Don't Tell Meg Trilogy Box Set

by Paul J. Teague

  ‘What about Ian Davies? Will he be okay?’

  ‘I think he’ll be fine. It’s a difficult one – self-defence and reasonable force are tricky bedfellows. But your witness statements are compelling, and if you’re not going to file a complaint against him for the nasty emails that he sent to your office, he’ll get off I think. The fact that he’s recorded on Becky’s phone releasing you in the bell tower doesn’t hurt his case either. It kind of makes him a bit of a hero.’

  ‘He was really frustrated about his brother. Angry. He had good cause to be. He saved us from Lee Taylor, I have no doubt about that. Lee was coming in for the kill, and I would be dead by now if it wasn’t for Ian. He came to make a point, not to hurt us. He wanted us to understand what we’d done. I hope he gets released. I wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for him.’

  I sipped my tea. It was good after the dishwater they served me at the hospital. It was made with real milk and decent tea bags. I had to get out of that hospital, private facility or not, I wanted my own place again.

  ‘Have you got your timeline yet? I know you cops love a good timeline.’

  ‘As much as we can, yes. It never helps when all your witnesses are dead. But yes, we think we know what happened now.’

  ‘Was Becky involved in the deaths – Len, Glenn and Vicky? That’s what I want to know. I still believe she was under Lee’s influence. He was a scary man, you know. I don’t believe that she’s evil. Misguided, maybe.’

  ‘No, there’s nothing linking Becky to the deaths. They were certainly in cahoots – it was one of those Fred and Rosemary things. Lee had been a wanted man for some time. He was violent and terrifying, and there are a lot of people very glad that he’s no longer on the loose.’

  I thought back to the scene on the cathedral roof. My attempts to fight Lee had been pathetic. He was a formidable force, the kind of guy who only stops when he’s dead.

  ‘What about Glenn Elliot, what was that all about?’

  ‘It was a case of wrong place, wrong time. Lee had been frantically jealous when Becky slept with you, and seeing that video seems to have pushed him over the edge. From what we can tell, he was besotted with Becky and went along with her plan, even though he’d fallen in love with her. She was just a bit kinky, as you keep saying. It’s very weird seeking crime victims to sleep with, and even weirder keeping a video library of her sexual encounters. It’s even more cranky to post them online. But, you know, each to his own. Nothing surprises me these days.’

  ‘I’d liked Becky when we met, you know. I’m really doubting my judgment these days, but I was certain she was okay. Odd, yes, but I didn’t have her down as a psycho.’

  ‘She wasn’t involved in the murders. Glenn Elliot had caught Lee in your house. We think he’d got some sexual encounter planned there for Becky, but we don’t know. He’d stolen a key when they came to look around, posing as house viewers. They’d certainly worked it out between the two of them, but Lee was the killer.’

  ‘How about Len ... and Vicky?’

  It was still difficult to talk about Vicky in the past tense. I’d missed her funeral. I was upset about that.

  ‘Lee was after you. He wanted to warn you off, or kill you, we’ll never really know. He was waiting for you the day Len went to your caravan. Wrong time, wrong place again. Len walked in on him. We think he was jerking off to Becky’s video. We found ... let’s say, there was forensic evidence on your sofa. But that was Lee.’

  ‘Why did he kill Vicky? Was it quick for her?’

  ‘Yes, it was quick. She won’t have known much about it, Pete. I know it’s a horrible way to die, but he was a strong man, and that was a clean cut to the throat.’

  I was relieved to hear that, but Vicky’s was the death I was struggling with. What a terrible way to die. That poor woman. Whatever anybody said to reassure me, that one was my fault. I couldn’t forgive myself for Vicky’s death.

  ‘He was looking for your new caravan, Pete. It’s as simple as that. He wanted you out of Becky’s life, but she was obsessed with you. She was desperate for that second encounter, she wanted to lure you back to your house for sex. It’s her thing, you were a big catch for her fantasy. In the past, she’s gone for robbery victims and victims of assault. You’d have been a hot prospect for her. Her father was a hit man, spent years in jail. Used to threaten people by crushing their hands with hammers. A really nice guy. It’s some crazy psychological stuff, it’s probably how she got it out of her system. Who knows with these things?’

  ‘But she was complicit in what happened at the cathedral? She was going to watch us die there?’

  ‘We’re not sure about that. She says it was Lee’s doing, that she was scared for her life. The aim was to re-enact the events that had taken place on the rooftop with Meg and Sally, but Lee had other things in mind. She’s sticking to her story: they weren’t going to kill anybody, or that was not what she had intended to do. She maintains it was all about fear, taking it right up to the end, as it would have been with the original deaths.’

  ‘And how is she?’ I asked. ‘Will she walk again?’

  ‘Unlikely,’ Kate answered, ‘but you never know. It was quite a fall, but she got lucky. The legs and arm have been put back in place, but the spinal injury is another thing entirely. She’s in a lot of pain – your injuries look like a small scratch next to hers.’

  ‘I know this makes me sound naive, but I don’t think that Becky’s evil. It feels like she’s had her punishment already.’

  ‘You might have lost your head in that bell tower, Pete. Remember that. I don’t know what will happen to her. She’s still in a right state, they’ll need to put her back together properly first. But she’s lucky. She got to live. There’s no doubt that Lee wanted to kill her. It messes things up, sex, but you probably know that already.’

  I nodded.

  ‘I’m going to become a monk, I think. I’ve really screwed things up, I’m sorry, this must be a huge headache for you guys.’

  ‘Don’t blame yourself. You really should contact victim support, you know. You’re a prime candidate for them, blaming yourself for everything. You can’t help what these people did, Pete. They would do these things regardless of you. You’re the same as Glenn and Len: wrong place, wrong time ... only you got to live. These people do the things they do anyway.’

  I knew all of that. But I still felt like shit.

  My coffee with Kate Summers was in stark contrast to my drinks with Hannah Young. It was three weeks after my chat with Kate; my leg was far better than it had been, and my strength and resilience were returning fast. I was still using a stick, to boost my confidence mainly, but more and more I was leaving it behind.

  I was sitting with Hannah at a street café in Alicante. The sun and blue sky nourished me, and my leg had begun to feel better the moment the heat began to work its magic on it.

  This was the meeting we’d missed before Hannah had to return home. I was spending a few days out in Spain. I had other reasons to be there, but it made sense to catch up with Hannah after I’d landed at the airport.

  I sipped my red wine and thanked her for her patience with me after standing her up. I was still using painkillers occasionally, so shouldn’t have been drinking wine really. But I could see the light at the end of the recovery tunnel and I was ready to get back to normal life.

  Hannah was full of questions.

  ‘How are you feeling? I can’t believe what happened after I left ... Wasn’t that B&B appalling? Did you make contact with Meg yet? You can see why I live out here, can’t you?’

  ‘Oh yes, I’m tempted to come out here myself. I love it in Spain. The warmth, the skies, the colour. It’s wonderful.’

  ‘I’m sorry that you had to go through all that again. I started buying the papers, I had to keep up with the story. Will they get off, do you think? Do you even want them to?’

  ‘Yes, I do want Ian and Becky to stay out of prison. They’re not killers, either of them. An
d Becky, well, she’s in a right mess. I haven’t seen her, mind you. I have contacts in the media, you know how it is. I’m interested, I want to know.’

  She nodded and took a sip of her G&T. It really was lovely in the sun. Things always seemed so simple to me when I was abroad.

  ‘We were talking about Meg last time we met. I’m sorry I rushed out on you like that. Have you heard from her?’

  That’s what I wanted to know. That’s why I’d travelled all that way to see her.

  ‘No, still not. I’m sorry, Pete. I wanted you to understand some things about Meg. We had ... it was a difficult childhood.’

  I looked at her, not saying anything, a well-used interview technique. People become uncomfortable with the silence and continue talking. She took the bait.

  ‘You know about the adoption and the fire already, but it was more complicated than that. There was a lot going on at the time. It was difficult. I want you to understand that things aren’t always as simple as they seem with Meg. We’re ... she’s damaged. Things happened in her past which can make her unstable at times. I want to see her again. I’m desperate to make contact again ... if you find her.’

  ‘I can’t say that I ever saw it when we were together,’ I said. ‘For many years she was happy. We were happy.’

  ‘Yes, I know that, Pete. But Meg isn’t good when things go wrong. When her life gets unsettled, it can be difficult for her. She makes bad choices.’

  Is that what I’d seen in my final meeting with Meg in the graveyard? Was this her other side, the aspect of her personality that I’d never glimpsed? She had, after all, stabbed Tony Miller several times. Most people would have stabbed him only the once, to bring him down. It was a frenzied attack, perhaps more than just self-defence.

  ‘Why are you telling me this, Hannah? Why is it so important to you that I know this?’

  ‘I want you to understand that Meg can’t help who she is. She’s my adoptive sister – we had some wonderful times together and I’d love to be reunited with her. But we also went through some terrible things. You probably think it’s you who’s created all this bad luck, but it tends to follow Meg wherever she goes. It’s not your fault, Pete. It’s how life is with Meg.’

  I was nervous about my next stop after Alicante. It had been a strange meeting with Hannah. I couldn’t figure out what she was trying to tell me. It felt as if she was warning me of something, but what? She wouldn’t spit it out. I’d seen none of it. I knew Meg, we’d been in love. Maybe we could still be in love.

  I was sitting in the back of a taxi, heading for Alex’s place. I wasn’t ready to drive, and didn’t think it would be a good idea to hire a car. I hadn’t seen Alex since that night. I’d only heard the police account of what had happened.

  I’d been away from my tech – it was a horrible experience not being able to text or email. I had no phone in the hospital and no laptop. It was almost a greater agony than my leg.

  Alex had been short and sharp in her emails to me when we finally reconnected. She didn’t want to chat over Skype or video, but she did agree that I could come out and stay.

  The taxi pulled up outside her house. She was renting on the outskirts of Torrevieja, it was a lovely detached place, I couldn’t blame her for taking a break out there.

  If I’d been in any doubt about how I would be received by Alex, I was wrong. She rushed out of the house when she saw that I’d arrived, and hugged me, really hard. I hadn’t even had time to pay the taxi driver. Tears streamed from her eyes and she seemed distraught at how I was using a stick to walk. I paid the driver and we sat down in her garden chairs, the sun shining down on us.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Pete. I thought I’d killed you. I’ve been out here hating myself for what I did to you. I thought I’d--’

  ‘Alex, it’s fine, honestly. I’m here, I’m fine, the stick will go soon. You did what you thought you had to do. You were scared.’

  She hugged me again and kissed me on the cheek.

  ‘I’m sorry. I can’t say it enough, Pete. And I’m sorry I was too chicken to come and see you. I couldn’t face the press. They haven’t found me staying out here. It’s off-season, it’s really quiet at the moment.’

  ‘It’s okay, I get it, I get it. You don’t have to apologise. We did what we had to do that night. It was terrible. But we lived. We’re here now.’

  ‘They wouldn’t let me see you when I was still in the UK, Pete. I tried, but they wouldn’t let me. I had this place arranged, so I ran away from everything. I know it was a horrible thing to do. I’m sorry.’

  ‘Alex, enough of the apologies. It’s fine. So what happened after I keeled over? I want to hear it from you. I’ve heard the official version.’

  ‘I thought Ian was going to fire that crossbow, I really did. He was so angry with us, and I didn’t help things. He hadn’t taken us there to hurt us, he wanted us to understand, I think ...’

  ‘Was he right about what he said? Did you call in a favour to make sure that you were kept out of the papers? Was he right?’

  She looked down, and I knew that Ian had got his facts right.

  ‘I didn’t do anything wrong, Pete. I just know people. And I didn’t sleep with anyone, it’s not like he said. I called in a favour. It was definitely nothing illegal, honestly.’

  ‘You know what, Alex? We’ve all done things we’re not proud of. If the police don’t need to follow anything up, then my view is, it’s not that bad. I’m not bothered, honestly. I don’t blame you. You did nothing wrong.’

  I was all too ready to blame myself, but it was much easier to understand Alex’s motives. She hadn’t done anything illegal, but it was she who’d sent Jason over to help Meg. He’d got killed, yes, and that was nothing to do with her. She wanted to suppress that element in the press, she was in the public eye, I understood that. It wasn’t illegal. It was only a refocusing of the truth.

  ‘How did it end then? What’s your version? I want to hear it from you.’

  ‘Where do I start?’ Alex said. ‘I’ve been trying to forget it all. I thought Ian was going to get violent, and I had nothing to defend myself with. I saw those bolts in your leg and grabbed one. I don’t know what made me do it. I thought it would come straight out. I didn’t know what it would do, but I felt it tearing your flesh and I knew I’d cocked up the minute I did it. You let out a horrendous yell. I bet you don’t remember that bit.’

  I didn’t. I was out cold the minute she pulled the bolt. I had no recollection of anything after that. I woke up magically in a hospital bed.

  ‘It was that yell that saved you. Some old codger at the back of the cemetery was taking his dog into the garden for its night-time walkies. He heard your scream and called the police, thinking it was yobs at Jem’s grave again. They’ve had quite a lot of trouble there. Two beat bobbies arrived and then, within minutes, the entire emergency services were there.’

  ‘How did it play out with Ian?’

  ‘He’s okay. He hadn’t got over his brother’s death, he wanted to scare us, it was frustration. He was waiting for his moment. He was so angry with you when he sent you the letters. When I popped up on social media, he followed us for a bit, to get a sense of what we’re like. He was frustrated that we were walking around and his brother was dead. I’ve been to see him since. They’re holding him locally. He let me visit him before I left the country.’

  ‘How did that go? Did you hurt him with that crossbow bolt?’

  ‘No, I was waving it at him and then he put the crossbow down on the floor. “We’d better help that friend of yours,” he said. “He’s going to die if he doesn’t get some help.” He dialled the ambulance, but they were on their way already.’

  ‘I’m pleased you made your peace with him. That was my impression; he’s not a violent man, he needed to get it out of his system. And he saved us from Lee Taylor. I really thought we were goners there. Can you call in any more favours to help his case?’

  ‘I’m not sleeping with any
one, if that’s what you mean. I know it looks like I’ve been doing sod all out here, but I have actually been doing some useful work. Yes, I’ve done what I can for Ian. I think he’ll be okay, we’ve both vouched for him, portrayed him as a hero. The crossbow was the only weapon that he had, he had no choice but to finish off Lee like that. And he saved your life, twice. He saved me too. I think he’ll be fine.’

  It was lovely there, chatting to Alex in that beautiful sunshine. It was good to put things behind us, to reassure myself that things had played out as I thought they had. We chatted about Becky and Vicky and thanked our lucky stars that JD had turned out to be harmless.

  Alex shuffled in her seat, and I sensed the mood change. I didn’t want to ruin the moment, I was enjoying myself again. I felt comfortable and relaxed for the first time in months.

  ‘There’s something else I need to tell you, Pete. I hope you don’t mind.’

  There it was. The gear change. The warning that something bad was on its way. Maybe I was judging too fast, I needed to hear her out.

  ‘What is it, Alex? Please tell me it’s good news?’

  ‘I don’t know, but I think that it’s going to be helpful news, if nothing else.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘You know how we spoke about you getting your life sorted out now: the house, your job and all that? I’ve made some progress. I’ve been doing some digging on your behalf. I wanted to do something for you, to apologise for messing up your leg like that.’

  ‘Okay, so what is it? Surely you haven’t tracked down the Bailey family fortune? You’re not here to tell me that I’m rich, are you?’

  ‘Not quite.’ She laughed, but I could see that she was anxious to share her news.

  ‘What is it then? Come on, this is killing me. What have you found?’

  ‘It’s who I’ve found, Pete. And where I’ve found her. I’ve located Meg. At last. It’s taken me ages, but I finally managed to track her down. It was a devil of a job, but you can sort your life out at last. You can put things back together again.’