Taunting the Dead (DS Allie Shenton)

by Sherratt, Mel

  ‘Not really,’ she replied.

  ‘He didn’t…’

  ‘No, he didn’t touch me,’ Kirstie reassured him. ‘But he’s psyched up, Dad. He really scared me. We have to go. Right now.’

  Terry pulled a knife from his pocket, flicked out the blade and began to hack at the rope.

  ‘He killed my mum,’ Kirstie sobbed as he worked to free her. ‘He told me to take the blame. He set me up and…’

  They heard a noise. Footsteps down the ladder. Kirstie froze with fear. Terry stood up and quietly pushed the door back to its previous position. Then he hid out of view.

  Lee walked in and Terry smashed a fist into the side of his face before he had chance to speak. The force of it slammed Lee onto the bed. Kirstie moved out of his way. Then she grabbed the knife and hacked at the rope.

  ‘You!’ Lee ran at Terry, fists flying. ‘You killed my dad, you bastard!’

  Terry dodged him. ‘Don’t be so stupid,’ he cried.

  ‘But you told me you had!’

  ‘That was to get you to tell me where Kirstie was.’

  ‘Then where is he?’

  ‘What does he mean, Dad?’ Kirstie asked.

  ‘You’re lying!’ said Lee.

  ‘No, you’re the liar!’ Kirstie shouted. ‘You were only out for yourself. You tried to set me up.’

  ‘I never! Kirst, you have to tell him that it was you! You were the one who killed your mother.’

  Seeing that Kirstie was now through the rope, Terry snatched the knife from her. He pushed Lee up against the wall and held it to his throat.

  ‘Leave me alone!’ Lee pawed at Terry.

  Kirstie screamed. ‘No, Dad!’ Free at last, she grabbed Terry’s arm.

  ‘It’s okay,’ Terry tried to calm her. ‘I know better than to cut him up. Go downstairs and grab one of those nice police officers outside on the fronts.’

  ‘Police?’ Lee struggled even more.

  Terry laughed at the young lad’s expression. ‘They’re all over your place at the moment. I wonder what they’re searching for. Or even what they’ve found.’

  Kirstie ran to the door.

  ‘You see,’ Terry glared at Lee. ‘I’m not going down for some scrote like you.’ His head cracked into Lee’s. ‘But I am going to give you a good hiding for the things you’ve put my family through.’

  Hearing a kerfuffle, Allie and Sam quickened their pace. Allie dropped down into number two first and waited for Sam. She prayed they wouldn’t be too late. She could hear male voices. No, wait. There was a female voice too.

  ‘Stand in there,’ she whispered to Sam, pointing to the bathroom doorway. ‘I’ll go this side and –’

  The door opened and Kirstie Ryder ran out. Allie pushed her towards Sam, who covered her mouth with her hand to stop her from screaming. Once she was calm, Allie moved Sam’s hand away.

  Kirstie held up her bloodied wrist. ‘Lee tied me up and –’

  ‘Who’s in there?’ Allie had no time to listen.

  ‘Lee.’ Kirstie’s teeth started to chatter. ‘‘With… with my dad. He killed my mum, he killed Shaun and he…’

  ‘Is he armed?’ Allie took hold of the girl’s shoulders when Kirstie didn’t speak. ‘Does he have a gun? A knife? Anything?’

  Kirstie shook her head. She didn’t want to get her dad into trouble.

  ‘Run downstairs,’ Allie told her. ‘You’ll be safe when you get outside.’

  As Kirstie disappeared, Allie moved forward.

  ‘Aren’t you going to wait for backup?’ asked Sam.

  ‘There isn’t time. You’ve seen what Ryder’s capable of.’

  Allie pulled the baton out again and held it up. She gave the door a swift shove. From her position, she could see Lee lying on his stomach on the floor. Terry sat astride him, his hand pushing Lee’s face down into the carpet.

  When he saw Allie, Terry loosened his grip a little.

  ‘Thank God, Sergeant, I was about to call for the police. He had a knife. I grappled it off him and threw it over there.’

  Allie followed the direction of his finger. The knife was in the far corner of the room, far enough away not to pose an immediate threat.

  ‘Gerroff me, you mad bastard!’ Lee shouted as he squirmed. He kicked up his feet but Terry stayed firm.

  ‘Now, now, it will be much better if you don’t struggle,’ he said calmly.

  ‘He’s fucking nuts,’ Lee told Allie. ‘He’s killed my dad. Get him off ME!’

  Allie and Sam kneeled down beside Terry. Sam pulled out handcuffs. Once they’d clicked into place around Lee’s wrists, Allie pushed Terry off him.

  ‘Lee Kennedy,’ she said. ‘I’m arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Stephanie Ryder and Shaun Morrison and for the kidnapping of Kirstie Ryder.’

  ‘But you have to believe me!’ Lee shouted. ‘He told me he killed my dad. You check. You’ll see he’s missing.’

  ‘You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’

  Just then Matt appeared in the doorway. ‘Aw, Sarge, I always miss the party. Everything okay?’

  ‘Yes, everything’s fine,’ Allie nodded. ‘I’ve cautioned him. Now get him out of here.’

  To protests, Lee was dragged to his feet.

  ‘You’re dead, Ryder,’ he shouted over his shoulder as he was ushered out by Sam and Matt. ‘When my Uncle Steve hears what you did to my dad, you’re fucking dead. He can still get at you, even when he’s locked up.’

  Once the room was quiet, Allie turned to Terry. ‘Care to enlighten me on what really happened?’ she demanded.

  Terry held up his hands in mock surrender. ‘I acted in self defence. He was coming at us with a –’

  ‘I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about Phil Kennedy.’

  Terry gave her that charming smile. ‘The lad’s talking crap.’ He moved closer, ran the tip of his finger gently down her cheek. ‘Surely, you of all people know me better than that?’

  ‘That’s where you’re wrong.’ Allie knocked his hand away defiantly. ‘I don’t know you at all.’

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Eight thirty-five a.m. Allie closed the file on her desk with a satisfying tap, stretched her arms up into the air and let out a huge sigh. In front of her, Perry was messing about with Sam, purposely walking past her and twirling her round in her chair before dodging as she tried to cuff him around the head. Matt was reading last night’s Sentinel while stuffing his face with his breakfast of bacon and cheese oatcakes. Over in the far corner, Nick was hunched over his computer. Oh, happy days, she smiled to herself, knowing far too well how that could change in an instant with one phone call. But this morning, early into their shift, they had had a few precious moments to relocate as a team again.

  Today was going to be a difficult day in some respects, yet highly satisfying in others. It had been nearly a month since Lee Kennedy’s arrest. The murder of Steph Ryder had been nothing different for her team but it had been particularly tough for Allie. Several times, her gut feeling had backed her into a corner as she’d tried to get the details that mattered. Several times, she’d risked her marriage for the sake of a man with no morals. Worse still, several times she’d been close to letting a killer get away.

  Since the arrest, she and her team had gone over everything again but there was no physical evidence to put Terry Ryder at the scene of his wife’s murder. They’d searched The Gables from top to bottom despite assuming they wouldn’t find anything there.

  Lee Kennedy had been remanded for the murders of Shaun Morrison and Steph Ryder as well as charged with keeping Kirstie Ryder against her will. Kirstie had corroborated her father’s story and added her own statement to the mix. Cathryn Mountford had made a statement, too, and left Derby, she hoped temporarily.

  The knife found in the compartment turned out to be something of a myst
ery. Although the blood belonged to murder victim Sarah Maddison, as Terry’s fingerprints weren’t on it, they’d had to draw a blank on why it was hidden away. The two people who might have solved the puzzle were unable to tell them why.

  Terry Ryder had been questioned on several occasions, all informal but documented. Still, they had drawn a blank.

  But not everything had gone against them. Phil Kennedy’s disappearance and the last words from his son before he’d been taken into custody made Allie take a look over Phil’s house. And as she’d walked around the empty place, checking for signs of foul play, she’d found the magic missing ingredients. After all, forensic evidence never lies.

  ‘Ready to go, Sarge?’ Sam asked. ‘It’s nearly time for showdown.’

  Grabbing her jacket from the back of her chair, Allie nodded at Sam. ‘Abso – fucking – lutely!’

  As a mark of respect, they’d dressed in black that morning. At Carmountside Crematorium, Allie and Sam sat away from the family in the chapel, hoping to blend into the crowd of mourners that had arrived for Steph Ryder’s funeral. There was quite a turnout. Allie reckoned there must be near a hundred and fifty people sitting around them. The Mayor and Lady Mayoress wore full regalia. Local politicians and councillors, businessmen and charity representatives. Across the aisle, Allie spotted Mary Francis, come to pay her respects, and Roberto and Clara, come to gather the gossip. No doubt Steph would be the local most talked about in Powder and Perfume that afternoon.

  So many mourners made Allie realise that Steph might not have been liked by some in real life but she was held in high esteem by many. Or maybe that was because of Terry. She would never know for sure.

  She searched the crowd for a second time, not sure if she’d missed Carole Morrison the first. But after scanning it all again, there was no sign of her. She suspected she’d still be grieving for the loss of her husband – Shaun’s funeral had taken place the week before. But most likely, Allie assumed, she wouldn’t feel comfortable anywhere near Terry since the assault. Even though Allie believed what Carole had told her, Carole still refused to press charges. She wanted to get on with her life now and forget it all.

  It wasn’t until a third of the way through the service, as the second hymn was being sung, that she looked up to see Terry trying to make eye contact. She stared back for a moment, seeing the faint sign of a smile. She turned her eyes back to the words on the hymn sheet, choosing not to look his way again. How could he smile at her – now of all times, the bastard? It was as if he were taunting the dead.

  Twenty minutes later, the mourners came out of the chapel and congregated at the side of the building. A few feet away, Perry and Matt sat in an unmarked car.

  ‘Nervous, Sarge?’ Sam asked as they stood under the canopy. ‘Or looking forward to it?’

  Allie tried not to smirk at the young woman’s implications. But actually she couldn’t wait a moment longer.

  ‘Mr Ryder!’ she called out as Terry shook hands with a few people. ‘Might I have a word?’

  Terry excused himself before walking over with a polite smile. ‘Yes, of course.’

  She pointed over to a quieter area. ‘Shall we?’

  They walked along a gravel path and sat down on a bench dedicated to Mary Brian who had died in 1997, aged 72. Ahead of them, an elderly man knelt at a grave, changing water, a bouquet of flowers by his feet. A young woman with a child skipping by her side walked over to another, the woman close to tears as the little girl leaned forward and kissed the stone. Over in the distance, three ground workers leaning on spades huddled together as they waited for mourners to disperse.

  Allie didn’t want to break into the peaceful silence but she spoke at last.

  ‘You haven’t exactly been straight with me, have you, Mr Ryder?’

  Terry feigned shock. ‘I don’t follow, Sergeant.’

  ‘I think it’s time we did away with the small talk.’ She used her fingers to count on. ‘I know that you set up a meeting with Carole Morrison to try and incriminate her in the murder of your wife. I know that you’re lying about an affair with her. I know that you told Phil Kennedy to kill Steph and something went wrong.’ Her eyes locked with his. ‘I know that you went to The Potter’s Wheel purely to watch her die, thinking that you’d covered your tracks sufficiently.’

  ‘Very impressive, Sergeant.’

  Terry crossed his legs and swung his body around to face her a little more, just as he’d done on numerous occasions during the times she’d spoken to him. It didn’t bother her. She knew all of his tricks now.

  ‘Well,’ Allie gave a little shrug, ‘we both know that she wouldn’t have died with that one blow from Lee Kennedy. So when you had to finish the job off, you were still under the impression that everything would be cleared up for you. And that’s when it all started to go wrong. What happened with your timing? Did it take you too long to get it up with Carole Morrison? Didn’t she turn you on quick enough to finish the job in time? Or was it something to do with your age?’

  She felt Terry’s eyes burning into the side of her face but she refused to look at him. Instead, she stared straight ahead as she continued.

  ‘Of course you couldn’t hurry her. So by the time you ran across to the car park, it was all over. You were too late to watch. What happened then? Did you find Steph lying on the ground? Did she make a noise, you sick bastard, and then you bashed her head in to finish her off good and proper?’

  ‘I assume you’re telling me all this because you have proof? Vital evidence that places me at the scene?’

  Allie pursed her lips. Terry was right. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to find his clothes or his murder weapon. But she could suss out his car later. There might be a tiny fragment of something left behind in there, although unlikely.

  ‘Well?’ Terry probed.

  Allie could see Matt and Perry standing with Sam now, mingled in with the crowd. She gave them a nod, watched them move towards her.

  ‘I thought not.’ Terry sniggered. ‘You haven’t got anything on me.’ When Allie remained silent, he added, ‘Have you?’

  ‘You seem a little surprised that I continued with my investigations.’ Allie turned back to him with eyebrows raised. ‘Surely you know me better than that?’

  ‘Or maybe I don’t know you at all,’ Terry said quietly.

  ‘Yes, that’s right. You don’t know me at all.’ She took great pleasure in his look of irritation as he tried to work out what was going on. ‘When Lee told me that you’d killed his father, I didn’t believe him at first. You and Phil were known to be as thick as thieves, yes? But then I got to thinking, maybe there was some truth in it. After all, he disappeared quite conveniently, don’t you think?’ She took a moment to beckon her team over. ‘So I stopped by at his place and once inside I had a good shifty around and came across a toolbox. More importantly, I found a wrench. After testing, it came back with Phil Kennedy’s blood on it. It also came back with your fingerprints.’

  Terry smiled icily. A moment in time where he’d lost control in the wrong place.

  ‘You think a few spots of blood on a wrench will be enough to charge me for something without a body?’ His tone was belittling. ‘You need to come up with far more than that.’

  ‘I have,’ she assured him calmly. ‘While you’ve been a free man, we’ve been trawling through the CCTV cameras throughout the city. As we were gathering evidence against Lee Kennedy, checking who went in and out of number eighteen Georgia Road before the murder of Shaun Morrison, I asked my officers to keep on checking. Now I know the cameras only cover the front of the row but we came up with footage showing Phil’s car on Leek New Road, a few hundred yards away, during the early hours of December sixth. It also clearly showed you in your car driving right in front of it.’

  Terry was staring at her now but his eyes didn’t do it for her this time. Sadly, she wondered how they ever could have.

  ‘We tracked the two cars as far as we could out of the city ce
ntre,’ she continued. ‘Although we never saw Phil’s car again, we did see yours once or twice during the hour afterwards. But enlarging some of the frames showed that you weren’t driving it. Shane Flint was. Mitch Casey was in the passenger seat.

  ‘I got to wondering if you had any property beyond the areas of the city. I trawled through the land registers but I couldn’t find anything registered to you. I did find a four-acre plot in Steph’s maiden name.’ She turned to him. ‘Do you need me to continue?’

  ‘You can’t prove any of this.’ Terry shook his head in disbelief. ‘You don’t have a –’

  ‘A body.’ Allie played her trump card. ‘Oh, but you see, I do. Because late last night, Shane Flint and Mitch Casey told me where they’d disposed of Phil Kennedy, as well as his car.’

  ‘Where they had disposed of him? But that still doesn’t –’

  ‘Along with the clothes that they took from you. Along with the gloves that you wore. Along with the knives you used. Along with the hammer you used. Apparently they’ve done that at every place that you asked them to dispose of a body. Steve Kennedy told them to.’ She stood up as her officers approached. ‘I was surprised that they coughed up so easily, given your reputation, but I suppose everyone has a tipping point. Or perhaps they were more concerned about what will happen to them once Steve Kennedy finds out they were involved in the murder of his brother. This way they can hang it all on you.’

  ‘They did a deal?’

  Allie turned to smile at him now. ‘Let’s say they’re still helping us with our enquiries.’

  ‘You fucking –’ Terry lunged at her but Matt and Perry, steps away by now, intervened. Allie moved to one side as Terry was handcuffed and cautioned. Then, with a heavy heart but one full of satisfaction, she made her way back towards the mourners. She beckoned Kirstie over. Before she lost both of her parents, it was the least she could do to explain everything to her.

  ‘You okay, Sarge?’ Sam asked just before Kirstie drew level.

  ‘Yes,’ she told her. ‘I do believe I am.’

  Allie smiled. Was it poignant that she had done this at Steph Ryder’s funeral? She would like to think so. She held her head high and felt the icy wind blow over her. Thank God she’d been strong enough to resist the charmer. Things could have been so different.