by Roberta Kray
62
DI Valerie Middleton sat in the hospital corridor, her heart as heavy as stone. There had been no choice – she knew there hadn’t – but shooting dead a nineteen-year-old girl wasn’t any copper’s idea of a job well done. If there had been another way, she would have taken it, but it had come down to whether Ava Gold would live or die.
Oblivious to the activity around her, she sank into a morass of self-examination and self-doubt. Had she been too quick to judge, to jump to the wrong conclusions? Now that she knew the truth, it was all too easy to see the mistakes that had been made. She had wanted to believe that Chris Street was guilty of murder and that belief had coloured the whole investigation.
Valerie sighed as she leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. It was ten o’clock and the day wasn’t over yet. The long interview with Noah Clark had exhausted her and left a bad taste in her mouth. Everything she’d thought had been true had been turned on its head. She’d got most of it wrong and was still trying to come to terms with it.
Morton Carlisle, once he’d come out of surgery and recovered enough to talk, had been keen to give his version of events. They had at least got it right about the blackmail scam. Danny Street and Silver Delaney had targeted half a dozen men, including Squires, names passed on to them by Carlisle. He was pleading coercion, that he’d been forced into doing it, but it would be up to a jury to decide whether he was telling the truth or not.
And then there was Danny Street. They’d picked him up a couple of hours ago. He was pleading ignorance, of course, claiming that he knew nothing. Would they be able to gather enough evidence to convict him? It would depend, she thought, on whether any other blackmail victims would come forward.
Sensing a movement, Valerie blinked open her eyes. Jeff Butler was standing in front of her. He thrust a takeaway cup of coffee into her hand and sat down. ‘You okay?’
‘I’ve been better.’
‘It was a tough call, but you did the right thing.’
‘Did I?’
Butler placed a hand gently on her arm and nodded. ‘Of course you did. If you hadn’t ordered them to shoot, Ava Gold would be lying in the morgue right now.’
‘But it’s not just about this evening, is it? It’s about everything else, all the other stuff that led up to it.’
‘You played it by the book, Val. This whole investigation has been… Jesus, you know what’s it’s been like. Two murders, one gun, a whole bloody spider’s web of lies and contradictions. Even Einstein couldn’t have figured this one out.’
Valerie opened the lid on the coffee and took a sip. ‘Noah Clark,’ she murmured.
Butler huffed out a breath. ‘You want to explain it to me? I’ve got a grasp on the basics, but the detail’s still eluding me.’
‘He killed her. He killed Jenna Dean.’
‘But why?’
Valerie gazed up at the ceiling before she slowly lowered her gaze again. ‘The things we do for love.’
‘What? He was in love with Jenna Dean?’
‘No, not Jenna,’ she said, slowly shaking her head. ‘Guy.’
Butler’s eyebrows shot up. ‘So he was… they were…’
‘Apparently so.’
‘Oh.’
‘But that’s not why he murdered her. I mean, it wasn’t jealousy that made him do it. He knew that Guy was only sleeping with her to goad Chris Street. No, what scared him was the thought that Guy had gone too far this time and that Street wasn’t going to settle for idle threats.’
‘And the only way to protect Guy Wilder was to kill Jenna?’
‘Yes, if he could frame Street at the same time.’ Valerie thought back to the interview room, to Noah Clark’s dark eyes full of pain. ‘I don’t think he planned it. He saw an opportunity and took his chance. Guy didn’t know whether Jenna was coming to the bar on Monday night or not, but Noah saw her drive past about ten twenty-five – that pink Jeep of hers was pretty distinctive – and knew that she’d be parking in her usual place up by the green.’
‘So he followed her there.’
Valerie, taking another large sip of coffee, was grateful for the caffeine rush. It gave her a lift, relieving some of her fatigue. ‘He ran upstairs, got the gun and some gloves, and then went out the back door. By the time he got to the green, she was just getting out of the car. She must have spent a few minutes checking her make-up, that sort of thing. He told her that Guy had had an accident at a friend’s house in Barley Road, a fall, and that he was on his way to see him. Barley Road runs parallel to the high street, along the far side of the green, so the quickest way to get there was to walk straight across.’
‘And she believed him – about the accident, I mean?’
‘Sure. Why wouldn’t she? He was Guy’s friend. He was good old reliable Noah.’
Butler raked his fingers through his hair and sighed. ‘So the two of them hurry across the green, Noah grabs her, pushes her into some bushes and shoots her. Then he sends the text from her phone to Chris Street, telling him to come over and meet her, thereby putting him at the right place at more or less the right time.’
‘That’s pretty much the gist of it.’
‘A bit risky, wasn’t it? Anyone could have heard that gun go off.’
‘Except you don’t think it’s a gun, do you? It’s not the first thing that springs to mind. You presume it’s a car backfiring, something like that.’
‘And the gun?’
‘He says it belonged to Lydia Hall, that she turned up in a state late on Saturday night, looking for Guy and saying that she’d shot Jeremy Squires. Noah says he took the gun off her, that he was worried she might hurt someone else or herself. He also claims that Guy was asleep, that he didn’t know anything about it. Personally, I don’t believe him, but that’s his story and he’s sticking to it.’
‘So Lydia did kill Squires.’
‘Yes, but she didn’t mean to. According to Noah, she was obsessed with what Terry Street had done to her family. And I’m reading between the lines here, but I get the impression that Guy had been egging her on. He wanted her to hate the Streets as much as he did.’ Valerie paused for a moment, glancing along the long hospital corridor. ‘Anyway, she went to Belles and when she reached the gates she saw Danny Street coming out of the main entrance with a smaller grey-haired man who she mistakenly thought was Terry. The light wasn’t good and she only got a fleeting glance.’
‘But she decided to shoot him anyway.’
‘She decided it had to be him because he was with Danny.’
‘Jesus,’ Butler said.
‘Exactly.’
They were both quiet for a moment. The night-time sounds of the hospital flowed over and around them, the click of footsteps on lino, the rattle of a trolley, the gentle snoring of one of the patients from a ward nearby.
Jeff Butler was the first to speak again. ‘So, Noah Clark – why the big confession? It wasn’t as if we were banging on the door.’
‘We pulled Guy Wilder in for questioning again this afternoon. A couple of customers had claimed that on Monday night he’d left the bar before closing and was missing for about ten minutes. I think he probably realised that Noah wasn’t there and went outside to look for him. But anyway, before he could be interviewed, the whole Beast thing happened and Wilder was left kicking his heels at Cowan Road. Of course, Noah started to worry – he didn’t know what was going on – and then someone came into the bar and told him that Guy had been charged with the murder of Jenna Dean.’
‘And he believed them?’
‘He couldn’t see why else Guy would have been gone so long. Of course a simple phone call would have told him all he needed to know, but he’d had a few drinks and wasn’t really thinking straight. He panicked, reckoned Guy was going down for murder and came rushing to the rescue.’
‘The things we do for love,’ said Butler, echoing her earlier sentiment.
Valerie glanced at him. ‘You don’t have to stay, you know. I’m
fine. I’m going to talk to Ava Gold and then I’m heading off.’
‘I’m not doing anything else. Might as well keep you company.’ Butler gave a shrug. ‘I was working on a murder inquiry, but it appears to have been solved.’
‘Haven’t you got a home to go to?’
‘At the moment? No, not much of one.’
Valerie remembered what Higgs had told her about Jeff Butler and his wife. ‘I know what it feels like,’ she said softly. ‘When I split up from Harry, I couldn’t stand all the gossip. It drove me crazy.’
Butler gave a wry smile. ‘Ah, so you’ve heard.’
‘The rumour mill continues to turn. Try not to let it get to you. At the time I felt like the whole station was talking about me. It passes, though. People forget, things move on.’
‘And in the meantime?’
‘In the meantime, you just have to grin and bear it.’ Valerie put her empty cup down on the seat beside her. ‘But if you’re still up for that drink, I wouldn’t say no. I need one after the day I’ve had.’
63
Ava lay still on the bed while the doctor and nurse fussed around her, examining the gunshot wound in her hip and the cut to her head that she’d got when she’d fallen against the door at Beast. With her eyes, she followed the doctor’s fingers as he checked her line of vision. She’d been lucky. She knew she had. If Silver had raised the gun just a little bit higher, she could have been lying in an entirely different place.
Outside the door, DI Valerie Middleton was waiting to talk to her. Silver Delaney was dead and there were questions to be answered. She thought about Silver and shivered. What had happened to that girl to turn her into the monster she’d become? Ava didn’t want to think about it.
Tash had been in earlier and told her about Noah Clark’s confession. That was good. It meant Chris was in the clear. No more running, no more hiding. Ava had talked to her dad on the phone. He’d wanted to visit too, but she’d ordered him to stay at home and keep his germs to himself. She’d be out in a day or two and then everything would get back to normal. Except, would it? The threat that DS Higgs had made still lay heavily on her mind. Would they arrest him for the robbery at Finian’s? She hoped and prayed that they wouldn’t.
After ten minutes, the medical staff pronounced her likely to live and left her alone in the room. She waited for the inspector to appear, dreading the moment, but knowing that it couldn’t be avoided. The experience would have to be relived, the horror revisited. But then, then it would be over and she might finally get some sleep.
As she mentally prepared herself for the forthcoming interview, it suddenly occurred to her that Chris had told her that the gun he’d taken into Wilder’s wasn’t loaded. Had he been lying or had Silver put the bullets in herself? She stirred slightly, felt the pain in her hip and winced. Men like Chris lied about all sorts of things. It didn’t do to trust them, to put much faith in what came out of their mouths.
Several more minutes passed before she heard a small commotion in the corridor. There was the sound of footsteps, of voices slightly raised. DI Middleton said, ‘I’m sorry, but you can’t go in there —’
‘Ten minutes,’ a male voice said. ‘It’s the least you can do after falsely accusing me of murder.’
Ava recognised that voice, and a few seconds later she recognised the face too. Chris Street strode into the room and grinned at her. He was wearing his long dark overcoat and his hair was damp from the rain. ‘Up for visitors?’ he said. He held out a brown paper bag. ‘I come bearing gifts. Or grapes, as it happens. Do you like grapes?’
‘You’re back.’
‘I am indeed.’ He put the bag on the table and perched on the edge of the bed. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Like I’ve been shot.’
He frowned. ‘I suppose this means you won’t be at work tomorrow.’
‘Due to circumstances beyond my control.’
‘That’s the trouble these days. You can’t get the staff. If they’re not reversing your Merc into a wall, they’re out there getting themselves shot.’
A smile flickered at the corners of her mouth. ‘Sorry to inconvenience you. Perhaps you could ask your brother to choose his girlfriends more wisely in the future.’
‘I can ask, but I can’t promise anything.’
Ava suddenly became serious again. ‘Look, I need to know something before the cops come in.’ Quickly, she told him about DS Higgs and the threat to arrest her father if she didn’t come clean as to Chris’s whereabouts. ‘Do you think they will? Do you think they’ll charge him?’
‘No,’ he said firmly. ‘I don’t. If the delightful DS Higgs does have any evidence, she’ll be burying it right now. She’s not going to want you telling the world what she threatened to do. It won’t look good for her if you make a complaint.’
‘Are you sure you’re right?’
‘I’m always right.’
Ava relaxed a little. She moved her head on the pillow and gazed up at him. She felt a faint tingling that she put down to the drugs she’d been given. ‘So are you okay?’
‘Right as rain.’ His face suddenly grew solemn. ‘I owe you one.’
‘That’s what friends do,’ she said. ‘Watch out for one another.’
He gave her a long lingering look, his gaze travelling over her face and searching out her eyes. ‘Is that what we are – friends?’
Ava felt a light blush rise to her cheeks. She didn’t answer him directly; she still needed time to sort out how she felt. ‘But you’re right, you do owe me. Sixty quid, as it happens. You still haven’t coughed up for that ticket the cops gave me.’
