Taunting the Dead (DS Allie Shenton)

by Sherratt, Mel

  Shaun moved away. As Carole turned her face towards her, Allie tried not to flinch at the state of it. Carole’s eye was a swollen mass, so much so that she seemed to be having trouble seeing through it. Her nose was swelling. Whoever had done this had hit out in temper. Then she frowned. Had Terry Ryder got anything to do with this?

  ‘What happened?’ she asked, getting out her notepad.

  ‘I didn’t see who it was,’ Carole told her sharply. ‘I can’t give you a description.’

  ‘It’s okay. Take your time and we’ll run through it all. Let’s start with where you were.’

  ‘I went to the Spar shop to pick up a few things.’

  ‘Which one?’

  ‘Granville Road.’

  ‘Had you been anywhere else before this?’

  ‘No.’

  All the time she lied, Carole willed Allie not to give her away. Shaun stood beside them, his arms folded, face like thunder. She had to contain the lie or else he’d find out about her affair.

  Thankfully, Allie made no mention that she’d seen her over at Terry’s that morning.

  ‘So you got out of your car and then what?’

  ‘I –I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned around and he – he –’ She glanced at Shaun. ‘Do I have to do this now?’

  ‘A few more questions and I’ll leave you in peace. Mr Morrison – Shaun – would you mind if I had a few minutes with Carole alone, please? I’m sure she’s upset because you can see her like this.’

  Shaun nodded. Allie waited for him to leave the room, waited a few more moments to make sure he was out of ear range and then moved closer to Carole.

  ‘Right, then, Mrs Morrison. Cut the bullshit. Why don’t you tell me what really happened?’

  Carole’s heart sank. She knew the minute the police were called she would be found out. Maybe Shaun wouldn’t think anything of the attack at the Spar shop. She’d only lifted a story from The Sentinel that had stuck in her mind ever since she’d read it. But this was Allie Shenton. She knew she wouldn’t be able to fool her too.

  ‘What happened?’ Allie prompted.

  Carole had two choices. She could either continue to lie and look stupid, or she could admit what had happened to the police and tell Allie how scared she was that Terry would kill her. But then that would get back to Terry. And she had those photographs to think about. She couldn’t let anyone see them, never mind Shaun.

  ‘Did Ryder do this to you?’ Allie asked.

  At the mention of his name, Carole flinched.

  Allie placed a hand gently on Carole’s forearm. ‘You have to tell me what happened. You can’t let him get away with this.’

  ‘Would you get me something, please?’

  ‘Look, I really need to –’

  ‘Please.’ Carole pointed to the dressing table. ‘Would you pass me that?’

  Allie looked behind her. There was a small hand mirror. She picked it up and gave it to Carole.

  Carole took a deep breath and held it up. She cried out loud when she saw the damage done with one punch. Tentatively, she ran a finger over the swelling in her nose. Her right eye, puffy and closing, had shades of red and purple appearing. She put a hand to it and drew it away quickly when it hurt.

  ‘How could he do this?’ she looked at Allie, trying not to cry again.

  As Allie remained silent, Carole realised she was beat.

  ‘It was him,’ she said quietly.

  ‘Excuse me?’ Allie couldn’t believe her ears. She hadn’t thought for a moment her notion would be true.

  ‘It was Terry Ryder. I’d seen him a few times before Steph died. It was when he fancied a quick fumble and Steph was either too pissed or not around. But it’s not as if it’s a full-blown affair.’

  ‘Is there any difference?’

  ‘Don’t you dare judge me!’

  Allie lowered her eyes for a moment. If Terry hadn’t been on her mind so much, she wouldn’t have said that. Annoyed that she’d let her private feelings into the conversation, she turned back to professional talk.

  ‘Look, I need to get the facts,’ she said. ‘I want to find out who killed Steph as much as you do and what you’ve just told me needs further investigation.’

  ‘All I can see is his face after he punched me and knocked me to the floor,’ Carole sobbed. ‘I’ll never forget it.’

  ‘You’re saying that Terry Ryder did this to you?’ Allie had to corroborate that she was hearing right.

  ‘Yes.’

  She wrote it down in her notebook.

  Carole put a hand on Allie’s arm. ‘Please don’t do that. I don’t want to press charges.’

  ‘I don’t care. I still want all the details.’

  ‘But he’ll find out!’ She sat up further. ‘What happens if he comes after me again? Look at me! Look what he did with his hands! Imagine what he’d do with a… You have to help me.’

  ‘I’ll help you if you tell me the truth. Were you with Terry the night Steph was murdered?’

  Carole nodded slowly. There was no point lying now.

  ‘He texted me while I was in the pub with Steph. He said he was back in town and wanted to see me. I sent him a message to say where we were and he said he’d be in Brooke Lane at half eleven.’

  ‘Brooke Lane?’ Allie looked up from her notepad at the mention of it. ‘What time did he send the message?’

  ‘Just after ten.’

  ‘So you met him outside? At half eleven?’

  ‘Yes. I got into his car and…’ Carole turned her head. She felt cheap and stupid enough as it was.

  ‘Can you remember how long you were with him?’ Allie felt her heart racing as she wrote down the details.

  ‘Twenty minutes at the most. When I went back to the pub to find Steph, she wasn’t there. I asked a few people who had sat near to us but no one had noticed her leave. I stayed for a while but then I assumed she’d gone home without me. That’s when I left on my own.’

  Allie sat with her thoughts for a moment. ‘Did you see anyone else there that you knew, someone who could be associated with either Steph or Terry?’

  ‘Only Phil Kennedy. He was often around at the end of nights to take us home.’ Carole stopped to see if Allie had made the connection. ‘You know that Phil Kennedy was having an affair with Steph?’

  Allie looked up from her notes again. If that was true, could Phil Kennedy be the mystery father?

  ‘Did Terry know?’ she said.

  ‘He asked me about it a couple of weeks ago. Said he had his suspicions. I was so taken aback by his question that by not saying anything, I suppose I gave it away.’

  ‘Did you know Steph was pregnant?’

  ‘Not until I overheard you telling Terry.’

  ‘You were listening?’

  ‘I hadn’t quite gone! And don’t come all innocent with me. He only had eyes for you as soon as you showed up.’

  Allie stopped writing again. ‘I hope you’re not insinuating anything with that comment.’ She frowned but Carole wouldn’t elaborate. ‘So Steph hadn’t told you about the baby?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Strange, considering what good friends you were.’

  ‘It’s pretty convenient too that Terry does this to me right after the murder, don’t you think? He sees me for a few weeks, Steph’s murdered and then he dumps me with a punch?’

  Allie paused for a moment, to regroup her thoughts. ‘Do you think he would have harmed Steph?’

  ‘If you’d asked me yesterday, I would have said no. Now, after what I’ve just been through, I’d say anything was possible. He just went crazy in a flash.’

  ‘So why do you think he stayed with her for so long?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Do you think she had some sort of hold on him?’

  Carole screwed up the tissue in her hands before nodding. ‘It’s something that she didn’t confide in me, before you ask.’

  ‘Did you try to find out more?’


  ‘Of course I did.’ Carole laughed rudely. ‘I mean, come on. You know by now that their marriage was a sham. Normal married couples don’t act like they did.’

  Allie thought back to the charity event at the beginning of the month. She’d seen Terry trying to keep his cool as his wife became more and more intoxicated. Maybe he was bothered that she would say something that would land him in it one day? She had to dig deeper.

  ‘Do you have any idea what it might be?’

  ‘No. But there’s a compartment in the master bedroom, behind her wardrobe. She kept her jewellery and stuff in there. You wouldn’t find it if you didn’t know about it. Terry paid a fortune for it not to be traceable. Steph told me that too. Maybe there might be something in there?’

  Allie could hardly contain her excitement. A secret compartment? She’d have to get a warrant to search it out but if this was true, there could be anything inside it. Terry certainly hadn’t mentioned it when they’d been looking through Steph’s belongings.

  When Carole lay for a while in silence, Allie stood up.

  ‘Get some rest,’ she told her. ‘I’ll come back or send someone over tomorrow to get a full statement.’

  Carole groaned. ‘I don’t want to press charges.’

  ‘I’m not talking about that. I need a statement about the night Steph Ryder was murdered.’

  ‘I can’t.’ Carole looked up at her and began to cry again.

  ‘You can and you will.’ Allie leaned in closer. ‘If all these fragments fit together, don’t you realise that Terry Ryder could have murdered his wife?’

  ‘No. He wouldn’t do that.’

  ‘How can you be so certain after what he did to you?’

  She paused. ‘Would he?’

  ‘I need you to make a statement.’

  ‘But then Shaun will find out that I’ve been having an affair!’

  Allie was losing her patience. She wanted to say that it wasn’t her problem but she stopped herself. It wasn’t her job to break up relationships. But Carole would have to tell Shaun at some point. She relented a little. The woman had been through enough over the past few days.

  ‘Look,’ she said. ‘If he asks me questions about the attack, then I’ll either tell him to check the details with you or if he asks me anything I can’t reply to without landing you in it, then I won’t lie. But if I were you,’ she shrugged, ‘I’d come clean.’

  ‘I can’t do that,’ Carole sobbed.

  ‘It’s up to you. But you saw his face. He wants revenge. From what I’ve seen of your husband, he’s a good guy –’

  ‘He is.’

  ‘So he’ll want the perpetrator caught. I’m not certain he’ll let this rest. I’d have a good think on it because it isn’t going to go away.’

  Shaun was waiting when Allie came downstairs.

  ‘What did she tell you?’ he asked.

  ‘Not much, I’m afraid.’ Allie decided to give Carole a little time. ‘She’s obviously disorientated, confused.’

  Shaun nodded. ‘I’ll go and check on her.’

  Allie stopped him. ‘Maybe you could leave her be for now? She’ll be clearer in the morning.’

  Forgetting all about her visit to Georgia Road, on her short journey back to the station, Allie’s head was ready to explode. If what Carole told her checked out to be true, she could put Terry Ryder at the scene of the crime at the time of the murder. She needed to talk to Nick about getting a warrant and sussing out that secret compartment.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  When Allie got back to her desk, only Sam and Perry were in the office.

  ‘I’ve heard from The Bartley Hotel, where Terry Ryder said he was staying,’ Perry told her before she’d even taken off her coat. ‘He does use the hotel quite regularly but he didn’t have a booking that night.’

  Allie paused. Surely Terry would have known they’d check up on that? Why lie?

  ‘Could he have used another name?’ she asked, sifting through the messages on her desk and finding nothing that needed dealing with immediately.

  ‘It’s possible, I guess. But if they know his face, wouldn’t he have been better booking another hotel? I doubt Ryder would get caught out that easily.’

  ‘Hmm… Thanks, Perry. Any luck with the CCTV footage, Sam?’ Allie placed her coat around the back of her chair and switched on her computer.

  ‘I’m almost done piecing it together.’

  ‘Good, because I have a witness who can put Terry Ryder in Brooke Lane at the time of the murder.’ Quickly, she told them about her interview with Carole.

  ‘But if Carole Morrison was with Terry Ryder at the time of the murder, then it could have been her,’ Sam piped up.

  Allie pressed two fingers either side of her temple. She’d been so hell-bent on linking the murder to Terry that she hadn’t thought about the implications of Carole being there too. Missing important details was a no-no. How could she have overlooked that little gem?

  She stood up. Suddenly an image of Terry ramming a fist into Carole’s face attacked her vision. Then it changed to the image of Steph Ryder. Again. And again. Bile rushed into her mouth. She barely made it to the ladies’ loos before throwing up.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Sam rushed in after her.

  ‘I’m fine. Must be coming down with something.’ Standing up, she took the handful of tissues offered and wiped her mouth.

  ‘You sure that’s all it is? Because I think –’

  ‘I’m fine,’ she repeated.

  Sam shrugged. ‘You don’t want to talk anything through?’

  ‘No.’ She looked up quickly. ‘Just give me a moment, yeah?’

  Once she’d gone, Allie tasted fresh vomit rising. She swallowed rapidly a few times, trying not to smell it on herself, knowing this would start her off again. Then she swilled her face and hands.

  Ashen and nauseated, she held onto the sink for support. Her face in the mirror said too much. What had made her react like that? Was it fear that she felt or a delayed reaction to the brutal act itself? Did she really think Terry Ryder would kill his wife now that it was a possibility? It could just have easily been Carole Morrison who dealt the fatal blow.

  She shuddered. Terry Ryder had made a pass at her earlier. And if she wasn’t careful, it could be her lying in bed with half her face swollen like a melon, like Carole.

  It took her a few minutes but finally colour came back to her cheeks. Allie returned to her desk; everyone around her was working and, thankfully, oblivious to her plight. Shaking now, she switched on her computer. Time to get back to work. Until she could talk to Nick, she had things to think through.

  Unable to face seeing his dad since he’d taken the beating off Shaun the day before, Lee had been keeping a low profile while he tried to work out what to do next. His mind kept whirling over the things that could happen to him if Terry found out that he had done his wife in. And taking that beating off Shaun Morrison had surprised him too. He’d expected him to bow down gracefully and give it up.

  Fuck, he should never have killed Steph Ryder. What had he been thinking? The simple idea of blackmail had turned into full-blown murder in a matter of a few hours. He knew he shouldn’t have taken all that cocaine last Friday.

  The more he thought about his predicament, the more he realised that he had to get out of Stoke. But he still needed money before he left. He’d have to visit his dad.

  When Phil opened his front door it was nearing three in the afternoon. His sigh was loud and exasperated.

  ‘What the fuck happened to you?’ he asked, surveying the bruises on Lee’s face.

  ‘Just a bit of trouble last night.’

  ‘What kind of trouble?’

  ‘This and that.’ Lee shrugged and followed Phil through to the kitchen. ‘Have the pigs been round here?’

  ‘Someone questioned me, yeah.’

  ‘What?’ Lee’s voice shot up an octave. ‘When? What did they want?’

  ‘You’re a bit jumpy,’ said Ph
il. ‘What’s up?’

  ‘Nothing.’ Lee shrugged again.

  ‘Look, I could do without the hard boy act right now.’ Phil pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes for a moment. ‘What have you done?’

  ‘I’m in trouble, Dad. I need to get away.’

  When Phil’s eyes met his this time, Lee knew he had to come clean. But his stare got to him. He gulped away his nervousness. ‘You must know that stupid prick Morrison didn’t kill Steph. Well, I’ve been trying to get money out of him to keep quiet.’

  ‘I’m not with you.’

  ‘I was going to get some money off him to keep my mouth shut about him knocking off Steph Ryder. But the stupid bastard couldn’t kill her when push came to shove. I went –’

  ‘How did you know I asked Morrison to do it?’

  ‘I followed you.’ Lee could barely meet Phil’s eye now, sensing his mood change. ‘I saw you meet him in The Reginald Mitchell and then again on Friday. I was going to watch him at The Potter’s Wheel then tell him I saw everything and get some cash from him.’

  ‘Blackmail?’ The vein in Phil’s temple started to twitch. ‘I told you to keep your mouth shut about what you heard between me and Terry!’

  ‘It was too much of an opportunity to miss.’ Lee tried to explain. ‘But on the way I saw him puking up at the side of the road. I knew something wasn’t right. When I turned back, he’d gone. He bottled it! So I thought if I …’ he paused for a moment, ‘if I did the job I could still get money out of him because no one would know who did it.’ Another pause. ‘I finished her off instead.’

  Phil jumped across the room in one swift movement and drew his fist up in the air. ‘You stupid fucking idiot!’ he screamed.

  ‘I’m sorry, Dad. I didn’t think it through.’ Lee’s hands went up to protect himself. ‘I thought I was doing you a favour when he wouldn’t do it. You’d be in deep shit, right, if the hit on Steph wasn’t carried out? I always thought Morrison was gutless so I took a hammer with me, thought if I used the claw side, it would be over and done with in one swing. When I got there, Steph was sitting outside the entrance. I thought I’d have time to wait for her round the back but she saw me. As I drove past, she started yelling, followed me in the car, giving me right fucking lip across the car park. I was coked up, Dad, and I lashed out. I hit the side of her head. When she fell down, I heard her head crack on the tarmac and she never got back up.’