“DS Stuart,” a gruff sounding man said.
“Hi, Detective, I’m DC Jones from Central Manchester.”
“What can I do for you, son?”
Duncan bristled. He didn’t like the man’s superior attitude. “I’m ringing about Maggie Simms.”
“What about her?” Now, there was a cool tone to the older man’s voice.
“I’ve just interviewed her regarding several allegations she’s made against yourself and her stepfather’s sisters.”
“Allegations?”
“Yes. Could you tell me what your thoughts are? She thinks the Simms sisters are responsible for a number of deaths, including one of the cases you’re working on, Matthew Pierson and Penelope Judd.”
“Does she really? How interesting. What else did she tell you?”
Duncan paused, unsure of how much he should divulge.
“Spit it out, boy!”
“That you’ve got it in for her,” Duncan blurted. “And that you want her locked up for the death of her stepfather, sir.”
“Hang on a minute, DC Jones,” he snapped. “Who is your superior officer?”
“Erm… DI Ashley Kent.”
“And does Ashley know you’re even contacting me? This is highly irregular.”
“No, sir. I was acting on my own initiative.”
“Take it from me, Sonny Jim, hang up now and don’t mention this to Ashley, or else you’ll find yourself stuck on desk duty for the rest of your sorry career. Do you hear me?”
“I do, sir. Sorry, sir.” Duncan hung up, fuming with himself. He still had a lot to learn and always seemed to be fucking up. He hoped DS Stuart wouldn’t drop him in it with Ashley.
It was almost two hours later before Rachel and I hailed a cab. I was shattered.
“Shall I come back with you?” Rachel asked.
“No, honestly. Your dad’ll have kittens if you don’t go home after everything he heard tonight.”
“Stuff Dad. He really pissed me off, leaving us like that.”
“I’m glad he did. I felt his disapproval without even looking at him.”
“Welcome to my world.”
“You’ve got school tomorrow, anyway. And I really don’t intend to do much tonight.”
“If you’re sure?”
“I am.”
The cab dropped me off first, and I waved to Rachel as it drove away. I rummaged in my bag for the keys and glanced self-consciously at number eleven.
There didn’t appear to be any lights on. I wondered if the sisters had already been arrested, but I doubted it. The detectives seemed keen to get some more information, but I didn’t think they’d get around to actually questioning the sisters until DI Kent did her own research. She told me to keep out of their way in the meantime, and she’d be in touch. But keeping out of their way was easier said than done when we were living next door to each other.
I let myself in and filled the kettle. I’d not eaten all day, and now, I was starving. I warmed some leftovers from last night’s dinner and carried a cup of tea and the plate of food through to the lounge.
A tap on the window startled me, making me spill my tea on the coffee table. “Bugger!” I emptied a wad of tissues out of the box and plonked it on top of the puddle before rushing to the door.
With the chain on, I peered through the small opening. I almost cried when I saw Jake on the doorstep.
“Good evening, Mags – oops, sorry – Maggie. Do you mind if I come in for a second?”
“What do you want? I’m just heading to bed.”
“It won’t take a sec, but I’d rather come in. You won’t want every Tom, Dick, and Harry to hear what I have to say.” He nodded towards number eleven.
My heart dropped. I knew he’d been told about my visit to the station. I unfastened the chain and stepped backwards, allowing him to enter.
“Well, young Maggie. I’ve just had a very enlightening conversation with me old mate, Ashley. She told me you’re no longer blaming me for bumping off all your allies and the pooch, but you now think it’s poor Kenny’s lovely sisters.”
“Did you know they were living next door?”
“Of course I knew. Not much happens around here I don’t know about.”
“And yet, you didn’t think to warn me?”
He shook his head and hitched his trousers up before taking a seat on the sofa. “Why would I have to warn you? They haven’t done anything wrong.”
“They blame me for killing their brother.”
“The whole village blames you for killing Kenny. The fact is, you did kill Kenny, didn’t you?”
“Not like that, and you know it.”
“No. I know what you told everyone. Batting your eyelids and acting all innocent, but you don’t fool me, Mags. Not for a second.”
“What did you come over for, Jake?” I snapped.
“I’m the local detective. I wouldn’t be doing my civic duty if I didn’t check on you every now and then, considering you claim someone is out to get you.”
“That’s bullshit, and you know it. Listen, I get it. You were Kenny’s best mate, and you think I wasn’t punished enough. But the fact is, he raped me. It wasn’t just once either. He’d raped me repeatedly for months, since my mum became sick.”
Jake belched out a laugh and slapped his thigh. “And yet another change to your story. Oh my, you really do take the biscuit don’t you, Mags?”
I knew it was pointless trying to make him understand. He hated me as much as I hated him. “For your information, I didn’t need to go into it with Donna because she said it didn’t matter when it began. She had enough evidence to prove it was self-defence.”
“I’ve gotta give it to you, Mags. You’ve played a bloody blinder, getting everyone on side the way you have. But what makes you think your new neighbours hold any bad feeling towards you?”
I sighed and shook my head. “Why do you think, Jake? I killed their brother, for God’s sake. Oh, and not forgetting the fact they threatened to make me pay when we were in court. I actually have lots of witnesses to that.”
“Lots of people say things in the heat of the moment. It doesn’t mean they intend to act on it.”
“For a smart man, you can be pretty dense.”
He shot a flash of annoyance at me.
“You are. Why else would they have moved next door?”
“In their own words, they wanted to be close to their brother. His belongings are still inside; they never removed them. They lost touch with Kenny for one reason or another, and they just want to lay their demons to rest.”
“Believe what you want, Jake. Now, can you go, please? I need to go to bed.”
“Is that a come on? Because I have no interest in you, Mags.”
Horrified by his words, I felt my mouth gape open. It took a few seconds for me to respond. “How can you take that as a come on? You’re as bad as your disgusting fucking mate. Now get out.” I marched into the hall and stood with the door wide open.
Jake strolled into the hall, stopping directly in front of me. “Be careful what accusations you throw around, Mags, because shit sticks. I might have no choice but to throw a few accusations in your direction.”
I didn’t react. I froze as he leaned in towards me, his rotten breath hitting my face. Incapable of moving, I held my breath, body tight, as I silently screamed.
Jake leaned even closer to me, pressing me against the wall with his hard body, his face barely an inch from mine. “You’ll beg me to fuck you, sooner or later, Mags. Sluts like you always do.” Then, he licked my mouth and chin. The stench of tooth decay, stale fags, and coffee almost caused me to vomit in his face.
Terrified, I whimpered as he pressed his crotch into my stomach.
He eventually pulled away from me.
When I realised he was actually outside, I slammed the door behind him, shoving the bolts into place.
Relief flooded me. I pressed my back against the door as huge tears rushed down my chee
ks, and I slid to the carpet. When was this nightmare going to end?
36
At seven the following morning, Duncan and Ashley knocked on the front door of eleven Junction Road. They heard a commotion coming from inside. A woman, who appeared to be in her late forties, answered the door wearing a pale blue nightdress and matching slippers. Her puffy eyes were red rimmed from sleep, and her frizzy brown hair stuck up above one ear.
“Miss Simms?” Ashley stepped forwards, showing her ID.
“I’m Veronica Simms, yes.”
“DI Kent and DC Jones. Do you mind if we come in for a second?”
“What for? Oh, don’t tell me. Has the crazy cow next door called you?”
“Do you mind?” Ashley placed her hand on the door, and the woman stepped backwards to allow them to enter.
She led them through to the kitchen. “Valerie, get down here!” she called up the stairs as they passed. “It’s the police.”
A series of thuds and thumps followed. Someone was stomping down the stairs.
A woman, who looked very like the first, only thinner, appeared in the doorway. “What’s happened now?”
“Hi, Valerie. My name’s DI Ashley Kent. I wonder if we can ask you both a few questions down at the station?”
“You’ve got to be joking. What on earth for?” Valerie said, both hands flying to her mass of mousy brown frizz.
“We’d rather do this at the station. Could you both get dressed for me, please?”
They weren’t impressed. They shouted and swore and kicked up a fuss, making Duncan blush. He was relieved Ashley was taking the lead, as he suspected he wouldn’t have been able to speak without stuttering, a condition he had suffered from as a child and sometimes still did, in stressful situations.
When at the station, they split the sisters up and left them to stew for half an hour while Duncan and Ashley had a coffee. When they finally returned to the first interview room, Veronica was seething.
“About bloody time. What the hell is this all about?”
“What do you think it’s about, Veronica?” Ashley asked as they settled down opposite her.
“How do I bloody know? All I can think of is that silly murdering bitch next door.”
“You mean Maggie, your niece?”
“She’s no fucking niece of mine.”
“What could she tell us that would make us bring you in for questioning?”
“Who knows? I’ve barely set eyes on her since we moved in. She went mad at Val the other day, though, and seemed surprised we were renting the place.”
“Why are you renting the house your brother died in? If you don’t mind me asking.”
She shrugged her meaty shoulders. “We wanted to be close to him. He was our baby brother. It broke our hearts when we discovered that bitch had murdered him.”
“When did you last see your brother?” Duncan asked.
She flushed deep red. “Fifteen years ago.”
“Why so long?”
“He stopped talking to us when he moved to Manchester. We didn’t even know where he lived, at first – but then, Val found him three years ago, and we travelled from the Isle of Wight to meet up with him, certain he would be overjoyed at a reconciliation. But he blanked us. We were devastated.”
“What reason did he give for not talking to you?” Ashley asked.
“Oh, something and nothing. You know what families are like – complex.”
“Yeah, I know families. But it’s pretty uncommon for siblings not to forgive one another anything.” Ashley raised her eyebrows.
“Not Kenny. He was as stubborn as a mule – always had been since he was a boy.”
“So, you decided to drop everything and move from the island to live in the house he lived and died in?” Duncan said.
“I’m not expecting you to understand, young man. Kenny meant the world to us, regardless of what he felt. We came up with the intention of collecting his belongings, but when we found out the house was up for rent, we made the call to leave it all as it was.”
“Like a kind of shrine?” Duncan asked.
“Call it what you like. I don’t need to justify myself to a little pipsqueak like you. I’ve done nothing illegal.”
Her words stung. It pissed him off when people mentioned his age. He was actually thirty, but still looked like a gawky teenager and his voice lacked the timbre an adult male usually developed at puberty.
Ashley placed her hand on his arm. She must’ve been able to sense his frustration and wanted to take the reins again. “No, moving house isn’t illegal, Veronica, but murder is,” she said.
The older woman almost fell off her seat. “What the hell are you on about?”
“It must drive you mad knowing the girl who killed your precious brother is still walking the streets.”
She shrugged. “So what if it does. She got away with it. The court failed him.”
“So, you decided to take it upon yourself to put that right, did you? Make her suffer the way you suffered?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Where were you on the first of August?” Ashley asked.
“Still on the island. We didn’t arrive here until last week.”
“And can you prove that?”
“If I must. Both Valerie and I worked at the prison. They will be able to corroborate our story.”
And what about the…” Ashley glanced at her notepad. “Fifteenth of August?”
“Same answer. Now, are you going to tell me what it is you think I’ve done?”
Ashley ignored her question. “And you never came up to Manchester before that?”
Veronica rubbed her brow as though to ward off a headache. “Obviously we came up when we first heard about Kenny. But we didn’t stick around, and then, we got a train back up on the morning of the court date.”
“Did you return the same day?” Duncan asked.
“Yes, we did.”
“We’ll need proof. Do you still have your train tickets?”
“I will do, somewhere, I’m sure.”
Ashley glanced at Duncan, her eyebrows arched, before turning to Veronica. “Did you ever meet DI Donna Sullivan?”
“Yes. She was the detective in charge of Kenny’s murder.”
“What did you think of her? Do you think she did her job well?”
“At the time, I thought she was taken in by the fake innocence of the girl.”
Ashley narrowed her gaze. “Why fake innocence?”
“It’s obvious. Even Jake Stuart didn’t believe her, but he said she gave a good performance that deserved an Oscar.”
“Did he now?” Ashley said, her jaw clenching. “And what about the shopkeeper?”
“What fucking shopkeeper? Look, I’m starving and I need to get home. So, either spit it out what I’m supposed to have done or just take me home, please.”
“The local shopkeeper gave a pretty damning account of your brother, and that swung it for the judge.”
“So?”
“She was burned to death in her shop a week later.”
“And you think it was me?”
Ashley arched her eyebrows. “Detective Donna Sullivan was also killed. And, lo and behold, so was Maggie’s solicitor. See a pattern emerging?”
“This is outrageous. Should I be calling a solicitor?”
“That’s up to you, but it will take a few hours, no doubt, and we haven’t charged you with anything yet.”
“Did you ever meet Claudia Green?” Duncan asked.
“Never heard of her.”
“Your next-door neighbour.”
“Oh, the older woman. Yes, I met her once just after Kenny’s death. She’s a right battle axe.”
“And since you moved here?”
“I haven’t seen sight of her. Just the girl and her friend.”
Ashley pushed her chair out noisily and got to her feet. “Okay, Veronica, we’ll go and see what your sister has to say.”
“But what abo
ut the old woman? Is she dead too?”
Ashley ignored her and walked from the room.
Duncan followed close behind. “What do you think?” he asked Ashley in the corridor.
She scratched the back of her head. “I’ve a feeling she’s telling the truth. We’ll see what her sister has to say, and then, we’ll need to get hold of the prison and see if they were both working on those dates. If so, we’ll have no choice but to release them.”
37
I don’t know how long I stayed on the mat behind the front door. It felt like everything that had happened over the last few months had come crashing down around me, and I couldn’t seem to shake it off. I eventually crawled to the sofa where I spent the rest of the night.
By morning, I had calmed down enough to make a cup of tea. I called the hospital to see how Claudia was. I’d made it clear to all the nurses I expected them to contact me at even the smallest change, but I still insisted on calling every day and felt dejected every single time they told me she was just the same.
I sipped the tea. A blackness had descended on me – I couldn’t seem to shift it. I pushed the cup away, feeling like I might throw up at any moment. Then, I curled on the sofa again.
I thought about going back to London. Staying for Claudia when she wasn’t even aware I was there wasn’t working, and I was putting myself in danger after everything that had happened. The police had been supportive, but I knew how far-fetched my story sounded.
Although aware my phone was vibrating inside my bag, I didn’t have the energy to reach for it. I’d never felt so bad. Even losing my mum and the awful chain of events with Kenny hadn’t made me feel as though I didn’t want to talk to anybody, or even get dressed.
I knew I should be heading to the hospital. I hadn’t been since Wednesday, and today was Friday. I knew Rachel intended to come to stay for the weekend, and I desperately needed to go food shopping, but I really couldn’t force myself to move. I brushed away tears with the back of my hand and closed my eyes to shut out the world. I hated feeling like this, but I had no choice. I hoped it wouldn’t be long before I came out the other end of it.
I slept the morning away and was woken mid-afternoon by someone hammering on the front door. My heart stopped. Was it Jake, back to finish what he’d started?
Maggie: a gripping psychological thriller Page 15