Unfinished Business

by Heather Atkinson

  Instantly Brodie felt more upbeat. “Just as long as he treated you nice.”

  “He did. So how was your evening? Did you meet a nice lady?”

  No because I was mooning over you. “I was too busy trying to figure out what I missed yesterday.”

  “Did you figure it out?”

  “No,” he sighed, “and we need to go back to Glasgow today, I daren’t leave Ross and Christian alone any longer and we do have other cases requiring our attention.”

  “If you work it out you can always come back down.”

  “I just hope I’m not too late.”

  “You think it’s that bad?”

  “Maybe.” He sighed, feeling miserable. He’d failed to close the case to his satisfaction, he still had unfinished business here and Cass had shagged one of the investigating officers. He hated Manchester. “Do you want to say goodbye to Clarke before we go?” he said, deciding to try and be magnanimous.

  “We already said goodbye. Twice,” she smiled.

  Brodie winced inside. “I’ll go and pay the bill then,” he said, getting to his feet, leaving her to finish her breakfast.

  The receptionist eyed him warily as he paid up in angry silence. “Have a safe journey,” she said timidly, part of her rehearsed spiel.

  He just grunted in response and went upstairs to fetch his bag. Cass met him in the car park and after loading their luggage into the back they both got in. Cass remained in silence as they set off, reliving her very pleasant evening with DS Clarke while Brodie negotiated the city traffic, which wasn’t moving very quickly.

  “Sure you don’t want to visit your family while we’re here? It’s not far.”

  “Sure,” she replied in a hard voice.

  Cass’s relationship with her family was complicated. She had one sibling, a brother, who was the apple of their parents’ eyes. They’d always made it clear she was only second best, which had caused nothing but friction between them all her entire life. It was one of the reasons for her move to Glasgow, she’d been desperate to get away from them and she rarely visited.

  “Okay,” he replied, knowing it would be futile to try and persuade her to build some bridges. Once Cass’s mind was made up there was no changing it but he thought it sad that they couldn’t overcome their differences, especially after his own family had been ripped apart.

  Brodie glanced in the rear-view mirror and finally he realised what had been bothering him.

  He swung the car into the side of the road and slammed on the brakes.

  “Jesus Christ Brodie, have you flipped or something?” cried Cass, startled out of her enjoyable reverie.

  But he wasn’t listening, his brain was too busy making connections. “The bastard. The fucking bastard,” he roared, banging his fist off the steering wheel, making the horn beep. “We’ve been used Cass, used fucking big style.”

  “What are you talking about?” she demanded as he spun the car around and headed back the way they’d come, eliciting angry beeps and gestures from the other drivers. “Will you tell me what’s going on?” she said louder when he failed to reply, grabbing onto the handle above her head as he slammed his foot down on the accelerator, sending the car lurching forward, engine groaning.

  “I’m not quite sure yet but I’ve got a good idea.”

  “Oh hell, look what you’ve done,” she said when a siren wailed behind them.

  “No, this is good,” said Brodie, pulling the car over onto the side of the road. When the police officer knocked he wound down the window. “I’m glad you’re here, we don’t have much time,” he said before the bemused officer could utter a word.

  “Excuse me?” said the officer.

  “Don’t just stand there looking gormless. Get on your radio and call DCI Hillyard. Now,” he added when the man just gaped at him.

  CHAPTER 21

  Cass kept glancing at Brodie as they walked through the doors of the restaurant. His eyes had taken on that golden gleam, the only sign that he was bloody furious.

  The restaurant was high class, expensive - just the type of place the Creegans liked to frequent. Mark and Sarah were sitting together at a cosy table in the corner, so wrapped up in each other that they failed to notice Brodie and Cass approaching with Clarke and Hillyard.

  “Hello. What are you doing here?” smiled Sarah. “Have you come for lunch?”

  “No Sarah,” replied Hillyard. “We’re here about something much more serious.”

  With that the two policemen took the two remaining seats at the table either side of Sarah and Mark, leaving Cass and Brodie to pull up a chair each from a neighbouring vacant table. It was a bit of a squash but there was just enough room.

  “What is this about?” said Mark with his usual bluster. “We’re trying to enjoy lunch here.”

  “Don’t worry Sir, it won’t take long,” replied Clarke.

  Mark frowned at his smug tone.

  “Brodie will explain,” said Hillyard before sitting back in his seat with his arms folded across his chest. Brodie was going to do the denouement, a caution on Hillyard’s part. If it turned out they were wrong he could say it wasn’t his theory, it was the interfering Scotsman’s.

  “Will someone please tell us what’s going on?” demanded Mark.

  “Drop the act Seth, it’s fooling no one,” said Brodie.

  They watched the blood drain from Mark’s face. “You seem to be confused Brodie. I’m Mark. Seth’s dead, remember?”

  Sarah’s head bobbed about, looking from Mark to Brodie. “What is going on?”

  “You’re not having lunch with your husband Sarah. You’re eating with your brother-in-law.”

  “This is crazy. Seth’s dead. Everyone sat at this table saw him die,” she insisted.

  Brodie turned his whisky gaze on her, eyes darkening. “You can cut the crap too sweetheart, you know exactly what’s going on.”

  “How dare you speak to me like that? You’ve gone mad and you lot are equally barmy for listening to him,” Sarah announced to the table, gesturing to the policemen.

  “Please be quiet Mrs Creegan and let him talk,” said Hillyard.

  Sarah looked put out by his snarky tone.

  “This entire thing was a set-up,” continued Brodie. “Hiring me, dragging me all the way down here, all so you could have Mark legally murdered.” His eyes were like pieces of hard amber. “Death by cop, dozens of witnesses. No one could possibly think of accusing either of you. Get him out of the way then Seth can sneak into the role he’s always wanted to play - living in the big house with all the cash and the woman he’s probably been sleeping with for years. Are Sarah’s daughters yours Seth or are they Mark’s?”

  “How dare you sit here and insult us like this,” said Sarah, pink with fury. “We’ve been through hell and we’re just getting back to normal…”

  “Save your self pity, I’ve got none for scum like you,” snarled Brodie, taking her aback. “What did Mark do to deserve that? Did you hate him that much, your own husband?” His eyes flicked to Seth. “And your twin brother. That’s just fucking low.”

  Mark looked to Hillyard. “I really must insist you end this. The man is clearly insane and requires immediate hospital treatment. Madness runs in the genes you know, his brother’s locked up in a loony bin.”

  “You evil, twisted bastard,” growled Brodie, drawing some looks from the other diners.

  “I’d be happy to escort Mr Brodie out of here,” said Hillyard, causing Brodie to roll his eyes. “If you’ll consent to a body scan.”

  Mark’s eyes widened slightly. “Body scan?”

  “It’s a quick and easy way to get all this straightened out,” he said smoothly. “As mirror-image twins your DNA’s identical and the differences in your fingerprints are too small to prove anything conclusively. However, we spoke to Seth’s doctor. As his patient’s dead he wasn’t bound by confidentiality anymore. The positioning of your brother’s internal organs is slightly different to yours. His heart is in t
he usual place, whereas yours is slightly shifted to the opposite side, mirroring his. Unusual even in mirror-image twins apparently. We have what you say is Seth’s body stored in the police mortuary. It would be a simple thing for us to do a comparison.”

  “I don’t have to do anything,” spat Mark.

  Brodie smiled inwardly as the darkness gathered in Seth’s eyes. He was getting close to proving he was right, Seth just needed a little more pushing.

  “I only ever actually met Mark a couple of times,” said Brodie. “The last time was when we had our encounter at the end of his driveway. Every other time was you pretending to be him. How could I tell the difference after just one meeting? You played his part to make him into what you wanted him to be. You kidnapped him shortly after my first visit to Ma Creegan’s house, probably by Sarah luring him to the house then the two of you ambushing him. Mark must have been delighted to be reunited with her, he thought he’d finally been forgiven. I wonder what he thought when he realised you’d betrayed him?” he said, looking directly at Sarah, who stared back at him with cold, empty blue eyes. He turned back to Seth. “You stashed him in the storage unit you rented under Kyle Johnson’s name. You couldn’t resist that one, could you? Sarah packed off the kids along with her parents in case they realised the man living in the family home wasn’t really Mark and you were free and clear to begin your charade.

  You staged that little scene of Sarah’s kidnapping. You played your part of kidnapper well Seth, prancing around in front of the window. When you were ready to end it you took off the jumper Mark was wearing so he was in the black shirt identical to yours, taped the gun to his hand, raised the blinds and poor Mark, disorientated and confused, staggered about in front of the window, looking deranged. After he was shot it was a simple thing for you to pull on his jumper, so we’d all think you were Mark, the poor sod.”

  “You tried to have him arrested first by setting him up to look like he was The Carver,” said Cass.

  “Don’t be so stupid. How did we know a serial killer was going to start conveniently operating in the area?” smirked Sarah.

  “Simple,” said Brodie. “You two are The Carver, working in tandem. The police struggled to find out how the women were abducted. They knew they were taken from nightclubs but they were never seen with a man. Sarah probably got chatting to the women and slipped something in their drink - not enough to render them unconscious, just enough to make them feel ill. Of course they trusted the pretty little blond when she offered help. They asked you to fetch their friends but you always pretended you couldn’t find them, so you offered to take them home instead. You hadn’t been drinking so you were okay to drive. There’s always more than one way out of a nightclub, legally there has to be, so you snuck them out of a fire exit to your waiting car and drove the poor cows straight to Seth, who probably selected them personally. Except for the last one, Emily Spencer. You wanted the police to start looking at you and Mark for The Carver crimes so Seth makes sure he’s spotted on camera with the missing woman. From that ID it would be impossible for them to tell which twin it was so you used the tracking device I planted to lead us straight to the storage unit. Both of those combined were enough to give the police everything they needed for a search warrant. That done it enabled you to play that scene out at Sarah’s house, leading to Mark’s death, you melodramatic wankers.”

  Seth chuckled. “This is priceless. You’re making a tit of yourself Jock.” Already his act was falling away. Seth had different speech patterns to Mark, he spoke a different way and he was allowing the nastiness to shine through, his eyes turning black.

  “You wanted him out of the way and setting him up to take the fall for the killings was perfect. He’d get sent down for life leaving you two free and clear, but it didn’t work. You couldn’t plant DNA evidence because his DNA’s the same as yours. So you called me in and sent me off to look into Bryan’s murder hoping I’d tell the police what you wanted me to tell them - that Mark Creegan was a cold-bloodied killer. You were careful to abduct and kill some of your victims when Mark was alone and couldn’t provide an alibi, just to cast enough doubt for the police to look at him and you planted that carving of Sarah’s face in his shed.”

  “No we didn’t you idiot, Mark made that himself,” said Sarah flatly, as though she was bored by the whole thing.

  “Oh. Anyway, it didn’t work. There was nothing definite enough for the police to act on, not that it really mattered because you were having a lot of fun too, you sadistic bastards.”

  “Excuse me, I’m not violent,” said Sarah.

  “Yes you are. No one believed Katie Marsh but you did it. Actually I think you would have gone all the way and shoved that knife inside her just because the boy you liked fancied her.”

  “He did not fancy her, he liked me,” she spat.

  “No he didn’t because he saw right through you,” he retorted, making her scowl. “What Sarah wants Sarah gets and she doesn’t care who she has to hurt. In fact the more people she hurts the better. You like seeing people’s pain and fear.”

  “You stupid fucker,” she hissed, slamming both fists down on the tabletop.

  “There’s the real Sarah,” he smiled. “Finally. I’ll give you your due Sarah, you’re a good actress. There’s nothing sweet and innocent about you though, doll. Cass saw through you straight away. She said you were a waste of space.”

  Sarah’s head slowly turned to regard Cass, lips drawing back over her teeth, blue eyes glittering with fury. Cass just smirked back at her, causing Sarah’s hair to practically stand on end.

  Brodie turned his attention back to Seth. “Your dad was the original Carver down south, wasn’t he?”

  Seth ground his teeth together with such fury it was audible.

  “You knew, you all did,” Brodie continued when he didn’t reply. “He was a huge misogynist as well as a total psycho. Chip off the old block, aren’t you?” he smiled. “For a while I was convinced you’d killed him, but why would you? Yes he was an abusive bastard but you still looked up to him because you admired him, for some sick reason. I knew straight off Mark wasn’t capable of killing anyone, despite what he said.”

  Seth’s face was as impassive as stone whereas Sarah seemed to be getting angrier and angrier.

  “Which leaves Maggie or Lauren.” He looked from Sarah to Seth expectantly but when they didn’t reply he decided to move the conversation on. They could come back to that later. “When you two met you realised you both had something in common - sadism. That’s how you get your jollies. Everyone saw that cruel streak in you Sarah, especially Katie Marsh, but your appearance made them think you were just a spoilt brat, they failed to realise it indicated something darker. You’re bloody mental.”

  Sarah looked to Seth, who had given up all pretence of being his brother. He was slouched in his chair, radiating darkness, eyes black as pitch. He looked back at his lover with a mixture of anger and regret.

  “You did a good job convincing me that you hated her Seth,” continued Brodie. “But you went a bit over the top. Hate like that usually indicates a deeper feeling. Sarah too kept going on about how much you creeped her out, it just felt so staged. It’s what put me onto you really being a couple in the first place.”

  “If you’re right then why would we go to all this trouble? Why not just do Mark in?” said Seth.

  “Because you wanted everything, not just his legitimate life but his secret one too. I thought that antiques shop of Mark’s was a little too popular. I mean, lots of people like antiques but there was always someone coming or going from his shop, even at night. So DCI Hillyard here and his team got a warrant and did a search. Have a guess what they found, go on,” he smiled.

  Seth didn’t reply, he couldn’t because his jaw was welded shut with rage.

  “Drugs,” Brodie cheerfully replied for him. “Loads of them.”

  “Drugs? I don’t understand,” said Sarah, trying to look lost and confused.

  “S
ave it,” said Brodie. “Quentin’s told us everything. He gave you up right away. It was how Mark really earned his money with you cheering him on all the way. He’s a bit frightened of you is Quentin, more than he’s afraid of Seth. You beat the crap out of him when he messed up a deal and lost you a lucrative regular contract. He said he’d tell us everything as long as we kept you away from him.”

  Sarah’s blue eyes were cold but still managed to shoot hate at Brodie.

  “We found the drugs,” said Hillyard. “Cocaine hidden in those priceless antiques. It was a clever operation. Who would ever suspect it was the front for a drug dealer?”

  “Mark was the real brains behind it, you were just the muscle, weren’t you Seth?” goaded Brodie. “All you did was stand there and look menacing when Mark needed back-up and you resented him for it. You wanted to take over but Mark’s contacts would only ever trust him, after all, he was the businessman, the one to set it all up. They wouldn’t trust you so it wasn’t enough just to kill Mark. You had to become him to keep running the operation and raking in the cash to keep Sarah in the lifestyle she’d become accustomed to. You used me and Cass to get Haines and Johnson, your partners, out of the way. You knew who Cass was when she walked into your bar Seth because you’d already met her at Sarah’s house when you were pretending to be Mark. So you texted Haines and got him to meet you in front of her. After she’d seen his face you knew it would be easy for us to track him down, Haines is well known in the city. Then we did exactly what you wanted us to - we gave the police everything they needed to send them down for years. With Haines and Johnson serving a long sentence it was all yours, you didn’t have to cut them in anymore. But it’s all over now, for both of you. Say goodbye to the house, the money, the good life. From now on all you’re going to know are ugly tracksuits, crap food and four grey walls for the rest of your lives.”

  “No,” said Sarah, staring at the tabletop, eyes darting from side to side, as though she couldn’t quite believe what was happening. “It was all so perfect.” Her head snapped up. “It was all so perfect,” she screamed, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and look her way.