DEAD SORRY a totally addictive crime thriller with a huge twist (Calladine & Bayliss Mystery Book 11)

by Helen H. Durrant

  “Well, I was there, bound to have left some trace behind. But I didn’t kill her,” he insisted.

  “Okay,” Calladine said, “that’ll do for now. But we’ll talk again later.”

  “Can I go?”

  “No. I don’t think you appreciate how serious this is, Johnno. You are here on suspicion of murder. Certainly until we have the results of the forensic tests, you’re staying with us.”

  Chapter Fifty-nine

  Calladine and Ruth returned to the main office, where Calladine asked Joyce to get him Roxy Atkins on the phone.

  “What’re you after?” Ruth asked.

  “Whoever those two mobile phones belonged to — the ones found in Higgs’s flat. I suspect one was Lazarov’s and the other belonged to Becca O’Brien.”

  “You think Johnno killed her too?”

  “Yes, Ruth, I do. Think about it.”

  Before he could explain, Joyce handed him the phone.

  “The mobiles,” Roxy said. “One was a burner PAYG, but I found a text in it, written in a foreign language. I had an interpreter look at it and it’s Bulgarian, so I reckon that one belonged to Lazarov. The other was on contract to Becca O’Brien. The last call she made was to Johnno Higgs, on the night she died.”

  “Higgs took Becca’s mobile,” he told Ruth when the call finished. “Remember, it wasn’t found in her flat, so it must have been taken before Jade arrived. It’s in your interview notes from when you spoke to her.”

  “So what happened?”

  “Johnno Higgs, that’s what. I want this finishing,” he said. “I’m going to ring Julian, see how he’s doing with those fibres.”

  He went into his office to make the call. Minutes later he reappeared with a grin on his face. “Bingo. All the fibres are from Johnno’s gloves, and Julian’s testing the blood to see if it’s Becca’s. Let’s go and have another chat with the man.”

  * * *

  “You took Becca’s mobile, Johnno. Why?” Calladine asked.

  “I never. That’s a lie,” Higgs replied.

  “We found it in your flat, hidden with the other things. So it’s pointless denying it.”

  “She were dead, she didn’t need it anymore.”

  “So you took it from her hand?” Higgs nodded. “Jade says she didn’t have it when she was there. You told us that Jade arrived a few minutes before you. In light of what you’ve just said, that can’t be right. Care to explain?”

  “You’re twisting things,” Higgs said. “I can’t remember what happened.”

  “In that case, I’ll help you. You went to Becca’s flat before Jade. Something happened between you and you ended up having a fight.”

  “No, no, you’ve got it wrong. I never harmed her.”

  “You said you didn’t see the word ‘sorry’, or the image drawn in blood on the wall of Becca’s flat.”

  “Because it wasn’t there,” Higgs said.

  “You also said you’d no idea why the heating would be turned up so high.”

  He shook his head. “Becca couldn’t pay the bills.”

  “We found black fibres from your gloves on the wall where the writing was. Plus a bloody thumb print you left when you scrawled the message. There were also fibres on the heating thermostat, again from your gloves, Johnno. What’s the betting that when the blood on your gloves gets analysed, it turns out to be Becca’s?”

  Johnno Higgs now had a face like thunder.

  “You saw Jade enter the flat and you followed her. She was upset, so you walked her to the bus stop, but then you went back a third time. You wrote that message and turned up the heat, hoping it would help the body decompose faster and so muddy the waters forensically.”

  Another whisper from his solicitor and Higgs finally lost it. He thumped the table in front of him.

  “Stupid bitch wouldn’t listen, would she? Kept going on about the foreign man and how she could get all the dope she needed for nowt if she told him where I was. He wanted me gone so he could have a clear run at that estate. Becca told him I was dossing at hers. We argued and she said yes, she’d dobbed me in. I was bloody mad. She’d told him everything, about my customers, the kids I use, the lot. I couldn’t help myself after that. I saw red and laid into her with that wrench thing she kept behind the door in case of trouble. Next thing I knew, Becca wasn’t moving anymore. She was bleeding on the floor, and I panicked.”

  “You’re doing well, Johnno,” Calladine said. “Carry on. How did you know to write the word ‘sorry’, and where did you get that image from?”

  “Jade,” he said at once.

  “Jade said she was confused about the word. Had no idea why it was there or what it meant,” Calladine said.

  Higgs shook his head. “Can’t help you with that one.”

  “I think you can. You see, I think you were trying to make Becca’s murder look like that of Millie Reed all those years ago. You were hoping we’d pin it on Jade.”

  “That were down to Jade, not me.”

  “I doubt that. Jade was in no state to hurt anyone. She’d been hit on the head and was near collapse herself. You knew what had happened that day. Jade was hurt, and her mother was too drugged up to do anything about it.”

  “Becca wasn’t much cop as a mother,” Higgs said. “She was even worse back then. Why d’you think Jade was the way she was?”

  “What happened, Johnno? When Jade told you about how Millie had attacked her, what did you do?”

  “I wanted to help, make the Reed girl see that what she’d done was serious.”

  “You went up there, didn’t you?” Calladine said.

  “I didn’t intend to do her any harm, but things got out of hand. We were in the kitchen — the granny was out feeding the chickens but she wouldn’t have heard us anyway — the old bird was hard of hearing. That girl had a terrible temper. I mentioned Jade’s name and she went berserk, went for me with a meat cleaver.” He paused and looked at his solicitor, but the man was intent on his notes. “I had no choice. It were me or her. I picked up a heavy old rolling pin and whacked her across the head with it.”

  “The grandmother — is that when she had her stroke?” Calladine asked.

  “Yes. She came back in, saw Millie lying in a pool of blood and dropped like a stone. I left her where she fell, and I hid the girl in that hole in the cellar where she was later found.”

  “You wrote ‘sorry’ on the boards you covered her with. Why?” Calladine said.

  “I was sorry, Mr Calladine. It wasn’t supposed to end like that. I felt for the girl, she didn’t deserve all the aggro she got. All those years ago I just wanted to warn Millie off. I went up there and we argued, she wouldn’t listen to reason. I didn’t have anything against the kid. She was odd and the others in her class didn’t like her, but she never bothered me.”

  “You did the same thing at Becca’s, why?”

  “Same reason. I didn’t want to kill Becca either but she kept on and on about needing her fix. When I hit her there was no going back. I thought leaving the same word and picture behind would confuse you lot.”

  “It had precisely the opposite effect, Johnno. It linked the two cases.”

  Calladine picked up his notes and leaned back in the chair. They were done. Lazarov had killed the two lads but Johnno Higgs was responsible for the deaths of Millie Reed, Becca and Lazarov. For a man who’d always given the impression of being a mild-mannered, bumbling small-time dealer, that was some tally.

  * * *

  Calladine and Ruth returned to the main office. Greco was dealing with the charges against Marilyn and would also charge Sinclair with, among other things, perverting the course of justice.

  Calladine told the others his good news. Case over, all of it. They had their man. Now Zoe could come home, and he could take a couple of days off, spend time with Kitty.

  He was about to tell the others there’d be drinks in the Wheatsheaf on him later when he felt the familiar pain in his chest. This time it was no niggl
e. He gasped and gripped his arm. The last thing he saw before hitting the floor was Ruth looking down at him.

  Epilogue

  Ruth Bayliss walked out of Leesworth church and along the path into the graveyard. She stood in front of the two graves belonging to Freda and Frank Calladine. Beside it was one newly dug and covered in floral tributes. She bent down, picked up a card. For a man well loved, it read. How sad, and what a shame the flowers were getting bashed by the driving rain.

  “You taking me home now?”

  She swung round and nodded at the man sat on the bench. “Yep, I’m all done. The vicar is a darling. A couple of things to sort before the wedding and then we’re ready for the off.” She nodded at the new grave. “Who is he?”

  “How should I know?” Tom Calladine replied.

  “I presumed you’d have the plot next to your parents, it’s been free all this time. I’m surprised you haven’t got it bought and sorted before now.”

  “I’m in no hurry, believe me,” he said getting to his feet.

  “Come on then.” She linked his arm.

  “I’m not a bloody invalid you know. It was a scare, a bad angina attack that’s all. I’ve got the pills, the diet sheet and Kitty bending my ear all the time. I don’t want you harping on about death, that’ll really finish me off.”

  “Fair comment. Zoe happy to be back?” she asked.

  “Yes, but she and Jo liked it in Longnor, the peace and quiet appealed to them. Bit of a pipe dream at the moment, they’ve both got to work, but they’ve filed it under possibilities.”

  “You’d miss her terribly,” she said.

  “Might go with them. Can’t carry on in the job for ever,” Tom said.

  “You don’t mean that? You aren’t seriously considering . . .”

  Calladine started laughing. “Serves you right for all that talk of death, Bayliss. No, I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Good, cause I need a favour.”

  “I haven’t got any money.”

  She thumped his arm, making him wince. “I want you to walk me down the aisle. My dad’s dead and there’s no one else I’d like to do it more than you.”

  There was a long silence. Calladine swallowed. “I’d love to,” he said finally. I’m really touched that you’ve asked me. Are you sure? You don’t have to ask me if you’ve got someone better.”

  “I want you, so shut it.”

  “Do I need a new suit?” he asked.

  “Yep, and the trimmings, and you’ll be giving a speech, so start practising.”

  “I’ve never given anyone away before. But I suppose if I have to start somewhere . . .”

  He darted off ahead of her. He didn’t fancy another thumping.

  THE END

  ALSO BY HELEN H. DURRANT

  LENNOX & WILDE

  Book 1: THE GUILTY MAN

  Book 2: THE FACELESS MAN

  RACHEL KING

  Book 1: NEXT VICTIM

  Book 2: TWO VICTIMS

  Book 3: WRONG VICTIM

  Book 4: FORGOTTEN VICTIM

  THE CALLADINE & BAYLISS MYSTERY SERIES

  Book 1: DEAD WRONG

  Book 2: DEAD SILENT

  Book 3: DEAD LIST

  Book 4: DEAD LOST

  Book 5: DEAD & BURIED

  Book 6: DEAD NASTY

  Book 7: DEAD JEALOUS

  Book 8: DEAD BAD

  Book 9: DEAD GUILTY

  Book 10: DEAD WICKED

  Book 11: DEAD SORRY

  THE DCI GRECO BOOKS

  Book 1: DARK MURDER

  Book 2: DARK HOUSES

  Book 3: DARK TRADE

  Book 4: DARK ANGEL

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