Fatal Love

by Michael Patterson

  Tom knew Milner was right but just couldn’t bring himself to say so. The situation was difficult enough without having to talk about ifs and buts. He had always been of the opinion that what was done was done. Until someone invented a time machine, it would always be impossible to change the past. Sometimes, though – and this was one such occasion – he couldn’t help questioning his own principles.

  ‘Knowing what we now know, how would you suggest we tackle Jim Mason?’ asked Tom, keen to move the conversation on to more practical matters.

  ‘I think we should approach it as if we don’t know the full story. That way, at least we will soon find out if their stories are consistent. Mrs Burton was clearly still very supportive of him. It will be interesting to see if he’s as supportive of her.’

  ‘I agree.’ Tom stood up and placed his empty cup in the bin. ‘Okay, let’s go and speak with him.’

  *

  As soon as they entered the interview room, Mr Mason said, ‘Where’s Jane? Can I see her?’

  ‘I’m afraid that’s not possible. Mrs Burton has been arrested and charged with being complicit in the murder of her husband. She has also been charged with perverting the course of justice.’

  ‘That’s crazy,’ he replied, his voice rising in anger. ‘She had nothing to do with it. It was me who killed Glyn.’

  ‘And how did you do that?’ asked Tom.

  ‘We were fighting, and I just grabbed whatever was closest and hit him with it.’

  ‘And what was it you hit him with?’

  ‘I can’t remember. All I was thinking at the time was to get him off me.’

  ‘Let me help you, then,’ said Tom. ‘It was one of these, wasn’t it?’ He showed him a photograph of the framed pictures, which he’d taken earlier that morning at Mrs Burton’s house.

  ‘I don’t know,’ he answered. ‘It might have been, but I can’t remember.’

  ‘If it had been you who had used it, then you would have had to have very long arms,’ suggested Tom. ‘The frame was higher up, on a cabinet. At the time, you had Mr Burton pinning you down on the floor.’

  When he didn’t respond, Tom continued. ‘We found a small piece of the frame in the boot of Mr Burton’s car. It was marked with his DNA and matched the small incision close to his temple.’

  As before, Mr Mason remained silent.

  ‘I have to tell you that Mrs Burton has already told us what happened, as well as admitting to striking the fatal blow, using the picture frame.’

  Mr Mason’s earlier confidence now seemed to totally disappear, and when he next spoke it was in a very subdued tone. ‘It was an accident. Jane didn’t mean to kill him. She was just trying to protect me from Glyn. At first it looked as though he had been knocked unconscious when his head hit the floor, but then we saw blood appearing.’

  ‘Let me ask you the same question I asked Mrs Burton,’ said Tom. ‘Why, if you say it was unintentional, didn’t you call for an ambulance?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he answered quietly. ‘We were both totally shocked and I think we just panicked. We started to clear up the blood and things just seemed to develop from there. We just wanted to be together, and so, before we knew it, we had . . .’

  ‘You had what, Mr Mason? Hatched a plan to cover up his death?’

  ‘Yes,’ he answered, before putting his head in his hands. ‘I can’t believe we did it.’

  ‘I’ll tell you what I think happened,’ Tom said. ‘Let me know if I get anything wrong.’ He carried straight on. ‘After you’d cleared up some of the mess, you carried his body out and placed it in the boot of his car. Incidentally, that must have been quite difficult as Mr Burton was quite a big man. I assume Mrs Burton helped?’

  He simply nodded in agreement.

  Tom continued. ‘You first, though, had to take out his golf clubs and golf trolley to make room for him. You put these in the garage, alongside some of his other golf equipment. We have forensics examining them right now. I don’t know whether we’ll find any of your prints on them, but I suppose there’s a chance.’ He paused briefly. ‘You then had to decide where to take him. Was that your idea or Mrs Burton’s?’

  ‘That was mine,’ he quickly replied. ‘I knew the place. We’d taken some of the kids from the school I work at there on a beginner’s sailing course, about six months previously, so I knew where it was.’

  ‘When you were ready, you then put on some of his golf clothes, got into his car and drove out. In order to try and pass yourself off as Mr Burton, you also put on a golf cap and pulled it down so that your face was not one hundred percent visible. That was a mistake, though. We have CCTV footage of you driving away from the house, wearing the cap, whereas, when he arrived home earlier that morning, Mr Burton was not wearing one. Something nagged away at me about this right from the start. Also, I knew I’d seen it, or something like it, previously. This bothered me, and it was only when someone I know – a family member, in fact – mentioned golf caps, and then later someone else mentioned photographs, that I finally put the two together. After that, everything else fell into place.’

  ‘So you’ve known for a while it was me?’ Mr Mason asked.

  ‘Yes, I did suspect. I also had my suspicions about where Mr Burton had died. What I didn’t know with any certainty, though, was why he died. Well, not until last night, that is.’

  ‘Last night?’ he repeated. ‘What happened last night?’

  ‘Last night we followed Mrs Burton, when she met you in Richmond Park.’

  Mr Mason looked completely deflated. ‘How did you know we would be meeting there?’

  ‘I didn’t know where you would be meeting, but I strongly suspected that you would be meeting. Mrs Burton had, no doubt, called you, as soon as she could, to say we’d been to visit her earlier in the day and that we had been particularly interested in Mr Burton’s golf equipment. She did seem very unsettled by all of this, and so we knew it was highly likely she would want to discuss it with you. We were then able to confirm it was you from your car’s registration number. To double-check we even followed you home, so that we had an address.’

  As Mr Mason had heard this, he had become increasingly agitated, but it was just one part of all of this which, when he spoke, appeared to concern him the most. ‘You say you followed her. Were you there all the time we were together?’

  ‘Yes,’ he replied.

  ‘Does Jane know about this?’ Mr Mason asked, with genuine concern, almost as though he were trying to protect her.

  ‘We did not feel the need to tell her,’ answered Tom.

  He took out, from a file he had brought into the room with him, a still from the CCTV footage showing Mr Burton arriving home, and placed it on the table in front of Jim Mason. ‘You can see that he’s not wearing a cap.’ He then took out another photograph, this time from the footage taken when he was, apparently, leaving his house, later that same afternoon. ‘This one, though, clearly shows Mr Burton – or, actually, you, pretending to be Mr Burton – now wearing a cap. Incidentally,’ he said, looking directly at him, ‘we checked with some of the people he regularly played golf with, and none of them could remember Mr Burton ever actually wearing one.’ Finally, he took out a copy of a photograph. It was the one he had first seen in Mr Burton’s office at his home: the one featuring Glyn Burton, Roger White, Mike Preston and Jim Mason. ‘I understand this was taken a couple of years ago, when you all went on a golf holiday to Portugal. As you can see, Mr Burton is the only one not wearing a cap. More importantly, however, the cap you are wearing seems to be the same one you were wearing when you drove away from Mr and Mrs Burton’s home.’

  ‘I can’t believe it,’ he replied. ‘All because of a golf cap.’

  ‘Well, it certainly helped, but that wasn’t the only thing that worried me. For example, I got the opportunity to look at some texts on Mrs Burton’s phone. It was at the time she told us that her husband had texted her at 4.30 pm, that afternoon, to say that he would be late home
. Obviously, he didn’t send the text. I suspect it was you who sent it, in order to help with your story about him leaving the house earlier. It was picked up by one of the masts not too far away from where his body was later found, but the phone went dead not long afterwards. Was it then that you destroyed it?’

  ‘Yes. I thought it would buy me a bit more time.’

  Now Milner spoke. ‘So, what happened then? After you’d got rid of the phone.’

  ‘By then it was starting to get dark. I waited a bit longer and then drove the car closer to the quarry, which I thought would be a good spot. I knew the water was quite deep. I hadn’t realised, though, there was a fence all the way around the quarry. After a while I found a place where the fence had been damaged by a falling tree. So I drove the car through it. I was still expecting it to be quite difficult, but I was more worried about the noise it might make. Fortunately, though, the car got through at my first attempt. Then I drove it as close as I could and pushed it in.’

  ‘Weren’t you worried you might be seen or heard?’ asked Milner.

  ‘Yes. That was my biggest fear, but I didn’t see even one person, either when I was driving in or afterwards, when I walked away.’

  ‘Did you walk back, then?’

  ‘I did, yes. Actually, it wasn’t that far from where I live, although I probably took a lot longer by not using the most direct routes.’

  ‘You didn’t go back to see Mrs Burton, then?’ asked Tom, interested to hear as much as possible.

  ‘No. It would have been too risky.’ He then paused and, when he next spoke, his earlier matter-of-fact narrative style had been replaced by something with far more concern. ‘I was really tempted, though, as I was worried about Jane. She was there all by herself, in that big house. We’d agreed that, although we had spent quite a while together cleaning up, it was important she went over it all again whilst I was out.’

  ‘And, presumably,’ added Tom, ‘you made sure of what she was going to say to the police?’

  ‘That was, I suppose, my biggest concern. As you can imagine, Jane was very upset and, although we had agreed what she should do and say, I was worried, because of her emotional state, she wouldn’t be able to do it.’ He paused for a brief moment. ‘I felt terrible that she was there by herself and I wasn’t able to support her. But I just couldn’t take the risk of being seen with her there.’ He finally added, ‘So you can see it was me, not Jane, who did all of this. I’m the one who should be punished, not her.’

  Chapter 53

  ‘I know I shouldn’t have,’ said Milner, ‘especially given everything else that has happened as a direct result of this, but at one point I started to feel some sympathy for both of them, especially Mrs Burton.’

  ‘That does sometimes happen,’ replied Tom. They had arrived back at his office. ‘Especially when the culprits are as willing as they both were to admit their guilt. You’ll find, though, as your career progresses, and you make more arrests, you’ll come across many more who not only lie through their teeth, but show absolutely no remorse or contrition for what they have done.’

  Just then Superintendent Birch knocked on the door. ‘Okay to come in?’ he asked politely.

  ‘Come in,’ replied Tom. ‘DS Milner and I were just having a quick debrief.’

  ‘Yes, I heard they had both confessed to the death of Mr Burton. Congratulations. You must be very pleased with your work.’ Realising the potential insensitivity of what he’d just said, he quickly corrected himself. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to come across quite like that, especially today of all days.’

  ‘It’s not a problem, sir,’ answered Tom. ‘We all still have a job to do, although, of course, it would have been better if DC Bennett had been here as well, to enjoy the success.’ This brief conversation had the effect of immediately bringing him back to the event which was now just over an hour ahead of him. ‘Do you have any idea what the Commissioner intends to say? I don’t want to end up saying the same things.’

  ‘I do, as a matter of fact,’ he answered. ‘That was another reason why I wanted to see you. He simply intends to say a few words and then hand over to you, if that’s okay. Have you thought about what you might say?’

  ‘That’s all I have been doing, apart from, of course, the moments when DS Milner and I were tied up with Mr Burton’s murder investigation.’

  ‘Will you be okay?’ Superintendent Birch asked, with a degree of concern and anxiety.

  ‘I’ve got no idea,’ he answered.

  Just then, any further conversation was interrupted when Tom’s office phone rang. It was Jenny, Superintendent Birch’s PA. After a brief, mainly one-way conversation, Tom replaced the phone and said, ‘That was Jenny, to let you know Sir Peter has arrived. He’s in your office.’

  ‘Thanks.’ Superintendent Birch started to make his way out of the office, before suddenly stopping. ‘I’ll see you down-stairs,’ he said, before adding, ‘and good luck.’

  For a while, after Superintendent Birch’s departure, both men remained quiet, each deep in his own thoughts. After a while, Milner said, ‘Should I remove the chart?’

  Tom glanced up at the chart listing the people associated with the Glyn Burton case, then stood and walked towards it. He removed the copy of the photograph featuring the four golfers. ‘Ironic, really,’ he said.

  ‘What do you mean, sir?’

  ‘Well, the person who committed the murder was literally staring us in the face all along. What’s more, he was the one person, amongst all the people here, who we didn’t interview. That’s a lesson, Milner, for both of us. Check everything and then check it again.’

  Before Milner could respond, however, they were interrupted. Jane Perkins, the media relations officer for West London police, knocked lightly on the door and said, ‘Am I interrupting something? I can always come back.’

  ‘No, that’s all right,’ answered Tom. ‘Please come in. We were just taking a few minutes.’ He paused. ‘I think you’ve met DS Milner before.’

  She walked towards Milner and they shook hands.

  ‘I’m truly sorry about the death of DC Bennett,’ she said, looking from Milner to Tom. ‘It must be extremely distressing for everyone who knew him.’

  ‘Apart from being a vital part of the team he was also a friend,’ Tom said. ‘So, yes, it’s very tough, right now, for everyone.’

  She waited for a moment, until she felt the time was right to continue. ‘As it’s a dry day, I suggest you make your statement just outside the main entrance. Quite a few of the news stations are already arriving and setting up. I don’t want to tell you your job, but my advice would be to keep whatever you are going to say reasonably short. By the way, DC Bennett’s wife and two children have just arrived. One of the station’s welfare officers is looking after them.’ After a brief moment, she continued. ‘I understand Sir Peter is proposing to say a few words before you.’ She looked at her watch. ‘It’s now ten past twelve. The press have been told that the statements will be made at 1 pm. So I suggest we all meet in the ground floor conference room at ten to one. I’m sure you still have a few things to do, so I’ll leave you to it. I’ll see you again at ten to one.’

  After she had left, Milner said, ‘Is there anything you’d like me to do, sir?’

  ‘Thanks, but I probably need a bit of time to myself right now. What I would suggest, though, is that you go and meet Julie and let her know I’ll be there shortly.’

  Notwithstanding everything that had happened over the past couple of hectic days, Tom had, when the opportunity presented itself, given some thought to what he might say, and so he spent the next twenty minutes writing down a few of these thoughts. When he had finished, he read through what he’d written a couple of times, until it was clear in his mind. He then picked up the sheet of paper, put it into his pocket and was just about to leave his office when his mobile rang. He could see that it was DCI Chapman.

  ‘Tom. I’m glad I managed to get hold of you. I unders
tand you will shortly be making a statement regarding DC Bennett’s murder.’

  ‘Yes, I was just about to make my way there,’ he answered.

  ‘I won’t keep you, then, but I thought you’d like to know that this morning we arrested the two men who, we believe, were involved. It’s still early days, of course, but I’m confident we have enough evidence to get a conviction.’

  ‘Thanks, Jack, for taking the time to let me know. I’m sure that will be a great boost for all the officers here. It might also be some consolation to Gary’s family.’

  After his conversation he immediately made his way to the conference room, on the ground floor, where everyone was assembling.

  As he entered the room he could see Sir Peter and Superintendent Birch were both speaking with DC Bennett’s wife, whilst Milner and a female welfare officer seemed to be in discussion with her two children. Jane Perkins was talking to a small group of other people who Tom didn’t recognise, but he suspected they might be from the media. Along one wall was a table, upon which was a selection of sandwiches and various other snacks. It looked as though they were still untouched.

  Tom made his way towards Julie and, without saying anything, put his arms around her. After a short while, he pulled away from her and said, ‘I know it’s a stupid question, but how are you?’

  ‘I’m not too bad,’ she answered. ‘It’s the kids I’m worried about, though.’

  As Tom looked at her, he could see, in her face, all the telltale signs of lack of sleep. There were dark marks under her eyes, which her make-up couldn’t entirely conceal.

  ‘Are you okay to do this?’ he asked. ‘You don’t have to do it.’

  Now it was her turn to look at him closely. ‘What do you think? We all want to do it, however difficult.’

  Tom, once again, hugged her close and whispered, ‘Gary would be proud of you all.’

  Just then Jane Perkins approached him. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt, but, just to let you know, everything is ready.’ She looked towards the group of people she had just been speaking with. ‘They are keen that we stick to the agreed time, otherwise it might not make the midday news.’