Complete Detective Stephen Greco Box Set

by Helen H. Durrant

  Neville pulled a face. “I did something bad. I had to. The voice made me.” He pointed to Jenna. “I liked her.”

  “So why did you hurt her?”

  “It wasn’t me!” Neville was shouting now. “I had to. They don’t let up. The voices said she needed sorting. I liked her but she didn’t like me back. She wanted someone else. That made me mad.”

  “What did you do to her, Neville?” Greco said.

  “I shagged her.”

  “Anything else?”

  “I didn’t cut her. It was him. I only cut a bit of her hair.”

  Greco looked at Speedy — the lock they’d found in Dakin’s room.

  “Who was with you when you cut her hair?”

  “He was.”

  “Does he have a name? What do you call him?”

  “I don’t know. He never told me!” He was shouting again.

  “You meet a man. You don’t know him, you don’t know his name, but you do whatever he asks. Is that right?”

  “The voices said I had to. He had my pills. He looked after me. What was I supposed to do?”

  “Do you mind if I speak to the officers about your illness, Neville?” Fielding interrupted. “It might help you if they understand.”

  He nodded.

  “Can we go somewhere else, Inspector?”

  They went into an empty room along the corridor while a uniformed officer stayed behind with Dakin.

  “Neville has been ill for years,” Fielding began. “But I only began treating him a few months ago. He has severe schizophrenia. He received treatment at the Meriden in Manchester, which is a specialist hospital. Schizophrenia is a psychotic illness where the patient loses touch with reality. In Neville’s case it had reached the point where he was living completely in a fantasy world. He was very poorly because his condition had gone untreated for a long time. When he came to us he was a mess. Despite that, he was never violent. He lost his temper on occasions but once we’d talked it through, he was fine. On the whole, he was always relatively easy to control.”

  “Did he ever lash out, hurt anyone?” Scarlett asked.

  “No. His temper took the form of shouting, blaming everyone for what was happening to him. He got very frustrated with his condition.”

  “We suspect that he was involved in the killing of those two girls. We have evidence that puts him at the scene of the murder of a young man. To me that does not sound like someone who isn’t violent,” Greco said.

  “There has to be some mistake. Neville has never hurt anyone before. Even without medication he is placid, but the pills he takes keep him on an even keel.”

  “The evidence against him is building. We found his fingerprints on a poker we recovered from a crime scene. That same poker was used to kill two young women.”

  “There has to be some explanation.” Fielding was evidently floundering.

  “Yes. It’s clear. He was there, and he took part. I want Dakin to talk to us. All this claptrap about voices is getting in the way. It’s his excuse to do whatever he likes.” Greco was angry now.

  “You’re wrong, Inspector. The voices are very real to Neville. He hears them.”

  “You reckon the voices have never told him to do anything violent in the past. So what’s changed? Do you have any suggestions, Doctor?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What was he like at the height of his illness?”

  “Convinced he was being watched, Inspector. He was constantly trying to hide. He believed he was being listened to, that his thoughts were being monitored. That he would be found out and punished for some imagined wrong. He was timid, and felt persecuted. He most certainly was not violent.”

  “What if after he left hospital he stopped taking his pills?” Scarlett suggested.

  She had a point, thought Greco.

  “What if whoever is controlling him now has taken them from him? Substituted something else?” Scarlett said.

  “It would depend what that something was,” Fielding said.

  “Before we go any further we will have him tested. We’ll run a tox screen. Find out the truth,” Greco said.

  * * *

  “How’s it going?” Grace asked as the three returned to the main office.

  “I’m not sure. We know a bit more about his medical history and we’re having him tested for drugs.”

  Fielding came into the room. “I’ve taken a blood sample, Inspector. Do you want your people to test it?” He placed the phial on Greco’s desk. “The tests should take no longer than twenty-four hours. Can I suggest that you allow Neville to rest until the results are in?”

  “Rest? I don’t think you’ve grasped this at all, Doctor. He is a vital piece of the puzzle — currently the only one we’ve got. He knows things. I need him to talk to me, not spend time flat on his back asleep.” Greco was finding it difficult to control his anger. “There is a woman out there in grave danger. She may be dead. Even worse, she may be in desperate need of help!” He was shouting now. The room was silent. Apart from Grace, none of the team knew what he was talking about.

  “Interrogating him again today will do no good. He’ll shut us out. I know him. I know how he is when he’s confused and frightened.”

  Greco had heard enough. He stormed out of the office. He could not sit around waiting for test results that would maybe prove Neville Dakin was high on some drug or other.

  “Stephen! Wait!” Grace shouted after him. “I’m coming with you.” She pulled on her jacket as they took the stairs.

  “I’m going to the florist in the precinct. They should have some information for me.” If they hadn’t, in the mood he was in right now, he might just arrest the flaming lot of them.

  “You need to calm down,” she said.

  “I need to find Suzy.”

  Chapter 20

  “What was all that about?” Speedy asked the others. “Who is this other woman the boss got all riled up about?”

  “There isn’t one, is there?” Scarlett looked at them and then at the incident board.

  “Greco has been a bit weird for the last day or two. He may not be telling us everything.”

  “Why wouldn’t he tell us, Speedy? What’s there to gain by keeping stuff to himself?” Craig asked.

  “I don’t know him well enough to have an opinion,” Scarlett said, sitting down at her computer. “But I bet Grace knows what’s going on. While we wait for that tox screen to come back, I’m going to look at the statements again and do some research.”

  “I’m going down to the canteen — get some coffee.” Speedy was puzzled. Greco had never lost it like that before. He strode off down the corridor, only to be collared by DCI Green.

  “I heard the shouting. Is everything alright?”

  “Yes, sir.” Speedy didn’t want to elaborate. He usually did his best to avoid the DCI. He hadn’t met him yet without getting a bollocking.

  “Is DI Greco in the office?”

  “No. He’s gone to check something.” Speedy tried to smile but failed.

  “What’s happened? Has he heard from his wife yet?”

  “I don’t think so, sir.”

  The DCI’s office phone rang. Speedy took the opportunity to dart away. Greco’s wife? What did that mean? As Speedy got to the canteen a terrible thought came into his mind. Was it possible that Suzy Greco was the third woman?

  * * *

  “Someone bought those flowers within the last couple of days. They were expensive — roses, lilies and the like. You must have some record other than a simple receipt.”

  “Jackie has checked them all,” the manageress explained. “But it can only be one customer.” She handed him a piece of paper. “It’s the lilies — we should have realised. They were the expensive pink ones. We only had half a dozen in total and he bought the lot. And he paid by debit card.”

  Bingo — it was Neville Dakin. But that didn’t make any sense. Suzy would never go for anyone like him. He was far too young. This had to b
e another instance of the killer laying a false trail.

  “Do you remember this man?”

  “Not really,” Jackie replied. “We get so many folk in.”

  “And everyone buys expensive bouquets like this one?”

  “Well, no, but we see so many faces. I’m more likely to recall the flowers rather than the person buying them.”

  “Do you think you’d recognise him from a photo?”

  The girl shrugged and looked at her manager.

  Grace nudged Greco. “You’re making her nervous, sir.”

  “Those lilies . . .” the manageress said thoughtfully. “You were chatting, remember? About the pollen allergy.”

  “Ah, that man. Yes, it was him. As I was putting the blooms together, he was going on about his mother and how she couldn’t be in the same room as lilies. We had a laugh about it.”

  “Get someone from the station to text me a photo of Dakin. Make it quick,” he said to Grace.

  Within a few minutes Jackie was staring at an image of Neville Dakin. “It definitely wasn’t him. The man I spoke to was tall, good-looking. A bit of alright, actually. Now that I come to think about it, I quite envied his girlfriend.”

  “Would you recognise him, do you think?”

  “I might.”

  “An officer will come and take a statement from you,” Greco said. He and Grace left the shop.

  “How dare he buy flowers for my wife,” Greco muttered.

  “Ex-wife, sir,” Grace said.

  “A mere formality.”

  Suddenly he stopped. Greco stood in the middle of the precinct, stock still, staring at nothing.

  “The cameras! I know what’s been bothering me. Mrs Hope said her husband had been at the house but we didn’t pick it up. He was definitely there, so we should have seen him.”

  “No. Can’t happen. We won’t have missed him. The cameras pick up everything. We get an email when they’re triggered, and anyway George monitors the images from that house constantly. She has a window open in the corner of her desktop.”

  Greco’s stomach was churning. Their killer knew about the surveillance. Who had Greco told?

  “He’s done something. He’s fixed the cameras so he can come and go without us knowing.”

  “What are you saying, sir? No one knows about the cameras except us.”

  “That’s not strictly true. Mr and Mrs Hope know. So does the estate agent — and Laycock.”

  “Laycock?”

  “He was on the street when they were being fitted. He guessed what was going on.”

  “Any one of them could have told the wrong person. We need to get down there. I’ll call Speedy and get him to meet us with the keys,” Grace said.

  They drove in silence. If Suzy was being kept there, what were her chances? Given what had happened to the others, they weren’t good.

  “Speedy won’t be long,” Grace said. “He says not to do anything until he gets there.”

  Greco hardly heard her. He couldn’t possibly wait. As they pulled into Percival Street he jumped out of the car and went straight to the house. “This door is heavy, made of oak. There’s no way I can break in through this.”

  “There’s no need to break in at all. The keys will be here any minute,” said Grace.

  Ignoring her, he checked the window. The curtains were shut tight. But the window was single glazed and large enough for him to get through. He looked around the small front garden for something he could use. He picked a large ornamental stone and hurled it at the glass.

  Glass flew everywhere. Using another stone, Greco tapped out the shards left behind.

  “If you must do this, use your jacket. Put it over the bottom edge before you climb inside,” said Grace.

  “Sir!” A voice called out behind them. “Don’t! Let me go in first.”

  It was Speedy.

  “You don’t know what you’re going to find in there,” he said. “Better I go in first.”

  “He’s right, sir.” Grace grabbed Greco’s arm. “Do you have the keys, Speedy?”

  He shook his head. “Craig gave them back to the agents. Give me a few minutes. I’ll get in there and see what’s been going on.”

  They watched anxiously as Speedy eased his long legs through the smashed window.

  Chapter 21

  She was still, hanging limp from a beam. Her eyes were shut, her body cold. Speedy put his fingers on her wrist for a second time. He still couldn’t feel a pulse. He was struggling to take in what he was looking at. Suzy Greco was trussed naked to a beam in the same manner as the other two. He didn’t want to look too closely. He was terrified of finding out what had been done to her.

  “Get an ambulance!” he shouted. “Tell them to make it quick.”

  He looked around. There was an old sofa with a knitted woollen throw over the back. He snatched it up and put it gently around Suzy Greco.

  He heard banging on the door. He’d have to let them in.

  “She’s here, sir.”

  Greco rushed past him, pushing Speedy aside.

  “I don’t even know if she’s still alive,” Speedy whispered to Grace. “I can’t feel a pulse and she’s stone cold.”

  “It’ll finish him if she’s . . . you know . . .” Grace said.

  Greco gave a strangled cry.

  “She is tied up like the others. Do we take her down, or what? If she’s dead, we should leave her and call the Duggan.” Speedy glanced towards the room. He didn’t want to go back in there.

  “Speedy, you’ll have to call it. This has to be your shout now.”

  Grace took a deep breath and went to Greco. He had taken Suzy down and was cradling her in his arms. He was muttering, his lips brushing her face.

  “I can hear the ambulance siren, sir,” Speedy said from the doorway.

  “He’s hurt her.” Greco told Grace. His voice broke.

  “She hasn’t been burned, though. He must have intended to come back,” said Grace.

  “She has burns on her back. There are several small puncture wounds there.”

  Grace winced.

  Speedy met the paramedics outside and ushered them in. The poor woman had suffered. But the injuries were not consistent with what had been done to Jessie and Jenna. They had been taken, tortured and killed in one night. This wasn’t the killer’s usual MO. So what had happened to make him change?

  “We’ll take her now,” a paramedic said to Greco.

  Speedy tapped him on the shoulder. “Let them help her, sir.”

  The medics got to work. Seconds ticked by.

  “There is a faint heartbeat,” one of them said finally.

  Greco took a deep breath and stood back. Speedy could see that he was shaking. “You go to the hospital with her. I’ll contact the Duggan.” He already had his mobile in his hand. “I’ll get forensics down here. We might be in with a chance. I don’t think he’d finished.”

  “Because she isn’t dead?” Greco spat out the words. “Because she wasn’t hanging there with her heart burned out?”

  “No . . . well . . . it’s obvious. She’s not been left like the others,” Speedy said. “So he was coming back. It means he’s not cleaned up yet.”

  Greco looked dazed, like he couldn’t understand what Speedy was saying. He went outside and climbed into the ambulance after Suzy.

  Speedy turned to face Grace. She was weeping. He grabbed hold of her arms. “I know this is bad. I know you want to help him, but you can’t. The best thing we can both do for the boss now is to find this bastard, and put him away where he belongs.”

  Grace nodded and wiped her face.

  “Good lass. It’s no good getting all emotional. We need to do this right. We can’t afford to miss anything.”

  “He did something to those cameras. We’ve seen none of this back at the station. So much for technology!” Grace said. She stood on a chair and looked at the camera in the sitting room. “The smart bastard had it pointing to a photo of this room. Look, Spee
dy. He’s changed the angle and stuck the image a couple of inches away on a bracket. We were never going to see anything else.”

  “Very crafty.”

  “Damn clever if you ask me.”

  “What about the others?”

  “The one outside failed or was deliberately tampered with. The one in the hall has been moved. It’s now too high up. It could easily be avoided if you knew it was there.”

  “And we never noticed.”

  “We wouldn’t, would we? All we can see is the top of the door and part of the hallway.”

  Grace snapped on a pair of nitrile gloves and gently removed the photo. She touched only the corner to preserve any prints or evidence on it.

  “You knew, didn’t you? About his wife?” Speedy said.

  “Ex-wife. And yes, he told me.”

  “How long has she been missing?”

  “The morning after you dealt with that body in the park. She was having an affair. He saw her with the bloke that afternoon. They were kissing by the boating pool.”

  “That’s why he went all weird on me.”

  “He got some CCTV from the college. It showed her getting into the Focus. That was when he knew.”

  “We’ve still got Dakin in custody,” Speedy said. Could that be the reason the killer hadn’t come back?

  “Dakin didn’t do this. Suzy Greco would never go for a man like that. He’s too young and too stupid. Dakin was being manipulated. We just need to find out who was pulling the strings.”

  * * *

  “Speedy!” Craig greeted him as he and Grace walked into the main office. “Doctor Atkins from the Duggan has been on. She wanted Greco but you’ll have to do.”

  “I’ll ring her back. Anything exciting?”

  “She didn’t say. Where is Greco anyway?”

  “He’s gone to the hospital with Suzy, his ex. We found her at that house on Percival Street.”

  “What was she doing there? Is she okay?” Scarlett asked.

  “No, I don’t think she is,” Grace replied, biting her lip. “She’d been taken by this monster we’re looking for. It was really awful. She was trussed to a beam like the others and he’d started to hurt her. Speedy said she was cold. I thought she’d gone, but the medics found a pulse and whisked her off.”