by Steven Dunne
‘I don’t want to hear, thank you …’
‘Your brother’s dead.’
Reardon took a sharp intake of breath and gazed at him. ‘Oh my God. How?’
Brook smiled. ‘I don’t know yet. But if I were a betting man, I’d wager he had his throat cut from behind when he was least expecting it. Like your father.’
‘So you …’ began Reardon, before stopping herself.
‘No, we haven’t found his body,’ said Brook. ‘Yet.’ Reardon’s eyes filled with tears. ‘But we will, now that we’re looking for it. His cottage garden is first on the list. I noticed you haven’t instructed the estate to sell it yet. Not had a chance to relocate him?’
The tears began to fall. ‘You horrible man. How can you say such terrible, terrible things? My parents …’
‘… were in your way. All the things you laid at Ray’s door – the envy, the mockery of their tastes, the resentment at them wasting their money on enjoying themselves – they all came from you, not Ray. That was why you decided to kill your family and frame your brother into the bargain. From its complexity, a plan a long time in the making, I should think. The resentment you must have harboured. Was Ray your mum and dad’s favourite? Did they really deny him money when he needed it, or did they give it willingly?’
Reardon dried her eyes and took a pull on her cigarette. ‘I think I need to sit down.’ She pushed past Brook and draped her shapely form on the sofa. ‘Just as I was starting to make progress.’
‘Stop it,’ said Brook. ‘You killed your family in cold blood and used sex to get what you wanted, even enduring a beating from JJ if it meant being able to get your hands on the money. And it worked a treat. Having taken such punishment, nobody could seriously think you murdered your family for profit, especially if the line of inheritance was blurred. Such a neat touch, the estate being tied up the way it was. But you were prepared to wait. You’d waited years, after all. How are the lawyers doing, by the way?’
Reardon took a huge belt of smoke, her hand shaking.
‘I’ve upset you,’ said Brook. ‘Do you want me to leave, or would it be wiser to let me talk and find out how much I know?’
She stared back, then held her chin up defiantly. ‘If you really want to indulge in this sick fantasy, I’d better hear it all before Terri comes back and has to listen to your poison. Who else knows about this crap you’re spouting?’
‘Nobody. Unless I find Ray’s body, I have no evidence.’
‘And until then?’ No answer. Reardon smiled at him. ‘Then how will you make your case, Inspector? Are you expecting a confession for the tape you’re no doubt running?’
Brook opened his coat so she could see his shirt tight against his torso. ‘Not my style, even if the tape were admissible.’
‘Then how are you going to frame me? You won’t find anything to implicate me concerning Ray, assuming he really is dead.’
‘He’s dead, no question. Apart from the location of his corpse, the only detail escaping me is whether it was you or JJ that killed him.’
‘And what does your instinct tell you?’
Brook considered. ‘I haven’t made up my mind yet, but it was your greed, your decision to act before there was nothing left. Your plan. Recruiting Jemson was easy, an old boyfriend, down on his luck. And was he ever the perfect choice. I’m guessing he didn’t take much persuading to accept money and sexual favours to come on board.’ Reardon raised an eyebrow at this. ‘Better yet, he brought the perfect fall guy with him. Or one of them, at least.’
‘One of them?’ she enquired.
‘You needed two fall guys,’ said Brook. ‘One to take the blame for the murders and one to take the hit for the planning, because no one would accept Coulson, or even JJ, as a criminal mastermind. No, that had to be Ray, your scheming brother. But Coulson was the key. He had a whole raft of reasons to come to the farm, and, even more important, he had some kind of motive to kill your father.’
‘Inspector, before that day, I hadn’t spoken to Luke since we left school,’ snarled Reardon.
‘I believe you. But you didn’t need to. You already knew everything you needed to know. You remembered his obsession with you at school, and, of course, you’d seen him from a distance stalking you, watching you, yearning for you. Your father saw him too and chased him off. He probably mentioned it but you shrugged it off as nothing and pretended you didn’t know who Coulson was. But you did. In fact, you encouraged him, fed his fantasies. Not so that he knew, of course. He probably thought that seeing you wandering around your bedroom in your underwear was just a lucky break, that you were an innocent, chaste beauty, oblivious to the ugliness in the world.
‘No, Luke was easy,’ continued Brook. ‘Your brother, however, was a different proposition. He had to disappear. For ever. So you killed him the week before the attack on the farm to get him out of the way. You left it late because having him drop out of sight sooner would be risky. Your parents might notice, for one thing. But once you were ready, it wouldn’t be difficult. I suspect you called round to his cottage one night, caught him off guard. That would be simplest. The hard part would be making it look like he was still alive for that week, but once you’d pinned your parents’ murder on him, that would take care of itself. If Ray really was planning to kill his parents and his sister, it would be perfectly natural for him to be out of circulation.’
‘You’ve decided that I killed Ray, then?’
‘On balance, I think so. He wouldn’t suspect a thing. You call round one night, he turns his back, you slit his throat. Either way, JJ would have to be close to bury the body, dismantle his phone, remove his passport and his wallet so he could max out his credit cards, all of which played to your back story about his debts and love of money as well as making it look like he was planning to disappear.
‘The trick with the Porsche was especially good.’ Reardon narrowed her eyes. ‘Yes, I worked it out, though I gather from your expression that Sergeant Caskey didn’t mention that. I’m glad. I did wonder whether she might be desperate enough to offer up a few titbits from the investigation to tempt you into taking her back.’
‘I really don’t know what you’re talking about, Inspector.’
‘Shame, because it was a masterstroke. JJ steals a big enough van for the two of you to transport the Porsche to East Midlands Airport, make it look like Ray’s done a runner. Of course, it helped that Ford had Coulson all wrapped up as the killer and wasn’t too interested in digging for the truth. Even more that you’d done a number on his DS. You realised after the attacks that Caskey was the better detective, so you sprang into action, and after the death of her partner, Caskey was unprepared for your …’ Brook hesitated, unsure of the right words.
Reardon lit another cigarette. ‘Seductive wiles?’
‘Just so. I can only imagine how you steamed into her, playing the hapless victim, betrayed by men, needy and defenceless. I’m sure she fell hard.’
‘You flatter me,’ said Reardon.
‘I don’t think so. From what I’ve seen, she would have done anything for you.’
‘Anything?’
‘I don’t think she buried evidence, no, but it was enough that she was distracted from key aspects of the crime, like the hunt for Ray. After a few months, once the fuss had died down, you dumped her. As I’m sure you were planning to dump Terri as soon as you felt safe.’
‘This is fascinating,’ said Reardon. ‘I hope you’ll be finished by the time she gets back. She won’t take kindly to you saying such mean things to me, jeopardising all the progress I’ve made.’
‘I’ll try to be quick,’ said Brook, glancing at his watch. ‘But I don’t want to sell your achievement short. It’s breathtaking in its complexity.’
‘I can’t wait to hear how brilliant I’ve been.’
‘Don’t pat yourself on the back too soon,’ said Brook, his face hardening. ‘There were flaws.’ Reardon raised an eyebrow. ‘Sargent for one.’
&
nbsp; ‘My dog? What about him?’
‘It troubled me that he survived,’ said Brook. ‘Not that I wanted him dead, but I did wonder why a pair of cold-hearted criminals would take the trouble to drug him rather than poison him. Much simpler, and no chance the dog might wake.’
‘Maybe JJ and Luke were animal lovers.’
‘No, JJ was under strict instruction from you. At this point Luke knew nothing about the attack or he wouldn’t have gone along with it. He knew the dog, of course, from his long hours watching you from afar. But it was Jemson who brought the drugged meat, Jemson who carried the plan of the house and the list of valuables drawn up by Ray.’
‘I thought you said Ray was a fall guy,’ she scoffed.
‘Another lovely touch. After you killed him, you rifled through his cottage looking for the combination of the safe as well as ways to implicate him in the crime. Ray had drawn up the plan of the house for the security firm and a list of valuables for an insurance policy he intended to take out on his parents’ behalf. But with the right spin from you, they could equally be construed as a map for burglars and a shopping list of choice items, most of which you removed from the safe ahead of time in case JJ got greedy. I have duplicate copies from the insurance company at the station if you want to see them.’ Reardon’s eyes glazed over and she stubbed out her cigarette as though she wished the ashtray was Brook’s face.
‘And so the attack began,’ said Brook, pleased to see her rattled. ‘Or so it would seem. You’d already disabled the security system and wiped the film the night before, following Jemson’s instructions – a little expertise he brought to the operation that you didn’t have to fake. And around midday, the pair of them entered the farm.’
‘Fascinating.’
‘From here I’m ad-libbing,’ said Brook. ‘I’m guessing Jemson sent Luke to look for valuables around the house while he went straight to your bedroom to tear off your clothes. If I’d been JJ, I would have told Luke your parents were away so he wouldn’t suspect a thing. I’d have given him the plan, too. After all, it’s important that he finds his way back to the bedroom so he can have his wicked way with the defenceless victim and leave his DNA for the police. But when he gets to the kitchen, he finds your mother dead and your father dead or dying, the floor awash with their blood.’
‘Luke Coulson killed my parents,’ said Reardon, her eyes boring into Brook’s.
‘No he didn’t.’
‘The jury at his trial would disagree with you.’
‘That’s because they didn’t have all the facts,’ said Brook. ‘You see, you’d already killed them at least half an hour before Luke and JJ broke in.’
‘What? Are you mad?’
‘Your father was attacked from behind, Reardon. Luke couldn’t have surprised him like that. A complete stranger walking unannounced into his home. He would have been facing him, challenging him.’ Brook shook his head. ‘You cut his throat from behind, disabling him so he couldn’t protect your mother, then you stabbed her over and over. An attack so cold-blooded, so brutal that no one could possibly suspect a family member. Or maybe it was insurance in case you were caught, the ferocity of the attack speaking to some imaginary abuse from your past. I don’t know.’
‘You’re forgetting something, Inspector,’ said Reardon. ‘I saw the files Terri brought me. The post-mortem findings said my parents were killed between twelve and one p.m. I couldn’t possibly have murdered them or it would be on the security film.’
‘That was brilliant,’ said Brook. ‘I wish I could take credit for figuring it out, but Rachel Caskey was there before me. Oh yes, she knew. She worked it out. That’s why she came for you. To confront you.’
‘She had a gun,’ snarled Reardon. ‘I was petrified. Ask your daughter.’
‘I can’t excuse her actions, but by then she was an emotional wreck. And as she’s dead, I’ll assume the gun was to force some answers out of you and then, I hope, put you under arrest.’
‘We’ll never know, will we?’ smiled Reardon.
Brook was sombre. ‘Not for sure, no. But as she fought for life, she realised you might get away with it, so she gave me a nudge.’
‘A nudge?’
‘I’ve just come from the farm, Reardon.’ He shook his head in admiration. ‘Brilliant. You murder your parents around half past eleven, then turn on the kitchen’s under-floor heating. The thermostat’s right next to the phone. The heat kept them just warm enough to delay estimated time of death by half an hour, an hour at the most.
‘The really clever bit was turning the heating off in full view of the security cameras that you yourself had just rebooted. You enter the kitchen ostensibly to check whether your parents are alive then you try to call for help. You check if the landline works, knowing very well that it won’t, then lean your head and arm against the wall, apparently in distress, while surreptitiously returning the thermostat’s setting to zero. But earlier, when Luke arrived, the heat would have been blasting out. When he found your parents dying, he did the decent thing, checking for signs of life, covering his clothes and shoes in blood in the process. But in so doing, he noticed the heat pouring off their bodies; he told me he thought it was their souls leaving to go to heaven.’
‘Luke’s an idiot.’
‘You don’t really believe that, do you?’
‘I was at school with the cretin. Why wouldn’t I believe it?’
‘Because he was smart enough to work out that you were the killer, Reardon. Oh, I’m sure in the run-up, JJ was saying Ray this and Ray that, but Luke knew you’d done it.’ Reardon was tight-lipped. ‘But then you already know that, because he turned the tables on you, and by the end, he was using you.’
‘What the hell are you talking about?’
‘He played your game, Reardon, and he played it well. You needed Luke’s silence and he agreed. What’s more, he did it in full view of the security cameras. And to seal the deal, he looked up at the camera and gave us a motive for his attack on your father. Pretty quick thinking under the circumstances.’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Don’t I? When I went to see him at Wakefield Prison, he kept trying to lead me away from the truth, kept saying Ray was clever and wasn’t coming back. He must have guessed Ray was dead but he kept up the pretence, kept your secret, because he loves you. And the price for his silence was simple. He wanted a promise of your love and devotion, and in return he’d happily spend the rest of his days in prison, comforted by your words and knowing that you needed him.
‘You gave him that promise right before he let you go. A secret whisper in your ear. “Tell me you’ll love me for ever, Reardon, and I’ll take the blame.” Your reply, we know. “Of course I will.”’
‘If you’ve seen that footage,’ said Reardon softly, ‘you must have observed how scared I was. Luke had a knife, for fuck’s sake. I was terrified – literally shaking – when I ran into him.’
‘I don’t doubt it,’ said Brook. ‘You were improvising. Luke was a loose cannon. He hadn’t done what you and JJ expected, so you were flying blind. And you were right to be scared. He didn’t co-operate when it came to the bedroom department. He’s not like JJ, driven by greed and lust. When JJ tried to initiate a rape, showing Luke how it was done, he got carried away and made it look too real, and when he started beating you, Luke didn’t hesitate to kill JJ in defence of the only thing he’d ever loved.’
Brook took a pause to get his breath back. ‘All you wanted was a sample of Luke’s DNA on you to complete the narrative, but Luke loves you, not your body. A pure love you simply couldn’t understand. So with JJ dead and the plan in trouble, you had to think quickly because – let’s face it – you hadn’t done all that work just to be thwarted at the last hurdle.
‘While JJ bled out, you had to come up with another sequence of events. JJ was dead so he could stand in as the killer and Ray’s co-conspirator. Nobody knew about your renewed relationship – it was a
secret. So far, so good. Then you had to genuinely summon up your courage and go out into the house to turn on the cameras and run through your grieving-daughter performance, knowing Luke was running around with a knife. But you were more than up to the task. You even remembered to keep saying Ray’s name to camera to back up your statement that he’d spent the night at the farm.
‘In the end it worked out pretty well. Luke played ball and made a run for it and you went to get help, apparently distraught. In fact Luke saved you a job.’
‘What was that?’ enquired Reardon, sullen now.
‘You’d already decided to kill Jemson when things quietened down.’
‘And why would I kill JJ?’ asked Reardon, affecting indifference.
‘Because he was unreliable. You could never fully trust him, and with his drinking, you couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t start bragging. No, JJ had to go. You’d already hidden the prepaid phone in his flat so it would be found when he turned up dead. You’d bought two phones and filled them with texts you dreamt up purporting to show Ray and JJ planning the attack. The other phone – Ray’s – you discarded, but we’d only need one phone to show the interaction between them. At some point in the near future, when Jemson was found dead in his flat, the whole sordid plan would be laid out for us. How Jemson conspired with Ray to kill your family and leave Luke Coulson to take the blame. Naturally DI Ford would assume Ray had come back to silence Jemson. It was brilliant, apart from one thing.’
‘Enthral me,’ said Reardon.
‘You kept signing the texts with Ray’s name. Two prepaid phones used only for communicating with the other, and for some reason Ray felt the need to keep reminding Jemson who he was talking to. It didn’t ring true. That’s what got me wondering about Ray. Where was he? Abroad, as the car at the airport seemed to imply? Doubtful. So if he was alive and in the country on the day of the attack, he had to either be at the farm making sure the plan was successful or somewhere miles away getting himself a cast-iron alibi. He couldn’t be in both places, but it didn’t make sense that he was in neither.’
