The Red Dahlia

by Lynda La Plante

  “But surely he was still at the house, and for you, Justine, to immediately begin to arrange to bring your sister home…”

  “He’d gone by then.” Mrs. Hedges had to clear her throat she was so nervous.

  “Gone?”

  “Yes, he’d already left. That’s why I called Justine.”

  “What exact time was that?”

  She was now really agitated. She looked to Justine and back to Langton. “I don’t know, sometime in the morning.”

  “What exact time?”

  “I don’t know, I can’t remember.”

  “Leave her alone, she’s done nothing wrong,” Justine said angrily, and put her arm around the elderly woman.

  “I would very much like to, but you see it’s very important at what exact time you were informed that your father had left the house, so that it was now safe for you to bring back Emily.”

  “Well, it would have been before I came to the station, just before twelve.”

  “I see.”

  “So this would coincide with your father disappearing?”

  “Escaped I think is the word you’re looking for; all this is just you lot trying to cover your tracks, because he escaped and you can’t find him, so you want to interrogate us. Well, we don’t know where he went, we have not been contacted by him, we do not know where the fuck he is, and we don’t bloody care!”

  “But you must have had a pretty good idea that he wasn’t coming back, otherwise why bring Emily home?”

  “Because the less time she spent in that shithole of a mental institution the better.”

  “Why didn’t you take her to your flat?”

  “Because, I have said this over and over, I had to come back here to look after the horses, so it just makes sense that Emily is here with me.”

  “Even though your father could return?”

  “He’s not likely to, is he, for Chrissakes? You’ve got patrol cars up and down the lane, the place has been swarming with police. Of course he’s not coming back; it would be crazy if he even considered it. He is an intelligent man!”

  “So you know where he is?”

  “No, I do not, we haven’t a clue, all right? But it makes sense to anyone with half a brain that he is not coming back because he would be picked up, right?”

  “So he did contact you?”

  “No! Jesus Christ, how many more times. He has not called, he has not tried to speak to any one of us.”

  “So where is he?”

  “We don’t know!”

  “He has no passport, he has not cashed any money. Where do you think someone on the run could hide out for this length of time?”

  “Ask some of his sicko friends; they’d hide him, just like that crowd helped Lord Lucan.”

  “We have already questioned his known associates.”

  “Well, they would all lie through their teeth! They wouldn’t want to be involved with that bastard, but he could blackmail them into helping him. Go and do your job: question them and leave us alone.”

  “As I said, we already have and we are certain none helped your father escape. They are all scattered quite a distance from here, so how would he have got to them?”

  “You tell me.” Justine stood with her hands on her hips.

  Langton paused. He glanced to Travis and sighed. “You see, Miss Wickenham, we have come to the conclusion that your father never left this house.”

  There was a pause and then Justine laughed and shook her head. “Well, you bloody searched long enough! If he was here, they couldn’t find him, so this is all a bit of a farce, isn’t it? Surely wasting your time here isn’t going to help you find him? I told her; I said you’d never catch him and it’s true.” Justine pointed to Anna; she then took a look at Emily, who was sitting, head bowed, chewing at her nails. She went over and put her arm around her. “It’s okay, Em; don’t get upset, it’s all right.”

  “Mrs. Hedges.” Langton turned toward her. “You were, I believe, in your bedroom throughout the search. Is that correct?”

  “Yes, sir, I never left; well, just to make myself a sandwich and a cup of tea. I was told to remain in my room, I never left it but for that; there were police officers here in the kitchen the whole time.”

  “What did you think she did, hid him under her skirt? This is farcical!” Justine was at it again.

  “Could you please take DI Travis to your room, Mrs. Hedges?”

  “Why?”

  “We would just like to check something.”

  Mrs. Hedges looked at Justine, who gave a shrug, smiling. “Sure, that’s okay, you take her up there. I’ll carry on with breakfast.”

  Anna followed Mrs. Hedges out of the kitchen and up the narrow staircase, sidestepping piles of neatly folded sheets and towels. Mrs. Hedges opened the door into her bedroom. “They searched in here, twice,” she said.

  “Yes, I know, but I just needed to see for myself, thank you.”

  Anna looked around the sparse, neat room. A low footstool stood beside her rocking chair. The single bed had an iron railing and a handmade quilt. There was an old-fashioned wardrobe and chest of drawers, plus two small cupboards either side of the bed. If anyone had tried to hide beneath it, they could very easily have been seen.

  “This is the oldest part of the house, isn’t it?” Anna said, with a friendly smile.

  “Yes, yes, it is; it looks out to the back, so it’s very quiet.”

  “Yes, I remember you told me how you would stay up here when the weekend parties were going on.”

  “Yes.”

  Mrs. Hedges saw Anna looking at two sections of the wall that had been partly eased back.

  “They did that, the police; it’s a false wall: the panel was put up so I could hang pictures. It’s thick stone behind the partitions.” Mrs. Hedges pointed to an ironing board. “I’ve been doing the ironing up here as the laundry room has been taken apart; it was really something for me to do.”

  “Did you have much cash up here?”

  “Pardon?”

  “Any savings? Did you keep them up here?”

  “Some, yes; never been too fond of banks. My sister was with a company that took all her savings, so I used to keep mine here.”

  Anna pointed to a drawer. “Do you still have them?”

  “My money?”

  “Yes, is it still safe?”

  She opened the drawer and took out a biscuit tin. “Yes, it’s all here.”

  “So you didn’t give any money to Mr. Wickenham?”

  “No, no; he didn’t know I had it, in any case. It was my secret, really; my wages were paid into a bank account at the local bank. This money’s tips and extras the houseguests would give me.”

  “How much money do you have in your savings account, Mrs. Hedges?”

  “Oh, well, a lot.”

  “Like how much?”

  “I’ve at least seventy-two thousand pounds.”

  “And you have not withdrawn any of it recently?”

  “No, no, I’ve not been out of the house.”

  “I see, thank you.”

  As Anna turned to leave, Mrs. Hedges caught her arm. “Leave them be. They are blameless. Maybe now they can have some kind of life without their father.”

  Anna hesitated. “But he could walk back in here, Mrs. Hedges; maybe not right now, but sometime. If he did come back, you know they would be too afraid of him not to comply with anything he wanted them to do.”

  “I’m here for them and he won’t come back.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  Mrs. Hedges wouldn’t meet Anna’s eyes, she looked to the floor. “Because I’ll protect them.”

  “You?”

  “Yes, me, I’ve taken care of them.”

  “What do you mean?”

  There was a pause as Mrs. Hedges chewed at her lip. “I meant like I always tried to do when they were children.”

  “But you failed; you know what he did to Emily.”

  She made no answ
er.

  “Mrs. Hedges, two young girls—perhaps even more—not much older than Wickenham’s daughters were murdered in the most brutal way.”

  “I know; I know that now.”

  “If he did come back, you know he would have them in his power to do anything he wanted.”

  Before she could answer, Langton called for Anna. She hesitated, then thanked Mrs Hedges. Together they went down the narrow staircase and into the hall. Langton was standing with Lewis.

  “This is a waste of time. If the sisters know anything, they are not about to tell us. If they want to get a solicitor, we can either wait or call it quits.”

  They called it quits; the three returned to their patrol car. Anna had wanted to stay, but Langton’s patience had worn thin. He leaned against the bonnet of the car.

  “Listen, if they do know where he is, they are refusing to say. We’ve already run up massive costs for this waste of time, and I’m gonna have to go back and answer to the commander: she just hit the proverbial.”

  Anna folded her arms.

  “What? We tried, didn’t we, Lewis?”

  “Yeah, that Justine is something else.”

  “I’m not satisfied!”

  Langton laughed.

  Anna glared back at him. “I’m not. Just come with me, the pair of you, please, it’ll take a few minutes.”

  Disgruntled, they returned to the house. Justine was standing in the hallway. “You thinking of moving in, or what?”

  Anna looked at her and wasn’t giving anything away. “You can stay with us if you want, I just want to—”

  “Do what the hell you like. I’m going to have my breakfast!” Justine slammed into the kitchen.

  Anna looked around the hall. “Right, we have forensic officers around the hall, we have others examining the dining room, and outside we have God knows how many officers.”

  “Get on with it!” Langton snapped.

  Anna walked into the drawing room. “I am Wickenham. I get the opportunity to knock out the officer, so where do I go from here? Up the chimney? No, there’s no access, so I’m desperate to get to the door where you are standing.”

  “Jesus Christ, we’ve done all this, Anna!”

  She pushed past them into the hall. “To the right is the kitchen full of officers, to the left the front door, with even more police outside. The cellar’s crawling with forensics, so, the only route he could have taken is the stairs. If he makes it to the stairs, he could maybe get to Mrs. Hedges’s room; it’d take no more than a couple of seconds.”

  “But she was in there, and she swears…”

  “Whatever she swore could be a lie. What if he did make it there and she was able to hide him?”

  Langton sighed. “Her room was searched minutes later, she was alone. This has all been checked out, Travis.”

  “I know, but it’s the only route he could have taken.”

  “He wasn’t in her bedroom: it was searched within seconds.”

  “So that leaves this area.”

  Anna walked to the narrow servants’ stairwell. They all stood looking at the narrow staircase.

  “This is also the oldest part of the original house.”

  Langton looked at Lewis.

  “Have these stair rods been moved?”

  “I don’t fucking know.”

  “The carpet looks as if it has been.”

  Anna went down on her hands and knees, she crawled up four stairs, and then hurled aside a mound of sheets and towels. She sat back on her heels and pulled at the stair rod; it came away in her hand. Bending closer, she could see an opening no more than an inch in width.

  “I need some kind of jimmy to pull this open. Can you see the gap?”

  “Yeah, I can see it, but it’s a sixteenth-century bloody staircase! Of course there’s gonna be gaps!”

  “This isn’t just a gap. Get the entire carpet pulled back.”

  Lewis and Langton peeled back the old stair carpet. Anna worked her fingers inside the gap, and the stair board opened a fraction.

  “Jesus Christ, what is it?”

  Anna reeled back as the stench hit her. Langton stepped in to help. The wooden slat slid sideways. She could see downward into a space no bigger than a coffin. “It’s possibly another priest hole that’s been covered by the stair carpet.” Anna took out a handkerchief and covered her face.

  Langton peered into the dark recess but could see nothing. He slipped his hand into the opening and recoiled. “Get a torch: there’s something wedged down there.”

  Anna and Langton sat side by side on the lower stair as Lewis ran out to the car and returned with a torch.

  Langton shone it into the recess. The beam of light lit up the face of Charles Wickenham, his mouth drawn back in a silent scream. His body was wedged inside the small space; his hands, still cuffed, had clawed at the stair to try and open it. The space was so small that his body pressed against the sides. Rigor mortis had made his body stiff, his fingers like claws.

  Langton sat back in shock. Anna looked at the stack of sheet and towels. “These covered the air vent.”

  In the kitchen, Justine moved away from the door. “They’ve found him,” she whispered.

  Neither Mrs. Hedges nor Emily could say a word. Justine gave a soft laugh. “Saved us burying him. We didn’t know he was there, did we?” She looked pointedly at Mrs. Hedges. “No, we didn’t! So just carry on as if we don’t know what is happening, nobody can prove anything. We just look out for each other.”

  “What if they find out what I did?”

  “They won’t, believe me; you didn’t know about it, full stop!”

  Mrs. Hedges started to cry. “But I did, I did; I knew.”

  Justine gripped her tightly. “No, you did not; you just put the things there because the laundry room couldn’t be used, right?”

  Mrs. Hedges wiped her eyes, and Justine gripped her tightly. “We’re here and nobody can do anything about it, just do as I told you, and you, Em. Emily!”

  Emily was pouring milk onto her cornflakes, but the bowl was already full and the milk spilled over, dripping onto the table and onto the floor.

  “Emily! Look what you are doing!”

  Justine snatched the bottle away from her sister and placed it back in the fridge. “Get a cloth and clear the mess up! Do it now!”

  Emily just sat with her head bowed. “You said he was gone.”

  Justine was finding it hard to contend with the weeping Mrs. Hedges and now the anxious Emily. She took a deep breath and put her arms around her sister. “Shush and look at me, Em. He is never coming back, I give you my word. I cross my heart.”

  The wailing of an ambulance siren made even Justine physically jump.

  Emily sprang up and ran to the door. “They’re coming for me!”

  “No, no! Just stay here with Mrs. Hedges. For God’s sake, Mrs. H., pull yourself together and look after Em. Let me go and see what’s going on.”

  Justine went out of the kitchen and into the hall.

  Langton intercepted her. “Please stay in the kitchen, Miss Wickenham.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “You’ll know soon enough; just go back into the kitchen.”

  He signaled for Anna to take Justine back into the kitchen. Mrs. Hedges was scrambling some eggs, allowing Emily to help her. They both turned as Justine gestured to Anna.

  “She’s going to sit here with us. Do you want some scrambled eggs? We like them runny with a lot of butter.”

  “No, thank you, maybe a coffee.”

  “I’ll get it, black or white?”

  “White, no sugar.”

  Anna sat at the big table; milk still dripped over one end. Justine busied herself wiping down the table. “What’s going on out there?”

  “We’re just checking something out.”

  “Was that an ambulance we just heard?”

  Anna didn’t answer; voices were audible in the hallway. Justine banged down a cup of coffee and wen
t to the door. Anna asked that she remain in the kitchen.

  “Why?”

  “Because I am asking you to.”

  “I’ve got to go and see to the horses; they need feeding and exercise.”

  “They can wait. I’ll let you know when you can go to them.”

  “You don’t understand, they don’t wait. They get their nose bags on, they have a morning walk, then they go back into the stables; after we’ve mucked out, we take them out for some exercise.”

  “There’re still two stable boys working there, aren’t there?”

  “Yes, but I have to oversee what they are doing.”

  “I’m sure they will do whatever is necessary.”

  The two paramedics were kneeling down, trying to fathom how they could lift the body out. Charles Wickenham’s head was tilted back, his mouth gaped open. In a few hours the rigor would slacken, which might make it easier to lift the body out. They had ropes to loop beneath his armpits, but the sides of the chamber were too tight.

  Langton suggested they grab him by the head and pull him up. He said if the body got in, it had to be able to come out. The stench of decomposition was overpowering. Lewis stood well back. They had tried loosening the steps above and below, but they were made of concrete.

  Lewis went into the kitchen to relieve Anna, who was sitting watching Emily and Mrs. Hedges finish their eggs. He took Anna aside and they whispered. After a moment, she nodded and went to Justine.

  “Can I talk to you a second, in private?”

  Justine shrugged. They stepped through the kitchen door and into the garden.

  “We think we may possibly have discovered the body of your father.”

  “No!”

  “Yes, I’m afraid so. Would you be prepared to identify him?”

  “Christ, why me?”

  “Well, surely it would be better to ask you than your sister.”

  “Well, where is he?”

  “If you agree?”

  “Yes, yes, I’ll do it, but for Chrissakes, don’t let my sister know, or Mrs. Hedges; she’s taking care of her. She’s still not right in the head, you know; she poured milk all over the table this morning.”

  Anna suggested that they walk around the house and go back in via the front door to avoid questions from the kitchen.