Trial by Execution

by T. M. E. Walsh

  He felt sleep begin to take him.

  He’d give Raja some time. Time to realise it had been a terrible mistake. One tragic moment of misjudgement on his part. She needed time. Yes, time.

  Give her space… His thoughts turned to fog in his head.

  Go to sleep, he told himself. I’ll get out of this. Give her time.

  He prayed things wouldn’t look so bleak the next time he woke.

  *

  She was alone.

  She knew she had to move.

  Raja staggered to her feet. A gut-wrenching pain seared through her body with every step she took towards the hall table.

  With bloodstained fingers she reached for the telephone next to the mirror.

  She knocked the cordless phone from its cradle. She scrambled to pick it up, and pressed one number three times. When the operator answered almost immediately, she felt the relief rush through her.

  Soon she could get something for the pain.

  ‘Ambulance. Please, come quickly… My husband, Sean, he… he attacked me…’

  The operator took her details and asked her where Sean was now. Was he inside the house? Was she in any immediate danger?

  ‘He’s gone. He’s been drinking,’ Raja said. She felt woozy then, her head spinning. ‘He’s gone… I’m afraid he’ll hurt someone else… Please hurry. I think I’m going to be sick.’

  The operator told her to remain calm, help was coming.

  ‘Get me DCI Winters,’ she said. ‘Please… It was Sean,’ she said, tears falling down her bloodied face. ‘God help me, I lied for him.’

  CHAPTER 40

  Claire filled everyone in when they got back to the incident room, and saw the looks on their faces.

  She could tell what they were thinking and attention soon turned to Rupert Knox.

  ‘Throws up some speculation about Rupert’s apparent suicide,’ Elias said. ‘How confident are we that it was just that – suicide and nothing else?’

  Claire had been debating that in her head long before they’d known Crowley had been the last known person to see Knox alive.

  ‘The coroner is satisfied it was suicide. Nothing was found to be suspicious.’

  ‘Do we believe what he just told us?’ Stefan said.

  Claire shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. It all seems too perfect. Maybe it is. Maybe he’s telling the truth. Either way, we need to look again at the people who knew Knox was going to be released earlier than the public thought. Re-interview the staff at HMP Belmarsh and the hostel. If Crowley was tipped off, then we need to consider that Knox was set up. His being in the wood on that precise day and at that time was planned.’

  ‘Someone laid a trap for him, you mean? Got him there under false pretences?’ Elias said.

  ‘It’s a very real possibility.’

  Matthews came into the incident room then, out of breath as if he’d just sprinted up the stairs, rather than waiting for the lift as he usually did.

  ‘Guv,’ he said. ‘You’ll never believe what I’ve just heard… Raja Clarkson’s in hospital. Sean beat the hell out of her.’

  CHAPTER 41

  It was nearly two in the afternoon by the time Raja had discharged herself from the hospital, despite the advice that she stay in for observation overnight.

  Split lip.

  A broken nose.

  Feet cut to ribbons.

  Raja sat opposite Claire wrapped in a white, fluffy dressing gown. ‘He threw his glass on the floor,’ she said, tearfully. She sucked in a deep breath as she remembered. ‘I wasn’t thinking straight. I ran over it trying to get away from him.’ She looked down at her feet wrapped up in thick socks.

  Claire knew there were bandages underneath.

  ‘I never usually wear anything on my feet,’ Raja said. ‘Sean always nags at me not to go barefoot in the kitchen and I never listen… That’ll teach me.’

  Claire looked at her, unable to tear her eyes away from the frail young thing in front of her.

  As much as she tried not to stare at her face, she was drawn to it, the vivid colours of blue and purple stark against the rest of her pale skin.

  Raja looked Claire full in the face, not shying away.

  Black circles accentuated the bright-blue shade of her eyes. There was a deep, nasty-looking cut on the bridge of her nose, the edges flaky.

  She wasn’t wearing any cover-up make-up on her face, so her old scars added to her shocking appearance.

  ‘Raja, I’m so sorry,’ Claire said.

  ‘Did you hit me?’ she said, her voice cracked. Claire remained silent. ‘So why are you sorry?’ Her lower lip was rough with a dried, bloody scab.

  Claire felt the full weight of Raja’s sadness in that moment.

  Diana brought them some tea and looked at Raja with sympathy.

  Raja knew Claire was staring at her broken nose. ‘This will take a few weeks to heal.’ She sniffed, winced in pain and shrugged. ‘My throat feels so dry, breathing through my mouth like this.’

  She rested her hand on top of the Heart of Haverbridge newspaper on the sofa beside her. She’d taken time to tape it all back together after Sean had ripped it up. She thumbed at the corners, curled them back and forth. A sliver of wallpaper – a sample they had left over from when they’d decorated earlier in the year – slipped out from where it had been marking the first page of Adam Crowley’s exclusive interview with The Three. Raja tucked it back between the pages.

  Raja looked down at her feet. ‘I’ve had worse…’ she said when she felt Claire’s eyes on her. ‘That’s what Sean would say.’

  Claire frowned. ‘What he’s done is serious.’

  Diana took a seat beside Raja, watching over her like a protective mother.

  ‘We’ve put an alert out to the local media,’ Claire said. ‘We’ll find him, but I really do need to ask you some questions, Raja. Is that okay with you?’

  She nodded, slowly.

  ‘Okay, you said you argued about the article you did with Adam Crowley,’ Claire said.

  Raja nodded and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

  ‘Was there anything else?’

  ‘Isn’t that enough?’

  ‘I mean, was there anything else going on with him that might have made him act the way he did?’

  Raja shook her head. ‘I don’t know. He’s been acting strange for the last six months since we knew Knox was up for parole.’

  Claire took in her words, considering them carefully. ‘And before today, he’s never touched you like this? He’s never been violent?’

  She paused for a beat. ‘No, never.’

  Diana shifted on the sofa then and pulled a face.

  ‘Diana?’ Claire said.

  The woman looked at Raja and sighed. ‘Come on,’ Diana said. ‘The first time he’s touched you? Tell her. Tell her what I came back to the other day.’

  Raja looked to the floor and her face reddened.

  ‘Raja?’ Claire said.

  She cleared her throat. ‘A few days ago, we argued – Sean and I. It was over him wanting to leave for Dubai a week earlier than he’d originally planned. He got cross with me because I wanted him here, especially with everything going on.’

  ‘I was due to come in mid-afternoon, and when I arrived,’ Diana said, suddenly more animated, ‘I heard them in full swing, going at each other. It was awful. The windows were open. I heard Raja screaming at him to leave her alone.’

  ‘Where were you?’ Claire said.

  ‘Coming up the path towards the front door. The windows were open so I heard it all… and the language.’ She tutted. ‘You should’ve heard it.’ She shook her head and placed a hand on top of Raja’s as she cried fresh tears.

  ‘Raja came running outside then.’

  ‘I heard Di’s car pull up,’ Raja said through her tears. ‘I didn’t want her to get involved.’

  ‘Came running out the house, she did. Told me Sean had
been drinking, that he’d pushed and kicked her. She begged me to leave and said that she’d be all right.’ Diana paused as a wave of guilt swept over her. ‘I didn’t want to leave but-’

  ‘I insisted,’ Raja cut in. ‘Don’t blame yourself, Di. I made you leave.’

  ‘What happened after Diana left?’ Claire said.

  Raja sniffed noisily into her sodden tissue. ‘I let Sean be. I went to feed the dogs out the back, then locked myself in Laura’s room. She’s been away at her mother’s since Knox was killed. Sean wanted her away from all of this madness.’

  Claire wanted to ask her next question as carefully as she could. ‘In your phone call to the emergency services,’ she said, watching Raja’s reactions carefully, ‘do you remember what you said?’

  Raja sucked in a deep breath. ‘I think I said I was going to be sick… I remember feeling like I was going to be sick every time I moved. Paramedics said that was due to the shock of what my body had just gone through.’

  Diana bit her lip, fighting back tears. She smoothed Raja’s hair back, tucking strands behind her ear.

  ‘I listened to the call,’ Claire said. ‘You told the operator…’ She rifled through a few sheets of paper. ‘“Get me DCI Winters. Please. It was Sean… God help me, I lied for him.”’ Claire looked at Raja. ‘What did you mean that you’d lied for him?’

  Raja shook her head. ‘I don’t know, I…’ She dabbed her eyes. ‘Forgive me, I can’t think straight.’

  ‘Raja,’ Claire pressed. ‘This is important.’

  ‘I want you to know I wasn’t accusing him of anything.’

  ‘You lied for him? I don’t understand,’ Diana said.

  A tear rolled down Raja’s face. ‘When Knox was killed,’ she said. ‘Sean said we were here together… He lied. I lied.’

  She bent forward then, body wracked with uncontrollable sobs. ‘I lied, and I’m sorry. He wasn’t here. I don’t know where he was.’

  CHAPTER 42

  Raja stared down into her empty coffee mug, fingers gripping it tight. ‘Twelve years we’ve been married,’ she said, to herself more than to anyone else. ‘I don’t think I ever really knew him.’

  Claire had made several calls to the incident room in light of Raja’s confession that they she’d lied about Sean’s alibi when Knox was killed.

  When she came back into the living room, Raja looked up hopefully.

  ‘Have you found him yet?’

  ‘No,’ she said, taking a seat opposite her again. ‘When Helena and Tilly were killed, where was Sean?’

  Raja thought for a moment. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t think straight. My head…’ She felt a stabbing sensation in the base of her skull and winced with the pain.

  ‘Can’t we let her rest now?’ Diana said. ‘I have the dates in the diary when Sean was in London for work or here at the house working from home. I can show you.’

  Claire reluctantly nodded. She didn’t want to push Raja too much when she was already at breaking point. They needed her to help them, and for that, Raja had to have rest.

  ‘Do you think he killed Knox?’ Raja said, Diana helping her to her feet.

  Claire looked at her, square in the face. ‘Do you?’

  Raja looked away. ‘Of course not.’ Her eyes flicked back to Claire’s. ‘Yes, maybe… No, he can’t have. I would know.’ She paused. ‘Wouldn’t I?’

  Claire sucked in a deep breath. ‘I’ll call you in the morning,’ was all she managed. She headed towards the front door. ‘If you hear from Sean or if he comes back here, please call me immediately.’

  ‘Is he a suspect now?’

  Raja looked like her world was crashing down around her, judging by look in her eyes.

  ‘We need to speak with him,’ Claire said. ‘He has questions to answer. Plus, I assume you’ll go ahead and press charges for what he’s done to you?’

  Raja avoided her eyes then. ‘I don’t know… I shouldn’t have made him angry. I should never have talked to Adam Crowley in the first place.’

  ‘You are the victim here, Raja,’ Claire said, angry that the woman was having second thoughts. ‘This, what he did, was not your fault. He should face the consequences of what he’s done to you.’

  CHAPTER 43

  Danny Castle watched Skye as she busied herself around him, tidying up a pile of fabric samples in the corner of the room. The conversation he’d had with Skye’s mother just hours earlier was playing on his mind.

  She’d been surprised when he’d called her, questioning her about the dinner invite she’d given them. After some gentle prodding, she’d revealed that Skye had asked her to pretend the invite had come from her, if he questioned it.

  ‘Why would she do that?’ he’d asked.

  Skye’s mother hadn’t known.

  Danny knew, though. Hell, he’d half expected it, given how she’d been acting these last few months. Aloof one minute, all over him the next.

  She’d taken to being very secretive and protective about her mobile, her social media accounts, even her work emails. She had password-protected her email account.

  Sean could have got IT to unlock it for him, but he’d felt guilty at the thought of going behind her back.

  His girlfriend was having an affair. He was sure of it.

  His head told him to confront her, but his heart said to let her come to him. If she felt anything for him at all, she’d have come clean with him if she was unhappy, surely?

  Skye was staring at him.

  Danny realised she’d been talking to him but he had been deep in his own thoughts.

  ‘What was that?’ he said.

  She flapped, rolling her yes. ‘You never listen.’ She passed him a file of wallpaper samples. ‘These were the new designs I picked up earlier today.’

  He didn’t take them from her, just stared, face blank.

  Skye gave him an odd look. ‘Okay,’ she said, ‘I’ll leave them here for you to look at.’ She placed the file on his desk.

  ‘I spoke to your mum earlier,’ he said, before he could stop the words.

  Skye’s exterior was cool and calm. Except for her eyes. She never could hide the truth in them. He looked into them now and saw the doubt.

  ‘Any gossip?’ she said, breezily.

  Danny paused, drawing out the silence.

  ‘Dan?’ she said.

  Call her out on it, he thought.

  ‘How long has it been going on?’ he said.

  She blanched, but composed herself like a pro. Except for that giveaway, telltale look in her eyes. ‘How long has wh-’

  ‘Please don’t insult me by pretending you don’t know what I’m talking about,’ he snapped at her. ‘Please, Skye.’ His sad eyes met hers. ‘You owe me more than that. More than cheap lies.’

  Skye pressed her lips tightly together, as if all her secrets were about to come tumbling out.

  Danny stared at her. ‘How long?’

  Skye felt a shudder of fear rush through her body. Fear of the unknown. She had no idea how Danny would take her news. She prayed he’d understand.

  ‘It’s not what you think,’ she said.

  Danny let out a mock laugh. ‘Really? Don’t play me for a fool.’

  ‘I’m not.’ She went to her bag, rummaged inside and grabbed the box from inside. She threw it down on his desk.

  Danny stared down at it, confusion soon giving way to something else. A mixture of joy and also a nasty, hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  He looked at the carton again and read the label for a second time.

  Clear Blue.

  He pointed to the pregnancy test. ‘Is it mine?’

  Skye was taken aback. The coldness in his voice shocked her. ‘Dan, please-’

  ‘You’re pregnant!’

  ‘I might be.’

  ‘You don’t even know?’

  She ran her hands back through her hair, and he saw
the film of sweat on her forehead. ‘I’ve skipped a period. I bought this yesterday.’

  ‘Why haven’t you taken the test yet?’

  ‘I was too scared to, that’s why. Of what it could mean.’

  ‘What it could mean for us. If you’re pregnant, it can’t be mine.’

  ‘Of course it’s yours!’

  Danny paced up and down, agitated. ‘Stop lying! I know.’ He stared at her. ‘I know there’s someone else.’

  Skye couldn’t speak. Her words caught in her throat as it began to dawn on her just how stupid she’d been.

  ‘Your mum never did invite us for dinner. She told me.’

  Skye laughed. ‘That’s what this witch hunt is about?’

  ‘It was the final thing in a long line of coincidences, lies and strange behaviour,’ he said, his face growing red. ‘I know you have another phone, Skye. Hilary saw you with it.’

  ‘Oh,’ she scoffed. ‘Round of applause for Hills. She always has had it in for me, you know that.’

  Danny shook his head. ‘All I know – the only truth I see – is you. I see through the lies. Who is he?’

  Skye went to speak but tears choked her. She turned away from him.

  ‘Is it anyone I know?’

  Skye saw the man in her head. Wished she’d never laid eyes on him. Wished she’d never let an attraction go as far as it had.

  ‘Danny,’ she said, turning to face him. ‘I’m so sorry…’

  CHAPTER 44

  Skye parked her car on the drive and killed the engine, but made no attempt to get out of the car. Her argument with Danny played over in her mind.

  The words he’d said had been cutting, cruel, yet she knew she deserved every single one of them.

  She undid her seatbelt and retrieved her other mobile from her handbag. She unlocked the screen and went to the last text message she’d sent.

  This would be the last message she sent him.

  He hadn’t responded to the last ten messages she’d sent, telling him she might be pregnant. She had wanted to tell him face-to-face but he’d ignored her requests to call her.

  In desperation, she’d had to tell him by text. She had hoped he’d be man enough – worried about her enough – to respond.