‘Is Cookie your real name?’ Rio asked.
She stared back at Rio with those big, troubled eyes. ‘It’s Samantha Goodwill. But I liked to eat those big, fat Maryland biscuits when I was little so everyone started calling me Cookie.’
Rio didn’t move, keeping the space tight around them like that of an interview room. ‘And how old are you?’
‘Nineteen.’
‘Why and how did you murder Mr and Mrs Bell?’
The younger woman’s shoulders lifted and tightened. ‘That’s why I wanted you to come here, so that you’d understand.’
‘Is this where you planned it all?’
Cookie shook her head, her face twisting in sudden annoyance. ‘No . . . I . . .’
‘Take your time. I’ve come here because I want to understand.’
Cookie folded her arms tight around her middle like she needed the support to keep herself upright. The angry cries of a baby came from one of the neighbouring properties.
‘I’ve got a little brother. His name’s Tod, we call him Toddy—’
Rio’s mind spanned quickly back to being in Cornelius’s room. ‘Is he the boy in the photo—’
‘In Cornelius’s room,’ the other woman finished and nodded. ‘Our home life was shit, so I skipped out when I was fifteen. I heard later that they put Tod in one of them group homes . . .’
The ring of Rio’s mobile cut through the thick atmosphere. Cookie took a half step back. Rio didn’t answer it, but let it ring, never taking her gaze from the other woman. Finally the mobile stopped. The sound of the child’s cries were gone as well. Rio said nothing, letting Cookie have the time she needed.
‘I wanted to get Tod out of there, but they said I couldn’t have him because I had no fixed address. So that’s all I needed: some place to stay, a place that we could call our own. I put my name on the housing list, but they said I wasn’t a priority case.’ She took a deep breath that widened her eyes even more. ‘I kept trying to tell them about my brother, but they didn’t care. I’d be on the housing list for years and I couldn’t wait that long, so Connie . . .’ Her voice cracked. ‘He said we’d find somewhere with a private landlord. We found a place but we needed a deposit—’
Rio finally allowed herself to move, taking a single step forwards. And she said what she’d suspected all along.
‘You didn’t kill Cornelius’s parents did you?’
Cookie’s head swung wildly from side to side. ‘But I did, don’t you see? If it wasn’t for me Connie wouldn’t have needed to get his hands on some cash really quickly.’
‘From what his sister says he needed to get money pretty lively for his drugs and he probably owed the wrong type of people money.’
‘That’s a fucking lie.’ Her voice bounced and echoed against the walls. ‘Sure he took a tote every now and again, but he wasn’t in over his head. He didn’t owe nothing to no one and you know how I know? Because he always warned me to never get myself into a situation that gave other people power over my life. And that sister of his is evil. She was always bullying him and putting him down as a kid. He used to call her and know what she’d do? Slam the phone down on him. Bitch.’
Rio didn’t even remember moving forwards, all she knew was that she had her arms around the young woman who was sliding to the floor. Rio let them collapse in a heap, Cookie crying openly by now.
‘And do you know what the stupid thing is?’ Cookie let out, ‘The Council called me up yesterday and said they found a place for me. Gave me the keys for here. Why didn’t they give them to me sooner? Connie wouldn’t be dead if they had.’
‘This isn’t your fault.’
‘I should’ve realised he was going to do something mad to help me. He said he loved me every day, every night. Told me how he was going to be the best big brother Toddy ever had.’ Her voice ended in a flood of appalling sounding tears and grief.
Rio just held her. She was pleased that Cookie hadn’t been involved in the murders. Rarely did she allow emotions to enter into her job, but this woman – who should have been enjoying the final year of her time as a teenager – deserved a chance: a chance to not only put her own life right but also that of her brother’s.
Rio grabbed Cookie’s chin and made her deliberately look at her. ‘Cornelius did a bad thing to make something else right, but that doesn’t come back to your door or make you bad. Think about Tod and the wonderful and safe place you can make for him here. Do you hear me?’
The other woman gave Rio a shaky nod. ‘I don’t care what anyone says about him. I’ll never forget him and I’ll tell Toddy what a good man he was until my dying day.’
Rio’s mobile went off again. A feeling of unease travelled up her spine. What if the hitman had caught up with Nikki at Ophelia’s? Quickly she pulled out the phone.
Jack Strong.
‘What’s up?’ she asked him.
‘It’s . . .um . . .’
Rio let go of Cookie and stood up. She couldn’t understand it but her legs were trembling.
‘Is it Nikki?’
‘No. You need to get here. It’s Calum Burns.’
As Rio urgently ended the call that’s when she noticed the text message.
From Calum.
Terry Larkin is . . .
fifty-nine
2:47 a.m.
Rio rushed through the on-edge quiet of ICU on the first floor of Mission Hill Hospital. She knew she wasn’t thinking, just moving on autopilot. Only when she spotted Jack Strong just beyond the nurses’ bay did Rio realise that she wasn’t even breathing right: chest pinching in pain with a frantic, quick-quick inhale-exhale motion.
‘Where is he?’ Rio asked as soon as she reached him, her dark eyes darting madly around.
Strong’s hand caught the top of her arm. ‘Take it easy.’
Rio shook his hand off with such force that the socket of her right shoulder started to ache. Fuck the pain, she had to see Calum. She started striding down the corridor, determined to fling open doors.
‘Rio, stop it.’
She heard Strong, but his voice was distant, like he was in another room and she was stuck inside a set of revolving doors destined to go around and around forever. The pain in her chest was now pulling inside her throat. Her hand reached for the first door she came to, but she never opened it because Strong twisted her around. Slamming her up against the wall, he gripped both her arms and pinned her there.
‘You’re going to be no good to him this way.’
That made her stop, except in her head, where one thought kept racing and racing.
‘Is he dead?’
The pressure of his hands deepened. ‘I’ve just told you he needs you, so he can’t be dead—’
‘But he’s in a bad way?’
Rio’s head shot sideways to find a grave Doctor Melissa Green looking at her. Strong finally released her. Rio remained against the hard wall, her head flopping back.
‘We don’t know what happened, Rio,’ Strong explained. ‘He was found in his car near his office in Brixton. Looks like someone tried to strangle him and he’s got a stab wound in his back.’
‘He’s critical,’ Doctor Green softly added.
Strangle . . . Stab wound . . . Critical.
The words were like fire inside Rio’s head. She couldn’t move off the wall; she was scared that if she did she’d be like Cookie, on the floor in some empty space where no one could reach her.
‘We need his next-of-kin details,’ Doctor Green continued.
‘That’s easy,’ Strong supplied, ‘Maggie Burns. Dame Maggie Burns is his mother—’
Doctor Green’s face showed surprise. ‘She sits on the board of the hospital’s Trust—’
‘You’re both wrong,’ Rio cut in, pulling herself off the wall. ‘His next of kin is standing right here.’
The other two looked at her as if she was really losing her mind.
‘I’m his wife.’
‘It was a mistake. Getting married. No, it
was really an impulse.’
Rio’s words were strained, but strangely calm as she faced Strong. Melissa Green had tactfully left them alone.
‘You don’t have to tell me—’
But she didn’t let him finish. Couldn’t let him finish. It was like the moment a suspect finally breaks and knows that the only way to escape the constant interrogation, the artillery of questions, the unrelenting, ‘What the fuck have I done to my life?’ is to tell the truth.
‘Of course at the time it didn’t feel like an impulse,’ she continued softly. ‘It felt like the most amazing thing in the world. Him and Mac were my best mates. I should’ve kept it like that, but then my dad died.’ She took a huge breath. ‘Dad left my mum when I was young. He was a charmer – selfish as hell, lady friends around every street corner. But I loved him. When he passed there was this hole inside of me; I needed something to make me feel whole again. And being with Calum – wow – it sure did the trick. He made me feel so fucking good.
‘I proposed to him one day as we were eating toast in my bed. And the stupid idiot said yes. A week later we’re holding hands like a pair of goofy teenagers, me in this over-kill cream dress, taking vows that were meant to last a lifetime.’
Rio’s head fell back slightly as she let out a tiny ripple of laughter. ‘We didn’t tell anyone – decided to have a little gathering in a week’s time to spill the beans. But we never got that far because the shit hit the fan and Calum’s out on his ear.’ Her face screwed up. ‘Everyone’s calling him dirty. No one’s telling me what the hell’s going on. Calum wouldn’t take my calls. Then I hear he’s been in an accident. I went to that hospital three fucking times, but he refused to see me. I was worried out of my head about him. Then he was moved and I didn’t know where he was.’
‘Rio—’ Strong took a step closer but she violently shook her head, making him stop.
‘Then he has the nerve – the bloody nerve – to send me a letter telling me to stay the hell away from him. He didn’t have the guts to say it to my face. What a coward. A total coward. Coward—’
It was only when she felt the detective’s strong arms around her that she realised how hard she was sobbing – so badly she needed the support of the wall to stay on her feet.
‘I keep calling him a coward,’ she stuttered out. ‘But’s he’s not. He’s one of the bravest men I know.’
‘Why didn’t you divorce him?’
‘Because it would’ve been like losing my dad all over again.’ Rio pushed herself back from Strong, looked steadily into his understanding blue eyes. ‘And he owes me. There’s something he’s not telling me. Call it the policewoman in me; I can’t let go until I know the truth. When he tells me why he pushed me away and had to leave the force, then maybe it’s my turn to serve him a piece of paper that makes sure he stays the hell away from me.’
Someone discreetly coughed. Rio snapped her gaze away from Strong to find Melissa Green hovering uncomfortably in the background.
‘Sorry to interrupt, but I thought I should give you Mr Burns’ belongings.’
She handed Rio a black wallet, ballpoint, black pen, a half eaten pack of mints. And a gun. Rio instantly recognised it from her days in the firearms unit. A semi-automatic FN Five-Seven: lightweight, low recoil and large magazine capacity. Two features upped it on the lethal scale – equal right and left hand controls and the ability to use cartridges that could pierce body armour. Calum hadn’t been fucking around when he decided to pack this monster. Shame he hadn’t been able to use it on the monster who’d attacked him.
‘I should take that in as evidence, DI,’ Strong said.
But Rio shook her head. ‘No. It stays with me for now. You know he could get into some serious trouble if he doesn’t have the paperwork to go with this.’
Rio was thankful that the older detective didn’t push it. She placed the gun in her pocket.
‘Was this all you found on him?’ Rio addressed the doctor.
‘There’s a rucksack—’
Rio frowned. ‘Did you find a phone in his bag?’
Doctor Green lifted her shoulders. ‘No, just—’
‘He never goes anywhere without one of his phones. I know he had one because he sent me a text.’
‘Maybe he knew he was just stepping into his car for a minute,’ Strong rationalised, ‘and then going back to the office—’
‘No way,’ Rio interrupted. ‘He always has a phone . . .’ Abruptly she stopped talking. Then Rio was striding away, pulling her mobile out at the same time, her mind ticking. When the line was connected she didn’t hear Doctor Green ask what she wanted her to do with Calum’s rucksack.
All Rio could think about was Calum’s phone.
sixty
3:49 a.m.
The mobile phone pinged. The contract killer smiled. He picked it up from its resting place on the car passenger seat beside him. It was the only object he had taken off the security consultant – all he needed to hopefully find the girl. He knew that eventually the information he needed to lead him straight to her would come in. He read the text message.
And here it was.
Thanks for looking after me. Ophelia is taking good care of me at her home. You were so good to me. lol Nikki ?
Silly girl. He hoped he was bringing up his girl not to be such a dimwit. He smiled. His daughter’s birthday was in a few days. And what a surprise he had in store for her.
He ditched thoughts of his family as he turned the ignition. It took him just under thirty minutes to reach his target’s cousin’s home. He parked up on an adjacent road, pulled out his mobile, made the call that he hoped would get this job done and get him back to his family.
‘I’ve located her.’
‘Why are you calling me? You know what to do.’
‘She’s at the actress’s place.’ His orders were not to go anywhere near the cousin.
Maybe his contact had a soft spot for the character the actress played in that appalling period drama.
‘But,’ he added, ‘let me be clear. If I don’t go into the actress’s home and finish this I won’t be here come the morning light. I’ve already changed my plans – which I never like doing – and have given you an extra day—’
‘Which you’re getting paid for—’
‘True. But this job doesn’t feel so lucky anymore.’
‘Unlucky is being tossed out on the street after leaving the army. Don’t forget who gave you a helping hand and brought luck back into your life.’
He swallowed. He didn’t like thinking back to those days.
‘Am I going in?’
Silence. Then, ‘Do it.’
He disconnected the call, zipped his midnight-black windbreaker to just over the bump in his nose, flicked his hood until it hung low over his face, and got out. Heading around the back to the boot of the car, he pooped the lid. Inside a large holdall bag were the tools of his trade – guns, wire, string, tape and a variety of sedatives and deadlier meds. And his beloved knives: knives, never derogatory names like blade, cutter, pig sticker, Tottenham toothpick. Those terms were disrespectful and you didn’t diss things that were part of your family. He chose one of his larger filleting knives – one that was real easy to get close to the bone.
Finally he looked up at the small building, black railing set around it. He counted ten maisonette-style apartments. The actress’s home took up a space on the ground and first floors. No security cams or alarms in sight. Good. He walked over until he stood directly opposite her front door. The place was dark downstairs, but there was the glow of a light behind the drawn curtains of a window upstairs. Was the room the shit actress’s or the girl’s? He shrugged as he took out his picklock. Didn’t matter really; both were dead already.
Ten seconds later he was inside a hallway bathed in black. He immediately caught his reflection in the oval mirror that faced him at the far end of the hallway. He smiled tightly. He liked what he saw; the visual image of a shadowed beast, with only eye
s for a face and black gloves for hands. He looked away from the mirror. Didn’t bother checking any of the rooms downstairs; the light upstairs told its own story of where the residents of this home were. He took the stairs carefully, slowly, his covered hand gripping the bannister to keep his tread quiet and light. He counted the steps as he went.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
On number five he saw through the bannister which room the light was coming from. The second room on a short landing. Probably a bedroom.
Six.
Seven.
On number eight he pulled the knife into his hand.
Final step. His feet touched the landing. He took his time moving, the light from the room almost drawing him in. His hand tightened on the flexible knife handle. He took another step. And another. He reached the edge of the room. The door was partially opened into the room. He pushed the door slowly back with an expert, quiet ease as he entered the room.
And there she was, with her back to him, sitting on a stool at a dressing table. He could feel his cock getting hard. It was always the same with him. Just before the kill, he felt this power so strong, so engulfing, every nerve ending inside him fired up, pushing adrenaline to the four corners of his body until he thought he was going to blow and come. She hadn’t heard him yet. That made the feeling so much sweeter. Him, so much harder.
He got himself back under control. His cock started shrinking as he finally moved towards her, knife rising wickedly high.
A female voice announced behind him, ‘You take another step mister and you’re a dead man.’
4:42 a.m.
‘Drop it,’ Rio said as she held Calum’s gun steady.
Death Trap Page 31
