by Jane Casey
‘Did you ask him about the glasses?’ I said.
‘Then and every time I was in the same room as him. He said he was looking for them but that they’d lost my handbag. He gave me to understand that if I was nice to him, he’d look after me. If I … did things for him … he would do things for me. I thought he might help me escape if I convinced him I liked him, so I did what he wanted. Anything.’ She sobbed, once. ‘It was easier with the other one because he never gave me a choice. With Vincent, I was the one making the moves. And I hated myself for it when I realised that was the game. He was like a cat, playing with me. He’d make me think there was hope just to crush me again.’
‘What did they do about food for you?’
‘After the first month or two, they stopped coming every day. They’d leave some food and water, but I never knew when they would be back, and there was never enough anyway. I had to guess how much I could eat at one time. They loved it when I had nothing left – they thought that was funny.’ She half-smiled. ‘They took me downstairs once, to the kitchen. They made me cook them a meal. I hadn’t eaten for two days and I was faint – I felt sick, actually, not hungry, so I didn’t care. But it was that sort of thing, all the time. Cruelty because they could be cruel.’
There was no hint of self-pity in her voice and somehow that made it worse.
‘How long did this go on?’
‘Until a couple of months ago. They’d got tired of me. I was thin, and my teeth were terrible, and I was dirty – they didn’t let me wash properly any more because they hardly ever touched me so it didn’t matter if I was clean. It was too much trouble to take me down to the bathroom. I knew they were up to something because Drew was excited, full of energy – he hadn’t even spoken to me for weeks. Then he told me they had good news for me. I’d be so pleased when I heard it, he said. I thought they might let me go. Or kill me. I honestly didn’t care.’
‘When did you find out what it was?’
‘Last week. Before the girl arrived. Drew told me it was almost time. He made me change the sheets on the bed in the green room. He said I was going to get a friend.’ She turned her face away from us and closed her eyes. ‘I couldn’t stand it. They were doing it again, right in front of me. Making me a part of it.’
‘Did you know when Cheyenne arrived?’
‘The girl?’ A wry smile. ‘I couldn’t have missed her. She screamed the place down. On and on. They thought she’d get tired, but she trashed the room. Lee was too strong for her, though. She was quiet after he’d been with her. But it didn’t last.’ The calm voice ran on, recounting atrocities as if they were normal life. The truth of it was that for her, they had been. ‘In the end, Drew sent me down to talk to her. Through the door. I told her to go along with it and they would hurt her less.’
‘What did she say?’ Godley sounded deeply disturbed but he was still in command of himself.
‘She asked me what had happened to me. I told her. She asked me how long I had been there and I said I was sure it was more than a year, but I couldn’t say for certain.’
‘What happened then?’
‘She cried,’ Patricia said simply. ‘She didn’t scream again, that I heard. She just gave up. And the next morning, Drew came and told me she was dead. I thought I’d broken her heart.’
‘She had an asthma attack,’ Godley said. ‘Not your fault.’
‘No? But I was the last person to talk to her.’ She sighed. ‘I wished it was me.’
‘How did your DNA get on her hand?’ I couldn’t resist asking it. ‘Your saliva was on her palm.’
‘That’s right. I hoped you’d find it. They made me bathe her and wrap her up, you see. They didn’t want there to be any traces of them or the house on the body. So when I was drying her, I licked her hand. I tied her hands together, to protect it.’ She held her wrists up to demonstrate. ‘I knew no one was looking for me. I knew what they’d done to stage my disappearance. The only thing I could do was hope there was enough evidence to make the police suspect them.’
‘You made us aware that you were in trouble, Patricia. You did well.’ Godley’s voice was gentle.
‘Did it help to catch them? Was that how you knew they were guilty?’
‘Not quite.’ Godley hesitated for a second, as if he wasn’t sure how to go on. ‘Did you ever see anyone else? A friend of the brothers? Or friends?’
‘No. No one.’ She was definite.
‘Not their uncle? It was his house.’
‘No. But I didn’t go into all the rooms. Just the attic, and the green bedroom, the hall and the kitchen. And never on my own. Was he there?’
‘In a way,’ I said cagily, not wanting to tell her about the corpse that had been her nearest neighbour for months.
‘Did they ever use a video camera to record you?’ Godley asked.
It wasn’t my imagination; her entire body stiffened. ‘How did you know?’
‘Some other evidence that came to light. Not you. Cheyenne.’
‘Yes,’ she said, with some difficulty. ‘In the beginning. And if they were doing something creative. They liked to show off.’
‘But who saw? Who were they showing off to?’
‘The other members of the club.’ She said it as if we should know what she meant. ‘On the Internet.’
‘What club, Patricia?’
‘They were members of a website that was for freaks and perverts. The worse stuff you could put up, the further you went up the ladder. He explained it to me once. They had top privileges, he said.’
‘What was the name of the site?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Had they kidnapped anyone before you?’
‘I don’t know.’
Godley tried another few questions but it was clear that Patricia was strung out, too tired to think. Besides, she had told us all she could remember, of that I was fairly sure. I leaned over and put my hand on his arm while she lay back with her eyes closed.
‘I think we should quit while we’re ahead. Give her a chance to get some rest.’
‘Agreed.’ He raised his voice a little. ‘Patricia, we’re going to leave you in peace. You are a very brave young lady and you must not feel guilty about anything you did from start to finish. You did what you could, and what you had to do, and you’ve survived. That’s something to be proud of.’
She nodded, but I could tell she didn’t believe him.
‘It will get easier, in time.’
‘I hope so.’ She sounded exhausted.
‘Do you think you might be able to sleep?’ I asked.
‘I think I will.’ She looked up. ‘You’ve been so nice. Thank you for being here.’
‘For nothing.’ As I said it, there was a soft tap on the door. I looked at Godley, then at Liv who went to open it. Patricia was watching dully, her eyes half-closed already; I doubted she was even trying to hear the low-pitched conversation in the corridor. I was, but then I knew who to expect. I could hear Keith Bryce’s voice, which meant he was back from the airport. He had made good time.
Godley had gone to the door after Liv, and now he turned. ‘Patricia, you have some visitors.’
She frowned as if trying to imagine who that might be. Godley nodded to someone I couldn’t see, and the next minute there was a rush of feet as a small, square, grey-haired woman shot into the room, closely followed by a slim, tanned, elderly man who had a smile locked on his face. Mr and Mrs Farinelli, recently arrived from Pisa, I presumed.
At the sight of them, Patricia’s eyes went wide, and then her face twisted as she dissolved into tears. Mrs Farinelli was sobbing too, her arms wrapped around her daughter as she kissed her hair over and over. Patricia’s father had taken one hand and was stroking it, over and over, crooning to her in lyrical, rolling Italian. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, including my own.
After a couple of moments, I moved towards the door, judging that the Farinellis deserved some time alone.
‘A happy end
ing,’ Godley commented once we were all in the corridor and the door was closed behind us.
‘Of sorts,’ I said. ‘I don’t think Patricia’s going to find it easy to get over what’s happened to her. Being with her family will help, but—’
‘She’ll need time,’ Liv said, finishing off my thoughts. ‘And counselling. It’s such a terrible story.’
‘We need to find out more about that site.’
Godley looked at me quickly. ‘You noticed that too? I think it’s likely we’ve just found out where the video came from.’
‘Was that really what motivated them though? Membership of a website?’ Liv sounded puzzled.
I shook my head. ‘The website was just another game. What motivated them was old-fashioned wickedness, pure and simple. I wish I could find it in me to be sorry Drew’s dead, but I’m not.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Godley said grimly. ‘After hearing Patricia’s story, neither am I. Who would have thought John Skinner would be useful after all?’
Chapter Twenty-One
Monday
ROB
It took the rest of Sunday to winkle Lee Bancroft out of the snug little billet he’d found for himself at the hospital. The doctors were far more punctilious than I would have been about looking after his welfare, and Lee had all of the old tricks I would have expected from someone who had spent a fair bit of time inside. He claimed headaches, nausea, sensitivity to light, a pain in his neck that came and went and ringing in his ears, and by five o’clock that afternoon I was fairly certain it was all lies. We had interrupted Skinner’s retribution at an early stage and although they had thrown him against a few walls, the damage they had done to him was reasonably superficial. He was a dedicated bodybuilder, as fit as a butcher’s dog, but to hear him talk he was an invalid on the brink of total physical collapse. Godley was as annoyed as any of us, but rightly wary of handing him an advantage when it came to his defence. We couldn’t interview him until the doctors had signed him off and his solicitor had agreed he was fit to talk to us, so there was no alternative but to wait.
After two other officers turned up to relieve us, Maitland and I trailed out of the hospital. On the way to the car we occupied ourselves with speculating on what might ail him next.
‘A pain in his tum-tum.’
‘Dislocated toenail.’
‘Sticky eyeball.’
‘Itchy sinuses.’
‘Earache.’
‘Face-ache.’
‘Bumhole-ache.’
‘I don’t think you’re taking this seriously, Harry.’
‘You’re right. I should be more understanding.’ He didn’t sound terribly contrite.
Neither of us was pleased to leave Bancroft behind. There was always a chance that he might decide he’d recovered sufficiently to be interviewed while our backs were turned. Maitland, of course, didn’t have an evening with Maeve as consolation, and he was mordant company all the way back to the nick.
Without making a big deal of it, I turned down the chance to go for a drink with a few of the lads, sorted out what was on my desk and headed home. Maeve was working, head down, and I didn’t attempt to get her attention. We had agreed that she would meet me at the flat, and I didn’t want to hassle her by checking she was still coming, but I wouldn’t have laid any money that she would actually show up. As the minutes ticked by, I paced from room to room, wishing I had told her I’d meet her at the station.
It was with a mixture of relief and incredulity that I eventually heard her knock on the door. I pulled her inside.
‘Where have you been?’
‘Finishing up at work.’ She put her arms around my neck. ‘I wanted to make sure I’d done everything this time so no one could accuse me of not doing my job, by which I mean that arsehole Derwent. But I’m here now.’
‘Yes. Yes, you are.’ I grinned at her, seeing the same elation on her face that I was feeling. I had expected nerves – I had expected her to try to back out, if I was honest – but there didn’t seem to be any question of that.
‘I bought a toothbrush on my way back, but that’s about it as far as belongings go. I really need to go back to my flat and pack a bag.’
‘Not without me. Tomorrow, after work.’ I shook her gently. ‘Promise me, Maeve. Don’t set foot in your old neighbourhood without me.’
‘Why would I? You can carry my things for me.’
‘Yeah, make a joke out of it.’
‘What else am I supposed to do?’ Don’t get me wrong, I am more than pleased to be here. But the circumstances are pretty far from ideal, don’t you think? And I don’t really have the option of hiding out while I wait for whoever took the pictures to be caught.’
I could acknowledge the sense in what she was saying without feeling in the least bit reassured. ‘Just be sensible about it. That’s all I’m saying. He knows you know about him now. He knows we’ll be looking for him. If he’s going to do anything more than watch you, now is the time to do it.’
‘I had worked that out, thanks.’
‘Did anyone follow you from the station?’
‘Rob, for God’s sake, I wasn’t looking over my shoulder the whole way.’
‘Maybe you should have been.’
‘That’s what he wants. That’s why he announced himself. He wants to upset me. He wants to change my behaviour. He’s driven me out of my home already – it’s just a lucky accident that I have somewhere better to be.’
‘Look, I don’t want to start with an argument—’
‘Then don’t.’ She let her bag slip off her shoulder and leaned back against the wall, looking drained. ‘I know what you’re worried about and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bothered. I am being careful, I promise you. But I don’t want to let it poison everything. I don’t want to live in fear of someone who is basically a coward. I am not going to give him the satisfaction when he hasn’t even got the nerve to confront me himself.’
‘Well, don’t taunt him into being brave, will you? I can live with a timid stalker.’
‘Me too. And since I don’t seem to have a choice about it at the moment, that’ll have to do.’ She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me. ‘What’s for dinner?’
‘Oh, I see. Like that, is it?’
‘Well, why else would I move in with you?’
‘Someone said something about wanting to be with me and how it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. That was you, wasn’t it?’
She shrugged as she sidled past me, the picture of innocence. ‘Do you know, I can’t quite recall.’
I went to work the following morning with a smile on my face, a few minutes behind Maeve. She had insisted on getting a head start so no one would guess we had started our journey together. I hadn’t the heart to tell her it was probably the worst-kept secret in the Met; Liv had worked it out within minutes of joining the team, and she could hardly be the only one. There were natural hazards to working in a room full of coppers and not having any privacy was one of them, but I let Maeve have her solitary journey. When I arrived I greeted her with a cheery ‘Good morning’ in case anyone suspected we had done that part of the day several hours earlier, and in quite a different way.
Godley waved me into his office as soon as he saw I was there.
‘I’m just going to interview Lee Bancroft.’
‘Can I sit in?’
He looked apologetic. ‘Best not. I want to keep the room clear. Just me and Pettifer, him and his solicitor. You can watch on the monitors.’
I was sorry to miss out though I didn’t argue. I got on well with Godley, but he was still a superintendent and it was useful to keep that in mind, I found. I had never known him to pull rank – he was confident enough not to need to – but the rank was there nonetheless, and he’d reached it for a reason. I nodded instead and tried to look as if I didn’t mind.
‘Have you had a chance to think about the leak?’
‘I have.’
‘And?’
; ‘I’ve got some ideas,’ I said. ‘Leave it with me. I want to talk to the guys who processed Murray, Roberts and McKenzie yesterday. I also want to check what personal effects Felix Crowther was carrying when he was brought to the morgue.’
‘Why?’ Godley was being uncharacteristically abrupt and I recalled that he was personally interested in this, that whoever had passed on word about the Bancrofts was probably the person who had given Skinner the superintendent’s home address.
‘I will tell you, you know. But you might as well wait until later, when I’ve got facts rather than ideas.’
He considered it for a second and I knew he wasn’t happy, but he let it go. ‘All right. I’ll mind my own business.’
‘It will be today, boss. We’ll know one way or the other by this afternoon.’
‘You sound very sure.’
‘I have a reasonable idea of who was responsible. Don’t you?’
‘I think so. There’s an obvious candidate.’ He went and looked out of the window, his back turned to me. It wasn’t like him to be so rude, but it was entirely in character – and understandable – to be upset about being betrayed. And there was no mistaking it; the person who had passed on Godley’s personal details had done so in the full knowledge of how they would be used, and why, and to possess them in the first place he had needed Godley’s trust. However you cut it, they needed catching and they needed to be punished for what they’d done. I was looking forward to playing my part. It almost made up for being relegated to the cheap seats for Lee Bancroft’s interview.
I was far from being the only one who wanted to know what he said. The meeting room was crowded, the chairs all full by the time I made it in there, having spent an interesting half-hour on the phone and a further twenty minutes haring around the nick sorting a few things out. I took up a place at the back of the room, which happened to be my preference anyway. I liked being able to make a quick exit.
