“What are we going to do? We have to get out of here.”
I thought fast. It was tempting – very tempting – to leave him here to die like a stuck pig. The world would be a better place for his departure. But I wouldn’t let a dog die like that. And more important, it would be trouble for Mary. The biggest trouble there was.
“Kate, Kate! Listen to me!” Her eyes were in shock. I wasn’t sure I was getting through. I slapped her. She blinked.
“Kate, we’re walking out of here, now. I’m taking you somewhere safe. I’m going to call an ambulance for him. OK?”
She nodded. I took her under one arm and hauled her out of the flat and down the stairs. We emerged into the murk and plunged off in the direction I thought was Mary’s. In the fog I missed the turning twice, but on the way blundered into a telephone box. I pushed Kate in with me while I called 999. She was unresisting and stood looking dumbly at me as I gave the address to the operator. I could do nothing more for Herbert Wilson. Even though I now knew he wasn’t the killer, he certainly wouldn’t get my prayers.
TWENTY FOUR
“Tea, Mary, please. And brandy. Make that two.”
I made Kate sit down in Mary’s parlour. She began to shake, and I sat staring at her perfect face, blotched and stained with running eye make-up. The mark I’d made on her cheek was a livid pink. Her shoulders convulsed as quiet sobs hit her. She tore off her hat and bent her head into her hands. The cap of hair gleamed in the tarty room like a platinum ball in a toy shop. I wanted to go over and put my arms round her but at the same time wanted her to suffer for a while. I felt a cold anger at what she’d done to herself. And me.
Mary came back with steaming cups and balloon glasses swirling with dark pools. She sat beside Kate and touched her. Kate jumped and sat up, panic and wretchedness all over her face. She looked a beautiful, ravished mess.
“You drink. Brandy first, then tea.”
Kate took the glass and sniffed it suspiciously. Then she took a great gulp. She coughed and retched and finally fell back on her chair. She glared at me.
“Where is this? Who is this person?”
“I’m surprised you don’t recognise it. You’re in a whorehouse. This is the madam. Mama Mary. Be nice to her, Kate. She’s being nice to you.”
“Is this your idea of a sick joke? What are we doing here?”
“This is a sanctuary. For one thing, you were in shock. For another, I have questions I need answers to.”
“I can’t take any more, McRae. I just want this all over.”
My voice got harder. “So do I, Miss Graveney, so do I. You started it, remember.” She looked fearful again, as though I was going to leap over and hit her. I took advantage.
“Why did you do this, Kate? Why did you get involved with Jonny Crane?”
She looked at me from a long way off. I wasn’t sure if she’d ever come back. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Because I’m lower class? Because it’s only something rich folk would get up to? Bored with cocaine, Kate?”
She took another big gulp of brandy. This time it went down easily. She took a deep breath and rested her head back on the chair. Her throat was exposed, thin and vulnerable.
She spoke to the ceiling. “It was a game. It started as a game. Tony and me.”
“A game? You mean like cowboys and Indians? Or maybe doctors and nurses?”
“Stop it! You make it sound so cheap.”
“Chess then?”
She shook her head at my sarcasm. She wasn’t ready to tell me.
“All right, when? When did it start?”
“Oh, ages ago.” Her words were already slurring, what with the shock and the booze. “We were children. He was showing off, trying to impress me. God, the things we did.”
I could imagine. I could see the pair of them, her with all her privileges and him desperate to stay up with her and keep her interested. “When did you become lovers?”
She lifted her head and stared defiantly at me. “Why, Mr McRae, I do believe you’re jealous.”
“Why should I be? When I could have bought you?” The words came out without thinking. She looked lashed. Tears formed in her eyes again.
“Good hit, McRae. Good hit.” She took a handkerchief out of her bag and dried her eyes. She sipped at some tea, ignoring Mary sitting beside her. Mary was giving me daggers.
“Well, if you must know, we’re not. Tony has never slept with me.” She said it with so little emotion that I knew it was true. Bizarrely – in the circumstances – I felt a surge of pity for the young Tony Caldwell. Faced with this glorious, tantalising young woman, teasing him, leading him on all those years. And always being rejected. Always on a piece of string, always trying to impress, just in case she relented. And when he found out she was his half-sister, had that finally turned his mind?
I weighed up the next question. What she’d just told me made it easier. But did I need to ask it? Was I just twisting the blade? Or was it time that she knew?
“Did you know he was your half-brother?”
She gave me the look she reserved for shit on her shoe. “Don’t be stupid, McRae! What a perfectly stupid, stupid, cruel thing to say.”
“Mary, could we make a phone call?”
“Sure, Danny.” She got up, walked into the hall and picked up the handset. “Where you wanna call?”
“Hampstead 4032.”
“That’s Liza’s number! What are you playing at, you bastard?”
“When you get through, Mary, hand the phone to the lady here. And then she can ask the question herself.”
“Wait, wait!” Kate looked befuddled, as though she couldn’t take any more in. She pushed her hair back and tried to think. Mary stood waiting for my word. I got up and pulled Kate to her feet and into the hall. I took the phone from Mary. The operator connected us. Liza answered.
“Liza, don’t hang up. I have Kate here. She wants to talk to you.”
I gave her no chance to think. I stuck the phone in Kate’s hand.
Kate said carefully, “Liza? Hello, dear. Yes, I’m all right. No I’m not being harmed. No! Don’t call the police. Not yet. Liza, I have a question for you. It’s too silly for words.”
“McRae here tells me that Tony is… well, related to me. I know it’s perfectly silly and…”
She went quiet. If it was possible for her to become paler she did.
“No, no… But how… When…”
Then her voice went cool. “How long have you known, Liza?”
And now frosty. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I couldn’t make out Liza’s words. All I could hear was the steadily rising sound of a woman losing control. Liza sounded angry. As though it was all pouring out of her. Both ends of the conversation went quiet. Then Liza asked something.
“No, I’m all right. I’ll call you later. Bye, Liza.” She handed me the phone and looked at me with despair and grief.
“What a mess we’ve made of it all, McRae. What a goddamn bloody mess. All those years…”
I said nothing. I let her blow her nose and gather herself.
“Cigarette?”
She nodded. I gave her one and lit it. She sat up and inspected my face as though guessing how I was taking all this.
“You asked me when Tony and I became lovers. We didn’t.” She took a long pull and blew the smoke out at me. “But did you ask Liza the same question?”
The idea hung in the air like dirty linen. Yet suddenly it made sense. Sort of. In this nightmare of twisted relationships, it made sense. It explained why Liza was willing to go out on a limb for Tony, why she would lie, why she would pretend to be his wife. Maybe that’s what she’d have liked. It explained the harem-like bedroom in Liza’s house, god help her. And there was Tony in the middle, manipulative Tony, spurned by Kate, taking cold comfort with Liza. Both women lying to each other for his sake.
I asked softly, “How did Wilson get involved?”
She shook her head
.
“Tell me.”
She rubbed her streaked face. How had I found it beautiful?
“It was all supposed to be controlled by Jonny. He was supposed to…”
“… vet your clients?”
She nodded.
I pressed on. “But Wilson got past the vetting.” It wasn’t kind. “I heard him, Kate. I heard him blame Tony.”
Her face crumpled. She burst into tears as though her body would explode. I let her sob and weep until there was nothing left in her.
“I thought it was Jonny. That Jonny was using me to buy him off. It was horrible, just horrible. Wilson…” Her chest was heaving, she couldn’t get the words out. “He… hit me. He knew who I was. He enjoyed it. He hit me…”
I couldn’t resist the shot. “I thought you liked it rough?”
She started to wail. “Noooo. Oh no. It was all a game…”
The game again. I kept on at her, wanting to hurt her. “Wilson didn’t play by the rules, did he?”
“He was filthy, a pig. He forced me. He used his handcuffs!” She was outraged, close to hysteria, gripping her wrists and shaking. “Then he hit me with his belt. He kept hitting me! Is this what you want? Are you enjoying this, McRae? Like hearing dirty stories? Because it gets dirtier! He gagged me. And he stuck things in me. Because he couldn’t! He stuck… he stuck… oh Christ!”
I felt pity, then shame for forcing this out of her. I thought of Wilson lying impaled on the shaft of wood. I wondered which of them had been more violated.
I said softly, “Enough, Kate. Enough. I’m nearly done. Tell me about the gun. The gun I left with Millie.”
She peered at me through glassy eyes. “Tony took it. He went out. I assume he gave it to Wilson. Wilson did the rest.”
“That’s not what Wilson said. He said Tony had tipped him off. That I’d phoned Tony to boast about another killing.”
She looked hunted. “I don’t know anything. Nothing. Tony didn’t mention it.”
“You don’t know me too well, Kate, but does it strike you that I would have called Tony up with that news?”
She just stared at me sullenly.
“Well, let me tell you that I didn’t, and I didn’t kill the girl. And if I didn’t, who did? Who killed her, Kate? And all the others?”
She shook her head. She wouldn’t look at me. “I don’t know!”
“I think you do. When did they start? Why did he do it?”
She shook her head again. “I can’t say any more. I just can’t!”
“You might as well get used to it, Kate. Because the police and the judge will be asking you the same questions. They hang accessories to murder.”
Her eyes widened, but she sat back with her arms folded as though hell would freeze over before she’d say another word. Mary, who’d sat uncharacteristically quietly all this while – scowling at me – took the cold tea cups and empty glass away. She came back and touched Kate on her shoulder. Kate raised her stricken face to Mary’s.
“You come with me, lady. Fix your face.”
Kate looked uncertain. I shrugged. I knew when an interrogation was going nowhere. Besides, I was sure of my man now. All I’d have to do was prove it. Or get him to admit it.
“Come, lady.”
Kate rose to her feet, towering above Mary’s tiny frame. Mary took her hand and led Kate, unresisting, out the door and down the corridor to the bathroom.
I sat back and sipped my own drink. I felt empty. All a game, she said. Five dead women was a high forfeit. I wondered if Wilson was alive. I didn’t much care. I thought about Tony Caldwell, somewhere out there, hunting me. I had to act first. Was it time to set Jonny’s hounds on him? Perhaps. But I needed to see him first. Needed to have him tell me his side. If there was a side.
Doc Thompson used to say that you could be affected for life by what happens to you when you’re young. Freud and Jung and others all seemed to hand out excuse notes for any evil act. It cut no ice with me. You’re not telling me that every single guard in every one of the hundreds of concentration camps across Europe had their toys taken from them as kids? Or if they did, it was any sort of half-arsed excuse for the pain they inflicted?
We have choices. Some of us more than others. Colette told me she chose her profession; it was easy money and she didn’t find it so hard. The men were usually pretty grateful. I know I was. But she also recognised she didn’t have much choice; she had no skills, could barely read, and needed money to pay the rent.
Kate had every choice. She was rich, beautiful and smart. Maybe too smart. An intelligence that was looking for something to engage it, stave off the boredom of the cocktail circuit. Don’t tell me she had an unhappy childhood. Not by the standards of ninety-nine percent of the world. The old Scottish phrase came back to me: Ye’ve made your bed, now lie in it. No excuses, no blaming somebody else; you caused this, take responsibility for what you did and get on with it. It was a tough creed and seemed uncaring, but it worked, mostly.
Mary came back into the room leading Kate. Kate looked better. The streaks were gone, she had on fresh make-up and her hair was brushed and gleaming. But there was no hiding the puffiness round the eyes. Or the haunted look in them.
Kate sat down. “Thank you, Mary. You’ve been very kind.” She turned to me. “Mr McRae, I want to go home now. I think you’ve got what you wanted, don’t you?” Her tone wasn’t humble, but neither was it haughty.
“Danny will do. I think we’re past the formal stage.”
She weighed me up and shrugged. “Very well, Danny – what next? What about the police and Jonny Crane and…”
“Tony? First off, I don’t know if Wilson is alive or dead. And if he’s alive, how long he’ll take to come after me. He may not remember much of what happened back there.” I smiled. “I think you’re off the hook though. I don’t think he’ll bother you, not with what I can say about him and what he’s been up to. As for Jonny Crane, he doesn’t know anything about today or your part in it, remember? I arranged for you to come to the flat this afternoon. Crane thinks of you only in the past tense.” I couldn’t help adding, “I’m sorry for what I put you through.”
She studied me as if she were seeing me for the first time. She nodded. “Thank you, Danny. What are you going to do about Tony? You know he’s looking for you? He’s got a gun. Another one. Our house is full of guns.”
“I’m going to help him find me. With your help, Kate. One phone call is all it will take.”
TWENTY FIVE
The fog was clearing as I walked down through Soho. Clumps still shredded themselves on St Martin’s spire and menaced the alleyway between the Strand and the river. As I crossed the Hungerford footbridge, a train gasped past me into Charing Cross leaving chunks of smoke clinging to the girders. Mist lay along the river like a dirty yellow blanket.
Kate had made the call, telling Caldwell what had happened this afternoon and that Wilson might be dead. Her voice was strained and clipped when she told him that Liza had revealed their three-sided relationship. Her anger fuelled two patches of red in her cheeks. I could hear Caldwell’s voice rising and accelerating as he begged for understanding. Kate cut off his bluster as though reprimanding a careless servant. She told him I wanted to meet him, just the two of us, and settle this thing. She didn’t tell him – because she didn’t know – that if I didn’t come back from the meeting, Mary had instructions to give his name to Jonny Crane. Tony seemed to have responded with alacrity. And now we were converging on the meeting ground. I’d chosen somewhere open but quiet, and with a queer resonance for this whole damned business.
I picked up a bus outside Waterloo station. We chugged through the patchy smog to Camberwell Green, past my office. I didn’t want to meet there; too cramped, too many police watching. I got off and made my way up Denmark Hill past the hospital. I seemed to be climbing out of the murk. The sign for Ruskin Park beckoned.
I climbed over the fence and started down towards the pond. From ther
e I’d be able to see people entering the park but it was far enough away to be private. Fog billowed through the trees, making it hard to follow the path. But the smell of decay led me easily to the stagnant water. I stood gazing into the mist, wondering if I could pull this off without getting shot. I went over my questions again and again, which is why I didn’t hear her coming.
“Hello, Danny.”
I spun round. My heart lifted. Valerie was walking towards me. She was wearing a long coat against the night, just like the first time.
“Hey, it’s great to see you, Val! I’ve missed you! Where have you been?”
“Where have I been? You’ve got half the police in the country looking for you and you ask me where I’ve been?” she laughed.
“It’s a long story, but it’s coming to an end. Tony Caldwell is the killer. He killed the girl in France and he killed the prostitutes here.”
She seemed a long way from being surprised. “See. I knew it wasn’t you, Danny.”
“But, Val, what are you doing here? How did you find me?”
“I’m here when you need me.”
“But you can’t stay here, Val. It’s too dangerous. Caldwell is coming to meet me. You mustn’t hang around. I don’t want you hurt.”
“Silly. I’ll be OK. I’ll give you moral support.”
Through the sound-dampening fog I heard the noise of a car wheezing up the hill and slowing. Then I saw the twin beams of light cutting through the heavy air, as the big Riley rolled to a stop by the park gates.
“It’s him, Val! You’ve got to go! I’ll be fine. I’ve got a gun, you see?” I dug into my pocket and pulled out the small calibre weapon Mary had given me. It was barely more than a starting pistol, but it would do the job. I hoped I wasn’t going to need it.
Val searched my face as though it was the last she’d see of it. She smiled sweetly then backed away into the mist.
I could see the car clearly. There were two people in it. Kate was at the wheel. She was staring straight ahead, her eyes unseeing. Caldwell was alongside her. She killed the engine and silence fell. She cut the beams of light and the car was left silhouetted by the masked glow from a streetlamp. High above me, the clouds cleared and the stars began to stutter into being. But down here wraiths still swirled and danced through the trees and across the pool.
Truth Dare Kill Page 21