by Val McDermid
'You killed Philip Carling? It was you?' This time, Charlie couldn't hide her shock.
'Of course. I was at the same conference as Jay that weekend. We had a drink together right after she'd bumped into Magda. She was on another planet. I did what anybody who really loved her would do. I made her happy.'
There was a long silence. 'You're telling me this because you're planning to kill me, right?'
Lisa's reply was forestalled by the ringing of Charlie's phone. Lisa pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen. 'Nick Nicolaides,' she said. 'Who's he?'
'Just a friend,' Charlie said, trying for casual.
'A friend? Really? Well, let's see what your friend has got to say to your voicemail.' She waited, holding the phone in front of her so she could keep Charlie in her eyeline. Before long, the voicemail chime rang out. Lisa pressed the icon to put it on speaker and listened intently, her expression darkening as the significance of the message dawned on her.
'Charlie, it's Nick. Amazing, but the telecom people got back to us. Jay made one call from the mountain. She was on the line for twelve minutes. The number she called is the landline for Lisa Kent. Isn't that the woman you were talking to about Jay? I think you might need to cover your back here. Call me when you get this.'
It could hardly have been worse, Charlie thought. Absolutely no prospect of talking her way out of this with a promise of silence now.
Lisa's top lip drew back in a sneer. 'Oh, Charlie, you couldn't leave well alone, could you?'
'What did you say to her, Lisa? Did you talk her into cutting the rope? Was that what the call was about?' Time to go on the attack, Charlie thought. Passivity wasn't going to get her anywhere now.
'She called me because it was on last number redial. She wanted me to alert the mountain rescue because she didn't have a number for them and her battery was low. I persuaded her that if they weren't there within two hours, she should cut the rope and save herself. Then I went shopping.' She grinned. 'It took me at least two hours to get round to calling them. Which was a good thing, because Kathy was being very difficult about the sale of doitnow.com.'
'I don't think cutting the rope made Jay very happy.'
Lisa shrugged. 'Temporarily, no. But it was best in the long run.'
There was no doubt in Charlie's mind that she was dealing with one of the most disordered personalities she'd ever encountered. That she had allowed herself to become besotted with her was deeply shaming. But then the sophistication and consistency of Lisa's delusion and her capacity for concealing it were remarkable. The problem now was that in order to maintain the integrity of her beliefs, Lisa would have to kill Charlie. It was time to start trying to save herself the only way she knew how. 'Killing me's a really bad idea,' Charlie said.
'I don't think so.'
'Lots of people know I've been investigating Jay. Nick Nicolaides. Maria. Corinna Newsam. If I turn up dead here, with Jenna's body, it points straight to Jay. You'd be putting her right in the firing line.'
Lisa laughed. It didn't sound in the least mad; more like an ordinary person who's heard a good joke. 'Good try, Charlie. But not good enough. You see, when Jay hid the body, she also took the murder weapon back home. Wiped it down and put it back where it belonged, in the shed in Howard Calder's yard. It's been there ever since.' She took a couple of steps back into the hallway and reached down with her left hand, never taking her eyes off Charlie. She reappeared, a cricket bat in her hand. 'Until this morning. And look, here, on the top of the flat side. Burned into the wood. H. Calder. It's probably still got traces of Jenna's DNA on it. Soon to be joined by your DNA.'
'Why would Howard kill me?'
'Obviously, because you found out he'd killed Jenna.'
Charlie shook her head, bemused. 'Why would Howard keep the murder weapon? As far as he was concerned, he left it at the scene of the crime. How would he deal with it turning up in his shed?'
'Good question. Jay reckons he thought the whole after-math of the crime was God doing him a favour. He must have been baffled by the disappearance of the body and the reappearance of the cricket bat. She always thought that's why he made such a big deal of hassling the police about Jenna's disappearance. He thought he was bombproof because God was on his side. He'd done God's work, getting rid of the sinner. Completely nuts, if you ask me.'
He wasn't the only one, Charlie thought. 'Nick knows about you,' she said. 'He's a police officer. He's going to ask some questions.'
'He'll be a voice in the wilderness. I'll get away with this, Charlie. Just like I always do.' She leaned the bat against the door jamb and took a step forward, raising the pepper spray. 'Goodbye, Charlie.'
'No, Lisa.' The voice came from the hallway. Lisa froze, a look of happy amazement spreading across her face. She half-turned as Jay Stewart walked into the room, the spray still pointing at Charlie but her eyes swivelling towards the door.
It was a half-chance for Charlie, but she didn't dare take it. She had no idea whose side Jay was on. Was she here to help Lisa or to save Charlie? Or something else entirely?
Jay looked beyond Charlie to the ruins of the wall she'd built nineteen years before and shuddered. 'Jesus,' she said, her face twisted in pain. 'I never imagined ...' Her voice trailed off and she dashed a hand roughly across her eyes. Then somehow she pulled herself together. Charlie saw her shoulders square and her jaw set. 'It's time for this to stop, Lisa. This isn't helping me. I don't want any more deaths on my conscience.'
Lisa's smile was strained for the first time. 'They shouldn't be on your conscience. They're not worth bothering about.'
Jay shook her head. 'We always end up on the opposite side on this one, Lisa,' she said sadly. 'We're not a superior species, you and me. We're human, just like the people you've killed. I want it to stop. That's what it's going to take for me to be happy.' She moved back towards the door, so Lisa couldn't watch both her and Charlie at the same time.
Lisa's head swivelled between them like a spectator at a table tennis game. 'You don't know what's best for you, Jay. You never have. That's always been the trouble.' She pounded on her chest with her free hand. 'I'm the one who knows. All over the world, people accept I'm the one who knows what's best. They come to my seminars, they buy my books. Because I understand, because I know what's best.'
Jay shook her head. 'I'm not arguing, Lisa. I'm done with this.' She held out her hand. 'Give me the spray.'
Lisa looked as if she was going to cry. The conflict between what she wanted to do and what Jay was asking of her was ripping her up. 'I can't do that,' she cried. 'You've got to trust me, Jay. Go, now. Just go. You don't have to be part of this. I'll deal with it. Like I always do.'
'I'm not going.' Jay took a step closer to Lisa, closing the angle and making it harder for Lisa to keep both women in her sights.
Suddenly Lisa pushed Jay in the chest, shoving her hard against the wall. 'I'm doing this for your sake,' she screamed, whirling round to face Charlie.
Charlie squeezed her eyes tight shut and threw herself at the floor. But instead of the aerosol hiss she expected, she heard a scuffle of feet, a thud and the clatter of something metallic hitting the wall. Then a voice shouting, 'No, Lisa.' A scream and the sound of bodies moving.
Charlie scuttled backwards till she hit the chimney breast then opened her eyes to see Lisa on the floor, struggling with Jay. 'Let go of me,' Lisa screamed. 'I'm doing this for you.'
Jay wrestled against her, grunting as Lisa elbowed her in the ribs. 'For fuck's sake, help me here,' she shouted.
Charlie hadn't been in a fight since she'd turned six, but the odds were decent and it was her life that was on the line, she reminded herself as she threw her body over Lisa's thrashing legs. She turned her head in time to see Jay land a punch that rocked Lisa's head back to hit the floor. Dazed, Lisa tried to swing her fist at Jay, but Charlie was able to grab her wrist.
And then it was all over. Lisa went limp, all fight gone from her. Without getting off her, Ja
y pulled the belt from her jeans. 'Tie her ankles up,' she ordered Charlie.
Feeling foolish, like a character in a bad TV show, Charlie did as she was told, then stood up. Warily, Jay eased herself up and away from Lisa, who turned her face away and hugged herself tightly. Her jaw was already red and swollen, a bruise in the making. 'I'm sorry,' Jay said, rearranging her clothes and running a hand through her hair.
'It's a bit late for that,' Charlie said. 'Four people dead because you didn't put a stop to her before now? Sorry doesn't begin to cover it.'
'So what happens next? You're going to wreck some more lives? And for what? Some crazy idea of justice? I know all about your relationship with justice, Dr Flint. There's four dead women whose families know all about it too.'
All the rage that Charlie had been keeping in check suddenly surfaced. 'Putting Lisa Kent behind bars will save lives. Mine, for example.'
'You know that's not necessarily true. Surely it's clear to you that she's mad as a box of frogs? You must have a colleague who'd agree with you that she needs to be sectioned. For her own safety. Look at her.' She pointed to Lisa, who was mumbling incomprehensibly into the carpet. 'If that's how she reacts to the small matter of me turning against her, I think it's safe to say you can demonstrate she's completely off her chops.'
Charlie shook her head. 'Her delusions are too organised. She'll get herself together and convince the powers that be that she's as sane as anyone can reasonably be expected to be. Then she'll be out, and who knows what she'll think is necessary then? There's no way round this, Jay. We need to call the police.'
'You'll be putting Howard Calder behind bars too.'
'It's where he should be. He killed your mother. Don't you care about that?'
Jay sighed and stared out of the window. 'I think Howard's inhabited his own personal hell for twenty years. Prison, punishment, pain - that would be a relief for him. So no, I don't want the law to extract its pathetic price from Howard. I'm happy for things to stay just the way they are.'
'You don't have the right to make that choice. There's a price we pay for being part of society. You don't get to make rules that apply only to you. I don't care how much money you have or how clever a businesswoman you are. The law isn't always fair. Nobody knows that better than me right now. But it's the best we've got. Now give me your phone.'
Jay shook her head. 'I can't do that, Charlie. I can't go to jail. It would kill me. Never mind what it would do to Magda. Who is the real innocent in all of this. When Corinna set you on this path, do you really think she wanted you to destroy her daughter's life? Because that's what you'll be doing.'
'Magda has the right to know the sort of woman she's living with.'
'Jesus,' Jay exploded. 'All I did was cover other people's backs. I never did anybody any harm. Except Kathy, and I tried to save her, I truly did. I'm not the bad person here.' She lashed out with her foot at Lisa's prone body. 'She's the killer, not me.'
'You could have stopped her. You could have saved lives.'
'You could have stopped Bill Hopton. You could have saved lives,' Jay shouted. 'Nobody's sending you to jail though, are they?'
'I couldn't stop him legally,' Charlie said, furious now. 'Because at that point Bill Hopton hadn't killed anybody. Unlike Lisa.'
Jay cast a quick look around, as if seeking inspiration. She turned to Charlie and gave her the full wattage of her charm. 'Look, here's a deal. Give me a head start. Twenty-four hours. Enough time to get out to somewhere we don't have extradition with. Somewhere decent, where Magda can join me.' Jay spread her hands wide. 'I'm not a criminal. Nobody's going to die because of me if Lisa's out of the way.'
Something inside Charlie's head snapped. She was fed up of being fucked around with. She'd had enough of being a scapegoat. She was tired of being dismissed as irrelevant and insufficient. She'd had more than enough of people who thought their desires were the only thing that mattered.
She let the slim metal canister she'd picked off the floor slide down into her hand, unnoticed by Jay, who had walked over to the window. 'You think you deserve that chance?' Charlie said, her voice tight and hard. As Jay turned to face her, she raised her hand and sprayed her with pepper.
Screaming and coughing, Jay collapsed on the floor, her hands over her face. 'You fucking bitch,' she spluttered.
'I'll do it again if I have to.' Charlie backed away from her and stepped over Lisa. She crouched beside her and said, 'You'll get the same if you try anything.' But it was an empty precaution. Right now, Lisa was too far inside her own head to hear. Charlie fished her phone out of Lisa's jacket pocket and moved into the hallway out of the way of any drifting pepper. A sudden tide of exhaustion rose through her, making her legs weak and her head swim. But there was something she had to do first. Wearily she dialled 112. 'I want to speak to the police,' she said. 'I want to report a murder.'
Eight months later
The three people at the table had converged on the Turkish restaurant from very different places. Detective Sergeant Nick Nicolaides had come from the Foreign Office, where he'd been briefed by a civil servant in the Spanish section. Maria Garside had come by taxi from Euston Station; the swift and regular Virgin Pendolino service from Manchester meant she could conduct most of an afternoon surgery and still make it to the capital in time for dinner. Dr Charlie Flint had come from a meeting in Holborn with the providers of her professional indemnity insurance.
'So, is it to be champagne?' asked Maria, first to arrive and impatient for a drink. 'I already ordered a running selection of mezze.'
Nick, who had bumped into Charlie in the doorway, raised an interrogative eyebrow. 'My meeting was just a confirmation of what we'd already heard. Which is definitely worth champagne. But I'm not drinking fizz unless Charlie got a result too.'
Maria gave Charlie a measured stare. 'Eight years on and she still thinks she can keep her secrets.' She grinned. 'I think it's a bottle of Bolly. Am I right?'
Charlie leaned back in her seat and let out a long breath. 'In the light of the GMC's decision that I acted throughout the Bill Hopton case with professional propriety, my insurers have agreed to settle all outstanding claims from the families of his victims. So yes, Nick, a result. And yes, Maria, definitely worth the Bolly.'
The smile that lit up Maria's face was even more welcome than the news had been. Only when the General Medical Council had dismissed the complaint against Charlie had she fully grasped how much stress her partner had been under. That Maria had asked so little for herself during their time in purgatory was a salutary reminder to Charlie of how lucky she was still to have her.
'Thank God,' Maria said as Nick waved to the waiter.
Once the champagne was on its way, they sat beaming at each other, enjoying the sensation of an ordeal survived. 'So what did the Foreign Office have to say?' Charlie asked.
'Lisa's lawyers tried to have her declared unfit to plead but the court wasn't having it.'
'That's not as surprising as it might seem,' Charlie said. 'When she's not actually rolling around on the floor gibbering, she's capable of simulating a high level of normality. There are very few situations in which she couldn't pass for acceptably normal.'
Nick pulled a face. 'Your idea of normal and mine are clearly not even close.'
'You never saw her at her most convincingly charming,' Maria said. 'You'd have totally fallen under her spell. Like her thousands of NV acolytes.'
'I'll have to take your word for it. Anyway, since the Spaniards were determined to go to trial, her legal team persuaded her to plead guilty. There really was no arguing with the forensics. Her DNA was all over the villa where Ingemarsson was killed. They had records of her ferry crossing and the hotel she stayed in near Santander. There was always a mountain of evidence. But they never had a suspect to test it against.'
'I can't believe she was so careless,' Maria said. 'It's as if she wanted to be caught.'
'Some killers do. But I don't think she was one of them.' Ch
arlie paused as the waiter poured the champagne. They toasted each other, then she continued. 'I think Lisa believed that she was invincible. That her cause was so patently right that she couldn't be stopped. It's a kind of magical thinking that some grandiose personalities indulge in. She was just lucky.'
'Bloody lucky,' Nick said bitterly. 'I still can't believe the bloody CPS, deciding there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute her for the shit she pulled over here.'
Charlie shrugged. 'By that stage, they knew the Spanish would do their dirty work for them. So, how long did she get?'
Nick looked sombre. 'Thirty years. Not much fun in a Spanish jail.'
'That's why her lawyer's already working on trying to get her transferred to a UK prison. And if he succeeds, I bet you a pound to a gold watch she'll do her time in a secure mental hospital rather than a prison.'
'How come you know what her lawyer's up to?' Nick demanded.
Charlie looked faintly embarrassed. 'Because I'm helping to build the case,' she said.
Nick looked astonished. 'She tried to kill you, Charlie.'
'I know. But she's ill.' Charlie fiddled with the stem of her glass. 'She can't be held responsible. The person who should be held to account and who never will be is Jay. That's why I've been making her sit down and take me through the history.'
'You've been sitting down with Jay Stewart?' Nick's voice rose an octave.
Charlie shrugged. 'Why not? She's got nothing better to do with her days right now. She might only have got a suspended sentence for concealment of a body, but it's made her persona non grata with the 24/7 shareholders. They kicked her off the board and she's having to lie low and lick her wounds. She might as well be talking to me.'
Nick shook his head in wonderment. 'You never cease to amaze me, Charlie. So what's she saying?'