The Darkest Lies: A Gripping Crime Mystery Series - Two Novel Boxed Set (The DI Hogarth Darkest Series Boxed Sets Book 1)

by Solomon Carter

  Hogarth stayed silent. Palmer nodded. Craw took a deep breath.

  “To cut a long story short, we briefly became friends with some wealthy couples. It turned out this set were into some extreme sex games. We went along with it because my husband wanted us to become like them. Rich, cool, all of that. I supposed I did too at the beginning. But it went too far. We went back once after the first time, before I said never again.”

  “Can you elaborate…?” said Palmer, carefully.

  “It was basically a swingers set, but with a few scary add-ons. They liked BDSM stuff. To be honest, I don’t really want to talk about it. The bottom line is, I was a mother with two children in my early thirties and I ended up in a situation I didn’t want to be in. I was drunk. There were two grown men, supposedly respectable men, who should have known better. I don’t remember the photographs being taken, but there they were. Seeing them made me feel sick. I tried to reach for them, then Drummond put his great fat slimy hand on mine. That’s how it started. I have two kids in their teens… I have a daughter. I don’t ever want her to know what I did. I don’t ever want her to end up like that. Can you understand?”

  Palmer nodded. “Yes, Mrs Craw. I think I can.”

  The three of them turned as they heard a subtle, slow creeping sound come down the stairs. The room fell silent as the footsteps approached. Then the door swung open. Gary Grayson appeared in the doorway, his hair damp, his eyes suspicious. Hogarth, Palmer and Alison Craw stared right back. He wore a turquoise surfing T-shirt which showed his beer belly. The shower had made him clean, but it didn’t do much to hide the signs of his wastrel lifestyle.

  “What do you want with Alison here?” said Grayson. “She hasn’t done anything. Has she?” Grayson didn’t sound too sure. He studied Hogarth and Palmer for clues. Hogarth stared right back.

  “Besides…” said Grayson. “I thought you had Dan Picton down for this already.”

  Alison Craw’s story had gnawed at Hogarth. And now this idiot was badgering him, Hogarth felt himself start to lose his temper.

  “And how in the world would you know about that, Gary, eh?”

  Grayson’s eyes flicked left and right as he tried to invent a decent response.

  “It’s common knowledge that you’ve taken him in.”

  “Common amongst who? I didn’t know you were in his circle of friends.”

  “I’m not but I hear things. I’m a DJ, remember. People talk to me.”

  “That’s the second time you’ve invoked the DJ line. Funny thing is I want to talk to you too,” said Hogarth. “Give us one more minute. Don’t go anywhere, okay?”

  Grayson eyed Alison Craw. “What’s all this about Alison? Why are they talking to you?”

  “What’s the matter, Gary?” said Hogarth. “Have you something to hide?”

  Alison Craw had stared at her hands since Grayson entered the room. Now she looked up. “Just wait out there, will you. I’ll explain everything once they’ve gone.”

  “Something fishy’s going on here…” said Grayson.

  “That’s probably just your aftershave,” said Hogarth.

  Grayson grunted and shut the door. They waited and listened until Grayson’s feet faded away, then Hogarth started again, but quietly enough to ensure they wouldn’t be heard.

  “So, he got the photographs. What did he want from you?”

  “Can’t you guess?”

  “It was usually money…” said Hogarth, words soon failing him. “I guess this was something else.”

  “Oh no, it was money too. But when I needed to keep a little back for my kids – when I couldn’t pay the full sum – then he insisted on sex. And sex with Jake Drummond was worse than what happened the first time. But at least there aren’t any photographs to prove it happened.”

  Hogarth settled back in his seat. After a moment’s thought, he looked at Alison Craw with new eyes. “What?” she said.

  “Just a thought. With Drummond gone, at least you won’t have that particular sword hanging over you any longer, will you? And you won’t have to sleep with the beast either.”

  “No, no…” said Mrs Craw. A streak of defiance returned to her eyes. “You’re not pinning that on me. I’m a mother. I did what I did with Drummond only to avoid trouble. I wouldn’t do anything to make my children’s life any worse…”

  “But you’ve got to admit, Mrs Craw, you’d have a very strong reason to want him dead.”

  “Jake Drummond was an odious piece of crap… but I didn’t kill him. I wasn’t at the club that night. You can ask Gary about that. I only ever went there once. It’s not my scene at all.”

  Hogarth and Palmer exchanged a brief glance. He saw Palmer had reached the same conclusion. The woman had motive, but that was all.

  “If you need any help… you know… because of what has happened to you…” said Palmer.

  “The only help I need is to make it go away. Permanently.”

  “Then I’d say your fairy godmother has already answered that one, Mrs Craw. Wouldn’t you?”

  “Not unless those photographs died with him…”

  Hogarth stood up. “I’d like that word with Gary now, Mrs Craw.”

  “You won’t mention any of this to him, will you? He doesn’t know a thing about it. And he doesn’t need to either. This is my business. All of it.”

  Hogarth nodded. “Of course. I’m not here to cause trouble, Mrs Craw. I’ve come here to sort it.”

  The woman sniffed, and stood up. “Okay. Can I go now? I need to clear my head before my meeting.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  They left the living room together and watched Mrs Craw depart. Gary Grayson caught up with her at the front door, and Hogarth watched them share a brief but tender kiss before she walked out. Hogarth wondered what a strong woman like Alison Craw saw in an idiot like DJ GG. Hogarth hadn’t enjoyed a kiss like that since, well, for a week or two at least. He shrugged off his daydream. The door closed, and Grayson faced them.

  “You wanted to talk to me?”

  “Yes, Gary. I heard you have a few secrets of your own. Like your various girlfriends.”

  “What?”

  “Normally, another man’s complicated love life wouldn’t be my domain. But seeing as you manage to maintain a full-time relationship with Mrs Craw here, and a full-time job deejaying, I wondered how you fit it all in.”

  “You’re right, Inspector. My love life is none of your business. But if you need some pointers…” said the man with a mocking smile.

  “Your love life is indicative of your character, Gary. And your character – your tendencies – they are my business. I’m looking for a very untrustworthy person. A man or woman who has likely hidden his true nature from people close to him. A person who likely seems affable and friendly, but feels enough hate inside to kill someone in cold blood. You don’t strike me as a killer, Gary, but I’m beginning to think you could be a very adept liar.”

  “How dare you?!”

  “The affairs. The other women. Were any of them connected to Jake Drummond?”

  Gary Grayson blinked at Hogarth. It was a shot in the dark question, a question to sound him out. But like sonar picking up a blip in the darkness, he saw a flicker of feedback appear on the DJ’s face. Hogarth had struck something without even trying.

  “Out with it, Gary. Come on. Who?”

  “You’re barking up the wrong tree, Inspector. I have girlfriends, yeah. In my job, it goes with the territory. Temptation is always there. I know I’m only a nightclub DJ, but on the night when those girls come out to play, some of them get a drink in them and they think you’re a star. In a way, you are. In a small way. So, they flirt with you. And some of them want more.”

  “You’re a true stud, Gary.”

  “I know it’s not me. It’s the decks and the mic. You become a character for them… I can’t help it if I sometimes get a bit frisky.”

  “Mrs Craw doesn’t know, does she?”

  G
rayson shook his head. “You’re not going to tell her, are you? I love the woman.”

  “The tangled webs we weave, Gary. All I care about is finding that killer. And I will find him, Gary. Just now, when I asked if any of your girlfriends had dealings with Drummond, it seemed to me like you knew something. Come on.”

  “You’re wrong… you just had me on the back foot, that was all.”

  “Really now?” Hogarth narrowed his eyes. “You’ve got an answer for everything, haven’t you? I’ll be watching you from now on. You’d better not be lying to me, because if you are, I might let slip what a greasy little liar you are. Who knows. It might even happen when I next see Mrs Craw. It’d be an accident, of course.”

  “Leave her out of it. She isn’t involved in this at all. Is she?”

  “The tangled web, Gary. Maybe you should tell me if those girls knew Drummond.”

  “I’ve answered you already, DI Hogarth. You know, maybe you should leave, instead.”

  “Only too glad to oblige, Gary. Remember what I said. All of it.”

  Hogarth opened the door and stepped out onto the drive. He left the DJ brooding after them before he slammed the door on him. Hogarth strode away, head high, a bounce in his stride. The case wasn’t yet going his way. But his hopes were high.

  “Well, guv?” said Palmer.

  “Grayson stinks, Palmer. He’s in it up to his neck and I’m not going to let him off the hook. Not until this case is history.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Palmer noticed Hogarth’s eyes flick towards the office clock. He’d been at it ever since they got back to the station and the longer they were back, the quieter he became.

  “You okay, sir?”

  “Yes, yes. We’ve just got a lot to process, that’s all,” said Hogarth, almost too quickly. “I’m thinking it over. We’ve got enough suspects to fill a bloody phone book and motives coming out of our ears. We need to narrow it down. I’ll call Marris. Maybe forensics have managed to dredge up something after all.”

  Palmer’s brow furrowed. What was up with him now? Palmer was considering Hogarth’s off behaviour when she noticed something else through the glass of the CID room door. Out in the open office she saw PC Dawson was engaged in an intense discussion with PCSO Rawlins. Palmer guessed it was a lover’s tiff. They could happen anywhere. Palmer looked away, about to delve into the notes she’d made from the recent interviews, when Dawson glanced up and met her eye. Rawlins and Dawson weren’t arguing. They were discussing something. She looked again and saw they were poring over something on Dawson’s desk. Palmer offered Dawson a quizzical frown, and the PC’s face changed.

  Dawson stood up, picked up a paper from his desk and started walking towards the CID room. Bec Rawlins didn’t look comfortable in the least. Beside Palmer, Hogarth hung up the phone.

  “Marris isn’t much help at all lately,” he said, sounding irritated. “He says the sheer volume of footprints in the blood is enough to mask the killer’s prints and movements. That and no weapon leaves forensics clutching at straws. Well, we may as well give up there. If we’re going to get anything it’ll have to come from putting our suspects under pressure…”

  “Or until something else comes up,” said Palmer.

  “Something else? Things don’t just come up, Palmer. In this trade you have to work bloody hard for everything you get. You know that by now…” As Hogarth finished speaking PC Dawson appeared at the door. “Come in,” he called. Hogarth frowned and lounged back in his chair. He glanced at the clock once more before his eyes rolled Dawson’s way.

  “The dynamic duo. What can we do for you?”

  “I think you should see this, sir,” said Dawson.

  There was a serious yet excited look on Dawson’s face. Hogarth took notice.

  “What have you got there?” he said, holding out his hand.

  “This is Bec’s doing, sir, she’s like a dog with a bone.”

  “Your man’s a real charmer, Rawlins.”

  Rawlins gave a weak smile at Hogarth’s quip.

  Dawson ignored it. “She wondered about the club, sir… so she started looking at its history. That’s how she found this.”

  Dawson handed Hogarth a printout of an internet news article. It was an old clip from The Record. The article was over a year old, a simple review of the nightclub after a recent refurb and relaunch. Hogarth scanned the article, and narrowed his eyes.

  “What exactly am I looking for here?”

  “It’s the photograph, sir,” said Dawson.

  “It could be nothing,” said Rawlins. “I could be wrong.”

  “Spit it out, come on.”

  “Look at the man standing at the edge of the photograph there, by the club doors. Just look at him.”

  Hogarth blinked at the grainy image and squinted. He looked at the figure on the edge of the image. The figure was broad shouldered, big and wide, and had an arrogant face.

  “Jake Drummond?”

  “Yes,” said Dawson.

  “But we already know Drummond frequented the dive. Club Smart was a small pond for that big fat fish.”

  “But there’s something else, sir. To his left, there’s a man beside him but you can only see his profile. Do you see?”

  Yes, Hogarth saw him. A tall man in a hat and coat. The picture wasn’t clear. The hat could have been one of those cheap straw fedoras the fashion shops sold for the summer holidays. Or it could have been something more substantial. The face beneath it was thin and had a big, long nose. Some would have called it a Roman nose. The man didn’t look like the nightclubbing type.

  “I see him.”

  “I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am.” Rawlins was hesitant.

  Hogarth nodded. “Go on.”

  “I think that’s George Cruddas. I’m almost sure of it.”

  “George Cruddas? What? Andy had a brother?”

  “No, sir. George is Andy’s father.”

  Hogarth blinked at the image as the implications seeped in.

  He remembered his sense of suspicion as he sat in front of Barbara Cruddas. So there had been more under the surface…

  “That article was dated more than six months after Andy’s father was killed in that car crash,” said Rawlins.

  “You’re saying Andy’s father is alive?”

  “When that picture was taken, he must have been. He couldn’t have died in a car crash, sir. It looks like his death was fabricated.”

  Hogarth’s eyes moved past Palmer as he turned in his chair.

  “Well, well, well,” he said. “Now why would a man fake his own death during a time of financial crisis and high pressures… an insurance salesman too. Let me guess…” said Hogarth. He turned to face Rawlins and Dawson.

  “You know this family well, Rawlins. This can’t have been a very easy discovery for you.”

  Rawlins nodded in agreement. “Sir.”

  “Well done. You kept on looking and you found something. This could yet prove a very important discovery. Convictions will almost certainly follow.”

  Rawlins winced.

  “Why the long face? You did your duty, Rawlins. You did good. But seeing as you’re so committed, I want you to go and do even better. Andy Cruddas is your friend, so I need you to have a good long think. Brainstorm this one with Dawson. I want you to think of all the places Andy could be. And his father too, for that matter. Is it possible they’re in cahoots? Andy and his old man hiding out together?”

  “No sir, not at all,” said Rawlins. “That’s what’s so troubling about this. Andy was absolutely devastated by his father’s death. He adored the man. He was in total shock when his father died. I don’t know how he’s going to cope when he finds out about this.”

  “Okay. Then get to work. See what you can come up with and update me later on,”

  “Yes, sir,” said Dawson. Hogarth and Palmer watched the uniforms leave the room.

  “Rawlins is far too good to be left as a PCSO,” said Palmer.
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  “I agree, the girl’s got potential. But that’s a matter for the future. But this is gold, Palmer. Gold. If this old bugger is alive, then he could be the man we’re after.”

  “So now you think he killed Jake Drummond?”

  “It doesn’t take much of a leap to read the man’s motives… Jake Drummond visited the wife after his death. What if Cruddas knew she’d been blackmailed?”

  Palmer nodded. That kind of motive would have been weight indeed.

  “We’ll need to speak to Barbara Cruddas again,” said Palmer.

  “Undoubtedly,” said Hogarth. “But we must save it for the right time. You only get one chance with dynamite like this. Let’s make sure we use it well.”

  Hogarth stood up, and straightened out his crumpled trousers. Palmer watched him drag a hand through his uncouth hair.

  “What?” he said, looking back at her

  “You’ve been watching the clock all morning, sir. What’s the matter?”

  Hogarth gave her a careful look and shook his head. “Nothing, Sue. I’m having a hungry day, that’s all. I can’t wait to eat something. Famished. I think I might go and grab something from the high street. I’ll bring you something back if you like…”

  Hogarth’s answer wrong-footed her. “No, thanks, I’m fine. I’ll get something from the canteen and keep digging around here. Who knows what else we’ll find…”

  Hogarth nodded. “That’s the spirit. I’ll be about an hour.”

  Palmer watched the man leave. Since when had Hogarth ever offered to buy her lunch? Maybe he was softening on her after all. But she doubted that very much. Still, he had her more than intrigued.

  Dawson and Rawlins watched Hogarth leave the station. Dawson shook his head. They had given him gold, and now he wanted diamonds as well. But Rawlins was busy. While Dawson looked away, Rawlins ran a quick web search for Club Smart’s website. She checked for updates and opening times, then she scan-read to the bottom of the page. There it was. The club was already back open after the murder. She suspected as much. And DJ GG was playing tonight. Rawlins wondered…