Death Row
Page 29
‘Michael Hills was a very different person to Danny.’
‘What … a psychotic delusional pervert and a murderer, you mean?’
Kate nodded, smiling. ‘Yeah, that.’
‘No, I’m going to keep my life simple for a while, Doctor Walker. Concentrate on the job.’
Kate grimaced. ‘There’s a lot to be said for it.’
Sally looked around. ‘And where is the DI, anyway?’
‘I don’t know. He was supposed to be here half an hour ago but, as you know, Jack Delaney is a law unto himself.’
Sally nodded. ‘Literally.’
‘So are you going to have a go, reveal your hidden talents, Sally?’
‘No way. I am keeping my light firmly under a bushel.’
‘Talk of the devil!’ said Kate as Delaney came in and threaded his way through the crowds to them. ‘Where have you been, Jack?’
Delaney looked uncomfortable. ‘I had to sort out a few things.’
‘Like what?’
‘Something I haven’t told you. But I guess you need to know. You deserve the truth. You deserve that much.’
Kate’s smile vanished, her heart suddenly leaden in her chest. ‘What are you talking about? What’s going on?’
Delaney looked over his shoulder and Kate’s mouth dropped open as she saw Stella Trent walk through the crowded pub, the case in her hand banging into people as she made her way through them.
‘Stella Trent,’ said Sally, surprised.
‘In the flesh!’ said the Irish woman brightly.
‘What the hell is she doing here?’ asked Kate, little spots of colour forming on her cheeks as she glared at the man she thought she knew.
Delaney shrugged sheepishly, not responding.
‘Sweet Jesus, Jack! What’s going on?’
Delaney looked at her. ‘Remember what you said, about there being no secrets between us any more …’
‘Yes,’ said Kate, her stomach griping like a clenched fist.
‘It’s time you knew.’
Delaney took the case from Stella and headed to the stage.
Stella, nonplussed, smiled brightly at the two other women. ‘I’ve been giving him lessons.’
‘Oh my God!’ said Sally Cartwright. ‘He’s going to strip.’
Kate turned to look as Delaney popped the clasps on the case and took out a large acoustic folk guitar which he slung around his neck and then walked up to the microphone.
‘I don’t believe what I am seeing,’ said Kate in a low whisper.
‘Believe it,’ replied Stella Trent, still grinning. ‘It’s the Man in Black.’
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ said Delaney loudly. ‘I present to you the chord of A-major.’
He positioned his hands on the guitar and the room was completely silent as everyone turned to look at him. Disbelief written plain on every stunned face. Delaney stepped closer to the microphone, looked straight at Kate and started singing.
‘I keep a close watch on this heart of mine.’
Then he started to play the guitar.
‘I keep my eyes wide open all the time,
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds,
Because you’re mine, I walk the line.’
And Kate laughed and realised her hands were clapping and she was not alone: the whole pub was cheering and clapping as well.
Delaney smiled and carried on walking the bass with his thumb and picking out the melody with his fingers. His voice wasn’t a million miles from Johnny Cash’s.
‘Go, cowboy!’ said Kate, her voice still a whisper but with a smile as bright as a supernova.
And he did.
Death Row is a work of fiction, but the issues behind it are all too painfully real. Research studies show that between one-third and a half of abused children develop psychiatric disorders or other problems in the short or longer term.
Some three thousand children and teenagers under eighteen years old are, at any time, named on child-protection registers in England. Almost twice this number are registered at some point during the course of a year.
Around 40 per cent of these children are considered at risk of physical injury and some 22 per cent are at risk of sexual abuse. A further unknown, and probably large, number of young people experience abuse that does not come to the attention of the child-protection agencies.
More than 2,300 people were convicted in English courts during 1994 for sexual offences involving children under 16 years of age, and a further 1,700 admitted guilt and were cautioned.
Over 15,000 children and young people telephone ChildLine to talk about sexual and physical abuse.
The percentage of adults who experienced sexual abuse as children and have had long-term side effects is not known. However, in one British study 13 per cent of the sample of such adults reported that they had been permanently damaged. In another study, 20 per cent of women who had been exposed to sexual abuse as children were identified as suffering from mental health problems, predominantly depressive in type, compared with 6.3 per cent of the non-abused population. Similar increases in mental ill-health were found in women who had been physically or sexually assaulted in adult life. Another study found that almost half of the psychiatric in-patients studied, including both men and women, had histories of physical or sexual abuse or both.
(Statistics from Mind.org.uk)
From the Counselling Directory 2009
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Somebody once wrote that no Man is an Island, which is true unless of course it is the Isle of Man. And in a similar vein a book doesn’t just come out of the mind and efforts of one person alone. Many people have bought me drinks and given me copious advice at the bar whilst it was being written, and for the benefit of you, dear reader, I by and large ignored it. Some people, however, were useful: Mark and Maisie gave me the Annexe; John and Helen gave us the use of their lovely seaside home in a difficult time as the novel neared completion; Paul ‘Chabal’ Durrant gave excellent advice on Northern dialect; and Ron Cornell was adept at spotting continuity errors. Laura, Ellie and Woodsy, the best barkeep in North Norfolk, let me use their names and Robert and Lucy were both as good an egg as any you could find in a country farmhouse.
2009 started wonderfully and ended terribly, but Lynn, my dad and my family made all the difference.
In the main, the guiding lights for the safe passage of this novel came from the celestial beacons at Random House – namely Caroline Gascoigne and the Lone Star legend Tess Callaway!
The reader will note, as ever, that some places are real in the book and some are not.
Jack Delaney is going to try and walk the line, but London indeed is very real – and has a score or two yet to settle with him!
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW
Hard Evidence
Mark Pearson
Jackie Malone has been murdered. Her body lies in a pool of blood in the north London flat where she worked as a prostitute. Deep knife wounds have been gouged into her corpse and her hands and feet are tied with coat hanger wire.
For Detective Inspector Jack Delaney this is no ordinary case. He was a friend of Jackie’s and she left desperate messages on his answer phone just hours before she was killed. Despite no immediate leads and no obvious suspects, the fear in her voice tells him that this was not a random act of violence.
Just as Delaney begins his investigation, a young girl is reported missing, feared abducted, and he is immediately tasked with finding her. Delaney knows he must act quickly if there is any chance of finding her alive, but he is also determined to track down Jackie’s killer before the trail goes cold. However, his tough and uncompromising attitude has made him some powerful enemies on the force, and Delaney soon finds that this case may provide the perfect opportunity for them to dispose of him, once and for all …
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW
Blood Work
Mark Pearson
The first victim is a young woman found on Hampstead Heath. H
er throat has been slashed and her body mutilated. This horrifying discovery marks the beginning of Detective Inspector Jack Delaney’s toughest ever case.
When the expertly dissected body of a second young woman is discovered in a north London flat with a brightly coloured scarf tied around her neck, it suddenly becomes clear that a psychopath is on the loose. There is no apparent connection between the two victims and there are no clear motives – but the crime scenes tell a terrifying story.
Delaney, together with forensic pathologist Kate Walker, needs to act quickly and piece together the evidence in order to uncover the deadly pattern behind the murders. However, violent events from Delaney’s past are threatening to catch up with him, and he must stay one step ahead of his enemies if he is to stop the killer from striking again.
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW
Adam and Eve and Pinch Me
Ruth Rendell
‘Adam and Eve and Pinch Me went down to the river to bathe, Adam and Eve were drowned. Who was saved?’
This old nursery rhyme is a favourite of Jerry Leach, a handsome ne’er-do-well, who sponges off women.
Five women, unknown to each other, are his willing victims. One he even married and abandoned, while promising to marry another. But, with the cruel irony he would be the first to recognise in that nursery rhyme, Jerry becomes the victim of one of his female prey.
‘She is to be treasured.’
Anita Brookner, Spectator
‘Rendell is not only irresistible because of the brilliance of her descriptions of contemporary life and the sad truth of her characters. She is a great storyteller who knows how to make sure that the reader has to turn the pages out of a desperate need to find out what is going to happen next.’
John Mortimer, Sunday Times
‘Unequalled ability to build and sustain suspense’ Peter Guttridge, Observer
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW
Portobello
Ruth Rendell
‘Found in Chepstow Villas, a sum of money between eighty and a hundred and sixty pounds. Anyone who has lost such a sum of money should apply to the phone number below.’
The chance discovery by Eugene Wren of an envelope filled with banknotes would link the lives of a number of very different people – each with their own obsessions, problems, dreams and despairs. It would also set in motion a chain of events that lead to arson and murder.
‘It is Rendell’s superb sense of place that counts. She makes you smell the excitement and the desperation. Portobello is as brilliant as anything she has ever written’ Evening Standard
‘Rendell has a Dickensian empathy, informed by a prodigious love of London life. Her account, bursting with colour and vitality, is a treat to read’
Independent
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW
Cold in Hand
John Harvey
Two teenage girls are victims of a bloody Valentine’s Day shooting; one survives, the other is less fortunate …
It’s one of a rising number of violent incidents in the city, and DI Charlie Resnick, nearing retirement, is hauled back to the front line to help deal with the fallout.
But when the dead girl’s father seeks to lay the blame on DI Lynn Kellogg, Resnick’s colleague and lover, the line between personal and professional becomes dangerously blurred.
As Lynn, shaken by this very public accusation, is forced to question her part in the teenager’s death, Resnick struggles against those in the force who disapprove of his maverick ways. But when the unimaginable occurs, an emotional Resnick takes matters into his own hands. No one could have foreseen where this case would lead, and this time Resnick will need all his strength to see justice done …
‘Reveals modern England in all its most depressing messiness while engaging the reader with characters whose warmth and humanity give real pleasure’
Times Literary Supplement
ALSO AVAILABLE IN ARROW
Gone to Ground
John Harvey
Will’s first thought when he saw the man’s face: it was like a glove that had been pulled inside out …
Stephen Bryan, a gay academic, is found brutally murdered in his bathroom. Will Grayson and Helen Walker, police detectives investigating the case, at first assume that his death is the result of an ill-judged sexual encounter: rough trade gone wrong.
But doubts are soon raised. Bryan’s laptop has gone missing – could the murder be connected to a biography he was writing on the life and mysterious death of fifties screen legend, Stella Leonard?
Convinced there’s a link, Bryan’s sister Lesley sets out to prove that Bryan had uncovered a dangerous truth, and that – desperate to keep it hidden – Stella Leonard’s rich and influential family have silenced him.
But soon both Lesley and Helen Walker find themselves victims of the violence that swirls around them, as gradually the investigation uncovers the secrets of a family corrupted by lust, wealth and power …
‘Harvey is a master craftsman.’
Guardian
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Death Row
Praise for Mark Pearson
Also available by Mark Pearson
Friday Night
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Acknowledgements