by Mark Pearson
‘Has Jack done something to upset you?’
‘He’s been fucking the woman I’m going to marry.’ John Garland’s smile sent a shiver down Kate’s spine.
‘You must have made a mistake.’
‘No mistake. Last night he was at Stephanie’s house. She had her arms wrapped around him as he left. He’s been fucking her and now he’s going to pay.’
‘Jack was with me last night.’
‘I was there, watching.’
‘You’ve got the wrong end of the stick. She was scared. He was helping her.’
The man grunted. ‘Yeah. Just the kind of help I’m going to give you.’ He pulled her tight to him as they reached the end of the alleyway.
A church stood almost directly opposite, with a broader alleyway beside it. The snowflakes danced in the light of the old lamp post. Kate reckoned she was as far from Narnia as she could be, as she felt the blade jabbing in her right side.
‘Across the road now. Make the slightest noise and I’ll cut you right here.’
Kate walked across the road with him, her mind in turmoil. Light spilled through the cracks of the curtained windows on the apartments on the right-hand side of the alleyway. She blinked, not sure how much the moisture in her eyes was melted snow or how much was tears. As they passed the church, John Garland switched hands with the knife and pulled out a key.
‘Be prepared, that’s what the Scouts say, isn’t it? Well you can consider me a good Scout in that regard,’ he said as he led her up to the Seventeenth Roxborough’s Scout hut and turned the key in the lock.
Thoughts flashed through Kate’s mind. The dream she had of Siobhan being married. The daughters she was supposed to have with Jack. The baby that she was carrying. She thought about the thickness of the coat, how hard he would have to stab to penetrate it. She thought about the risks if she tried to escape. But the thought uppermost in her mind was that she was not going to be a victim. If she went into that Scout hut with that man, even if she survived if her baby was hurt, she would never forgive herself. She whispered a silent I love you to Jack Delaney and said, ‘I consider you a sick son-of-a-bitch and you can rot in fucking hell!’
John Garland stabbed at her with his knife as Kate reeled backwards, slamming against the wall of the hut and slid to the ground.
John Garland raised the blade above his head, then screamed as the door to the hut opened and Jack Delaney stabbed a screwdriver straight into his right eye.
69.
DI TONY HAMILTON yawned and pulled the car to the side of the road. He had seen enough snow and traffic to last a lifetime.
Emma Halliday opened her eyes and stretched. ‘This is my house,’ she said, having wiped her side-window.
‘I know.’
‘How are you going to get home?’
‘I figured I’d phone for a taxi.’
‘You’ll be lucky in this weather.’
‘I didn’t think you should drive.’
‘I’ll be fine now.’
‘Well … like you said it’s pretty foul out there.’
‘Why don’t you come in for a cup of coffee?’ she said.
‘I don’t drink coffee.’
Emma smiled. ‘That’s okay. I haven’t got any.’
‘In which case I’d love a cup.’
Laura Chilvers looked at her bedside clock. It was dark and the glow of the illuminated numbers helped her locate the button for Classic FM. She pushed it and the lush sounds of Mahler’s Third Symphony filled the room.
She closed her eyes and moaned as a hand cupped her right breast, her nipples hardening, her heart beating faster in her chest.
‘Do you want me to hurt you again?’
Laura opened her eyes and ran her hand down the woman’s long blonde hair. ‘No, Nicola,’ she said. ‘I just want you to hold me.’
‘The other night you scared me, Laura.’
‘I don’t remember it. I’m sorry.’
‘You made me beat you, hurt you. Use toys. You took so many drugs, drink. Punching the wall. I didn’t know what to do.’
‘But you brought me home, didn’t you?’
‘Yes. Maybe I should have stayed, but you told me to leave.’
‘Probably best that you did.’
‘But I don’t understand. What happened? Why were you like that?’
Laura kissed Nicola on the mouth and put her arms around her. ‘Just hold me,’ she said.
‘I only want to help.’
‘You can’t help.’
‘What is it?’
‘I did a very bad thing.’
Bible Steve walked along the corridor. He felt calm for the first time in a long while. He knew that it was due to the Valium they had given him, to help with the severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms he would be experiencing. But he felt calm. Cogs were clicking into place, wheels were in motion. He looked down at his battered, old hands and didn’t recoil with horror as he had previously. He was beginning to understand, and he knew that understanding was the first step to being healed, although he very much suspected it was too late for that.
He stopped outside the room next to the one where he had been treated and looked inside. An elderly lady had fallen asleep by the side of a hospital bed. A man lay there with an oxygen mask over his face. Wires and tubes were connected to his body. The man’s breath was a low, ragged gurgle. Bible walked into the room and looked at the various monitors. Staring down at the man for a moment or two, he returned to the monitoring equipment and turned a dial.
Jack Delaney held Kate’s hand as she lay on the hospital bed. The technician moved the scanning device and Kate smiled as she saw the images appear on the monitor.
‘Absolutely nothing to worry about,’ said the ultrasonographer.
‘Not even a scratch,’ added Delaney. ‘Who did you think you were, Superwoman?’
‘I don’t know about that,’ said Kate. ‘I’m going to need a new coat.’
‘I’m going to need a new screwdriver,’ said Delaney.
Kate grimaced and gestured towards Siobhan who was busy checking the scan image.
‘Yeah, sorry.’
‘You’ve got nothing to be sorry about, Jack. You saved my life. You saved both our lives.’
‘Nah, you’re a tough cookie, Kate. You’d have had his measure. You sure you’ve not got a drop of the Irish in you?’
Kate laughed. ‘Shall we go home?’
‘Yeah, let’s do that,’ said Delaney. ‘We’ve got a tree to decorate.’
‘Yay!’ said Siobhan and clapped her hands. Delaney looked from her and back to Kate and, as he ran his hand over her stomach, he had to blink his eyes, which were suddenly moist.
Part Four
70.
Monday morning …
KATE WALKER WALKED into the intensive-care room. Patricia Hunt was in her usual place by her husband’s side, keeping vigil. Dr Lily Crabbe was writing up some notes on Geoffrey Hunt’s chart, then hung it back on the rail at the base of the bed. She smiled briefly at Kate and stifled a yawn with her hand.
‘Busy night?’ asked Kate.
‘Always is.’
‘Good morning, Kate,’ said Reverend Hunt with a warm smile.
‘You seem much better today, Geoffrey.’
‘He’s on the mend,’ agreed Lily Crabbe. It was only yesterday, Kate remembered, that the registrar was telling her that she didn’t think he would make it.
‘Bit of a scare last night. But looks like we have the infection beaten.’
‘It’s a miracle,’ said Patricia.
The registrar headed off and Patricia stood up. ‘I am just going to get him a cup of tea. Would you like one, Dr Walker?’
‘Why don’t I walk with you, Patricia? Good to see you looking so well, Geoffrey. You take good care of yourself.’
‘I will, thank you, Doctor.’
Kate walked out with Patricia to the vending machine at the end of the corridor.
‘Pneumonia can be a dange
rous thing for a man of his age. He’s been very lucky.’
‘I know.’
‘I looked at his X-rays, his chest X-rays.’
‘Yes?’ Patricia fished out a fifty-pence piece from her purse.
‘His name’s not really Geoffrey Hunt, is it?’
The older woman dropped the coin, but didn’t seem to notice it as it clattered to the ground.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I got his brother’s medical records. The man in the ground had a perfectly uninjured rib cage. The X-rays I looked at here last night showed an old bullet wound. A wound to the chest. Geoffrey’s brother had such a wound. He got it in Zambia trying to defend some children, according to the report I read.’
‘He did defend those children! They lived because of him.’
‘And so did he! Didn’t he? I’m guessing that it was Geoffrey we found in that unmarked grave. I’m right, aren’t I? The man back there is his brother Jeremy.’
Patricia looked at her grim-faced. What are you going to do?’
‘I don’t know yet,’ said Kate gently. ‘Why don’t you tell me what happened?’
‘There were accusations that Geoffrey had been molesting young girls.’
‘I know.’
‘It wasn’t the first time. He had a problem, I begged him to get help and he said that he had. That he had never actually touched any of the girls. Just looked at them.’
‘Go on.’
‘It was too much. I told him that I was going to divorce him. I told him I was going to report him to the police. He became very angry. He had been violent to me in the past, had been abusive. But I held my ground. He couldn’t be allowed to continue hurting those poor children. He hit me.’
‘And so you shot him?’
‘No, Doctor,’ the older woman sighed. ‘He shot himself. I guess I drove him to it.’
‘You didn’t drive him to do anything, Patricia.’
‘Jeremy was visiting, like I said. He found me in a state of absolute shock and said he would take care of everything. He always loved me, Kate. I knew that. I chose the wrong brother.’
‘So what did Jeremy do?’
‘In covering up for the vicar, the Church had demanded his early retirement. If his suicide was discovered, the whole sorry story would be exposed. Jeremy didn’t want to put me though that. He said he would take on his brother’s identity. Nobody need ever know. So we buried him that night in sanctified ground.’
‘And the gun he used?’
‘It was their father’s service revolver, from the war. God knows why they’d kept it. Jeremy buried the gun in our garden. We laid a slab over it and put a birdbath there. He said nobody would ever find out.’
‘And if they hadn’t decided to demolish the church, probably nobody would have done.’
The older woman looked at Kate, her eyes moist with tears. ‘No real harm was done, was there? If this all comes out now, it could kill him.’
‘Were you in love with Jeremy?’
Patricia nodded her head. ‘I know it was wrong. But yes, I loved him, Kate. Almost from the first day I married his brother.’
Kate patted her hand. ‘Don’t worry, Patricia, I’m sure everything will be okay.’
‘But how can it be? We’ve drawn Geoffrey’s pension all these years, it wasn’t much but …’ She trailed off, distraught. ‘And they have found the body now. Sooner or later it will all come out. You can’t take care of that.’
‘No, I can’t,’ said Kate. ‘But I know a man who can.’
Diane Campbell stood at the open window watching the uniforms clear the snow from the car park once more. The sky overhead was a brilliant blue, however, and the sun was shining brightly.
She smiled at Delaney as he came into her office.
‘Full statement from Michelle Riley. Pretty much as you guessed. Five of them from the support group. Became something of a drinking club. Sharing their sorrows, their anger. Then one night at The Castle, after reading about another suspected rapist walking free from court, they decided to not just get angry but to get even. Vigilante style. John Garland’s idea. They’d each pick a card, and whoever was selected they had to kill. Not the person who had raped them, however, so no trails would lead back to them.’
‘First rule of the Murder Club.’
‘Only when it came to Michelle’s turn she got cold feet. Wouldn’t do it.’
‘So Garland did it for her, I guess. Pushed Michael Robinson under the train.’
‘That’s why he wanted Stephanie Hewson to lie in court, let him off. So that he could get to Robinson. It was his cousin who beat him up in jail originally. Only he got transferred.’
‘John equals Jack.’
‘Yep.’
‘What’s the verdict on Garland?’
‘They think he’ll live.’
‘Shame.’
‘Oh, yeah. But they also think he’s going to be severely brain damaged.’
Delaney didn’t look particularly displeased at the news.
‘How did you know he’d take her to the Scout hut, Jack?’
‘I didn’t.’
‘Lucky guess?’
‘He’d been fixating on Stephanie Hewson. The rape. Newspaper accounts pinned to the wall. Pictures of her. Pictures of Kate. Same hair, same colouring.’
‘He was acting out his fantasies?’
‘Tried it before and it didn’t work. But he had seen me with the woman he was obsessed with and this fixation was escalating out of control. If he couldn’t have Stephanie Hewson, then Kate would do. Kill two birds with one stone. If he was re-enacting what happened to Stephanie last Christmas, then he’d take Kate to the hut.’
Diane put another cigarette between her lips. ‘That was a good call.’
‘Maybe I had some help.’
Diane looked at him curiously, but his face was impassive.
‘Are you going to give me one of those cigarettes?’ he said.
Kate walked up to Bible Steve’s bed, a bunch of grapes in her hand. Laura was sitting beside him. She looked a lot better. Fresher, less haunted. Kate dangled the grapes in front of Steve. ‘Bit of a cliché, I know. But …’ She placed the grapes on his bed. ‘I hear you saved a man’s life last night, Steve, by adjusting his oxygen levels.’
‘My name isn’t Steve.’
‘I know. It’s Stuart. Stuart Gregor.’
‘Yes.’
‘You remember now?’
‘His memory is coming back, parts of it anyway,’ said Laura.
‘Eight years ago there was a massive pile-up and an overturned coach on the motorway outside Reading,’ said the homeless man. ‘Seven people were killed. Thirteen people seriously injured. It was chaos at Reading General that night and a surgeon who had been drinking heavily was operating. It was me, operating without assistance, without theatre nurses, and a twenty-three-year-old blonde woman with the face of an angel and fractured ribs died because of it.’
‘Except you did have assistance, didn’t you, Mr Gregor? You had a young, newly qualified doctor on surgical rotation called Angela Laura Chilvers with you. After the woman died, there was a full enquiry. Only you had vanished. Nobody knew who you were. You didn’t even know who you were.’
‘It wasn’t his fault,’ said Laura. ‘None of this was his fault.’
‘Because you didn’t stop him from operating?’
‘The young woman who died that night had severe rib injuries, a haemothorax. The blood was draining into her chest area and literally suffocating her. She was in incredible pain and would have died. Stuart had to perform a chest drain. Only his hands were shaking so much he couldn’t place the tube correctly in her throat. So I did it.’
‘You performed the procedure?’
‘Yes, and let Stuart take the blame.’
‘I left her alone,’ said Stuart Gregor.
‘You went to find another surgeon. Only I didn’t think there was time. So I went ahead anyway. I positioned the tube i
ncorrectly. I hit her heart. By the time Stuart came back to say help was on its way, she was already dead. He thought she had died from the crash injuries, and I didn’t tell him otherwise. He left there and then. I never got the chance to tell him the truth. Look what I did to him. I ruined his life.’
‘It’s okay. I was your supervisor, Laura.’
‘I used you. And ruined you, Stuart.’
‘I loved you, Laura.’
‘I know. And I slept with you and used you to further my career. A woman is dead, and you very nearly died because of it.’
‘Isaiah said, “Remember not the former things. Nor consider the things of old. Behold I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”’
‘Are you sure you didn’t lead a double life as a vicar?’ asked Kate with a wry smile.
‘I was educated for thirteen years at a Catholic school, Doctor. They used to beat these things into you.’
‘I’ve heard that.’
‘I might have forgotten nearly everything else out there on the streets, but the Bible has been hardwired in here.’ He tapped the side of his head.
‘I wish I could go back in time, Stuart. I would do things so differently,’ said Laura, tears pricking her eyes.
The elderly man took her hands and shook his head. ‘You are a healer now. You have made your own way in the wilderness. Just think of the lives you have saved. Regret nothing, lass. I made my own bed. I knew you were gay, but I didn’t care. I used you, I was your supervisor and I abused my trust. You should have just told them the truth. Nobody would have blamed you. Everything was just a terrible accident.’
‘When I saw what I had done to you the other night, I couldn’t forgive myself, Stuart. I tried to save her life, but I destroyed yours instead.’
‘There is nothing to forgive. Nobody had to show me the way to drink, my angel. Believe me, the demons were in my head long before we ever met. Falling in love with you didn’t make me what I am, but what you are is why I fell in love with you.’
‘I’m sorry.’
Stuart Gregor looked over at Dr Walker. ‘What are you going to do?’