and letting Saul latch onto me. I admit to drug dealing and I deeply regret it.’
Siv made no response. Hubris didn’t come near it. She had to hand it to Yaz for getting a story prepared. Keep chatting.
Yaz said warmly, ‘After all, I came to you about that meeting with Henry. I had nothing to hide, you see. Funnily enough, it was about a job, despite whatever Saul has said. When Henry contacted me, I knew who he was, but he didn’t recognise my name.’
‘He’d never met you and he’d only known of you as “The Wheel”,’ Ali commented.
‘Correct — that stupid name that Eugene gave me. I didn’t enlighten Henry. In fact, he would have been an asset to my business had things worked out differently.’ Yaz drew the rug closer to her. ‘I love this little hut. I bought it five years ago. No one else has been in here before you turned up, spectres from the snowstorm. People think that I always take expensive, exotic breaks. I do indulge in those, but I also adore this simplicity. It’s an antidote to the job, the noise and the pace. I realise I’ll have to accompany you and help you with your enquiries. I won’t be able to visit here for a while, I suppose. I’ll miss sitting and looking out at the sea and sky with a glass of Macallan.’ She was ashen but composed. Her amber earrings glinted warmly in the glow of the brass lamp beside her chair.
Siv could imagine. It felt like a retreat. Yaz reminded her of herself, sitting by the fire wearing thick socks and a fleecy sweater, a drink to hand. It was an uncomfortable reflection. They sat in silence. The fire hissed.
‘I suppose they’re going nuts at work,’ Yaz said.
‘Pretty much,’ Siv confirmed. ‘What to do when the boss vanishes?’
Yaz stuck her hands in her sweater pockets. ‘Hopefully, I’ve trained them well enough to cope for now. I’ve been an idiot, though. I should never have helped Saul Robbins with his degree. He’s a curious combination of intense and biddable, and there’s always a downside to those extreme characteristics. I suppose he’s been telling you lie upon lie. I don’t know why I ever wasted my time with him. He was too needy, but he was so appreciative and I derived gratification from his devotion. If I’d had any idea of the trouble he was going to cause me . . .’
‘He’s dead,’ Ali interrupted. ‘Hanged himself.’
‘Oh.’ She took a sip of whisky. Her eyes flashed with satisfaction. ‘Can’t say I’m saddened. Oh, don’t look at me like that. It just didn’t seem fair, you see, when he blurted out his story about how those two morons, Eugene and Henry, had raked everything up and he’d decided to deal with them because he was lovelorn. Bloody Eugene indulging in his guilty conscience. I’ll admit I got into bad ways at uni and was too keen on easy money, but you should be able to leave your youthful indiscretions in the past. I’ve done far more good in my adult life than a lot of other people — certainly considerably more than Eugene, who seems to have hung around bemoaning his fate. I’ve worked hard at becoming successful and shared that with charitable causes.’
‘Other people’s misery helped you to finance your road to success. A girl died,’ Siv said.
Yaz Ferris threw back the rest of her whisky. ‘Spare me the sermon. I honestly don’t feel responsible and I’d no idea at the time. That happened because Eugene Warren was a fool. I couldn’t stand him when he was a customer. Jumped-up loudmouth. He nagged me to get that E for him, and in the end I did, just to shut him up. I wasn’t one of your evil pushers. Just enough harmless weed to supplement my student income. So, how did you get to hear Saul’s lies about me if he killed himself?’
‘He left a confession,’ Siv told her.
Yaz rolled her eyes. ‘How awfully old-fashioned.’
‘He wanted Diane Lacey to know the truth. He thought of her as family.’
‘Oh, yes, Saint Diane. He certainly had her on a pedestal.’
Siv couldn’t conceal her dislike of this arrogant woman. It was all about her. No mention of grieving families and friends, or of broken lives.
‘Diane is in bits. She was genuinely fond of Saul and interested in his life, his career. She thought of him as the son she might have had.’
Yaz had a hard expression. ‘How touching, but she was fooling herself. She could have found a more promising protégé. Saul wasn’t very bright, you know. He had ideas about himself. Seemed to think I’d give him a job when he got his MBA. That wasn’t going to happen.’ She raised her empty glass to the light. ‘Better not have another, I suppose. Clear head and all that. . .’
Siv eased her scarf from her neck. ‘What was your next move going to be then, after this?’
She replied innocently, ‘Once I’d recovered from the shock and felt safer, I was going to call you, of course, explain everything.’
‘Sorry to have interrupted your convalescence,’ Siv told her.
She fixed her gaze on Siv. ‘I could tell you were sharp. Takes one to know one. I really do like your origami, by the way, I’d love to learn to do it. I wasn’t bullshitting about that. I would have offered you a commission in time.’
‘I’d say that’s irrelevant now,’ Siv told her. Hopefully, the bullshit you’ve just come out with won’t wash and you can teach yourself the art of folding in prison. It will help pass the long ho
urs.
‘Yep. How did you find me? Come on, don’t keep me in suspense.’
Siv stood. ‘We need to go. You’d better put the fire out and lock up. This hut will be empty for a long time.’
* * *
They finished dealing with Yaz Ferris and her canny solicitor late the following afternoon. She was in custody, pending a decision by the Crown Prosecution Service. Siv went to Mortimer’s office when he buzzed her.
‘It’s with the CPS now,’ Mortimer said. ‘It’s difficult to know how they’ll call it. The only hard evidence is Saul Robbins’s confession. They’ll have to weigh up if it’s admissible. With Warren, Kilgore and Robbins dead, it’s a tough one.’
‘Yes, sir. Ms Ferris’s solicitor has already queried Robbins’s state of mind when he wrote it. Her team will certainly argue that it’s unreliable and a false confession where she’s concerned. Then there’s the problem that she never called Robbins from her phone. She probably used burner phones, and his calls to her could be explained as being related to her mentoring. She’s lying when she claims that Robbins went to her home and intimidated her. I’m sure he made that last call to her, to a burner. She stated that Robbins knew where she lived because he called by not long ago to discuss an essay. Of course, that will handily give us some of his DNA in her flat, backing up her story that he visited her to issue threats before he hanged himself. Other than that, she said that they only ever met at the Generate offices. She’s covered a lot of angles, and Robbins’s suicide has actually helped her.’
Mortimer steepled his fingers. ‘She was clever, responding to the police appeal about Kilgore’s meeting in the Three Swans. Puts her in a good light, possibly. Astute too, admitting to past drug dealing, so looking as if she’s shouldering some responsibility, while subsequently doing her best to make amends. She may be clever enough to dodge this bullet, despite the fact that she ran.’
‘She and her solicitor made great play of her utter shock at Robbins’s appalling lies.’ Siv frowned, contemplating the odds. ‘The very least I’m hoping for is a successful prosecution for drug dealing.’
‘Indeed. Well, we’ve done what we can for now.’
Siv liked that we. She waited. ‘I’ll tell the team you’re pleased then, Sir.’
‘Yes, yes, of course. Please do. Clearly, there were cock-ups along the way, but overall, a decent enough result.’
Back in her office, Siv stood at the window. She’d spoken to Tara, Imelda and Saffie, listened to their tears. Nothing she said could console them. The prospect of some measure of justice was cold comfort at such a time. It had been a long day. She rubbed condensation from the glass. Sleet was falling from a stone-coloured, forbidding sky. This dour, harsh month was almost over and she was sick of it, couldn’t wait for it to be gone. On the way home, she’d shop for spicy and vivid foods: pimentos, aubergines, beetroot, red onions and cabbage, blueberries, raspberries, crimson apples. She’d no idea what she’d make with them. She just wanted her wagon to be filled with colour. A plant too. Something big, blowsy and joyous. She recalled one she’d seen at Nutmeg. It had long green stems with beak-shaped flowers in orange, yellow and blue — Bird of Paradise, that was it. She must have one. Something shifted inside her, like ice melting. Maybe a hint that she could finally enjoy life again.
She picked up her phone and considered. She’d never yet invited anyone to her tiny home. Time for a step forward. She wrote an email to Hope Merrick.
Don’t die of shock at this invitation. You might be busy, but if not, would you like to come round tonight for a bite to eat?
Her finger hovered. She pressed Send.
THE END
ALSO BY GRETTA MULROONEY
DETECTIVE INSPECTOR SIV DRUMMOND SERIES
Book 1: THESE LITTLE LIES
Book 2: NEVER CAME HOME
Book 3: MURDER IN MALLOW COTTAGE
THE TYRONE SWIFT DETECTIVE SERIES
Book 1: THE LADY VANISHED
Book 2: BLOOD SECRETS
Book 3: TWO LOVERS, SIX DEATHS
Book 4: WATCHING YOU
Book 5: LOW LAKE
Book 6: YOUR LAST LIE
Book 7: HER LOST SISTER
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GLOSSARY OF ENGLISH USAGE FOR US READERS
A & E: accident and emergency department in a hospital
Aggro: violent behaviour, aggression
Air raid: attack in which bombs are dropped from aircraft on ground targets
Allotment: a plot of land rented by an individual for growing fruit, vegetables or flowers
Anorak: nerd (it also means a waterproof jacket)
Artex: textured plaster finish for walls and ceilings
A levels: exams taken between 16 and 18
Auld Reekie: Edinburgh
Au pair: live-in childcare helper, often a young woman
Barm: bread roll
Barney: argument
Beaker: glass or cup for holding liquids
Beemer: BMW car or motorcycle
Benefits: social security
Bent: corrupt
Bin: wastebasket (noun), or throw in rubbish (verb)
Biscuit: cookie
Blackpool Lights: gaudy illuminations in a seaside town
Bloke: guy
Blow: cocaine
MURDER IN MALLOW COTTAGE an addictive crime thriller with a twist you won’t see coming (Detective Inspector Siv Drummond Book 3) Page 31