At the reception of St Anna Police Station, he was put through to the officer leading the investigation of their car crash. The mayor was still being questioned, and Thomas explained the purpose of his call. The officer assured him that he would inform him about the results as soon as possible.
“Hang on. One last question!” Thomas shouted into the phone. “What impression does he make on you?”
He was met by a long silence. Then his colleague replied slowly, “Without sounding rude, we will all be pleased to see the back of him. Quite an exhausting person. He talks nonstop, but it’s an endless loop about the same things.”
“What does he talk about?” Thomas asked.
“Nothing spectacular or alarming. Just about the beautiful village he lives in and that he takes his duties as mayor very seriously. He’s interested in everything that’s going on there, no matter what subject it involves, and therefore has a broad general knowledge. And what a great place it is to live in and raise children. Up until the recent murders, the village was as idyllic as can be… not even a newspaper has been stolen in all the years he has been the mayor. Kind of bragging about his superhero mayor skills.” The officer snorted into the phone.
“Thanks. Do me a favour. Find an excuse to keep him at the station until his car has been swiped. Got that?”
“Certainly, sir.”
They hung up, and Thomas rushed back inside the car, bringing an icy breeze with him.
“Can we get going again now?” Sky moaned.
Collins gave her a wink. “No more stops until we’ve reached the airport.”
The rest of the drive was spent in silence. Thomas stared absent-mindedly at his phone, willing it to ring, but the only sign of life it showed were the signal bars rising and falling infrequently.
Visibility on the motorway was close to zero, and the newsreader on the radio announced that the motorway might get closed as they were nearing white-out conditions.
When they finally reached the airport car park, Sky could no longer contain her excitement. She bounced up and down and dragged Thomas towards the arrival hall.
And they had been lucky.
David’s flight had been delayed by one hour due to the weather conditions, and judging from the large crowd waiting to pick up their loved ones, the majority of passengers were still waiting for their luggage.
Everybody had brought flowers, boxes of chocolate, or balloons emblazoned with the words welcome back.
Except them.
After the adventurous drive, the three of them looked rather dishevelled. David should be glad they had made it in one piece at all, Thomas thought.
His phone beeped twice, announcing the arrival of a text message, and he hurriedly fished it out of his pocket. Collins took a step towards him, straining her neck to read the news. But when he read the sender’s name, he looked at her and shook his head.
The flicker of hope had vanished as quickly as it came.
Thomas walked over to a balustrade separating the arrival hall from a large sliding door with frosted glass. Behind it, conveyer belts relentlessly belched out suitcases and their excited owners jumped forward, only to double over under the heavy weight.
Sky was standing on the lowest rung of the balustrade, her arms flung over the top. Thomas leaned over it next to her.
“I think daddy will be next,” she announced, resting her head on his shoulder.
He held his phone in front of her so she could read the message. Her shoulders dropped. “How long will that take?”
“Just another couple of minutes. You know how it works, don’t you? He has to go over to the airline’s lost luggage counter and fill in a couple of forms so they can send the suitcases home once they’ve arrived. The other airport realised right after take-off that they had forgotten to load your father’s belongings and called Turnden airport.”
Sky exhaled theatrically. “But I want to see him now!”
Thomas put his arm around her shoulder. “Hang in there.”
His phone vibrated again.
“Can I talk to him?” Sky asked with wide eyes.
It was the call he had been anxiously expecting. He showed her the display, “It’s work. You wait here for your dad, and I’ll walk over to Ann, alright?”
She nodded and returned her gaze to the frosted sliding door.
“DI Thomas,” he barked into the phone, reaching Collins and putting the phone on speaker.
“St Anna Police Station. We spoke earlier about the car crash, remember?” the officer replied.
Thomas rolled his eyes. “Yes, I do remember. It was my car he crashed into. Did you swipe his vehicle for blood?”
“Yes, sir. There was not much swiping necessary. We found a blood-soaked blanket stashed away underneath the spare wheel. The pathologist is analysing the blood as we speak.”
Collins smiled and gave him a thumbs-up.
“Well done. Let me speak to the mayor please, and switch the speaker on so you can hear my instructions.”
He waited patiently for the officer to walk down the endless corridors to the investigation room, always keeping one eye on Sky and the frosted sliding door.
At the other end, he heard a door open and close and the clicking of the phone being put on a table.
“The mayor is listening to you now, sir,” the officer said.
“This is DI Thomas and DS Collins speaking. I was just informed that a blanket soaked in blood was found hidden in your car. As soon as I’m back at the station, we will do a thorough and detailed questioning, but until then, I am arresting you on suspicion of moving the body of Dr William Lawson and withholding information from the police. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
“You love those words, don’t you?” The mayor snorted laughing, and Thomas imagined his wobbly belly moving up and down, the chair probably creaking under the weight.
“I don’t find this very entertaining, to be honest. Where is the blood from?”
“I don’t know anything about a bloody blanket in my car,” he replied more seriously now.
“We’re comparing the blood to Lawson’s DNA, and if it’s a match, it doesn’t look all too good for you,” Thomas hissed, slightly annoyed.
“Someone could have put the blanket in there to set me up! I sometimes leave my car keys on my desk at the office!” He was shouting now.
“Who?” Thomas asked calmly.
“I don’t know!”
“Exactly, because you think you are…” He let the end of the sentence hang there for a moment until it was quiet on the other end of the line. “The night guard,” Thomas whispered conspiratorially.
“The what?” the officer blurted.
The mayor remained silent.
“For a reason I’m still yet to confirm, you went to Lawson’s cabin the night he was killed… possibly to make sure he wasn’t up to any trouble. Cos that’s what night guards do, isn’t it? Scouring the streets in the dark, making sure everybody is tucked away safely, keeping peace and order. What a better night to choose than the one when your wife went to visit her sister? How often did you do that? Twice a week?” Thomas did not allow the man any time to answer. “Of course, you had to pay a visit to the one citizen who was your bête noire.”
Collins looked up at him, raising one eyebrow as if he had gone mad, but Thomas went on undeterred.
“Loitering on school premises, living like a hermit in a cabin, neither socialising nor taking part in any village activity and thus threatening the order of the entire oh-so-nice community. He was not even impressed when you yelled at him. Something that has never happened before. And to make your point clear, you placed the poor man at the feet of the night guard on the pyramid… precisely where you wanted to have him — silently obedient at your feet. You were extremely lucky Kate Adams hadn’t made the connection to you; she’d have murdered you, too. Ferociously. Unfortunately, we made the connection. Your urg
e for self-presentation turned fatal. On the other hand, I have to say that moving the body was the only slight chink in Kate Adams’s otherwise perfect murder plan. With your actions, you helped us solve the case. However, you will be prosecuted now as well.”
“I… the blanket isn’t—” the mayor stammered, but Thomas interrupted him.
“I’m curious. Did you know that Ms Adams killed him? Did you see her?”
“No. There was nobody at the cabin when I arrived. I didn’t even want to talk to Lawson. I only looked through the window to make sure he wasn’t up to anything. Then I stumbled over his body lying in front of the chopping block with this thing sticking out of his chest. It was so dark and stormy that I hadn’t seen him there. But first you need to prove that it was me who actually moved the body!” he shouted after gaining back some self-control.
“Oh, don’t worry, we’ll do that. But it’ll take another hour or two to match your fingerprints to the blanket and the blood to Lawson, and until then, you can rest. Officer, take him to a cell, please.”
Thomas snapped the phone shut and looked down at Collins.
“Quite impressive, sir.”
He smiled. “Thank you, Sergeant. Great teamwork. Now, where is this man? I don’t want to spend Christmas here.” Thomas looked around.
The crowd had not only thinned out but had disappeared entirely. The bakery shop behind them had switched their lights off five minutes earlier, and not a single soul was in sight anymore.
Sky hung silently over the balustrade, gazing unwaveringly at the frosted door. Thomas strode over and picked her up.
She looked at him with sad eyes, holding back tears. “He’s not coming, is he?”
“Of course, he is. Let’s give him a call, shall we?”
He handed her his phone, and through the frosted door they heard Elvis Presley strike up, “You were always on my mind.”
“That’s daddy’s phone!” Sky shouted, and Thomas helped her jump over the banisters.
At that moment, the door opened for its last passenger, revealing a smartly dressed and handsome-looking man in his early forties. His face was suntanned and his short, dark hair styled to the side.
Sky’s face was the spitting image of her father’s, only a younger, female version. They had the same dark eyes and button nose, but in addition, David sported a three-day beard.
He carried no luggage; only a black leather bag slung casually over his left shoulder and he had a navy-blue jacket in his right hand. The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up to his elbows.
Wordlessly, he picked up his daughter and hugged her tightly, closing his eyes and savouring the moment.
Tears of joy were rolling down Sky’s cheeks while her father whispered into her ear.
Thomas turned around and found Collins leaning on the closed bakery shop’s display window. He motioned for her to come over.
David walked around the balustrade with Sky clinging to him. She certainly would not let go of her dad any time soon.
“G’day, mate.” David smiled broadly and gave Thomas a big, manly hug.
“Welcome home! Glad you decided to come back after all,” Thomas joked.
“When I saw the snow, I was considering flying back.”
“But not without picking me up first!” Sky playfully punched her father in the chest.
“You rascal?” He laughed.
“Seriously now, how are you?” Thomas asked.
“I’m fine. The doctors gave me the all-clear to fly long distance, and except for the odd skin irritation on my buttock, there is no other symptom left. I can show you.” David mimicked pulling down his trousers and turning around.
Thomas laughed and gave him a friendly slap on the back of the head. “You’re as good as new!”
“Is that your colleague?” David asked, nodding towards Collins.
“Yep, that’s Ann,” Sky briefed him. “She’s really nice, and she gave me the Difficult Days DVD as a birthday present, and she’s living in our house.”
David looked questioningly at his best friend.
“The age rating on the DVD is twelve… I’ve checked,” he assured him.
“That’s not what I meant, though,” David replied dryly.
“Didn’t I tell you?” Thomas asked innocently.
“The spider bite has probably erased that bit of information from your brain,” Sky added knowingly.
“Probably.” Her father nodded.
Collins had reached them, and David greeted her with a hug like they had known each other for years.
“Did you bring me a winter jacket?” he asked, looking at Thomas, who took a deep breath.
“Before we get to that, where’s your luggage?”
“Erm, I don’t know what my luggage has to do with it because there’s no jacket in there but… erm… it’ll be here with the next cargo flight from London arriving in about an hour.” He grimaced and blushed slightly. “Would you mind terribly if we waited?”
Thomas and Collins exchanged unsure looks.
“What? What’s the problem?” David asked.
“Nat had a car crash on our way here!” Sky said. “The mayor skidded backwards into our car and pushed us down the hill into a huge snowdrift, where we finally came to a stop. Otherwise we’d have gone all the way down and probably crashed into a tree!” Sky excitedly re-enacted the scene with her hands. “But we were lucky he didn’t slash our throats in the snowstorm because he is the night guard and was involved in the murder. And then Ann came to pick us up, but she only drives a Mini, and the boot is already full.”
Thomas had hoped to break the news about his wrecked car and the mayor’s participation in this entire mess in a slightly less dramatic fashion, but Sky beat him to it.
David stood there thunderstruck, his face exhibiting a petrified look.
“To put things straight, neither has he nor would he have killed anybody, especially not tonight,” Thomas said, trying to reduce some of the tension. “But Sky is right about the limited space in the Mini. It simply can’t move four people plus luggage.”
With the flick of his index finger, David waved his friend over. “When we are at home and everybody’s had a good night’s sleep, I’d like a serious talk with you about your understanding of being a guardian of a twelve-year-old child,” he whispered only for Thomas to hear.
Thomas nodded and wondered how he could whitewash the story of a teacher pointing a gun at David’s daughter.
He was acutely aware that although the last couple of days might not have proceeded by the copybook, he was far from a negligent guardian for Sky.
“Right,” David said, clapping his hands. “I suggest Sky and I wait for the suitcases to arrive and take a taxi home, and you two can set off right away. Or do you want to go home with Nat?” he asked, looking at his daughter, who vehemently shook her head.
“Thought so.” David mocked and gave his best friend an apologetic smile.
“Traitor,” Thomas said in Sky’s direction and playfully punched her in the arm.
David thanked Collins for her help and promised to show his gratitude with an invitation to dinner. She waved it off shyly, and they parted ways.
37
WHEN they reached Collins’s red Mini in the empty car park, Thomas looked over at her. “You know you can go home now if you want to. To your apartment. I can go back with David.”
“The case isn’t over yet, is it? We still have to question the mayor and formally charge him. And once we have his testimony, we can call Sexton, and only then is the case over. Besides, the keys for my apartment are at your friend’s house, and he didn’t even know I was staying there,” Collins reproached.
“I forgot to tell him, okay? I’m sorry. I’m not perfect.”
“Don’t tell me. I know you aren’t perfect. I’d just like to stop briefly at headquarters… pick up some stuff.”
Suddenly, Thomas broke into a nervous sweat. At first, he did not understand why, but his thoug
hts quickly caught up with what his mind had already realised seconds earlier.
He had not set foot into headquarters since the incident at the playground.
Memories rushed into his head — the squeaky-clean smell of the corridors, the muffled voices from behind closed doors, the sputtering coffee machine not giving any change.
The last time he had left the building, he had been on his way home from the Christmas party, choosing his fateful route through the park.
In his mind’s eye, images from the fearful look on the young woman’s face and the smirking of her perpetrator exploded like fireworks, popping up brightly and vanishing immediately in the dark, leaving an imprint on his vision.
He felt beads of sweat running down his temple and across his scar, his heart was racing, and his hand gripped the door handle of the Mini tightly to ensure he did not fall over.
He heard Collins’s voice in the distance, “You okay? Have you seen a ghost?”
Shaking his head, he opened the car door. “No, I’m fine.”
They drove there in silence, but it took all of Thomas’s strength to keep his nerves under control. He tried to visualise happy moments at home, playing football with Sky, and having a barbecue with David, but it was useless — the darkness of the park and the resonating screams caught up with his tormented mind.
He hated himself for being so weak. After a year, he had hoped to cope with it more professionally. Sooner or later, he knew he had to go back to police headquarters, but he had wished for more time to prepare himself for the event.
Collins stopped the car right outside the huge revolving front door. The street, which was generally packed with cars during the daytime, was empty at night. The pavement was covered in a lot less snow than it was in Turtleville, but the storm raged just as fiercely around the corners of the buildings, using the streets as a wind channel.
“I’ll wait here for you. I really need to call Richard and tell him we’ve solved the case. I was quite rough on him and owe him an apology and an explanation,” Thomas said, hastily searching for his neighbour’s number on his mobile.
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