Kennedy 02 - A Darker Side

by Shirley Wells

  ‘Laughing?’

  ‘So Jenny said. According to her, Hope had psychiatric treatment for the next five years. In the end, the medical experts said she was fine. Jenny didn’t agree; she thought Hope was merely adept at fooling them. Anyway, the family then moved to England.’

  ‘And where’s Hope now?’

  ‘Jenny said they’d lost touch with her. She was eighteen when she left home. That’s twelve, thirteen years ago.’

  ‘And they have no idea where she is?’

  ‘None whatsoever. She was always a difficult child terrible mood swings, that sort of thing. Well, Jenny called them violent mood swings. But she was very bright. After school, she went to university in Reading. She wanted to be a teacher, I gather.’

  A teacher?

  ‘Jenny wrote to her,’ Babs went on, ‘but Hope never answered and, after a few months, the letters were returned by Royal Mail with gone away scrawled all over them. They think Hope may have changed her name too, but they don’t know.’

  Jenny and Peter Ramsland might not know, but Jill thought that she might. She was already on her feet, her heart pounding.

  ‘Jenny’s emailed me a photo that was taken of Hope when she was seventeen,’ Babs explained. ‘The quality isn’t great, but it might be of interest. I’ve forwarded it to you.’

  With the phone clutched to her ear, Jill went to her computer and switched it on. It took a while for her emails to download.

  ‘I’ve got it, Babs.’

  She clicked on the email but, even before it opened, Jill suspected she knew exactly whose face she would see in the photo.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Max was beginning to think they would never get home. After a meal to celebrate Ben and Fly’s success, he’d been persuaded to stop at Jane Miller’s house so that she could see the rosette. Jane Miller, a friend of Kate’s, was a stranger to Max, but she knew all there was to know about him and the boys. As they all sat in her living room, Max could feel life passing him by.

  When they finally made their escape from there, Kate wanted to call at Asda.

  ‘Fine,’ Max told her, relieved. ‘We’ll see you back at the house.’

  Of course, it hadn’t been that simple.

  ‘There are a few things I need,’ she’d said, ‘but I also thought the boys could treat themselves. What do you say, boys?’

  As if she needed to ask!

  So they’d bought up half of Asda before, finally, heading for home.

  As Max drove, his thoughts were on Martin and Josie Hayden, and on Jason Keane and James Murphy. He remembered what Jill had said. She believed he had spoken to the killer. According to her logic, there was someone they’d dismissed, and they’d dismissed that person because they didn’t stand out, because that person was ordinary.

  So who the hell had they missed?

  Hundreds of people had been questioned in connection with this. Perhaps by concentrating on his favoured suspects, he had missed someone.

  Every person on Harrington High School’s payroll had been questioned and checked out. Everyone from the headmaster, through the teachers to the canteen staff and cleaners. Everyone who visited the school had been questioned, from the girl who drove the van and delivered the stationery to the lad who delivered the milk.

  In the same way, everyone with a connection to Lower Crags Farm had been discounted.

  His mind drifted back to his chat with Alan Turner. He’d been adamant that he had never commented on the ratio of police to residents at Lower Crags Farm. Why? He could easily have said he’d driven past. That wasn’t a crime. The thing was though that to know how many police officers were there, one would have to do more than drive past. The farmhouse wasn’t visible from the road.

  In the rear-view mirror, he caught a glimpse of Ben fondling the yellow rosette he’d won. The sight made him smile. To have such great kids, he had to be one of the luckiest blokes alive.

  If he had Jill, too

  He didn’t, not yet, but she was mellowing, he was sure of it. It was a slow process though. When he’d had his night of he couldn’t call it passion in that seedy hotel room, he’d had no idea that he could hurt Jill as much as he had. He’d had no idea anyone could be hurt so deeply.

  He rounded the corner into their road What the fuck?

  The noise was unbelievable. Glass and bricks flew into the road, and a huge ball of fire engulfed the front wall of his house.

  ‘Holy shit!’ Harry’s voice shook.

  Max had stopped the car and he swung around in his seat. ‘You OK?’

  Harry nodded, a little doubtfully.

  Ben looked at his brother, looked at Max, and hugged Holly and Fly a little tighter.

  ‘Ben?’

  Ben, still clinging to the dogs, followed his brother’s example and nodded at Max.

  ‘Right. It’s OK,’ Max told them, ‘we’re all safe. Now, I want you to stay in the car. Got that? Don’t move!’

  He jumped out of the car and ran towards his house, but he couldn’t get close. He was shaking. Little wonder really. If it hadn’t been for the mother-in-law he’d spent the last few hours cursing, they would all have been inside.

  He raced back to his car, and while waiting for Kate to catch them up, he phoned the fire brigade. Then he phoned the station.

  He was surprised to see his mobile registering seven missed calls. Damn! He’d switched it to Silent when Ben and Fly went into the show ring and forgotten to switch it back to Normal. He didn’t have time to see who’d called now. There were far more important things to do and the first job was to get his neighbours out of their houses. If there was another explosion

  Had it really been an explosion? Of course it had. What else could it have been?

  Was it a gas fault, or was this the work of the maniac they were after? He had killed twice, at least twice, already. Tell DCI Trentham that Harry is next. Had this been intended for Harry? But this wasn’t their killer’s style

  Max had no idea what the fuck was happening.

  While he was getting his elderly neighbour out of her house, he heard the welcome wail of sirens.

  Chaos ruled for a good half an hour. At least, it felt like chaos to Max. Fire crews arrived, the road was sealed off, and all houses in the street were evacuated. Everything that needed doing was being done.

  Kate was standing some distance away with Harry, Ben and the two dogs. DS Forrest was standing next to them, talking into his radio.

  Max was trying to decide what he needed to do next, but he couldn’t think straight. Hell, he was struggling to breathe.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  As soon as she ended the call to Babs, Jill tried Max’s mobile. It rang out, but he wasn’t answering. She had no idea where they were having that celebratory meal, and she couldn’t ring every restaurant in the area.

  She carried her phone upstairs and dressed in jeans and a thick sweater. She’d give Max ten more minutes and, if she hadn’t managed to reach him, she’d drive over to his house and wait for them to return.

  This was frightening her. Where the hell was he? It was unlike him not to answer his phone.

  Five minutes later, she locked up her cottage, jumped in her car and headed for his place. On the way, she called his number again, but he still wasn’t answering.

  What if something had happened to him? A sharp pain, somewhere between her chest and her stomach, told her how she would feel, how she did feel about him. She loved him. Always had, she supposed. He’d hurt her, but try as she might, she couldn’t master the art of not loving him . . .

  Her driving was as erratic as her heartbeat and when she tried to turn the corner into his road, she found it blocked by fire crews and police cars. What the?

  She jumped out of her car and managed to catch snippets from the crowd gathered at the corner. The whole road had been evacuated. Someone even mentioned a bomb.

  As Jill ran towards the crowd, she saw that the cloud of smoke was billowing out of Max’s
house.

  She soon had Ben in her arms and Harry standing close. Kate looked on the point of collapse.

  ‘Just as we turned the corner,’ Harry was telling Jill breathlessly, ‘there was a huge bang. It was like a bomb going off.’

  ‘It must have been a gas leak,’ Kate said, her voice all highs and lows.

  ‘Sure to have been,’ Jill said, but she was sure of no such thing. ‘Thank God you were all out!’

  ‘What will happen?’ Ben whispered, one hand tight on Fly’s lead and the other just as tight on Jill’s arm.

  ‘You’ll have to stay with me tonight,’ she told him. ‘You might end up sleeping on the floor, but there’s plenty of room. It’ll be fun!’

  She saw Max talking to a group. From the way he was waving his arms around, he looked to be issuing orders.

  ‘I need to see your dad,’ she told the boys. She patted Kate’s arm. ‘You all right, Kate?’

  ‘Fine,’ Kate replied, but it was obvious that she was far from all right.

  ‘Here.’ Jill handed DS Forrest a bunch of keys. ‘Drive them all back to my place. Kate can take my car if necessary.’ She nodded up the road. ‘It’s parked back at the corner. And don’t, whatever you do, let them out of your sight.’

  ‘Oh, I won’t do that,’ he promised her.

  Kate seemed glad to be told what to do and she was soon giving instructions to the boys. Jill watched as DS Forrest, alert as ever as he spoke into his radio, led them away.

  Then she pushed her way through the crowd of police and firemen to get to Max.

  He broke away when he saw and walked over to her.

  ‘What in hell’s name happened, Max?’

  ‘It might have been a gas leak,’ he said, and despite the calm, measured tone, she knew he was taut with rage. He was a master at keeping his emotions tightly in check, but, right now, he looked as if he was a breath away from committing murder.

  ‘It wasn’t a gas leak, was it?’ Her teeth were chattering as she tried to get the words out. ‘I’ve sent Kate and the boys back to my place. DS Forrest is with them. But we need to find Donna Lord, Max.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘It’s a long story, but I think no, I’m sure she’s our killer. She’s Josie Hayden’s daughter!’

  For a moment, he was completely still. Apart from the fury blazing in his eyes, nothing registered in his expression. Nothing.

  Then, he swung into action. He went to speak to a couple of officers and, as he came back to join Jill, she heard him say, ‘. . . and organize some fucking back-up!’

  He grabbed Jill’s arm. ‘We’ll drive out to her place and, on the way, you can tell me what you’ve found out.’

  As they strode up the road to Max’s car, his hand was still biting into her arm. When they were inside, he fired the engine, slammed the car into gear and, with difficulty, manoeuvred around the police cars.

  ‘Right,’ he said when they were finally out on the main road. ‘Tell all.’

  Jill told him of her conversation with Babs, and of the photo she’d been sent.

  ‘There’s no doubt that Donna Lord or Hope is Josie’s daughter,’ she told him, concentrating on stopping her teeth from chattering. ‘As to whether she’s our killer well, there’s no doubt in my mind, but we don’t have any proof.’

  ‘We’ll get proof,’ he said grimly.

  ‘We need to handle her with care,’ Jill pointed out. ‘She’s sick, Max. She needs help. And our first priority has to be finding Jason Keane and James Murphy.’

  ‘I know that.’ He gave her a brief sideways look as they sped along Harrington’s main street. ‘What do you suggest?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ she answered, ‘but I do know that we need to tread very carefully indeed.’

  Chapter Forty-Five

  All Max wanted was Jill and his kids next to him. They were all safe, and he kept reminding himself of that, but it had been a close call. If it hadn’t been for Kate’s insistence on seeing her friend and then stopping to shop, they would have been in the house. They would most likely have been dead.

  Max thanked whatever guardian angel had looked out for them today.

  Donna Lord’s car was parked outside her house and he slowed to a stop behind it.

  ‘Let’s see what she has to say for herself,’ he said, striving for calm.

  Her house was a traditional terraced building with nothing to set it apart from the others in the street. The door was painted a deep blue and Max rang the bell. Just as he was about to ring it again, the door opened and there she was.

  ‘Well, well, well, if it isn’t my favourite detective.’

  Surprise had registered in those attractive eyes of hers. Why? Because he was alive?

  ‘And the psychologist,’ she added. ‘I am honoured.’

  ‘Can we come inside?’ Max asked. ‘We’d like a word.’

  She hesitated briefly and Max noticed that her eyes were dangerously bright.

  ‘Of course,’ she said.

  They were shown into a large sitting room and offered seats. They both remained standing.

  ‘To what do I owe this – pleasure?’ Donna asked lightly.

  ‘We need your help,’ Jill told her, and Max suspected he was the only one to hear the catch in her voice. ‘We need to find Jason and James and we think you can help us.’

  Donna Lord shook her head. ‘I wish I could but . . .’ She shrugged. ‘I’ve told you all I know. And I can only spare you a minute or so because I’m on my way out.’

  ‘Donna, listen,’ Jill said gently. ‘We’ve been talking to your parents – your foster parents.’ She paused, letting her comments sink in. ‘We know about the car accident, Donna. Or should I call you Hope?’

  ‘What?’ She looked to Max, eyes glittering more brightly than ever. ‘What’s she talking about?’

  ‘I’m talking about the car crash, Hope,’ Jill said, her voice soft and almost hypnotic.

  Max wanted to grab Donna Lord by the throat and drag answers from her by force but, for now, he was prepared to go along with Jill.

  ‘The car crash that killed your adoptive parents,’ Jill went on, ‘was truly awful, wasn’t it? You were only five years old and you had to watch your mother die. You were trapped in your seat, crying for your mother, watching her die.’

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ Donna Lord cried. ‘It’s all nonsense – I don’t understand.’

  ‘Your friend drowned too, didn’t he? His name was Denzil. You must have missed ’

  With lightning speed, Donna lunged forward. She’d pulled a knife from the back pocket of her jeans and it was heading straight for Jill’s throat.

  Thankfully, Max was quicker and managed to knock her to the ground.

  ‘While you were grieving for him,’ Jill continued as if nothing had happened, ‘you discovered that your mother your real mother had given you up for adoption, didn’t you? How did you feel, Hope? Abandoned? But Josie didn’t abandon you willingly. She loved you.’

  As Max was calling for back-up, Donna swung her head round and spat in his face.

  ‘Now that’s no way to treat your favourite detective,’ he ground out, tempted to punch that lovely face of hers.

  Four officers burst through the door.

  ‘Get her cuffed,’ he shouted at them, ‘and then I want this place ripped apart.’

  ‘Tell us, Hope,’ Jill said, bending to speak to her as two officers managed to put handcuffs on her. ‘Tell us what you’ve done with Jason and James.’

  ‘They need to learn,’ Donna said, twisting and kicking as an officer lifted her to her feet. ‘They have to learn that Mummy doesn’t come. I had to learn. They have to. They can cry all they like but Mummy won’t come. She never will.’

  ‘We’ll make sure you get the help you need,’ Jill persisted. ‘Just tell us where the boys are. Please!’

  ‘Go to hell!’

  ‘Why did you kill Josie? Why couldn’t you ’

&nbs
p; ‘She left her own child. She abandoned me. Not the others, oh no. She didn’t leave that little shit Martin Hayden. He was golden bollocks. Not that bitch, Sarah Hayden, either. No. I was the one she abandoned. Me!’

  ‘She was fourteen,’ Jill said. ‘She had no choice. She didn’t give you up willingly. She was raped. Her life was just as terrible as yours.’

  Donna Lord was kicking at an officer, spitting out obscenities with every breath, and insisting that boys had to learn. She’d had to learn, Martin Hayden had had to learn and now James Murphy and Jason Keane had to learn.

  Then she was suddenly still.

  ‘Where’s Harry Trentham?’ she demanded.

  Max was in the process of smashing a door, one that he suspected led to a cellar, but he stopped and turned round.

  ‘At home, I imagine,’ he told her.

  Two officers smashed the door for him and, sure enough, there were steps down to a cellar.

  ‘That’s where I left him,’ he continued, walking towards her. ‘Why? What’s the sudden interest in Harry?’

  She burst into hysterical, manic laughter and, just as Max was about to hit her with all the force he could muster, an officer called out, ‘We need an ambulance down here!’

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Amazed that she had overslept, Jill leapt out of bed, pulled back her curtains and almost clapped her hands in childlike delight as the snow-covered landscape was revealed.

  If only this had arrived yesterday, she would have relieved the bookie of a couple of hundred quid. She’d checked at midnight, but there hadn’t been so much as a hint of a flake. Now, they had a good couple of inches. Sadly, snow on Boxing Day didn’t qualify as a white Christmas.

  It was an amazing sight nevertheless. The hills were majestic in their regal white mantle. In her garden, a robin was hopping from shrub to shrub, his red breast the only splash of colour against snow that was unspoilt except for one neat, straight line of cat’s paw prints.

  There wasn’t a sound; the world was muffled by its snowy blanket.

  ‘Oh, my’ Jill chuckled. So much for her beautiful, unspoilt snow.

  Someone had let out the dogs. Holly ambled through it as if it were an everyday occurrence. Fly, however, was racing around at breakneck pace and trying to shovel it up with his nose.