Truth or Die

by Katerina Diamond

  So, Russ wasn’t behind any of it. Finn was a good liar, Adrian would give him that. He had been quite convinced that Finn’s account of Russ’s involvement was at least partially true.

  ‘In UK law we have a thing called diminished responsibility, there’s every chance you could get a reduced sentence because of that.’ Adrian had no idea if Finn’s case qualified, but he had to keep talking to him. He was opening up and if Adrian could gain his trust then he might give up the name of the person in charge. The cracks were beginning to show.

  The sound of something dropping in the kitchen startled them all, their heads snapping around in unison. Was there someone else in the house?

  ‘Who’s there?’ Adrian shouted, but less than a second later, Finn hit him across the face.

  ‘Shut up.’ He darted out of the room to investigate.

  Adrian looked back over to Parker, who had just been observing their interaction; Adrian wondered if Finn had any idea what Parker could do to him. While Finn may know who Parker was in terms of this particular case, he had no idea what he was really capable of, not the magnitude of it. How could he? It was entirely likely that Finn hadn’t seen the video of what Parker had done to Robert Coley. It didn’t seem as though Gillian Mitchell or the other teachers had particularly shared any information with their acolytes. Adrian was sure if Finn had seen the video he might have used significantly more duct tape to secure him. Clattering noises came from the kitchen, followed by the sound of Finn shouting. It became apparent soon after that he was on the phone again, demanding some instructions on how to deal with his prisoners.

  ‘You’re very calm, given the situation,’ Adrian said to Parker.

  ‘I’ve been in worse.’

  ‘We could die here. That doesn’t bother you?’

  ‘Detective Miles, I know that you have been in other predicaments where you feared you might die, correct?’

  ‘Yes, I have.’

  ‘Growing up, I was forced to face my own mortality on a daily basis. I would wake up and know for certain that today was going to be the day I was going to die. I have woken up strapped to chairs before, more terrifying chairs than this. Even after I was no longer in imminent danger, that feeling does not leave you. So far, I have never been right, but this? This is not even in my top ten list of life-threatening situations.’

  ‘I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for you,’ Adrian said. Coming from an abusive background himself, he probably felt too much empathy for what Parker had been through. It didn’t seem to matter what Parker did, Adrian would never forget the images he had seen of what had happened to him as a child. Maybe Adrian identified with Parker and maybe that’s why he couldn’t give him up.

  ‘It’s all behind me now. Can I ask you something, Detective?’

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘As you know, I am about to become a father. That is more terrifying to me than any experience I have had so far. You have a child. Does it get any easier?’

  ‘Are you worried that your child will be bad, because you think you are?’ Adrian said, familiar with those feelings himself. The idea that he had been passed any of his father’s genes plagued him throughout his teens and then when Andrea had fallen pregnant, he’d been convinced his genetic make-up would ruin the life of his child.

  ‘How could you know that?’

  ‘Congratulations, you’re human, that’s a normal way to feel. Can I ask you something? How the hell are we getting out of here?’

  After another round of crashing noises in the kitchen, Finn came back with a canister of petrol and started to throw it over the covered furniture.

  ‘What are you doing, Finn?’

  ‘Getting rid of the problem. They can’t prosecute me if there is no evidence.’

  It looked like Adrian’s words had only succeeded in upsetting Finn Blackwell further. He may just have sped up the process. At least if Finn wasn’t taking orders any more they had a chance of talking him round. Didn’t they?

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Imogen felt sick. Where the hell was Adrian? It wasn’t like him to turn his phone off. It was like him to do something rash though. She rushed from the car into the station to find Gary; he was the only person she could rely on right now. He had all the facts at least.

  ‘Gary!’ was all Imogen could think of to say as she swung the door to his office open to see him hunched over the workstation, furiously tapping away.

  ‘I’m trying, Imogen,’ Gary said.

  ‘Do we have any idea where he went?’

  ‘His phone’s last location seemed to be on his way home, which is where he said he was going.’

  ‘Has anyone checked there?’ Imogen said.

  ‘There’s a car on its way there now.’

  ‘What about Finn Blackwell?’

  ‘Adrian left just before he was fully released. Said he was tired and needed to grab a shower, seeing as the Blackwell arrest was a bust and you were off out with DI Walsh. I found some footage of him leaving the station, but he was hanging back and waiting for something when he got outside.’

  ‘OK, so he’s obviously followed Finn Blackwell … somewhere. Any idea where?’ Imogen said.

  ‘How can you know that?’

  ‘It’s probably something we would have done together if I had been here …’ A thought had just dawned on her. ‘Which of course he knew and so he made me go with Matt to the building. Idiot.’

  ‘Well let’s find him before we start calling him names, shall we?’ Gary said.

  Imogen realised her hands were balled into tight fists. Adrian had tried to protect her by making sure she couldn’t follow him into his bad decision. Again.

  ‘He didn’t say anything at all to you before he left?’ she asked Gary.

  ‘We’ve kind of fallen out, nothing major, but I don’t think he would have come to me.’

  ‘Well shit. There must be some clue here,’ Imogen said.

  ‘I’m looking. Would help if I knew what I was looking for.’

  ‘Let’s start with addresses. Can you pull up any addresses throughout the documents for the computers? Is that possible?’

  ‘You would think, but no. It doesn’t work like that. I have, however, kept a file on any addresses or partial addresses I have come across so far. I’ll send it to you.’

  ‘Any of them stand out?’

  ‘There are loads that are easily explainable, some belonging to the people we know about so far. Things like Finn’s halls, Lassiter’s house, the Beacham flat and of course Caitlin’s grandfather’s place. A couple of public places turned up as well. There are a few that I couldn’t get any information on – three to be exact – which is unusual; even online there is often a trail of information about addresses.’

  ‘Is there?’ Imogen said, it wasn’t something she had ever thought about before.

  ‘There are sites you can go on to check and see the last sale prices or any planning permissions that pertain to the properties. There are also ancestry-type sites where you can check the historical significance of certain addresses. There are various things that usually pop up.’

  ‘What about Google Street View? If we pull up images of the properties in question, we might be able to rule a couple out. Or at least pick a place to start. If there’s nothing else on them then it’s worth a shot.’

  Imogen was annoyed at having to do this part, but just randomly visiting addresses was a massive time-waster. Sometimes they might turn up to a property only to find out it had been levelled and converted into a nursery school or off-licence. Forewarned was forearmed. Ten extra minutes investigating could save them a good few hours roaming the streets.

  ‘Smart. I’ll do that now.’

  The first image Gary pulled up was of a small unit in Matford Business Park. On Street View there were no markings on the outside, but they couldn’t know how old the photo was.

  Gary moved on to the next address.

  ‘What’s that one?’ Imogen aske
d, looking at the house on the screen. She wasn’t one to judge a book by its cover usually, but she couldn’t help but notice how sinister the house was.

  ‘I’ll check with the Land Registry who owns this one; I couldn’t see anything at all about it. It certainly hasn’t been bought or sold in over a hundred years.’

  The third one was a building site – a block conversion into flats.

  ‘I’ll get on to the developers about it.’

  ‘I’ll take DI Walsh and check out this unit at Matford first, but let me know if you find anything else out about that house before we get there.’

  The unit seemed like the most likely culprit, the leasing arrangements on places like that could be very loose. There was an unmistakeable eeriness about the house, but Imogen couldn’t imagine what possible connection Finn Blackwell might have to the place. She left Gary’s office and went to find Matt Walsh.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Adrian’s eyes stung from the overwhelming smell of the petrol. He watched the candle on the piano as it burned down. Finn had run out of petrol before he had had a chance to douse either Adrian or Parker with it, which gave Adrian a little hope. Parker still seemed entirely unfazed by the experience. Maybe he had no desire to get out of the situation; Adrian couldn’t begin to guess how that man’s mind worked.

  Finn was still pacing and muttering to himself, on the brink of losing control altogether. He rushed over to the two men and Adrian realised he had a knife in his hand. He focused on the blade, watching the boy’s fingers nervously clasping the handle.

  ‘I didn’t want it to happen like this. You seem all right. I wish you hadn’t followed me,’ Finn said.

  ‘You know if you do this that he will control you forever,’ Adrian said carefully. ‘Killing a police officer is serious business. Even if the authorities don’t figure it out, he will know, and he will make you do more bad things. Where does it end?’

  ‘Do you think you are worth any more than any of the other people I killed? Are you worth more than Caitlin?’ Finn asked, his voice cracking.

  Adrian noted how hard it was for Finn to say Caitlin’s name. Maybe Russ wasn’t the only one who was in love with her. A love that made him do irrational things.

  ‘You liked Caitlin.’

  ‘Everyone liked Caitlin. Russ was obsessed with her and I just had to pretend I was OK with it. She just had something, you know? Have you ever met anyone like that?’

  ‘I met her. She seemed like a special girl,’ Adrian said, unsure what was likely to push Finn over the edge. He wasn’t lying; there had been something special about Caitlin. Something that pulled you in and made you want to protect her.

  ‘She was mine first. I loved her.’

  ‘So, what happened?’

  ‘They wanted Russ, so I had to get her to pretend to be into him. I didn’t want to, but I told her to sleep with him. He didn’t know about us – about me and her. He couldn’t believe his luck. Russ wasn’t very confident around girls, so when she showed an interest in him, what else was he going to do? She hated me for that, for making her do that. That’s when things changed between us and I just wanted to go back to how it was.’

  ‘Then you had to watch them be together?’

  ‘Not just them. She told me they made her sleep with Norris, that dirty old man; he was old enough to be her grandad. He wanted out, they were using her to keep him in.’

  ‘So, you killed him?’

  ‘I smashed his head in, dirty fucker.’ Finn smiled to himself. ‘And then I had to watch her go after you. You are the first person who ever turned her down. I knew you liked her though; I saw you that night, dropping her off at home. After she went inside, I saw you thinking about it, thinking about ringing her doorbell and going inside. I really enjoyed fucking up your face that night.’

  ‘Killing her must have been hard.’ Adrian was trying to buy time. Buy time for what, he didn’t know, but he knew that when Finn finally stopped talking there was only one thing left for him to do. He could hear the faintest movement next to him. Parker, who Finn seemed to have forgotten about, was working his way out of his restraints. Adrian wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

  ‘I had no choice. I didn’t want to do it. She was angry with me for Russ, for Norris … she called me, said she wanted out. I thought she was going to tell.’ His eyes glazed over a little. The tears started to come. Time was running out for them; Adrian had pushed him too far.

  ‘How did you get into it? How did they get you?’ Adrian needed to find a way to calm him down.

  ‘My dad is in prison, they told me they could make things difficult for him.’ Finn dragged his sleeve across his nose.

  ‘That never came up when we processed you, that your dad was in prison.’

  ‘Mother’s name – Blackwell. She left him off the birth certificate because he’s such a liability. He’s been in and out of prison since before I was born. He knew though, the guy in charge, he knew exactly who he was and he told me he could get someone to fuck him up.’

  ‘How would they do that?’ Adrian asked.

  ‘He said he knew someone on the inside and that they could hurt my dad.’

  ‘I can make sure that doesn’t happen. I can keep your father safe,’ Adrian said.

  ‘Why would you bother for someone like me?’ Finn said.

  He was spiralling into that place people go when they think they have run out of options. Given that Finn was holding a large steel knife, Adrian needed to pull him back, fast.

  ‘I don’t know what that means, Finn. Someone like you?’

  ‘I worked damn hard to get on that course. No one in my family ever got into university before. I wish I hadn’t now. I didn’t think it would be like this.’

  ‘It shouldn’t have been like this. What they made you do is wrong.’

  ‘I just couldn’t stand up to them. You know? I didn’t want anyone to know about my dad and I didn’t want him to get hurt.’

  ‘What else did they make you do? What was your first mission for them?’

  ‘The first one was silly, but they offered me a grand do to it, that was when it was fun. I just had to duct tape that kid Owen to the wall in the library, high up.’

  ‘Owen Sager? You knew him?’

  ‘Yeah. It was too bad when he hung himself,’ Finn said.

  Adrian wasn’t sure if he heard sarcasm in his voice. There was no reason to lie about killing Sager after having confessed to killing Norris and Caitlin, but Finn Blackwell had already established himself as a liar. Maybe it was Adrian projecting when he was trying to give kids like Finn and Caitlin the benefit of the doubt. He saw them as victims, but at what point does someone become responsible for their own actions? Maybe Finn liked killing people, maybe that’s why he was chosen. It was possible that that’s what the professors saw in him, what they saw in all of them. Adrian always remembered his own teen years when faced with kids like this on the wrong side of the law. He remembered choosing not to let his life and his past affect him. Adrian was lucky that he’d found a mentor that helped him to make the right decisions when his parents let him down. These kids had been found by a different kind of teacher.

  ‘Did you kill Owen?’ Adrian asked.

  ‘What difference does it make whether I did it or not? He’s dead either way.’

  ‘I think it would mean something to his mother. She thinks she could have stopped it somehow if she had noticed he was depressed.’

  ‘Well, she couldn’t have. He wasn’t depressed, and he didn’t hang himself. I did it.’

  ‘This is not your fault, Finn. They made you do it. I can protect you. I wish I could have protected Caitlin.’

  The mention of her name snapped Finn out of it.

  ‘I bet you do. I bet you wish you could have fucked her, too,’ Finn said, his face flushed with anger again. He held up the knife and stepped closer.

  Chapter Fifty

  Matford Business Park was two miles south of the cit
y centre, located next to Marsh Barton Trading Estate. It was predominantly in use by car showrooms, industrial units and warehouses, meaning it all looked very similar until you got close. Thankfully the satnav was able to pinpoint the location with relative ease, not something that was a given.

  Imogen jumped out of the car and peered into the unit through the small glass window on the door. It seemed to be completely deserted. At this time in the morning the chances of getting hold of anyone to open it were even smaller than at the derelict college building. How inconsiderate of Adrian to go missing and not tell anyone where he was going outside of office hours.

  ‘This is ridiculous,’ she said as she paced, staring at her phone, waiting for either news that they had found the owner of the unit or for Adrian to call. Wishful thinking in both cases.

  ‘It’ll be fine, DS Grey,’ DI Matt Walsh said, arms folded, resting against the bonnet of the car.

  ‘With all due respect, sir, you can’t possibly know that.’

  ‘Adrian seems like a resilient sort. If he is in trouble, I think he can handle himself.’

  ‘Well, we can ask him when we find him. I am not in the habit of hoping for the best.’

  ‘I know you’ve both been through a lot together.’

  ‘Yes, we have. What’s your point?’

  ‘The DCI told me that he is a little unorthodox sometimes when it comes to what he does outside of work.’

  ‘How would she know?’ Imogen tried not to sound as irritated as she was.

  ‘The investigation after the rape allegation threw up a few things about Adrian’s behaviour outside of work.’

  ‘And you had access to that, how?’

  ‘As someone unconnected to both of you, DCI Kapoor wanted my opinion on how to handle the situation. She thought I might be able to offer a different perspective.’

  ‘But you are connected to both of us now. Have you had access to my files as well?’

  ‘My point is, irrational behaviour after work is not entirely unusual for DS Miles, is it?’

  Admittedly DI Matt Walsh had arrived at an unfortunate time; he probably hadn’t seen them in the best light. Not to mention the fact that all the while Imogen defended Adrian’s behaviour and professionalism, there was the small chance DI Walsh was right. Adrian did go off and get smashed sometimes when the investigation got on top of him. But it was still unlike him to switch his phone off. No, this didn’t feel right. Then, of course, there was the issue of Parker, which she couldn’t talk about with DI Walsh, but she suspected if he knew about Parker he wouldn’t be so relaxed about Adrian’s absence. But whether Adrian liked to admit it or not, Parker was as much Imogen’s responsibility as it was his. Still, none of that mattered right now. Nothing mattered until they located Adrian.