Death Rope

by Leigh Russell

  ‘Can I help you, Madam?’

  ‘I’m looking for Luciana. Is she here?’

  The girl nodded. ‘One moment.’

  She disappeared, and a moment later she returned with Luciana in tow. Eddy’s wife frowned when she saw Geraldine.

  ‘Yes? I’m sorry, is there a problem?’ She glanced at her colleague and gave a slight nod, as though to say she would deal with this customer.

  Geraldine took a step closer to Luciana. ‘I’d like to ask you a couple of questions.’

  ‘What about?’

  There was little point in trying to pretend this was a casual enquiry, so she launched straight in and asked where Luciana had been on Friday evening. Without any hesitation, Luciana replied that she had gone home after work on Friday, as she usually did.

  ‘Not that it’s any business of yours,’ she added with a sour expression.

  Geraldine pressed on, ignoring Luciana’s scowl. ‘And what time did you get home?’

  Luciana shrugged one shoulder. ‘About half past five, I suppose. I didn’t make a note of the time.’

  ‘Were you at home alone, or can someone confirm what you just told me?’

  ‘Why do you want to know?’

  ‘Please, just answer the question. Was anyone else there at home with you from half past five? Can anyone confirm that?’

  Luciana’s expression altered very slightly. The sardonic smile that had been playing around her lips vanished, and her expression grew wary.

  ‘You want to know if anyone can vouch for me?’ she said, sounding indignant. ‘Why? What do you want to know that for? Why is that any of your business?’

  Her colleague glanced up and looked away again. All at once, Geraldine felt so tired she could scarcely be bothered to listen to Luciana’s indignant posturing.

  ‘You got home about half past five?’

  ‘Yes. That’s what I just said.’

  ‘And then what?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘It was Friday evening. Did you go out?’

  Luciana shook her head. ‘I was at home all night.’

  ‘Were you on your own?’

  ‘I spent the night in bed with my husband, actually. Do you want me to give you graphic details about what we did?’

  Geraldine ignored the sneer. ‘Did your husband go out at all? Popping out to the shops, or –’

  ‘No, he didn’t go out anywhere. Neither of us left the house. I told you, we were at home all evening from sometime before six when we both got home from work. I can’t remember who was home first,’ she added quickly. ‘Sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s him gets in first. Like I said, I didn’t make a note of everything that happened that evening. Why would I?’

  ‘So you were both at home all evening?’

  ‘I just said so, didn’t I? Do you want me to say it again? I was at home, all night, with my husband.’

  There was no point in prolonging the encounter so Geraldine went home and wrote up her notes. It all seemed conclusive, but the following morning Ian called to tell her that Eileen had sent a car to bring Eddy into the police station for questioning. As she had been to see Luciana, Eileen wanted Geraldine to be present when Eddy was questioned. She sighed as she listened to this latest development, but it wasn’t her place to question her senior investigating officer’s decision.

  Walking along the corridor behind Ian, she noticed his broad shoulders looked slightly stooped. She had already observed that he had developed a slight paunch since his wife had left him, although in other respects he had scarcely changed since she had first met him as an eager young sergeant. His blond hair was as thick as ever, and his face was barely lined. Only a melancholy expression in his eyes betrayed how much he had altered from the young man she had once known, who had lived and worked with such enthusiasm. He still had as much energy as before, but he wasn’t the same.

  ‘Here goes,’ he muttered as they entered the room and sat down side by side.

  His smile was so strained, she wanted to reach out and reassure him that everything was going to be all right. Telling herself that he was tense only on account of the pending interview, she turned to face the two men who had just entered the room and were taking their seats. Eddy shuffled and fidgeted in his chair, while a grey-haired solicitor sat motionless at his side as Ian read out the obligatory preamble to the interview. It went on for a long time. Geraldine studied Eddy who squirmed under her steady gaze. At last Ian finished.

  ‘So, Eddy,’ Ian said pleasantly, ‘let’s go through this once more.’

  He waited but Eddy didn’t say anything.

  ‘Where were you on Friday evening?’

  ‘I told you, I was at home with my wife.’

  ‘What time exactly did she come home?’

  Eddy looked uncomfortable. ‘I can’t say,’ he admitted. He glanced at his solicitor who gave an almost imperceptible nod. ‘I was having a kip,’ Eddy added.

  ‘Having a kip? Hadn’t you just come home from work yourself?’ Ian consulted his notes. ‘According to your boss, you left the builders’ merchants at five and you boarded your bus at five fifteen, arriving at the top of your road at five forty.’

  Eddy looked startled. ‘How the hell do you know that?’

  ‘So you must have fallen asleep pretty promptly because your wife told us she arrived home sometime before six.’

  ‘I was tired.’

  ‘It’s not an offence to fall asleep in one’s own home,’ the solicitor pointed out in a low voice.

  ‘True, but it sounds like the kind of thing someone might say when trying to fudge the truth,’ Ian replied.

  The solicitor laughed. ‘Can you remember exactly what time your wife arrived home two days ago?’

  Although Ian’s face remained impassive, Eddy gave a sly smile, as though he sensed that his lawyer had somehow managed to rile the police inspector.

  ‘What happened then?’ Ian asked.

  ‘None of your fucking business,’ Eddy replied. He turned to his lawyer. ‘I don’t have to tell him what I do with my wife in my own house, do I?’ He looked straight at Ian with a curious grin. ‘Or are you one of those perverts that likes to spy on other people?’

  ‘You still haven’t told us what you and your wife did once she came home on Friday evening.’

  ‘Well,’ Eddy replied, leaning back comfortably in his chair as though he felt unassailable, ‘we stayed in all evening, just the two of us. Ask Luciana. She’ll tell you. It was a good evening.’ He grinned.

  Ian continued to question him for a while, but far from crumbling under the pressure, Eddy appeared to be enjoying himself. There was nothing to be gained from keeping him any longer. Ian was fuming, but they were powerless. All they could do was keep him in for one night to allow Geraldine time to speak to Luciana again knowing her husband wouldn’t be present. But there didn’t seem to be much hope that she would change her story backing his alibi.

  ‘It’s so frustrating,’ Ian said, ‘knowing he’s guilty but still scratching around for proof.’

  ‘We know that how?’

  He looked at her in surprise. ‘Now he gets to inherit the lot, doesn’t he? Think about it, he killed his father for his inheritance. His stepmother took it all, so he got rid of her too. Who else stood to gain from these deaths?’

  Geraldine held back from criticising him for jumping to conclusions. Instead she asked about the dog.

  ‘So he got hold of a dog from somewhere,’ Ian replied. ‘It’s not so difficult to get hold of a dog, is it?’

  ‘Well, we haven’t been able to find it.’

  Ian grunted. ‘Keep looking.’

  49

  Geraldine drove alone along streets that were already beginning to look familiar, in a city that had begun to feel like home. The sharp edge of regret she had initially felt about her move had blunted to nostalgia for the lively streets of North London where a cosmopolitan population roamed, and anonymity was the norm. York, with its qua
int medieval streets and its modern shops and hotels, was smaller and friendlier. Yet despite its air of quiet decency, Geraldine knew there was at least one evil individual hiding in the city, someone prepared to murder for reasons known only to the killer.

  Eddy’s terraced house was situated halfway along a side turning, not far from a Salvation Army headquarters on the main road. Drawing into the kerb, Geraldine jumped out of her car and hurried across the narrow front yard hoping to catch Luciana before she left for work. It was a few minutes before the door opened. Luciana looked surprised to see Geraldine on the doorstep.

  ‘Where’s Eddy?’

  ‘He’ll be home when we’ve finished with him. Can I come in?’

  After a brief hesitation Luciana opened the door. ‘You’re here now, aren’t you?’

  Geraldine stepped inside.

  ‘You haven’t told me when he’s coming home,’ Luciana repeated.

  Cautiously Geraldine hinted that the police had reason to believe Eddy and Luciana hadn’t been together all Friday evening when his stepmother had been murdered, as they had both claimed. When she tentatively issued threats about obstructing the police in their enquiry, she could see that Luciana wasn’t cowed. She probably knew that as Eddy’s wife she couldn’t be compelled to give evidence against him in court. Her black hair swung around her pale face as she shook her head vehemently.

  ‘No, no,’ she insisted. ‘We were here together, just like I said. And now I need to get to work.’

  ‘I want you to think very carefully. Are you sure you have nothing else to tell me?’

  Luciana remained adamant that she and Eddy had both been at home on Friday evening, and Geraldine left soon after that. By the time she had finished writing up her report, she was ready for lunch. She made her way to the canteen. While she sat toying with a salad, Ian came over and joined her. At first slightly surprised, but very pleased, she caught sight of his expression and put her fork down.

  ‘What is it?’

  Ian’s eyes were bright with excitement. ‘Just listen.’

  She nodded, catching his enthusiasm. ‘What’s happened?’

  ‘I’ve been looking into Eddy’s finances.’ He paused. ‘He’s in a lot of trouble.’

  ‘What sort of trouble?’

  ‘He’s got debts running into tens of thousands –’

  ‘Bloody hell. Still, that doesn’t really help us. I went to see Luciana again this morning, and she’s sticking to her story that they were at home together from about five thirty and there’s nothing we can do about it.’

  ‘Do you believe her?

  Geraldine thought for a moment. ‘No,’ she said at last. ‘No, I don’t think so. But –’

  ‘I know,’ he interrupted her. ‘We can’t force her to retract her statement. Oh well, that’s how it is then.’

  Staring into his troubled blue eyes, Geraldine had to resist the urge to say something comforting. There was nothing she could say. They both knew they would have to let Eddy go, now that his wife had given him an alibi. Without any evidence, there was no longer any chance of a successful prosecution.

  Eileen frowned at this development. ‘We could try to put pressure on him, but his lawyer knows he’s got an alibi.’

  ‘But she’s his wife,’ a young constable protested. ‘No one’s going to take any notice of what she says.’

  ‘She’s still a witness,’ Eileen replied shortly. ‘And we don’t have any proof that Eddy was involved in the murders. All we can say for certain is that his financial problems would give him a motive. But that’s all. We can’t send someone to court accused of having a motive for murder.’

  Knowing what they did about Eddy’s financial situation, Ian suggested it might be worth challenging him about his debts in front of his wife. It was possible he had been concealing the extent of his problems from her. By springing the details of Eddy’s financial situation on his wife, they might provoke a spontaneous response.

  ‘Marriage is no guarantee of loyalty,’ he concluded sourly.

  ‘Assuming she was lying about them being together all Friday evening, that could swing it,’ Eileen said when they told her what they had in mind. ‘And if she subsequently changes her mind again, she’ll be dismissed as an unreliable witness.’

  Having released Eddy, Ian and Geraldine agreed to wait until the following evening to pay their suspect and his wife a visit. Until then, they could only focus on writing up reports and checking whether there had been any new developments.

  ‘At least there’ve been no more bodies today,’ Ian said, with an attempt at a smile, as they left the building together that evening. ‘So it could be worse.’

  When she reached home, Geraldine phoned her brother-in-law. He didn’t answer so she left a message, and about an hour later he returned her call.

  ‘How’s the baby?’

  ‘He’s great. He’s beginning to try and turn his head!’

  Geraldine sighed. She wondered what else she was going to miss in his life as he grew up.

  50

  Stepping cautiously through the low doorway, he tightened his grip on his cosh. Even after all this time he trembled in the presence of the beast. He wasn’t sure how to go about getting rid of it, so he did nothing. Sooner or later it would die and he would be able to throw the carcass out. In the meantime, as long as it was alive he intended to make use of it.

  His girlfriend was constantly nagging him to let the creature out of the cellar.

  ‘It’s not natural,’ she said. ‘You can’t keep it locked up down there all the time. It’ll go nuts.’

  He laughed. ‘That ship sailed a long time ago.’

  ‘That’s so cruel. Why would you want to drive a poor dumb creature nuts? Anyway, what about us?’

  ‘What about us?’

  ‘We’ve got to live here, haven’t we? That filthy animal makes the whole place stink.’

  ‘You want to clean it up?’ He laughed again. ‘Go on, be my guest. I won’t stop you. Get down there and shovel the shit. But don’t expect me to come down after you – or what’s left of you by the time my dog’s finished with you.’

  That shut her up.

  Torch in one hand, truncheon wrapped in barbed wire in the other, he descended, one step at a time, stopping halfway down the staircase out of reach of the animal’s snapping teeth. With a howl it sprang towards him and halted abruptly as the leash tightened around its neck. Even though he knew the chain would prevent it from reaching the steps, he could feel his legs shaking. If he slipped, his throat would be ripped out and he would be torn apart. He stayed where he was, out of reach of the powerful jaws. Shining his torch down into the cellar he saw the beam of light quiver in his grasp, and swore. He wasn’t used to experiencing fear.

  The beast drew back and crouched down, gnashing its teeth, glaring at him, waiting for him to move closer. Beneath one of its front paws he could see a bone the colour of parchment, stripped of flesh. Splinters of another bone lay on the floor beside it. The creature’s top lip rose in a snarl and the beam of light from the torch was reflected back from its eyes when it raised its massive head to look at him. With a roar it leapt and he almost dropped the torch in alarm.

  ‘Down, boy!’ he shouted. ‘Do as you’re told! Now! Down!’

  Conscious that his mastery over the beast was a sham, he brandished his truncheon. If the animal hadn’t been tethered, it would have attacked him. Arm raised, he took a step down, careful to remain out of reach of its slobbering fangs. He swung the cosh in front of him as he descended, and the animal retreated, glaring and snarling, dragging the bone along the filthy floor as it went. Delving into the bag he was carrying, he tossed a rotting chop down on to the floor as far into the corner as he could. While the vicious brute was distracted by the rancid meat he darted down, dropped the tub of water he was carrying, and raced back up the steps. With one bound it was at the bottom of the stairs, but he was already halfway up and out of reach. With a snarl, the animal returned
to its feeding.

  Reaching the door at the top of the steps, he turned and shone his torch down into the cellar. In spite of the stench, and the potential risk involved, he would be a fool to let the animal die while it was still strong enough for him to use.

  ‘Until next time,’ he called down.

  As he closed the door, he heard the beast growling.

  51

  Just after one the following day, Geraldine was thinking about stopping for lunch. The sun was out, and she fancied leaving the police compound and stretching her legs. She was about to go across the road for a sandwich when she received a message that a woman called Jill had come to the police station with information regarding the investigation into Charlotte’s death. Postponing her lunch she went along to the interview room, where she saw a skinny woman with thick make-up and highlights in her hair, wearing jeans and a blue jumper. Although she couldn’t place her, Geraldine thought she looked vaguely familiar, and as soon as the woman began to speak, Geraldine remembered where she had seen her recently.

  ‘I work with Luciana,’ she said, adding, ‘Luciana Abbott,’ as though there might be more than one woman with that first name involved in Geraldine’s investigation.

  Geraldine nodded. ‘I saw you in the shop with her.’

  ‘Yes, that was it. I thought I’d seen you before. The thing is, I couldn’t help overhearing what you were saying. I mean, I wasn’t listening, not deliberately.’

  Geraldine waited but the woman sat silently gazing at the floor.

  ‘What did you hear?’

  ‘It’s about Luciana.’ She hesitated and Geraldine waited. ‘I didn’t mean to eavesdrop or anything, but I was right there and I couldn’t help hearing what you were saying.’