Will to Live

by Rachel Amphlett

  The two men fell silent as the door opened, and Kay raised her eyebrows. The solicitor nodded to her and turned his attention back to the papers spread before him. Kay and Barnes settled into their seats and she began the recording. After asking Campbell to confirm his name and address, she began the formal interview.

  ‘Mr Campbell, please can you explain why you chose to run earlier tonight?’

  ‘I thought it was that madman McIntyre chasing me. I had to get away.’

  ‘That would be the same Kevin McIntyre that you pushed over a footbridge at West Malling station?’

  ‘He fell. There was a struggle. He tried to throw me over the parapet. I managed to get away from him, and I ran. He’s a madman. I thought he was going to kill me.’

  He crossed his hands on the table in front of him, and Kay pointed to his right hand.

  ‘You appear to have ripped the nail on your middle finger.’

  ‘I do a lot of woodwork at home.’ He shrugged. ‘It happens.’

  Kay leaned forward in her seat. ‘I don’t believe you, Mr Campbell. You see, our crime scene investigators found the remnants of a fingernail in the bindings that were used to tie Lawrence Whiting to the train tracks. The swabs our custody team took from you upon your arrival here last night have been passed on for comparative analysis. I’m willing to bet the DNA will match yours.’

  Campbell’s mouth worked, but no sound came out. He recovered quickly, and snorted. ‘This is preposterous. Kevin McIntyre is the man you should be questioning. I had nothing to do with the murder of Lawrence Whiting. I didn’t even know the man.’

  ‘But you made sure that you got to know him, didn’t you? That’s how you managed to entice him to meet with you. How did it work? Did you phone him to tell him that you wanted to talk about Alison, for old times’ sake?’

  His bluster wavered. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘Mr Campbell, our officers are attending your house at the moment. We have a warrant to search the premises. Is there anything you would like to tell us?’

  His eyes narrowed and he jerked forward in his seat.

  His solicitor put a restraining hand on his arm.

  Barnes turned a page of his notebook. ‘All the murders carried out on that stretch of railway involved a lot of planning and a lot of time. That sort of planning takes dedication. Someone who kills like that is dealing with a lot of rage. Were you angry that Alison died?’

  ‘Of course I was bloody angry.’

  ‘Were you angry enough to seek revenge? Did you blame them all for her death?’

  Campbell said nothing, and swallowed.

  Kay reached into the folder under her elbow and pulled out a report. ‘This is a copy of the coroner’s inquest. How did it make you feel when the coroner ruled her death as accidental, and you had no one to blame?’

  ‘The coroner was wrong. It’s the railway company’s fault she died. They’re the ones that got away with murder.’

  ‘The thing is, Mr Campbell, it wasn’t accidental death.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘We have a witness statement from Peter Bailey, one of Alison’s colleagues. Unfortunately, for reasons unknown to us at this time, Mr Bailey wasn’t requested to give evidence at the inquest. Mr Bailey maintains that it wasn’t an accident that Alison died.’

  ‘Of course it wasn’t,’ said Campbell. He leaned back in his seat and threw his hands up. ‘That’s what I’ve been trying to tell everybody since the inquest. It wasn’t an accident, because their negligence resulted in Alison’s death.’

  Kay shook her head. ‘No one is to blame for Alison’s death. Peter Bailey explained to us that Alison chose to walk in front of that train. She killed herself.’

  A choked cry escaped Campbell’s lips, and his solicitor frowned.

  ‘I’d like ten minutes with my client alone.’

  Kay leaned forward and terminated the interview recording.

  Fifty-Four

  Kay entered the second interview suite and found Carys waiting along with Kevin McIntyre and the solicitor he’d nominated.

  ‘You’ve got some explaining to do,’ she said as she lowered herself into the seat next to Carys and nodded at the detective constable to begin recording.

  Kay read McIntyre the legal caution, and launched into her questions.

  ‘What on earth were you thinking?’

  The man wiped at his eyes. ‘I wanted to stop him. I knew I didn’t have enough evidence to say anything to the police, especially after Cameron reported me for harassment.’

  ‘What happened there? Why did he report you for harassment?’

  ‘I tried to warn him. I had a feeling Martin was somehow involved in Nate’s death, but Cameron wouldn’t believe me. He said I was hysterical because the railway company was exonerated from any blame in Alison’s death. I tried to tell him that wasn’t the point, but he wouldn’t listen. I tried phoning him to start off with, but then he blocked my number. I knew where he lived, and so I went around there a couple of times but he yelled at me – I didn’t want to make a scene in front of the neighbours. I tried once more, but that’s when he reported me to the police. I was going to write to him, to tell him what I’d found out, but it was too late – he was killed before I got the chance.’

  ‘What made you suspect Martin was involved in the deaths of Nathan and Cameron?’

  He leaned back in his chair. ‘It was something he said after the inquest. When we were leaving the building, there were some reporters outside, but he got Karen past those, and as he got into the car that was waiting for them, he turned to me and said he’d have to take matters into his own hands. At first, I thought he was going to ask for a second inquest – but that never happened. Two months later, Nathan was dead.’ He looked down at his hands. ‘I know everyone said it was suicide, but I knew Nate – Alison and I had socialised with him, and he didn’t seem the sort to do that. I saw him during the inquest, and he seemed pretty composed. Shocked and upset, yes – but not suicidal.’

  ‘Why did Alison kill herself, Kevin? What did you argue about that morning?’

  Tears spilled over his cheeks. ‘I was an idiot. When I finished my last engineering contract, the company I worked for didn’t have anything else for me to do, so they seconded me to the business development team. There was a team building weekend away in Surrey. I got too drunk, and so did one of the regional sales reps. She was pretty, and I was too dumb to say “no”.’ He blinked, then used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe his eyes. ‘It only happened once, but when she found out I was getting married, she became spiteful and threatened to tell Alison. I couldn’t let Ali hear it from a complete stranger, so I told her.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘The morning she walked out in front of the train. She stormed out of the house. I tried to get her to come back, to tell her that it’d never happened again – that it shouldn’t have happened at all, but she wouldn’t listen—’

  Kay let him have a moment to compose himself before proceeding. ‘Kevin, we’ve seen all your notes and maps at your house. What’s all that about?’

  ‘I was trying to catch him. It’s all my fault he’s doing this. The inquest said it was accidental death, so the railway company’s not to blame. Martin always maintained Alison’s colleagues should have done something to save her, but how could they? He blamed them – said they should’ve done more to stop her.’

  ‘Did he know about your affair?’

  ‘No. Not until last night.’ He leaned across, plucked two tissues from the box on the table, and blew his nose. ‘When I first confronted him in the car park at the station, he told me he was going to hand himself in. Said he wanted to explain why he’d done it first, and so I agreed to walk with him while he talked.’ He scrunched up the tissues and balled them into his fist. ‘Stupid of me. I should’ve realised he’d found out I was trying to warn Peter. He was livid when I told him I knew what he was doing, and that I’d go to the police if
he didn’t. I had Peter’s evidence by then that Martin had contacted him and wanted to meet him alone.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘You saw what happened. He went berserk. By then, we were up on the footbridge – originally, Martin had suggested we walk along it because we were still talking. We were about halfway across when I told him about my affair. That’s when he barged into me and I lost my footing. I don’t know how, but he managed to tip me over the side, and then he ran.’

  Kay leaned back in her seat. She’d seen it time and again as a uniformed officer patrolling the centre of Maidstone when the pubs and clubs had emptied out into the streets in the early hours of the morning – the slightest person fuelled by anger often didn’t know their own strength.

  McIntyre put his head in his hands, a sob escaping his lips. ‘It’s all my fault. She lost the will to live because of me, and now they’re all dead.’

  Kay rose from her seat and stopped the recording after noting the interview had concluded.

  It was time to charge their suspect.

  Fifty-Five

  Kay held the door open for Barnes, and then made her way over to the seats opposite where Martin Campbell and his solicitor sat.

  Campbell’s demeanour had changed. Where once he had been defiant, an air of righteousness about him, there was now doubt. Sweat glistened on his forehead as he repeatedly ran his hand through his hair, and even his solicitor appeared wary, unsure as to the true state of his client’s mind.

  Kay leaned over and pressed the record button, glanced up to make sure the CCTV camera in the interview room showed a red light under its lens, and began.

  After formally cautioning Campbell once more, she leaned back and observed the man in front of her.

  Since she’d first met him, he’d visibly deteriorated.

  Where once he’d seemed to her to be dignified in his grief, concerned for his wife and devastated at his daughter’s death, she now saw him for what he was.

  A conniving, evil murderer who took pleasure in watching his victims die a painful and terrifying death.

  ‘How did you find out about Peter Bailey? His name wasn’t mentioned in the coroner’s report.’

  ‘I didn’t know about him until Lawrence said I should speak to him. I had no idea he was there at the time of Alison’s death. I knew about all the others of course, from the inquest.’ His eyes fell to his hands in his lap. ‘Karen and I went every day to the hearing. I hated them all. They all sat there, crying as the coroner asked them about the accident. None of them told me she killed herself.’

  ‘I don’t think they wanted to believe it themselves. Peter Bailey was the one standing nearest to her when it happened.’

  Campbell raised his eyes and placed his hands on the table in front of him, his fists clenched. ‘They should’ve still done something to stop her.’

  ‘Martin, we’ve found the model railway. There are notebooks with your writing in—’

  He gasped, his face turning white.

  Kay folded her hands on the table. ‘You tried to rub out any trace of your notes, but the indentations are still visible. Why did you do it, Martin?’

  He wiped his eyes. ‘After the inquest, Karen and I retreated into our own little world. You’ve seen how Karen is – she doesn’t even know what day of the week it is most of the time, she’s so full of antidepressants. I was scared I was going to lose her, too. You’ve got no idea – you didn’t see her when Alison was still alive. She was so vibrant, so joyful to be around. I had to do something. I had to teach them a lesson. Alison was the junior member of the team, and they’d let her die. She was my little girl. They made her out to be clumsy and unprofessional at the inquest. It wasn’t true. Those men, the ones that were there that day, they should have been looking out for her.’

  ‘How did you manage to convince them to meet with you?’

  ‘It was easy. I still had Alison’s phone with all their contact details in. I used her phone to call them, knowing they’d pick up to find out who was on the other end. I asked if they wanted to meet for a quiet drink somewhere. Somewhere where I wasn’t known. Away from the railway tracks – I knew you lot would probably interview anyone within a hair’s breadth of where I killed them. Karen’s antidepressants are strong. All I had to do was slip some into their drink. I always waited until their second one, so they’d be less on their guard. They’d start to feel drowsy within moments and so I’d suggest I drive them home. Of course, they accepted.’

  ‘Except you didn’t drive them home, did you? You took them to where you’d already decided you’d kill them.’

  ‘They deserved it.’

  ‘How did you gain access to the site where you killed Jason Evans? The area was cordoned off with security fencing.’

  He smirked. ‘After Alison died, her employers wanted nothing to do with us. They were too busy preparing for the inquest and working out how to ensure they didn’t take the blame. They shunned us – I think we were an embarrassment to them.’ He glanced down at his fingernails. ‘When the funeral director got in touch with us and asked us to collect Alison’s effects, there was a key amongst her belongings. Turns out it’s a master key for all the railway company’s sites up and down the network – it saves them having to have separate keys for different places.’

  ‘So you kept it. How on earth did you think you’d get away with murdering these poor men?’ Kay spread the photographs of the project team out in front of him.

  A faint smile crossed his lips, and then he frowned. ‘It was easy, at first. They were all suffering from depression after Alison’s death, so it was simple enough to make it look like they’d killed themselves.’

  ‘Except it went wrong with Lawrence Whiting, didn’t it?’

  Campbell clenched his fists. ‘I got the dose wrong. I didn’t realise he’d put on so much weight since I’d last seen him at the inquest. It seems he consoled himself with food, as well as antidepressants.’ He glared at Kay. ‘It would still have worked perfectly, though. He wasn’t going to escape.’

  ‘Except a witness heard him shouting.’

  ‘Like I said, they all deserved what they got.’

  ‘No,’ said Kay, ‘they didn’t. None of them did, did they? Because Alison killed herself.’

  ‘I didn’t know.’

  ‘That’s no excuse. We spoke to Peter. He says he’s always maintained that Alison stepped into the path of that train by choice. Kevin McIntyre had an affair, Alison found out, and killed herself. And despite the fact by your own admission you’d killed four men, you decided you wouldn’t stop there, and you’d try to kill Kevin McIntyre as well.’

  ‘Yes. He cheated on my little girl. The bastard deserved it.’

  The duty solicitor rolled his eyes and slapped his notebook down on the desk. Kay ignored him and kept her eyes trained on Campbell.

  ‘Kevin had already discovered that you were responsible for killing the rest of Alison’s project team.’

  Campbell sat back in his seat, his look of defiance slipping. ‘Yes.’

  ‘So, how did you persuade him to meet you?’

  ‘I told him I was going to hand myself in. That I couldn’t live with the guilt. That I wanted a chance to explain to him why I’d done what I’d done.’

  ‘What changed?’

  His eyes narrowed. ‘Nothing. He had to die.’

  Fifty-Six

  Kay inserted her key into the shiny new lock and pushed the front door open, kicked her shoes off and dropped her bag on the bottom tread of the stairs, and then padded through to the kitchen.

  Adam looked up from the weekly free newspaper he’d spread out on the kitchen worktop, and smiled.

  ‘Got him?’

  ‘Got him.’

  He slid from the wooden stool and cleared the space between them in four long strides, pulling her into a hug. ‘Well done.’

  She sank into his embrace for a moment, before gently pulling away, tears in her eyes.

  ‘
Hey, what’s wrong?’

  She wiped at her cheeks. ‘Gavin’s in hospital, and it’s all my fault.’

  Adam frowned, then took her by the hand and led her over to the central aisle and pulled out another stool for her. ‘Sit. What’s going on?’

  She leaned her elbows on the worktop and ran her hand through her hair before telling Adam about using Gavin’s computer to continue her investigation after their house had been burgled, only to find out the next day that her swipe card hadn’t worked, and then discovering that Gavin had been attacked that night on his way home.

  ‘How is he?’

  She sniffed. ‘Two broken ribs, a broken nose, and concussion. The hospital sent him home earlier today.’

  ‘It could be a coincidence.’

  She let out a shaking breath. ‘What if it’s not?’

  ‘Does he have any idea who attacked him?’

  ‘No, and I spoke to the detective investigating it – there’s nothing captured on CCTV. It’s as if whoever attacked him knew exactly where the cameras were.’

  Adam ran a hand across a stubbled chin. ‘Maybe you should drop it.’

  ‘I can’t,’ said Kay. ‘All of this, it proves that I’m right, doesn’t it? Someone doesn’t want me to find out the truth.’

  ‘But are you any closer to finding out who?’

  She shook her head and lowered her gaze. ‘When I logged in, the records had been deleted. There’s no sign of that gun ever being seized or taken into evidence.’

  ‘Jesus, Kay.’

  ‘This is bigger than trying to set me up. There’s something else going on, and I can’t find a way in. I can’t find anything.’

  Adam reached out and took her hands between his. ‘I’ve always believed in you, you know I have. And I know it was my idea to find out who was behind your Professional Standards investigation, but our house has been burgled—’

  ‘They didn’t take anything—’

  ‘—to scare us, if nothing else, and Gavin’s been beaten up. This goes way beyond evidence tampering, Kay. Someone is trying to stop you. Maybe you should listen.’