by Robert Innes
Something suddenly clicked in Blake’s head. All the questions he had remaining were suddenly getting answered. “So you’re the reason Sandra has a black eye?”
Helen threw her head back and let out a cold cackle of laughter. “Yeah. Smacked the bitch right in the face.” She demonstrated by whacking the grill between them.
“Did Seth ever find out about the affair?”
“I dunno. Probably not.”
“Why did you never tell him?”
“Like I said. I wanted Daniel to be happy. If all of that came out and Daniel lost Harrison, how would that have been fair? I mean, Brian was always really supportive of Daniel being gay, probably dealt with it better than I did. I couldn’t take that away from him. If it had all come out, then I doubt Seth would want him anywhere near his son as a constant reminder of what his wife had been up to.”
“Oh, Helen.” Blake let his head rest against the window as he took in what he had just be told. “Daniel and Harrison being apart was probably the best thing that could have happened. You do know Daniel had been beating Harrison up ever since Brian’s death?”
Helen looked up at him, shocked sadness in her eyes. “No. I never brought him up to be like that!”
“You were protecting him. Or thought you were. You did nothing wrong Helen. In fact you’re probably the best mother I’ve seen in this entire case.”
Helen started to cry, sinking down into the seat. As her sobs echoed round the car, Blake’s brain started to put the sad truth together. All the lies that Harrison had been led to believe, not only about his own relationship, but that of his parents and all the secrets that had been kept from him. He was positive now who had killed Daniel and who was responsible. And they weren’t in any way the same thing. The only way he was going to get a confession however was via a little coaxing.
His thoughts were broken by Patil opening the driver’s seat. She glanced across at Helen wailing in the back seat. “I’ve got the statements, Sir.”
“Thanks Mini.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled the station. “Hi Mandy, it’s DS Blake Harte. Can you tell Gardiner and Mattison to bring a car and meet me at The Dog’s Tail right away? Cheers.” He hung up and sighed, then turned to Patil. “Take her back to the station and put her in a cell for the night.” He got out the car, then turned back before he closed the door. “And Mini? Go gentle with her.”
Patil frowned, but nodded. Blake watched her drive away, then leant against the wall, his head hurting with the new information. He glanced down and saw a cigarette packet lying on the ground that had presumably fallen out of Helen’s pocket on the way to the car. He bent down and picked it up, opening it to find one cigarette and a lighter nestled inside the packet. He glanced around to make sure that nobody was watching, then lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply. His next stop was Halfmile Farm and it was not going to be an easy visit.
Harrison leant against his bedroom window watching the clouds. They had been growing increasingly black as the evening had drawn in and on the horizon they looked almost foreboding. He would have to round all the chickens up if the weather was taking a turn for the worse.
He rubbed his eyes as he shifted to a more comfortable position. He felt exhausted, mentally and physically. His jaw muscles ached fiercely from the anxiety the past few days had brought and his chest kept fluctuating in tightness.
He glanced down at the shed, where this nightmare had all begun. He had tried not to overthink anything about it, but at this moment all he could wonder was what secrets the small building held. Deep down he knew there was only one person who could possibly have killed Daniel and he felt sick at the thought.
As the thought arrived in his head, his eyes darted to the road as flashing blue lights attracted his attention. Two police cars were making their way up the hill towards the farm. He let out a moan of despair. He wasn’t sure he could cope with any more questioning.
Before too long, the two police cars were pulling into the yard.
He cautiously watched from his window as Betty ran across to greet the new arrivals. His stomach flipped slightly as Blake climbed out of the car and was gently butted by Betty.
“Why does this goat hate me?” Blake snapped at Mattison.
Gardiner climbed out of the back of the car and immediately glanced up at Harrison. He murmured something to Blake, who looked up at Harrison and grimaced.
Harrison ducked out of view and tried to control his breathing as panic filled up in him. A moment later there was a sharp knock on the door. He heard his father grumbling from the kitchen, then more voices filled the house.
“Harrison!” Shouted Seth.
Harrison stood up and took another deep breath. He then opened his bedroom door and hurried downstairs to the kitchen. As he entered, he saw Blake give him a look of what looked like sympathy.
“Harrison.” He began. “We need you to come back to the station with us. We’ve uncovered some new evidence that places you directly in the frame for Daniel’s murder.”
Sandra and Seth looked at each other in horror.
“What? What evidence?” cried Sandra.
“Evidence that we’re very confident will lead to a conviction.” Blake replied matter-of-factly. “I take it you’re able to get him legal representation? Michael, go ahead.”
“Wait,” Harrison said weakly. “It wasn’t me, I didn’t -”
Gardiner smugly stepped forwards. “Harrison Baxter, I’m arresting you for the murder of Daniel Donaldson. You do not have to say anything, though it may harm your defence, when questioned, something you may rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.” He triumphantly slapped his handcuffs round Harrison’s wrists.
“Right, let’s go.” Blake said, opening the kitchen door. He put his hand on Harrison’s shoulder.
“Dad! Dad, I swear I didn’t do it!” Harrison cried as Gardiner marched him towards the door. But he then felt Blake squeeze his shoulder like he had before, when he had interviewed him in this kitchen. He looked up at him and Blake gave him a brief smile which quickly disappeared.
“You can’t do this!” Sandra shouted. “What proof do you have?! Seth, do something!”
Harrison looked desperately across at Seth who seemed rooted to the spot, his brain whirring furiously.
“Seth!” Sandra cried, angrily. “I said do something!” She whacked him furiously on the arm.
Seth closed his eyes. “Stop! Please.”
Blake blocked Harrison from leaving the kitchen.
“What?” Gardiner snapped. “What’s wrong now?”
“You got something to say, Seth?” Blake asked.
Seth looked up at Blake, all fight apparently leaving him. “It wasn’t Harrison.”
“And how do you know that?”
There was a pause. Harrison turned to look at his father. He looked a former shell of himself. “Because it was me.” He murmured quietly. “I killed Daniel.”
Blake’s expression was unfathomable. “Take the cuffs off him.” He said to Gardiner.
Gardiner bristled in fury. “You’ve got to be joking! Isn’t it obvious, he’s protecting his son!”
“Just undo the cuffs please.” Blake said sharply.
Gardiner shook his head in livid disbelief then forcefully removed the handcuffs from Harrison’s wrists.
“Dad?” Harrison ventured, barely registering the tightness of the cuffs leaving him. “What are you saying?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.” Seth replied. There seemed to be a very small part of him that was relieved. “I’m sorry Harrison. I really am.”
Harrison didn’t know what he felt more shocked by; the confession or the fact that his father had just apologised to him for the first time in his entire life.
Seth sat down heavily at the kitchen table, staring at the floor.
“That’s not a bad idea actually, Seth.” Blake said calmly. He indicated to Harrison and Sandra. “Maybe you’d both like to sit
down.”
Harrison glanced briefly at Gardiner, who looked absolutely furious, then timidly sat down at the far end of the table, Sandra sat opposite Seth and looked up at Blake expectantly.
Blake slowly and deliberately positioned himself against the sink so that he was standing directly in front of all three of them, and took a deep breath, apparently deciding how to phrase what he was going to say.
“There’s a lot of sad things I come across in this job.” He began. “Things that sometimes don’t make the pay packet worth it. Death, destruction, families torn apart either by awful circumstances or by their own design. And this case has brought all of that to the table and then some.”
He glanced around at them individually before continuing. “Domestic violence is something that we come across an awful lot. And it never gets any easier to witness and, in a lot of ways, never makes any more sense than the last time you saw it. I mean, who could put their partner through all that? The fear, the pain, the humiliation? And poor Harrison here seems to have been surrounded by it for more years than he cares to remember. Not only in his own relationship, but at home too.”
Harrison shuffled uncomfortably in his seat. Seth looked up at Blake but didn’t say a word.
“What goes through your mind, Seth? When it’s happening?”
Again, Seth remained silent.
There was a pause. Blake crossed his arms, a deep look of concern on his face. “And what goes through your mind Sandra, when you’re doing it?”
Harrison’s eyes widened. He looked across at Sandra who looked horrified.
“I beg your pardon?” She exclaimed, outraged.
“Harrison’s told me all about the things he’s heard over the years. Heard but never seen. All the fights, all the violence. I’m guessing, after so long, it gets easier? Hitting someone then crying out in pain yourself? Actually, I’d imagine, in a lot of ways, it’s almost therapeutic?”
Harrison’s heart seemed to drop out his chest. Blake was right. He had never ever seen his father lay a single finger on his mother. But then, now and again, Sandra had lashed out. Nothing frenzied, not when Harrison was present. But just those occasional moments of anger that he had never picked up on. His mind flew back to earlier in the day when he had heard the argument between his parents and how he had felt so cowardly for not trying to do anything to protect his mother. Exactly what would he have seen if he had gone in?
Sandra looked angrier than Harrison had ever seen her. “I don’t know who the hell you think you are, coming in here throwing awful accusations around like this -”
“Because,” Blake continued, ignoring her shouts of protest. “It all actually worked out for you. As an abusive partner I mean. You’ve got Seth. Ex-army, set in his ways, a real man’s man. Even Gardiner here saw you as someone to look up to Seth. And it’s not easy to get a compliment out of this one, believe you me.” Gardiner rolled his eyes, but said nothing.
“There was no chance on this earth that he was ever going to let it be known by anyone that a woman was beating him up. And there was only one person who he needed to ascertain a sense of authority over. In his mind, the one person who he needed, to give himself any sense of self-worth, to appear untouchable to. And that was your son. The last thing he wanted was for Harrison to look at him as someone who’d get, quite literally, pushed around by his wife.”
Harrison looked across, bewildered at Seth, who hadn’t made a sound for the past couple of minutes. “Dad? Tell me this isn’t true?”
“Of course it isn’t.” Snapped Sandra, standing up and pointing angrily at Blake. “I’ll be taking you through every court in the land, D.S Harte – you see that I don’t.”
“Oh, sit down Sandra.” Seth murmured.
Sandra stared at him in fury. “Don’t you tell me-“
“Or what?” Seth snarled, furiously glaring at his wife. Harrison was stunned to see tears in his eyes. “You’ll give me a beating here and now? In front of them? Go on. Show our son what really goes on when the kitchen door is closed. In fact, let’s show him how similar me and him really are.” He stood up and lifted up his jumper, revealing an almost eerily similar set of bruises on his body to the ones Harrison had tried so hard to keep from his parents. Seth sat down again and glared resolutely at his wife who was temporarily silenced. Seth took a shuddering deep breath.
“I was a fool. An absolute pig headed fool. And a coward. All I learnt when I was in the army was how to defend myself against the enemy. And for what? So that I could make my own son scared of me?” He tried to look at Harrison, but at the last moment couldn’t. He simply looked down at the floor. “Son, I’m not proud of anything I’ve done. Least of all made you live like this all these years. All I wanted was for you to have the life I lost. To be able to stand on your own two feet and to be able to respect people. Turns out I even failed at that.”
“Well.” Blake said gently. “For whatever reasons you did it Seth, it still wasn’t enough for you was it Sandra? Having complete control? So you went looking elsewhere.”
Harrison stared at his mother. “Looking elsewhere for what?”
“And that’s when Brian Donaldson came on the scene isn’t it? From what I’ve heard, a tall, handsome, younger man who was so different to Seth in so many ways.” Blake said, looking at Sandra with a touch of antipathy. “How did you meet? Was it before Harrison started his relationship with Daniel or afterwards?”
Seth let out a humourless chuckle. “You and Donaldson. I knew it.”
Sandra glared at Seth. Harrison had never seen her look so venomous. “Oh you knew nothing, you stupid man. Brian was the kind of person I should have been with. Sure of himself, with a direction in life. Not just living his last days out on some silly little clapped out farm, hoping that things would improve. Brian was a go-getter.”
“You and Dan’s dad?” Harrison asked quietly, stunned.
“From what I’ve managed to ascertain from Helen Donaldson, the affair went on for about a year. Does that sound about right?” Blake asked.
“Oh, she wouldn’t know the first thing about what her husband was up to.” Laughed Sandra bitterly. “Life was far more interesting at the bottom of a vodka bottle, or whatever other poison she could find to put into her body. Their marriage was over long before I came along.”
“And then one night, you were supposed to meet at a hotel?” Blake continued. “And on the way there, Brian crashed his car. The Donaldson’s are completely ripped apart. The only stable aspect of their entire family has gone.”
Sandra nodded, apparently unaware of anybody else in the room. “Brian had told Helen that night about us. They had a blazing row and he went and got drunk, the stupid idiot. Got in his car and…” Her voice trailed off.
“But,” Blake continued. “Helen decided to keep quiet about the affair. The fact was that she knew how little use she was to Daniel. How was she supposed to try and support an angry grieving son when she could barely look after herself? As she saw it, the one positive thing in his life was Harrison. If either he or Seth found out about the affair, that would all be over. So she kept quiet. Until a few months ago.”
“Daniel knew?” Harrison asked, completely bewildered.
“Helen had, as usual, had one too many.” Sandra sighed, rolling her eyes. “She blurted the whole thing out to him. Daniel came round here in a terrible rage.”
“When?” Seth asked, frowning slightly.
“Neither of you two were here thank God.” Sandra replied, carelessly. “But the pair of them turned up on my doorstep, hurling all sorts of abuse. I managed to get rid of them, but the damage was done. Unstable woman. She flew for me earlier this week. Whacked me right in the face.”
“Resulting in the only black eye your son has ever actually seen you with. Still, your abusive husband could easily be held accountable to that, couldn’t he?” Blake said sardonically.
“She told me she’d walked into a door.” Seth murmured.
“Wel
l, there’s an irony.” Blake said grimly. “But now, you’re left with a problem. Daniel could, at any given moment, reveal everything to these two. Put simply, you had to get rid of him. So you came up with a plan.”
Seth stared at his wife in total disgust. “So that’s what all this was about? Keeping your grubby little secret from me?”
Sandra sneered at him. “It was about protecting our son. Brian was the closest thing to a decent human being that family had – what, you think I wanted Harrison to be a part of it?”
“So how did you come to be part of this, Seth?”
Seth looked sadly across at Harrison. “I saw him hit you. He had you pinned up against one of the walls outside and was shouting something at you about being useless and stupid and calling you all sorts.”
Harrison remembered it well. That one had hurt. Daniel had ended up throwing him into the dustbins and kicking him in the stomach. And all because Harrison hadn’t given him a straight enough answer about what he had been doing that day.
“So, I told Sandra what I’d seen.” Continued Seth. “I thought we could do something about it, rather than let Harrison think he couldn’t handle it himself.”
“Which was the perfect opportunity for you, wasn’t it Sandra?” Blake walked across and leant against the table, looking down at her. “And you thought of a way to get rid of him without implicating yourself. The perfect murder. One that couldn’t possibly have been committed by anybody that was seen on that CCTV tape, because he’d been locked inside a shed, alone with no way of anyone here being able to get to him.”
Blake stood up and looked at the shed through the kitchen window. “Because, that shed was the whole key to this. It was built for this exact purpose. Daniel had started drinking himself by that point and who was to say when he’d become as loose lipped as his mother when he’d had a few? So, between you, but for entirely different reasons, you formulated an airtight plan. But you needed a reason to build that shed and put up all these cameras everywhere that could conveniently act as an alibi for everyone here when the moment came. So, what did you do Seth?”