Daisy in Chains

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Daisy in Chains Page 33

by Sharon Bolton


  ‘This is a gel skullcap.’ She is speaking directly to Maggie. ‘Skateboarders use them for the more dangerous stunts. I know you meant to knock my brains out, but you’ve just given me a nasty headache.’

  Hamish seems about to move.

  ‘Stay where you are, please, Hamish,’ Pete says. ‘Maggie, I want you down on your knees with your hands in the air. I’ll make this as quick and as comfortable as possible, but we have to get you out of here.’

  In response she backs away. ‘Are you mad? Do you imagine for one moment that you’ll convict me? Think about what you’ve been doing. Illegal searches of my house, breaking and entering, threatening me on that Ferris wheel. Not to mention springing a convicted murderer from prison. Any confession of mine that you taped was made under duress, when I was in fear of my life. There is more chance of the two of you going to prison than me.’ She turns to Hamish. ‘As for you, you’re going to rot.’

  ‘Officially, we’ve only ever been in your house with your permission,’ says Pete. ‘The break-in – or, strictly, trespass, because your door was unlocked – is likely to remain an unsolved crime. There is nothing to suggest that the origami rose, the writing under the table, the daisies delivered on Christmas Day were anything to do with us.’

  ‘I know they were.’ She’s practically spitting at him. ‘You staged that break-in so I’d agree to the crime scene people coming in. You released my personal information to Facebook too. You were trying to frighten me, to intimidate me into making a false confession.’

  ‘Prove it,’ says Pete. ‘Prove that the three of us had anything to do with that.’

  ‘As for the Ferris wheel incident,’ says Liz, ‘I remember it quite differently. It was your idea. You frightened me when we were at the top. Sandra and Bear will back me up on that, by the way.’

  Maggie is getting angrier by the second and Pete knows he needs to wrap this up. But she has turned on Hamish now. ‘You escaped from prison and stole a plane. That is a serious crime, and if these two jerks helped you, then that alone is enough—’

  ‘Actually, he didn’t.’ The new voice cuts through the cold air of the cave. Pete should have known Latimer wouldn’t be able to keep out of it for long. Keeping him in the dark about the unofficial undercover operation he and Liz instigated is probably still something he’ll have to answer for. Oddly, though, he finds himself quite relieved to see the boss. Especially as he hasn’t come alone. At least two of the uniformed officers they left outside have made their way in with the DCI. Sunday is with them too.

  Latimer glances around the cave and addresses Maggie. ‘There was no ten-mile hike across the Isle of Wight, no James Bond style escape in a light aircraft,’ he tells her. ‘The ladder and the handmade key were only to provide some photographs that Sunday here used to create a very convincing fake BBC website. And to provide a bit of noise on Twitter. Hamish left Parkhurst in a police car and came here via the Isle of Wight ferry and the M5. Technically, he is still in police custody and no crimes have been committed by my team.’ He glances over at Pete and drops his voice. ‘Although God knows they came close.’

  ‘Maggie,’ says Hamish, ‘you need to go with Pete now.’

  Maggie turns back to Hamish and shakes her head. Her eyes don’t leave his, although she must surely be able to sense, if not see, that Pete, Latimer, Sunday and Liz are all making their way towards her. God knows how they’ll get her out of here uninjured if she fights, but they have to bring this to an end. Behind them, more uniformed constables are entering the cave.

  ‘You love me,’ Maggie tells Hamish. ‘I know you do.’

  ‘No.’ Liz speaks up, her voice echoing through the cave. ‘He loves me. That part was true.’

  Hamish takes the last step that will bring him up to Maggie.

  ‘And that dog isn’t called Daisy,’ Liz shouts. ‘She’s called Cruella.’

  Maggie seems to sway but she’s still looking at Hamish. Pete doesn’t think either of them have blinked for the better part of a minute. Hamish reaches out and puts his hands on her shoulders, bends down and kisses her cheek, whispers something in her ear. She seems to slump against him. Hamish looks over her shoulder at Pete and nods.

  With a sudden, painful screech, Maggie rears up and strikes out at Hamish. Taken by surprise, he loses his balance. Liz rushes forward. Maggie darts away. She cannot leave the cave, there are too many officers blocking her way, but she isn’t heading for the exit. She stumbles across the last few stretches of damp limestone to the edge of the river.

  ‘Daisy!’ yells Hamish, as she throws herself into the water.

  The current reaches up and grabs a hold of her. Every police officer in the cave runs to the river’s edge and shines his torch on the water. In Latimer’s beam they think they catch a glimpse of a pale hand as the water rushes underground. Then nothing.

  Chapter 104

  The Times Online, Thursday, 14 January 2016

  ‘CONVICTED’ MURDERER FREED PENDING APPEAL

  Hamish Wolfe was released from prison yesterday by a High Court judge pending a fresh appeal into his conviction. ‘It would appear, from what I have learned this morning,’ said Lord Justice Robinson, ‘that new evidence in this case has come to light. If substantiated it may, in the fullness of time, lead to a quashing of Mr Wolfe’s conviction. In the meantime, I see no reason why Mr Wolfe should not rejoin his family.’

  Police have, this morning, named thirty-eight-year-old lawyer and true-crime author Maggie Rose as their new prime suspect in the murders of Jessie Tout, Chloe Wood and Myrtle Reid. Rose fled police custody during an attempted arrest two days ago and is believed to have died. A police search for her body is currently under way.

  Hamish Wolfe, thirty-eight, was given a whole life tariff in 2014 and has served fifteen months of his sentence, primarily in HMP Isle of Wight. While family and friends campaigned energetically for his release, the turning point came when he secured the confidence and support of his police liaison officer, Detective Constable Elizabeth Nuttall, thirty-four.

  The divorced mother-of-two confirmed to reporters this morning that she and Wolfe are romantically involved and expect to marry shortly after his release has been formalized.

  Nuttall is not the only woman to fall prey to the handsome former surgeon’s dark charm (he received, allegedly, over a hundred letters a week in prison), but in her case, the infatuation might cost her dear. A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police confirmed this morning that she has been suspended from her CID job and is expected to face misconduct charges for entering into a relationship with a convicted prisoner without informing her superiors. If it is found that she acted incorrectly, she may be dismissed from the police service.

  At a press conference this morning, senior officer DCI Tim Latimer refused to condemn DC Nuttall. He said, ‘Clearly there needs to be a full investigation, but at this stage I’m proud that my officers, in particular Detective Sergeant Pete Weston and Detective Constable Liz Nuttall, were prepared to put the pursuit of justice before personal considerations.’

  Hamish Wolfe has been unavailable for comment today and is believed to be with his parents at an undisclosed location, but Ms Nuttall told us that she couldn’t be happier that her fiancé’s innocence has been proven and that they can look forward to a normal life together. ‘I started to believe Hamish shortly after I became his liaison officer,’ she told us. ‘After that it was a question of finding proof, and of convincing my colleagues that there’d been a miscarriage of justice.’

  The couple have not yet set a date for their wedding. ‘Soon,’ Ms Nuttall told us. ‘Very soon. Hamish needs some time, obviously, to get used to being in the outside world again. I’m going to need to be patient with him, cut him some slack but, yes, it’s going to happen soon. No, I haven’t spoken to him for a couple of days, but that’s fine. He needs some space.’

  When I ask what would have happened if proof hadn’t been forthcoming, if she’d remained convinced of his guilt, sh
e doesn’t have a ready response to hand. I decide to push a little and ask which came first, the belief in his innocence, or a dangerously irresistible attraction.

  ‘I fell in love,’ she says. ‘Obviously I’m much happier to love an innocent man, but if he’d been guilty?’ She pauses for a few seconds before giving me her answer: ‘I would have loved him just the same.’

  Acknowledgements

  My grateful thanks to:

  My family, including my mother-in-law, who gets dragged on research trips during the coldest months of the year and who never seems to mind. My dog, Lupe, for being beautifully behaved during our stay at the Crown in Wells and for not killing the cathedral cat. Peter Warner, for advice on what lawyers can and can’t get up to with convicted felons. Adrian Summons for the detecting stuff. Brian Snell of the Mendip Caving Group, for help with disposing of bodies beneath the Mendip Hills. (Sidcot Swallet and Goatchurch Cavern are real caves, but Rill Cavern and Gossam Cave are my inventions.) Any remaining mistakes are my own.

  My two UK editors, Sarah Adams and Frankie Gray, both of whom worked exceptionally hard to get Daisy to the publishable stage. A cheery wave, also, to Kelley Ragland at St Martin’s Press in the US, Andrea Best at Goldmann in Germany and all my lovely overseas publishers.

  As ever, the Transworld team: Alison Barrow, Tom Chicken, Elspeth Dougall, Christina Ellicott, Larry Finlay, Giulia Giordano, Gary Hartley, Becky Hunter, Louise Jones, Naomi Mantin, Deirdre O’Connell, Gareth Pottle, Bradley Rose, Kate Samano, Bill Scott-Kerr and Nicola Wright.

  By no means least, my agent, Anne-Marie Doulton, and her colleagues, the Buckmans.

  Also by Sharon Bolton

  (previously published as S. J. Bolton)

  Sacrifice

  Awakening

  Blood Harvest

  Now You See Me

  Dead Scared

  Lost

  A Dark and Twisted Tide

  Little Black Lies

  About the Author

  SHARON BOLTON is a Mary Higgins Clark Award winner and an ITW Thriller Award, CWA Gold Dagger and Barry Award nominee. Her books included the Lacey Flint novels: Now You See Me, Dead Scared, Lost, and A Dark and Twisted Tide. She lives near London, England. You can sign up for email updates here.

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 104

  Acknowledgements

  Also by Sharon Bolton

  About the Author

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  DAISY IN CHAINS. Copyright © 2016 by Sharon Bolton. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  www.minotaurbooks.com

  Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].

  First published in Great Britain by Bantam Press, an imprint of Transworld Publishers, a Random House Group company

  First U.S. Edition: September 2016

  eISBN 9781250103437

  First eBook edition: September 2016

 

 

 


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