The Rules of Murder

by The Rules of Murder (epub)

  ‘How do you mean?’ McNair said.

  ‘Whatever the sequence of events, it would have taken the killer some time after attacking Oscar to carry Sophie and winch her over that wall. Did he already have the rope to do that? If so, why? Was Sophie, her kidnapping, the real purpose here, perhaps? We need to be mindful of every possibility right now.’

  ‘It doesn’t go dark until after nine,’ McNair said. ‘You honestly believe the killer did all this in daylight?’

  ‘It’s possible,’ Easton said. ‘Unless Oscar and Sophie spent a few hours down by the stream on their own before the attack happened. Or unless, after attacking them, the killer sat waiting for darkness before he cleaned up and took Sophie. We don’t have much evidence to point in either direction right now.’

  ‘But it does seem unlikely,’ McNair said. ‘That a killer would be so brazen, in daylight, when all those other people are nearby.’

  ‘Or just that our killer is extremely confident,’ Dani said. ‘Everything about this attack shows a good deal of planning.’ Except for biting Oscar, Dani thought but didn’t say. ‘Taking place on a day when the parents and everyone else was so pre-occupied by the party. The neighbours, too, were away, and still are. This meant the private lane behind Drifford House, which heads up to their nearest neighbours at Hawthorne Cottage, was deserted that day, even in the early evening. Yes it was daylight, but there was no one to see the killer there.’

  ‘What about cameras on the main street?’ DC Grayling asked.

  ‘There are cameras on the nearest main road, Drifford Road,’ Easton said. ‘But none that captures the entrance to that lane. We’re going to have to scour through movements on the cameras on Drifford Road, but we could be looking at a hundred or more vehicles that passed near to Drifford House within our window of time.’

  Another hand went up. DC Constable. Dani nodded to him. ‘If we look outside the window of time, we can narrow down vehicles of interest by identifying those seen more than once. You said yourself this killer must have pre-planned the attack. He knew the location and the layout of Drifford House, so he must have been before.’

  ‘It’s not the A1,’ Easton said, ‘but Drifford Road gets a fair bit of traffic. You’re going to have a whole host of vehicles captured multiple times on the street cameras. Neighbours, et cetera, but I agree it’s worth having a look to see what sticks out.’

  ‘And throw into that a wider search of the cameras at the gates to Drifford House,’ Dani said. ‘If the killer is so familiar with the inside of the grounds, it’s possible they came in through a more legitimate route at one point or another. You can lead on all things CCTV, OK?’

  Constable nodded, and looked a little flattered with the responsibility he’d been given, but Dani had already surmised from his quick work the previous day that he was in a good position to quickly pull results in that area.

  ‘We also need to do a thorough check on all of the staff at Drifford House. Who were these people; how did they get the job; what links did they have to the Redfearnes? Could any of them be our perp? Same for the guests. We need to forget about their celebrity status. This is about finding a killer, and a kidnapped eighteen-year-old.’

  DC Grayling had her hand up again.

  ‘Yes?’ Dani said.

  ‘Are we going to go public? For Sophie’s benefit.’

  Dani looked to McNair who now stood from her chair. ‘Before this briefing I wasn’t sure that was necessary, but the more I hear, the more I think we need to set up a press conference as soon as we can. We won’t give details of Oscar Redfearne’s murder, nor of the party that took place, as we don’t want this to turn into a media frenzy, focusing only on the guests, but we will issue a plea for help in identifying what’s happened to Sophie Blackwood.’ McNair looked back to Dani. ‘You let me handle that.’

  Dani nodded, a little relieved in honesty. She wasn’t a fan of having her face plastered over TV or in newspapers. Not after what had happened in the past. McNair seemed to get that. Or at the very least, didn’t trust Dani to do a good enough job of it, given her history.

  Either way, that was fine by Dani. She knew where her strengths lay, and she certainly knew her weaknesses, as did plenty of other people.

  ‘Anything else, Dani?’ McNair said.

  Dani shook her head. McNair turned back to the room.

  ‘Good. Then let’s get to it,’ McNair said. ‘The teams taking statements, you’re going to come up against some resistance here. I’ve already seen the guest list from the Redfearnes’ party, and I can only imagine how reluctant some of these people will be about our desire to speak to them, particularly once they realise what the case is about and that it’s at least partly in the public domain. Expect pushback; expect prattish lawyers trying to play games. If anyone obstructs unnecessarily, you have my permission to haul them in.’

  A few nods and half smiles from around the room. It was certainly a refreshing take from McNair.

  Dani looked at her watch. Her heart drummed a little harder in her chest when she saw the time. When she looked back to the DCI, she was giving Dani the eye. She nodded, as though she’d sensed what Dani was thinking and was giving her approval.

  ‘A young woman’s life hangs in the balance,’ Dani said. ‘And a killer is out there. We need to find them both, as soon as we can. I’ll let DS Easton wrap things up here.’

  Dani gave a meek smile to Easton, then McNair, then took a deep breath to calm her bubbling nerves before she headed for the door.

  Chapter Nine

  The courtroom was already filling up by the time Dani arrived. She headed straight over to the seats where the prosecution team were gathered, all of them in sombre moods.

  ‘How are you?’ Dani asked as she took a seat a few rows behind the CPS team, next to Larissa who was sitting with her head bowed, as she had for much of the entire four-week trial thus far.

  ‘Nervous,’ Larissa said.

  ‘Me too,’ Dani said. ‘But I have faith. We’ve done everything we can.’

  Larissa looked up. Her eyes were bloodshot. Crying? Or was it a lack of sleep? Dani knew one of the many after-effects of Larissa’s ordeal was a case of chronic insomnia. She herself had suffered similarly more than once. Alcohol and pills, for months at a time, had been Dani’s best route to a good night’s sleep. Luckily those darkest of days were now well and truly behind her, even if they would never be forgotten. Larissa was still in a much earlier stage of recovery. Dani had questioned more than once whether Larissa should be in the courtroom at all, but the seventeen-year-old had insisted over and over again that she couldn’t be anywhere else. Not until she was certain that her father was locked away for good, and could do no more harm to her or what remained of her family.

  Dani knew better than most that Larissa’s troubles wouldn’t end today, even if they got the result they needed, but she wasn’t about to go into that with her now.

  Before long, the judge and jury were in place and the defendant, Campbell Clarkson, was brought to the dock, his hands cuffed in front of him. Larissa remained with her head bowed, but Dani watched him the whole way, and was sure he was watching her right back. They’d first met the day Dani, with Easton’s help, had cornered and subdued him after he’d fled his friend’s house on the outskirts of Coventry, where he’d been hiding for the best part of three weeks following his rampage.

  That day he’d been full of fight and had had plenty to say. Throughout this trial he’d been quite the different man. His plain face was now passive, as always, no hint of emotion – anger, sadness or regret – as it had been throughout the last few weeks. What was really going on in his head? The man had been accused of three murders: his mother-in-law, his wife and his son. He’d also tried to kill Larissa, his daughter, in one frenzied and jealousy-fuelled attack. Allegedly. Yet now he was entirely detached from the goings-on. Did that point more to his innocence or his guilt?

  Not that there was any doubt in Dani’s mind. Campbell Cla
rkson was a murderer. He’d covered his tracks well, all things considered, and DNA evidence wasn’t anywhere near as conclusive as the prosecution had hoped it would be, yet Dani knew he was the killer.

  Today was Clarkson’s day of reckoning.

  The judge summoned the foreman of the jury. Larissa, head still down, placed her hand onto Dani’s lap. Dani put her hand over the top and squeezed gently.

  Larissa was sobbing, almost silently. Dani closed her eyes as her mind took her back in time. She saw so much of herself in this young lady sitting by her side. Not in who she was as a person, but what she’d been through. How one person, one person who should have been there for her, had taken so much away, had tried to kill her. Unlike Larissa though, Dani hadn’t made it to court. She’d still been in hospital when her brother had been found guilty.

  ‘Has the jury reached a verdict?’ the judge asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘On the charge of the murder of Tobias Clarkson, how do you find the defendant?’

  ‘Guilty.’

  There were a few whoops from behind in the public gallery, more than one groan too – Clarkson did still have allies. Larissa turned her hand over and squeezed Dani’s even harder. The judge read out the next charge.

  ‘Guilty,’ came the foreman’s reply once more.

  Then the third charge was read. Same result. The final charge was the attempted murder of Larissa Clarkson.

  Larissa finally lifted her head as the judge spoke her name. She took her hand back.

  ‘He didn’t kill me,’ she whispered, just loud enough for Dani to hear. ‘But I wish he had.’

  Dani shivered at the all too familiar words; her heart ached. Tears welled and she struggled to fight them off. A moment later, for the fourth time that morning, the foreman repeated the same word.

  ‘Guilty.’

  * * *

  In the court’s anteroom, the CPS team were relieved more than jubilant. Dani was conscious of time ticking by, but so far she’d been unable to draw herself away from Larissa who seemed attached to her side. There was no air of victory from the young woman at all. If anything, her sadness and contemplation seemed to have ramped up even more than before, as though she couldn’t work out why she wasn’t yet feeling any better. Dani felt better, even if she didn’t want to egregiously show it. Campbell Clarkson was a despicable and cowardly human being – not just a killer, but a killer who didn’t have the guts to admit to what he’d done, to come to terms with the damage he’d caused to the people who loved him the most – and he would now rightly serve the rest of his life behind bars.

  Dani’s phone buzzed in her bag for the umpteenth time.

  ‘I don’t mind,’ Larissa said, looking up at her. ‘I know you’re busy, and you’ve done everything you can for me now.’

  Dani said nothing as she smiled and pulled the phone from her bag. It was Katherine Wyatt, one of the team’s PAs.

  ‘Dani, we had an urgent call for you. I’ve been trying to reach you for ages.’

  Dani got to her feet. ‘About the case?’ she said, expectantly.

  ‘No. It’s… a private matter.’

  She said the last two words more quietly, as though she was worried someone on her end was listening in. Dani frowned, as a whole host of unwelcome thoughts crashed in her mind. Had something happened to Jason?

  ‘What is it?’ Dani asked.

  ‘I thought I recognised the number when it came through. It was from Long Lartin.’

  Dani’s heart thudded in her chest now. She turned away from Larissa. Of course she knew exactly who might want to speak to her from Long Lartin prison, even before Katherine helpfully clarified.

  ‘It’s your brother,’ she said.

  Which Dani had already guessed. What she didn’t know, and why she was so tense all of a sudden, was why?

  Chapter Ten

  Dani was surprised when the guard opened the door and she was left staring only at her brother, all alone in the prison interview room. It had transpired back at court that in fact Ben hadn’t been the person on the other end of the urgent phone call for Dani, but rather his lawyer, Gregory Daley, and subsequently, naturally, she’d been expecting both Daley and Ben to be meeting with her.

  So where was the lawyer now? Would Dani have even bothered to drop everything and make the impromptu trip to Worcestershire if she’d known?

  ‘Long time no see,’ Ben said with a wry smile.

  Dani said nothing as she stepped into the plain room that had dirtied white-painted walls, lino floor and a single buzzing and flickering strip light above the simple desk and two chairs. The thick door was closed behind her with a loud thunk before locks were clicked into place.

  ‘Where’s Daley?’ Dani asked.

  ‘It’s just you and me.’

  Dani remained standing as she looked over to the large mirror on one of the walls, then back to Ben. He shook his head, obviously picking up on her thought. ‘There’s no one there,’ he said. ‘It’s just you and me, honestly.’

  ‘Daley said we needed to speak urgently,’ Dani said, already riled not just by the false pretence but by Ben’s apparent nonchalance to it. ‘He said you had confidential information you would pass only to me.’

  ‘Dani, I’ve not seen you for the best part of – what? twenty months. Not since—’

  ‘I’m well aware how long it’s been.’

  Ben paused for a few moments as he held Dani’s eye. Was this just all him playing with her? But then, if that was the case, how had he got Daley, a respected lawyer, generally speaking at least, to play along too? Unless it hadn’t been Daley she’d spoken to at all. Was that possible?

  No, surely there was more to Dani being here than Ben wanting a bit of fun at her expense.

  ‘Why don’t you sit down,’ Ben said.

  ‘Why don’t you tell me what this is really about?’

  ‘I think Gregory already did that.’

  ‘Not really.’

  Ben sat back in his chair. Despite the handcuffs on his wrists, his prison garb, he looked relaxed and confident. ‘We think we have an offer that will appeal to you.’

  ‘What could you possibly have to offer me?’ Dani said. ‘Ben, you’re the one person who’s taken so much from me.’

  An image of Larissa, teary-eyed and defeated, flashed in Dani’s mind. A kindred spirit of sorts. Campbell Clarkson had killed three members of his own family, had failed in killing his only daughter. Ben had similarly killed or attempted to kill those closest to him. Dani, along with his second wife Gemma, were the ones who got away. The ones who would never recover.

  ‘Oh, here we go, poor old Dani,’ Ben sneered. ‘So bloody traumatised, damaged frontal lobes, traumatic brain injury, blah blah fucking blah. Poor little thing. She only gets to carry on her nice little life on the outside, job, boyfriend, time with my kids, the works, while her twin brother stews in jail for the rest of his life.’

  ‘Because you’re a bloody murderer, Ben! You tried to kill me! Yes I’m fucking traumatised, however long it’s been since I last saw you.’

  Ben’s eyes were now pinched as though he’d taken offence at Dani calling him a murderer. Was he really still in denial about that?

  ‘I heard what happened to you,’ he said.

  ‘What happened to me which time?’

  Ben laughed. ‘The Grant case. Mother and son.’

  ‘That was months ago,’ Dani said. ‘Nearly two years in fact.’

  ‘Seems like you don’t have much luck.’

  ‘I’m a murder detective. I come up against the scum of the earth on the regular.’

  She could tell that one annoyed him.

  ‘How long have you been back at work now?’

  ‘This time? Long enough.’

  ‘And Jason?’

  Dani hesitated. She’d never talked to Ben about their relationship, but of course he knew about her and Jason – most likely because of what had happened to them both the autumn before last in their
hunt for Mary and Ethan Grant, the mother and son killing duo whose reign of terror she and Jason had brought to a close. Both detectives had suffered horrible injuries in the process, particularly Jason who still bore grim-looking scars over one whole side of his body from the acid that had eaten through skin and flesh as he’d fought to apprehend the killers.

  After recovering physically, if not mentally, from that latest trauma, Dani had gone back to work a few months later. Jason had ultimately packed it all in for good. Ben wouldn’t know all that, but he would have read the basics of the Grant case from the papers.

  ‘Jason’s fine,’ Dani said.

  ‘And you?’

  ‘I’m like a bloody Duracell bunny. I never stop.’ She winked at him, though her tone had been cold.

  The outsides of Ben’s mouth twitched as if he was about to smile, but he didn’t.

  ‘How does it feel?’ he asked.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You know.’

  ‘Do I?’

  ‘How does it feel, killing someone?’

  The smile did break out on his face now. Dani shut her eyes for a beat. In that brief moment, sounds and smells and sensations flashed through her mind from that fateful night the year before last. The night she’d taken Ethan Grant’s life. She opened her eyes again and it was all gone.

  She said nothing.

  ‘Dani. You still really don’t see it, do you? We’re exactly the same. We always were. Whereas I got locked up in here for what I did, you get a damn slap on the back and a medal for your services.’

  ‘The man I killed was a vile murderer,’ she said. ‘And I didn’t do it out of revenge or hatred or anything other than my own survival instinct. I had no choice.’

  ‘I would say exactly the same thing for myself,’ Ben said, through clenched teeth now. ‘But who would listen?’

  Dani had had enough. She wasn’t here for his sob story, or to hear how wronged he felt. She pushed back on her chair and went to get up.

  ‘Sorry, Ben. When Daley said this was urgent, I foolishly believed him. But I really don’t have time for this. Whatever this is.’