STALKER ON THE FENS a gripping crime thriller full of twists

by Joy Ellis

  She hurried through everything that had to be said, offering him a solicitor, and informing him of his rights. ‘You understand that you are not being cautioned, Andrew? You are here to assist us and are free to leave at any time, should you wish to do so.’

  He nodded. ‘Yes, I understand.’

  ‘Andrew. The first thing I want to tell you is that we will catch whoever did this.’

  ‘When can I see Helen?’

  ‘Just as soon as the pathologist allows. I will make sure you know immediately, don’t worry about that.’

  ‘I want to see her, Nikki. I need to see her.’

  ‘I know, but certain procedures have to be followed. I promise we won’t drag it out longer than we need to.

  ‘They think I did it.’ His voice was low, and without emotion.

  ‘Who thinks you did it?’

  ‘The papers, the people outside. You lot.’

  Nikki stared hard at him. She was suddenly bitingly angry at the partner who had left his lover and best friend alone with a houseful of nightmares. Her compassion left her. His “poor me” act no longer cut any ice. ‘Then tell me what the hell you were up to when Helen was getting herself killed! Where were you, Andrew? And don’t tell me you were in Switzerland, because we know different.’

  His eyes flew open, lights coming on in a darkened house. ‘I . . . I told you when I phoned. I was in London.’

  ‘Why?’

  Andrew took a deep breath and said, ‘I got to Heathrow. Just before I boarded, my clients rang me and told me to hold off the trip. They thought the work I’d done from my terminal here might have sorted the problem after all.’

  ‘So why didn’t you come home?’

  He screwed up his face. ‘Because they’ve done this to me before, Nikki — or am I supposed to call you Inspector Galena? Whatever, they’ve told me to back down, then suddenly it’s all urgent that I get out there again. I didn’t want to go back home, then put Helen through the whole damned trauma of me leaving all over again.’

  ‘So why not ring her and explain?

  ‘How could I? You know the dreadful state she was in. I thought it best that she believe I was abroad as planned, then if I got home early, all well and good.’

  ‘So where did you stay?’

  He shrugged. ‘Some tinpot place in Victoria . . . the Brunswick, on Seymour Terrace, I think.’

  ‘Your company didn’t know this, did they? Why was that?’ Joseph asked.

  He hung his head. ‘I get expenses while I’m away, and hell, I could just as easily have been told to catch the next available flight anyway. Why tell them and lose the cash?’

  Joseph looked sceptical. ‘So you hung around in some rundown hotel and waited for a call from Switzerland? Can your clients verify all this?’

  There was a long pause, and Nikki felt uneasy. Then he leaned forward, and said, ‘Yes, they can. But it’s a big company, you will need to speak to the right person. I’ll give you their name and mobile number, so you can get them direct.’

  Nikki didn’t see Joseph glance at her, she didn’t need to. There was something very dubious about Andrew’s business dealings. She let it go for the time being. They could return to it later. ‘Okay, but I want the office number as well. Now, why, when the call didn’t come, did you not just get home to Helen? You said yourself what a dreadful state she was in.’

  Andrew seemed to wilt. He put his head in his hands.

  ‘That was the reason why I stayed away! I hate myself for saying this, but I couldn’t cope with her. I couldn’t face what I thought were her fantasies. How could I have known that she was right? That someone wanted her dead?’ His shoulders shook. He was crying now. ‘I loved her, Nikki, with all my heart. I just hated to see her like that. She was such a strong person, so in command of her life. It was horrible seeing her so out of character, so paranoid.’

  Nikki reached across the table and touched his hand. ‘I’m so sorry, Andrew. She was a beautiful and brave woman, and you are not the only one who let her down. But as we can’t bring her back, the best thing we can do is find whoever did this. We need you to tell us the truth about absolutely everything, and help us, all right?’ She stared hard at him. ‘For the benefit of the tape, Mr Gregory is nodding his assent. Is that correct, Andrew?’

  ‘Yes. I will help you all I can.’

  * * *

  Outside, Nikki looked from Joseph to Cat. ‘Your thoughts?’

  Cat tilted her head to one side. ‘Something decidedly dodgy about his alibi, ma’am. Lying through his teeth, I’d say.’

  ‘Agreed,’ said Joseph.

  Cat shrugged. ‘But I’d say his distress is kosher. He’s been hit by a thunderbolt. No one could look that distraught to order.’

  Joseph puffed out his cheeks. ‘Well, I’ve seen some award-winning stuff in my time, but again, I agree. That looked genuine.’

  Nikki frowned. ‘I’m with you both on that. I don’t want to detain him any longer than necessary, but I would just like to check out that hotel in Victoria. Then we’re going to have to smuggle him out the back door and spirit him home without the media getting wind of it.’

  Cat grinned. ‘Leave that to me, ma’am. I’ll magic him away for you.’

  ‘Good. As soon as his alibi is checked out, go talk to the sergeant about letting him go. And Cat, make sure Andrew knows that we have to be able to contact him at all times. No disappearing off to Switzerland, or even Skegness for that matter.’

  ‘Wilco, ma’am.’ Cat turned and hurried off down the corridor.

  ‘Next stop the Waterway?’ Joseph asked.

  ‘Mmm, but first, if you’d get Dave and Eric working on confirming everything Andrew told us. I’m praying they come up with that hotel in Victoria, and that his Swiss mates confirm what he told us. We need to know that his dodgy dealings weren’t connected to Helen’s death in some way.’

  ‘On my way. I’ll meet you in the car park. And I’ll drive.’

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  ‘Which one?’ Nikki looked across the ever-growing sea of sombre faces.

  ‘There, ma’am. To the right of that big tree over on the river walk. Navy padded jacket. He’s been there since dawn.’ WPC Bryson looked across the road.

  ‘And his flowers?’

  The police officer picked up a small spray of three white lilies tied together with some green garden string. She passed it to Nikki. Their overpowering perfume struck her immediately. It always reminded her of funerals, and she’d seen more than her fair share of those in the past few years. She pushed the painful memories back, turned over the plain white card and read, ‘Death is not the extinguishing of the light, but the blowing out of the candle, because dawn has come.’

  She frowned and looked across at the tall, well-built man, standing with his head bowed. He looked about thirty, possibly older. His clothes were well cared for and his dark hair was unfashionably long and wavy. ‘Carefully chosen words, don’t you think, Constable?’

  ‘Beautiful, actually, ma’am. I wonder where they are from?’

  ‘I’ve not heard them before. Maybe he wrote them himself.’

  ‘No, he didn’t. They are by Rabindranath Tagore.’ Joseph’s voice was soft. ‘And you are right, Constable, they are very beautiful.’

  ‘You never cease to amaze me, Joseph Easter. Where did you dredge that little nugget up from?’

  ‘Actually I always thought it would be nice to have that as the inspirational thought to go on the Order of Service for my funeral.’

  Nikki shook her head. ‘You’re a cheerful sod, aren’t you? She turned back to the WPC. ‘Have you spoken to him?’

  ‘No, ma’am. I can’t leave my post here.’ She looked around her and shivered. ‘It’s spooky. Sometimes you can hear a pin drop, as if there’s no one here. Then you look up and see all those eyes staring at the house.’

  Nikki looked at the silent people massed in front of the house. ‘Thank you, Constable. I’ll go and have a quiet w
ord. Anyone else catch your eye?’

  ‘Not me, but my colleague asked me to mention someone he noticed on his shift.’ She pulled a small piece of paper from her pocket. ‘This man caused a bit of a fracas yesterday evening. Really distraught, apparently. Started screaming and yelling at us to get off our backsides and catch the killer. One of the other officers got his name and address and escorted him away. Later, PC Cooper told me he thought the man was putting on an act.’

  Nikki stared at the name on the piece of paper. ‘Titus Whipp? You are joking?’

  ‘I’m afraid not, ma’am. And the address is correct. PC Cooper checked before he asked me to mention it.’

  ‘Okay. Probably just an attention seeker, or someone with a particular dislike of the Old Bill. Still, it’s worth a call.’

  Nikki tucked the paper into her bag and began to make her way through the crowd, towards the man across the road.

  ‘Hello, sir. I’m DI Galena and this is DC Joseph Easter. You look as if you knew the woman who died here.’

  His eyes were dark and bovine, and the face almost pretty. He didn’t answer at once. The dark eyes shone, and he said, ‘Helen Brook was the nearest thing to an angel that I have ever had the privilege to meet.’

  ‘Were you a client of Miss Brook?’

  ‘Yes, Inspector Galena, for many years. I’m not sure how we, that is, her patients and friends will ever get over this.’

  ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Oliver Kirton.’

  Bells rang in Nikki’s head. ‘Any relation to Superintendent Arthur Kirton?’

  ‘He’s my uncle, Inspector. But he was never stationed at Greenborough. How do you know him?’

  ‘I worked out of Peterborough for a while.’ Nikki had good cause to remember Arthur Kirton, or at least his bigoted attitude to women police officers, and his arrogant, condescending manner towards the lower ranks.

  ‘It’s all right, Inspector. Please don’t try to find something pleasant to say about him, because I’m sure I couldn’t. The man’s a prick.’

  Nikki raised an eyebrow. ‘My officers tell me you have spent a lot of time here, Mr Kirton. Do you think that is wise?’

  ‘Where else can I be close to her?’

  The eyes were enormous, bigger than they ought to be. Nikki wondered what this man’s problem was. ‘Can I ask you something, Oliver?’

  ‘Certainly, you can ask.’

  ‘Why do you think Helen Brook affected people so deeply?’

  Kirton appeared to think about this, then he raised his eyes to the grey cloudy sky. ‘Because she knew how to listen. When she spoke to you, she spoke only to you. Sometimes the simplest word or gesture from Helen would leave me with a sense that I’d been privy to something profoundly spiritual. Added to the unfairness of surviving one life-threatening disaster, only to have that precious life stolen from her so cruelly.’

  Nikki nodded, wondering if they were talking about the same woman. The Helen she had known certainly had a wonderful, warm, spiritual quality, and always had time for everyone. On the other hand, she had also tipped a plate of chilli con carne over Andrew’s head during one of their many battles. Her fights with Andrew were sometimes nothing short of spectacular. Oliver Kirton, however, seemed to want to raise her to sainthood.

  Nikki looked across to Newlands, needing to tear herself away from the intensity of his gaze. He might be eerily good-looking, but this was one creepy guy. After a polite goodbye, she thought they should perhaps check up on just how creepy he really was.

  * * *

  Joseph and Nikki drove directly to the Willows Clinic, hoping to get there before Sam Welland left for the evening. Helen had been a practitioner there for several years, and although she had often spoken about her colleagues, Nikki did not recall any of them individually.

  Sam Welland looked every bit as shell-shocked as the rest of Greenborough. After the usual platitudes, he said, ‘Yes, Helen did ask for help. I’m not sure what I expected, but she was a very good subject for hypnosis, so it could have been a very informative session.’

  ‘What do you mean by a good subject? How would you know?’ asked Nikki.

  ‘I’ve hypnotised her before, Inspector. Not long after the accident. For pain relief and to help her sleep.’

  Nikki frowned. ‘She never said.’

  It was the therapist’s turn to frown. ‘Did you know her? I mean personally?’

  ‘Yes, Mr Welland, DS Easter and I were her friends.’

  He sighed. ‘I’m sorry. It seems there are a lot of people who are grieving her passing. She certainly touched a lot of lives.’

  ‘More than I realised, sir. Have you been near her home recently?’

  He shook his head. ‘No, but I saw it on the news. It’s such a shock. You never think anything like this will happen to someone you know, and I believe a lot of people actually felt they knew her, after that article in the paper a while back.’

  ‘It seems everyone loves a good tragedy these days,’ Joseph said.

  His smile was very attractive. ‘Oh, they always have, the guillotine being a prime example. The crowds around that were phenomenal.’

  Nikki nodded. ‘I suppose so. But about Helen. Can you talk about her freely?’

  ‘Under these circumstances, of course. Normally what a client says is private. We are not required to take any oaths, but our code of practice is very clear on such matters. And I wouldn’t wish to impede your investigation in any way. I want Helen’s killer found as much as anyone. Please, ask away.’

  ‘You obviously knew all about the accident, and the fact that she believed that someone was following her with the intent to harm her?’

  ‘Yes. The purpose of our session was to see if the man really existed. She wanted to eliminate the possibility that this mystery person was a figment of her imagination. We considered that her terror could have been so great — being alone in such a traumatic situation — that she invented a friend, someone to comfort her.’

  ‘And confess that he was a murderer?’

  He grimaced. ‘Ah well, that’s the problem. Her mind might have allowed this figure’s personality to get out of hand. She might have hallucinated, imagined things. And of course, he could have been real. In which case, we needed to know if she would be able to identify him again.’

  ‘Knowing Helen as well as you did, did you form any impressions prior to your proposed session?’

  Sam Welland took a deep breath. After a while he said softly, ‘Yes, and I’m guilty of thinking she might have been suffering from some kind of post-traumatic episode. Until I heard about her death, I believed we were going to find no more than a belated glitch in her recovery from a serious head injury.’

  Nikki exhaled softly. Yet another friend feeling the heavy weight of conscience on his shoulders. Welcome to the club.

  ‘And today, just before you arrived, I remembered something else.’ By now, he was looking thoroughly miserable.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Helen asked us all whether we had seen anyone hanging around, someone who seemed to be watching her. We all said no.’

  ‘And?’

  Welland stared at his desk. ‘I think I might have been mistaken. A couple of days before she died, I saw a man sitting on the wall outside the clinic. People often sit there, waiting for someone to come out. It wasn’t unusual or suspicious, but I’ve just remembered that I’d seen him once before.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Helen and I had lunch together last Tuesday. We went to that coffee shop near the bridge, the one with the potted trees and tables outside?’

  ‘Café Printemps?’ said Joseph.

  ‘That’s the one. We would often sneak down there for a latte and a Danish, just for a break from our clients. Well, the same man was on the other side of the road, leaning on the railings by the river. We sat at a window table and he was out there for ages. I just know that after I’d paid, he’d gone.’

  ‘You are sure it was the same man
? Could you describe him?’

  ‘It was the same chap, Inspector, wearing exactly the same clothes. He seemed . . . He seemed to be not much more than a vagrant. Badly dressed, shabby worn jeans, a thick, faded sweater, I forget what colour, and a really grubby jacket.’

  ‘What sort of jacket?’

  ‘A parka, I think, and it was a sort of dirty khaki.’

  ‘Age?’

  ‘I never saw his face. The jacket had a hood, and it was bitterly cold. The way he moved made me think around thirty-ish. He definitely was not a kid, but he wasn’t some old wino, either.’

  ‘And what makes you now think he was watching Helen?’

  ‘Because it’s just dawned on me that the second time I saw him, he had been sat outside the Willows for about half an hour, and he’d gone at just after midday. Helen only had one client that morning, a regular, and she always left at twelve.’

  ‘So you think he followed her?’

  ‘Possibly. No, probably.’

  ‘Does the clinic have CCTV?’

  ‘Yes, on the entrance and the fire door. I’m not sure if it goes as far as where he was sitting. Shall I check?’

  ‘Please, and I’ll take all the footage for the last month as well. Would you recognise him again, Mr Welland?’

  ‘I’d recognise the outfit, but not the man.’

  ‘Pity. Because he could be the man that killed her, so I doubt he’ll keep that particular wardrobe for ever, do you?’

  Welland sighed. ‘Well, if it were me, I certainly wouldn’t. I’m sorry not to be more help, Inspector. I’ll get you that footage.’

  ‘One last thing, Mr Welland. Do you have a crystal therapist here?’

  ‘No, although we do have a selection of small crystals and stones on the counter in reception. We let our clients help themselves to them if one takes their eye. Helen did an experiment once, to prove that the body knows what the body needs. Crystals all have strong vibrations, and they work on certain ailments or particular parts of the body. She was certain that people were attracted to the right stone for whatever ailment bothered them. She was right eighty percent of the time, which I thought was pretty amazing.’