The Liar's House: An absolutely gripping thriller with a fantastic twist (Detective Gina Harte Book 4)

by Carla Kovach

  Fifty-Nine

  Gina lay in bed, laptop in front of her. All the evidence had been updated. Bernard had called confirming that the blood they’d found at the crime scene where Sophie Dobbins had been chased and attacked did not match that taken from Steven’s sample. It didn’t belong to Sophie either. Their perpetrator didn’t have a record as nothing on the database was a match. Her fingers twitched as she fought the urge to slam down the lid on her laptop.

  Steven’s interview was probably still in progress. Every minute seemed like an hour as she waited for a phone call. Would it be Briggs or one of the team? Her face and neck began to burn up. Maybe they were all sitting in the incident room, drinking coffee and discussing her personal life.

  She jolted up as her back gate slammed. It was locked from the inside, it always was. The new gate was secure. She launched out of bed in her nightshirt and ran into the back bedroom, staring out into the darkness of the back of her garden and beyond. She gasped for air as she watched the wide open gate creaking back and forth in time with the heavy breeze that had picked up over the course of the evening.

  A car sped along the road past the front of the house. She darted back to her bedroom and parted the curtains. The vehicle was no longer anywhere to be seen. She logged into her security app and began scrolling through the images that the CCTV had captured. A mottled figure slid alongside the house. She flicked to the other camera. The same dark figure climbed over her gate with ease. A few moments is all the intruder stayed for until he slid the locks on the back gate and left the garden. She flicked back to the front camera, car headlights filled the screen. Useless. The image was so grainy, she could only make out that the car was a hatchback. The registration plates were totally unreadable and the image of the intruder was blurred.

  With trembling hands she grabbed her mobile. As she went to call Briggs, an incoming call from Jacob flashed up on the screen.

  ‘Jacob, how’s it all going?’ She didn’t know whether she first needed to know what Steven had said or report the intruder that had been in her garden. One thing she knew for sure was that it hadn’t been Steven. Steven hadn’t chased and attacked Sophie either. So much of her wanted it to be him so that he’d finally be locked away, but people like him never quite pay for all the bad they do in life. He’d probably be let out on bail with a charge of possession. He’d wheedle out of a dealing charge, she knew he’d manage that.

  ‘Hope I didn’t wake you, guv, but I thought you’d want to know who we’ve just pulled in. You might want to get here as soon as possible.’

  Without hesitation, she grabbed the trousers that were on top of her clothes heap and pulled them on. For now, her intruder had to wait.

  As she hurried into the incident room, Wyre and O’Connor turned to look at her. Smith walked past with a cup of coffee and Briggs was at the front of the room adding notes with Jacob to the incident board. She pulled her hair back and tied it up, wondering if someone would say something about the interview with Steven. She had to ask, be the first person to mention it. Maybe they were too embarrassed to bring it up with her. It would have to come out sooner or later and at this precise moment, she’d mentally prepared for it. ‘How did the interview with Steven go?’

  O’Connor tapped his pen on the desk. ‘Well, he admitted to using the drugs that we found. It was borderline on quantity as to whether he could be dealing so that’s all we have on him at the moment. We’ve cautioned him and let him go. Given the results that came back from forensics, that’s all we could do. He’s not our attacker. At least that’s what all the forensics results are telling us. He’s not a shoe size ten either like our perp, he has pretty small feet. He’s a seven.’

  She wondered if O’Connor was hiding something about Steven. She glanced across at Wyre knowing she’d be able to tell if they were holding something back. ‘Anything else?’

  ‘Apart from him being a disrespectful shit in general, no, guv.’ O’Connor threw his pen to the table. She could tell he was tired. It had been a long day and her usually chirpy colleague was getting a little tetchy.

  She caught Briggs’s eye and he shook his head a little. She then knew her secret was still safe. Steven hadn’t said a word about her. Almost falling into her chair, she inhaled and smiled.

  ‘I hate that man,’ Wyre said.

  Gina shared that sentiment. At least everyone at the station had got to know exactly what Steven was like should he reappear in the case again.

  ‘Good news, I hear.’ Gina leaned in, waiting for one of the team to fill her in. ‘Tell me all about it then. I got the mini version over the phone.’

  Briggs stood next to the board, biting the end of his pen as Jacob took a seat at the head of the table. Another one of her colleagues who looked like he hadn’t slept for days. ‘It’s Rhys Keegan. As you know we’ve brought him in.’

  Gina slipped her coat off. ‘Where was he found?’

  ‘We received a call from Paul Brent who owns the land. He’s a farmer. He was just passing Crump Lane and in the distance he noticed a car blocking his access. The car had come off the road, travelled a little way down the rubbly pathway and was parked in the shrubs. He originally thought that there had been a crash but there was no damage to the car when he had a look. He then saw Rhys sleeping in the back of his car so knocked on the window and told him that he had to leave. Rhys got out and was drunk and abusive so he called us. He also pulled a hammer from his boot and struck the farmer’s four-wheel drive several times. Uniform arrived on the scene, recognised Rhys and the car. They then called us and brought him in. We’ve placed him in a cell to sober up. You’ll get no sense out of him tonight, he’s paralytic.’

  ‘Great work. We finally have our main suspect. Possibly the last person to see Jade Ashmore alive. Well done everyone. As soon as he knows what day it is, we’ll have him in the interview room.’ She smiled. Briggs smiled back, allowing his gaze to linger just a while longer. Steven was now gone from the case leaving her able to be more hands on. She hoped he’d allow her to interview Rhys Keegan.

  As the incident room filled with chatter about the case, she walked over to Briggs. ‘I have something else to report.’ She wasn’t about to sit on any information that may be relevant to the case. An intruder in her garden probably had nothing to do with the case whatsoever, but failure to say anything immediately would land her back in trouble, even if that trouble only extended to Briggs.

  Sixty

  Sunday, 12 May 2019

  Rhys Keegan’s bloodshot eyes and overgrown facial hair were evidence that he’d been lying low for days. The smell of stale beer, sweat and whisky filled the room. His long brown hair had tangled into unruly lugs. Gina and Jacob had been questioning him for fifteen minutes and, so far, he’d given them very few words in response. She didn’t know if he was purposely not speaking or if his hangover was just kicking in. The forty-seven-year-old man looked older than his years in his sickly-looking state. Gina wondered what Aimee had ever seen in him.

  The duty solicitor looked like she was picking the nail varnish from her nails. Her bobbed grey hair bouncing every time she moved.

  ‘Mr Keegan, can you tell us what happened on the night of Sunday the fifth of May and the early hours of Monday the sixth of May, the morning Jade Ashmore was murdered.’

  He shook his head, forcing his hair to cover half of his face, entwining itself amongst the inch of beard that sprouted from his chin. ‘Jade knew exactly what we were doing. We were all at the party for the same thing.’

  ‘What was that?’

  ‘Okay, it was a wife-swapping party. We all linked up on Swap Fun and Dawn, the host, invited us to her party. Me and Aimee wanted to go so we went. We like things a bit adventurous in the bedroom. We all had a few drinks, got to know each other and randomly picked our partners from some sort of pot and I got Jade.’

  ‘How did you feel about that?’

  Shrugging his shoulders, he cleared his throat and coughed into his hand. Gi
na pushed a box of tissues across the table. ‘Well, looking at the rest of the talent, I was pleased. When you’ve been used to someone of Aimee’s quality, you get picky, if you get me. I really didn’t want Maggie and I wasn’t keen on the thought of ending up with Dawn. So, when I picked Jade out, I was happy.’ He slouched back in the plastic chair and began rolling bits of tissue up and dropping them on the floor.

  Gina glanced down at her notes. ‘What happened then?’

  ‘Really?’

  Gina frowned and paused.

  ‘Okay! We went to Jade’s summerhouse. To be fair, I was pleased we didn’t end up in the woods. It was a bit chilly and, yes, I wanted to enjoy it.’ He paused and leaned his head to the side and stared up at the ceiling. ‘God, my head hurts.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘Well, you know what we did.’

  ‘I know a version of what happened. There was a witness.’

  He wiped the sleeve of his checked shirt across his nose. ‘It was the old perv from next door, wasn’t it? Dirty bastard. Okay, nothing much happened. We had a glass of wine and then got straight down to it. I took her against the window, told her it would be more fun if there was a chance of being seen. I saw the perv looking out of the window so thought I’d give him a show. She was happy to do that. She didn’t complain anyway.’

  Gina flicked back a couple of pages in her book and glanced at what Colin had said. ‘The witness described you being rough with her.’

  ‘And you believe the old perv? It was a little vigorous, that’s all. She wanted it like that. I wasn’t rough, it was role playing. She liked being dominated, I’ll tell you that for free. Can I get some painkillers and water? If not I’m going to chuck up. My head feels like there’s a train running through it.’

  ‘As soon as we finish the interv—’

  The solicitor uncrossed her legs and dragged her chair away from the table. ‘With all due respect, Detective Inspector, my client isn’t very well and needs a short break.’

  Gina slammed her notebook shut. Ten minutes, that’s all they were getting.

  They’d all taken their seats once again and the recorder was rolling. ‘What happened when you and Jade had finished in the summerhouse?’

  ‘She looked upset, said she regretted what we did and started blarting. She threw her clothes on and said she was going to look for her husband. I think his name was Noah. Lucky git got my Aimee. We knew they were in the woods somewhere. I supposed she was heading that way.’

  ‘Could it be that she was upset that you were rough with her, forceful even? Maybe she was about to find her husband and tell him. I’m thinking you tried to follow her, stop her talking.’

  He pushed his hair behind his ears with his grubby fingers. ‘No. You’re making things up. I didn’t follow her. I grabbed my things and left.’

  ‘But you didn’t go home. You knew you’d been seen treating Jade roughly. Did you follow her after that? Did you kill her? Is that why you went into hiding? Is that why you ran, Mr Keegan?’

  He leaned over and whispered in his solicitor’s ear. The woman looked as though she might heave from his sweaty scent. ‘My client will not be saying any more except that he did not hurt or murder Jade Ashmore.’

  Jacob threw his pen onto the table. ‘Interview terminated at seven sixteen.’

  Gina stood. ‘Another officer will be here in a moment to interview you about the criminal damage to the four-wheel drive you attacked with a hammer last night.’

  The man shrugged his shoulders. ‘Whatever. Can I have a smoke now?’

  Gina left the room. She was still in the dark about where he went after the summerhouse. The onus was now on them to prove that he followed Jade and attacked her before running home to get his car. She checked her watch. Keith in forensics had been taking samples and filing the contents of his car for a few hours. He had to be able to tell her something. Maybe he had found their elusive mallet, the one that had swiped away half of Jade’s face.

  Sixty-One

  Gina slammed her office door. Rhys Keegan had refused to say where he had been. If Creepy Colin had been telling the truth, maybe Jade was upset about how he treated her. Maybe she told him exactly what she thought and threatened to find her husband, Noah Ashmore, and tell him. Scared of the repercussions, Rhys could have followed her and attacked her. Where would he have got the mallet from? Unless he had planned the attack, he was unlikely to have anything like that on him. His car, it could have been close by – he lived close by and he knew which direction she was heading in. Every party guest knew where the locations were. Jade was upset, definitely a little tipsy. It may have taken her longer than normal to walk back to where all the action was taking place. It was doable, Rhys could easily have gone to his car and got the murder weapon.

  An email from Keith pinged through. No evidence that could be linked to Jade Ashmore’s murder had been found in Rhys’s car. He’d ended the message requesting that she return his call.

  She pressed his number and waited for him to answer. ‘Thanks for getting back to me so fast, Keith.’

  ‘Sorry, it probably wasn’t what you wanted to hear,’ he replied, his voice slightly breaking. She heard him drinking, before he cleared his throat and began again. ‘I’m glad you called, I was just going to try you again. We have finished processing all of the evidence from Dawn Brown’s house. Nothing came back on Steven Smithson’s magazines, no cuttings out, etcetera. Nothing we found links him to Jade Ashmore or the break-in at Diane Garraway’s house. There was nothing in his car either. No prints, no bodily secretions, no hair, not a jot.’

  She kicked her desk leg and leaned against the window ledge. Her job had just been made harder. ‘Thanks for updating me.’ Keith said his goodbyes and ended the call.

  Names ran through her head, Maggie and Richard Leason. Creepy Colin Wray, the babysitter, Tiffany Gall. Had Tiffany been so into Noah Ashmore after their kiss that she’d watched what was going on, left the child alone in bed and followed her? Her father said that after Noah’s return, she’d gone home. She shook her head. No, she was missing something more obvious.

  She called Wyre. ‘Have you seen Noah Ashmore recently? I know you’ve been updating him.’

  ‘Yes, guv. I’ve just got back. Jade Ashmore’s parents were with him and his own father turned up with some groceries.’

  ‘Anything look out of place?’

  Wyre paused. ‘No, guv. He’s turned down all our help and the family seem to be grieving. They want to know who killed Jade, obviously. He’s angry, upset, exactly as we’d expect.’

  ‘Was Tiffany Gall anywhere to be seen?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Thanks, Wyre.’ She ended the call and began twiddling her pen around in circles on her fingertips, as a random collection of thoughts battled in her mind.

  Her office phone began to ring. She grabbed the receiver. ‘DI Harte.’

  ‘We have a woman called Nicole on the phone. She’s asked for you specifically. It’s about Aimee Prowse.’

  ‘Thank you. Put her through.’ Nicole, the name wasn’t familiar to her but the mention of Aimee’s name set her heart racing.

  ‘Hello, DI Harte. How can I help you?’

  There was a slight pause. ‘I’m concerned that my friend Aimee didn’t come home last night. It looks like there is a bit of damage in the kitchen. I tried to call her all night, then I found her phone in the living room with no charge. I’m worried something has happened to her. I’ve called her family, clients and friends, no one has seen her.’

  ‘We’ll send someone over right away.’

  On hearing the news, the adrenaline coursing through her body was soon replaced by an undertone of nausea. Aimee had been missing all night.

  Sixty-Two

  ‘Wake up, bitch!’

  Aimee woke with a start as the bucket of freezing cold water sloshed over her face. His voice faded as the sound of her thumping heartbeat filled her head. Dark, it was still dark. How could he see? Slow
ly, her vision focused on a dim industrial light in the corner of what looked like a workshop. ‘Let me go,’ she yelled as she failed to stand. He laughed as she fell back into place. All those years of core strengthening hadn’t prepared her for a situation such as this. The cold, the shaking fingers, the tremble in her legs and trunk. The weakness she felt from not eating sickened her. As she rocked back and forth in her crumpled up position within the wall, she knew this might be her only opportunity to get out. Placing one hand in front of her, she tried to grip something, anything. Crawl, she had to move, keep warm.

  ‘Going somewhere?’ A heavy boot crunched the fingers of her left hand. The cold didn’t do a good job of protecting her from the sheer agony of a couple of broken fingers.

  Whimpering, she tried to look him in the eye, plead with him. ‘Why are you doing this to me?’

  Laughter erupted from her captor’s mouth, first a cackle, then huge hysterics that filled the air. ‘You really want to know. I thought Jade was different, then she turned up at that party. It had been a long time but I’d recognise her anywhere.’ He pulled a tiny piece of paper from his pocket and stared at it. ‘See, that was her back then. Can you believe I spent all these years feeling sorry for her, only to see her turn up for a cheap shag? When you’ve put someone on a pedestal and they let you down—’

  ‘What has any of this got to do with me?’ Tears cascaded down her cheeks. She swallowed and the walls of her throat almost stuck, causing her to gasp. She needed water.