Killer Plan

by Leigh Russell

  ‘We need to focus our resources on those outside the police force,’ Reg said. ‘There’s no point in wasting valuable time questioning each other. If anyone knows anything that might be relevant, you know we’re all relying on you to come forward. You know how serious it is to withhold information, and we’re all concerned to reach a speedy conclusion.’

  He seemed to be staring directly at Geraldine as he spoke. Until that moment, she hadn’t appreciated quite how stressed she was feeling. Deciding against coming forward to volunteer information was very different to telling an outright lie. She didn’t think she could have avoided admitting the truth if she had been questioned. That would have provoked questions about why she hadn’t spoken out two days earlier, when they had first heard the news of Nick’s death. To be fair, she had tried to tell Reg about Nick’s suspicion he was being stalked, but she hadn’t tried very hard. She deeply regretted her reticence now. But there was no going back. In any event, Nick had admitted he had probably imagined he was being stalked. With a sigh, she tried to dismiss the uncomfortable memory and concentrate on her day’s tasks.

  Before she went home, she at first intended looking into Caroline’s false claim that one of her sons had been kidnapped. Something about the episode made her uneasy. On reflection she realised that Caroline’s false claim had been nothing more than a desperate cry for help. Caroline had virtually admitted as much when she talked about her struggle to cope without Dave. One of her sons coming home late had thrown her into a panic. She had been afraid that he had been taken from her as well. It was an irrational reaction, but understandable. In any case, Geraldine found it almost impossible to worry about Caroline now. She could hardly focus on anything, apart from getting through the day without breaking down in tears.

  As she was about to find Max and set off to interview Nick’s neighbours, Reg summoned her.

  ‘Enter. Ah, Geraldine. Come in and close the door.’

  This was it. He had discovered that Nick had spent the night with her. Soon everyone at the station would know. After years of slog and dedication, her reputation would be in shreds. If she could engage in a clandestine affair with a fellow officer, there would always be a question mark over whether she was trustworthy. A promiscuous officer might allow herself to be influenced by a witness, or a suspect. She felt lightheaded. Reg’s next words seemed to reach her through a haze.

  ‘So on balance I think it’s best you come with me.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘To the interview.’ He frowned. ‘Are you listening? We’re going to question Eve Williams properly. Find out what she can tell us, if anything. You’re coming with me. A woman’s touch and all that.’

  For once, Geraldine wasn’t bothered by his patronising tone.

  ‘I thought about taking another female officer with me, but they all knew Nick for longer than you, and we need to keep a sense of detachment. You’re not to go off at a tangent, pursuing your own line of questioning. We need to keep this strictly routine.’

  Geraldine took a deep breath. ‘I think Nick was worried about something.’

  ‘We’ve talked about this before, Geraldine. I saw Nick the day he died. We went for a drink after work and then he went home and that’s when it happened. I can assure you, he was in good spirits when he left the pub. Never better. He wasn’t a worried man. I like to think I would have known, even if he hadn’t said anything. Now, let’s hear no more about it. Come on, his widow’s waiting for us in an interview room. She might be more inclined to talk here.’

  It was typical of Reg to try and intimidate a witness by questioning her at the police station, but Geraldine didn’t say anything. Perhaps he was right. With luck Nick would have confided his fears to his wife. She followed Reg’s large square figure along the corridor, trying not to think about Nick and his wife. They had lived in a three-bedroomed semi-detached house. It was possible they had been estranged, as he had claimed. But it was equally possible that Nick had lied about his relationship with Eve. It wasn’t a subject she would be able to raise during the course of the questioning. Her whole working life was a striving to discover the truth. Not being able to pursue it was maddening.

  Reg paused to have a word with a sergeant on the way to the interview room.

  ‘Nothing,’ he muttered as Geraldine joined him. ‘They haven’t found a murder weapon.’ The way he spoke made it sound like an accusation.

  Eve looked ghastly. Her skin seemed to be stretched tightly across her face, accentuating her high cheek bones. She stared vacantly at them across the table, as though she didn’t recognise them. Reg greeted her gently and Geraldine followed him inside. Every so often Eve’s eyes would flick to Geraldine as Reg questioned her.

  ‘Did you notice anything unusual?’ he asked.

  She shook her head.

  ‘Did anything happen the day before he died? Anything out of the ordinary?’

  Geraldine held her breath. She was about to hear Eve tell Reg that Nick hadn’t been home the night before he was killed. Reg would look surprised.

  ‘Do you know where he went?’ he would ask.

  Eve would turn to Geraldine, her eyes burning with hatred.

  ‘He went to her!’ she would shriek, leaping to her feet and pointing to Geraldine. ‘He was in her bed and then he was killed!’

  Geraldine bit her lip. Eve couldn’t possibly know that. Nick would never have told her. Eve saying she didn’t know where Nick had been would only postpone the mortifying discovery. Reg would reassure Eve that they would find out where Nick had spent the night by tracking his car on CCTV through the streets of London. He might even put Geraldine in charge of the operation. Finally she would have to confess the truth. When Reg demanded to know why she hadn’t come forward earlier, she could only mutter feebly that she had tried to tell him but he wouldn’t listen. That would go down well.

  ‘Nothing unusual happened,’ Eve replied softly.

  Geraldine choked back a gasp of relief. Oblivious to her reaction, Reg sat forward, his gaze fixed on Eve.

  ‘Where were you on Monday evening?’

  ‘Me?’ she repeated.

  ‘Yes, you.’

  She smiled sadly. ‘Nick used to say, “Never commit a crime unless you can prove you weren’t there.” You don’t think I could have done it?’

  ‘This is just routine, but we have to ask,’ Reg said apologetically. ‘Where were you on Monday evening, between eight and nine o’clock?’

  She frowned. ‘I was out visiting my aunt.’

  ‘Would anyone be able to confirm that?’

  ‘My aunt was with me all evening. I visited her at her home. It’s about half an hour’s drive away. I got there about seven, after they’d had their dinner, and stayed with her until she went to bed at nine. She’s not all there, but she enjoys an occasional visit. I thought Nick would be out anyway...’

  Her voice petered out and she dropped her head in her hands.

  ‘That’s all right,’ Reg said gently. ‘We’ll leave you in peace now.’

  He nodded at the female constable who had been keeping Eve company.

  ‘I’ll take you home,’ she said.

  44

  On the way back to her office, Geraldine speculated about why Eve hadn’t told them Nick had spent the night away from home the night before his murder. She might have been asleep and not realised he had been absent all night, especially if they slept in different rooms. It was also possible she might be aware that her husband hadn’t come home that night, and be concealing his infidelity out of a sense of loyalty. There was certainly no reason for her to suspect that he had spent the night with a fellow officer, one who was involved in investigating his murder. It was only chance that Geraldine knew Eve was lying at all. But there could be another reason for her wanting to conceal the truth. Nick’s adultery gave Eve a motive for hating him. His death could have been a crime of passion.

  Geraldine hesitated to mention her suspicions to anyone for fear of reveali
ng her own part in the drama. On impulse she stopped and turned to Reg who looked at her in surprise.

  ‘Reg, there’s something I’ve not told you. Nick came to my flat the night before he died.’

  ‘What exactly are you telling me?’

  ‘He came round for supper.’

  ‘Did he? So did he say anything while he was there that might have a bearing on the investigation?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Go on.’

  Geraldine told him once again about Nick’s concern that he was being followed. This time Reg listened without interrupting, a serious expression on his square face. She repeated Nick’s account, word for word, as accurately as she could. When she had finished, Reg shook his head, his brows lowered in a frown.

  ‘I can’t believe he confided in you not me,’ was his predictable response.

  ‘I was just there,’ she replied lamely. ‘But it gives us a lead, if we can trace the van he saw.’

  Reg nodded with renewed energy. ‘Set a team to work checking CCTV following Nick when he left here the night before he spoke to you. You said it was the previous night he was followed, didn’t you?’

  ‘I’m not absolutely sure, but I think so. We can start there anyway, and then go back further if we don’t find anything when he left work that evening.’

  They walked on in silence for a few seconds.

  ‘I still can’t believe it,’ Reg repeated at last. ‘I had no idea you two were seeing one another out of work.’

  ‘We were friends.’

  ‘Just friends? Or is there more you haven’t told me?’

  ‘We were just friends. We went out a few times for a drink. He came round to my flat once for supper. We talked about work. That was all.’

  Like Eve, she lied readily. There was no need for Reg to know more than that. No one need ever find out in detail what had happened between her and Nick. It had no bearing on the case. She should have thought of this before, but she had been too worried and upset to think clearly.

  ‘After all, we did share an office.’

  ‘Well, I know that, but for some reason I had the impression the two of you didn’t get on that well.’

  ‘I suppose we didn’t to begin with.’

  ‘It seems unbelievable that you became friends so quickly.’

  ‘There’s a lot about Nick that seems unbelievable.’

  ‘And about you, Geraldine. It’s important to be discreet, but being secretive is hardly helpful.’

  She didn’t remonstrate that she had tried to tell him about Nick’s visit to her flat on several occasions, but he hadn’t wanted to listen. As they arrived at his door, Reg detained her in the corridor.

  ‘Hang on a minute. You told me you were friends with Nick. If you’d rather leave the investigation to colleagues who weren’t so close to him, I’d understand.’ He paused, uncertain of his ground. ‘Like you said, you shared an office…’

  ‘And that’s all it was.’ She didn’t look at him, couldn’t trust herself to stare levelly at the suspicion in his eyes. He must have known Nick’s reputation with women. ‘I’m fine, really I am. I want to work on this investigation. I owe it to Nick.’

  ‘We all do,’ he answered heavily.

  ‘Don’t take me off the case, please.’

  ‘Very well. If you’re sure. Let’s not waste any more time.’

  It sounded like a reprimand, which was hardly fair. Geraldine had attempted to tell Reg about Nick’s visit to her flat before. On the point of making a stinging retort, she pulled herself up short. Reg was upset about Nick’s death too. The two men had worked together for a long time, developing a close camaraderie. In his own way, Reg must be missing Nick as much as anyone. Now was not the time to lose her temper with him. Taking a deep breath, she nodded and agreed they must crack on.

  They were able to establish an approximate time frame for Nick’s last journey. He was killed outside his house between eight and nine on Monday evening. Before that, Reg had been with him in the pub until about six thirty. The detective chief inspector had only stayed for one pint. He had to get away to see his sister and brother-in-law, so he was able to be quite specific about the time he had left.

  ‘There would have been hell to pay if I’d been home late,’ he added ruefully.

  Under any other circumstances, Geraldine would have smiled at the thought of the detective chief inspector as a henpecked husband. But today no one was smiling. Reg had left Nick still finishing a pint. No one else had noticed Nick leave the pub after Reg had gone. None of the bar staff could recall how long Nick had hung around after Reg left, or whether he had stayed for another drink or left straight away. It wasn’t precise, but at least they could narrow down the time Nick had left to between six thirty and eight thirty, at the latest.

  Geraldine sent Max to organise a team to watch CCTV of the roads leading away from the police station. She gave him specific instructions that they were to watch for the van Nick had mentioned. Then she set off to speak to Nick’s neighbours. However long it took, she wouldn’t stop searching until she found out who had killed Nick.

  45

  Geraldine drove back to West Hampstead slowly, struggling against her reluctance to revisit the scene of Nick’s murder. It would be hard to look at the front yard where he had been battered to death, impossible not to be reminded of his warm body in her bed. Although she had resolved not to spend the night with him again, there was no way of knowing what might have developed between them if he hadn’t been murdered. She was tormented by the memory of the touch of his lips on hers, his hands on her body. In a way it was almost worse than losing someone she had been seriously involved with. He would remain a fantasy partner who could never disappoint.

  Reaching her destination, she parked and sat for a moment in the car, feeling thoroughly wretched. She wasn’t sure she wanted to question his neighbours, but she could hardly have refused the task. At the same time, a masochistic urge to discover more about his relations with his wife drove her on. She told herself she would be pleased if she learned that they had been living together as a couple right to the end. Confirming he had lied to her might lessen the anguish she was feeling at his loss. But it wouldn’t bring him back.

  With a shiver, she clambered out of the car and set to work. Whatever her feelings, she had to remain alert and professional. She couldn’t afford to miss any information, however insignificant it seemed. With a nod to a scene of crime officer who was still working outside Nick’s house, she rang the bell of the house attached to Nick’s. A grey-haired man came to the door. With an irritable scowl he asked her what she wanted. He was apologetic when he discovered who she was.

  ‘It’s a terrible business, a terrible business, struck down like that in broad daylight. But I’ve already spoken to a young woman in uniform. There’s not really anything else I can tell you. I was here with the wife on Saturday evening.’

  His wife came to the door and confirmed his account of their Saturday evening. Although they had been at home neither of them had heard anything unusual from the street. Geraldine took a deep breath and plunged in.

  ‘We’re trying to build up a picture of their life next door. It’s routine, standard background information in a murder enquiry.’

  It wasn’t a complete lie. Any information could be helpful. But the neighbours were unable, or unwilling, to comment.

  ‘We didn’t know them that well,’ the man said. ‘I know we lived next door, but we didn’t socialise with them. Not even drinks at Christmas. They weren’t very friendly really, which suited us. We like to keep to ourselves.’

  Geraldine spent several hours doing her best to build a picture of the lifestyle Nick and his wife had shared. It was heavy going. By the end of the afternoon she was convinced that they had been living as a couple. Seen returning from the supermarket together, and occasionally going out together in the evening, the neighbours who backed onto their property had even spotted them sunbathing hand in hand in the garde
n in the summer. Whatever else Nick might have been, he had been a liar. Sam had warned Geraldine that Nick had slept his way around half the female officers at the station, before Geraldine had invited him to spend the night with her. Feeling like a complete fool, she was determined that no one else would ever find out what had happened between them. It wasn’t so very terrible, two adults choosing to spend a night together, but it would remain her secret. She told herself she was protecting his widow’s feelings, although she knew it had more to do with her own reputation.

  Back at her desk, Geraldine tried to write up her notes on her discussions with Nick’s neighbours. Too distressed to concentrate, she struggled to summon up anger at Nick’s deceit. He had lied, to her, to his wife, to everyone. But whenever she looked up and saw his vacant chair, the desk where he had done his work, the keyboard his fingers had touched, she felt only a deep sadness. He had entered her life for such a brief time, and now she would never see him again, never hear his teasing voice or feel the lingering touch of his lips on hers. It was agony remembering how his eyes had met hers whenever she had looked up, as though he had been waiting constantly for her attention. To begin with she had resented having to share an office with him. Now she would give anything to have him back. His lies, his confused relationship with his wife, none of that mattered to her any more. She just wanted to feel his arms around her, and know that she mattered in his life.

  Too restless to settle to anything, she went to see whether Max was making any progress searching for the vehicle that Nick had claimed followed him home from work the night before he was killed. The team watching the CCTV had spotted a small white van that drew away from the kerb shortly after Nick drove out of the police station car park. Geraldine started forward in excitement. She was disappointed when Max told her they hadn’t been able to get a clear shot of the registration number.