He Knows Your Secrets

by Charlie Gallagher

  The audio kicked in. ‘That’s better, Kell, see? You do as you’re told. You seem to forget that I know how to play this game. I’ve done this a million times, with a million other girls . . .’ The voice was tinny, distant-sounding, and there was a loud hiss where the speakers were struggling to play on full volume. The screen was flared bright white where a spotlight in the ceiling was pointed towards the lens. Maddie clicked to pause it, enjoying dragging this moment out.

  ‘Is that you, Freddie?’ she said.

  ‘I . . . It’s—’

  ‘You don’t have to comment on this!’ Harvey cut in with some urgency. ‘We have no idea what this is or where it has come from. That could be anyone’s voice! You are reminded of my advice, Mr Rickman. Nothing has changed. This was not shown to me in disclosure, I have not had suitable time to discuss this matter with my client.’

  Maddie moved her hand right back from the laptop. ‘Would you like more time now?’

  ‘I don’t want to see it!’ Rickman shouted. ‘Take it the fuck away — this is all bullshit! You’re stitching me up!’ His emotional lock had suddenly given way. Maddie had him backed into a corner and she had him angry; she couldn’t let that advantage go.

  ‘I’m going to play it — all of it. That way you can point out how it isn’t you in the footage.’

  ‘This is bullshit!’ Rickman said again.

  She clicked to restart the footage. The camera seemed to be focusing better the longer it went on. The angle wasn’t ideal; the screen was part-blocked by a triangular shadow that took out much of the left side and she guessed to be part of the coat hanging over the lens. But the phone’s cheap camera was compensating for the light and forms were starting to appear out of the flared whiteness. Already it was good enough to make out Rickman. The camera was angled upwards, capturing his torso and, most importantly, a good enough shot of his face. Good enough for beyond reasonable doubt at least.

  Harvey moved his hand to cover his mouth. He lifted his glasses with his finger and thumb as he rubbed his face.

  ‘The police, they came to talk to me. Someone got stupid. They must have mentioned something to the cops, so I took action. I took back control of my business.’

  Maddie watched Rickman closely as the voice changed and Kelly spoke. She was quieter. Darren Harvey leaned towards the laptop.

  ‘Marlie . . . What you did was because of me?’

  Freddie’s voice cut back in loud and brash: ‘Fucking right I did! The hammer in her skull was for you, Kell!’

  Maddie paused it again. ‘You killed Marlie Towers with a hammer in her skull, didn’t you Mr Rickman?’

  The paused screen and the question broke the spell. The two men opposite had been leaning in together; they broke away together, too. Rickman’s eyes were still aimed at her lips but they looked unfocused, glazed almost. He shook his head, his lips pushed out like he was running his tongue over his gums and he grimaced.

  Maddie started the footage again.

  ‘And I gave you the freedom to make sure the word got out. And it did, didn’t it? You went out like a little messenger, making sure the rest of the girls knew not to fuck with me — that it wasn’t worth the risk to even breathe in the direction of the fucking pigs. And do you think they’ve been back to see me since? Of course they haven’t. They know nothing, Kell. I worked that out when I sat in their grubby little station. As for Libby . . . she won’t talk to the cops. Not after tonight. I’ve arranged a little demonstration of what happens to people who think they can talk about me. You got to see our friend Marlie after I threw her in the bin like the fucking worthless whore she was. And here you are, Kell, just the same. And now you’ll be the demonstration for Libby.’

  The room’s attention was still on the tiny laptop screen. Rickman looked away as his image moved off the screen and he walked to another part of the room. Now the footage just showed a white ceiling with the yellow flare of the spotlight in the middle.

  Maddie let it play. She knew what was coming next. She sipped at her water, her focus still on Freddie Rickman, on every flicker of his face. He couldn’t pull away from the footage, his head jerked like he wanted to but his eyes stayed locked on that screen. A scuffling sound came through the speakers, a woman screamed. It was Kelly Dale. She appeared in the screen briefly too, so did Shane Porter — Benny, when he blocked her efforts to make for the door by throwing his fist. There was a loud thud where she struck the floor. It was perfect. Maddie chose this moment to pause it.

  ‘I want you to think, Freddie. I want you to consider, when we show Shane Porter this footage in his own interview, when he sits accused of murder, false imprisonment and rape — facing the rest of his life behind bars . . . what do you think he’ll say? Who do you think he’ll point the finger at? And what else do you think he’ll tell us if he thinks he can save his own skin — reduce his own sentence? And that might be a possibility, Freddie. He’s already shown an appetite to strike a deal.’

  ‘I don’t know no Shane Porter!’ Rickman mumbled.

  ‘Oh dear . . .’ Maddie shook her head. ‘That’s the thing with no comment . . . that’s why people like Darren, here, like it so much. I can’t challenge no comment, but I can prove a lie. We know you and Shane work together.’ She gestured at the screen. ‘Here you are in the same room for a start! Besides that, where do you think we got the address where you were found this morning from? That place wasn’t linked to you, Freddie. It’s not one of yours. People are already starting to turn. I want you to think about that. And you’ll have plenty of time to do some thinking over the next day or so, I can promise you that.’

  Maddie didn’t give him a chance to respond. She clicked for the footage to start back up. Kelly’s voice was instantly shrill, she was begging for her life now. Maddie took a deep breath at this point, just as she had the first time she saw it. The footage portrayed Freddie as enjoying his moment; he was toying with Kelly. Maddie knew he had done the same with Marlie Towers. She must have been so terrified.

  Freddie appeared back on the screen and pulled a piece of black material from over his face. It wasn’t clear but Maddie knew from Kelly’s account that it was a balaclava.

  ‘It’s like I said from the start. It’s you — or it’s Libby, there!’ Rickman’s shoulder raised into the shot then his head turned to give the clearest image of his face yet. Maddie took another swig of her water while Freddie’s final exchange with Kelly played out, his final sentence was delivered with particular glee: ‘You don’t both have to die tonight. Do you understand me?’

  Rickman’s head fell into his hands. He was no longer looking at the screen. It didn’t matter. He would still be able to hear the two men he had left in that room as they told Kelly what she could expect.

  ‘This don’t have to be hard. We fuck you first, then we make it quick. That’s the plan. You go easy and quick or you play about and we take our time. Those are your only choices, so get everything else out of your little head, you understand?’ Maddie paused it again.

  ‘That pleasant individual is Andrew Miles. We’ve talked about him already. He is currently handcuffed to a hospital bed while doctors patch up his stomach injuries. It’s still touch and go if he’ll be wearing a bag for the rest of his life. Which may well be in prison — for, you see, Kelly is about to personify everything you dismissed in your arrogance, Freddie. She’s about to fight back.’ Maddie allowed more time for a reaction. Rickman’s head was shaking — subtle, almost unnoticeable, but Maddie noticed. She slid from her chair and stood up.

  ‘Kelly was trying to hold them up until Libby was done, maybe even gone. She was trying to drag it out until you came back in so she could be sure Libby was safe. But Kelly was exhausted and the men you ordered to rape her and then kill her live on camera, they were about to remove her jeans so at that point she had no choice. The knife was in her trouser pocket, see. It had been there all the time. Arrogance again Freddie! You never considered searching her, did you? It never even cro
ssed your mind that someone like Kelly might stand up to you. Well, she did, Freddie, just like Holly and Marlie did.’ Maddie could feel herself leaning forward until she was right over Rickman, her palms flat on the table and taking her weight. He was still holding his head in his hands. Darren Harvey had no more protestations about how his client was being treated. She leaned right forward until she was as close to his ear as the table would allow.

  ‘You got any comment yet?’ she hissed. She waited, lingering over him, close enough for his sickly sweet aftershave to fill her nostrils. But it was mixed with something else now: fear.

  Maddie fell back into her seat. She clicked play again. There were immediate sounds of fighting. Kelly’s shrill voice stood out against the more bassy grunts and threats from the two men. She begged for them to stop, she begged for them to leave her alone. ‘Please don’t!’

  The phone’s battery cut the footage short. Maddie worked out that it had cut off just a few minutes before Harry had kicked that door in. She left the room silent for as long as she could.

  ‘When did you run, Freddie?’ she said, finally. Her voice was breaking as she spoke. A sign of her anger, perhaps, excitement more like. She could smell blood. Freddie Rickman was on the ropes in front of her. He finally looked up, his eyes still glazed, his forehead beaded with sweat. ‘When you saw us arrive or when you saw Kelly fight back? I bet it was Kelly that made you run — the first sign of someone standing up to you. Am I right?’ She leaned in, desperate for a rise — not for the case; she didn’t need any reaction from him; she had enough already — but she wanted to see it.

  He was beaten, however. His head fell forward, dragging his shoulders with it. His face hung just a few inches from the table. Maddie left the room silent again. Her next question snapped his head back straight.

  ‘Tell me about Victoria.’

  His focus was back on her lips. His nose twitched. She knew she had provoked him with the question. ‘I don’t have nothing to say to you,’ he managed, finally.

  ‘We had an idea that we had scared you away from using your own places. We were sniffing around and you couldn’t risk it. Not if you wanted time and space to be able to murder Kelly — maybe Libby too. A colleague of mine has known sex workers to use Airbnb. Do you know what that is?’

  ‘I’ve got nothing to say to you!’ His anger was returning. Maddie was delighted.

  ‘It’s a web-based thing. People can rent out spare rooms or whole houses to travellers. We were a little desperate. We got a list of all the rented accommodation across the county. It was a bit of a needle in a hay stack. But one booking stood out. Victoria Long had booked out five rooms at Canterbury Uni. Which, as we both know, is in the middle of nowhere. And in the middle of the week? We dismissed it as nothing — we couldn’t find anything to link it to any of this. But then we had another look at Holly’s largest and most outstanding item. When we opened it up we were able to get a proper look and there was the final piece of the puzzle, the final fuck you from Holly, the one that would bring you down.’

  She reached back down to the exhibits. She lifted the rucksack from where she had put it back in the box and slid it back onto the table. ‘It’s not easy to see, not when it’s back in an exhibit bag, so let me help.’ Maddie angled the bag, pushing the top towards Freddie. She pointed under a flap that held the teeth where the main zip bit. There was a slim, white strip of material with the name of the bag’s owner stitched into it: Victoria Long.

  ‘You see that?’ Maddie said. She didn’t wait for a reply. She left the bag on the table. ‘A name tag. This is Victoria Long’s school bag, isn’t it? That’s why we couldn’t find a social media presence for her, because she’s seven years old. And we couldn’t find a mention of her on any police systems for the same reason. Except there would have been something on there had we known she was your daughter.’ Maddie sat back, again allowing for a reaction.

  ‘You do have a daughter called Victoria, right?’ Maddie didn’t wait long for him to answer. ‘Of course you won’t answer that. You’ve kept her to yourself this long. She’s in foster care. But her mother still saw her when she was allowed, because she was taken off her some time ago. She wanted her back permanently, of course. But social services were never going to give her back all the while she was reported to be running a brothel, were they? Did Marlie Towers consent to that relationship or did you just take what you wanted? And you wouldn’t let her quit, would you? Not to get her daughter back. She had to keep running that brothel, your brothel, because you thought you could keep control over her if she still worked for you. And then when we started sniffing around, asking questions that seemed like they could only have been prompted by what Marlie knew, you killed her, using it to take back control of who was left. Am I anywhere near right?’

  There was still no answer, still no expectation of one.

  ‘Marlie only ever talked to one other person about you. About her past with you, about your daughter. Holly Maguire. Holly did what she did because it was the only way they could all be free. Kelly for sure, but Marlie was going to get her daughter back, too. Marlie knew about the underage girls on the webcams and what you were forcing them to do. She knew that you were demanding more and more of them. She knew that you had found that there was big money in forced sex, bigger even than having kids strip. And she told Holly. And that was it, the final straw that prompted Holly to give the only thing she considered she had valuable enough to make the police listen to her — to make everyone listen: her life.’ Maddie paused again, this one wasn’t for effect; this was to stop her emotion boiling over. She took a moment before she could continue.

  ‘Do you have any comment now?’

  ‘Much has been disclosed that was not previously advised, DS Ives. Harvey’s voice had made Maddie jump, despite it coming in softly. ‘I think my client and I would appreciate a break. We have been in here an hour or more. And perhaps I wasn’t given all the information I required from my client either.’

  ‘I think you’re absolutely right, Darren. Fine, then. But I can do better than your break. You see, I’m done. You can request another interview if you think of anything you want to tell us. But, so you know, it might not be me and the boss here that come back in if you do decide to answer some questions. We have some rookie detectives who could do with the experience of being involved in a murder investigation. Seeing as how this is pretty cut and dried, I might give them the experience. I have a lot of work to do, see. The last I heard we had at least five underage girls sat at home with their parents, ready to tell us their story, which I imagine will be very similar to Libby’s. I also have a number of your client’s associates to interview. They’ll all get to see this same footage and then they will know that this empire has collapsed, that they can finally talk freely about Freddie Rickman because he is never coming back out of jail. I want them all to know that there is nothing left . . . not even the arrogance. So, yeah, you let the custody sergeant know when you are ready.’ Maddie stood up again. ‘Unless you want to say anything now?’

  Freddie’s head was still down, his hands over it, gently rubbing back and forth over his head.

  ‘I’ll take that as a no comment, then.’

  * * *

  The door out of the custody area was the heaviest in the building, made of solid steel and with a mechanism that clunked shut with a drama that suited its purpose. Harry waited for the clunk before he spoke.

  ‘That was a new approach. Maybe in the future you could let me into your interview plan.’

  Maddie was getting better at reading him, but at that point she had no idea if he was delighted with her or boiling with anger. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the video. I only knew about it an hour before we started. Kelly didn’t offer it up straightaway. She almost didn’t show me it at all. Just goes to show the levels of fear and control that man was able to hold over those girls.’

  ‘I might have had a different opinion about interviewing him straightaway
.’

  ‘You wouldn’t. You would have wanted to see it first. It would have taken up more time. I just needed to get in there — it was burning me up inside.’

  ‘Of course I would. And then I might have understood your conduct in that interview room a little better. Not that it would have excused it.’

  ‘I knew you would see the footage in the interview. I’m sorry, I was angry going in there. I knew that. I thought I could use that to my advantage.’

  ‘You were on the edge. Had it not been massively undermining I would have pulled you out half way through. Your conduct reflects directly on me, Maddie. Don’t ever forget that.’

  ‘I lost sight of everything but getting the job home. I know that. I spent all night listening to what that man did…’ Maddie stopped. She had left all her anger in that interview room. All that was left now was exhaustion. She didn’t have the energy to defend herself. Not when she knew she was in the wrong. Harry’s cheeks rippled where his jaw was clamped shut. She waited for his reprimand to continue.

  ‘It could have turned out worse, I suppose. I do think we have him now.’ Harry kept a straight face for just a few second before releasing a subtle grin.

  ‘I’m quietly confident,’ she chanced.

  ‘I was watching him closely. You could see the exact moment he realised you’d been playing him along the whole time. That will stay with me for some time.’

  ‘I think I saw it, too. Maybe we should take the still from the interview tapes for the office wall. As a reminder.’

  ‘A reminder? Of what? That time when you were entirely right and I was wrong?’ Harry’s grin dropped away. Again Maddie was finding him difficult to read.

  ‘That wasn’t what I meant at all. But now you mention it . . .’