by E. J. Kay
Chapter 32
The scene was fuzzy and indistinct. Gradually the room began to come into focus. Anna; there was Anna. Looking drawn and tear stained, but definitely Anna. And Mark and Jenny. His eyes opened wider and the picture began to resolve, like a squeegee being pulled across a wet window.
“Oh Joseph, can you hear me?!” Anna dissolved into tears as he squeezed her hand and nodded. He didn’t feel any pain, just a vague light-headedness. He wished the room would stop rotating though. And that everyone would stop whispering to each other. He closed his eyes again, tuning out the susurration around the bed. After a few minutes he began to feel more stable. When he opened his eyes this time things kept still, by and large. He saw that his left arm and leg were plastered. He turned his head a little further to the left and saw Mike, sitting in a wheelchair next to the bed. He had a drip attached and was still heavily bandaged around his head. They smiled at each other, and then Joseph had the overwhelming urge to laugh; he knew it was totally inappropriate, but it was also completely overwhelming. It was so ridiculous. How could they have got into this situation? Anna looked terrified as he started to chuckle, but then Mike got the joke and joined in too. They laughed as much as their broken bodies would let them, and then the wave passed as quickly as it had started. The mood was lifted though and everyone around the bed visibly relaxed.
“Dad, how do you feel?” It was Jenny.
“Woozy, but not too bad love.”
“What do you remember Joseph?” The voice came from his right. He turned to see Kelly sitting at the side of the bed, looking crumpled and bleary-eyed.
“Er, well, I remember being in Egraine’s flat. Her mobile rang, and when I looked it said Gary. I thought it might be Gary, er, thingy, what’s his name?”
“Mason.”
“Yeah, Mason. Sorry, I’m still a bit fuzzy. I remember feeling like I needed to get out of the flat, but that’s all. What happened to me?”
“You were hit by a car being driven by Gary Mason.” She took her mobile out of her bag and speed dialled Robson. “Jack. Joseph’s awake. It looks like Mason phoned Mountford a few minutes before he hit Joseph. We’ve got enough on her to arrest her and bring her in for questioning. And get round to see her friend, Lily White, about that alibi. I don’t buy it. Mountford definitely called Mason the night Alec Whickham was killed. Our Doctor White has got to know more than she’s saying. I’m going home to get a few hours’ sleep, but I’ll be back in this afternoon” She rang off.
Anna looked sick. “This was deliberate?”
“I believe so. We haven’t put it all together yet, but I think we’re finally getting somewhere in this whole case. Alec Whickham, Mike and Joseph. They’re all connected, and that connection is Egraine Mountford, I’m sure of it. Now we have to find out how and why.” She shot a quick smile of understanding at Mike and then turned to Joseph. “I’m so sorry that I didn’t react more quickly when you came to see me about Mountford and Mason.”
Joseph shook his head, and then winced at the pain in his neck. “No, my fault. You warned me and I went ahead and did it anyway.” He looked at her more closely. “You look shattered.”
Anna squeezed his hand. “Inspector Kelly has been here with us all night. She saw the accident and called the ambulance.”
“I needed to ask you what had happened as soon as you woke up.” Kelly looked slightly embarrassed as she rose from her chair. “Mission accomplished, so I’ll leave you to your family and friends. We’ll probably need to talk to you again at some stage, but for now, just get better.” She patted him on his good arm, nodded to the rest of the people around the bed and turned to go.
“Have you got Gary?” asked Mike.
“Yes,” replied Kelly, turning back. “But he won’t help us.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s dead.”
----------
Lily looked frightened and close to tears. “I can’t believe you’ve arrested Egraine. She wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
Robson didn’t reply. He clicked the record button on the machine and said “Interview with Doctor Lily White at eleven thirty-five on the thirtieth of April. Doctor White has declined legal representation at this time.”
Lily blew her nose on a tissue and put it back up her sleeve.
“I’d like you to tell me again about your movements on the evening of April the tenth,” said Robson.
“I was at Egraine’s flat all evening. We were watching TV.”
“Were you both there all evening?”
“Yes.”
“Neither of you left at any time?”
She hesitated and bit the end of her right thumb. “No.”
“So you heard the phone call Egraine made to Gary Mason, then?”
“What phone call?” Lily looked very frightened now.
“Doctor White, I’ll ask you one more time. Did Egraine leave the flat at any time that night?”
Tears began to well at the corners of her eyes. “Yes. She went out to get a bottle of wine from the all night store around the corner. But she was only gone for ten minutes at the most. Honestly, she only had enough time to get to the shop and come back.”
Robson pursed his lips and looked at Lily’s previous statement. “You didn’t mention this at your last interview. Why not?”
“I forgot. Honestly. I wasn’t trying to hide anything. Truly, she was gone for ten minutes. It was nothing like the time she would have needed to even get to the labs, let alone do anything when she got there. When I remembered later, I didn’t know whether to tell anyone. I didn’t know if it mattered. She was out for such a short time. ”
“It was long enough to make a phone call.”
“Sorry?”
“Never mind. What time did she go to the shop?”
“It must have been around twenty past nine.”
“And can you remember when she got back?”
“About ten minutes later, just as the film started. Must have been nine thirty.”
“With a bottle of wine?”
“Yes.”
----------
Kelly arrived at the station at three pm, looking and feeling much better after a shower and three or four hours sleep.
Robson filled her in. “Lily White confirms that Mountford left the flat at around nine twenty and came back ten minutes later. I don’t think that she hid that deliberately the first time round. It was just such a short length of time she forgot. When she did remember, she didn’t think it was important.”
“So Mountford went out to make a call to Mason. We can be pretty sure of that. But why?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps we should ask her. She’s been stewing in one of the cells for a couple of hours now. I’ve made sure she doesn’t know anything about what happened to Mason.”
“Well then, another hour or so won’t hurt. We’ve still got time. I want to walk the route from her flat to the shop before we question her.”
On the way round to Egraine’s flat in the car, Robson asked about Joseph. “How’s Dr Connor looking?”
“Lucky, more than anything. He has some broken bones on his left side, but it could have been much worse.”
He shot her a sideways glance.
“You like him, don’t you?”
Kelly blushed. “Oh grow up, Jack.”
Robson smiled to himself. When they reached Rufus Court he parked in the local centre car park. They crossed the road, past where Joseph had been hit, and walked round to number ten A.
“OK,” said Kelly. “The obvious route to the shop is along the edge of these flats and round into Wellington Drive. I have a hunch, so let’s see if it holds up.” They started timing and walked the route; three minutes later they found themselves outside Juliet Bailey’s house. “Aha, so that is it.”
“What?” asked Robson.
“She was checking if Bailey was in. If they planned to frame her, Mason needed to kill Alec Whickham at a time when she was in the house alone. �
�
“Mason killed Alec Whickham?”
“Yes, I believe he did. But he didn’t plan it. I think our PhD student was the brains behind this. I’m still not clear on motive, though. Right, come on, let’s see how long it takes us to walk round to the shop, buy something and then get back to Mountford’s flat.” It took them eleven and a half minutes to buy a packet of cigarettes for Robson and get back to Egraine’s front door.
“Right, I think she’s waited long enough,” said Kelly. “Let’s get back and start questioning her. This could be another long night.”
Chapter 33
Egraine sat in the interview room with a mug of tea steaming in front of her. Her solicitor sat by her side.
“You have eaten something, have you?” asked Kelly.
She nodded.
“And you’re OK with that tea?”
Another nod.
Kelly and Robson sat down opposite her and Kelly pressed the record button on the small black machine at the side of the table. She spoke to the room in general. “This interview will be recorded and conducted under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. Detective Inspector Kelly and Detective Sergeant Robson interviewing Miss Egraine Mountford, at four thirty pm on the thirtieth of April. Miss Mountford has chosen to be accompanied by her solicitor, Mr Edward Baker.” Kelly looked at Egraine. “Egraine Mountford, you do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”
Egraine picked up her mug of tea with both hands and sipped it.
“Do you understand your rights?” asked Kelly.
Egraine nodded.
“Could you speak for the recording please?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“You’re here under suspicion of involvement in the murder of Dr Alec Whickham and the serious injuries inflicted on Dr Michael Osewe and Dr Joseph Connor.”
“I don’t understand why,” she replied.
“We know you and Gary did this. We just don’t know how or why,” said Robson, leaning over the table.
“Gary who?”
“Gary Mason.”
“Gary Mason? That’s ridiculous. I barely know him.”
“Come on Egraine, we have your mobile phone records. We know the two of you phoned each other quite regularly.”
Egraine sighed. “Hardly regularly. And anyway, how does that mean I had anything to do with Alec’s murder? And what could I possibly have to do with Mike and Dr Connor’s accidents? I was nowhere near any of them at the time.”
“Through your association with Gary.”
She put her mug down on the table and hugged herself. Her eyes began to look damp. “Really and truly, I liked Alec and Mike, and Dr Connor. They’re good people. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. Why would I?”
“That’s what we need you to tell us.”
“Well, I didn’t.” She looked genuinely upset.
“So you didn’t conspire with Gary Mason to kill Alec Whickham and to attempt to kill Michael Osewe and Joseph Connor?”
“No! Honestly, I hardly know him. We met at a party and he’s been a bit keen on me since. He got my mobile number a while ago. He’s been making a bit of a nuisance of himself to be honest. So I called him to ask him to stop following me and stop pestering me a few times. That’s all.”
“So, it won’t upset you to know that Gary Mason died last night in a road accident?”
Whatever reaction Robson had hoped to get from this statement, he didn’t expect what happened next. Nothing. No reaction. Not just no reaction, but a space where there should have been one. Not even common human concern. The light had been switched off. She turned to her solicitor, her eyebrows raised. He nodded.
Confused by her reaction, Robson took a flier. “How long have you been in a relationship with him?” he asked.
She looked at him, threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, many years.” Her face hardened suddenly. “He was my brother, you fuckwit. Well, half brother, actually. He was a right little bastard!” She laughed again.
“We’ve checked his personal details and there’s no family connection between you. Try again.”
“Bet you didn’t get the whole sordid story. Gary Mason. Mother, Hilary Mason, secretary to William Mountford 1985 - 1991. Father, surprise surprise, William Mountford. All dealt with very discreetly; not talked about in decent circles, don’t ya know. Broke my mother’s heart. She started drinking heavily after it all came out and was dead by the time she was forty-five.”
“How old were you when she died?” asked Kelly
Egraine looked Kelly straight in the face and grinned. “Sixteen. Scarred me for life,” she said sarcastically. “Turned me into the monster you see today. That and all the physical abuse at the hands of an alcoholic mother. Still, at least it was only on school holidays. The rest of the time they packed me off to boarding school while they lived abroad. Got me well out of the way, like Gary. He was banished to Scotland with his mother. All paid for by my father. She told everyone her husband had died and settled down to raise her little secret as Gary Mason.”
“Why did you have Gary kill Alec Whickham?” asked Kelly.
Egraine’s face darkened. “He had it coming. Autistic freak.”
“Why? What did he do to you?”
“I gave him everything. I researched and wrote the paper that would make his name in mainstream science. No more time in the wilderness. I didn’t want any attribution. I did it for him. I loved him and he rejected me in favour of some skanky prostitute. No one does that to me. Gary tried to warn off his tart, but she took no notice.”
“And Mike Osewe? What did he do to you?”
“He screwed me and dumped me. No one does that to me either.”
“Does everyone have to love you, Egraine?” asked Kelly.
She thought for a few seconds. “Would make a nice change.”
“So, how long have you known Gary?”
“About six years. My mother told me all the dirty little secrets a week before she died. I think she wanted to get it all off her chest. Anyhow, I found him a year or so later. Once I knew they were called Mason and lived in Falkirk, it wasn’t difficult to find him. We got on very well together. He was so chuffed to find that he had a sister. I didn’t tell my father that we knew each other, though, and Hilary kept it to herself too. Dad had always stayed in touch with Gary and his mum, but she didn’t want her cover blown. By then she was a councillor and getting into local politics. So Gary and I stayed in touch by phone and letters. We didn’t do anything online, on Facebook or anything, so no one knew we were related.”
“Gary was a student at UNWE too?” asked Robson
“Yes, in computing. He turned out to be quite a whiz with technology. The brains seem to come from my father’s side. I was looking for somewhere to do my PhD and Gary wanted to do something with computing technology, so we decided we’d both apply to UNWE so we could see each other more.”
“Tell us what happened on the tenth of April, the night Alec Whickham was killed.”
She grinned at the memory. “Ah, yes. It all went like clockwork. A very well worked-out plan if I say so myself. I’d got Bailey’s ID card a few weeks before and given it to Gary. He copied it and I put it back in her office the following day. Then it was easy. We just waited until an evening when Alec was going to work very late. On that night he wanted to get everything ready for Joseph Connor to see the next day. Pathetic really. He was like a little kid showing his daddy. As soon as I left the lab that particular night I phoned Gary and told him that we’d be going for it tonight. I’d asked Lily over so that I had an alibi. Gary didn’t need one as no one would link him to the murder. I did a last minute check that Bailey was at home and phoned Gary. Then he just went into the lab, killed Alec with a stone axe I’d brought back from Africa and then decorated him.” She began to giggle. “We couldn’t resist it. I’d spent so man
y days in the lab cleaning those fucking fossilised shellfish. We thought he should wear a crown of them!” She started to laugh loudly.
“Where’s the hand axe Egraine?” asked Kelly softly.
“I’ve still got it.” She couldn’t stop laughing now. “It was on the table when Mike and Joseph both came over! Right in front of them!”
They waited while she calmed down.
“There was blood-stained paper in Professor Bailey’s dustbin,” said Kelly. “It was Alec Whickham’s blood.”
“Yep, Gary sneaked into her back garden and put it in her bin.” Egraine’s eyes were sparkling.
“And why did he kill him with a hand axe?”
Egraine shrugged. “Seemed somehow appropriate.”
“Did you know about the wound to the back of Nimue’s skull?” asked Kelly.
Egraine looked blank. “What wound?”
“Nothing. Never mind. OK, let’s move on to Mike Osewe. What did you and Gary do to him?”
“Ah yes. Mister fuck and run. Another pathetic character. He was easy, too. Gary had met him a few times at the gun club, and when he saw what Mike did to me he was only too happy to sacrifice the Winchester rifle our father had given to him secretly the previous year. Dad has a few rifles that he’s collected on his travels. He’s quite a keen big game hunter.” She wrinkled her nose. “Bastard. Anyway, he wanted to give Gary something for his eighteenth birthday and so sent him over an original Winchester. Gary used to load his own ammunition, so it was pretty easy to load an oversize round and give it to Mike.”
“Gary actually saw you and Mike, did he?” asked Robson, with a bit more interest than was probably appropriate.
Elaine smiled. “Yeah. Well, heard rather than saw. We shared lots of things.”
Kelly cut in. “OK, moving on. What about Joseph Connor?”
“That was messy, running Connor over, but, hey, we were improvising by then. You can give us some credit for that. I saw that Connor had checked my phone so he knew that Gary had called me. He was waiting in the car outside. So I just phoned him to tell him Connor was onto us. The rest came naturally to him.” She giggled again.
