Rollover

by James Raven

  A white-coated doctor appeared. He was tall and ungainly with slightly hunched shoulders and untidy brown hair.

  Temple asked him how Jennifer was.

  ‘She’s recovering well,’ the doctor replied. ‘I’m hoping that she’ll be able to go home in about a week. Her injuries looked more serious than they actually are.’

  ‘I need to talk to her right away,’ Temple said. ‘It’s urgent.’

  ‘That shouldn’t be a problem as long as she feels up to it.’

  ‘Shall we find out?’ Temple said.

  Jennifer Priest was sitting up in bed staring at the ceiling. She was wearing a flimsy hospital gown and looking rather pathetic. There were dark rings under her eyes and her lips were dry and cracked. She stiffened visibly when she saw Temple.

  ‘Hello, Miss Priest,’ the doctor said. ‘The inspector here would like a word with you. Are you feeling all right?’

  She didn’t respond. Instead, she stared at Temple. She was still attached to a drip. There was a bandage around her forehead. Another around her left arm.

  After a beat, she said, ‘I want my father. Where’s my father?’

  ‘He isn’t here,’ the doctor said. ‘But I’m sure he’ll be back soon. Would you like us to try to contact him?’

  ‘Yes. Yes, I would.’

  ‘Then I’ll get right on to it and leave you to speak to the officer.’

  ‘I don’t want to talk to him,’ she said as the doctor turned to go.

  ‘You don’t have a choice, Miss Priest,’ Temple said. ‘There are some questions I need to ask you.’

  Temple looked at the doctor and signalled with his eyes for him to leave the room. The doctor hesitated a moment, then complied, closing the door behind him.

  Jennifer squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed. She’s nervous, Temple thought. And extremely uncomfortable.

  ‘I won’t keep you long, Miss Priest,’ he said. ‘But it’s really important that you clear something up for me.’

  She opened her eyes, looked at him. Her mouth was tight and bloodless.

  ‘If it’s about the accident you should talk to my father,’ she said, her voice croaky. ‘I’ve told him everything I can remember.’

  ‘It’s not about that,’ Temple said. ‘Although I would like to come to that in a moment.’

  ‘Then what is it you want? I’m tired and I need to sleep.’

  Temple ran his tongue over his teeth and took a deep breath through his nose.

  ‘You told us that on Saturday evening you were with your father,’ he said. ‘You had dinner with him at his house.’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘And you were there between about four p.m. and eleven p.m.?’

  ‘I think so. My father will know the precise times. Why are you asking me again if you already know?’

  Temple took the calls print-out from his pocket and held it up.

  ‘It’s because of this,’ he said. ‘It’s a list of the calls you made on your mobile on Saturday evening. There were two calls, at nine p.m. and ten p.m.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So they were to your father’s home phone. And what I’d like to know is why you called your father from your mobile if you were right there in the house with him? To us it doesn’t make any sense.’

  The muscles tensed in her jaw. Temple wondered whether she had a simple, honest answer. She’d popped out to an off licence or a shop and needed to call her father to check something. Or maybe she had been testing her phone. There were any number of bogus reasons she could have come up with, providing she had already agreed it with her father. Which she clearly hadn’t because suddenly her face collapsed in anguish.

  ‘I told him we shouldn’t do it,’ she shrieked. ‘I knew we’d be found out. Oh dear God, I’m so sorry.’

  Her shoulders heaved and she started to cry. Temple felt a rush of heat flare across his skin. He leaned forward, rested his hand on Jennifer’s shoulder, waited for her to calm down a little. It took a minute or so. She wiped her eyes, blew her nose.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘I didn’t mean for it to happen like that.’

  Temple kept his voice low, gentle. ‘Start at the beginning, Miss Priest. Tell me what it is you did and why.’

  49

  The kidnapper grabbed the cuffs and hauled me to my feet. He pushed me up against the wall, aimed the gun at my face.

  ‘How the fuck did you get out of the attic?’ he spat.

  I heard the question but I couldn’t respond. My mind was still reeling from what I had just heard. I felt a sharp ache in the pit of my stomach.

  ‘I asked you a fucking question, Cain.’

  Ignoring him, I turned to look down at Maggie. She was on her knees, staring up at me, her face the colour of putty.

  A thousand thoughts and images flashed through my mind.

  Vince.

  An affair.

  Sex.

  What the hell was I supposed to say or do or think?

  ‘I’m so sorry, Danny,’ she murmured, her voice breaking as she spoke. ‘Please forgive me.’

  Her face went out of focus as a huge ball of grief tried to blast its way out of my chest.

  I heard the kidnapper repeat his question and I heard Maggie respond on my behalf. I was in shock. Despair gnawed at my mind and body like a hungry rat. It took the butt of the kidnapper’s gun across the side of my face to bring me back to my senses. It wasn’t hard enough to knock me over, but it hurt like hell.

  My vision blurred for a few seconds, then steadied. The room came back into focus. My eyes settled, not on Maggie but on Laura, and I suddenly realized that I couldn’t let go. The other stuff could wait. Right now it didn’t matter that my heart was broken, that my wife had been unfaithful with, of all people, my best friend and partner. What was important just now was our survival. The kidnapper was talking again, his tone strident.

  ‘I came to take you away from here anyway,’ he said. ‘You’re going to a place that’s more comfortable. You can stay there until I collect the lottery money. Then I’ll vanish and tell the authorities where they can find you.’

  Was he telling the truth? Would he really let us live? If only I could see his face, I thought. Maybe his expression would be more revealing than his voice.

  ‘Why should we trust you?’ I said.

  He snorted. ‘I don’t care if you trust me or not. That’s what is going to happen so I suggest you show some fucking gratitude.’

  He gestured for Maggie and Laura to stand up. I noticed for the first time that Maggie was also wearing cuffs and Laura’s wrists were bound with duct tape.

  ‘This other place is very close,’ the kidnapper said. ‘Just a few minutes in the car. So let’s get moving. Outside.’

  Maggie went first, with Laura holding her hand. We walked across the hallway. The front door was locked but the kidnapper stepped in front and unlocked it with a key he produced from his pocket. We stepped outside. There was a slight drizzle. The cold air smelled of leaf-mould and pine. The sky was growing dark. The trees around us were alive. I could hear the autumn wind prowling through them. There was a grey car parked on the driveway. A Mercedes. The kidnapper used his key fob to remotely activate the boot, which sprang open.

  ‘You know the routine, Cain. Get in. This time I won’t clobber you unless you give me a reason to.’

  I turned to look at him as a fresh wave of fear swelled up inside me.

  ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘I told you,’ he said. ‘I’m taking you somewhere else. Another house near by. We have to leave now.’

  ‘So why do I have to get in there?’

  ‘Because your wife is going to drive and I’ll be in the back seat with your daughter. It’s the only way I can make sure that nothing will go wrong. Now stop talking and get in.’

  I reached out with my cuffed hands and touched Laura’s head. ‘Be brave, sweetheart,’ I said. ‘I’ll see you in a bit.’

  ‘Don’
t leave us, Daddy.’

  ‘I have to, sweetheart.’

  I looked at Maggie and her expression implored me to say something. But I couldn’t. Instead, I turned and climbed into the boot.

  A second later he slammed it shut behind me.

  50

  Jennifer Priest wanted to get it off her chest. That became obvious to Temple as she spoke. She was a mental as well as a physical wreck, unable to live with what had happened, her mind ravaged by guilt and remorse.

  ‘Vince was subdued all Saturday afternoon,’ she said through a steady stream of tears that dribbled down her cheeks. ‘Something had upset him. He wanted me to go and spend the evening with a friend or my father. He said he had some business to take care of. But I kept on at him until he told me that Dessler was coming round to collect some money. He said it would keep Dessler happy for a while. He showed me the cash and left it on the kitchen worktop. He said he’d won the money earlier in the week.’

  Temple pulled up a chair and sat down.

  ‘So you didn’t go to your father’s for dinner?’ Temple prompted.

  She shook her head. ‘No I didn’t. I lied about that. We both did.’

  Temple’s heart started to pound inside his chest.

  ‘Go on,’ he said.

  Jennifer cleared her throat. ‘Later in the evening, about seven o’clock, Dessler phoned to say he wouldn’t be coming over after all. Vince seemed relieved but he was still stressed out.’

  She stopped there and closed her eyes, squeezing out some more tears.

  Then she continued, ‘Everything changed when he checked his lottery numbers.’

  Temple frowned. ‘What’s that?’

  She swallowed. ‘He started shouting that he had won the jackpot.’

  Temple stared at her, open mouthed. ‘Are you being serious?’

  She nodded. ‘He had all six numbers. He was so excited. I couldn’t believe it was happening. He was jumping up and down like a lunatic.’

  Temple was taken aback. A lottery win. It was totally unexpected. He recalled that there had been an £18 million jackpot and that the winner had yet to claim the prize. Now, according to Jennifer Priest, Vince Mayo was that winner.

  ‘Vince then insisted on phoning Danny,’ she said. ‘He told me to go and open a bottle of champagne. There was one in the fridge. So I went into the kitchen while he made the call. But I made a mess of popping the cork. The champagne spurted out and a good deal of it landed on Vince’s briefcase, which happened to be on the floor.

  ‘It was half-open and I saw that the contents were soaked. So I put the bottle down and picked up the case. I took out a pile of documents, mostly hard copies of various reports and invoices. There was also a large envelope. It was dripping wet so I tipped out what was inside.’

  Temple recalled the envelope that Marsha Rowe had mentioned. The same one that Jordan had slipped under the office door.

  ‘They were photographs,’ Jennifer said. ‘Five of them. They showed Vince with Danny’s wife Maggie. There was also a handwritten note clipped to them. It said that if he didn’t come up with the money he owed and drop the article he was writing then the photos would be sent to Danny.’

  Jennifer took a deep breath and phlegm rattled in her throat. By now her nightgown was drenched in tears. Her cheeks were red, her eyes tinged with veins.

  ‘What happened then?’ Temple asked.

  ‘Vince came into the kitchen,’ she said. ‘He told me Danny would be coming over. He looked so pleased with himself that it made me feel sick. I confronted him with the photos. He was surprised, but that’s all. Almost immediately he grinned and said it was nothing and I shouldn’t worry. I asked him to explain himself, but he shrugged it off and said he didn’t want to talk about it. He was too excited about the lottery. He couldn’t understand why I wasn’t as jubilant as he was.’

  ‘So what did you do?’

  ‘I lost it,’ Jennifer said. ‘I was furious that he was smiling. I grabbed the lottery ticket out of his hand and told him I would destroy it if he didn’t come clean. I expected him to at least calm down and speak to me. But instead he took hold of my wrist and pushed me against the wall. He acted like a man possessed. I tried to hold on to the ticket but he bent my fingers back and retrieved it. Then he told me to go home and calm down. Said that he would talk to me about the pictures tomorrow.

  ‘That’s when he turned away from me. I was incandescent with rage at that point. I hated him and I wanted to hurt him. I couldn’t think about the lottery ticket and what it might mean. I could only think that he’d betrayed me, and I realized too that once he got his money I’d be history.

  ‘I had my back against the worktop. I saw the pestle and mortar and grabbed the pestle. I didn’t think. I just hit Vince over the head. He stumbled against the worktop and turned towards me. That’s when I hit him a second time and he fell to the floor.’

  Jennifer closed her eyes again, distraught. Temple handed her a glass of water from the bedside table and suggested she should drink it. She managed two mouthfuls.

  ‘So you killed Vince,’ he said.

  ‘I didn’t mean him to die,’ she said. ‘I just wanted to hurt him. I was mortified when I realized he wasn’t breathing.’

  ‘We didn’t find a lottery ticket in the cottage,’ Temple said.

  ‘That’s because I took it. My father told me to.’

  ‘Your father? How did he get involved?’

  ‘I called him. As soon as I knew I’d killed Vince. I didn’t know what else to do. I was scared and I was crying. So I told him what I’d done. That I’d murdered my boyfriend. At first he was too stunned to say anything. Then he asked me what had happened. I told him about the photos and the lottery ticket. He got me to pick up the ticket and read out the numbers.

  ‘Then he told me that if I was convicted of murder I would go to prison for a long time. He said he couldn’t let that happen. He would have to cover it up. He told me to leave the house and to take the pestle, the photos and the lottery ticket with me. He also told me to wipe my prints from the champagne bottle. I said I didn’t want to go through with it but he said he would not let his daughter go to prison. He said he’d go over to the cottage himself later and clean up to ensure there was no evidence to incriminate me. He said he would be my alibi. We’d say we had dinner together.’

  ‘And you agreed to all this?’ Temple said.

  ‘I didn’t know what else to do. My mind was a shambles. I wasn’t thinking straight.’

  ‘So you left the cottage?’

  ‘Not right away. I’d forgotten to tell my father about Danny. When I told him that Danny was coming over to the cottage he swore out loud and said he needed a few minutes to think it through. I stayed on the line. When he came back he said I was to leave the cottage and drive to the nearest point where I could see Danny arrive but be sure he couldn’t see me. As soon as Danny arrived I was to call him.’

  ‘And you did this without knowing what he had in mind?’

  ‘He said it was a precaution. He was going to try to stop Danny before he left his house. He knew he couldn’t get to the cottage in time, so he drove straight over to Bassett, where Danny lives. It’s only ten minutes by car from my father’s house in Botley. When he got there he saw that there were no cars on the driveway. He phoned the house from a call box, so that his own number wouldn’t show up. But Danny’s wife said he was out.’

  ‘So what did he do?’

  ‘That was when I called to tell him that Danny had arrived at the cottage. I was parked opposite the entrance to the lane, outside the abandoned church. I saw him turn off the road.’

  ‘So what happened?’

  ‘My father went up to Danny’s house and took his wife and daughter hostage. He told me he had no other choice. He called Danny from there on his wife’s phone. He told him that if he informed the police about the murder or the ticket they’d be killed.

  ‘He told Danny to go home and wait for him to call. M
y father then took Mrs Cain and her daughter to a place where he could leave them. An empty house in the country near to his home.’

  ‘Who does the house belong to?’

  ‘Some people he vaguely knows who are away.’

  ‘And he has a key?’

  ‘No. He broke in. Then found a key inside. He put Maggie and Laura Cain in the attic. Then he called Danny and arranged to meet him in town. He took him to the same place and that’s where the family have been.’

  ‘But what about the calls you made to Mayo during the evening?’ Temple said. ‘You phoned both his mobile and his landline before going to bed.’

  ‘My father told me to do that so it would add weight to my claim that I wasn’t there.’

  Suddenly it all fell into place. Danny Cain had discovered the body. Hence the blood on his shoes. Then he’d raced away from the cottage and the neighbour saw him. He went home and when he saw the police arrive he left by the back door because he’d been warned to keep quiet.

  Temple saw now why Cain had to retrieve his phone from the youths. He also realized that Superintendent Priest must have picked Cain up in the city centre and been responsible for putting the two mobiles in the plastic carrier bag, which he attached to the van.

  ‘So your father intends to claim the lottery money and cover for you,’ Temple said.

  Jennifer nodded. ‘At first he told me he was going to let the Cains go free after he got the money. He said that we would have to go and live abroad somewhere. And I really believe that that was his intention at the time. But then later he said that he’d have to kill them so that they’d never talk about what happened. He told me it was the only way to avoid us both going to prison or spending the rest of our lives on the run.’

  ‘And you went along with it?’

  ‘I was terrified. It was an awful thought, but I knew he was right. I was sorry for what I’d done, but I knew I couldn’t face going to jail. And I even convinced myself that Maggie Cain had it coming because of what she’d done to me. But last night I changed my mind. I was at the flat and I’d been thinking about it. I’d got myself worked up and realized I couldn’t go through with it. So I rushed out of there. I was going to see my father and tell him. But I wasn’t concentrating and crashed the car.