THE JAGGED LINE

by Carolyn Mahony

  ‘It’s possible; we’re digging deeper. But the victim, Gary Lytton, was a complete thug by the sound of it. Even if it wasn’t an accident, there won’t have been a shortage of candidates wanting to do him in.’

  His gaze flicked to the stack of files on Murray’s desk. ‘How are you doing on the rape statistics?’

  ‘Getting there. As it happens we’ve had quite a good clear-up rate over the last ten years compared to some areas. But you heard about the attack in Hatfield on Friday night? We could have done without that.’

  ‘No. I didn’t.’

  ‘Some woman thinks she might have been raped in a back garden after a night out at that new nightclub, Le-Roy’s.’

  ‘Thinks she might have been?’

  ‘Reckons she was drugged. Doesn’t remember anything until coming round in the early hours of the morning in the back garden of an unoccupied house. But she says the arrangement of her clothing and the fact she was sore suggested she’d been sexually interfered with and she wouldn’t have done that consentingly.’

  ‘Do you think it’s the same man who attacked her as carried out the other attacks this year?’

  ‘It’s beginning to look like it could be from her description of what little she remembers of him – taller than average, floppy blond hair. Forensics are doing their stuff and we should get the report back anytime now. If she was raped, we’ll need to step up the investigation – split the team between the Copeland case and this. That would make five attacks in the last fourteen months, all with similar MOs, all within a few miles’ vicinity. Two of them were under the Met in Barnet and the other three – including this one – come under us. At least it gives me an excuse to get off my backside and do a bit of proper police work. It looks like we could have a serial rapist here.’

  ‘Do you want a hand looking into it?’

  ‘Not at the moment. I’m heading off in a minute to see the victim myself. I’ll keep you posted.’

  ‘Well, let me know if Beth or I can help.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I will. Have you got enough manpower for your needs?’

  ‘JAM is how I’ll answer that one.

  Murray’s returning stare was blank, and Harry grinned. ‘It’s the in word, haven’t you heard? Just About Managing. Which sums up how we operate on a day-to-day basis very nicely. Don’t worry, I’ll shout if things become unmanageable.’

  ‘How’s your grandmother?’

  Harry shook his head. ‘Not good. The doctors aren’t hopeful.’

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that. I know you’re close. She’s told me more than once how lucky she is to have you in her life and how she hopes I can see what a good boy you are.’

  Harry knew his returning smile was bleak. He doubted she’d be saying that now.

  He thought of the zillions of things she’d done for him lovingly and unquestioningly throughout his life; the number of times she’d been there for him when he’d otherwise been alone.

  Yet he couldn’t do this one thing for her…

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Kirsty was too unsettled to concentrate on her work that afternoon. She found herself going over and over her conversation with Simon. Something wasn’t right, but she didn’t know what, or who was involved. Could she even trust her brother?

  As if tuning into her thoughts he popped his head around her office door. ‘Sharon says you had lunch with Simon? That’s a turn-up for the books. It would be nice to see the two of you getting on better again.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s going to happen.’ She looked up at him wearily. ‘I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, Rob, but with each day that goes by, it’s becoming more obvious that there’s some sort of cover-up going on, and it frightens me. And you’re lying to me without batting an eyelid, which worries me even more.’

  ‘What the hell are you talking about now?’

  ‘You told me you didn’t know what Dad and I had argued about but according to Simon, Dad told them and you at the time that it was because I’d found out about the deal on Grandma’s land. Why lie about it?’

  Her brother walked into her office and closed the door behind him. His expression had turned to that anxious, almost fearful one that made her feel sick in the pit of her stomach.

  ‘Because I know what you’re like, and I didn’t want more preaching from you. Believe it or not, I felt uncomfortable about doing it and when Dad told me you’d found out and taken the moral high ground, I respected you for that, but he told me not to tell you I knew – probably because he didn’t want us both ganging up against him. I’m sorry, maybe I’m weak – but I have a family to support and they have to be my first priority.’

  And hadn’t that always been her father’s standard line of delivery whenever he’d been home late or missed a school function? And the confusing thing was she knew he’d meant it. She couldn’t just write him off as a complete shark. He’d loved his family – as well as the standard of life they had – and if it had come to a choice he would always have put his family first. She had no doubt about that … did she?

  ‘What else did Simon say?’ Rob asked.

  She shrugged. ‘He warned me off saying anything to the police. He wants me to go around to his Barnet flat this evening. Says he’s got something to show me.’

  Robbie frowned. ‘What sort of something?’

  ‘He wouldn’t say.’

  ‘Do you want me to come with you?’

  ‘No, it’s okay. I can’t think what it is he wants to show me, though. Can you?’

  ‘No.’ He saw her expression, and added. ‘Genuinely, no.’

  ‘Well – I’ll find out soon enough, I suppose. I’m meeting him there between seven and eight. I can fill you in after that if you like?’

  ‘Maybe leave it until tomorrow unless it’s anything really significant. It’s impossible to have a quiet conversation in our house at the moment. And even when the twins are in bed they’re both up half the night, teething. I really don’t need all this other stuff on top of it.’

  ‘Rob … I don’t want to cause trouble for everyone–’

  ‘Then don’t. Dad’s death was an accident, Kirsty. I really believe that.’

  ‘Well, I wish they’d catch the guy who did it, so we’d know for sure.’

  He shook his head. ‘You just have to be patient. These things take time.’

  Now, as she rang on Simon’s doorbell bang on seven o’clock, she waited nervously for him to answer it.

  ‘Hi.’ As he smiled and stood aside to let her pass, she sensed he was agitated and it added to her own sense of anxiety.

  ‘I can’t stay long,’ she said. ‘I’m meeting a friend in half an hour.’

  ‘Oh? Anyone I know?’

  She scratched frantically for a name, cursing herself for not thinking it through properly. ‘No … just someone I did some temping with.’

  Now that it was lacking Susan and Paul’s knick-knacks, the flat looked bare and devoid of character as she entered it. She gave a little shiver, remembering only too well the time she’d visited this house with Simon – when she’d woken up in his bed upstairs, having thrown all common sense and loyalty to Luke out of the window. She didn’t want to be reminded of that occasion, so she fixed her eyes firmly on a patch of torn wallpaper and waited.

  ‘It needs a bit of tarting up,’ Simon said, following her gaze. ‘Once people remove their bits and bobs, every scuff mark and scrape shows. I’ve moved in for a week or two while the decorators come and sort it out. It’ll look completely different when they’ve finished with it.’

  ‘What did you want to show me, Simon?’

  He looked suddenly uncomfortable. ‘It’s not something I want to show you at all, Kirsty. In fact, I’d much rather not. If you could just assure me that you won’t do anything to stir up trouble with either of our businesses–’

  ‘I can’t do that and you know why.’

  He hesitated and she waited for him to speak, determined to try and ke
ep the upper hand. His voice when he spoke was goaded, as if she’d driven him to saying what he had to say.

  ‘In that case you leave me no choice. Our business means a lot to Dad and me – just as yours does to you guys. We simply can’t afford for you to come blundering in and cause havoc. I’m sure if you really stopped to think about it, you’d see where I’m coming from – and contrary to what you seem to think, there’s nothing really bad gone on.’

  ‘Enough that you don’t want people to investigate you.’

  ‘Kirsty, do you know anything about tax investigations? They’re a bloody nightmare. They crawl over everything you’ve done, going back years. One little discrepancy and they’re onto it like sharks, demanding backup proof of what went on, receipts, money trails. We’ve both got small businesses – not only would it be exhausting and time-consuming, it would also be really stressful. Dad doesn’t need that at his age, I don’t need it and neither does Rob or your mum.’

  ‘Does Tony know I’m meeting you here?’

  ‘No. He and Mum are round at your mum’s tonight. They want to give her as much support as they can.’

  Was that supposed to make her feel guilty? That his parents were putting themselves out for her mother while she was threatening to destroy their livelihoods?

  ‘You were going to show me something?’

  For a moment their eyes clashed.

  ‘Looks like I have to.’

  He turned to the laptop that was sitting on the coffee table and opened it up, angling it so she could see the screen quite clearly from where she sat in her chair.

  ‘I’m sorry about this. I really am. But you leave me no choice.’

  She looked at him, alarm bells screaming. What could he possibly be about to show her that was so serious?

  ‘Just watch the screen,’ he said.

  She turned back to the screen and frowned as he pressed ‘play’ and a video started up. The scene looked familiar and it didn’t take her many seconds to realise where it was set: in Simon’s old bedroom upstairs. A few more seconds and the image focused on a man on the bed, naked and in the middle of having sex with a woman. She watched shocked for a moment, before averting her eyes from the screen in revulsion.

  ‘What is this? Turn it off. I’m not into porn.’

  ‘Watch it,’ he said. Something in his voice made the dread curl in her chest as her eyes returned to their viewing, suddenly suspecting she knew what was coming – and she was right.

  As things progressed, the man turned to look directly into the camera, clearing the view, and it took no time at all for her to realise that the man was Simon – and the woman lying beneath him – was her.

  Her eyes swung to his in mortification.

  ‘Turn it off.’

  His expression was grim. ‘In a minute – I need for you to see it all before I do, just so you know exactly what we’re talking about here.’

  ‘No, Simon.’

  ‘Watch it.’

  She didn’t want to, but suddenly she had to – as much for herself as for him. She’d been so drunk that night she’d been unable to remember anything of what had happened. Had almost convinced herself that nothing had happened – that it had all been a figment of Simon’s imagination, despite the fact she’d woken in his bed the next morning. But here it was in black and white – in colour even – and there was no getting away from the facts now.

  She watched as Simon collapsed on top of her, his head nuzzling her neck, before sliding slowly to one side and softly caressing her cheek with his fingers. And there she was – her face caught on camera for all the world to see – head tilted back, eyes closed, in contented post-coital bliss.

  ‘There is more – quite a bit more actually when we get our energy back,’ Simon said, jumping up to turn the computer off. ‘But I think you’ve probably seen enough to get the gist of it.’

  He saw her trapped eyes fix on the laptop.

  ‘And before you even think about hurling the laptop against the wall, you should know that I’ve got another copy of that video footage on my office computer – just as a safeguard.’

  She stared at him in disbelief. ‘What do you intend doing with it?’

  ‘Nothing,’ he said firmly, pushing the laptop to one side out of her reach. ‘Not unless you make me.’

  ‘Are you blackmailing me?’

  His voice was goaded as he rounded on her. ‘I didn’t want to do this, Kirsty, but you left me no option. I never had any intention of using that video footage.’

  ‘No? So, what? You go round having sex with people and filming it without their knowledge?’

  He looked uncomfortable. ‘No I don’t. But I felt I needed something like that as a safeguard after you found out about your grandmother’s land. I wasn’t sure what else you might have seen while you were with us.’

  She stared at him in horror as the implications of his words sank in. ‘Are you saying that you planned it all from the start? That you arranged for me to meet you that night, fully planning to … do that and film it?’

  ‘No, that’s not what I’m saying – I didn’t expect that to happen at all. I hoped you’d open up to me and we could talk the land thing through sensibly. But you know I’ve always liked you. When you turned to me because you were so upset, I wasn’t going to turn you down. And yes, I admit it – you were drunk and I probably shouldn’t have taken advantage of that – but I’d had a bit to drink myself. The video idea came to me while you were in the bathroom – I realised it would be an extra safeguard. I know how stubborn you can be.’

  She’d thought she couldn’t feel any more disgusted with herself than she already did, but she was wrong. Now she had the actual physical proof that she’d slept with Simon, she was distraught. She jumped up from her chair.

  ‘Well, fuck you. Do you really think you’re going to stop me doing the right thing by blackmailing me? You who think you know me so well?’

  ‘But I do, Kirsty. And I think that while you could put up with a certain amount of embarrassment yourself, you’d be mortified to have that video going viral to all your Facebook and Twitter friends. Not to mention Luke and your family. And believe me, I’d do it.’

  She paled. ‘If you did that, I’d go straight to the police and sue you for everything you’ve got.’

  He shrugged. ‘It wouldn’t matter, would it, if I was already facing ruin of my own reputation, or in jail for fraud? All I’m saying is that if I go down, I’m not doing it without a fight. But there’s a very simple way of avoiding all that unnecessary unpleasantness and you know what it is.’

  She stared at him. ‘Do Rob and your father know about this video?’

  ‘Of course not. And they don’t need to.’

  She felt sick – was visibly shaking. She needed air.

  ‘I’m going.’

  ‘Kirsty, I’m genuinely sorry that I’ve had to resort to this. I really am.’ There was a sincerity to his expression that confused her. ‘But there are other people involved who would also be sucked in if you stir things up. That’s why I can’t let it happen. Believe it or not, I’m doing this for your own good as much as mine.’

  ‘What do you mean? What other people?’

  But he already looked as if he’d said too much as he shook his head. ‘Just think about what I’ve said tonight. We’ve known each other all our lives, and whether you believe it or not, I care about you. Don’t force me to do this. But know that if I have to, I will.’

  Once Kirsty was back outside, she took deep, cleansing breaths of the cold night air before heading for the relative comfort of her car. She didn’t know what to think. Those images were spinning in her head, but he’d confused her pulling the friendship card like that. Was there more to all this than he was letting on? Was he really trying to keep her quiet for her own protection as much as his?

  But he’d created that awful video. That wasn’t the action of a friend.

  As she climbed into her Mini and started the engine, she fou
nd herself turning the car in the direction of Highgate. She needed to talk to someone, and while she despised herself for her weakness, it could only be Luke.

  Back in Simon’s flat, a man had materialised from the bedroom as soon as she’d left.

  ‘You said too much, Simon, but never mind that for now. Think she’ll cooperate?’

  Simon nodded, more fervently than he was feeling. ‘Yes. I’m sure she will.’

  ‘I’m not convinced. I think maybe she needs a bit more persuading.’

  ‘Look, I know Kirsty. She’s not an idiot. She won’t want those pictures splashed all over the internet, and at the end of the day she won’t do anything that hurts her family.’

  ‘All the same – she’s being very stubborn about all this. I’m thinking maybe we need to convince her just a little bit more that she needs to back off.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Harry looked at his watch and swore under his breath. Seven-forty-five. Where had the time gone? He’d got caught up dealing with a domestic violence incident and now he’d missed getting back for his grandmother’s appointment with the GP. He was crap. He hoped to God his parents had taken his words on-board and had tried to put stuff in place to keep Gran at home. His phone buzzed and he looked at the screen. It was a text from Claire.

  If you want to meet up tonight after your talk with your parents, you’re welcome to come over to mine later? Your mum asked me to go round a bit earlier tonight so I saw Jean at six. No change but she’s very frail. No worries if you’re busy and can’t come.

  C x

  Thanks, he texted back. Would like that.

  He hesitated over the sign-off. Kisses weren’t his thing. In the end he just left it at Harry.

  ‘Did you know that the average person checks their mobile over a hundred times a day?’

  He looked up at the sound of the voice and grinned as Beth approached his desk.

  ‘Surely not?’

  ‘Yup – an interesting little statistic I read in the paper yesterday.’