by Tara Lyons
“Memories of what, Carly?”
“Doc! Well, well, well… shame on you. Grace gave you far too much credit. You’re not the intelligent woman she regarded you as, if you haven’t connected the dots.” She grinned menacingly and winked, delighted to see the concentration on Maria’s face, trying to piece everything together.
“You murdered those women.”
“Bravo, Doctor Lee!” Carly clapped again.
“But why?”
She exhaled deeply, closed her eyes, and threw her head to the side dramatically. “Oh, you know, I have my reasons.”
“The nightmares Grace suffered about the naked women and the blood, the reason she woke up feeling petrified, is because of you. She had distant memories of the crimes you committed when your personality had control.”
“All right, woman! Calm down. It was a fucking joke when I said you could analyse me. I know how to deal with my grief. When people piss me off, double-cross me or my family, or generally act like a slag, they don’t deserve to live. Not when other people are suffering, with no dignity left and die painfully through illnesses.” She hopped up, sat fully on the table, and scratched her hand. “I targeted people who aren’t worthy of the life they’ve been given, individuals who should be caring for the patients in their hospice, like my granddad. The scum of this world who use drink and drugs as an excuse for their stupidity, those that cheat and gloat.”
“Grace has a drinking problem.”
“I told you, weak and stupid. And she’s gone forever too now. I’ve never felt as powerful as I do right now.”
“Are you in some kind of partnership with Michael Sparks?”
“Ha! That leech? No, I am not. He lurked around all the time, peering at Grace. She was even more the sucker for never noticing how he felt about her. Everyone else bloody knew. I nearly lucked out with him, though, soppy fool. I can’t believe he killed Eric in a jealous rage. I mean, I wasn’t Eric’s biggest fan, but I thought he’d finally show Grace some fun, and he encouraged the drinking, which was a good thing for me. Actually, Michael slightly impressed me, for once. But I can’t believe he tried to fool the police with my calling card—the knife to the chest.”
“Why is that your calling card, Carly?”
She jumped from the table and flew at Maria again. She stopped within inches of the psychiatrist’s face. “Because I am sick and tired of letting other people break my heart. They abandon me or betray me or try to make me jealous. Well, no fucking more, they won’t. I showed them who’s in control.” Spittle flew from Carly’s mouth as she spoke. She returned to her seat on the table. “The problem is, what do we do now? You know too much.”
“This is a counselling session; I sign a confidentiality contract to protect all my patients. I wouldn’t go to the police about anything that we’ve uncovered today.”
Ignoring her, Carly slipped off the table. She turned her back on Maria and mumbled to herself about what she should do. The woman has a point. These sessions are all cloak-and-dagger. And I know Grace really liked this one. She’d be annoyed. But screw her. I’m in charge now. I wonder if the doc can be trusted. She may come in handy to me one day.
The room fell quiet, except for the sound of two women breathing out of sync. The lights were still dimmed, and the room was blanketed in shadows as the night sky grew darker outside the windows. Carly spun round, launched at Maria again, and struck her in the chest repeatedly. Blood splattered over her face and neck, but she continued the attack until they were both red and wet. Maria’s head fell back. Carly glared at the motionless psychiatrist. Her eyes were dead and blank, her chest pierced by the gold letter-opener from the office desk.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Carly walked confidently through Luton airport the following evening, her mind filled with exotic images of sun, sea and strangers. It was the longest period of time she’d held control over Grace, and the power excited her.
Once she had cleaned Maria’s blood from her hands and face the previous day, Carly removed the psychiatrist’s diary and Grace’s notes folder from the office. She knew that inevitably her fingerprints were on the dead woman’s body. But she took comfort in the fact that Grace had never been arrested, and therefore was not on the police database. Carly remembered Maria explaining she had no appointments for the next week, and with no family to check in, Carly was sure she could flee the country before the woman was found.
Unlike her first victim, unfound and wasting away deep underground, Carly wanted Maria to be discovered. It hadn’t been a planned attack; the woman was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The psychiatrist deserves a funeral. I’m not a total monster.
Carly steered clear of Valerie once she returned home. She was sure Grace’s mother of all people, would be able to identify the difference in personalities. She feigned a headache and locked herself in Grace’s room. There she set to work in finding the passport, a small holdall for essentials and purchasing a last minute plane ticket to Alicante.
Now, stood in front of the departure board, Carly’s eagerness to remain in control urged her on. She was ready to fly to Spain and begin a new life. Her own life. Deep in her thoughts, the shocking tight grip around her arm alarmed her.
“What the hell are you doing?” she screeched as she spun round.
“Grace Murphy, I am arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Maria Lee—”
“What the fuck?” Carly frustratingly twisted and turned, but she couldn’t loosen Hamilton’s hold on her.
“Anything you say can and will be used as evidence against you in a court of law.”
“You’ve made a big mistake, Inspector. My name is Carly,” she said.
“Tut tut. You almost got away with it, didn’t you, Grace?” Hamilton replied.
“I told you, I’m not Grace.”
Hamilton frowned as two uniformed policemen restrained and handcuffed Carly. They prodded her back, making her trip over her own feet before she could walk steady.
“Ms Murphy, I’ve met you on numerous occasions, drop the act.”
“My name is Carly Murphy.”
The policemen stopped, first staring at Carly and then at Hamilton.
“Don’t listen to her! And don’t stop walking, get her out of here now!” Hamilton ordered. “And Kerry, get her bags.”
The two officers pushed Carly again and they all walked in unison.
“Got yourself a new partner, eh, Inspector?” Carly asked.
“So you do know who I am. We have met before.”
“I never said we hadn’t met, Detective Inspector Hamilton. I simply informed you that you had my name wrong.”
The crowds watched as Carly was escorted through the airport. She glared at the two detectives walking triumphant next to her. Her eyes narrowed on the woman.
“So, a new partner?” she repeated.
“DS Fraser is part of my team. She’s responsible for connecting you to Maria Lee’s murder and tracking you down so quickly. I thought it would be a glorious moment for her to witness your arrest.” Hamilton smirked.
“I bet you’re fucking the bitch, eh, Inspector!”
Hamilton ignored her, causing Carly to roar with laughter. She didn’t want to show the detectives any sign of weakness, but inside she trembled.
“You haven’t denied your involvement with Maria Lee, Grace… Carly. Whatever your name is,” Hamilton said.
Carly winked. “I’m saying nothing until my solicitor is present.”
“The fact you feel one is necessary, makes me a happy man.”
They exited the airport through the main entrance. A police car was parked directly opposite, its revolving lights flashed like a beacon to the busy holidaymakers—all slowing their pace to watch the action unfold. Carly couldn’t suppress her anger any longer, she wanted answers.
“How the fuck did she know it was me?” she shouted, nodding towards Fraser.
Hamilton smiled and stepped closer. “You may have destroyed the
paper trail of your appointments with Maria Lee, but you seem to have forgotten about the computer.”
“What?” Carly snarled.
“Maria Lee kept a calendar of appointments on her computer, as well as all her session notes. And now that we have you in custody, I’m certain your fingerprints will match the bloody prints we found.”
“That bitch shouldn’t have been found for at least a week.”
“If you’re referring to the victim, you obviously didn’t account for her book club pals turning up last night. They found the front door ajar, entered and discovered her lifeless body just hours after your appointment,” Hamilton replied, his eyes glaring into hers.
Carly wanted to head-butt him, knock the patronising look from his face, but she was distracted by his new partner. The woman stood next to Hamilton, petite and pretty, gazing up to him in awe as he spoke. The rage screamed inside of Carly.
“Why did you do it Ms Murphy?” Hamilton asked.
“The doc knew too much. How did you know I would be here?” she asked.
Fraser glared at her. “The Inspector just told you—don’t underestimate the power of the computer. Or the internet for that fact. It was easy to track you, when you know how.”
Carly pounced forward, intent on knocking the small detective to the ground, but the two policemen who cuffed her were quicker. They pulled her back a safe distance and grappled with her. Carly couldn’t take her eyes off Fraser, who had slightly stepped behind Hamilton. Her head pounded with madness, a frenzy she needed to release.
The uniformed men wrestled with her again, pushing her head down until she had no choice but to fall into the back seat of the squad car. She wanted to shriek, to shatter the glass and unleash her wrath on the woman who had halted her plans for freedom.
Outside the window, Hamilton and Fraser chatted, and she knew they were laughing at her expense. Although her hands were restrained, and resting on her back, she balled them into fists, and her body shook. The detectives turned to look at her, but Carly was only interested in making eye contact with one of them. The moment Carly locked eyes with Fraser, she glared. “I’m coming for you, Fraser.” The final word leapt from her lips as the police car sped off.
EPILOGUE
“Congratulations, team! A job well done,” Hamilton said as he rose his pint in the air.
“I think it’s well done to Kerry,” Clarke added. “You never gave up on the case, good for you.” He cheered and they all clinked glasses.
A week after Grace Murphy’s arrest, Hamilton felt it was time to celebrate, and invited them all to The Duke and Duchess pub across the road from the station.
“What made you flag up Maria Lee’s murder, Kerry?” Morris asked after taking a sip from her wine glass.
“When the call came through to the incident room, something inside me just said I shouldn’t ignore the stabbing connection.”
“That’s police gut instinct, that is,” Wedlock shouted and knocked his pint glass against Clarke’s.
Hamilton smiled. Catching suspects wasn’t always an easy job, but to see the gratification it brought kept him going. “I always saw Grace Murphy as a potential victim and therefore never ran any checks on her. A lesson to be learnt there. Anyway, by the time Kerry ran a search, Grace had already purchased the plane ticket to Spain. We knew then she was doing a runner.”
“But, gov,” Clarke interrupted. “The whole Grace Murphy, Carly Murphy thing. Is it real? Will justice be served?”
“Look, the Met’s psychiatrist evaluated her, Lewis. At the moment, it seems genuine, she has dissociative identity disorder. But she has confessed to all the murders, whether that was as Grace or Carly, who cares, right? We got what we needed. It’ll be prison or a psychiatric hospital, but she’s off the streets, so we did our job.”
The team cheered and clinked their glasses again.
“I just find it nuts that another personality can take over your body and control you,” Clarke continued.
“But can we truly believe that?” Morris argued. “Look at the victims, they were all important to Grace. They were victims of her revenge. Women she went to school or socialised with, a colleague and the nurse at her grandfather’s hospice, and of course her psychiatrist. Does she really expect us to believe her story that someone else took over her body and she had no idea?”
Wedlock puffed his cheeks and exhaled deeply. “This is too heavy for a night at The Duke when the boss is paying. Whatever her story, we caught her. We never have to see her again. So drink up and same again please.” He winked in Hamilton’s direction.
Hamilton laughed. It was always good to have a joker on the team. The three continued their debate while he walked to the bar, happy to buy his team another round. Fraser stood next to him and fumbled with a beer mat.
“You should look happier than that, Kerry.” He nudged her arm.
“Oh, I’m happy, sir,” she hesitated. “There’s just one thing playing on my mind.”
“Pray tell.” He smiled.
“Grace, or Carly, or whoever… she said she was coming for me.”
Hamilton rested his hand on her slender shoulder. “Never worry about what a suspect says when they’re arrested. It’s all in the heat of the moment, their anger at being caught. She can’t lay a finger on you.”
THE END
Thank you for reading In the Shadows; I sincerely hope you enjoyed reading this novel as much as I loved writing it.
If you liked it please consider posting a short review, as genuine feedback is what makes all the lonely hours writers spend producing their work worthwhile.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Other Books by Tara Lyons
Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
CHAPTER FORTY
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
CHAPTER FIFTY
EPILOGUE
THE END
