Truth or Die

by Katerina Diamond

  As much as Adrian wanted to talk, he was just so damn tired; he needed to close his eyes for a moment, it was getting too hard to stay awake. He decided just to accept defeat and get the sleeping over with. He was useless until he had regained at least a little energy. Finn was dead and so no one was in any imminent danger. He could explain everything when he woke up. Well, maybe not everything.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Imogen watched Adrian in the hospital bed. She had been here for several hours now and had offered to stay until Adrian woke up, under the guise of being there to question him when he finally re-emerged. She didn’t want anyone else to question him, particularly not DI Walsh. As much as she liked Matt, knowing that he had seen through all their personnel files was more than annoying, it was upsetting.

  Adrian hadn’t moved much since they put him in the bed, but Imogen had spoken to the doctor, who had assured her that he was fine. Any injuries he had sustained were purely superficial. Now that they were in a relationship and she had accepted that, she found herself worrying more. Not that she didn’t care before, but now it had been dialled up to eleven. It was a strange thing – when she thought about it, it must be a selfish thing: if Adrian got hurt then it cost her emotionally and so she didn’t want him to get hurt. Was his safety even about him any more? Or was it about how inconvenient it would be to her if anything happened to him? She put her thoughts down to the recent loss of her mother and how annoyed she still was with her for selfishly dying, without even a consideration as to how it would affect Imogen. She was also annoyed with Adrian for putting himself in danger without considering how she would feel if something happened to him, especially after what he had been through. Maybe deflecting her feelings onto Adrian was a way of ignoring how vulnerable she felt now that she cared more deeply about him.

  ‘What are you thinking about?’ Adrian said.

  She hadn’t even noticed him waking up.

  ‘I thought that was supposed to be my line?’ She stood up and leaned over the bed.

  ‘How long have I been asleep?’ Adrian asked.

  ‘It’s only been a few hours, don’t worry. How are you feeling?’

  ‘Good. What happened to the house? Did they manage to put it out?’ Adrian said.

  ‘Yes, although it was burned to a shell before that happened. They found one body in the downstairs and are still sifting through the rest of the debris for evidence. I would be surprised if we find anything though. We still don’t know who lived there or why Finn was there. There were traces of accelerant, so the fire was no accident.’

  ‘Finn Blackwell. He covered the place in petrol,’ Adrian said.

  ‘How did you get away?’

  ‘I just kept him talking. I was secured with duct tape, but I worked my way through it while he babbled on. He confessed to the murders.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘I followed him to that place, he caught me and then he just lost it. I overheard him talking to someone on the phone, but I don’t know who it was. I’m not sure if they instructed him to start the fire or not, but he covered the place in accelerant and then when I got free there was a struggle. He had a knife on me, we wrestled for it, I grabbed it and defended myself. The only light in there was a candle and that got knocked over while we were fighting over the knife.’

  ‘Did you kill him?’ Imogen asked.

  ‘Yes,’ Adrian said, turning away as he spoke. ‘I had no choice, it was him or me.’

  ‘I’m glad it was him, then.’ She stroked his forehead; he had a few cuts and bruises, but nothing that wouldn’t heal over time. ‘Do you know why he was there, whose house it was?’

  ‘I have no idea. My head hurts,’ Adrian said, closing his eyes.

  ‘Should I get the doctor?’

  ‘I need to get out of here.’ He pulled the breathing tube off of his nose, pushed himself to a sitting position and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

  ‘Not until you’ve seen someone and they say you can go.’

  ‘I’m not hurt, I just need to get out of here. I hate hospitals.’

  ‘Just wait there,’ Imogen said.

  She understood what it was like to be in the middle of an investigation that was running full pelt and then suddenly to be sitting on the sidelines for whatever reason: you just wanted to get back to work.

  ‘I’m fine, Imogen, help me get out of here.’ He pulled the drip out of his arm.

  She had no choice but to help him, it was that or watching him do it and hurt himself. He was still shaken by what had happened with Finn Blackwell in that house. He was unusually cagey about it all. Not that they had had much of a chance to speak, but she could tell that he was holding something back. Imogen guessed that he would talk when he was ready.

  ‘I’ll tell the nurse we are leaving then,’ Imogen said.

  ‘Where’s the car?’

  ‘Where is it you think you’re going? You need to go home and get some rest.’

  ‘We need to get back to the station. I’m sure the DCI will want to ask me some questions about what happened. I can’t relax until I’ve been debriefed.’

  ‘Suit yourself,’ she said, rolling her eyes at the nurse who came rushing over as soon as she realised Adrian was trying to leave.

  ‘Sir, if you wait a few minutes, Dr Hadley will be here soon. She asked me to call when you woke up because she wanted to check on you.’

  Imogen felt the unfamiliar pang of jealousy. Knowing that Adrian and this Dr Hadley had been out for a drink together made her feel strange. She had no idea why. Maybe it was because the woman was a doctor and Imogen was intimidated by that. She couldn’t worry about any of that now though. She had Adrian back and that was all that mattered. He was safe, and she could stop thinking the worst.

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Adrian had crossed a line. Again. Maybe Gary had been right about him. The effects of the fire had worn off and Adrian’s cough was nothing but a tickle now. They had only recovered the one body in the fire, which meant that somehow Parker had got out. Adrian was glad of that. There was too much fire damage to find any evidence that didn’t corroborate Adrian’s story. The worst thing about it all was that he had lied to Imogen. He couldn’t tell her the truth, not after the last few weeks – that feeling of guilt he had was not for letting Parker go but for pulling Imogen into his mess. What was even worse was that she trusted him implicitly, she had told him as much on many occasions. In a way, he could justify it to himself by pretending he was doing it for her own good so that the investigation could be wrapped up into a neat little bow and no one would ask any questions.

  They were still looking for the final player in the game. Adrian felt a weight on him as DCI Kapoor, DI Walsh, Gary and Imogen all pored over the incident boards looking for more clues. If he told them what he knew that might help, but it could also throw them off a significant development. He told himself he was keeping quiet for the good of the investigation. So far, no further leads had been discovered and the urgency seemed to be disappearing out of the case, with the knowledge that both Finn Blackwell and Russ Beacham were dead.

  ‘Please, someone tell me we have some idea who was behind all of this. We have got four dead students and four dead teachers. How is it possible that the person who connects all of these murders has completely evaded capture? Go through all of the witness statements, crime scene reports, any photos. Everything. We must have crossed paths with this person at some point, and if not, why not?’ DCI Kapoor said.

  ‘I’ve had an idea,’ Adrian said. ‘We asked Gary to find any students that had either been in trouble with the law or in the news for any reason going back fifteen years.’

  ‘That doesn’t really help us though. It could be dozens. We need to make the list of suspects smaller not bigger,’ DCI Kapoor said.

  ‘Well, we found out that Robert Coley worked at the uni thirteen years ago, so it’s possible that this game has been going on at least that long. It never made sense to me
that they would have a professor from another university involved. So we need to cross-reference those students with their courses and lecturers and see if anyone new pops up in connection with these names Gary has found.’

  ‘Fine. DS Grey, go back to the university and speak to any faculty in the humanities department that you haven’t already. If that turns nothing up then speak to the ones you have. Adrian, are you OK to go with her?’

  ‘Of course,’ Adrian said, surprised.

  He hadn’t officially been let off the leash since Caitlin Watts had made the accusations against him. He was a little nervous, if he was honest, but he didn’t want to voice those concerns in case he was forced to take some mandatory therapy.

  They left immediately. In the car on the way to the university neither one of them spoke. Adrian wanted to ask Imogen what she was thinking about but thought better of it. Fortunately there was no traffic, so they got there in less than five minutes. Adrian couldn’t stop himself from cracking first, he always cracked first.

  ‘Is there something wrong?’ he asked.

  ‘No.’

  ‘So yes, then.’

  Imogen got out of the car. Adrian watched her, deciding whether to say anything or not.

  ‘You knew what you were doing. You deliberately went on your own to that place. You could have been killed.’

  ‘Oh.’ Adrian hadn’t even considered that she might be upset with him about that. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘I care about you. I thought I could trust you.’

  ‘You can,’ he lied.

  ‘You lost someone recently, you know how much that hurts. Did you even think for a second about how unsafe you were? You’re not immortal, Adrian. Bad things can happen to you just like they can to anyone else.’

  ‘I know, I just thought I could get ahead of the curve with it. I didn’t want to get you in trouble with the DCI. Besides, it wasn’t premeditated, I just thought of it on the spot.’

  ‘Whether that’s true or not, you put yourself in danger.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Look. Whatever’s past is past. I want you to promise me from this moment on that you will be honest with me. And you can’t do stupid reckless things unless I’m there with you! You can’t just throw your life around like it doesn’t matter, OK? It matters to me.’

  Adrian smiled while simultaneously feeling like a total bastard. ‘OK, I completely understand, I won’t do it again.’

  ‘I was terrified something had happened to you. I can’t take it at the moment, Adrian. Promise me. No more looking for trouble.’

  ‘I promise.’

  ‘Is there anything else you remember from when Finn had you in the house? Did he say anything about who he was working with?’

  ‘Nothing. I know it’s a male, but that’s all. Finn kept referring to him as a he.’

  ‘Brilliant.’

  They walked into the humanities block and up to the reception desk. There was no one there. Adrian leaned on the counter and peered inside, then knocked on the glass. A woman jumped at the sound and looked over. Adrian pulled his warrant card out of his pocket and pressed it against the glass.

  ‘I wonder if you could help us.’

  The woman walked over and examined the warrant card before sliding the glass open.

  ‘Is this about those terrible murders? I heard it was a couple of students, is that right?’

  Adrian ignored the question. ‘I have a list of students here, who all studied with this department in the uni over the last few years. Do you have a record of which classes they attended?’

  ‘I should do. Can I see the list?’

  Imogen pulled the sheets of paper from her pocket and handed them over to the receptionist.

  ‘I’ll just put them through the system for you. What is it exactly you are looking for?’

  ‘We just need to speak to any of the teachers that taught these students. So just the names of the professors, please.’

  She sat down and started to type from the list into the system.

  ‘Gillian Mitchell, Gillian Mitchell, Hugh Norris, Helen Lassiter, Mitchell, Lassiter, Mitchell, Norris.’ She scribbled an initial next to each student’s name and stopped speaking aloud, instead just jotting the information on the sheet of paper.

  ‘Who is MP?’ Adrian said, noticing the different initials she had written next to a couple of names.

  ‘Dr Pike? He’s the head of the department. He doesn’t teach any more. He only works part-time, but you are in luck, he is in today. I’ll give him a call if you like and get him to come to the desk.’ She picked up the phone.

  ‘So, Dr Pike doesn’t teach at all?’ Imogen asked.

  ‘He doesn’t actually take many classes himself; he might fill in once or twice. His role this academic year is more administrative,’ The receptionist smiled, a small look of confusion hidden beneath the surface. She seemed disturbed that no one was answering the phone.

  ‘Everything all right?’ Imogen said.

  The receptionist smiled and continued to listen to the phone ring. They could hear the distant ring of the unanswered phone reverberating through the hallway.

  ‘I’ll go and check his office,’ the receptionist offered when she put the phone down. She wandered out through the back door of the admin area.

  ‘Did we talk to a Dr Pike?’ Adrian asked.

  ‘Name’s familiar,’ Imogen said, pulling out her notebook and flipping through it. ‘Yes, briefly, although I don’t think we questioned him; he was the one who told us Lassiter was away.’

  ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this.’

  ‘You think it’s Pike?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Adrian said.

  ‘Do you think Parker got him already?’ Imogen asked.

  ‘No. That’s not what I think,’ Adrian said; Parker had promised he wouldn’t kill whoever the final person was and Adrian believed him. He didn’t seem to lie. Even if telling the truth hurt him, he still did it.

  ‘That’s strange.’ The woman returned. ‘His office is empty.’

  ‘What do you mean by empty?’ Adrian asked.

  ‘Come and have a look for yourself,’ she said.

  They followed her through the corridor to a room at the end. She pushed the door open and, sure enough, bar the furniture and a few small stacks of clearly discarded books, the room was empty. It had been cleaned out.

  ‘Do you have any idea why Dr Pike’s stuff has gone?’ Adrian asked.

  ‘None,’ she said, her forehead knotted in confusion.

  ‘Is this unusual behaviour for him?’ Adrian pushed as they made their way back to the front desk.

  ‘Well, last year a student of his fell off the cathedral. You probably saw it on the news at the time. It was awful; filmed it for some stupid internet thing. Dr Pike was quite affected by that and I am not sure he ever got over it. He’s definitely been different the last couple of months. I do hope he’s all right.’

  ‘Toby Hoare? Is that the kid you mean? He was one of Dr Pike’s students?’ Imogen asked.

  ‘Yes, lovely boy. He was here on a full scholarship. I remember doing his paperwork. No parents or anything to speak of. Very sad.’

  ‘Could you give us a home address for Dr Pike?’ Imogen said, pre-empting Adrian’s next request.

  ‘Of course. I’ll see if there’s any reason on the system for his absence. We have been going through some renovations, so maybe his office is being done up; although this block isn’t due for refurbishment until the summer.’

  The timing of this was beyond suspicious. The lady handed Adrian a printout that contained Pike’s home address, along with the list of the previous students with the initials next to their names, and he nodded her a thank you. Adrian rushed out of the building back towards the car park, Imogen following close behind him.

  ‘What are you thinking?’ Imogen said.

  ‘The same thing you are, I expect. It has to be him. Call Gary and see if he can find anything; there is still
loads on those computers he hasn’t been through and he says it’s much easier when he knows what he’s looking for.’

  Adrian got in the car and waited for Imogen to finish on the phone to Gary. She got in and nodded for him to start driving towards the Countess Weir roundabout. He didn’t feel much urgency, even though every fibre of his being was telling him that Pike was the one. The state of his office wasn’t a recent thing, the dust had well and truly settled.

  ‘Pike’s the one who gave me Lassiter’s address. I remember him, I didn’t get a creepy vibe from him at all,’ Imogen said.

  ‘Why would you?’

  ‘You just kind of hope you would know, don’t you?’ Imogen said.

  ‘Imagine how easy our job would be then.’

  ‘I suppose.’

  Adrian turned off the roundabout and headed out towards Woodbury Salterton, the location of Marcus Pike’s house. He wondered what he would find when he got there. Part of him hoped that they would walk in to discover Marcus Pike’s mutilated corpse, not because he wanted that to happen but because he wanted to know that Parker had made it out of the fire. The fire department had only found partial remains of Finn Blackwell among the bones, but it was possible they had made a mistake, wasn’t it? The house was so old it had gone up like kindling, and by the time the fire fighters had hooked their hoses up, the house was a roaring flame. The downside of finding Pike’s body was, of course, that Parker being at large would trigger another investigation and who knew what information would come out. Adrian’s primary concern was Imogen in all this; he couldn’t tell her he had seen Parker in the house, he couldn’t make her lie for him any more. From now on he wouldn’t put her career in jeopardy just because of his own skewed morality. Even if it meant lying to her.

  ‘This is it,’ Imogen said as they approached a white thatched cottage precariously nestled in the centre of the fork in the road.

  There was a For Sale sign knocked down in the shrubs in front of the house that opened directly onto the B road. Adrian turned into the driveway and stopped the car.