by Robert Innes
“Lots of questions there, do you have any answers to go with them?” Gardiner asked sardonically.
Blake gave him a tight smile. “I’m not in charge of the investigation, am I? Do you?”
“That’s quite enough of that,” Angel said sharply. “DS Harte, do you have any theories as to how this was achieved or not?”
“Not yet, Sir. But I’m willing to bet it’s got something to do with that girlfriend of his.”
He told them all about what he had seen of Kelsey during his stay in hospital. How he had overheard her having an argument with Joe, and how she was worried when she realised that Blake was a policeman. He explained how two members of the staff, including Kelsey’s best friend, had said that there was something not right with their relationship, as they had been arguing all the time. Then, he told them about the bells ringing out at three in the morning, and how Kelsey had run from the ward in tears.
“So, as I said,” he concluded. “Kelsey Richards definitely knows more than she’s letting on.”
Angel scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Have you spoken to Miss Richards, Sergeant Gardiner?”
“Yes, of course I have,” snapped Gardiner. “But that was before he mentioned any of this! Why didn’t you tell me about bloody bells ringing out in the middle of the night?”
“I did try, Michael.”
“No, you didn’t!” Gardiner snapped back. “You kept it all to yourself because you’re determined to mess this up for me. I should arrest you for withholding evidence! The renowned Detective Sergeant Blake Harte needs to be the one that solves it, and God forbid anyone else should be allowed any credit!”
“Michael, that’s not true!” Blake argued. “I’m just telling you what I know, and if you remember I was having an operation when I was in hospital. I could hardly stroll in here on the day of the murder because during that time I was having my appendix removed!”
“You’ve just got an answer for everything, haven’t you?” shouted Gardiner.
“That is enough, the both of you!” Angel said loudly from the corner.
“Excuse me,” said a voice behind them. “Not interrupting, am I?”
They all turned to see Sharon Donahue standing in the doorway watching the proceedings with some interest.
“Sharon, do come in,” Angel told her.
“Thank you. I was hoping to have a word with you all. I was led to believe you were having a meeting this morning regarding the Tilsley murder? We’ve found something on the victim’s phone that I think you’re all going to want to see.”
Gardiner shot one last furious look at Blake, then threw himself into a chair in the corner, with his arms folded, his face thunderous.
“Carry on, Sharon,” Angel said quietly.
Sharon glanced around the room, perhaps to make sure that nobody else was going to start arguing, before pulling a memory stick out of her pocket. She walked across to a computer and inserted the stick, nodding at someone to get the lights. Mattison switched the projector on and they watched on the wall as Sharon opened the files she wanted.
“We found two videos. This one was sent to his phone at 03:02, about seven hours before the murder.”
She clicked on one of the videos and they were presented with an image of someone wearing a surgeon’s mask and cap, completely covering their face. Sharon pressed play and they watched as the figure held up a newspaper with a large headline about the hit and run incident over a year ago.
“What the hell?” Blake murmured.
‘“The third of April 2017,”’ The figure said, his voice distorted, so it was indiscernible to any gender differences. ‘“This was the day you played a part in the death of a young woman. A year to the day since you cruelly snatched the life of an innocent victim. I’m The Watcher. And now, the time has come for your justice. Joe Tilsley, come on down.’” And the video cut out.
There was silence in the room as they took in what they had watched.
“The hit and run from last year?” Mattison asked, looking amazed. “Tilsley had something to do with it?”
“Oh, you bet he did,” Sharon said. “Whoever this Watcher is, he’s been worthy of his name.” She closed the first video down and then began playing the second.
The film seemed to have been taken in the middle of the night. As the camera zoomed out to focus on the scene ahead, Blake recognised an old shed that was on the outskirts of Harmschapel. “That’s the location of the hit and run,” Blake muttered.
The film has clearly been taken from behind some bushes on the side of the road. They watched as the camera panned across to a car that had stopped a few metres ahead from the cameraman’s vantage point. They watched as Kelsey Richards climbed out of the front passenger seat, looking horrified. It was raining heavily, and the wind nearly knocked Kelsey off her feet as she ran down the road, past the camera and then to a body lying on the ground.
Then, the camera panned back to Joe. He was leaning casually against the car, watching Kelsey panic over the body on the road. A smirk was visible on his lips as the camera zoomed in.
“He’s smiling!” Patil exclaimed.
“This wasn’t a hit and run,” Blake said, watching Joe walk calmly down the road to Kelsey and put his hands on her shoulders. “This was a murder.”
They could just about make out Joe’s words to Kelsey as the wind audibly died down slightly.
‘“We did this, both of us. We’re way over the limit. If this gets out, then our careers, our lives, it’s all over! Listen to me Kelse, there’s nothing we can do for her. We just need to get out of here. This never happened. Come on!”’
They watched as Kelsey walked back to the car. For a few moments, Joe examined the road around them, Blake guessed to check for any debris from the car that would implicate them. Then, with one last glance back at the body, he got back into the car and they drove off.
The cameraman waited until the car was a good way in the distance before stepping out to the road and walking to the body. Blake frowned as a strange sudden huffing sound suddenly became evident, just before the cameraman knelt down and focused on the body. The face they all recognised as Lucy Pennock stared back up at them. Then, the video cut out.
“Just rewind it,” Blake said. “Just after the car drives away.”
Sharon clicked on the video and they all watched as the cameraman stepped out on to the road again. Then, as they walked towards Lucy’s body, the loud huffing sound came again.
“What is that sound?” Blake asked.
Sharon scowled and clicked the video back again. The huffing sound made them all look at each other cluelessly.
“It sounds like he stubbed his toe or something. You know that noise you make?”
“You stubbed your toe the other day, and you never made that noise,” Mattison said to her. “You made a lot of other noises, but not that one.”
“I bet The Watcher is who called the emergency services to her,” Patil said, ignoring Mattison. “So, all of this with Tilsley, this is revenge?”
“Exactly. Three AM,” said Blake, staring at the paused video in amazement. “That’s when Lucy was killed. And it was three AM when those bells sounded, which means that whoever this Watcher character is must be behind Tilsley’s death.”
“The second video, the one of Lucy, was sent to Tilsley’s phone at 14:14 on the day of his death,” Sharon announced. “I think whoever sent this to his phone knew that Tilsley was dead. I think this video is for you guys.”
Blake closed down the video of Lucy and then clicked across to the other one where the surgeon was leering at them, holding his paper. “I think we’ve found our killer, ladies and gents. We just need to unmask him.”
“And how do we do that?” Mattison asked.
“I think it’s time we spoke to Kelsey Richards. Properly.” Blake replied.
“And by ‘we,’ I assume you mean officers that aren’t off on sick leave?” Gardiner sniped.
Before Blake could repl
y, there was a knock on the door and Sergeant Mandy Darnwood poked her head into the room. “Sir, there’s a lady here wishing to speak to the officer in charge of the investigation into the death of Joe Tilsley?”
“Who is she?” Gardiner asked.
“She says her name is Miss Richards. She says it’s urgent.”
All the officers looked at each other.
“She’s here?” Patil exclaimed. “She’s just come to us?”
“Then I better go and speak to her,” Gardiner said. “Thank you for coming in, Detective Harte, but I think I can take it from here.”
Blake glared at Gardiner as he left the room.
“I think you can probably be getting off home,” Angel told Blake. “I’m sure Sergeant Gardiner is capable of handling things.”
“Yes, Sir,” Blake replied quietly. He followed Gardiner out of the room and towards the reception desk where they found Kelsey waiting for them. She stood up from her chair as they approached.
“Miss Richards?” Gardiner clarified.
“That’s right,” Kelsey said, looking extremely nervous as she wrung her hands together. “I was hoping to speak to you about Joe.” She spotted Blake approaching and sighed. “Oh, you’re here as well are you? I should have known. I guess I better speak to you too.”
Gardiner rolled his eyes and opened the nearest interview room. “Could you step inside, please?” he told her. “We’ll be with you in just one moment.” He closed the door behind her and then stood in the doorway, staring at Blake. “And where do you think you’re going?”
“Oh, Michael, stop being so bloody childish,” Blake told him. “She says she wants to speak to me too.”
“It does seem that was her request, Sergeant Gardiner,” Angel said calmly from behind them. “But, and this is a substantial ‘but’, Detective Harte, I will expect you to conduct this interview with the upmost professionalism. You are in there to interview Miss Richards, and you will do so without trying to get one over on each other. And if I ever am witness to behaviour like I saw during that farce of a meeting from either of you, then I shall be reporting my findings to the Superintendent. Do I make myself clear?”
Gardiner and Blake glanced at each other. They both nodded.
“Good,” Angel said. “Now, I shall be watching the interview from behind the glass. Carry on, gentlemen.”
He nodded curtly at the pair of them and then disappeared into the side room, where he would watch proceedings through the one-way mirror on the interview room wall.
Gardiner turned to Blake. “As far as I am concerned, this is my investigation, and you are coming in here as a supporting officer. I think that’s more than reasonable.”
Blake reluctantly agreed.
12
Kelsey sat in the interview room, her hands clasped together. Now she was here, she wanted nothing more than to flee from the room and keep running, but she knew that it was now or never. As far as she knew, whoever had been standing in her yard could have similar plans for her as he had for Joe. If telling the police absolutely everything was what she needed to do to stop it, then it had to be done, regardless of the consequences.
Gardiner and Blake entered the room and sat down opposite her. Gardiner watched her for a few moments as he sorted the paperwork out from inside his folder then leant across and pressed on a recorder on the other side of the desk.
“Interview commencing at 13:42. Present are Acting Detective Sergeant Michael Gardiner, Detective Sergeant Blake Harte and Kelsey Richards.”
“Oh, is this going to be an official interview?” Kelsey asked, nervously.
“Yes,” replied Gardiner flatly. “Now, I believe you had some information for us?”
Kelsey took a deep breath. Her mouth had gone incredibly dry. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Try at the beginning,” suggested Gardiner.
Kelsey glanced up at him and then at Blake, who was watching her with a frown. “I’ve come to confess to my involvement in a death.”
Gardiner and Blake looked at each other.
“Go on,” Gardiner said.
“A year ago, I think you were investigating the death of Lucy Pennock,” Kelsey continued quietly. It felt so wrong saying the words out loud that she had held so closely to her chest for so many months, but there was no going back now. “I was involved in her death, and so was Joe.”
She watched them for some sort of reaction. Blake crossed his arms. “Why are you telling us this now?”
“Because I should have done it a long time ago,” Kelsey murmured. “I can’t keep it a secret any longer. It’s been eating away at me for so long. I never sleep, I never stop thinking about it, replaying that night in my head, seeing her lying there. I can’t do it anymore.”
“The rain, the wind, the feel of Joe’s hands on your shoulders telling you that you can’t tell anyone?” Gardiner asked.
Kelsey nodded. “Exactly.” But then she frowned and stared at them. “How did you know about the wind and the rain?”
“Because we’ve seen a video of you at the scene of Lucy Pennock’s death,” Gardiner told her.
“You and Joe,” added Blake. “You hit her with your car, or rather Joe did, you got out the passenger seat. Then, you both drove away with no attempt to help her. Hit and run. And now, you’re telling us that it was you over a year later?”
“What are you talking about?” Kelsey asked, unable to comprehend what she was being told. “What video? What do you mean?”
“Joe was sent two videos to his phone. One the night before his death and another one, the one with both of you in it, the following afternoon, after he died.” Blake told her.
“Does the name ‘The Watcher’ mean anything to you?” Gardiner asked her.
Kelsey could not believe what she was hearing. Everything she had been trying to work out how to say, words she had battled internally with for months, were now being said to her. They knew everything.
“Yeah,” she said, feeling dazed. “He’s sent me videos too. I’ve had threatening phone calls, videos, that whole thing with the bells. He turned up at my house today.”
“You saw him in person?” Blake inquired. “Did you recognise him?”
“No, he was in all of that surgeon getup,” Kelsey said. “He told me that Joe had paid for what he did to Lucy. He said that it was no accident. He seems to think that Joe knocked Lucy over on purpose.”
“Well, when he’s filming your boyfriend smirking after knocking down this poor woman, you can hardly blame him.” Gardiner put in.
Kelsey stared at him. “Smirking?”
“Yes, smirking. While you were on your knees, looking down at your victim on the ground, your boyfriend was stood behind you looking like all his birthdays had come at once,” Gardiner told her.
“She wasn’t my victim,” Kelsey protested sharply. “I’d never seen her before in my life, I tried to make him get help!”
“Oh, but he was too charming for you to be able to coax? Come on, Kelsey!” Gardiner leant in to her. “Why has it taken you so long for you to tell us about it? You must have known that we were looking for Lucy’s killer. It’s been in the news, as our Watcher friend so kindly reminded us. ‘Horror in Harmschapel!’ You caused that horror. You and your boyfriend took the life of a woman and did nothing to help her. What I want to know is why?”
Kelsey sighed and looked down at her hands, wringing them furiously. ‘Why’ was a question she had asked herself countless times over the past year.
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “When it happened, I was ready to go to the police there and then. I couldn’t think of anything else. But Joe kept saying how it would be suicide for us to report it. We were both drunk, so we’d be looking at a long prison sentence, especially him, our careers would be over.”
“We heard him on the video,” Gardiner said.
“Joe had a way about him. I don’t know. It was kind of like this magic power he had. He could just say things tha
t could make any situation sound easier. How he persuaded me to keep quiet for those first few weeks, I’ll never know. I came so close. I’ve stood outside of this station so many times, just watching the police officers come and go, trying to work out what I was going to say. And I just couldn’t. The last time I even came in and got to the reception desk. But then I ran when the woman on the desk asked me what I wanted.”
Blake bit his lip in annoyance. He could well imagine Mandy Darnwood standing at reception, merely shrugging and carrying on with her crossword in the situation, instead of going after a woman who had walked into a police station and just ran out again.
“That time scared me,” Kelsey went on. “I went home and told Joe how close I’d come to blowing everything. We argued. And I don’t think we ever really stopped arguing since.” A realisation hit her suddenly and emotion flooded through her. “Even the last time I spoke to him face to face. The last thing I ever said to his face was how I wish I’d never met him.”
Blake leant forward, his hands clasped on the table. “That would be the argument I overheard you having when I was trying to sneak back from the loos after vaping?”
Kelsey glanced at him, and much to her own surprise, she let out a little laugh. “I knew that’s what you were doing. I’ve been a nurse for too long to not know that trick when I see it.” She leant back in her chair and briefly enjoyed the sensation of words she had been wanting to say for months finally leaving her mind.
“Is there anything else you’ve been hiding?” Gardiner asked her. “Are you sure there’s no other secrets that we should know about? What about this nutter in the surgeon’s mask? What exactly do you know about him?”