Deathly Affair

by Leigh Russell

  ‘No, no,’ Geraldine said, trying to control her impatience. ‘This isn’t a petty attempt to be revenged on that cretin. Listen, you remember I questioned Molly after she witnessed the attack on Alf when he was strangled in Nether Hornpot Lane?’

  Eileen nodded. ‘Yes, of course I remember.’

  ‘Well, Molly described the way the killer walked. She said his left leg swung out to the side, and he moved his left arm more than his right one.’

  Eileen nodded again. ‘Something like that, yes.’

  ‘Not something like that,’ Geraldine replied. ‘Those were her words. I checked before I came here to speak to you. And remember we have CCTV film of a hooded man walking away from the scene of Bingo’s murder, walking with a similar gait?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘All of that would probably be enough to establish that the same killer strangled both Bingo and Alf, even without the forensic evidence that the same noose was used to strangle both victims.’

  Eileen nodded. ‘Is this going somewhere?’

  ‘Charlie walks with a slight limp, swinging his left arm to compensate for the way he drags his left leg ever so slightly to the side. I saw it myself. If we get the forensic podiatrist to compare Charlie’s actual gait with the film we have of the unidentified hooded suspect near the first crime scene, we might find proof that Charlie killed Bingo.’

  ‘And then we would have him for Alf as well!’ Eileen cried out, catching the excitement that Geraldine was no longer bothering to try and conceal.

  ‘The murders of two rough sleepers,’ Geraldine said, ‘assaulting his wife – if we can persuade her to talk – and taking a police officer hostage. He won’t have much wriggle room after that.’

  ‘Do you think he suspected her of having a relationship with a rough sleeper, and that’s why he targeted them?’

  Geraldine shook her head. ‘I think killing the rough sleepers was a calculated smoke screen to enable him to get away with killing Mark because he found out Kelly was having an affair with him.’

  ‘Do you think he killed David as well?’

  ‘I don’t know about David, but I’m almost sure he killed Mark,’ Geraldine said. ‘We know Charlie’s possessive and has a history of violence, and his wife was sleeping with Mark which gives a vicious brute like that a motive, however crude.’

  ‘Did he know about their affair?’

  ‘We’ll have to ask Kelly. To be honest, I’m not sure she’s going to help us, despite the way he’s treated her.’

  Eileen raised her eyebrows. ‘Blind love?’

  ‘Not so much love on her part, seeing as she was sleeping with at least one other man, but plenty of fear. If we can convince her he’s going down anyway, she might talk, but we won’t really need her evidence, will we?’

  ‘Let’s see what she has to say anyway. I’d like you to speak to her, Geraldine. But I’m not sure you’re the right person to question Charlie after what he put you through.’

  ‘I’d say that would make me the ideal person to question him. He can hardly lie about what happened to me, can he?’

  ‘Are you saying you want to interview him?’

  Geraldine smiled. ‘Oh yes. I think he’ll realise the game’s up as soon as I walk through the door.’

  ‘Very well. Let’s see what Kelly has to say for herself first, though, as she might give us some useful information that we can use to put pressure on him.’

  ‘Yes, at the very least it’ll unnerve him to know she’s been talking to us. It’s possible he confided in her and I don’t think he’ll trust her to keep her mouth shut now he’s been arrested.’

  Kelly had not yet been released from hospital where she was receiving treatment for several injuries, including a fairly serious blow to the head which she claimed she had sustained when she accidentally fell down the stairs at home.

  ‘Don’t let her talk for long,’ the nurse on the desk told Geraldine, ‘and try not to disturb her. She’s in a delicate state, mentally. She’s been crying a lot and we’ve put her on antidepressants, temporarily, as well as painkillers.’

  ‘It sounds as though she’s in a bad way,’ Geraldine replied. ‘Is she going to be all right?’

  The nurse shrugged. ‘We think so, but she needs quiet.’

  ‘Where’s her son?’

  ‘He’s been visiting her. He’s staying with friends for now.’

  Geraldine thanked the nurse and went into the ward. Kelly appeared to be sleeping, so Geraldine pulled the curtains closed around her bed and sat down to wait for her to wake up. After a while, she stirred and Geraldine called her name softly. Kelly opened her eyes and they widened as she recognised her visitor.

  ‘You didn’t get him,’ she said, her voice slurred with sleep and drugs. ‘He wouldn’t leave without me. He wants me. Not you.’

  Kelly was still under the impression that Geraldine had been trying to run away with Charlie.

  ‘Kelly, I’m a police officer,’ she said quietly. ‘Charlie didn’t want to run off with me, he had taken me hostage and wanted to use me as a human shield, to help him escape from the police.’

  Kelly frowned. ‘You just said you are the police.’

  ‘Yes, but I’m only one police officer. Don’t you remember? Your house was surrounded. Charlie was afraid he would never be able to escape. That’s why he wanted me to go with him.’ She paused. ‘You can trust me. I wasn’t trying to steal your husband, I was trying to arrest him.’

  Kelly closed her eyes. ‘Where’s Charlie?’

  ‘He’s in a police cell charged with multiple murders.’

  Kelly’s eyes flew open. ‘What?’

  Geraldine frowned. Evidently Kelly had no idea what her husband had been up to.

  ‘I’m sorry to tell you Charlie killed two men, possibly more.’

  She was taken aback when Kelly began to giggle. ‘No, he didn’t,’ she said. ‘Charlie never did.’

  ‘He violently assaulted you on more than one occasion,’ Geraldine said.

  Kelly’s laughter stopped abruptly. She closed her eyes. ‘No, no, that’s not true. That’s not what happened. I fell down. I’m clumsy,’ she explained earnestly, ‘Charlie says I’m clumsy.’

  ‘Charlie’s in prison, accused of murder. If we hadn’t stopped him, he would probably have killed you too, and your son.’

  Kelly closed her eyes. Eventually she opened them again and looked directly at Geraldine, her pupils dilated and her speech sluggish.

  ‘Bye bye, policewoman,’ she said. ‘Charlie doesn’t want to see you again.’

  ‘Well, that’s a pity,’ Geraldine replied, more to herself than to Kelly who appeared to have gone back to sleep. ‘He’s going to see quite a lot of me for a while, until he’s convicted and incarcerated in a secure prison. Still, it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever go and visit him there, and then he won’t have to see me again. Ever. Or you either for that matter, unless you go and see him during visiting hours.’

  Sound asleep and snoring gently, Kelly did not answer.

  59

  Having washed his face and hands, and combed his hair, Charlie looked quite presentable as he faced Geraldine and Ian across the table in an interview room. The duty solicitor seated at the side of the accused was young and sharp-featured, with piercing blue eyes that watched the two detectives closely, as though she suspected them of plotting to seize her folder from the table by some sleight of hand.

  ‘My client denies the charge,’ the solicitor said, her decisive tone seeming to imply the interview was over.

  ‘Charges,’ Geraldine corrected her. ‘Charlie, you’re accused of killing four people. You understand the charges, don’t you?’

  Charlie scowled and turned to his lawyer. ‘Four people? What are they talking about?’

  ‘Please, leave the talking to me,’ she replied.


  ‘You can get me off, can’t you?’ he asked her. ‘It’s all a pack of lies. They’re trying to pin everything they have on me.’ He turned to face Geraldine again. ‘You won’t get away with this, you know, harassing an innocent man. You’ll be in serious trouble over this.’

  ‘You’re accused of the unlawful killing of four men, assaulting your wife, Kelly, and taking my colleague here hostage,’ Ian said in an even tone.

  Charlie shook his head. ‘It’s not true. None of it’s true.’

  ‘Are you denying all the charges?’ Ian asked, raising his eyebrows.

  Charlie glanced at his lawyer.

  ‘My client denies all of the charges,’ she confirmed.

  Ian sat forward. ‘Think very carefully before you speak, Charlie. You are accused of murdering two rough sleepers, along with Mark Routledge, who was in a sexual relationship with your wife, Kelly.’

  He paused, and Geraldine knew he too was watching for a response when Charlie heard Kelly’s name. She was not sure if the suspect’s face reddened, but he did not speak and his expression remained fixed.

  ‘Mark was your real target all along, wasn’t he?’ Geraldine said.

  Charlie gave no response, but she thought his eyes glittered.

  ‘We know what was going on,’ she said at last, giving Charlie what she hoped was a sympathetic look. ‘We’ve spoken to Kelly. We know all about her affair with Mark Routledge.’

  Charlie’s bottom jaw twitched as he shook his head. ‘Who?’

  ‘The man your wife was having sex with,’ Ian said bluntly.

  Again Mark’s jaw twitched. Watching him, Geraldine sensed an air of vulnerability which gave her a feeling that they would be able to break him soon. And then, without any further warning, he cracked, slamming his fist down on the table in a burst of rage. To his credit, Ian barely blinked, while Geraldine gasped, and the lawyer jumped in her seat and let out a yelp of surprise.

  Geraldine suppressed a smile. ‘It must have been very hard for you,’ she said softly, ‘knowing your wife was sleeping with another man.’

  Charlie shook his head, his temper once more under control. ‘Kelly was a slag,’ he muttered.

  ‘That’s why you hit her,’ Ian said. ‘It’s –’ he hesitated to complete his sentence.

  Geraldine finished it for him. ‘It’s understandable.’

  ‘You don’t have to respond to this needling,’ the lawyer cut in urgently. ‘We want to request a break.’

  ‘We’ve hardly begun,’ Ian protested.

  ‘Please switch off the tape. This interview is suspended. I need to speak to my client.’

  Walking away along the corridor, Ian and Geraldine went over what had just happened.

  ‘We nearly had him talking,’ Geraldine fumed. ‘Bloody lawyers. Now she’ll get him under control again and we’ll be right back where we started.’

  ‘Not quite back where we started,’ Ian said, with an anxious smile at her. ‘We know he’s guilty, and he knows we know. We’re getting there. Come on, let’s go and have a cup of tea.’

  Ian smiled at her and, just like that, Geraldine’s anger dissipated. While they were in the canteen, Ian’s phone rang.

  ‘It’s Eileen,’ he mouthed at Geraldine. Hanging up, he said, ‘She wants to see us.’

  ‘What about our tea?’

  ‘She said right now. I think there’s been a development.’

  They hurried along to Eileen’s room. Without stopping to ask how the interview with Charlie was going, she shared the news that had just reached her from the team searching Charlie’s flat. Armed with new information, they returned to the interview room to resume questioning Charlie.

  This time Ian went straight in. ‘We know you killed Bingo and Alf, we just weren’t sure why,’ he began.

  ‘That’s nonsense,’ Charlie blustered.

  ‘The search team have found the red tie you used to strangle them with,’ Geraldine said.

  ‘It seems you didn’t hide it well enough,’ Ian added.

  Charlie frowned. ‘I have got a red tie, yes,’ he said cautiously. ‘But so what? You think I’m the only man in York to own a red tie?’

  ‘You might be the only man in York to hide his red tie under his mattress,’ Geraldine replied. ‘Microscopic fibres caught in the skin of your victims are being tested and compared with the fabric of your tie. It’s not looking good for you, Charlie.’

  ‘In fact,’ Ian added, with a broad grin, ‘I’d say we’ve got you bang to rights. Unless you have a good reason for hiding a red tie under your mattress?’

  ‘I need to consult with my client,’ the lawyer began.

  ‘No, we’re only just back from a break,’ Ian told her. ‘You can wait a few minutes. There’s no way you can claim he’s in need of another break yet.’

  ‘In the light of new information –’ she began, but this time Geraldine interrupted her.

  ‘Oh, but there’s more,’ she said. ‘Surely you’d like to hear it all before you go off again? We can’t keep stopping and starting every time we catch Charlie out in a lie.’ She turned to Charlie. ‘You see, what was puzzling us was why you would want to kill those two rough sleepers. It all seemed a bit random.’

  ‘That’s because I never did it,’ he protested lamely.

  ‘I’m afraid the forensic evidence tells us that you did,’ Geraldine said. ‘But we now think it was all part of a bigger plan. That’s what happened, isn’t it? You discovered Kelly was having an affair with Mark and that’s when you decided to kill him. But you didn’t want to be caught, so you came up with a plan to disguise his death as one of a series of murders of rough sleepers. Bingo and Alf were random victims, chosen by you just because they happened to be homeless. You could have picked on any of the rough sleepers in York. It didn’t matter to you who they were, as long as they looked like tramps. And then you killed Mark and David, and dressed them up to look like homeless people as well, so no one would suspect –’

  Charlie frowned. ‘David? Who the hell is David?’ He gazed at his lawyer who warned him to say nothing.

  ‘We thought his wife had killed him, but now we believe it was you.’

  ‘Listen,’ Charlie scowled at Geraldine, ‘maybe you think there’s some sort of evidence that might suggest I attacked a couple of tramps – I’m only saying it’s possible – and as for Mark, he got what was coming to him. But I never touched anyone but Mark. Why would I?’

  ‘Because it was all part of your plan. You thought you were being clever, didn’t you?’ Geraldine went on. ‘Only we saw through it right from the start because it wasn’t the brilliant idea you thought it was. No, it was actually a really really stupid idea. If you hadn’t killed those two old men who had done nothing to injure you, it’s possible you might have got away with murdering Mark, who was the only one you thought you had a reason to kill. What hadn’t occurred to you was that with each murder you risked being seen, and left more evidence of your presence, and massively increased the chances of your being caught. You couldn’t have been more stupid if you’d tried.’

  ‘Oh, very well,’ Charlie blurted out, with an angry frown. ‘Yes, I killed them two old tramps and the man who was shagging Kelly. I killed them all, and I’d do it again. So now you know. And all the time no one suspected it was me. You were running around in circles like headless bloody chickens, and you’re calling me stupid!’

  ‘Now you can take a break,’ Ian said.

  As they left the room, Geraldine turned to Ian. ‘Was that very bad of me, to revel in his humiliation?’ she asked.

  ‘Bad isn’t a word I would ever use to describe you.’

  ‘How would you describe the way I behaved just then?’

  He thought for a second. ‘Genius is the word I would use.’ He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. ‘But you do need to take care of
yourself.’

  Before she could respond, he turned and walked quickly away. His shoulders were slightly bowed, but there was more of a spring to his step than she had seen since he had started divorce proceedings against his wife.

  60

  Geraldine was writing up her decision log when Eileen came over and, leaning forward over the side of Geraldine’s desk, confided that she was more relieved than she could say at the outcome of the investigation.

  ‘I really didn’t think we would put this one to bed so quickly,’ she admitted. ‘To be honest,’ she glanced around to check that no one else was listening, ‘there were times when I wasn’t sure we would track him down at all, the whole thing seemed so complicated. Anyway,’ she added, straightening up, ‘now we have him, we can let Ann go.’

  ‘We don’t have any physical proof that links Charlie to David’s death,’ Geraldine pointed out. ‘It’s still possible she killed her husband.’

  ‘Anything’s possible,’ Eileen replied, ‘but we can’t prove anything without evidence. We know Charlie’s a psychopath. I’m not sure we need to look any further for David’s killer.’

  ‘Charlie has confessed to killing Bingo and Alf before he killed Mark, but he’s adamant he wasn’t involved in any deaths after Mark’s. If it was all about Mark, once he was dead why would Charlie have wanted to kill anyone else?’ Geraldine asked.

  ‘There could be any number of reasons,’ Eileen replied. ‘He might have wanted to make sure no one connected him to Mark specifically, or perhaps he discovered he enjoyed killing people. Anyway, I dare say the forensic boys will come up with something. It’s over to them now. We can release Ann. We haven’t got any evidence against her. There’s a perfectly good explanation for her DNA being detected on David.’

  ‘What about the witness who said he was given David’s coat by a woman? Isn’t it likely that was Ann? Who else would have had David’s coat?’ Geraldine persisted.