Evil Impulse

by Leigh Russell

  However earnestly they worked on John to convince him that it would help his case to confess, he remained adamant in his protestation of innocence.

  ‘My client has given you a full and unforced account of his meetings with these two women,’ the lawyer said, his eyes masked by the light reflected off the lenses of his glasses. ‘Sexual relations between consenting adults is not a crime.’

  ‘But murder is,’ Ian muttered.

  ‘Charge my client or release him,’ the lawyer said. ‘In the absence of any evidence that he has killed anyone, I suggest you stop this interview right now and let him go.’

  Ian nodded briskly and proceeded to arrest John on suspicion of murdering Angela Robinson and Leslie Gordon. John glared helplessly at his lawyer, who merely shrugged.

  ‘If you are innocent, they will not find any evidence of guilt,’ he said calmly. ‘You have nothing to worry about.’ He turned to Ian. ‘Someone killed those two women, but it wasn’t my client. You are wasting time harassing him, instead of focusing on finding the killer.’

  ‘Can I go home now?’ John asked in a voice that shook.

  ‘Soon,’ his lawyer replied. ‘Very soon.’

  60

  While the search of John’s residential and work premises intensified, Geraldine and Ian turned their attention to John’s wife who had been locked in a cell for hours, waiting to be questioned.

  ‘With any luck she’ll have come to her senses,’ Ian said.

  ‘Come to her senses?’ Geraldine repeated. ‘You mean she’ll tell you what you want to hear.’

  Ian did not answer.

  ‘I want to see my husband,’ Bella shrieked when she was led into the interview room. ‘I want to see my husband.’

  In the space of a few hours, her appearance had altered almost beyond recognition. Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot from crying, and her skin blotchy.

  ‘Please take a seat. We would like to ask you a few questions,’ Geraldine said.

  ‘No, no, no more questions, please.’

  Sobbing that she just wanted to go home, Bella listened as Ian told her about John’s infidelities.

  ‘Why are you telling me this?’ she whispered, her fingers fidgeting with her sleeves.

  ‘You must have known about your husband’s affairs?’ Ian asked.

  Geraldine watched, uncomfortable with the way the interview was proceeding, although she understood that corroboration of John’s guilt could prove crucial in a prosecution.

  Bella shook her head. ‘No, no, it’s not true,’ she said. ‘He loves me. He loves me. You are lying, trying to turn us against one another, but you won’t succeed. I know he’s innocent. I know it.’

  She soon became hysterical again, and Eileen decided the best course of action was to send her home and summon a doctor to sedate her. After the stress of dealing with her daughter’s disappearance, she was clearly too fragile to discuss the possibility of her husband’s guilt. It was a pity, but there was no point in even attempting to question her.

  ‘We only broached the subject of his infidelity,’ Ian grumbled. ‘We hadn’t even got as far as the murders, and she completely freaked out.’

  Arrangements were made for Zoe to stay with an aunt in Leeds, while a constable stayed with Bella, in case she broke down and began to talk about her husband. With Bella in a state of emotional turmoil, and John still adamant that he was innocent of murder, they all hoped that evidence would be found to convict him. But the search of his house and work space produced nothing to indicate he had been involved in murder. However forcefully Eileen insisted they needed to find proof, no evidence was forthcoming.

  ‘It’s odd that we can’t find anything to verify his guilt,’ Geraldine said.

  CCTV footage was found showing John arriving at the hotel with young women on several occasions. Two of his partners were almost certainly Angie and Leslie, but they did not accompany him on the nights of their deaths. So far all the VIIDO evidence had done was confirm everything John had already told them, that he was a serial adulterer who had abused his position as a hotel manager, deceiving his employers as well as his wife. All of the young women John took to the hotel walked out of the premises again within a few hours of their arrival. Along with the rest, Angie and Leslie left after a few hours. In each case, John emerged around half an hour after them, presumably returning home to his wife having cleared away all trace of his visit being anything other than professional. The set-up was too easy. John had bedrooms and showers at his disposal, together with an excuse for staying out late.

  ‘But none of it means he’s a killer,’ Geraldine said. ‘A philanderer and an adulterer, a sexual predator, and a thoroughly nasty man, who took advantage of any number of vulnerable women, but his victims all walked out of the hotel.’

  There was nothing to suggest John had killed anyone. Nevertheless, two of his conquests had been murdered, and most of the officers working on the case were confident they had caught the killer.

  ‘All we need is one scrap of incontrovertible proof,’ Ariadne said.

  ‘I still think it’s worrying that we haven’t found anything,’ Geraldine replied.

  Armed with what they had discovered about his womanising, Ian and Geraldine talked to John again the next morning.

  ‘You are saying you have proof that my client visited the hotel with several women, two of whom have been killed,’ the lawyer repeated softly. ‘I think his wife might be concerned to learn about this, but it is hardly a matter for the courts.’

  ‘So far as we know,’ Ian pointed out.

  The lawyer shrugged. ‘All you have is speculation,’ he pointed out.

  ‘And two corpses,’ Ian said.

  ‘Which have nothing to do with my client.’

  ‘Both of them went to his hotel with him. He knew them both. That alone is enough to cast suspicion on him.’

  John shook his head, muttering about ‘consenting adults’. ‘But I never killed anyone,’ he added angrily.

  ‘Why?’ Ian asked. ‘Why those two in particular? What did they threaten to do? Were they going to expose you? To tell your wife?’

  John glanced helplessly at the lawyer.

  ‘Take a deep breath,’ the lawyer said. ‘They are casting around in desperation. They clearly have no evidence against you or they would have produced it by now.’

  Geraldine produced the knitted hat.

  ‘Where did you find this?’ she asked.

  John frowned at it, looking puzzled. ‘It’s not mine,’ he said. ‘What would I want with that?’

  ‘Your daughter found it in your house,’ Geraldine told him.

  ‘Well, I don’t know how it got there.’

  ‘It’s a hat,’ she said.

  ‘Yes, I can see that. But I’ve never seen that filthy thing before in my life.’

  ‘It was in your house. Zoe says she found it in the hall.’

  ‘My client has just told you he has never seen it before. Apart from the fact that you have given no indication as to what bearing it might have on this case, do you have any forensic evidence to prove my client ever wore it?’

  He sniffed dismissively, before requesting a break.

  ‘You just had a break,’ Ian replied.

  ‘I need to speak to my client,’ the lawyer replied quietly.

  Geraldine and Ian went to discuss their lack of progress with Eileen.

  ‘We can’t prove he wore it,’ Geraldine said. ‘There are no stray hairs, no DNA on it to indicate he even touched it.’

  Eileen sighed.

  ‘It’s machine washable,’ Ian pointed out. He turned to Geraldine. ‘What’s wrong with you? Why are you being so negative about this? We’ve arrested him, haven’t we?’

  ‘But we need evidence if we’re to get a conviction,’ Eileen replied.

  Geraldin
e and Ian went to the canteen to grab a quick coffee while they were waiting to press on with the interview.

  ‘What if we’re wrong?’ Geraldine asked.

  ‘What do you mean? How can we be wrong?’

  ‘Oh please. That’s a ridiculous thing to say. All we have against the suspect is circumstantial evidence and speculation. You know as well as I do that just because we can prove he met them, doesn’t mean he killed them.’

  ‘How else would he have the refuse collector’s hat?’ Ian asked her.

  Geraldine scowled. ‘Bella said her husband was innocent.’

  ‘She would say that, wouldn’t she?’

  ‘She said she knew he was innocent. Bella said she knew it wasn’t John who killed those girls.’

  ‘Yes, we have the word of his hysterical wife on that. So what?’

  ‘So either she has no idea who her husband really is, or she’s lying to protect him,’ Geraldine said.

  ‘He could easily have done it without his wife knowing about it,’ Ian said, with a touch of bitterness in his voice. ‘Marriage is no guarantee of anything.’

  Remembering how Ian’s own wife had deceived him, Geraldine felt a fleeting sympathy for him.

  ‘She certainly convinced me when she said he didn’t do it. I think she genuinely believes he’s innocent. But it’s possible she’s just putting on an act. I’m going to have another word with her.’

  Ian offered to accompany her, but she shook her head. A female constable was already at the house with Bella, and in any case an emotional woman might be more inclined to talk to another woman.

  ‘Do you really think she knows more than she’s letting on?’ Ian asked, gazing curiously at Geraldine. ‘If we could get her to corroborate our suspicions, that would be it.’

  She shook her head. ‘It’s a long shot. But if it was John who killed them, which is the most likely theory, Bella might say something that drops him in it, even without meaning to. It has to be worth a try, and I think she’s more likely to talk at home than here across a table in a formal interview. Who knows what we might discover if she actually talks to us? Of course, it’s still possible that John had nothing to do with the murders, but either way, this might help us get to the truth.’

  61

  Before going to speak to Bella, Geraldine talked to the next-door neighbours.

  ‘Yes, we heard them rowing,’ one of them replied promptly. ‘I’ve already told your colleague about it.’

  The woman lived in the house attached to John and Bella’s, and she seemed like a reasonably sensible witness.

  ‘Were you able to overhear what they argued about?’

  ‘Oh yes. That is, we could only catch the odd word, but the gist of it seemed to be that she was accusing him of running after other women, and he was denying it. I never saw him with another woman, but of course he probably wouldn’t have brought her home with him if he was seeing someone else. I can’t tell you if he was having an affair, but I am pretty sure his wife thought he was. Does that help?’

  ‘It does. Did she sound angry with him when you overheard them arguing?’

  ‘I really don’t know how she was feeling. It’s difficult to tell, just from overhearing the odd argument, especially from the other side of a wall, but from the little I could hear, I’d say she was upset rather than angry. He kept yelling at her to stop crying, because there was nothing to cry about.’

  Thanking the neighbour, Geraldine went to ring Bella’s bell, aware that there was a slim chance this encounter might prove a turning point in the investigation. With luck, Bella would go to pieces and admit that she knew her husband was the killer the police were searching for, and could prove it, even by accident. Alternatively, she might say something to incriminate herself. The likelihood was that she would do neither of those things, and Geraldine would leave the house feeing just as frustrated as when she had arrived. Doing her best to remain positive, she rang the bell again, determined to convince Bella to talk to her.

  ‘What do you want?’ Bella snapped, peering out and glaring when she saw who was on the doorstep. ‘I haven’t got anything else to say to you, so you might as well give up and stop pestering me. And send my husband home.’

  She stood leaning against the door jamb for support. Her eyes were still bloodshot, and her lips moved as though she was talking to herself, but she no longer looked as anxious as when she had been at the police station. Geraldine had been right to suspect Bella would be more relaxed in her own home than she had been in an interview room. She smiled as gently as she could, hoping to persuade Bella to let down her guard.

  ‘Hello, Bella. Can I come inside for a few minutes?’

  ‘What for?’

  ‘So that we can talk more comfortably.’

  ‘Huh! You’ve not come to search the house again, then?’ Bella asked with a surly scowl. ‘When is John coming home?’

  ‘Can I come in and talk to you?’ Geraldine repeated her question. ‘I need to ask you a few more questions, and we can do that here or back at the police station. It’s up to you. But the sooner we get to the bottom of all this, the sooner John will be released, assuming he’s innocent.’

  Grudgingly, Bella stood to one side to allow Geraldine to enter, and led her into the living room. There was no sign of Susan in there. As she sat down, Geraldine enquired where her colleague was.

  ‘That other trollop? I sent her packing,’ Bella replied.

  For the first time, Geraldine felt a flicker of unease. Susan had not reported leaving the house, which was slightly irregular conduct in a police officer, but perhaps she was waiting until she reached the police station to tell Eileen that Bella had thrown her out. In the meantime, Geraldine was alone in the house with Bella, and there were no witnesses to confirm what she said.

  ‘The constable and I must have crossed on the way,’ Geraldine murmured.

  Bella did not respond.

  ‘You told me you were sure your husband didn’t kill those two women, Angela Robinson and Leslie Gordon,’ Geraldine began. ‘What I want to know is how you can be so sure?’

  ‘Because he’s my husband,’ Bella replied with a strange kind of fervour. ‘John would never kill anyone. I know he wouldn’t. I told you that already. I’m not going to change my mind, however many times you ask me.’

  ‘But how can you know?’

  ‘I told you, I just know. That’s why you have to let him go. He has to have a chance to redeem himself.’

  Geraldine kept her voice even and calm, as she enquired what Bella meant by that. She had the impression she was about to discover what might trigger Bella to talk openly to her, but she would have to proceed carefully, or Bella might clam up and refuse to say any more.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ she said cautiously.

  ‘My husband is a sinful man,’ Bella replied. ‘He must be given a chance to redeem himself.’

  ‘A sinful man?’ Geraldine repeated. And just like that, she had an unnerving suspicion that Bella knew exactly what her husband had done. ‘But is your husband truly worthy of redemption, Bella?’ she asked softly, goading Bella to explain.

  Sitting opposite Bella, Geraldine calculated the best way to extricate herself from the situation should the need arise. Bella’s moods were volatile, and that made her behaviour unpredictable. At any moment she might become hysterical, or lash out, and Geraldine was, effectively, trapped. She judged the distance to the door with her eyes. It wasn’t far, but Bella was seated right in front of her, blocking her way. Somehow she would have to persuade Bella to move, or else barge her out of the way, if she needed to get out of there. Meanwhile, Bella was answering her question.

  ‘Everyone is worthy of redemption,’ Bella said. ‘The Lord is merciful. But you have to leave us alone, all of you. Don’t you understand? It is women like you who are the cause of our problems. You are the reaso
n for his downfall. This is all your fault, not his. My husband is a sinner only because he is weak. He has been tested many times, and he has failed, but with my help he will be saved. No one is beyond redemption. No one. My husband is ready to repent. I know he is.’

  ‘Bella, you can’t keep protecting him like this. You can’t protect him from the law.’

  ‘You’re not listening to me. I told you, he is ready to repent. He deserves his chance at salvation.’

  ‘What about the two women he killed?’ Geraldine asked. ‘Where is their opportunity for repentance and redemption?’

  ‘Women? What women?’

  ‘Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean. Shall I spell it out for you? I’m talking about Angie Robinson and Leslie Gordon, the two women your husband murdered.’

  ‘Oh that,’ Bella said dismissively. ‘They weren’t women at all. They were servants of Satan, sent here to lead my husband astray. You have to understand, we could have been happy together. We were happy, so happy, until Satan sent his fiends to tempt my poor husband. And he fell, many times. But the demons were sent back to hell, where I pray they will be tormented for all eternity for tempting him to sin.’ She stared at Geraldine, her eyes narrowing in accusation. ‘You were there when John was arrested, weren’t you? Are you one of them?’ She stirred in her seat.

  For an instant, Geraldine thought Bella was going to strike her, but she remained seated in her chair and continued speaking in a curiously cold voice although her eyes burned with rage.

  ‘You have failed, all of you. I know he is not guilty of murder. And he will repent.’

  Geraldine shifted to the edge of her chair and sat, poised to make a desperate dash for the door.

  ‘My husband is guilty of sin, but I can save him. Do you understand what I am telling you? He is a soul on the edge of damnation. And you want to prevent me from saving his soul, don’t you?’ Her voice rose in a shriek. ‘You have come here to stop me, but you are the one who will be silenced. He must have his chance at redemption. I shall save his soul and we will spend eternity together. He belongs to me. Me! He is my husband!’