Descent (A Kate Redman Mystery Novella)

by Celina Grace

  Kate had it now, as her eyes met Louise White’s. As the implication hit her, she gasped and she could see by the contraction of Louise’s face that the other woman felt something too.

  “Come on,” said Chloe, standing by the driver-side door. “Let’s get back.”

  “Leave me here,” murmured Kate, hardly aware of what she was doing. As she watched, Louise White turned sharply to head back inside her house.

  “What—” was all that Kate heard from Chloe before she walked away, heading for the front door of the White house that had just been sharply closed.

  Kate wasn’t expecting Louise to answer her knock. She felt oddly dreamlike, as if someone else was raising her knuckles to the red paint, rapping once, twice on the wood.

  Slowly the door opened. Louise stood there, shaking. Not just trembling but actually shaking, as if giant hands had her by the shoulders and were roughly agitating her back and forth. She said nothing but pulled the door wider, and Kate stepped inside.

  They faced each other across the hallway.

  “You knew,” was all Kate said.

  Louise’s face contorted. For a moment, Kate thought she wasn’t able to speak; wasn’t physically able to form the words, the adrenaline coursing through her was so strong.

  “I didn’t.” Louise’s voice juddered. “Right up until Boxing Day. I had no idea. Wait, that’s not right.” She was the only moving thing in a silent space. “I knew something was wrong, I knew something was badly wrong, but I didn’t know what. I didn’t know what.”

  Kate opened her mouth to say something but Louise gave her no time.

  “I confided in her. In Karyn. I cried in her arms about the state of my marriage.” Kate flinched, unable to help it. Louise looked as though she had some kind of disease, a palsy, malaria; something to galvanically twitch every muscle in the body. “And all the time, she was it. The problem.” Louise turned her head sharply to look across at the living room. “I came down on Boxing Day, after putting the kids to bed and they were there, kissing in the living room.”

  Kate took a deep breath. She began to say something, something comforting, something sympathetic, but Louise didn’t give her the chance. She spoke on, bitterness flattening her voice, making an old woman out of her.

  “The second I saw them, I knew. I knew I hadn’t been mad, hadn’t been paranoid, all the things that Paul told me I was when I confronted him. Of course, I had no idea it was her. I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it.” She stared at Kate with haunted eyes. “There’s a part of me that still doesn’t believe it. Not Karyn. Karyn wouldn’t do that to me. Karyn wouldn’t treat me like I would treat my worst enemy. She was my friend.”

  “I think—” began Kate, but it was useless. Louise spoke on, as if there was something in her compelling her to speak. Perhaps there was. Kate had seen this before; the wish for confession, perhaps for absolution.

  “I don’t know what hurts worse – the fact that either they both hated and despised me so much, that they thought this would be a suitable punishment. Or the fact that I mattered so little, that they didn’t even give me a second thought. Both of them thought that a few orgasms were worth the – the rupture of my family. The heartbreak of my children when they don’t have a father living with them anymore. They thought fucking each other was worth causing me the most excruciating pain I’ve ever had to experience in my life.” She pressed the back of her hand to her mouth for a moment. “Do you know what it’s like to look back at your life for the past few years and realise that it was all a lie? All of it? All those memories and things that you’ve done as a couple and as a family – it’s all lies. It’s all tainted, every single bit of it. Do you know how painful that is?”

  Kate shook her head helplessly. For the first time in her life, she felt that, perhaps, a murder victim had had it coming.

  Louise still fixed her with that burning gaze and for the first time, Kate saw something in her eyes that wasn’t quite sane. Perhaps it was understandable, but it was there. She tensed, wondering what would be more inflammatory to the situation; allow Louise to continue to speak or to risk interrupting her.

  Kate risked it. “So, what happened, Louise?” She was keenly aware that she hadn’t cautioned her and mindful of the fall-out of the last case where Anderton had done the same, she wondered what to do.

  Louise took a deep shuddering breath. She hadn’t yet cried but her eyes glittered with something that wasn’t tears. “Paul made her leave. I told him if he didn’t, then I’d hurt her. I couldn’t have stopped myself.”

  Kate thought back to how Louise had acted, through this entire case. She was a better actress than Kate had even dreamed. But then, thinking about it, Kate realised that she hadn’t been acting at all. The shock, the psychological trauma – it had all been real. It was just that the cause of it had been different, that was all.

  “So Karyn left your house early on the twenty-seventh,” Kate said, phrasing it not really as a question. That would tally with what the neighbour had observed. She had a feeling that the next revelation from Louise would be crucial to the success of a charge. She really must caution her, come what may. Bracing herself, she said, “Louise, I’m sorry. I’m more sorry for you than you might think. But I must do my job. I’m arresting you on the suspicion of the murder of Karyn Denver. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.” Kate took a deep breath and said it again. “I’m sorry.”

  Louise had stilled. Kate, nerves singing, resettled her feet slightly to give herself more stability. Then Louise sighed. She said, dully, “There’s nothing more to say. Paul went out to meet her on the twenty-eighth of December. He knew she’d be out running and he said he wanted to tell her that it was over.”

  “And?” Kate held her gaze steadily.

  Louise didn’t drop her eyes. “And – Karyn died.”

  Silence fell. Kate broke it eventually by telling Louise that she had to accompany her to the police station.

  “What about the children?” was all that Louise said.

  “I’ll call someone,” said Kate. “They’ll be fine.”

  She expected resistance but Louise merely nodded, her eyes downcast. They sat in silence, waiting for Social Services.

  Chapter Eleven

  “So, which of them is telling the truth?”

  DCI Nicola Weaver stood with Kate, Chloe and Theo in the viewing gallery of the IT department in Abbeyford Station. On two separate screens in front of them, they could see Paul White and Louise White, both sat at an interview table with a solicitor beside them. Neither of them were talking – they were staring ahead, mute and miserable.

  Kate was beginning to develop a substantial dislike of answering any of Nicola Weaver’s questions. She was aware that this wasn’t quite rational, but there you go… As it was, Theo spoke up.

  “White’s sticking to his story that he never left the house on the day of the murder. His wife maintains that he did go out, for about forty minutes, around the time that we think Karyn Denver died.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question, DS Marsh.” The half-smile that Nicola gave Theo was flirtatious enough to soften the criticism. Kate mentally raised her eyebrows.

  “Yeah, right. Sorry.” Theo didn’t seem phased by either the comment or the smile. “We’ll have to continue to interview them and see what we come up with.”

  “Good. You can take Paul White. DS Wapping, you take Louise White.”

  Kate waited to be given her orders. She could feel both Chloe and Theo’s awkwardness as the silence stretched on. “And what about me?” she asked, as lightly as possible.

  Nicola smiled sweetly. “Oh, you just take the one that suits you best, DS Redman.”

  The three of them watched her wal
k off. Kate wondered whether she’d been the only one to hear the needle in that deceptively innocent remark and she thought, from the puzzled look on Chloe’s face, that perhaps she hadn’t.

  Nobody remarked on it. Instead, they headed for the interview rooms. Kate, in a spirit of screw you, DCI Weaver, decided to sit in on both of them and joined Theo first.

  *

  Paul White’s solicitor was someone Kate hadn’t seen before; a young-ish Asian man dressed in a suit who introduced himself as Kaleem Naswar. Paul White didn’t take much notice of the introductions. He was staring at the top of the table, looking white and ill.

  Theo didn’t waste much time. “Right, Paul, you understand why you’re here?”

  Paul White didn’t raise his head. “Not really,” he muttered.

  Theo glanced at Kate. “You’ve been arrested for the murder of Karyn Denver and cautioned for the same offence. Do you have anything to say?”

  Naswar looked as if he was about to say something but Paul White didn’t give him a chance. He lifted his head and fixed Theo with a glare. “I had nothing to do with Karyn’s death, nothing.”

  “Nothing, Mr White?” Kate leapt in before Theo had a chance to speak. “You were having an affair with her?”

  Paul White didn’t blush but his face twisted for a moment. “No, I wasn’t.”

  Theo slapped down a bunch of paper on the table, making both Paul and his solicitor jump. Kate, despite the gravity of the situation, bit back a laugh. “Phone records, Mr White. Shall I explain them to you?” Without waiting for an answer, he began to read from the paper. “’My gorgeous girl, it’s been ages since we’ve been naked together.’ ‘Hey sexy lady, you still okay to meet up tonight? Can’t wait to throw you on the floor and have my wicked way with you.’” Theo stopped reading and looked up. “Texts from your phone to Karyn Denver’s. There are more. A lot more. Want to read them out?”

  Now White did blush, a rosy hue that contrasted oddly with the hint of dark stubble on his jaw. He shook his head.

  “Do you have anything to say?” pressed Theo relentlessly.

  After a moment, White spoke, as if his throat hurt him. “All right. I was – we were – we had – it was a fling, that’s all. It didn’t mean anything.”

  Remembering the naked pain on Louise White’s face, Kate was conscious of her fists closing under the table. Theo spoke again. “It didn’t mean anything? So why were you in the woods where Karyn Denver’s body was found, on the day of her death, at the time of her death?”

  Paul White was beginning to look desperate. “Look, I wasn’t there. I never left the house that day. Please – you have to believe me. Look, Karyn and I – what we did was wrong but it wasn’t serious. I wasn’t – I was never going to leave Louise and the kids, I couldn’t do that, it would kill me.”

  “So you thought you’d just have a bit of fun on the side,” said Kate, unable to keep the contempt from her voice. “And chose your wife’s best friend with whom to do so.”

  White flinched. “It wasn’t – it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t calculated. It just happened.”

  “Just happened?” Kate could feel the fury growing. “You just happened to have sex with your wife’s best friend? Just like that? You didn’t ever think of stopping?”

  Theo shot her a glance and, with difficulty, Kate subsided.

  Theo cleared his throat. “Was your wife with you all the time you were at the house on the twenty-eighth of December, Paul?” Kate knew that some officers, Olbeck in particular, liked to keep things as formal as possible for as long as possible, only using first names of suspects when they wanted to unsettle them, but Theo had once told Kate that, “They don’t deserve the compliment of having a title, mate, know what I mean?”

  Paul White’s eyes flickered minutely. “Yes. Yes, of course she was.”

  “She didn’t leave the house at any time?”

  “No, she didn’t.”

  “But you did?”

  White frowned again. “I told you, I didn’t leave the house.”

  Theo and Kate said nothing but let the silence grow in a meaningful way. Paul White shifted uneasily. His solicitor leant over and murmured something in his ear, to which he nodded.

  Theo eventually spoke. “Did you meet Karyn Denver in the woods on the twenty-eighth of December, Paul?”

  Paul White’s jaw tensed. “No comment.”

  “Did you cause Karyn Denver’s death?”

  “No comment.”

  Kate sighed inwardly. Here we go. Once the ‘no comments’ started, the interview was effectively over. She tapped Theo’s foot with her own and gave him a meaningful glance, meaning, I’m out of here. He nodded and said, for the benefit of the video tape, “DS Redman has left the interview.”

  *

  Kate shut the interview room behind her and stood for a moment in the corridor, wondering what to do. After a few minutes, she walked up to the other interview room, where she knew Chloe was interviewing Louise White. Kate stopped just outside the door, wondering if there was any point in her entering. Chloe was a good and experienced interviewer. And really, what was there to discover? Louise White may have had a motive, but her phone records showed she hadn’t left the house on the day of Karyn Denver’s death. Her husband had provided an alibi, for what that was worth. Paul White, on the other hand, had left the house – both his phone records and his wife had confirmed that. His distinctive jacket had been spotted in the vicinity of the ravine. Was that enough for a charge? Kate bit her lip. She realised that the interview room in which Louise White sat was one of the ones with a viewing mirror and hurried to the room where the mirror was located and stared in.

  The sight of Louise White gave her a pinch of alarm. The woman looked close to a nervous collapse: her fingers twisted and writhed around themselves and she was compulsively turning her wedding ring around and around on her finger. Her eyes had a glazed stare that made Kate very uneasy. She could see now how thin Louise was, even thinner in the face than she had been the first time Kate had ever seen her, coming into the police station to report Karyn Denver missing.

  Inside the room, Chloe had clearly come to the same conclusion as Kate – that Louise was very nearly at the end of her tether. Kate watched as Chloe manipulated the controls of the recording device and leant forward over the table, saying something to Louise to which the other woman barely responded.

  Kate waited, watching. Chloe left the room, and a moment later she came into the viewing room, looking unsurprised to see Kate there.

  “Alright, bird?”

  “Yes. What do you think?”

  “Of Louise?” Chloe’s voice held a sigh. “She’s – she’s not in a good way.”

  “I thought that.” The two of them watched Louise’s hunched figure through the glass, her frantic twisting of her wedding ring. “Have you got anything useful?”

  “Not really. She still insists that Paul White left the house that day, but that’s all she’ll say.”

  Kate reached out and rested her finger on the cold glass. “He insists he didn’t. And he’s adamant that Louise didn’t either.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s lying,” said Chloe matter-of-factly. “He was there at the ravine when Karyn Denver died.”

  Kate kept her fingers resting on the cold glass. She could see her reflection, the slight frown on her face. “That’s all we got though, isn’t it?” she murmured. “Phone records and a witness sighting…”

  She let the sentence drift away. Chloe was looking at her curiously. “What’s up, bird?”

  Kate took her fingers from the glass, sighing a little. “It’s back to front.”

  “What is? The mirror?”

  Kate half-laughed. “No. It’s not that—” She broke off and looked at Chloe. “Listen, can I talk to her for a moment? I’ve got something – an idea…”

&nbs
p; Chloe shrugged. “Be my guest.”

  *

  Louise looked up dully as Kate entered the interview room, which was something. The nervous movement of her hands stilled for a moment.

  Kate sat down opposite her and gave her a sympathetic smile. It wasn’t false; Kate had rarely felt so sorry for anyone as she had for this woman. Perhaps Louise sensed that as the desperation in her face lessened, just a little.

  Kate leaned forward. “Louise,” she said. “I want you to know that I get it. I’m on your side. I want to help you. Do you realise that?”

  There was a moment’s silence and then Louise gave a very faint and tremulous nod.

  Kate spoke again. “You do realise that this could be the end of your family. Both you and your husband are under suspicion. Both you and your husband could be charged. And, I’ll be frank, I’m worried about you. I think you’re dangerously close to a nervous breakdown. So I suggest – I urge you – to tell me what really happened.”

  It was a long shot, but Kate had faith in herself. She’d seen this work with others, not least in Anderton’s last case where he’d effectively got a serial killer to own up to things even the police weren’t aware of having happened.

  Louise stared at her for so long that, for a moment, Kate worried whether her sanity had finally broken or that she hadn’t heard what Kate had said to her. Then suddenly, to Kate’s intense astonishment, Louise leant forward and took Kate’s hands.

  Her hands were cold and trembling. Kate had the impression that Louise not so much wanted to feel another person’s warmth as actually needed to – as if Kate’s hands were the only thing keeping her from falling.

  Louise’s eyes were huge in her face. “I didn’t kill her,” she said, in a voice barely above a whisper.

  Silence hung in the room. Kate nodded, slowly, unwilling to startle the other woman.

  Louise spoke again. “It was an accident. A genuine accident. I – she—”

  Her voice broke and she stopped speaking. Kate, speaking low and clear, tightened her grip on Louise’s hands and said, “Can I tell you what I think happened, Louise? You can tell me if I’m wrong.”