Merciless: a gripping detective thriller (DI Kate Fletcher Book 2)

by Heleyne Hammersley

  ‘You said there was one woman,’ she prompted.

  O’Connor grinned, obviously pleased to have the opportunity to show off his list of contacts.

  ‘Ollie Skillen, who does a bit of running for Lee Weaver, said they’d had a woman round looking to buy a birth certificate and an NI number.’

  Kate supressed a smile at O’Connor’s casual name-dropping of one of Doncaster’s most prolific offenders. Lee Weaver was well known to her team. She wanted to ask O’Connor what he meant by ‘running’ but couldn’t face his smug smile as he explained.

  ‘This woman turned up about three months ago. Skillen remembers it was a good few weeks before Christmas because he knew he’d get a cut if he organised the business and he planned to use it to buy his boy a dirt bike. It wasn’t Caroline Lambert, though. The description was nothing like her – mid-to-late-thirties, dark hair, not very tall. She could have worn a wig but she couldn’t have made herself shorter.’

  ‘Sounds like Maddie Cox, though,’ Barratt observed. Three faces turned to look at him as though he’d suddenly grown an extra head.

  ‘It does,’ he continued.

  Kate had to agree with him, but it didn’t make much sense. She looked over her shoulder at the rough timeline on the whiteboard. A photograph of Maddie smiled down at her with different coloured lines radiating out to key pieces of information. One line ended at an image of Caroline Lambert with a list of dates of their known encounters underneath. The first was November twenty-second.

  ‘The date could just about fit,’ she conceded. ‘But why would she help Caroline? If they’d first met when Dennis was in hospital they wouldn’t have had time to form any sort of relationship.’

  ‘Maybe that’s why Caroline gave her money,’ Hollis suggested, his expression showing that he wasn’t convinced by his own theory.

  ‘I just can’t see Maddie Cox knowing somebody like that,’ Cooper added quietly. ‘And, if Caroline convinced Maddie to help her, she must have had some serious leverage considering they’d just met. Brenda Powley allegedly made the call on November twenty- first. The timing doesn’t fit. Didn’t we think that the money from Caroline helped Maddie pay off her gambling debts?’

  ‘So, it wasn’t Maddie Cox?’

  Four almost identical shrugs. They really were struggling with this one. O’Connor’s moustache returned to its usual inverted horseshoe shape as his grin faded and Kate wondered if their luck was running out.

  She was about to address the issue of Caroline Lambert’s possible suicide when her phone rang. It was Morrison from East Yorkshire.

  ‘We’ve done a search of the clifftop,’ he announced after introducing himself. Kate seriously doubted that Morrison had been involved in the physical search and assumed that the ‘we’ referred to a team of uniformed officers on their hands and knees in the frosty grass.

  ‘And?’ Kate prompted as she sensed that he was waiting for some sort of response.

  ‘I’ve emailed you some photographs of the product of the search. There’s not much but there is one item that you might find interesting.’

  ‘Which is?’

  ‘Have a look at the images,’ he said, hanging up.

  Kate explained the call to the others as she logged on to the laptop connected to the projector and downloaded the images from Morrison’s email. She flashed them up on the screen as a slideshow so that they could look at each in turn. At first glance they looked like the useless detritus that could be found on any stretch of grass or wasteland in the country. A squashed cigarette packet, a condom wrapper, a black sock.

  ‘What’s that?’ Barratt asked when an odd-looking object appeared. Kate clicked off the slideshow and zoomed in on the photograph.

  ‘It’s a SIM tray from an iPhone,’ Cooper said. ‘You can tell by the shape. Looks like it’s from a rose gold model judging by the edge.’ She typed something on her keyboard. ‘And Caroline Lambert’s possessions when she was arrested included a rose gold iPhone 7.

  Kate tried to picture the scene. Somebody changing the SIM card in their phone, hands shaking with the cold, or fear; dropping the tray and being unable to find it. ‘Why would anybody change their SIM card on a clifftop though? Unless they wanted to give the impression that the phone had gone out of service at that spot.’

  ‘Wouldn’t make any difference,’ Cooper said. ‘It’s the IMEI not the SIM that’s used to track phones. I’m sure a quick Google would show that information. Although, if I was going to destroy my phone I’d break the SIM as well, just in case it was found. It’s really hard to get information from a broken SIM.’

  Kate’s thoughts were spinning. ‘So, if this belonged to Caroline Lambert, and we’re assuming that she didn’t jump, she removed the SIM card, destroyed it and then threw the phone over the cliff? Why not just throw the phone into the sea?’

  ‘Maybe she couldn’t be sure that it would reach the sea? Or she might have been worried that something could still be recovered if it were found,’ Hollis said. ‘If she really wanted us to believe that she killed herself then she’d also have to consider that we’d try to track her phone – which we will. If it went out of service in the vicinity of Flamborough Head then she’s right to think we’d probably look for it so she destroyed the SIM separately just to be sure.’

  ‘You know what this means?’ she asked, trying to inject some enthusiasm into her team.

  ‘She might be alive,’ Barratt said.

  ‘It’s the first concrete evidence that we’ve had that she might have planned this all along. Sam, get onto the phone companies and see if Caroline has registered another SIM with any of them in the last few months.’

  ‘Long shot,’ Cooper said. ‘She might have bought one in a supermarket and topped it up there three or four years ago. She might be using a fake ID. She might have got somebody else to register the SIM.’

  ‘I know,’ Kate said. ‘But have a look. She might have slipped up somehow. And, while you’re at it see if you can chase up records for her phone. I want to know when and where she last used it. O’Connor – go back to your contact with a photo of Maddie Cox and try to jog his memory about the exact date. Barratt – hospital records. I want to know who admitted Dennis Lambert and when Maddie became involved. And have another word with Brenda Powley. Clarify the sequence of events leading up to Caroline going back to Thorpe. What did she say when she heard about her dad? Details please.’

  The two men grabbed their coats, energised by the allocation of jobs, but Kate felt like they might be chasing more dead ends. Caroline Lambert was clever. She wouldn’t have slipped up over something as simple as a phone and she really couldn’t see Maddie Cox being involved in the fake ID. But there was another person who fitted the description that O’Connor had been given.

  ‘What about me?’ Hollis asked.

  ‘You’re coming with me. I need you to drive while I make a couple of phone calls. There’s somebody else who might be the woman who met with O’Connor’s contact. And, if I’m right, she’s lied to our faces.’

  31

  ‘Who’s Rob?’ Kate asked as soon as Julie Wilkinson opened the door. The woman looked from Kate to Hollis in bewilderment.

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘When we called yesterday, your first response was “Is it Rob?”. I’d like to know who Rob is,’ Kate explained, struggling to keep the belligerence from her tone. If she was right, this woman knew far more than she’d let on and she’d withheld a lot of information the previous day.

  ‘He’s my ex,’ she said. ‘He rides a motorbike and I was scared that he’d had an accident. I spent years worrying that he was going to come off the bloody thing and the first I’d hear was a knock at the door from you lot.’

  ‘That would be Robert Wilkinson? Drug dealer and general thug?’

  The woman in front of Kate flushed and she couldn’t tell if it was embarrassment or anger. She decided to press on regardless. If Julie wanted to get aggressive, Kate was ready. She slipped a h
and into her pocket and checked that the handcuffs were still there.

  ‘Known associate of Lee Weaver?’ she continued. ‘Not a very pleasant man by all accounts. Into all sorts, including fake IDs.’

  The red flush disappeared almost instantly, leaving Julie pale and wild-eyed. She looked over Kate’s shoulder to where Hollis was blocking the drive, leaving her nowhere to run. Eventually she sighed and slumped against the doorframe.

  ‘You’d better come in,’ she said, pushing the door further open, allowing Kate to pass. Julie followed Kate down the hallway, Hollis behind her in case she had any ideas about trying to run away, and the three of them settled in the living room. This time there was no offer of a drink.

  ‘I don’t have much to do with Rob anymore,’ she said, looking Kate straight in the eye. ‘We split up eighteen months ago because I got sick of him bringing his dodgy mates round. Some of them were running working lasses and I didn’t want any part of that.’

  Kate wondered exactly how much criminality this woman had turned a blind eye to until she’d had enough but she didn’t want to antagonise Julie too much at first, not until she’d got the information that she wanted. Kate regarded the other woman thoughtfully, still a little unsure of her interview strategy. She’d used the shock of their reappearance and knowledge of Rob to throw Julie off guard so that they could gain access but that didn’t really get them any further forward.

  They weren’t interested in Rob aside from his contacts but Kate didn’t want Julie to work out the real reason for their visit until she’d backed her into a corner. She’d asked Hollis to stay quiet on this one and make notes, and he was following her instructions to the letter; leaning forward on one of the armchairs, notebook balanced on one of his improbably sharp knees as he tried not to allow his long limbs to spill too far into the room.

  ‘So you knew some of Rob’s associates?’ Kate finally asked.

  Julie nodded miserably.

  ‘Including Lee Weaver?’

  Another nod.

  ‘Did he ever come here?’

  ‘Twice,’ Julie admitted. ‘I didn’t like him. Rob was fawning all over him like the bloody queen had just popped in for a cuppa but I didn’t like the way he looked at me.’

  ‘What way was that?’ Kate asked.

  Julie frowned at the memory. ‘His eyes followed me round the room like I was prey. Like he wanted to eat me. He was really creepy. I didn’t understand why the others were scared of him. He was a scrawny little runt.’

  ‘And what about Ollie Skillen? Did you ever meet him?’

  ‘Nope. Never heard of him.’

  Kate watched Hollis scribbling frantically as he tried to record everything Julie said. ‘So, if you couldn’t stand Lee Weaver,’ Kate said slowly, teasing Julie with what was coming next. ‘Why did you go to see him in November of last year?’

  Julie’s eyes widened with surprise then narrowed as she appeared to consider her options. ‘I didn’t.’

  ‘That’s not what Ollie Skillen’s saying.’

  ‘And I’ve just said, I don’t know Ollie Skillen. Who the hell is he to be telling tales about me?’

  ‘He works for Lee. He deals with the small stuff that his boss can’t be bothered with. One-off jobs like the odd fake ID for an individual. Lee doesn’t trust him with anything bigger just yet.’

  Kate was making it up as she went along but she could see that her words were having an effect. If she’d had any doubts about the identity of the woman who’d tried to buy a birth certificate in November, Julie’s reaction had dispelled them all. Her eyes couldn’t seem to stay focussed on one thing and her leg was jiggling wildly up and down as she started to realise the depth of the trouble she was in.

  ‘I’ve got a detective on his way now, to interview Ollie again. This time he’s taken a photo with him to confirm the identity of the woman that he remembers.’ Kate didn’t bother to tell Julie that the photograph was of a completely different woman.

  ‘I’m expecting to hear back from him any time now.’ Kate slid her phone out of her jacket pocket and placed it on the coffee table. Julie stared at it as though it were a ticking bomb and inched forward on her chair, her hands clasped between her knees. Kate sat back again, allowing the silence to do its work.

  Eventually, Julie sighed and opened her hands wide as if conceding defeat. ‘Okay. I did go to see Lee and I did meet Ollie Skillen although I didn’t know his name.’

  ‘When was this?’ Kate asked, trying to keep the feeling of triumph out of her voice. Her hunch had been right and it looked like it was about to pay off. ‘And please don’t think about lying. As I said, I’ve got somebody with him right now.’

  ‘It was the beginning of December. A few days after my birthday. Maybe the second or third.’ Her responses had become stilted as if she was trying to give Kate the minimum amount of information possible.

  ‘Why did you go to see him? Skillen says it was for a fake ID. A birth certificate.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Which you know is illegal.’

  Silence.

  ‘I can’t understand why you’d need a fake ID, Julie. Are you using it for some sort of fraud?’

  Silence.

  ‘If so, I’m going to arrest you here and now. We can get to the bottom of this when we get to Doncaster.’

  ‘It wasn’t for me,’ Julie mumbled.

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t hear that,’ Kate lied.

  ‘I said it wasn’t for me. It was for a friend.’

  ‘Which friend?’

  More silence.

  ‘Julie. If you go “no comment” on me now, I’ll make sure that this is as difficult for you as possible. I can put you in a line-up for Ollie Skillen to pick you out. I can charge you with obstruction if need be as well as obtaining a fake ID for the purposes of fraud…’

  Julie jumped out of her seat. ‘I just said it wasn’t for me. I didn’t use it for anything.’

  She paced the room, picking at the skin around her fingernails. Kate knew that she was trying to work out what she could get away with and what the police already knew – which was very little other than conjecture and speculation. She needed to prompt Julie into a full confession.

  ‘And I can’t possibly believe that unless you tell me who did use the birth certificate. Who do you know who would have the money for something like that? Perhaps an old friend who lives in a big house in one of the poshest parts of Sheffield?’

  Julie turned to Kate, fury scalding her face. ‘If you already know, why this bloody silly charade?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Kate said calmly. ‘That’s why I’m here. Did you help Caroline Lambert obtain a fake identity?’

  Julie slumped back into her seat. ‘Tell me something first. Did she kill him? Did she kill her dad?’

  ‘We’re still trying to establish what happened to Dennis Lambert,’ Kate said noncommittally. ‘There may be a link with his daughter’s treatment of him in his final weeks.’

  ‘I bet there is,’ Julie tried to smile, tears spilling from her narrowed eyes. ‘I bet she killed that old fucker. He deserved it.’ She wiped her nose on the back of her hand. ‘I hope he rots in hell.’

  The contrast with her sentiments of the previous day was striking. She’d claimed not to have met the man and seemed to have no firm opinion of his character when they’d spoken the previous day but her face contorted with hatred as she talked about him. Kate wasn’t sure where to go next with the interview but she was certain that she was at a turning point. Julie Wilkinson knew much more than she’d let on so far.

  ‘I thought you didn’t know him,’ Kate said. ‘Why the venom?’

  ‘I didn’t know him. What I said yesterday was true. I never met him but I saw what he did to Jeanette nearly every day. I was trying to give you some clues but you’re obviously too thick to get the message.’

  Kate decided to let the insult pass.

  ‘He was vicious. Any time Jeanette did anything wrong, he l
ashed out at her. I lost count of the number of times she couldn’t get changed for games because she was embarrassed by the bruises on her legs and arms. I’m surprised that he didn’t turn on Caroline when Jeanette wasn’t there anymore. Or their mother.’

  ‘How do you know he didn’t hit Caroline?’

  ‘She told me,’ Julie said. ‘She told me everything.’

  ‘She’s been in contact?’

  ‘We never really lost touch. I got the odd card or letter most years. Since she moved to Sheffield we’ve met up a couple of times and written to each other every week.’

  Kate was surprised. ‘Written to each other? No email or phone calls? Not even a text?’

  ‘Nope. Caroline was paranoid about anybody finding out that we still saw each other. So we wrote proper, old-fashioned letters. She asked me to destroy everything she ever sent, and swore that she’d done the same. The last letters I sent were when she was looking after Dennis. I couldn’t believe that she’d got the guts to walk back into that house, never mind stay there with him.’

  Kate looked over at Hollis and he’d obviously had the same thought that she had. He was sitting, open-mouthed, his pencil poised above a blank page of his notebook. Caroline had planned this for a long time. She’d made sure that her contact with Julie was untraceable. Kept it that way for years; until the time came when she needed help.

  ‘You said she told you everything?’ Kate prompted.

  ‘Dennis Lambert used to hit Jeanette… a lot. I always thought that was why she eventually ran away. It devastated me that she was gone but even worse was that she never came back. I thought she’d gone to Manchester or somewhere and that she’d come back when Dennis couldn’t hurt her anymore.’

  Tears spilled down Julie’s face but she continued her story, oblivious to the damp patch that was forming on her sweatshirt.

  ‘Three years ago, Caroline wrote and said that she was moving back to the area and that she wanted to meet up with me. We arranged to meet at Meadowhall, at one of the cafes. I’d not seen her for over twenty years but as soon as she walked in I recognised her. She looks just like Jeanette. We had a coffee and she told me that she was back in South Yorkshire for a reason and it had something to do with her dad. She wouldn’t tell me much more but we met quite regularly after that. One time I was in Sheffield for work and we went to the pub. Caroline got really pissed. I mean really, falling down, pissed. She started rambling on about Jeanette and how much she missed her and how she felt responsible for what had happened. How she was going to pay Dennis back for what he’d done. She said she could wait though. That she’d wait until he was helpless and then she’d make him pay.’