Truth or Die

by Katerina Diamond

  ‘I appreciate your point of view, DI Walsh, but you don’t really know DS Miles. This isn’t after work, this is the middle of an investigation. He is very unlikely to just switch his phone off and go clubbing. Not answer his phone, yeah, that could happen. But to not be able to locate him? No way. Something’s off.’

  ‘Maybe he’s out of range,’ Matt said.

  ‘If this was a bid to calm me down it has failed miserably,’ Imogen snapped.

  ‘I didn’t mean to upset you,’ Matt offered.

  ‘You’re wrong about him. He’s a good police officer,’ she said, composing herself, knowing full well none of this was Matt’s fault.

  At that moment the phone rang, and Imogen looked at the screen. It was DCI Kapoor.

  ‘Saved by the bell,’ DI Walsh muttered; he did look somewhat apologetic. Maybe Imogen had been a bit hard on him. She couldn’t tell if her feelings for Adrian had magnified any reaction she might have normally had. This was exactly why it was a bad idea to get involved with someone from work. Well done, Imogen, you have gone from one impossible relationship to another.

  ‘DS Grey, there is a signed warrant for you to enter the property as we have reason to believe DS Miles is in imminent danger. Some officers will arrive on the scene shortly to break the door down.’

  ‘Thank you, Ma’am,’ Imogen said, still slightly annoyed that the DCI had been talking to Matt Walsh about either one of them. She made a mental note to investigate the connection between Walsh and Kapoor further as there was obviously a lot of trust between them. So far, as decent as DI Walsh seemed, he was a bit of a mystery. Imogen knew better than to blindly trust someone just because they were nice.

  ‘We’ll find him, DS Grey, I promise you that,’ DCI Kapoor said before hanging up.

  Imogen heard sirens getting closer, which did nothing to make her feel any calmer.

  Where the fuck are you, Adrian?

  Within moments of the backup arriving, the door to the unit was open. The lock smashed and the handle fell on the floor. Imogen stepped inside, immediately feeling that it was empty. She went through the motions with her torch, shining into every corner, disappointment hitting her like a hammer with every step. They were in the wrong place.

  ‘There’s no one here!’ Imogen said, alarmed by the panic in her own voice.

  Was she losing it? An idea was forming in her mind, an idea she was trying to ignore. She couldn’t think about what would happen if they didn’t find Adrian. Her feelings of concern for his safety and anger at him for wandering off alone were multiplying. She couldn’t not find him, that just wasn’t an option.

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Adrian felt the blade against his cheek. He could see it resting there from the corner of his eye. It wasn’t a particularly sharp knife, so it hadn’t broken the skin yet. Adrian imagined that wouldn’t be the case for long. Had anyone even noticed he was missing? Imogen probably thought he was in a huff about something; she generally left him to his own devices and vices in his free time. She would text once and then it was his turn. If anything, Adrian felt as though he was the needy one. It wasn’t that he felt neglected, or that she was disinterested, more that she was protecting herself from getting too close. Adrian understood that and he appreciated it. Thinking about Imogen was taking his mind off the increasing pressure of the knife against his skin. His immediate concern was Imogen wandering into this mess.

  Finn whipped his head round as though he’d heard something. Whatever it was, Adrian hadn’t noticed, but then he was feeling a little foggy. Finn had hit him several times now.

  ‘Stay there!’ Finn laughed as he stood up and disappeared to investigate the noise.

  Adrian turned to Parker. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Trying to get free.’

  ‘And what happens then?’

  ‘We escape,’ Parker said.

  ‘Both of us?’ Adrian said.

  ‘I’m not going to hurt you, Detective Miles. I have no reason to.’

  ‘You might if you wanted to stay out of prison,’ Adrian said.

  ‘I’m not afraid of prison.’

  Adrian believed him.

  Finn came barrelling back in. ‘Where is it?’ He thrust the knife in Adrian’s direction, the tip of the blade narrowly missing his nose.

  ‘Where is what?’ Adrian said, genuinely confused about what Finn was talking about.

  ‘The knife! There’s another one missing from the block. Where is it?’

  There was someone else here.

  ‘You must have checked me over. Check again, I don’t have it. Even if I did, I couldn’t use it.’

  ‘It was definitely there before. You’re fucking with me!’

  Adrian had an idea. It was a long shot, but it had to be worth a try at this point.

  ‘Maybe it’s him, your handler. Maybe he’s come to clean up the mess. You told him where you are? If you aren’t around to grass on him then he gets away with it.’ As he said the words, it occurred to him that he might be right. Maybe it was him. Whoever he was.

  ‘No. He wouldn’t,’ Finn said, contemplating Adrian’s words. The boy was unstable; that much was evident. He was already paranoid, it wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge.

  ‘How do you know for sure he doesn’t have someone else already? You’re a liability, Finn, maybe he’s sent someone for you, just like he sent you for Caitlin and Russ. You know too much. He’s cleaning house.’

  ‘Shut up!’ Finn clasped his ears.

  ‘If you turn all the lights on, then he will have nowhere to hide.’

  ‘Stop talking!’

  Adrian saw a shadow move from the corner of his eye. He had no idea who it was, but he had to assume whoever it was was on their side. If the person was with Finn, they would have made themselves known. Unless they were here to kill all of them and get rid of the evidence.

  Adrian tried to look over to Parker to see if he had noticed; he didn’t want Finn to know that he and Parker were acquainted. Parker who hadn’t even broken a sweat throughout this whole encounter. He waited until Finn was looking away from him before turning his head. Parker didn’t seem to be aware, but Adrian was assuming that he could read Parker on some level, which of course was not true.

  Adrian heard someone inhale sharply and the faintest whooshing sound. He heard a shriek and knew that it was Finn. Had they come for him? There was a gurgle and the familiar smell of blood. Then a thud and Finn’s muffled gurgles, which now came from the floor. He was clutching at his face, blood dribbling through his fingers.

  ‘Who’s there?’ Adrian called out, unsure if he wanted the answer. If Finn was on the ground and Parker was strapped to the chair next to him, then who the hell could it be? It certainly wasn’t police, they would have announced themselves by now. He hoped he wasn’t right about it being the final professor come to finish Finn off.

  Adrian squinted as a flurry of light appeared; the candle had fallen and ignited the curtains. It got very warm very quickly. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the sudden brightness before he spotted the figure once more. It was Abbey. Her yellow maternity dress was soaked in blood and she stood over Finn Blackwell with the knife in her hand. He wasn’t dead and Adrian watched him reach for his knife with his free hand, stretching his fingers out across the carpet, his other hand clutching at his face. It was possible she had been aiming for his throat, but she had sliced him across the cheek. Half a Chelsea smile. Blood gushed from his face. He moved his hand and the skin gaped open, revealing his teeth and gums, the part you never see. The contrast of Finn’s bright blue eyes next to the blood was all Adrian could focus on. His stomach turned at the flaps of skin hanging from Finn’s face.

  Abbey stamped on his wrist as he made a move for the knife. He tried to grab at her ankle with his other hand, but she kicked it away.

  ‘Cut my restraints, Abbey. I’ll take care of him,’ Parker said. There was a softness in his voice, a tenderness.

  ‘No time,�
� she replied.

  With one deft move she swiped the knife across Finn’s throat and the blood sprayed across all three of them. Finn stopped moving, his face frozen into a startled grimace. Parker seemed as shocked as Adrian for one brief moment. Abbey rushed over and cut the last bit of tape that was holding Parker’s arm down. He took the bloody knife from her hand and cut the other hand free, then bent down and cut his legs free. Parker wrapped his arms around Abbey, oblivious to the man bleeding out on the floor, a black slick pooling beneath him.

  ‘Cut me loose,’ Adrian said.

  ‘I can’t,’ Parker replied.

  ‘What do you mean you can’t?’ Adrian said, aware that they were running out of time as the flames licked at the walls of the living room.

  ‘Not now. There’s only one person in the world I care about, Detective Miles, and given what you just saw there is no way I can release you. I can’t let you arrest my wife.’

  ‘You said you wouldn’t hurt me. Burning alive seems pretty painful to me.’

  Parker considered for a moment. ‘I need to get Abbey to safety. I’ll hand myself in, but we need to let Abbey go.’

  ‘No! You can’t! I need you,’ Abbey cried.

  ‘It’s time, Abbey. After everything I’ve done. I never wanted to change you. Maybe it’s better if I stay away, I don’t want our child to turn out bad. Look what I turned you into.’

  ‘What are you talking about? Him?’ She pointed at Finn Blackwell’s body. ‘Do you think I care about him? I don’t. You didn’t make me do anything.’ She cupped Parker’s face with her bloody hand.

  ‘This is very moving, but if we leave it much longer then none of us are getting out of here,’ Adrian reminded them.

  ‘He’s right, Abbey, you need to go.’

  ‘Detective, isn’t there any way you can keep Parker out of prison?’ Abbey pleaded. ‘You saw what he’s been through, you know he isn’t a bad person. He never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it.’

  ‘That’s not up to him to decide though; we have the law for that,’ Adrian said, aware that he should probably say anything they wanted to hear if he wanted to get out of there alive.

  ‘The law is impotent when it comes to some people, or worse, apathetic,’ Abbey said.

  ‘It’s OK, Abbey. We’ll be OK. I’ll confess. You and the baby will be looked after. We have money, you’ll never need anything.’

  ‘You can’t take the blame for something I have done,’ Abbey said.

  ‘I will if it means you are both safe. That’s all that matters.’

  ‘I need you though,’ she pleaded with Parker before turning to Adrian. ‘Can’t he say it was self-defence? This is his home.’

  ‘What about all the other murders? Even if he promised never to do it again, I couldn’t agree to lying in court for him,’ Adrian said.

  ‘There’s enough blame to go around here. There is no evidence linking Parker to any of those crime scenes, I know because if there was they would be looking for him, you would have been looking for him – and you weren’t.’

  ‘Abbey, go now while I cut the detective free. Get away from the house, please!’ Parker kissed her on the lips, blood on both of their faces.

  ‘Please, hurry,’ she said before rushing from the room.

  The flames were reaching the ceiling now. Parker dropped to Adrian’s feet and started to cut the tape.

  ‘I wish I could let you go again,’ Adrian said. He did, but he knew he couldn’t, regardless of the consequences to himself.

  ‘I know, Detective.’

  ‘I’m sorry it turned out this way for you. If only you had never started again. I have no idea how to explain all of this away. I have to take you in.’

  ‘I’m sorry I put you in this position.’

  Adrian watched him as he sliced through his restraints. Knowing that a neighbour might call the fire brigade, knowing that the police might turn up – Parker still stayed to let him go. Adrian couldn’t help feeling that in another life, where Parker wasn’t a brutal murderer, that Adrian would like him. He was a good guy. Except he wasn’t.

  ‘How do we get out of here?’ Adrian asked, rubbing the parts of his wrists that had been restrained.

  He noted that the door he had come in by was engulfed in flames. His clothes clung to him with sweat as the heat intensified. The thick heavy drape of the curtains were lighting up a treat, also ensuring that it was impossible to jump through one of the windows.

  ‘We have no choice, we have to go through that door. We need to hurry before it gets any worse!’ Parker shouted above the noise of the rising flames.

  It hadn’t occurred to Adrian that it would be so noisy inside a fire.

  ‘We won’t make it!’ Adrian shouted.

  Parker grabbed him by the hand and pulled him towards the door. They both shielded their eyes, and as much as Adrian couldn’t quite brave the flames himself, he didn’t have time to think about it as Parker pulled him through the doorway.

  Finn had poured petrol throughout the house, the stairs were alight, as were the other doorframes. They stood in the central hall. The fire wasn’t quite as severe here, although they didn’t have long. Adrian knew as soon as they went outside he would have no choice but to arrest Parker and deal with the shitstorm that went with that. He trusted that Parker wouldn’t drop him in it, but he couldn’t be so sure about Abbey. She would tell the police about his involvement if it meant a lesser sentence for Parker.

  Finn had obviously doused the stairwell well, because it was almost entirely obscured by the flames that got closer to the ceiling with every passing second. Parker looked over nervously. It was the first time Adrian had seen anything resembling emotion on his face as he stared up at the landing.

  ‘Head through the kitchen and the conservatory.’ Parker pointed the way.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Adrian shouted. He knew he shouldn’t let him go.

  ‘I have to get something,’ he replied over the sound of timber splitting wood. With that, Parker disappeared up the stairs through the flames.

  Adrian watched for as long as he could, which wasn’t very long at all as it turned out. His eyeballs were burning. He had to get out of there; the staircase was collapsing, so he couldn’t go upstairs and get Parker. It felt wrong to leave him, but Adrian had no choice: if he didn’t leave now, then he wouldn’t get out at all.

  Adrian charged for the kitchen, the door igniting fully almost immediately after he had passed through, as though it had permission somehow. It was only a matter of time before the flames reached the stove. His skin was sore; it felt like a bad case of sunburn and it wasn’t letting up. Adrian knew had to get out of there, the oxygen was disappearing faster than he could breathe it in. He took a gulp of the disappearing air and pulled his jacket over his head, making a break for the back door, which opened easily. Running to the back of the garden before he could look back, he collapsed onto his knees and gulped in as much fresh air as he could.

  After coughing uncontrollably for a few moments as the clean air fought its way inside his body, he turned to look at the house. The trailing ivy on the outside of the building had caught fire and was spreading quickly. The windows were already surrounded by sheets of flickering orange. Adrian couldn’t see how Parker would be able to get out.

  Over the sound of the house burning, Adrian could hear a siren approaching. It was a fire engine. His phone was still inside the house and so he couldn’t call this in and he was still too out of breath to move. He fell back on the grass and tried to focus on breathing enough to get himself moving again. The lack of oxygen was making him dizzy. He just had to calm down and try to breathe slowly. They had had training for this, although he couldn’t remember it, all he could think of was Parker trapped inside the house. There was no way in or out now; the most they could hope for was to be able to extinguish the fire before all the evidence completely disappeared and that hope was disappearing quickly.

  Dizziness was taking over and Ad
rian could feel himself slipping. He needed to get further away from the house; as the flames grew, it was getting harder to breathe as the fire stole the oxygen. He heard his name, distant and desperate.

  ‘Adrian!’

  ‘Imogen,’ he said, his voice raspy and low. He needed to get someone’s attention.

  ‘I’m here!’ Imogen said and he could feel her hands on his face, but his eyes were hurting too much and he felt foggy.

  The next thing he knew he was being lifted onto a stretcher and then carried into a vehicle. The paramedics were there and when they put the oxygen mask on his face, he started to feel immediately more lucid. He opened his eyes and felt a squeeze on his fingers. Imogen was sitting next to him, holding his hand.

  ‘Just nod yes or no. Was Finn Blackwell in that house?’

  Adrian nodded.

  He grabbed at his mask to pull it away, so he could speak.

  ‘He’s dead. Did you find anyone else?’ he managed to whisper.

  ‘No, just you. Don’t talk right now, just rest. The firefighters are doing everything they can to stop the fire and if there is anyone else there they will find them.’

  ‘Parker …’ he said, coughing, the pain in his chest immense.

  ‘Adrian, none of that matters right now, just put the bloody oxygen mask back on will you. You can tell me everything later. We found Russ Beacham’s body. He’s been dead several days; we don’t have a definite TOD yet. We know he couldn’t have killed Caitlin though.’