Strategy

by Anita Waller

  The knock, when it came, was loud – a police knock. Jenny looked up, startled, and Jon turned his back on her and moved towards his door.

  Jenny climbed on to the chair, put one foot on the rail along the top of the glass wall, and launched herself into the air.

  39

  Gainsborough walked into the interview room. Sebastian and James were side by side, and Sebastian had shrunk.

  The DI spoke into the recorder and announced who was in the room, the date and time. Shuffling some papers, he fixed his gaze on the man in front of him.

  Sebastian stared back at the DI for a moment.

  ‘Is it true? Did she murder those three people?’

  ‘She did, indeed. Are you trying to say you didn’t know?’

  ‘Of course I didn’t bloody know. Did anyone know? Was it ever made public?’

  James reached across and touched Sebastian’s arm. He turned to look at him, and James shook his head.

  ‘Right, Mr. West. We need to hear your side of the story, and just how much you actually did know. Perhaps we can go back to how and when you met Jennifer Carbrook.’

  ‘I met her back in March of this year in a teashop.’

  ‘You didn’t know her before then?’

  ‘No. And it was the first time I was in that particular place. I had taken an employee there to discuss her sales figures, and she knocked a tray, spilling coffee down Jenny’s leg. I ended up losing the employee and gaining Jenny. Have you arrested her?’

  ‘That leads me into my next question, Sebastian. She wasn’t at your home. Do you know where she could be?’

  Sebastian couldn’t hide the surprise. ‘Wasn’t there? But, I told her I would be home by three. Where would she go? She didn’t have a vehicle. Did you check in the house?’

  ‘Yes. We had to break down your front door, but we’ll make sure it’s secured for you.’

  ‘I don’t care about my bloody front door,’ Sebastian snarled. ‘Where’s Jenny?’

  ‘As soon as we find her – and we will – we’ll make sure you’re informed. And, of course, we’ll secure your front door. It will be as secure as your cell door,’ he added drily.

  There was a soft knock on the door, and it opened. A female PC entered and handed Gainsborough a note. He read it twice, and then spoke into the recorder.

  ‘Interview terminated. DI Gainsborough and DC Potter leaving the room.’ He switched off the machine.

  ‘We’ll continue this later. You’ll be kept here overnight.’

  He walked out of the room, leaving Sebastian looking stunned. He turned to James. ‘What happened there? And just how long can they hold me?’

  James gathered up his papers and stared at his long-time friend. ‘Strikes me you’ve been a bloody idiot, Seb, but I’m hopeful of bail when we get in front of a magistrate. You won’t be going home tonight, and possibly not tomorrow night. I’ll try and find out what’s happening now. I suspect it was something to do with Jenny, but who knows.’ He walked across to the door and knocked. It opened, and he departed without a backward glance. Five minutes later, Sebastian found himself, for the first time ever, being escorted to a cell.

  Gainsborough headed for his office and picked up his phone. He rang the mobile number on the piece of paper.

  ‘Tom?’

  DI Clarkson responded with a ‘Graham?’

  Tom Clarkson and Graham Gainsborough had worked together in the past, shared training courses, knew each other well enough to exchange Christmas cards.

  Clarkson had settled in Sheffield, and had been the first to respond when they had taken the phone call from Jonathan Price. Jennifer Carbrook was a name well known in every police force, and within seconds of taking the call, they had mobilised.

  He was now standing by her body, blood already starting to congeal. She had landed head down, obviously taking no chances in surviving the fall.

  ‘She’s dead, Graham.’

  ‘Shit. She’s done it herself?’

  ‘I would say so. She visited a Jonathan and Melissa Price. Jumped off their balcony. They seem to think, with hindsight, it was what she planned to do. She orchestrated being out on the balcony, and as we knocked on the door, she climbed on a chair, put one foot on the railing going around the balcony and launched herself off. Mrs. Price is in a bit of a state.’

  ‘Okay, I’m on my way. I’ll ring when I’m five minutes out, and you can tell me the state of play then. I’m assuming you’ll want to move her as soon as you can.’ Gainsborough sounded tired.

  ‘Nobody’s touched her yet. We’re waiting for SOCOs. The pathologist will be here in the next couple of minutes. I’m going back up to the apartment now, check they’re okay, and get a statement. If she’s still shaking, I’m going to call a doctor in. She’s quite badly disabled, and I didn’t like how she’d almost collapsed. Mr. Price is blaming himself, because he rang us …’

  ‘Okay, I’m leaving now. Can you stop her identity from being released? Her family have buried her daughter today, and I don’t want them hearing it on the news, before I tell them.’

  ‘It’s contained at the moment. Might be an idea to send someone to tell them, though. They’re going to need a FLO, I suspect.’

  ‘They had one when Ray Carbrook was murdered. I’ll get Helen to go see them. See you in about an hour, Tom.’

  Helen Danvers looked shocked when Gainsborough gave her the news. They left the room together; his journey to Sheffield would be much longer than her journey to Lindum Lodge.

  When Helen arrived at Lindum Lodge, there were still plenty of cars in the vicinity of the house. She knocked on the front door, and it was opened by a red-eyed Erin.

  ‘Is Mr. Carbrook in, please? Mark Carbrook?’

  ‘You’ve got her, then?’ Erin asked.

  ‘If I can see Mark …?’

  ‘Yes, sure, come in. I’ll get him for you. You want to wait in his office? There’s nobody else in there.’

  ‘That might be for the best.’

  Erin led her into the office, and went to find Mark.

  Mark walked through the door, then held out his hand. ‘Helen, not seen you for a while.’

  She shook his hand, and pointed to a chair. ‘You might want to sit down, Mark.’

  ‘You’ve found her, then? Is she under arrest?’ He sat down slowly.

  ‘She’s not under arrest. I’m sorry to have to bring you this news, especially today, but she’s dead.’

  She saw Mark’s face blanch. ‘Dead?’

  She nodded. ‘I don’t have all the details for you yet, but DI Gainsborough will be with you later. He’s just gone to Sheffield …’

  ‘Sheffield?’ Mark was aware he was sounding stupid, giving one word questions to everything she said, but he was feeling stupid. The shock of the news was written all over his face.

  ‘Yes. This is as much as I know. They went out to Sebastian West’s place to arrest her, but when they got there, she had disappeared. It now seems she went to Sheffield. We don’t know how, because according to West, she didn’t have a car. However, they’re easy enough to hire. She went to Mr. and Mrs. Price’s apartment, and while she was going up in the lift, Mr. Price rang the police. She talked them into letting her go on the balcony, and as soon as the knock came at the door, she jumped.’

  ‘And she’s definitely dead?’

  ‘She was five floors up.’

  He stood. ‘I’m not sure what to say, or do. On the day we’ve buried his sister, I’ve now got to tell my son his mother is dead. Just how much more do we have to put up with because of this bitch?’

  ‘Would you like me to stay with you, while you tell the rest of the family?’

  ‘Would you?’

  ‘Of course. How do you want to do it? Do you want to tell Adam first?’

  ‘No, he’s taken a proper shine to Caro and Luc, so I’ll get them to support him. I don’t want to have to keep repeating it, so we’ll have everyone but Dad in the lounge. Dad’s not too good. I’ll w
ait until he wakes up before I tell him.’

  ‘Okay. Are there still mourners through there?’

  He shook his head. ‘No. The only person who isn’t a family member is Lily Montague, Grace’s headmistress. It’s fine for her to stay. She’s been very supportive through these past few weeks. I’d like her here.’

  They moved towards the door, and Mark turned. ‘Thank you, Helen. I can’t help feeling this is for the best.’

  ‘Probably,’ she said quietly.

  They moved together into the kitchen, and Mark asked them to gather in the lounge. One by one, they trooped out, and Mark pulled Caro back.

  ‘Put Adam between you and Luc,’ he whispered, and she nodded.

  Once seated, they all turned their eyes towards Mark.

  ‘I have some news,’ he said.

  ‘They’ve got her?’ Erin asked.

  He shook his head. ‘No. She wasn’t at Seb’s when they got there. She was apparently on her way to Sheffield. Adam, I’m sorry, but Mummy has died. Tommy, Sally, I’m so sorry.’

  There was a stunned silence in the room.

  ‘Mummy?’ Finally, Adam spoke, and Caro hugged him to her.

  ‘Yes. It wasn’t like Nan, in a car accident. She went to Lissy and Jon’s apartment. Remember Lissy?’

  Adam nodded. ‘Yes, she’s really nice.’

  ‘She is. And your mum went there. Jon rang the police, because they knew everybody was looking for her. When the police arrived, your mum jumped off the balcony.’

  A strange sound came from Adam’s throat, not quite a scream, and Luc and Caro surrounded him.

  Mark knelt down to his son. ‘Come on, big lad, your mum chose to do this. It seems she set it all up, and she probably did it to save us any more heartache. She loved you.’

  ‘Not as much as Grace,’ he muttered, and Mark couldn’t speak.

  Nobody else had spoken; he looked at them, and Helen said if they had any more questions, she would try to answer them, but she felt Adam had heard enough.

  Tommy had his arms around Sally, neither of them making a sound. Sally couldn’t cry, not yet. She had no more tears in her.

  Tim stood. ‘Helen, can you come into the kitchen, please?’

  She followed him out.

  ‘I need to know what you know. If I’m to support my brother, I don’t want half the information.’

  She nodded. ‘Then, let me fill you in.’

  Michael stared at Mark in horror. ‘Dead? So, she’ll never pay for everything she’s done?’

  Mark shook his head. ‘No, she won’t, but let’s face it. We don’t have to lie about these damn letters, either. I can’t grieve for her, Dad, but I loved her once. I’m relieved she’s gone. Now Adam is truly my son, because the people who know about his parentage would never say anything.’

  ‘When is Gainsborough coming?’

  ‘Tomorrow. He rang to see how we all are, and I talked him out of coming tonight. Said we’d all had enough. He confirmed it was definitely Jenny, and she’d left him a letter admitting to the murders, and Sebastian hadn’t known about that. I couldn’t care less what that bastard knew and didn’t know. I just hope they lock him up. And that’s as much for Erin’s sake as ours. He hurt her, led her on.’

  ‘So, it’s over?’

  ‘Pretty much. Just Sebastian’s trial, if he pleads not guilty, and then, we can write Jenny Carbrook off and get on with our lives.’

  Epilogue

  Gainsborough pulled the file towards him, signed it off, and put it in his filing basket. Case over. Case closed. So why did he think, feel, he had missed something? What had the Carbrook family not told him?

  He shrugged and smiled. Perhaps it was for the best he didn’t know.

  Michael was sitting in his wheelchair, staring into the flames. The fire pit in the garden was ablaze with light, a welcome sight on a chilly September Saturday night. He turned his head at Mark’s approach, and smiled as he saw Lily a few steps behind him. She was carrying the bottle of whisky, he was carrying four glasses.

  ‘Four glasses?’

  ‘Erin’s car just pulled up. I imagine she’ll be joining us in a minute.’

  They heard the patio door open and close, and seconds later, Erin was bending over to kiss her dad.

  ‘What’s going on?’ she asked.

  ‘We had some rubbish to get rid of, so decided to have the last fire of the summer. You just dropping by, or are you staying?’

  She glanced at the bottle of whisky. ‘I could be persuaded to stay.’

  ‘Good.’ He picked up the bottle, and poured out four measures of the Glen Garioch, a twelve-year-old single malt he knew Michael particularly enjoyed.

  He handed them around, and Michael’s eyes lit up.

  ‘Just the one, Michael,’ Mark warned. When Joy had left to continue nursing patients with more serious problems than Michael now had, she had left strict instructions while he was on high strength pain-killers, alcohol had to be limited.

  ‘Then, put a bit more in, and make it a big one,’ he said, and handed the glass back to Mark.

  Lily grinned and picked up the bottle. ‘You’re incorrigible,’ she said, and poured an extra measure into his glass.

  Erin looked around. ‘Adam not joining us?’

  ‘He’s with Tommy and Sally. She’s feeling much better now, after the operation, and I think they’ve missed him. Tommy’s bringing him back tomorrow night.’

  ‘And how is she?’

  ‘Physically, she’s recovered very well. Mentally, not so good. The word cancer can have a devastating effect on anybody, but that, combined with losing Grace and Jenny, knocked her for six. I ring her nearly every day, and after her next appointment is out of the way, they’re coming to stay for a couple of weeks.’ Mark smiled. ‘It will be good to see them under more normal circumstances.’

  They moved closer to the fire, and sat on the garden chairs.

  Erin spoke first. ‘This is good. It seems ages since we’ve done anything which wasn’t connected with something on the side-lines.’

  Michael nodded. ‘Oh, you’re so right. And I think everybody is feeling the same. Caro and Luc, Tim and Steve – both planning weddings at the beginning of next year, Lily and Mark getting to know each other very well …’

  He grinned at them, and Lily held up her glass in acknowledgement.

  ‘And …’ Erin said, her eyes sparkling in the firelight.

  Michael turned to her. ‘And what?’

  ‘’I had a date last night.’

  ‘Okay, father approval required here. Who with?’ Michael felt scared. He had seen her at her most vulnerable after the fiasco with Sebastian West.

  ‘It’s okay, Dad,’ she laughed. ‘Remember Stewart from next door to me?’

  ‘The chap who helped you break in when you’d locked yourself out, and did the repairs?’

  ‘That’s the one. He took me to a swish restaurant, kissed me very chastely on the cheek when he took me home. He’s divorced, so no issues there …’

  Michael hesitated. ‘Well, he sounds okay, respectful towards you, early days, though.’

  ‘I know,’ she responded. ‘My kiss wasn’t quite so chaste, though.’

  Michael held up his hand. ‘Too much information, hussy, too much information. The fire’s going down, Mark, we need a bit more fuel on it.’

  Mark walked towards the garden shed, and went inside. He came out with an envelope. ‘So, this is what tonight is all about. Once these are burnt, our lives become normal. Agreed?’

  ‘They’re the letters from Jenny?’ Erin asked. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you intended doing this?’

  He smiled. ‘It’s as much a surprise to the others, Erin. These letters belong to me, as Jenny’s next of kin, and I had to decide what to do with them. There was no way Gainsborough was ever going to have sight of them; with Jenny’s death, the case was closed. And these letters don’t help or hinder Sebastian West in any way. I simply had to decide what to do with t
hem. The only criteria I had for getting rid of them was Adam wasn’t here, and when Tommy and Sally rang yesterday to see if he could go, I decided the time had come to wipe her off the face of the earth for good.’

  ‘And that’s why you wanted the copies,’ Michael murmured. ‘Are they all in there?’

  ‘They are. Six pieces of paper, seven envelopes, and she’ll be gone.’

  He took out the first letter and dropped it into the flames. Within thirty seconds, it was gone, small black pieces of ash spiralling into the atmosphere. He repeated with all five of the other papers, and there was absolute silence from everyone. Three envelopes and photostatted copies of them quickly followed. Finally, he threw on the brown envelope. This took longer to burn, and he pushed it around with a stick to make it sure all of it disappeared.

  ‘That’s it, then,’ he said. ‘Rest in hell, Jenny, rest in hell.’

  He raised his glass, and three more lifted in agreement.

  THE END

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  Acknowledgments

  I have five Facebook friends to thank initially – they either won competitions or pushed me when I was struggling! All five gave me permission to use their names in the book, and for that, I thank them.