The Principle of Evil: A Fast-Paced Serial Killer Thriller (DCI Claire Winters, Book 2)

by T. M. E. Walsh

  Heather stared at him in silence, her eyes narrowing. She was thinking before she answered. She gave a sharp nod of her head and stood aside.

  ‘You’d better come in.’ She smiled at Harper but frowned at Elias, pointing at his shoes. ‘Wipe your feet, Sergeant. Daryl’s just had cream carpets put in for me.’

  CHAPTER 20

  Heather showed them into a large, well-decorated living room equipped with modern furniture and appliances. There was no doubt in Elias’s mind that this was all paid for by Daryl and his little enterprise of exploitation. It made him feel sick to his stomach.

  Harper declined the offer of a drink from Heather, and she made a point of not asking Elias. Instead she invited them to sit and went to get Daryl.

  ‘I feel like I’ve stepped into the Twilight Zone. What was that all about?’ said Elias after she left the room.

  Harper smiled. ‘I did warn you. Dispel your belief and leave your preconceptions at the door.’ He looked around the room before his eyes came wandering back to Elias’s bewildered face. ‘I’ve lost count how many times I’ve been in this room, and so has she, probably.’

  ‘She’s clearly taken a shine to you,’ Elias said, ‘and on first name terms as well. Lucky you.’

  Heather reappeared and this time she offered Elias a drink. He declined. She folded her arms tightly and seemed to look past him, out of the window that looked onto the back garden. Her demeanour had changed; she now seemed more anxious and definitely less buoyant.

  ‘My son will be with you in a minute. He’s in the garden.’ She studied Elias’s face, making him feel self-conscious. ‘My Daryl’s a good boy, Sergeant,’ she said in a low hushed voice.

  Hardly a boy, Elias thought, the man’s thirty-five. He kept quiet, avoiding her stare.

  ‘What’s this about? Whatever it is, I’m sure there’s been some mistake.’

  ‘I’d rather wait until Daryl is here, Mrs Thomas, before I discuss anything.’

  ‘It’s nothing to do with that girl they found in the lake, is it?’

  Elias and Harper exchanged glances.

  Elias edged closer to her. ‘What do you mean by that, Mrs Thomas?’

  ‘She didn’t mean anything, did ya, Mother?’

  All three turned and saw Daryl leaning against the door that led from the hall. He gave half a smile, walked towards his mother and wrapped his arm around her tightly. He gave her a small but firm shake, seeming to comfort her, but Elias understood the real meaning of the gesture.

  Let me do the talking.

  ‘Mum knew Nola and I were friends… of sorts,’ he said, baring his yellowing teeth in a wide grin. ‘Didn’t ya, Mum?’

  Heather nodded slowly, avoiding his eyes. Daryl paused, watching her closely. ‘How about you go and meet up with one of your friends, Mum, just for a few hours?’ He took his wallet from his trouser pocket, pulled out a few twenty-pound notes and stuffed them into her hand. ‘Treat yourself.’

  Elias noted that Heather kept her eyes from her son’s. ‘Yeah, why not? I’ll see if Tina’s in and fancies a ride into town.’

  ‘Before you go, Mrs Thomas,’ Elias said, stepping in front of her. ‘Where were you on the night of November first?’ She stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes stole a quick look at her son.

  ‘I was at home all day. Daryl and I had a takeaway pizza for dinner and watched a Blu-Ray.’

  Crest looked sceptical. ‘What Blu-Ray?’

  She hesitated. ‘Pirates of the Caribbean. The new one.’

  ‘And the pizza?’ Elias made no attempt to hide the disbelief in his voice.

  Daryl bristled and Heather looked at the floor, trying to find her voice.

  Harper rose to his feet quickly, notebook in hand. ‘I love pizza,’ he said, smiling at her. ‘Do you have the name and number for the place you ordered from?’ She looked at Daryl and he answered for her.

  ‘Leaflet’s on the kitchen counter. Help yourself, Constable, you know the way.’ Harper went to the kitchen and quickly reappeared holding a leaflet. There was silence as he copied the name and telephone number into his notebook.

  ‘Can I go now?’ Heather asked, risking a glance into Elias’s eyes. He nodded. After she left the house, Daryl watched her drive away in her car before he turned and scowled at Elias.

  ‘Before you say anything, I didn’t do it.’

  Elias’s eyes widened. He gave a look of mock surprise. ‘Didn’t do what?’

  Daryl laughed and circled both men, heading to the drinks cabinet in the corner. ‘Nola,’ he said, as he poured himself a large whisky. ‘You want to know if I killed her.’

  ‘Did you?’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘You’re sure about that?’

  Daryl regarded him for a moment before grinning. ‘Cocky cunt, aint ya?’

  ‘What did you say?’ Elias said, rounding on him.

  Daryl held his hand up into his face. ‘Easy. Said it in jest, mate. Get back on ya leash.’

  ‘You’re not doing yourself any favours, Daryl,’ Harper said, his face showing his apprehension. Daryl shot him a grin, then nodded. He gestured to Elias to continue.

  ‘It’s all good, Sergeant.’

  Elias’s voice was low when he spoke, as he tried to contain the urge to floor the dirty pimp where he stood and to hell with the consequences. ‘Know anyone who might wish her any harm?’

  Daryl grinned. ‘I could give ya a list.’

  ‘Care to elaborate?’

  Daryl took a large mouthful of the spirit and plumped out his cheeks, washing the liquid around his mouth, staring at Elias the whole time. At length he swallowed, flopped down in a chair and plucked a cigarette from the pack on the table. He lit it and began to take deep drags.

  ‘Nola pissed off her fair share of punters in the past,’ he said, expelling a stream of smoke. ‘She didn’t always perform well, if ya know what I’m sayin’? Didn’t always give out the money’s worth.’

  ‘And any money she did make, you took from her,’ Elias said, leaning so he looked down on Daryl, ‘didn’t you?’

  Daryl kept quiet, studying Elias carefully, while he smoked his cigarette.

  ‘How else could you afford to keep mummy happy? This house for instance,’ he said, looking around, ‘you’ve certainly done well, Daryl, I’ll give you that. Just a pity it’s not by honest means.’

  Daryl shifted in his seat. His face grew dark, his eyes appearing almost black. ‘You couldn’t wait to have another pop at me, could ya, Sergeant?’

  Harper shifted uneasily on his feet. He didn’t like the way this was going. He’d seen what happened to people who wound Daryl up the wrong way on many occasions, and Elias was treading precariously close to the edge.

  ‘When was the last time you saw Nola alive?’ he asked Daryl, stepping in, going over Elias’s head.

  ‘Found your voice, Gabriel?’

  ‘You’ll address me as DC Harper.’

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry. DC Harper, Sir,’ he said. ‘I last saw Nola early the morning before she disappeared.’ He was grinning, not taking anything seriously.

  ‘Where?’

  Daryl seemed to think generally at this point. ‘It was by the chip shop where she lived. She’d just bought some fags from the newsagent next door.’

  ‘Can anyone confirm that?’ Elias asked, stepping in again. Daryl stared at him, his eyes hard, unrelenting.

  ‘Rachel Larson. She was there. I was with her all day, if ya know what I mean?’ He puffed on his cigarette and blew a long stream of smoke up into Elias’s face, winking suggestively. ‘There’s cameras at the shops, Sergeant… You might wanna check them.’

  Elias was angry. Daryl was a cocky bastard of the worst kind. Elias’s lips pulled into a thin line and his eyes narrowed. He gave Daryl a well-rehearsed sneer, a look of contempt.

  Try a different tack.

  ‘Your mum seems nice, Daryl.’

  ‘Leave her out of it.’

  ‘Very hospitable lady by all a
ccounts. Wouldn’t you agree, Harper?’ he asked, tilting his head towards the constable. Harper was unsure where this was heading, and he stuttered at first, before clearing his throat and speaking again.

  ‘How relevant is this?’

  Daryl nodded. ‘I’d listen to him, mate. Chats a lot of sense for a copper, like.’

  ‘She doesn’t know what you do, does she?’ Elias continued.

  ‘She knows what she needs to know,’ Daryl said, grinning again. ‘Why? Ya threatening to tell me mummy, is that it?’

  ‘I think she’d be devastated if she found out, don’t you?’ Elias looked around, gestured to the fine surroundings. ‘I mean, can you imagine how she’d feel if she found out that all this came from trading girls like Nola from one sicko to the next?’

  Daryl frowned hard, his brow deeply creased. He felt anger boiling within his gut. He wanted Elias to stop, but he carried on.

  ‘Your mum looks like she has high standards… I reckon she’d make sure things went quite bad for you, Daryl… son or no son. Blood isn’t always thicker than water.’

  ‘I think we’re done here, don’t you, Crest?’ Harper’s voice expressed his concern but the other men ignored him. Instead, their eyes bore into one another for what seemed like an eternity. Eventually, Daryl rose to his feet, took a deep drag on his cigarette, and blew more smoke into Elias’s face, making his eyelids flutter.

  ‘Are ya gonna charge me for anything, mate?’

  ‘I’m not your mate, Daryl, far from it–’

  ‘’Cos if you’re not, you and the constable ’ere can piss off. I’m a busy man.’

  ‘We should go,’ Harper said, touching his colleague’s arm, but Elias shook him off.

  Daryl smiled. ‘You’d do well to listen to him,’ he said, jabbing a finger hard into Elias’s chest.

  As soon as he’d made contact with the hard mass of muscle, Elias grabbed Daryl’s fingers, twisted them around and snapped them back, sending shooting pain through his hand. Daryl howled, balled his free hand into a fist, and struck Elias hard in the ribs.

  Elias fell to the floor in a heap. He was winded, lungs aching for air.

  ‘I’d stay down, pig, if I were you.’ Daryl squeezed his fingers together, easing life back into them again, suppressing the pain, then leaned forward and spat into Elias’s face. ‘You wanted to cross that line, and now you’re the fool on the ground.’

  He looked at Harper, who was stunned to silence, glued to the spot. ‘I didn’t kill Nola. I wouldn’t kill her even if I knew I could get away with it.’

  A switch seemed to flick in Harper’s head and he quickly reached for Elias. ‘That was foolish, Daryl.’

  ‘What you gonna do, filth? You serious? He was pushing me, you saw it. He could’ve broke my fuckin’ fingers.’

  Harper reached for his arm, pulling him closer. ‘Daryl Thomas, I’m arresting you for assault on a police officer. 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…’

  ‘You’re fuckin’ jokin’?’

  ‘…anything you do say may be given in evidence.’ Harper pulled Daryl by the arm. ‘I trust handcuffs won’t be necessary.’

  Daryl looked down at Elias, who was slowly catching his breath, his hand clutched to his chest. Underneath the mask of pain, he was grinning.

  ‘You fuckin’ bastard. You did that on purpose.’

  ‘Come on, Daryl,’ Harper said, pulling him towards the front door, ‘let’s keep this civil.’ He cast a dark look at Elias, before escorting Daryl out into the snow.

  CHAPTER 21

  In the incident room, Elias looked self-assured when Harper approached. Any hope he had of a breakthrough with Daryl was quickly dashed when he caught the look on Harper’s face.

  ‘News isn’t good, is it?’

  ‘Perfect Pizza confirmed that a delivery was made to Thomas address the night Nola went missing, at nine o’clock. A large Margarita deep-pan, with free Coke and garlic bread.’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ he said, ‘it just means they ordered it, doesn’t mean Thomas was there at the time and he could’ve gone out later. His mum could be covering for him. You saw the hold he has on her.’

  Harper shrugged. ‘Delivery driver gave a good description of Thomas. The only reason he remembered him was ’cos he tipped so well. Plus, I spoke to his neighbour next door. She said she would’ve heard if Thomas left the house as they share the same path. Thomas’s alibi holds up.’

  ‘So far.’

  ‘I don’t think he’s our man, Crest.’ He paused. ‘It’s like you want it to be him. What the hell was going on back at Thomas’s house anyway? You ripped his fingers back.’

  Elias threw his hand up, dismissing Harper’s words. ‘You’re just as bad as the Guv.’

  ‘My ears are burning.’

  Both men looked up as Claire walked up to their desks. She stopped in front of Crest, her demeanour frosty. ‘You’ve something to say, Crest?’

  ‘Thomas is in custody.’

  There was a brief flicker of surprise across her face, but it quickly vanished. ‘Why?’

  ‘Assaulting an officer,’ Harper said.

  Claire looked at him. ‘He’s keeping with tradition then.’ Her eyes crossed back to Elias. ‘Who did he assault?’

  ‘Me.’

  ‘You?’

  ‘Yes. That surprise you? He took a swing at me in the ribs.’

  ‘Why would he do that?’

  ‘Because he’s a thug,’ he said.

  She paused. ‘Harper?’ Her eyes met his again. ‘Why did Thomas assault DS Crest?’

  Harper was silent. He looked at the floor, then at Elias, who watched him carefully.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘DS Crest questioned him on his alibi… that’s all. Thomas was edgy, he didn’t like it.’

  ‘So he swung a punch?’

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Elias interjected. ‘You heard what Harper said.’ Claire eyed him with suspicion. She looked to Harper and he gave her Daryl Thomas’s statement.

  ‘Does his alibi holdup?’

  ‘Yes, Guv.’

  ‘Then he’s not our guy.’

  ‘You still can’t say for sure. He could’ve got someone else to do the dirty work for him if he didn’t sneak out,’ Elias protested.

  Claire sighed, flung the statement back at Harper. ‘For Christ’s sake, let it go, Crest.’

  She disappeared into her office, Elias hot on her heels. ‘We’re done here,’ she said, as she sat down at her desk. She brought up the HOLMES software and accessed the statements compiled so far relating to Grant’s murder.

  ‘I’m pressing charges on Thomas.’ He heard her sharp intake of breath, but no words followed. ‘What? You don’t approve?’

  Claire looked up at him. ‘What’s it going to achieve? With his previous record, he’ll get up to six months or a fine. Meanwhile, you’re here with a face like a smacked arse because you let him get to you, and mouthing off about how he should’ve got a tougher sentence… Are you seeing where I’m going with this?’

  ‘The guy is scum.’

  ‘But you can’t lock someone up just for being that.’

  Elias was taken aback by her tone. He stared at her, wide-eyed. ‘So glad I’ve got your support.’

  ‘That’s something you’ve got to earn, Crest.’ Her voice was different now. It sounded heartfelt. ‘I’ve read up on your history with the force so far and let me tell you,’ she said, as she rubbed her forehead with her fingers, ‘I think you’ve got great potential, despite the reason you transferred here.’

  His face darkened but he said nothing. He didn’t want to think about his reasons and he certainly didn’t like the fact that she knew about them either.

  ‘You could go as far as you want to,’ she continued. ‘You won’t hear that from me very often.’

  Eli
as scoffed, but then saw the look in her eyes. Is that sincerity?

  She wasn’t finished. ‘But first there are some things you’ve got to learn, and managing your aggression is one of them.’ His eyes were hard at first, unrelenting as she held his stare, but then they softened a little.

  He nodded but couldn’t bring himself to say anything. His ribs still ached from Daryl’s fist, and he was tired. Very tired… He didn’t want to say anything he might come to regret.

  He left her office, and gave Harper a frown as he sat at his desk. He picked up a pen and chewed it at the corner of his mouth.

  After a short while, Claire called another team briefing. As she confirmed to the team Rachel Larson had formally ID’d Nola’s body with her friend, Olivia Jones, Elias kept quiet, not even bothering to look at her when he gave her the last known information he’d collected from Nola’s mobile phone records.

  Nola’s mobile signal had been scrambled by something, most likely some device bought over the internet, when the call was placed to Rachel’s phone and there was nothing untoward in her text messages or phone calls during the last few weeks leading up to her murder.

  ‘Image enhancement unit is working on getting a better look at the man seen running after Kenny Philips’s car the night Nola was abducted. Matthews, stay on that,’ Claire said, folding her arms and leaning against Stefan’s desk.

  She went quiet and when every face was searching hers, knowing there was more, she straightened herself out, her voice low when she spoke.

  ‘What I’m about to tell you all goes no further. It stays within these four walls.’

  The silence of anticipation was almost crushing.

  ‘Grant was pregnant. Approximately twelve weeks.’

  Elias shook his head. ‘It’s better off out of it. Our man did it a favour.’

  Claire’s eyes narrowed. ‘It?’

  He nodded.

  ‘You unimaginable bastard,’ said Jane. ‘Don’t have kids do you, Crest?’

  ‘Tell me you’d feel the same way if you had a son or daughter? Can’t, can you?’ asked Harper.