'It's insane, isn't it? But you've got to remember this was seventeen years ago, and I'm only just hearing about it for the first time. So all I've got to go on is what I've been told. Which isn't much. I don't know why she didn't go to the police, but what she did instead was cut me out of her life. And by extension, your life.'
'I can't believe I'm hearing this. The whole thing is completely mad. It's like a parallel universe. You say this is the first you've heard about this. Who told you? Did Corinna accuse you? Or what?'
Jay shook her head wearily. 'No. I wish she had. To tell you the truth, I wish she'd gone to the police.' She spoke with a vehemence it would be hard to doubt. 'Then this could all have been cleared up years ago. Whoever she saw, it wasn't me. She punished me for a crime I didn't commit.'
'So if it wasn't Corinna, who did tell you?'
'I had a phone call today from someone I used to know. This old friend knows a psychiatrist called Charlie Flint.'
'Charlie Flint? She was at my mother's house last Saturday. Remember? I told you about her. She's a dyke, she was really kind to me.'
Jay gave a mirthless smile. It took all the warmth from her face, turning it into a dangerous, sardonic mask. 'Exactly. She was really kind to you because she's the person your mother has asked to investigate me.'
Magda clamped her hands to the side of her head and pressed her fingers into her scalp. 'This just gets worse. You're saying Charlie was kind to me because she's spying on us?'
'Not us. Me. According to my source, your mother wants to split us up. So she's set Charlie the task of digging into my past and proving I'm a serial killer. So when she reveals the awful truth, you'll run a mile.'
Magda laughed, an off-kilter sound that had nothing to do with joy. 'So who the fuck are you supposed to have killed? Apart from this rower?'
Jay ticked them off on her fingers. 'First, Jess. Then Kathy. My former business partner. I told you about that.'
'The climbing accident? But you had no choice. That wasn't murder. You told me, the judge said you did the only thing you could to save yourself. No way was it murder.'
'I know. But Charlie Flint spent the weekend on Skye, apparently trying to prove otherwise.' Jay drank some wine and shuddered. 'It's horrible, the idea that I could kill Kathy deliberately. She was my friend, for God's sake. I know we didn't always see eye to eye in business, but you don't throw someone off a bloody mountain for that.' She made a derisive sound. 'Besides, it's not exactly a reliable way of killing someone. People sometimes live to tell the tale when they come off a mountain. If I was the killing kind, I'd like to think I've got the brains to pick a better way of doing it.' She rubbed her eyes with one hand, as if brushing a tear away. 'Kathy. Unbelievable.'
'That's horrible,' Magda said, reaching out for Jay's free hand and squeezing it tight.
'And then there's Ulf Ingemarsson,' Jay said. 'At least he was actually murdered. Though not by me, obviously.'
'Who's that? I've never heard of him. Or her.'
'Ulf Ingemarsson was a Swedish programmer who had an idea very similar to 24/7. Back before we launched, we talked to him about licensing the software he was developing. It would have worked well with what we had in mind. But we couldn't agree terms. A bit later, he was murdered in the course of a burglary in the Spanish villa where he was on holiday. That's what the Spanish police say.' As anger seeped into her voice, Jay's narrative gained momentum. 'They couldn't pinpoint the exact day he died, but my diary was crammed with appointments all that week. Like I said, this was back before we launched and I was desperately trying to get all my ducks in a row. I didn't have time to nip off to some mountain village in Spain and knock off the so-called opposition. Who wasn't actually opposition because he didn't have the business nous or the travel contacts to make it work.' Jay threw up her hands in exasperation.
Magda frowned. 'So how did you get dragged in? If the police said it was a burglary?'
'Ingemarsson had a girlfriend who's developed an obsession about 24/7. She thinks either I killed him or I had him killed for his programs. Because Kathy was the IT brain behind doitnow.com and she wasn't around any more. So obviously I was going to have to steal the expertise,' she said sarcastically. 'Like Vinny Fitz couldn't write code or something. Bloody ridiculous. So the girlfriend keeps trying to get a prosecution or a civil case off the ground against me, but she's never got past the first hurdle. It's a nonsense from start to finish.'
'I don't understand. How would my mother get this crazy stuff into her head?'
Jay took another bottle of red from the wine store and opened it as she spoke. 'None of this is secret. On the face of it, it looks as if people who come between me and what I want have a nasty habit of dying. Of course, that doesn't take into account all the people who have thwarted me and lived to tell the tale.' Her smile was crooked, her eyes narrowed. 'I didn't kill anybody, Magda, but there have been rumours. Especially about Kathy and Ulf Ingemarsson. Dig deep enough on the internet and you'll always find conspiracy theories about all sorts of shit. Given that she already believed I'd killed Jess, I guess Corinna felt motivated to do the digging.'
Magda groaned. 'I can't believe this is my mother we're talking about. If she's got an issue with my lover, I'm the person she should be talking to, not some virtual stranger. I don't understand what's going on here.'
Jay drank some wine and closed her eyes. 'I imagine she's scared for you.' She opened her eyes and fixed Magda with a stare. 'Because there's one more death she's trying to pin on me.'
She saw dread dawn on Magda's face. 'Oh no. No. That would be…' She looked as if she would burst into tears. 'Not Philip. Tell me she doesn't think you killed Philip.'
Jay nodded. 'I'm afraid so. Ironic, isn't it? He was almost certainly killed when we were together. You're my alibi. Though it wouldn't carry much weight these days, not now you're sleeping with me. Thank God the court believed Paul and Joanna were guilty. Otherwise your bloody, bloody mother would probably be down the police station demanding they arrest me.' The sudden overspill of bitterness caught Jay by surprise. She'd managed to keep the lid nailed down on her rage thus far, but it was threatening to break free now. And she couldn't afford that. Exposing Magda to the full flood of her fulminating fury would only scare her. Maybe even make her wonder whether there was a kernel of truth in what her mother was suggesting.
Magda jumped to her feet. 'I'm going to call her right now. She's got to put a stop to this. It's outrageous. It's slander, for fuck's sake.'
Quick on her feet, Jay intercepted her, grabbing her wrists in a hold that was strong but not rough. 'No,' she said softly. 'No, Magda. It'll just make things worse. I'm not trying to start a war between you and your family.'
'She's the one starting a war. I'm not having this, Jay. I won't have somebody sneaking around trying to smear your reputation.' Magda tried to pull free, but Jay held firm.
'Please, Magda. Leave it. What I told you, it wasn't intended to make you take sides. I know you love me. It's because I trust you that I was able to tell you all this.' She released one wrist and pulled Magda close. She could feel their hearts beating in counterpoint. Her body earthed the tension in Magda; she could feel her body soften. 'The only reason I've told you is so you know the truth. Corinna's going to find nothing against me because there's nothing to find because I didn't murder anybody.'
'But, Jay-'
'Ssh. She'll let it lie if she's got any sense.' Jay smooched half a dozen tiny kisses against Magda's mouth. Reassurance. 'But if she doesn't… well, you already know the truth. It's not going to come as a shock to you.' Better to feel betrayed by Corinna than me. 'I know this has been a horrible shock for you. But we're OK, you and me. Charlie Flint can look where she likes, talk to whoever she fancies talking to. But she can't hurt us.'
'But what if…' Magda leaned into Jay, who released her other wrist. They stood tight together, arms wrapped around each other, heat to heat.
'What if nothing. I told you, there'
s nothing to find.'
Magda pulled back so she could look into Jay's face. 'There was nothing to find against Joanna and Paul either. Till you made something.'
It was a terrible, chilling moment. Until that point, it hadn't actually occurred to Jay that Corinna Newsam might be as ruthless as she was. Jay could feel her face freeze. For a moment, she could think of nothing to say. 'Corinna wouldn't do that,' she said at last. 'She wouldn't know where to start.'
Magda's eyes were wide with fear. 'She wouldn't, you're right. But Charlie Flint might.'
12
Tuesday
By the time Charlie set off that morning, only a little of her optimism had been knocked out of her. To her surprise, when she'd returned the night before, Maria had been less than enthusiastic about her trip to the North East. 'I think you should wait a day or two,' she'd said when Charlie had fallen into bed beside her. 'Look at you. You're exhausted. All that driving at the weekend and today you've been to London and Oxford. There's no rush, Charlie. Whatever happened in Roker happened twenty years ago. A couple of days is not going to make any difference.'
'I know that, but I don't want to lose momentum,' Charlie said, snuggling up to Maria, taking comfort in the familiar curves and angles of her body.
'If taking a two-day break means you lose momentum, it doesn't say much for your enthusiasm,' Maria said drily.
'Besides, there's always the risk that Corinna's going to sleep on it and decide she's not as convinced as she thought she was. If she confronts Magda and Jay finds out what's been going on, she might head up to the North East herself to make sure I don't find anything she doesn't want found.'
Maria jerked away from her and pushed herself upright, horror on her face. 'She'd come after you?'
'That's not what I said. And it's not what I meant.' The last thing she needed was Maria choosing now to become overprotective. Charlie rolled her eyes. 'I just meant she'd make sure there was nothing to be found. That's all.'
'This is the woman that you and Nick think is a killer. According to you, she kills people who get in her way. And getting in her way is exactly what you're doing. Christ, Charlie, how can you even think about going up there if there's the slightest chance of her coming after you?'
'She's not going to be coming after me, Maria. For a start, too many people know that I've been looking into the deaths in her past. Only a complete fool would think they could bump me off and not be at the heart of a massive and highly focused investigation. And Jay Stewart is nobody's fool.' Charlie put her arm around Maria and gave her a squeeze. 'You worry too much.'
'No,' Maria said, cross now. 'I don't worry too much. I don't worry nearly enough about you. If there's even a chance of Jay Stewart turning up in the North East, I don't want you going there. Death seems to follow her around. Even if she's not coming after you, knowing my luck you'd get swept away by a tsunami or something.'
'You don't get tsunamis in Tyne and Wear,' Charlie said, laughing at the thought. 'Nothing bad is going to happen, I promise.'
'You're determined, aren't you? There's nothing I can say that will make you change your mind?'
Charlie shook her head. 'I'm afraid not. I've got this under my skin. I need to follow it through to the end.'
'So why not wait till the weekend and I can go with you? Jay's not going to come after you if there's someone else around, is she?'
Charlie felt a surge of warmth towards Maria. Right now, the thought of being done with her to make way for Lisa was incomprehensible. If she could stay away from Lisa, if she could refuse to feed the appetite for her, she could get past this, Charlie was convinced. Maria would never know. She'd never have to comprehend the world of hurt Charlie had considered visiting on her. 'You're very sweet,' she said. 'And I love you for it. But I can't wait till the weekend. I don't know yet who I'm going to need to talk to, but chances are there will be places I need to go that won't be open at the weekend. Local paper offices, for example. Look, I'll be fine. You know me, babe. I don't take stupid risks.' She rubbed her head against Maria's chest.
'That's what I always thought,' Maria said. 'But when I hear you talk like this, I'm not so sure.' She stroked Charlie's hair. 'I love you. I don't want anything bad to happen to you.'
'And it won't. You think if it was that dangerous Nick would let me go? He knows what I'm planning and he hasn't tried to stop me.' Well, it was mostly true.
And so Maria had given in. But it had taken the edge off Charlie's pleasure with her brainwave. She was just past York when Nick called. 'Morning, Charlie,' he said cheerily. 'Got your message last night. You sure you don't want to wait till I've got a day off so I can come with you?'
'Nice of you to ask, Nick. But I don't think Corinna's going to rush into confronting Jay. So there's no reason to be worried, as I keep telling Maria. Besides, I'm already on the road.'
Nick chuckled. 'I wasn't thinking of Jay pursuing you like an avenging Fury. I just thought the local lads might be more helpful if you had a man with a warrant card with you.'
'You're probably right. But I'm just crossing the t's and dotting the i's.' Charlie pulled over into the middle lane where the driving was a little less hazardous. Even with hands-free, it wasn't straightforward to multitask when the conversation required concentration. 'I don't really expect to find any fresh evidence in a twenty-year-old missing persons case. All it was-I was talking about Jay with a friend of mine, Lisa Kent. She's a therapist — she runs NV, the self-help seminar company.'
'I've heard of them, yes.'
'Well, she used to know Jay years ago, when they were both undergraduates. Anyway, she said something about Jay's issues all going back to her mother. Nothing revelatory — if I'd thought about it, I'd have said exactly the same thing, it's basic. But in the context of what I'd been thinking about, it just clicked and I thought, "Of course. And if she is a killer, it's entirely possible her supposedly missing mother was the first victim." So I thought I'd take a look.'
'So do many of your clients kick off by murdering their mothers?'
It was Charlie's turn for the dark chuckle. 'I think it happens a lot more than we know about. Anyway, did you manage to find someone for me to talk to?'
'Like you said, it was twenty years ago. But that has an upside as well as the obvious downside that there's not likely to be any senior officers still serving.' He paused expectantly.
Charlie obliged. 'What's the upside?'
'It's been so long, there's not likely to be anything sensitive in there. And since you are an accredited Home Office expert witness-'
'You can't say that. I'm suspended,' Charlie protested.
'Damn, I knew there was something I forgot. It's OK, Charlie, they couldn't give a shit, not over case papers from 1990. If anybody calls you on it, tell them I've got the memory retention of a goldfish. Look, you'll be fine. It's not like you don't know how to behave in a cop shop.'
'So they're expecting me?'
'That's right. Because it's such an old case, the paperwork isn't held at the local office or at HQ. They've got a dedicated storage facility near force headquarters at Ponteland. I'll text you the address and the directions. The woman who runs it is a retired sergeant. Hester Langhope is her name. She wants you to give her an hour's notice. I'll text you her number as well.'
'Thanks, Nick. I owe you a big drink.'
'You do. By the way, how did it go with Corinna?'
'I took an executive decision to bullshit her. I told her there was no evidence because Jay hadn't done anything.'
There was a long pause, then Nick said, 'It's just as well you don't do this for a living. I don't think private investigators are meant to make it up as they go along. I thought we'd decided that she probably had done all of them? We just didn't have enough evidence?'
'We did. But "not proven" isn't a good verdict to deliver to someone who's already said she'd rather take the law into her own hands than sit quietly while her daughter shacks up with a woman she considers the lesb
ian equivalent of Hannibal Lecter. So until I get anything approaching solid evidence, the sane thing is to keep lying to Corinna.' Charlie slowed to let a white van cut in front of her as the three lanes narrowed to two.
'And you're comfortable with Magda Newsam under Jay's roof?'
'You sound like Corinna. I don't think Magda's at risk. It sounds like they're besotted with each other. Besides, Jay doesn't do crimes of passion. Her murders are strictly functional. They're about getting what she wants. And right now, she's got that. Come on, Nick, you allegedly did a degree in psychology, you should be as sure of this as I am.'
'I suppose,' he said. 'OK. I'm texting you that stuff now. Call me when you've done your digging.'
*
Charlie quickly understood how Hester Langhope had ended up spending her retirement running the evidence and records-storage facility for Northumbria Police. Within minutes of meeting her, it was obvious that she married terrifying efficiency with the sort of personal warmth that makes people want to sit down and unburden themselves of their woes. Not that she looked motherly. She was tall and rangy with the kind of haircut and make-up that require minimal commitment in the morning. Her jeans were clean and pressed, her Northumbria Police polo shirt spotless and her trainers gleamed in the fluorescent light. Though she was clearly in her late fifties, Langhope still moved like an athlete.
When Charlie arrived, Langhope was at the front counter to greet her. After inspecting her ID, she led Charlie into the bowels of a warehouse crammed with shelving jammed with file boxes. As they walked, Langhope asked about Charlie's journey, with every appearance of genuine interest. She led the way to a bare office at the far side of the warehouse. It contained a table, two chairs, a file box. Langhope opened the box and presented Charlie with the lid. For a moment she was baffled, till she realised that taped to the inside was a log of who had inspected it. 'You'll need to sign for it,' Langhope said. 'You'll see the history of reviews. After the investigation was mothballed, it had an annual review for the first five years. Then every two years for the next six. Now it's every five years. You'll see the last one was 2008.' She tapped it with her biro. 'NFA. No further action.'
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