Fever of the Bone

by Val McDermid

  ‘And he never regretted it?’

  ‘Not as far as I know. He never dared tell Diane, though. She was mad for a baby, especially this last three or four years. Warren said she was doing his head in with it. On and on. The only thing that would do. And because he hadn’t told her at the start about having the snip, it got so he couldn’t admit to it. Especially since he’d told her right early on that he’d been a sperm donor. It was laughable, really. There they were, trotting off to the fertility clinic and he wasn’t letting on about his vasectomy. In the end she tried using donor sperm, but it was too late by then. She’s half a dozen years older than him, so she was already the wrong side of forty and her eggs were well and truly fried.’

  ‘And she never found out?’ Tony asked casually.

  ‘Are you kidding? If she’d have found that out, she’d have fucking killed him.’

  Tony stared into his pint. ‘That’s exactly what I was thinking, ‘ he said.

  CHAPTER 42

  Carol stared at Tony, clearly astonished. ‘A vasectomy? Are you serious?’

  ‘As serious as I’ve ever been. Warren Davy had a vasectomy when he was in his early twenties.’ He’d found Carol in the observation room with Paula, talking over strategies for the next interview with Diane Patrick.

  ‘So how did she manage to have his child last year?’ Paula asked.

  ‘She didn’t,’ Tony said. ‘It’s the big fat lie that underpins all her other lies. Take that away and the whole story falls apart. No grounds to fear for her life. So why is she helping Warren to kill his children?’ He looked eagerly at them both, flapping his hands upwards like a teacher encouraging an answer from his pupils.

  The two women exchanged perplexed looks. ‘She’s not?’ Paula ventured.

  ‘Right answer,’ Tony said.

  ‘But she picked up Ewan McAlpine and drugged him,’ Paula said. ‘There’s no getting away from that.’

  Tony play-acted disappointment. ‘Right answer, wrong reasoning. She’s not helping Warren. She’s doing it off her own bat.’ He cocked his head and looked up at the corner of the ceiling. ‘She probably killed Warren first, come to think of it.’

  ‘You’re going to have to back up a bit here,’ Carol said. ‘I’m struggling with this.’

  ‘It’s horrible, but simple. Her biological clock started ticking. She wants a baby, but not any old baby. She’d become obsessed with having Warren’s baby. I mean, really obsessed. The kind of obsessed that wants to ram cars with a “baby on board” decal because they’ve got what she doesn’t. She knows Warren was once capable of fathering children because he was a sperm donor, so he’s got to be a prime candidate. They keep trying to have a baby, but the years are drifting by and it’s not working. So they go to the fertility clinic and sooner or later they realise Warren’s firing blanks. They try donor sperm, but that’s not really what she wants. She wants Warren’s baby. But they’ve left it too late, and her eggs are past their sell-by. She’s devastated. Probably suicidal. With me so far?’

  ‘I think I’m just about managing to keep up,’ Carol said sarcastically.

  ‘Now we get to the bit I’m not sure about. Somehow, Diane discovered Warren’s dirty little secret - that after he’d done the sperm donor thing, he had the snip.’

  ‘Maybe she wondered how he lost his fertility. Or maybe she just can’t help herself. She’s the queen of hacking, isn’t she? All sorts of medical records are online now,’ Paula said. ‘Maybe she just likes to be the person who knows everything about everybody else in the room.’

  ‘Maybe. The key thing is that somehow she does find out. And that uproots her anchor to reality. She completely flips out. This man that she loves so much she wanted to have his baby and nobody else’s has betrayed her. Not only can he not give her a baby, he’s effectively stopped her having a child by someone else because they spent so long trying. Trying pointlessly. And to add insult to injury, he’s already fathered God knows how many little bastards.’ Tony was almost shouting now. ‘None of them deserve to live. Not that lying bastard Warren, not his brood of bastards.’

  Carol clapped her hands in a mild mockery of applause. ‘Lovely performance. And how do we prove any of it?’

  Tony shrugged. ‘Find Warren’s body?’

  ‘She’s too good for that,’ Carol said. ‘If you’re right, her long-term plan was probably to blame it all on Warren and either fake his suicide or pretend he’d gone underground. His body isn’t going to be anywhere obvious.’

  No one spoke for a couple of minutes while they contemplated their problem. Finally Paula said, ‘You could always beat a confession out of her, chief.’

  Carol managed a tired smile. ‘This isn’t Life on Mars, Paula. They don’t like us doing that any more.’

  Tony crossed the room and hugged Paula, who looked astonished. ‘But she’s right, Carol,’ he said, stepping back. ‘Not with fists but with words.’

  ‘You’re the only one who can do that,’ Carol said. ‘And Diane Patrick’s got Bronwen Scott. No way is she going to let you in the room.’

  ‘She can’t keep me out of your ear, though.’

  Tony watched as Carol and Paula walked into the interview room. Bronwen Scott, who had been leaning over and talking to her client in a low voice, sat up straight. Carol sat down and slammed her file on the desk. ‘When did you find out about Warren’s vasectomy?’ Carol demanded.

  Diane Patrick’s eyes widened.

  ‘Beautiful,’ Tony said into the mike. ‘Hit her again.’

  ‘Let me ask you again. When did you find out that Warren Davy had had a vasectomy?’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Diane had opted for fearful and piteous. Tony didn’t think that was going to work for long.

  ‘Warren Davy had a vasectomy fifteen years ago. You do know what a vasectomy is, Diane?’

  ‘Of course I do,’ she said. ‘But I don’t believe you. I had his baby.’

  Carol snorted. ‘Oh yes. The mythical baby. It’ll be interesting to see what your medical records say about that.’

  ‘My client has already explained that Mr Davy kept her away from medical intervention when she was pregnant,’ Scott interrupted. ‘I see no need to go over this again.’

  ‘Tell her there was no baby,’ Tony said. ‘Tell her, not ask her.’

  ‘There was no baby. There couldn’t have been a baby because Warren Davy had a vasectomy when he was twenty-one. ‘

  ‘You’re badgering my client,’ Scott said. ‘Ask the question and move on.’

  ‘Ask her how,’ Tony said in Carol’s ear.

  ‘How did you have a baby with Warren after he’d had the snip?’

  ‘People do. I’ve read about it. People do have babies after that,’ Diane said. ‘If you’re right, which I don’t believe, that’s what must have happened.’

  ‘Ignore her answer, Carol. Move on to how she couldn’t have a baby, how she’ll never have a baby.’

  ‘The truth is, you never had a baby with Warren. You’ve never had a baby. You can’t have a baby now. Face it, Diane. You’ll never have a baby. And if you can’t have Warren’s baby, nobody else is going to, either, are they?’ Carol’s tone was relentless, her eyes cold and unmoving. When Bronwen Scott spoke, Carol didn’t even look at her.

  ‘You’re bullying my client, Detective Chief Inspector Jordan. I insist that you ask a question,’ Scott said.

  ‘I just did,’ Carol said. ‘I’ll rephrase it, though. You don’t want anyone else to have Warren’s child, do you, Diane?’

  ‘Those children are nothing to do with me,’ Diane said in a low voice.

  ‘Remind her that she’ll never have his child,’ Tony said. ‘Because he didn’t love her enough.’

  ‘They’re the children you’ll never have. The children you dreamed of. The children he gave to other women. But not to you. Do you think he kept the truth from you because he didn’t really love you?’

  ‘He loved me,’ Diane said.
Tony thought he could see the beginnings of anger in her face.

  ‘He didn’t love you enough to tell you the truth. He didn’t love you enough to have the vasectomy reversed. He didn’t want to have children with you, did he? When it came to carrying his child, he thought a total stranger was a better bet than you, didn’t he?’

  ‘Inspector, if you don’t stop this constant badgering, I am going to demand we end this interview now,’ Scott interrupted, putting a hand on Diane’s arm to shut her up.

  Tony was momentarily distracted by Kevin, who stuck his head round the door. ‘I think Carol might be able to use something I just dug up.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Tony was trying to focus on two things at once.

  ‘The council picked up a chest freezer for disposal from DPS yesterday. We’ll have our hands on it tomorrow morning first thing.’

  Tony grinned. ‘You’re a star, Kevin. Thanks.’ He tuned back in to what was happening in the interview room. Carol and Scott were still skirmishing. He didn’t think he’d missed much. He waited for a gap in the action then passed Kevin’s information on to Carol.

  Her smile was vicious. ‘You want questions, Bronwen? OK. Let’s have some questions. I’d like to ask your client why she asked the council to pick up a chest freezer from her place yesterday. ‘

  This time, the shock on Diane Patrick’s face was easy to read. ‘Because . . . because it was broken. It doesn’t work.’

  ‘We’re going to have our entire team of forensic technicians crawling over every square inch of that freezer,’ Carol said. ‘Will we find traces of Warren’s blood?’

  ‘I’ve told you.’ Diane’s voice was shrill now. ‘I don’t know where Warren is.’

  ‘When did you kill him, Diane?’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. Tell her, Ms Scott. I don’t know where Warren is and I didn’t kill him. I love him.’

  ‘Ask her if she noticed how the kids look like Warren. What hers would have looked like,’ Tony said.

  ‘Did you notice how the kids all looked like Warren?’

  ‘Of course they did. They were his children. His bad seeds, that’s what he called them. He’s the one who said they had to die, not me.’ She was shouting now, in spite of Scott’s hand on her shoulder.

  ‘Did they make you wonder how your child would have looked? If he’d let you have his child?’

  Scott pushed back her chair. ‘That’s it. I’ve had enough of this. My client is a victim of this evil man. Your bullying tactics are entirely unacceptable. When you have some evidence, come and talk to us.’

  ‘Remind her that she failed,’ Tony said. ‘She’s the last of the line but he’ll go on.’

  Carol ignored her and stared at Diane Patrick. ‘You’ve failed, haven’t you? You only got four of them. The rest of them, they’re out there. Taunting you. The children you could never have. They’ll grow up, Warren’s children. They’ll carry his bloodline. But when you die, they’ll draw a line. The bad seed ends with you. You and your barren womb.’

  Diane’s teeth drew back in a snarl and she threw herself across the table at Carol. But Bronwen Scott was fast, and she grabbed her client. ‘It’s OK, Diane. Take it easy. Don’t let her get to you. They’ve got nothing, that’s why she’s trying to provoke you.’

  The tension of the moment was broken by a knock on the door. Stacey came in and identified herself for the benefit of the tape. ‘I need to talk to you for a moment, ma’am,’ she said formally.

  Carol suspended the tapes and followed Stacey into the hallway. Tony rushed out of the observation room to join them. ‘What is it, Stacey?’ Carol said.

  ‘Kevin’s been talking to DPS clients,’ she said. ‘He was checking the calls from DPS’s phones, making sure they were client calls and not something more sinister. Anyway, Kevin thought while he was on that he’d check the last time they’d seen Warren Davy. And he made a note of all the times. When I realised what he’d done, I ran a check against the times when we know the killer was on Rig, chatting to his victims. And the places he was sending his messages from. And a clear pattern emerges. Warren has solid alibis for at least twenty of the online sessions. He couldn’t have been stalking the victims. He was with clients in completely different locations.’ She handed Carol a sheaf of paper. ‘That’s where Warren was. And that’s where the messages were being sent from at the same time.’

  Carol tipped her head back. ‘Halle-fucking-lujah.’

  ‘So much for breaking her with psychology,’ Tony said wryly.

  Carol patted his shoulder. ‘We softened her up. Now for the sucker punch. I’m going to enjoy this.’

  CHAPTER 43

  Tony pulled his tie off as he came through the front door, tossing it over the banister. He walked straight through to the kitchen and poured himself a tumbler of water, drinking it straight down. He stood leaning on the sink, staring at nothing. He’d left Carol and her team drinking in the back room of their favourite Thai restaurant. He understood their need to release the fearsome pressure of a multiple murder inquiry, but he couldn’t join in their celebration.

  For him, there was nothing to celebrate in the final disintegration of Diane Patrick. That screaming, gibbering wreck had once been a competent, successful woman with a career and a relationship. A single obsession had taken control of her, obliterating everything else. And when she had finally understood not only that it couldn’t happen but that it had been taken from her by the one person she truly loved, something inside her had become unhinged. For most people in that state, it would have been enough to have killed Warren Davy. And if that had been all, she might have found a measure of forgiveness in the system, the balance of her mind having been well and truly disturbed by the appalling betrayal of her lover.

  But Diane Patrick’s obsession had been so overwhelming, so deep-seated a need that she had to obliterate him utterly. And that meant destroying the children who had been created with his genes. It was utterly unreasonable yet entirely comprehensible. But the system didn’t have room to accommodate the complexities of human fixations, not when they included murdered children. Diane Patrick would never see freedom again. She’d end up somewhere like Bradfield Moor, if she was lucky, a maximum security prison if she wasn’t.

  It wasn’t that he thought she should avoid some kind of retribution for her crimes. But he couldn’t help feeling pity rather than hatred. He wondered how he would have coped with the hand she’d found herself looking at.

  It didn’t bear thinking about.

  Tony pulled off his jacket and dumped it on the back of a kitchen chair. He took a beer from the fridge and sat down at the table. The downlighters under the kitchen cabinets glinted on something half-hidden in the drift of paper on the table. Unthinking, he reached for it and found the digital recorder Arthur had left for him. He stared at it long and hard. This whole case had been about fathers and children, he reminded himself. And at the heart of it had been ignorance.

  There was nothing clever about avoiding knowledge. He’d known that all along. He just hadn’t been ready for it. He picked up his beer and went through to his study, where there were comfortable padded headphones. Tony plugged them in to the tiny recorder and settled down in his favourite armchair. The other chair was still sitting opposite, left from his exercise with the mind of the killer the other night. He imagined Arthur sitting there, and pressed play.

  ‘Hello, Tony. This is Arthur. Or Eddie, as I used to be known back when I was walking out with your mother in Halifax,’ he began. His voice was light and musical, still threaded through with the Yorkshire accent of his youth. ‘Thank you for being willing to listen to what I have to say.

  ‘There’s nothing I can say or do that will make up for not being part of your life. To begin with, I didn’t know you existed. When I left Halifax, I cut off all ties. I’ll explain why in a bit. So I knew nothing about your birth. Fourteen years later, I was on holiday in Rhodes when by sheer chance I ran into a couple who used to
work in my factory in Halifax. Of course, they knew me straight away. There was no point in trying to deny who I was. They insisted on buying me a drink and bringing me up to date with all my old employees.

  ‘They’d moved to Sheffield with the new company, but they had family back in Halifax so they’d kept in touch with things back there too. They remembered I’d been engaged to Vanessa, and they talked about what a polite young lad her boy had turned into. Not like most teenagers, they remarked. It didn’t take much working out to realise that if Vanessa’s lad was already a teenager, there was a good chance you were mine.

  ‘But I’ve never been one to jump to conclusions. And so I didn’t allow myself to hope, not really. When I got back from my holiday, I hired a private investigator to find out what he could about you. He tracked down your birth certificate and he took some photographs of you. The dates were right, and you looked a lot like I did at your age. I was amazed. I was overjoyed. There was no doubt in my mind that you were my son.’ Arthur’s voice trembled and Tony pressed pause. His eyes were damp and he could hardly swallow. He forced a mouthful of beer down and carried on listening.

  ‘Then it dawned on me that there was nothing I could do about it. Vanessa had clearly decided we weren’t to know about each other. I was afraid if I tried to come into your life, she would somehow take it out on you. And I knew she was capable of it.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Also, I was afraid of the effect it might have on you. You were doing well at school and I didn’t want to interfere with that. Fourteen’s an awkward age. You might not have welcomed me in your life. You’d have had good reason to be angry with the man who had abandoned you to Vanessa’s care. So I kept my distance. I like to think it was for your sake, but probably some of it was to do with me being cowardly. And I’ll explain why I had my reasons for that too.