Knife After Death: A chilling crime thriller

by Irvine, Ian C. P.

  It was 3.30 a.m. Mat was convinced that no normal person would be awake and ready to answer his call at this time of the day, but he was wrong. The phone at the other end rang three times and was picked up.

  At first he struggled to understand what the hell the man who answered was actually saying. He certainly wasn't speaking any form of English that Mat understood! In slow, almost broken English, Mat tried saying..."I am an American...can you speak English?"

  Almost immediately the voice at the other end transformed to an American accent.

  "What's up man? How ya' doin? What can I do for you this fine morning?"

  Mat laughed.

  "I was given your number by 'Dan'."

  "Dan is the man!"

  "Catch him if you can..." Mat replied.

  "Unlikely."

  It was a short cryptic exchange, but proved that they both knew the same contact in New Jersey, the tentacles of his contacts in the US having extended all the way into the so called "Boys from Porty Crew" in Edinburgh.

  Mat explained quickly what he was looking for. The man from the 'Porty Crew' explained the pricing. Mat agreed. They struck a deal.

  The man on the phone then apologised for the delay..."The gun would not be ready until later that same day...". He then went on to explain where he would collect the gun from. Mat copied down the directions and the instructions.

  Mat was to pick up the gun and hand the money over to a courier in a derelict apartment on the edge of a place called Craigmillar.

  "Be there at 5 p.m. tonight. Don't forget the money."

  .

  Things were looking up. If Mat got the gun today, maybe he could carry out the executions in the next few days and be back home before the weekend.

  .

  --------------------

  .

  Nic White knew that his time with StemPharma would be coming to an end soon. In the past week, a string of new cases had come forward, emerging from almost every area of the world where SP-X4 was now being sold.

  He had passed a new file over to Philip Grant only yesterday, and it would only be a matter of time before something started to emerge in the press or on the Internet.

  SP-X4 was an amazing treatment. There was no doubt about it. SP-X4 saved lives. It had already saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives. That was exciting.

  But what excited Nic even more was the potential that it had to unlock the secret of the human soul. Nic was now convinced that that he had to study in great detail how SP - X4 worked. What was the effect it had on DNA? How did DNA from a donor then mesh and combine at a microscopic level with the DNA of a host? How did it then release or trigger portions of a donor DNA string to recreate itself and integrate with DNA from a host? Could this somehow lead to a greater understanding of how and where 'consciousness' or 'memories' could be encoded into the DNA matrix?

  There were many fundamental questions that would need to be formulated, before they could be answered. The questions they would encounter would span the gap between science and religion. There would be debate, disagreements, and moments of truly amazing enlightenment.

  A new door to understanding and knowledge would be opened, and Nic was determined to be one of the first to go through that door to discover what lay on the other side.

  Nic had started planning. Considering how to seek funding, who to seek funding from. Where to conduct the work. Who to invite to join his team. And who to replace himself at StemPharma.

  The last few years at StemPharma had been amazing.

  But Nic White knew, the next few years would be even better.

  The future was going to be very bright indeed!

  .

  --------------------

  .

  Philip Grant sat at his desk reading the latest report he had received from Nic White. Philip had noticed that over the past few weeks his left eyelid had started to twitch almost uncontrollably. He knew it was a sign of tiredness. He had not been sleeping well recently.

  The most recent news from Nic was not good. It backed up the feedback he had been getting from many different sources.

  Philip looked at the calendar again, probably for the tenth time in the past few hours. Today was the 9th. His shares vested in seven days time.

  Seven days!

  In just seven days he would be rich beyond his wildest dreams. The moment the shares vested, he would hit that 'sell' button and watch the money rolling in.

  After that he didn't care what happened to SP-X4, or StemPharma for that matter. Or any of the patients who had been taking his drugs.

  In eight days time, Philip would walk out that door and never come back!

  .

  Chapter Eighty Nine

  .

  .

  Knuttsford

  May 9th

  9.25 a.m.

  .

  .

  "Come in, please," Alex gestured to Peter as Constable Davis showed him into the room. "You met DI Walters yesterday."

  DI Walters stood up from the table and reached out his hand to Peter.

  Peter took it, and shook it back, rather surprised by the gesture of politeness. It had been at least three seconds and not one person had mentioned arresting him today yet! It was a new record.

  The DI switched on the recording machine :"It's 9.28 a.m. Constable Davis and Peter Nicolson have just both entered the room. Constable Gibbs and DI Walters are also in attendance..."

  Peter sat down at the table. Alex pointed to the black-hold all bag that Peter had put down on the floor. "Planning to go somewhere?"

  "Yes, I have to be back in Edinburgh this evening. I have a meeting to attend. But this is not mine...Anyway, I feel confident that after our little chat this morning, you won't be needing me anymore."

  The DI sat forwards, resting both hands on the table in front of him. "I hope you may be right, Mr Nicolson. Actually, we have rather a lot to tell you this morning. I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts in response to what we have to say, and to sharing with you some good news."

  "Which is?"

  "We have identified the woman we have found up at the Grey Mare's Tail, and we also have a positive ID on the deceased discovered by the workmen up at Forest View."

  Peter nodded. smiled.

  "Excellent. I was hoping that you would. I've made a few discoveries too..." Peter said. "I hope I won't be stealing your thunder if I suggest that the woman was called Elaine Howson...?"

  The DI stared at first Alex and then Peter. "How on Earth did you know that?" he demanded to know, standing up from the table.

  "A lot has been happening to me... I've got quite a bit of news for you. Anyway, please, what is the rest of your news?"

  Alex spoke next, his voice conciliatory and trying to ward off any negative reaction from the DI.

  "Peter, can you remember during our conversation with your consultant in Edinburgh that I had to apologise and curtail the conversation because Constable Davis wanted to speak with me?"

  "Yes."

  "Well, I'll let Constable Davis explain. Constable...?"

  Constable Davis, who up until now had never ever really said much at all during any of their meetings, coughed to clear his throat and then spoke loudly and surprisingly confidently.

  "During yesterday's call, your consultant explained that the body of the deceased who had donated his kidneys to yourself, was subsequently identified as actually being the body of someone else?"

  "Yes, I was here. I can remember..."

  "Good, because, what struck me as very strange at the time, was the amazing coincidence of this all. I didn't want to say anything on the call yesterday before Constable Gibbs and myself had had the chance to discuss it offline, but...and you may find it hard to believe, but I was the person who supervised the identification of the body, and the person who positively identified the deceased did so from this room in Knuttsford only very recently. We had arranged for a video to be taken of the deceased, and the video was viewed i
n this room..."

  Peter nodded, genuinely quite surprised. Carolina had not mentioned the details.

  "Very strange. It's all very strange." The DI spoke aloud.

  "It all fits..., " Peter carried on. "...Can I ask, ...is the woman who viewed the body and identified its previous owner, Carolina Archer, the barmaid at the Fox and Hounds where Alex and I are both staying?"

  The DI stood up again, "How on Earth did you know that too! What's going on? That was a private viewing set up under the strictest privacy!"

  "I'll explain everything very soon...but, may I first ask if there is any other news?"

  Constable Davis spoke a little louder.

  "This morning we received a report back from the forensics team who have made a positive identification on the body in Forest Rise. It turns out that the man who was found buried wearing a German uniform was..."

  "Gary Roberts." Peter interrupted. "A former boyfriend of Carolina Archer?"

  "Right, that's enough!" The DI stood up, hitting the table with his hand. "Peter Nicolson, I am arresting you on suspicion..."

  Constable Alex Gibbs stared at the DI as he completed reading out the arrest.

  "Perhaps Peter has an explanation for all this knowledge. Maybe we should just wait to hear him out before we arrest anyone else?" Alex said, to no one in particular.

  "Hopefully when I explain everything, everyone will feel more comfortable with how I know so much... but before I explain what I've learned...Can I just also enquire what you got back from the lab about bloods samples, if anything?"

  The DI spoke next. "We were going to inform you that blood samples were found on the uniform of the German...the deceased Gary Roberts... which we have positively matched to blood found on the spade and on the rubber matting of the deceased found in Ironbridge by Constable Gibb..."

  "And on the body of Elaine Howson?" Peter asked.

  "Nothing as of yet. No DNA samples have been found that match anything else on record. Yet."

  "May I ask why you are arresting me now?" Peter said, looking directly at the DI.

  "...You now have positive IDs on the bodies, blood samples, DNA...the works. Surely I am now ruled out of the investigation?"

  "I have arrested you because you know things that are not humanly possible to know unless you were there!" the DI replied, raising his voice.

  Alex interrupted. "Perhaps, in some way, he was, DI Walters. I have got to know Peter quite well, and I think that perhaps that we are dealing with something here that requires us to adopt an open mind, and possibly consider new forms of evidence and information that well, maybe, the Police have not done in the past.

  The DI said nothing.

  Peter spoke up.

  "Okay, sorry, I would like to apologise if everything is a little confusing just now. For me personally, this has all been very, very alarming and upsetting. In the past few weeks, there have been times when I have seriously questioned my sanity and my ability to cope with everything. My life has been one rolling nightmare..." Peter coughed, taking a deep breath and hesitating for a moment before continuing. "...The fact is though, that I can prove to you now that I am innocent and I have the evidence to back it up. If you all have time, I would like to explain myself and to show you the contents of this bag, ...if I may?"

  The three policemen looked at each other. Then slowly the DI sat back down, and waved his right hand at Peter, giving permission for him to continue.

  "Although Constable Gibbs and Davis have both already heard most of this before, since I am once again under arrest for something I did not do, perhaps it's worthwhile me explaining it all again. Then I also want to tell you about how I met Miss Archer, and why over the past days we have become very close to each other...It's not a pleasant story, in parts it seems unbelievable, but I can assure you that everything I will tell you, is, to the best of my knowledge and experience, completely true...This happened and is happening to me, now..."

  .

  It took an hour for Peter to explain his story, -pausing occasionally to allow Peter to recover his composure when he found it difficult to retell some parts of the story and the visions he saw-, and then to show them all the contents of the bag, to explain how he had come to receive it, his relationship with Carolina, and all the conclusions that both he and Carolina had come to last night.

  They listened in silence, asking few questions.

  As Peter came to the end of the story, he turned the conversation back around to Carolina and Sam.

  "Detective Inspector Walters, may I ask...now you know what happened, will you have to tell Carolina everything? I am worried about both Carolina and Sam. On the one hand it may help Carolina to know why Maciek rejected her...it obviously proved that he loved her...he rejected her so that he would not be driven to murder her and his son...But, if we, sorry, you... tell her everything, then she will grow up with this horrible knowledge that the father of her son was a serial killer, continuously wondering whether or not she should tell the son about his father? I mean, would you want to know that your father was a serial killer? Probably not."

  The DI stood up. He walked across to the water cooler, poured two cups of water, and brought one back to Peter.

  "It's a difficult one." The DI replied. "I would not want to know that information. It's a heavy burden to carry, especially when you are the victim, and innocent. After all she never chose any of this to happen."

  "So you don't tell her everything..."

  "We will have to tell her something. We can't hide everything. She has a right to know about Gary's body being found. She'll eventually read in the press that it was discovered up at Forest Rise. Someone in the work-crew will already have sold the news for the price of a few pints to a journalist from one bloody newspaper or another. Miss Archer already knows that her ex-boyfriend had stolen her other boyfriend's identity. When the other body is found, she will automatically assume that one murdered the other..."

  "True..." Peter agreed, "...but, you can do your best to hide the fact that he was a serial killer, can't you? A murder committed as a result of passion...two men fighting over the same woman is much easier to cope with than knowing that an ex-lover killed a whole string of women. How would that knowledge affect the kid, wee Sam, as he grows up?"

  "Mr Nicolson, I can't promise anything except that we will consider this all very carefully and then decide how best to handle the situation as much as we can. Unfortunately, a lot of this will come out in the Press anyway. We can't stop that."

  They talked some more, and then eventually they began to run out of steam. It was late. Everyone was hungry.

  "DI Walters? Am I free to go? And if so, can you 'un-arrest' me?"

  The DI simply nodded.

  They all walked to the front of the police station.

  At the front desk, the DI and Constable Davis thanked him, checked his personal contact details in Edinburgh, and promised to call him soon with an update, if any. They then disappeared into the back of the station, leaving Constable Gibbs with Peter.

  "So," Alex said to Peter.

  "So..." Peter replied.

  They both looked at each other for a few moments, each thinking of what they should say, but neither saying anything.

  Then Alex extended his hand and Peter shook it.

  Peter turned and walked out of the station, a free man, with Alex watching him leave.

  .

  --------------------

  .

  When he got back to the Fox and Hounds, Peter picked up his bags and rucksack from his room, put them in his car, and then walked back into the bar to see the landlord.

  Thankfully Carolina was nowhere to be seen: her lunchtime shift was not due to start for another thirty minutes. Peter decided to leave immediately and grab some food on the way up the motorway to Scotland.

  He thanked the landlord for his hospitality, paid him in full for the rent, and then handed him the green plastic bag containing the money that Maciek had earmarked for S
am.

  "I know you are fond of Carolina. I was very pleased to have met her, but it didn't work out between us, although I understand it was for the best. Can you please make sure she gets this? Please tell her that it was in the bag that she gave me last night. Please also say that Sam's father had left a note saying that it should be given to her for their son. I'm just passing it along. She'll understand. Tell her it's kosher and that she should spend it on Sam."

  .

  Ten minutes later Peter was in his car leaving sleepy Knuttsford behind: Edinburgh next stop!

  Chapter Ninety

  .

  .

  M6 Motorway

  May 9th

  2.45 p.m.

  .

  .

  Peter looked at his watch. He'd been driving for over ninety minutes and was already on the M6 heading North and making good time.

  He felt elated. Relieved. Like a massive weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The past week had been the most intense in his life. When he had left Edinburgh on his 'pilgrimage', following in the footsteps of a serial killer, he had never really believed that he would be so successful, and that in such a short period of time he would be heading home having discovered so much so soon.

  Incredibly, against all the odds, it would seem that he had succeeded.

  Peter looked at his watch again. Calculating.

  He reckoned that he had another four hours of driving to go. He planned to cut through the Borders on the way to Edinburgh, taking the scenic but rather windy route through the hills. Still, if the road was clear, he would have just enough time to get home, shower, eat and then get to Craigmillar for 9 p.m.

  Peter didn't really know what the urgency was about, or why they had all been summoned to Mr Wallace's house at such short notice, but this morning on his way to the police station he had received a rather short but cryptic phone call from the old man.

  He had sounded happy. Said he 'needed' Peter to come to see him tonight 'urgently' at 9 p.m. He asked him to drop everything else and bring someone else to act as a 'witness'. And not to forget his camera. Then he had started coughing, found it difficult to talk further, and hung up.