by M A Comley
Sally laughed. “She’s really got under your skin.”
“Yeah, and that’s the sodding thing that bugs me most about her. I’ve dealt with some vicious frigging criminals over the years who have never had the upper hand, but her? Well, at the moment, I’ll give her that one in the hope that we’ll soon be able to wipe the smug grin off her face, once we have the facts to hand.”
“Just don’t let her see how much she’s getting to you, Lorne,” Sally advised.
Lorne winked. “That’s my intention. Now, with her daughter Olga, that’s going to be a totally different story. She’s going to wish she never sucked on that poor man’s dick, let alone cut it off and shoved it in his mouth like a lollipop.”
Sally’s hand covered her mouth as a giggle broke out. “Let’s get this action rolling.”
Lorne and Sally collected the solicitor from the reception area. Knight shot daggers at each of them as she rose from her seat.
Sally shook her head and waved a finger. “You’re not going anywhere, Mrs. Knight. You have no right to be involved in this process. In fact, we could be hours, so I really don’t think it would be wise for you to hang around here awaiting your daughter’s release.”
“Can you stop me sitting here?” Claire said through gritted teeth.
Sally heaved out an exaggerated sigh. “No, we can’t stop you hanging around here. I hope you have a very strong resolve, however, because the odd tramp shows up wanting a warm in reception occasionally.”
“If that’s supposed to scare me off, you’ve failed. I’ll be here for the duration.”
“That’s your prerogative. You won’t be given any special treatment. As long as we’re clear on that from the outset, then please, make yourself comfortable.”
Claire sneered at Sally and Lorne. She turned to her male solicitor and patted him on the back. “Go do your best for my baby, Ken. There’s a bonus in it for you if you successfully get Olga out of here this evening.”
The dressed-to-impress solicitor smiled at Claire and nodded. “I’ll do my very best, as always.”
Lorne stepped aside so that Sally and the solicitor, Ken Wallace, could walk up the hallway to the interview room ahead of her. The three of them entered and sat in silence around the table in the stark white room, waiting for the suspect. A female PC opened the door, pulled a reluctant handcuffed Olga into the room, and settled her in the chair next to the solicitor.
After saying the required information for the recording machine, Sally hit Olga with the first question. “Olga, where and when did you meet Daniel Grade?”
Olga turned slightly to look at her brief before uttering the words Lorne had prepared herself to hear. “No comment.” The interview continued back and forth for the next few hours. Sally asked the same questions over and over, until finally, Olga snapped, “I’ve told you—no bloody comment. Change the record, for God’s sake.”
“I’ll change the questions if you agree to give us your full cooperation. At present, the only person you’re successfully pissing off is your mother. Is that your intention, Olga?”
The woman’s nose screwed up in confusion. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“She’s outside waiting for you. Has been for hours. Until now, your lack of cooperation has done nothing for your mother’s anger management issues,” Sally said, issuing the solicitor with a smile.
“Totally uncalled-for comment, Inspector. You’d be advised to stick to questioning my client.”
“Is it, Mr. Wallace? From what we’ve learned recently about Olga’s mother, I’d say she rules this family like some kind of dictator.”
Lorne almost choked on the laugh stuck in her throat.
Wallace shared a warning glance with his client. Olga shrugged and looked down at her clenched hands.
“Anything to say about that description, Olga? Is DI Parker accurate in her perception?” Lorne prompted when no one chose to speak.
“What am I supposed to say? You obviously know her well enough to make that assumption.”
“Olga!” Wallace warned out of the corner of his mouth.
“Let her speak, Mr. Wallace. We’re keen to hear what your client has to say about her darling mother,” Lorne snapped at him.
Olga chortled. “Never heard those two words in the same sentence before, ‘darling mother.’ Truth be told, some of us girls have had enough. We’re rising up against her. Teagan thinks she’s past it.”
“And was it Teagan who instructed you to kill Daniel Grade?” Sally asked.
Olga fell silent. After a few moments thinking, she replied, “Yes. I swear, I’ve never done anything like this before. Fifty grand proved to be too much of a temptation for me in the end.”
Wallace stared open-mouthed at his client, which amused Lorne immensely. Apparently you don’t know the depths this family will go to for money, after all, matey.
“So you were given specific instructions to kill Grade. Is that what you’re telling us?” Lorne pushed.
“Yes.”
“For what reason?” Sally enquired.
Olga shrugged. “Teagan told me to get the money and papers from him then finish him off.”
“What papers?” Lorne asked, enjoying the way the interview was panning out with both she and Sally asking alternating questions as if they could read each other’s mind.
“How the hell should I know? I wasn’t interested. All I was worried about was getting my hands on that fifty K.”
“And what did you use the money for, Olga? I’m taking a wild guess here and saying it was to feed your habit. Am I right?”
Olga exhaled a large breath. “Yeah, you’re right. Although I told Teagan I was going to buy myself a spell in rehab with the funds. She was that thrilled, she pushed her usual partner in crime aside and gave me the job.”
“And who usually carries out Teagan’s instructions? Would that be Helen?”
“Yes. Those two are inseparable.”
Wallace cleared his throat and interjected. “Olga, I must warn you only to answer the questions that are directed at you personally.”
“Nonsense, Mr. Wallace. Your client has the right to speak openly during this interview. If she wants to get other things off her chest regarding her siblings and mother during this time, then she has the right to do just that,” Sally chastised him.
He grunted and looked down at his legal pad once more.
“You were saying, Olga? Teagan and Helen are inseparable. Does that mean they often carry out crimes as a twosome?” Lorne smiled at the young woman.
“Mostly, yes.”
Lorne nodded. “Would that include killing your brother-in-law Ryan, for instance?”
Olga chewed on her lip—a telling sign to an interrogating officer.
Lorne pressed her for an answer. “Does that mean yes?”
Olga gave her brief a sideways glance and nodded.
“Sorry, nodding is not acceptable. You need to speak your response for the tape.”
“Yes.”
“I want this interview stopped so I can instruct my client,” Wallace demanded, his rage showing as his pad hit the desk.
“That’s not going to happen, Mr. Wallace.”
He glared at Lorne. “I’m going to take this higher, make a formal complaint.”
“That’s your entitlement,” Sally assured him. “Olga, are you telling us that Teagan and Helen were the two women aboard the boat with your brother-in-law before it exploded?”
“Yes, they told me they did it. Lucy has no idea, though.”
“Interesting. How about your mother? Where does she fit into all of this?”
Wallace slammed his notebook on the desk again, scaring Lorne. “I must insist you retract that question immediately.”
Lorne’s brow furrowed. “Can I ask why, Mr. Wallace? It seems a pretty legitimate question to be asking.”
“I’ve told you before, this interview should concern what my client knows about the incident you have arr
ested her for, nothing else.”
His outburst made Lorne turn to Sally whose puzzled look mirrored her own feelings. “Is there anything in the rule book about other topics not being allowed to be raised during an interview, Inspector? If there is I must have missed that particular part.”
Lorne shook her head. “I don’t seem to recall that particular rule.”
“This is bullshit. You two are wind-up merchants, not like any investigating officers I’ve ever dealt with in the past.”
“And there we have it, Mr. Wallace. DI Warner and I have successfully hit a trail leading to this family’s door, and it’s ablaze with guilt. Previous coppers may not have seen the signs pointing in their direction, but we’re better than any of our colleagues. We dig deeper and scrutinise all the evidence until something floats to the surface and sparks our interest. That’s how we caught your client in the first place. One teeny-weeny drop of saliva on a man’s penis, and bingo bango! There’s no getting away from placing your client at the scene. The question running through my mind is why previous colleagues have pushed aside valuable clues and evidence as it showed up?” Sally stopped to let the words sink in to both the brief and his client. She turned to Lorne and raised an eyebrow to finish her conclusion.
“I’m thinking that money talks, Inspector Parker. Isn’t that right, Mr. Wallace? You’ve been with this family for—what? Around fifteen years? In that time, how often have you crossed the sweaty palms of officers in the hope they will look elsewhere for clues? Is that why the matriarch of this family got away with killing two of her husbands? Forgive me if I’m wrong, but that’s what it looks like from where I’m sitting. There’s no other explanation for it.”
Wallace sneered first at his client and then at Lorne and Sally. “Ludicrous, pure conjecture for which you have no evidence. If you think I’m going to admit to anything, you’ll have a very long wait. My loyalty to this family, and Claire Knight in particular, will never be tested, not by you or anyone else in the legal system. That includes judges.”
“What an interesting outburst.” Lorne smiled one of her killer smiles, aware she had him pinned into a corner. “So, by that statement, we’re to assume that you have several judges on the payroll, too. Please tell me I’ve misread your meaning?”
Wallace blustered and picked up his notebook once again. “This interview is in connection with my client, not me. Please continue, with caution, detectives.”
Lorne chuckled internally as the redness in his cheeks rose to a dangerous level and his finger ran along the edge of his shirt collar. “Are you happy to continue, Olga?”
“Yes.”
“Do you get on with your brother, Joe?” Sally asked.
“Not really. I used to, but not now. He chickened out, left the family home when I was quite young. I saw that as detrimental to our family.”
“May I ask why?” asked Lorne.
“Because he’s a man. We’ve never had what I call a ‘great male role model’ in the family. Joe should have stuck around. Maybe things would have been different if he had.”
“Different? Are you referring to your drug habit?” Sally probed.
Olga nodded. “Yes.”
“And you think having a male presence, one that you could rely on; living in the family home, would have taken your life on a different journey?”
“I believe so. I didn’t want to get involved in drugs. Some people turn to drink for a cry for help; I turned to drugs instead.”
“How does your mother feel about your drug habit, Olga?”
“She abhors it. Sometimes, I think she abhors me more.”
“Are you telling us that your cries for help went unnoticed by the one person you needed to help you most?” Sally queried.
“I suppose so. All of us, all we ever wanted was to make Mum love us. She’s cold and unfeeling.”
“Why did your mother have so many children if she lacks maternal instincts?” Lorne asked quietly.
Olga’s head dropped onto her chest. “I don’t know. I guess you should ask her that.”
“So, is that why your family turned to crime? In order to gain attention—her attention? You thought that would ultimately obtain the love you were desperately seeking, is that it?”
“Probably. She’s always told us what to wear, what to do with our money—when we had any—and how to act when we’re around certain people, mostly men with money.”
Lorne glanced at the seething Wallace, who was frantically scribbling in his notebook, and wondered if he would have the balls to relay all this information back to Claire or whether he would just sit on the facts out of fear. “And that’s the people your family mostly target? People with money to their names?”
“Yes, that and...” She appeared to reproach herself at that point.
Lorne filled in the gaps for her. “And those who have access to money?”
Olga nodded. “Going back to your role in the murder of Daniel Grade, did you see any of the papers you obtained from him?”
“No. I bought some dope on the way home with the money I took from him. Teagan was livid when she heard about what I’d done.”
“Did your sister let on what sort of papers they were?” Lorne pressed.
“Sorry, no. Only that they were important ones.”
“So these papers, are they part of a bigger picture, Olga?” Lorne asked.
“I don’t know. Teagan put them in the safe as soon as I gave them to her. Once she shut the safe, she rubbed her hands together in glee. I was too far out of it to ask what they meant to her.”
“The safe? Where is this safe?”
“At Teagan’s house, although Mother has one, too. Actually, I think she has a couple of them.”
“How did you feel when your mother stole the house from Allan?”
Wallace tutted and leaned over to whisper in his client’s ear. Olga refused to answer the question.
However, Lorne was determined to get an answer. “Did you think it’s right to rob a man of his lifetime’s achievements? Have you seen where he’s being forced to live now?”
“No. I never thought Mum was in the right on that score. Allan always treated her fairly, and yet she couldn’t wait to get rid of him.”
“Why? Did he outlive his usefulness, financially?”
“I don’t know the ins and outs of their divorce. He can tell you more about that side of things than I can.” Olga pointed a thumb in her brief’s direction.
“Mr. Wallace, care to enlighten us about that?”
“No comment,” he sneered. “This interview keeps wavering off topic, and I have no intention of answering any such questions, Inspectors. So kindly refrain from asking them.”
“After speaking with Allan a few days ago, I have a rough idea of just what that marriage consisted of predominantly him giving and Claire taking. Does that sound about right, Olga?” Lorne asked.
Olga nodded. “Mum was running short of cash leading up to the time he walked into her life, wasn’t she, Wallace?”
The brief neither responded nor looked up, just kept his gaze glued to his notebook.
“Well, it’s true,” Olga added in a huff.
There was a knock on the door, and a constable entered the room. Sally paused the recording as the PC handed Lorne a slip of paper. Sally looked over her shoulder and nudged her leg under the table. “You go. I’ll finish questioning Olga,” Sally urged.
Lorne smiled appreciatively and left the room. When she walked into the reception area, she found a nervous-looking Joe waiting for her. She shook his hand. “Hi, Joe. Give me two minutes to sort out a room.” She approached the duty sergeant. “Is there a spare interview room I can use?” Leaning in closer, she asked, “Where’s Mrs. Knight?”
Lowering his voice, the sergeant replied, “She left about fifteen minutes ago, fury guiding her exit,” he added with a smile. “Room Three is vacant. Do you want me to organise a PC to sit in with you, ma’am?”
“No, I don’t thi
nk that will be necessary. Did he bump into Mrs. Knight or not?”
“He came through the door a few minutes after she left. He looks worried. Are you sure you don’t want company in there?”
Lorne waved away the suggestion. “He’ll be fine once we’re alone, I’m sure. Is the room open? Can I have some paper for notes?”
“The room’s open. Here’s the paper. I’ll get someone to bring you both a coffee, if you like?”
“That’s kind. Thanks.” Lorne asked Joe to follow her, and they settled in the seats behind the desk in the small interview room. She placed the sheets of paper with a pen on top in front of her and folded her arms. “Are you aware that your mother was here just before you arrived?”
“I saw her get in a taxi before I made my move. She didn’t look happy, Inspector.”
“It’s Lorne. No, I don’t think she bargained on Olga’s interview taking so long.”
“Am I allowed to ask how it’s going with Olga?”
“You are. She’s cooperating with us, slowly but surely, giving us useful information. Much to her solicitor’s disgust, I hasten to add,” she told him, amusement running through her voice.
“I bet. He’s been Mother’s advisor for years. Another one not to be trusted. His opinions are easily bought. How is Olga holding up?”
“She’s fine. We’re not going to be hard on her as long as she keeps sharing information with us. I think my ‘partner’ will be going along the lines of a deal, a lesser charge, if she really comes up with a prime piece of information that will enable us to finally arrest your mother. I’m just trying to reassure you that what you and Olga can tell us could eventually end your mother’s reign of terror. Surely that’s got to be an incentive to help us, Joe?”
“It is, Insp... Lorne. I’ve thought long and hard about your proposal, and I’m willing to go ahead with the witness protection scheme.”
“Okay, although I have to say, to be honest, I doubt you’ll need it from what Olga is telling us in there.”
“Ah, but Olga doesn’t know everything. I do, at least up until the time I left the family home, in disgust.”
“Well, hopefully, Olga can fill in the blanks from that time. Either way, I appreciate you coming in today. I’m not going to record our little chat, but I will be making notes, all right?”
