‘I’ve got people can tell you I help them out with odd jobs, out of the goodness of my heart,’ Will added.
‘What sort of odd jobs?’ Geraldine asked. ‘You need to be more specific. What exactly do you do and who are you working for?’
She threw a quick glance at Ian and cleared her throat, hoping he would follow her lead.
‘I don’t work for anyone. I just help out. That’s the kind of bloke I am. Soft hearted. I like to help. I don’t suppose that’s something you people can understand.’
‘So what do you do, when you’re being helpful? What sort of jobs?’
‘All sorts. Whatever needs doing.’
‘Would those jobs include gardening?’ Geraldine asked.
‘What? No, not really,’ Will replied. ‘I’m not much of a one for gardening.’
‘Really? I noticed a lawn mower in your hall.’
‘So what?’
‘It’s not an offence to own a lawn mower,’ the solicitor said.
‘What else do you do, if you’re not gardening?’
‘You keep gardening tools in your shed,’ Ian interrupted, finally realising where her questions had been heading.
Although he sounded bored, Geraldine understood him well enough to know that was far from the case. They had worked together so many times, she knew he had picked up on the reason for her interest.
‘I saw hoes and rakes,’ Ian went on thoughtfully, ‘and a lawnmower and a pretty heavy-duty leaf blower, and now I come to think of it you had a hedge trimmer there as well, even though your yard is fenced in. I remember wondering what you used all those tools for.’
Will shrugged. He looked faintly uneasy but had the sense to remain silent while he waited to see where this was going.
‘As I recall, the tools had been used recently. There was fresh grass on the lawnmower blades. Of course we can easily get that checked,’ Ian went on.
Geraldine and Ian exchanged a quick glance, and Will frowned.
‘Since when was gardening a crime?’ the lawyer enquired blandly, but Geraldine detected a flicker of uncertainty in his expression.
‘Yeah, so I like to garden sometimes,’ Will admitted. ‘So what? I do a bit of gardening at home. I like to look after my place. I’m a –’
‘Your garden’s quite small, I believe,’ Geraldine said, turning to Ian.
‘More of a yard than a garden,’ Ian agreed. ‘In fact, apart from a bank of overgrown bushes along one fence, it’s all paved over. No grass to mow there.’
Will squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.
‘So you must have done some gardening for other people?’ Geraldine suggested.
When Will didn’t answer, she gestured to Ian to turn off the tape. ‘It could go against us if he helped out his neighbours,’ she said softly. ‘Especially if he helped old people.’ She turned back to Will. ‘The tape’s been turned off so you can tell us, off the record. Was it a community service order, or were you doing it for money?’
‘I wasn’t doing community service and I wasn’t paid anything,’ Will replied quickly. ‘I just helped out. I like helping people. I do it out of the goodness of my heart. That’s who I am,’ he went on, becoming more expansive as he spoke. ‘I’m a dog lover, and I like helping people. No jury’s going to condemn me for that.’
He grinned uncertainly at his lawyer, as though to say he had the situation under control. The lawyer didn’t appear to share his client’s view but watched Geraldine with a wary expression.
She nodded at Ian to turn the tape on again. ‘You just told us you do casual gardening jobs to help out your neighbours?’
‘That’s right,’ Will replied, glancing nervously at the tape which was running again. ‘And I’m a dog lover and all. I found my poor mutt abandoned and wandering the streets and I took him in and looked after him. That’s the kind of person I am. You don’t want to believe what Angie says. She’s a sad case.’ He shook his head, sighing.
‘I know how helpful you are,’ Geraldine said. ‘In fact, I witnessed it myself. You helped Mark Abbot with his garden, didn’t you? You’re the gardener who took the body down when his wife found him hanging there. That’s why we didn’t find anyone else’s fingerprints or DNA at the scene. Because there was no one else there. It was you all along. You were the one who hung Mark, and then you waited in the garden until Charlotte called for help, at which point you rushed in, which explained why your fingerprints and DNA were all over the body and the banister. Ingenious! We never questioned why your fingerprints and DNA were found at the scene, because you were there pretending to try and save the man you had just murdered. Perhaps you wanted to make sure he was really dead.’
Will had gone pale. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would I kill anyone?’
‘You’ll have to tell us that yourself. Why did you kill him? And Amanda? Did you look after her garden too?’
‘I never went to her house, and you can’t prove I ever did. I don’t even know her.’
The lawyer stirred. ‘You brought my client here on suspicion of owning a dangerous dog which is alleged to have attacked and killed Charlotte Abbott. He has not been accused of murdering Mark and Amanda Abbott.’
Ian looked grim. ‘He has now.’ Ignoring Will’s protestations, he charged him formally.
‘Why?’ Will blurted out. ‘Why would I want to kill them? Any of them? What possible reason could I have?’
His voice rose in an emotional crescendo, but the question was rational enough.
‘We need to take a break,’ the lawyer cut in, raising his pale hand to silence Will. ‘I’d like to talk to my client.’
64
Ian and Geraldine went to see Eileen together to discuss the turn the interview had taken.
‘We don’t know if Will actually knew Amanda,’ Geraldine said, ‘but they were both at Mark’s funeral.’
‘Did they speak to each other?’
‘Not that I saw. But it doesn’t matter whether Amanda knew him or not, because she could have left her house with a stranger.’
‘So you’re saying you now think Will, and not Eddy, is a serial killer?’ Eileen asked.
Geraldine didn’t point out that she had never believed Eddy was guilty of murdering his parents, but no one had listened to her opinion. As an established inspector, her views had been given serious credence. Since her demotion she had grown accustomed to being doubted. She had almost come to expect it. While she was determined to rebuild her reputation, in the meantime she accepted that she had to tolerate her senior officer’s scepticism of her judgement. But she didn’t like it.
‘Everything so far seems to point to Will having killed them all,’ she replied doggedly. ‘Will was there when Mark was hung, traces of his dog’s faeces were found on Amanda’s clothes, and we know it was Will’s dog that killed Charlotte.’
Eileen nodded. ‘That can’t all be coincidence. So you’re saying we have a new suspect in the frame for all three victims?’
Geraldine tried to conceal her impatience but it seemed to her that the detective chief inspector was being unnecessarily obtuse. ‘Yes, obviously.’
‘But the question remains, what motive could he have had for killing even one of them? He didn’t stand to gain anything by their deaths, did he?’
‘That’s the problem,’ Ian replied.
Eileen shook her head. ‘No, the only person who might have wanted to get both Mark and Charlotte out of the way was Eddy. He stood to gain a tidy estate when they were both dead. He must have killed Amanda because she knew too much. But the fact remains, we know Eddy had a strong financial motive for killing his father and his stepmother, but Will had no such reason. Why would he have wanted them dead? It doesn’t make sense. Just because he could have killed them doesn’t mean he did.’
‘Eddy and Will could have been working together,’ Geraldine suggested. ‘Maybe they arranged for Will to kill Eddy’s father and stepmother and share the proceeds between them. Or p
erhaps the killer wanted Eddy out of the way as well, and set things up to make sure he was the obvious suspect for the murders.’ Ignoring Eileen’s gathering frown, Geraldine pressed on. ‘With Mark and Charlotte both dead, and Eddy locked up for murder, who would benefit from the estate?’
‘His wife.’
There was silence for a moment while Eileen and Ian considered Geraldine’s theory.
‘So, you’re suggesting Will was in collusion with Luciana to plan the deaths of her father-in-law and mother-in-law together, knowing Eddy would go to prison for murder, leaving her with all the money?’ Eileen asked. ‘And so you’re saying Will killed them all, but Luciana instigated the murders?’
Ian nodded. ‘It’s possible Luciana could have talked him into it, for money or love.’
‘Or both,’ Geraldine added.
Eileen looked concerned. ‘Geraldine,’ she said gently, ‘you seem convinced that Will’s guilty. Are you sure you’re not allowing yourself to be swayed by an emotional response to your experience at his house? It would be perfectly understandable. You could easily have been killed when Will threw you into his cellar. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Ian, you might have died down there.’ She smiled at Ian who looked at the floor and shrugged.
Geraldine did her best to conceal her anger at this accusation of subjectivity. She had always prided herself on her integrity. In fact, until recently she would have been confident her own feelings would never influence her judgement. But after her humiliating demotion, she had to accept that she hadn’t always acted professionally. She was further irritated when Ian appeared to agree with Eileen.
‘Luciana couldn’t have known that we’d arrest Eddy,’ he said. ‘It wouldn’t be a very sensible plan, when you think about it.’
‘Is premeditated murder ever sensible? But if Luciana knew about her husband’s gambling, she’d realise we were bound to discover it too, and then we’d be fairly certain to suspect him. A man desperate for money has to be a suspect, where he stands to benefit so considerably.’
‘Would she be sufficiently confident of that to risk killing her in-laws?’
Once again, Geraldine hid her impatience as well as she could. ‘She wasn’t really taking a risk, not if she had Will carrying out the murders for her. If it all went wrong, she’d be ready to distance herself from it. And in any case, if Will was prepared to kill her in-laws, as a last resort they could have arranged to kill Eddy as well, perhaps staging another suicide.’
‘That makes sense,’ Eileen agreed slowly.
‘It’s the only theory that does make sense.’ Geraldine said.
‘So how do we test this theory?’ Eileen asked.
At least the detective chief inspector was prepared to accept as possible something that seemed obvious to Geraldine. But as she walked back to her own desk, Eileen’s comment bothered her. Thinking back over her career, she could only think of one situation where she had acted unprofessionally. Admittedly it had been a serious misdemeanour. She had been demoted and relocated as a consequence of acting illegally to protect her drug addict twin. Eileen knew about it. But it hardly seemed fair of her to judge Geraldine’s professional integrity on the basis of one, albeit serious, offence. The trouble was, when Geraldine put herself in Eileen’s place, she came to the same harsh conclusions as Eileen had reached. It was difficult to acknowledge that she was no longer an officer whose objectivity could be relied on.
65
The interview resumed. Without turning her head to meet Ian’s eye, Geraldine introduced her idea. They both watched Will closely, hoping for a reaction, but he didn’t seem concerned when she told him that Luciana had been to the police station. He appeared blasé, but Geraldine thought she detected a glint of interest in his eyes.
‘Luciana Abbott,’ she repeated slowly. ‘Eddy Abbott’s wife.’
‘I don’t know anyone called Luciana,’ he replied, a trifle too quickly.
Although he returned her gaze levelly, she noticed him shift uneasily in his seat. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought he was aware that she had noticed he was jumpy because he looked down.
‘Well, that’s strange,’ Ian said. ‘Because she certainly seemed to know all about you.’
When Will looked up his eyes were glowing more brightly and his face looked flushed, as though he was suffering from a sudden fever.
‘What was that name again?’
‘Luciana Abbott.’
He shook his head. ‘Perhaps she’s one of the women I’ve done odd jobs for,’ he suggested. ‘Yes, that must be it. She must be one of the neighbours I’ve helped out.’ He gave a sheepish smile that Geraldine guessed was intended to charm her. ‘I can’t remember all of their names. I help a lot of people. Like I said, that’s the kind of person I am.’
‘You can’t come across many women called Luciana,’ Geraldine said.
All this while, his lawyer had been sitting very still, listening. Now he spoke.
‘What’s the significance of this woman, Luciana?’
‘I think Will knows perfectly well what this means,’ Geraldine replied.
‘My client has already told you he knows no one by that name.’
‘He’s lying.’
‘Can you substantiate that accusation? Or even explain to me why that might be true?’ the lawyer replied.
Will shook his head, muttering that he had no idea what the police were talking about.
‘Luciana was the one who started all this, wasn’t she, Will?’ Geraldine asked. ‘She put you up to it, didn’t she?’
The lawyer leaned back in his chair and nearly closed his eyes. ‘Put him up to what, exactly?’
Ignoring the interruption, Geraldine pressed on. ‘She told us it was all your idea, but that seems unlikely. The Abbotts weren’t your family, were they? You didn’t stand to gain anything from their deaths, did you?’
‘What are you talking about?’ Will spluttered. ‘I’ve no idea what you’re on about. I don’t know anyone called Abbott.’
Finally rattled, Will turned to his lawyer and hissed, ‘Get me out of here!’ He was sweating with indignation, or perhaps fear.
Geraldine smiled to herself. Now they had riled Will, he might start making mistakes. With any luck he would condemn himself and do their job for them. The lawyer shifted in his seat. The same thought must have occurred to him.
‘Just keep calm,’ he muttered to Will. ‘Leave this to me. That’s what I’m here for, to defend you.’
‘But they’re saying I’ve committed a murder. Can’t you stop them?’
‘Three murders,’ Geraldine muttered.
‘I’m not sure why you’re getting so agitated,’ Ian said. ‘If you’re innocent, as you claim, then you should have nothing to worry about.’
Will scowled. ‘You think it’s nice sitting here being accused of all sorts of things I never did? You’re trying to stitch me up.’ He glared at his lawyer. ‘They’re trying to frame me. It’s all lies what they’re saying about me.’
‘My client is feeling harassed,’ the lawyer said. ‘We need to take a break.’
‘Another one?’ Ian retorted, before he announced he was stopping the tape.
During the break, Geraldine and Ian went to the canteen for a coffee. Seated at a corner table, they spoke in undertones. While they were in agreement that it was time to increase the pressure on Will, they were not quite certain of the best way to proceed. Within the parameters of allowable conduct, Eileen had given them a free hand to do whatever proved necessary to establish the truth. Geraldine had already suggested they hint to Will that Luciana had accused him of carrying out the murders.
‘If he’s innocent, he’s hardly going to say he committed three murders, is he? It’s not as if he’s easily cowed. We’re only going to plant the suggestion that Luciana has implicated him. We’re not going to actually come out and say it. He doesn’t have to admit anything. But if he is to blame for three murders – which he must be, considering the part hi
s dog played in at least one of them, not to mention the fact that it could have killed me – if he is to blame, it’s our responsibility to see him brought to justice, and make sure he can’t kill anyone else.’
Luciana had been questioned, but so far she had given nothing away. She had denied knowing anyone called Will. But he hadn’t been told that. If Geraldine hadn’t been convinced Will was guilty, she probably wouldn’t have pushed to go ahead with a plan that implied something they knew wasn’t true. As it was, she had succeeded in overcoming Ian’s objections by pointing out that Will didn’t have to cave in. Only now, sitting in the canteen with a mug of tea and a bun, was she able to take a step back and acknowledge that her determination to see Will convicted possibly went beyond the realms of appropriate response. She was afraid she had allowed her reaction to be coloured by resentment at the way she herself had been thrown in the cellar to die.
When she voiced her reservations, Ian was irritated. ‘It was your idea in the first place to tell him Luciana informed on him. Now you’re saying you don’t think we should.’
‘I’m just wondering if what we’re doing is – well, ethical?’
‘Like you said, we’re only raising a possibility. We can’t put words in his mouth.’
Ian sounded almost as though he regretted the restrictions on police activity, put in place in the nineteen eighties to protect the public from maverick police officers.
‘Come on then, let’s do this,’ he said at last.
Geraldine followed him along the corridor in silence. It seemed she was committed to going ahead now. But she felt a frisson of unease as she followed Ian back into the interview room.
‘We’ve spoken to Luciana.’
‘I told you, I don’t know anyone called Luciana.’
‘Stop playing games,’ Ian snapped. ‘We’ve spoken to Luciana and she’s told us everything.’
‘Everything?’ the lawyer repeated, with a sceptical grunt.
‘She’s told us what you did.’
Death Rope Page 26
