Det Annie Macpherson 01 - Primed By The Past

by Speake, Barbara Fagan

  Before continuing, she asked for a glass of water, which Annie arranged. After a few sips, she seemed to compose herself once again. Annie felt herself warming to the woman at last. This was clearly difficult for her.

  ‘He turned nasty as soon as I got him into his apartment. Started calling me names, swearing at me, saying it was my fault that Angela was in hospital fighting for her life. I was so shocked I didn’t know what to say.’

  ‘What did he mean that it was your fault?’

  ‘I don’t know really; he never explained. He became incoherent, started mumbling about how much he loved her, but that she frustrated him. He said she was never good in bed, that he wanted to love her but she wouldn’t let him.’

  Genevieve Montgomery was clearly becoming distressed and her voice was breaking. Annie knew that a strong woman like her would be humiliated at being assaulted by a man, especially one that she trusted.

  ‘I loved him, and I thought he loved me. Maybe it was all an act, maybe he just wanted the sex. I thought he wanted more. I did.’ She began crying and Bronski and Annie gave her time to gain some control before they recorded more of the specifics about the time the attack happened, how she managed to get away from him and so on. She agreed that she wanted to press charges and Bronski left the room to organise the arrest of George Goodman.

  When Annie and Genevieve Montgomery were alone, Annie focused on the question she knew the woman wouldn’t want to answer. ‘Did he say if he attacked Angela Goodman, if he was the one responsible for the condition she is in now?’ Annie wasn’t sure if the woman would answer, even though she clearly wanted him arrested for the assault on her.

  ‘He didn’t say he did but he didn’t deny it either. He started hitting me when I asked him if he was responsible for it.’

  Annie and Bronski took Genevieve Montgomery’s statement and after it was signed, Annie arranged for one of the woman’s staff to come to the station and accompany her back to her apartment house. When Annie got back up to the office, Bronski was on the phone. ‘So he’ll be here in about 15 minutes; too drunk to interview? OK, I’ll arrange it.’

  44

  When Annie finally opened her own front door, all she could think about was running a hot bath and having a long soak. It had been quite a day. The light was flashing on her answer machine. At first she was comforted to hear her mother’s voice, but the news wasn’t good. Andrew wasn’t being discharged from hospital as they’d hoped. More tests were required. The epilepsy was still not under control. More than anything, the emotional part of her wanted to get on a plane home and see her family. Her rational self knew differently. She was thousands of miles away and, realistically, there was nothing she could do.

  After her bath, Annie telephoned her mum. Luckily, Mrs Macpherson was at home, getting a change of clothing for Andrew, so for once Annie managed to speak to her directly.

  ‘Mum, I could arrange to come back.’

  ‘No dear, I won’t hear of it. You’re having an opportunity that will probably never come again and besides, you know Andrew. He’ll come round, he always does. It’s just taking a while longer this time.’

  Annie paced around the room, still listening to her mother. The guilt she was feeling wasn’t helped by the fact that her mother continued the conversation by praising Annie’s ex-fiancé for his support. Although Annie was grateful for his concern, part of her felt that it wasn’t his business any more and his involvement with her family just made things more difficult for her. The next part of the conversation was predictable.

  ‘Sweetheart, I think Paul still has feelings for you. He doesn’t say it, but I can tell, and he’s …’

  ‘Mum, please. This doesn’t help. I can’t go on justifying what I did. It’s over, Mum.’

  ‘I’m sorry, dear, it’s just that ...’ Annie had to listen to her mum’s views yet again. The instant relief she felt when she put the phone down turned to anger.

  ‘Over 3000 miles, and I still can’t get away from you!’ she shouted as she went into the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, the contents offered little inspiration nor did she really have the energy to prepare anything. ‘Thanks, Paul,’ she yelled, slamming the refrigerator door shut. Weariness suddenly overwhelmed her. Wandering into the living room, she settled on to the couch and switched the TV on.

  ‘Oh thanks, hundreds of channels and nothing decent to watch.’ Drawing the throw around her and snuggling down, Annie found that she couldn’t keep her eyes open.

  The sound of her cellphone roused her, and reaching into her bathrobe pocket, she checked her watch quickly. She realised she’d been asleep nearly an hour.

  The caller ID read: ‘Capt Hegarty’.

  Annie answered, trying to compose herself. ‘Detective Macpherson.’

  ‘Hi Annie.’

  ‘Hi Charlie. Is everything all right? Angela? Has something happened?’ Pulling her robe around her, Annie wasn’t sure she could face hearing the worst and knowing that their investigation would turn into a murder inquiry.

  ‘It’s not Angela: she’s still holding her own. Your partner, Detective Bronski has just phoned me about arresting George. Listen, can we talk? I …’

  ‘Sure, do you want me to come down to the hospital? I can get a taxi pretty quickly.’

  ‘No, but thanks for the offer. If I’m being honest, I need to get out of here for a while. The nurses have told me to go out and get something to eat.’

  ‘They’re right, you’ve been there non stop.’ Her words echoed similar things she’d said to her mum a couple of hours earlier.

  ‘Only, I’m sick of eating alone, so I was just wondering if you’ve eaten yet?’

  They’d decided that rather than sit in a restaurant, Charlie would pick up some Chinese food and come over to Annie’s. The half hour had afforded her time to change into a pair of black jeans and a fresh linen blouse. Her long blond curls had dried naturally while she was asleep on the couch.

  Pausing in the kitchen, she looked around. The built in table was set with plates and knives and forks and she also put out some chopsticks that she found in a drawer. She wondered if it would be rude to have a glass of wine before he arrived. She needed something to settle herself. Pouring a glass out, for a split second she let herself imagine that this was a date, rather than business, but then her professional self took charge.

  ‘Will I ever find a man I can feel comfortable with?’ she asked herself. Her reverie was broken by the sound of the apartment buzzer.

  Charlie looked exhausted. Clearly the nurses were right and although she and Bronski had only seen him the day before, he’d deteriorated further in that time.

  ‘Come in. I’ll take those. Have a seat. I’ve started some white wine, but I have red or a beer.’

  ‘Thanks, I’ll just have a beer. I’ll be driving soon. Besides, a glass of wine might put me to sleep.’ Annie took a bottle of beer from the refrigerator and Charlie declined a glass.

  ‘Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. You look as if you could sleep for a week.’

  Charlie took a swig of beer as Annie opened the boxes of food. ‘This is all so bizarre, I can’t get my head around it. I left Afghanistan less than a month ago. Then I was fly fishing in Montana, now I’m here, listening to machines keeping my sister alive, wondering every moment who could have done this to her, willing her to wake up and tell me.’

  ‘She’s our only witness and there isn’t much evidence to go on. Apart from Jim Moorcroft’s fingerprints, the rest is circumstantial, certainly not enough to arrest anyone at this stage. We seem to have more questions than answers.’ By now Annie had given up on the chopsticks and resorted to her fork. Charlie was much more adept.

  ‘So what’s all this about George? Your detective colleague didn’t say much.’

  ‘He’s sleeping in a
cell right now. We can’t interview him until the morning, when he’s cleared by the doctor. It will be about an alleged assault on Genevieve Montgomery.’

  ‘She’s the woman he was having the affair with?’

  ‘Aye, but while we are at it, we will press him again about Angela, of course.’

  ‘It’s not him, I know it.’ Charlie picked his beer up and took another swig.

  ‘What do you mean? Are you saying that he didn’t assault Genevieve Montgomery or that he didn’t attack your sister?’

  ‘I don’t know about the Montgomery woman, but I know George Goodman. I don’t think he is capable of causing the injuries that Angela has. She would have told me if he was violent. You get a feel for people being in the forces, as you must do in your job.’

  ‘You do,’ but Annie didn’t want to admit how wrong she’d been about his sister. ‘I have to say, I didn’t like George much when we interviewed him, but he didn’t strike me as the perpetrator, and there was no real evidence linking him, and …’

  ‘What, is there something else?’ Charlie stopped eating, waiting for Annie to reply.

  ‘Just something, that is still in the back of my mind. Remember the night I talked to you in the hospital and you showed me the email from Angela?’

  ‘I remember, I still have it on my phone. It’s in my jacket.’

  ‘We’ll find it again in a minute, but as I recall, she said something about wanting to talk to you, that there were things she needed to tell you.’

  Charlie put his chopsticks down and retrieved his jacket. Taking his phone out of the pocket, he scanned his emails again. ‘Here it is,’ and he read it out loud for them both. ‘So what are you thinking?’ he said as he finished.

  ‘Could she have wanted to tell you that George was a problem, that maybe she was being subjected to domestic violence?’

  Charlie placed the phone back in his jacket pocket, and then finished his beer. It was clear to Annie that he was taking his time to reply.

  ‘No, I can’t say why, but I just don’t buy it. I am sure she would have told me that. There must have been something else that she wanted to tell me. There was never any hint that there were problems with George.’ Charlie pushed his plate away, no longer interested in the food.

  ‘Without stating the obvious, then why the affair? Why Genevieve Montgomery?’ Annie too had finished her food. This wasn’t really a conversation to have over a meal and Annie regretted that she hadn’t said as much at the beginning.

  Charlie put his head in his hands and began to knead his forehead. ‘I don’t know, I just don’t know. Look, I’m sorry, maybe I need a coffee.’

  ‘Sure, why don’t you go into the living room. I’ll clear these up, and then bring the coffee through.’ While Charlie was in the living room, Annie heard him speaking to the nurse on duty, catching up on Angela’s condition. Annie busied herself making the coffee, trying not to eavesdrop, but the apartment was so small she could overhear everything he said. She hesitated going in until he had finished the call.

  ‘There’s no change,’ he said to Annie as she put the two cups down on the coffee table and sat next to him.

  ‘So, you interview George in the morning? I guess it’s a matter of seeing what he says.’

  ‘We should know more soon enough. Tell me about the first husband, Dennis Cullen.’

  ‘Not much to tell really. He seemed OK to me, but I was a lot younger at the time so I wouldn’t have picked up if there were any problems. He didn’t come to our house very often and Angie was with us most days. He must have got sick of that. I think she left him though, not the other way around.’

  ‘He lives in Rhode Island now.’

  ‘Oh, so you managed to trace him?’

  ‘At the moment, he’s in New York on business. We’re waiting for him to return our calls.’

  ‘I think you’ll find that he hasn’t been in contact with Angie for years. I don’t even know if he’s remarried or not.’

  ‘We may be able to fill you in when we’ve been in touch.’

  Annie didn’t know if they should continue talking about the case. She really wanted to know more about him. Something about him fascinated her. Maybe it was the military manner or the fact that he was really good looking, but she couldn’t help thinking whether he would be in her apartment now if they’d met under other circumstances.

  Charlie had gone quiet for a few minutes and then put his coffee cup on the table. ‘I know you probably want to change the subject, but there is something worrying me a bit. Jackie hasn’t been to the hospital today at all.’

  ‘Is she visiting every day?’ Annie looked at him but hoped he wouldn’t detect any sign of jealousy.

  ‘Yes, and if not, she usually texts me to let me know.’

  ‘Maybe she’s busy at work.’ Annie recalled their last conversation and her manner. There wasn’t much to like about the woman, in Annie’s view. What was Charlie seeing in her – a vulnerable female?

  ‘Maybe, but she’s not returning my calls. I might go over to her workplace in the morning. Speaking of morning, I really ought to think about going.’

  ‘Are you going back to the hospital or to the motel?’ Annie asked as the two of them got up and took the cups through to the kitchen.

  ‘I’m not sure I can go back tonight and sleep on the chair again. The nurse told me off as I was leaving to come here and said that I need to sleep in a proper bed tonight. Perhaps she’s right, but I feel like I have to be there, like she needs me.’

  ‘Charlie, you need to be selfish, just this once. When Angela regains consciousness they’ll let you know. She’ll need you then.’

  ‘You’re right.’ Charlie leaned across and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Thanks for listening to me.’

  Annie could still smell his aftershave when he’d gone.

  Later, Annie was just switching off her bedside lamp when she got a text message. It was Charlie saying that he was back at the motel and thanking her for the company. Annie smiled as she read the text a second time. She was definitely warming to Captain Charles Hegarty.

  45

  Jim Moorcroft was pacing up and down the living room, periodically looking through the curtains. Three cars, then four passed the house. One slowed down to park in front of his neighbour’s house. Finally, he heard Jackie pull her car into the drive, the headlights illuminating the living room window. Glancing at his watch, he confirmed that it was past 11 pm and she’d been out for hours. His fists clenched, he drew back from the window and walked into the hall.

  Jackie put her key in the lock, and as she opened the door, he was only inches away from her.

  ‘Jim, what’s going on? You gave me a fright.’ Jackie turned her back on him as she shut the door behind her.

  ‘Where have you been?’

  There was a tone in his voice that scared her, but she dared not show it. Remain calm, she told herself. ‘I texted you; said I was going to stop at the mall on the way home, and then I decided to have something to eat while I was out.’ Jackie Winters moved past him in the hallway, unbuttoning her jacket as she tried to judge his mood further. His silence was more ominous than the shouting. She had to break it.

  ‘What’s bothering you?’

  ‘You haven’t got any shopping bags.’ Jim Moorcroft followed her into the kitchen. Abandoning the idea of taking her jacket off, she filled the kettle with water and turned on the stove instead.

  ‘There was nothing left in the sales. Everything was picked over and what there was, still wasn’t reduced enough to make me want to buy it. It’s not a crime coming home empty handed, is it?’ After placing the two cups on the counter, she slowly walked over to the refrigerator for the milk. Her movements belied how she felt.

  ‘It is, if you never went to the mall in t
he first place.’ This time his voice was definitely raised.

  ‘What?’ Jackie looked at him quizzically.

  ‘Where were you really? I know you’re lying to me.’

  With her back to him, Jackie paused for a moment, no longer interested in preparing a late night drink. Slowly turning around, she tried to judge where the conversation was going. Her stomach was churning.

  ‘What’s this about Jim? What are you implying?’ Her voice held steady, just.

  ‘Jennie and Sarah know what you’re up to. I overheard them by the water cooler, giggling about your affair.’ By now he was pacing in the kitchen, never a good sign.

  ‘I’m not having an affair. They must have been talking about someone else. Besides, we’re not married, so strictly speaking I can’t have an affair.’

  ‘Don’t play the smart bitch with me, Jackie.’

  ‘I can do what I want, when I want, and I’m not being subjected to accusations in my own home, nor am I going to justify myself to you.’ Jackie tried to muster some bravado, which she didn’t actually feel, while all the time she considered the best way of getting out of the situation, before he did anything to her.

  ‘That’s where you’re wrong Jackie. This isn’t your home, it’s mine and you’re only here because I want you to be, but that can change.’

  Jackie felt herself shiver, hoping that it didn’t show.

  ‘You know that I hate liars and you’re lying to me. I followed you tonight. I know you went right past the mall and into New Britain. I followed you all the way to an apartment house, and you’ve been gone hours.’

  Jackie had heard enough. Backing out of the kitchen, she snatched up her handbag in the hall. Jim Moorcroft followed her, grabbing her arm.