Death on High (The Lakeland Murders)

by Salkeld, J J

  ‘And you think I have allowed personal feelings to cloud my judgement?’

  ‘I do.’

  ‘But your written submission to the Deputy doesn’t say that.’

  ‘It doesn’t. I believe that loyalty to colleagues is important, and that it works both ways; both up and down the chain of command.’

  ‘Is that a rebuke Andy?’

  Hall took his time. ‘It’s just an explanation of why I didn’t mention my own opinion with respect to your personal motives.’

  Robinson looked uncomfortable, if only for a moment. That was unusual. ‘My decision stands. Now, let’s talk about Lillian Hill. Do you really expect to be able to charge her?’

  ‘That depends on what she says. She may confess, but I don’t think that’s likely. I think she’ll probably simply say it was Vicky. They’d both potentially end up with a perverting the course of justice charge of course, but the CPS doesn’t think we’d have a chance with manslaughter unless one of them confessed.’

  ‘I see. Well done to you I suppose. You seem to have conjured something out of absolutely nothing here. But tell me this. What made you so sure that it was Lillian who pushed Tony over? Isn’t it just as likely that it was actually Vicky?’

  Hall was impressed. Occasionally Robinson said something which proved that he was more than an empty uniform. ‘Absolutely sir, and it still is. On the balance of probabilities I actually think that it’s more likely to have been Vicky, but her lawyer is going to tell her to stick to her current version of what happened from now on, in order to limit the damage from here.’

  ‘So why did you suggest to her that it was Lillian?’

  ‘Look sir, I never expected her to say anything. I just did it because the CPS authorised it, and it would have worried away at me for the rest of my career if I hadn’t tried. All I was looking for was an admission that Tony’s death wasn’t entirely an accident, and that just seemed more likely to happen if I told Vicky that I thought it was Lillian. Nothing more to it than that I’m afraid. I just got lucky, and it seems that the rest of my guesswork turned out to be more or less right.’

  ‘But why did Vicky Harrison tell you? I just can’t work it out.’

  Hall smiled. He started to take off his coat, and put his laptop bag down next to the desk.

  ‘I’ve been thinking about that too sir. A couple of ideas. First, these aren’t your usual scumbags who wouldn’t admit to their own names if they didn’t have to, so she probably didn’t realise what the consequences might be. And remember that she was under the impression that what she was saying was completely uncorroborated.’

  ‘Did you encourage that view?’

  ‘No, as the tape confirms, but I didn’t discourage it either. There’s nothing that her lawyers will be able to use against me when I’m in the box, and this isn’t a parking offence we’re talking about here. This is the deliberate taking of another life. It was worth going the extra mile.’

  ‘Do you think that she had a personal motivation to confide in you?’

  ‘I didn’t encourage it.’

  ‘You turned up with wine. Did you check that with the CPS? I bet you didn’t.’

  Robinson sat back in Hall’s chair. He looked pleased with himself.

  ‘Actually, I did sir. It occurred to me that it might be problematic, but since she asked me to take a bottle with me it was fine, according to the CPS.’

  Robinson got up quickly, picked his hat up off the desk, put it on, and walked out without another word.

  Hall stood in the observation room and watched Ray Dixon at work. He took Vicky through the key passages of the transcript and she confirmed each element in turn. Hall looked at her through the glass. She looked upset he thought, but he didn’t regard himself as a reliable judge any more. Her voice was clear and her answers firm. Andy Hall felt guilty about all sorts of things, including multiple sins of omission, but as he looked at Vicky he didn’t feel even a pang of guilt. It was very possible, likely even, that this woman had pushed her husband over a thousand foot drop, and even if she’d had no specific intention of killing him she must have known that it was be a likely outcome. Tony Harrison didn’t sound like a nice man, or a good one, but he still deserved justice.

  After an hour Ray had reached the end of the transcript, and asked Vicky to confirm that DI Hall had left her house at that point.

  ‘He did.’ Hall didn’t hear any change in her tone, and he was glad of it. ‘Am I free to go now?’

  ‘Not quite Mrs. Harrison. You do understand that even if Ms. Hill confirms what you’ve told me today you will probably still face charges as a result of this?’

  ‘My client is fully aware of the position’ said Jenkins. ‘That’s my job, not yours, Constable Dixon.’

  ‘Just trying to be helpful sir. And you’re absolutely certain that it was Lillian Hill who pushed your husband?’

  ‘Of course I am.’

  ‘How far away from him were you when it happened?’

  Vicky Harrison hesitated.

  ‘I’m not certain, perhaps six feet, maybe a bit more. We weren’t walking, we’d stopped and were facing each other.’

  ‘Were you shouting?’

  ‘No, not really. It wasn’t windy, and we didn’t want anyone else to be able hear. The visibility was so bad that other walkers could have been passing just a few yards away and we wouldn’t have been able to see them.’

  ‘But your voices were raised?’

  ‘A bit, yes. Mine especially. My husband always stayed very calm, on the outside anyway.’

  ‘And what did he say? As nearly as you can remember it.’

  ‘He told me about the affair. I asked him how long it had been going on for, he said a few weeks, but that he was going to end it with Lillian. He said that he’d had a good time with her, but that he’d be mad to leave me for her.’

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘Yes, he said that the only time that she did what he wanted was in bed, and he doubted that would last if he moved in with her.’

  ‘And that’s the last thing he said before Lillian turned up?’

  ‘Yes, he was just going to say more, but he stopped when he saw her.’

  ‘And where did Lillian Hill come from?’

  ‘From behind me I think. I’m not absolutely sure.’

  ‘And what happened then?’

  ‘She was crying, shouting something too I think, and she just sort of ran into him. She didn’t push him at all with her arms I don’t think. They both almost went over, but she just stopped herself in time. He sort of reached out, trying to get his balance before he fell, but even if she’d tried to catch his arm it would have been no good. They would just have gone over together, that’s all.’

  Dixon thought about what Vicky had said for a moment. ‘And then what?’

  ‘She went to the edge, lay down and started calling out, and I just stood there. I was too shocked to do anything for a few seconds. Then we heard people running towards us, and shouting out. After that it’s all a bit of a blur until I was back down at the ambulance.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell us what had happened before?’

  ‘What good would it do anyone? Tony deserved it, and Lillian shouldn’t go to jail.’

  ‘You think a man who has an affair deserves to die?’

  ‘Of course not. The morgues would be overflowing. I was glad Tony was having an affair, and I would have been happy if he’d left me.’ Jenkins tried to intervene, but Vicky held up her hand. ‘Yes, I wanted rid of him, but I’d never have killed him. In our relationship he had all the power, and he made bloody sure that I knew it. Lillian Hill hadn’t been worn down by the bastard for twenty years, and that’s why she had the strength to do what she did. OK?’

  Ray Dixon nodded, and moved on. ‘And afterwards, did you talk to Lillian about what had happened?’

  ‘I haven’t seen her since the day it happened, except for just a brief moment at the funeral. I can’t even remember what we sa
id to each other.’

  ‘And you haven’t texted, emailed her, anything like that?’

  ‘My client has told you already, Detective Constable, that she has had no contact with Ms. Hill since the death of her husband.’

  ‘That’s right, I haven’t.’

  ‘Isn’t that a bid odd? Wouldn’t you at least have wanted to tell her that you wouldn’t tell us what happened? Or perhaps you agreed that, up there on the fell, after it happened?’

  ‘We never agreed anything. Not at the time, not after.’

  ‘How about before? Did you know that she would be up there that day? Had you arranged it in advance?’

  ‘No, of course not. I didn’t even know it was her when she walked past us. But I’m pretty sure that Tony did.’

  ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘I only realised days after it happened, but his manner changed while we were having our lunch. He’d been relaxed before, by his standards anyway, when were walking up and when we first sat down, but afterwards he seemed more tense, and angry. I’m used to that happening, but there’s usually a trigger, like I’ve cooked something badly, or he’s had a problem at work. That’s the sort of thing he usually took out on me.’

  Dixon tried to look sympathetic, but he didn’t try very hard. He sensed an opportunity.

  ‘Everyone would understand if you snapped. If it was you who pushed Tony over the edge, because of the way he was. Is that how it happened?’

  ‘No, I keep telling you, no. Lillian bumped into him, and he fell. That’s what happened, I swear.’

  DC Dixon wished he’d had a holiday for every time he’d heard that one. He’d be a good deal browner than he already was.

  Ian Mann had woken late by his standards, at just after seven, and listened for the wind whistling through the gutters outside the ill-fitting bedroom window. But it was quiet this morning, and he couldn’t hear rain either. It would be tonight, he was sure of it.

  He decided to go for a run before his shower, and he set off, past the castle and then alongside the Eden, which was running high and dark brown after all the recent rain. But the sun was coming up, the clouds were gradually disappearing, and he was enjoying himself. Until he started to think about Ben Brockbank.

  He’d been round that particular mental loop before, more than once, over the past few weeks, but the rhythm of his running helped him think, so he tried once more. Was there any way of helping Ben Brockbank without committing an offence himself, and why did he even want to do that? Mann knew that being a victim of circumstance was no excuse for criminality, and that Brockbank did have clear, legal alternatives to the path he’d chosen. That wasn’t in doubt. He had chosen to do what he’d done, and no corporate farmer or bonus-fed bankster had forced him to do it. And yet Mann still wondered if he could do anything to help, something to keep Brockbank out of prison perhaps. But, as always, by the time he got back to the house he still couldn’t think of a way. There just wasn’t one, and that was that. Brockbank would have to take what was coming to him, just like everyone else.

  Mann had spotted the car twenty yards before he reached his house, and Brockbank was the last person on his mind as he ran on past it, not looking down at the passenger side window. He stopped outside his front door, reached into his pocket, and heard the car door open. He gave it a breath, then took a pace to one side, swung round, and caught the man in an arm lock. His face was pressed up against the door before Mann realised it was Spedding.

  ‘You really shouldn’t creep up on people Joey’ said Mann, letting him go, and watching Tom Rigg approach. ‘How many times do I have to tell you?’ Rigg looked amused more than angry, but Mann was taking no chances. He was ready to take them both if he had to.

  ‘What are you afraid of then Gary?’ said Spedding, as Mann unlocked the door and let them in. ‘I see you’ve invested in some new locks anyhow.’

  ‘A lot of criminals about these days, marrer’ said Mann. ‘So can I take it we’re on for tonight?’

  ‘Mebbe.’ They were in the kitchen, and Mann was leaning back against the worktop, with Rigg and Spedding in the middle of the room.

  ‘Coffee?’ Mann asked. Neither man replied.

  ‘The reason I wanted a little chat Gary, was because I’ve found something out about you.’

  ‘Oh yeh?’ Mann wasn’t concerned, at least not yet.

  ‘My cousin lives down in Kendal, about your age he is. I got him to ask around, you know. And you know what he found out?’

  ‘Is it to do with the origin of the universe? That would be great, if a Kendalian did that.’

  Spedding didn’t smile. ‘Funny lad you are Gary. Clever too. But no, it’s not that. Something much more relevant to our situation.’

  Mann shrugged. His heart-rate had been falling after his run, and he tried to keep it that way.

  ‘No-one he spoke to remembers a lad called Gary Benson.’

  ‘Oh, that.’

  ‘Yeh, that. Odd that, seeing that you grew up down there.’

  ‘I did, aye.’

  ‘So how come?’

  ‘Simple, me mum re-married, and when I was a kid I used his name. When I were seventeen and joined the Marines I went back to me real dad’s name, and I’ve used it ever since.’

  ‘So what were you called then, when you were a kid?’

  ‘Pratt.’

  This time Spedding did laugh.

  ‘What?’ said Mann. ‘There’s loads of Pratts in Kendal.’

  ‘I’ll bet there are, marrer. Anyway, that explains it so aye, we’re on for tonight. You’re a good lad Gary Benson. Or should that be Gary Pratt?’

  When they’d gone Mann sat on the old sofa in the living room for ten minutes, feeling the sweat running down the inside of his t-shirt. Would they get Spedding’s cousin to ask around about Gary Pratt? Probably, but what could he find out in a day? Mann decided not to worry about that, but as he sat there he started to feel tired, and realised that, for the first time, he was genuinely glad that it was almost over. Keep it all together for another 24 hours and he’d be home and hosed. But he still checked he’d locked up securely before he went upstairs for his shower.

  Lillian Hill spent twenty minutes with her solicitor before the interview.

  ‘So how do you think she’ll play it?’ asked Jane, as she and Hall waited in his office for the call confirming that Lillian was ready to be interviewed.

  ‘I can’t see her confessing, even if she did it’ said Hall. ‘For what it’s worth, and that’s probably not much, I’d say that if she blames Vicky then it’s even money which one did it, but if she says it was an accident, and Vicky was motivated by spite to say what she has, then Vicky’s probably telling the truth. But there are so many possibilities that it’s impossible to predict really.’

  ‘How did the Super take it?’

  Hall didn’t get a chance to answer, because his office phone was ringing.

  ‘We’ll be right down’ he said, and Jane picked up the files.

  Lillian Hill looked calm, and she answered all of Hall’s initial questions briefly and firmly.

  ‘Were you having a relationship with Tony Harrison?’

  ‘I was’ she said without hesitation. Hall wasn’t surprised. It was the smart move, because with enough work they’d be able to prove it anyway.

  ‘So you maintain that you being on Fairfield that day was co-incidence?’

  ‘It was.’

  ‘That you didn’t play any part in the death of Tony Harrison?’

  ‘No, I didn’t.’

  ‘And you didn’t witness what happened? You didn’t see what happened to Tony?’

  ‘That’s correct.’

  ‘You also told us that you were ahead of Tony and Vicky during the early part of the walk, and they passed you while you were eating. Is that correct?’

  Lillian hesitated, but only for a moment. ‘Yes, that’s right.’

  ‘You don’t want to reconsider that answer?’

  ‘No
.’

  ‘That’s a pity. Because we believe that you followed them up the hill.’

  ‘Why would I do that?’

  ‘Because you had agreed with Tony that he was to tell his wife that he was leaving her for you, and he was to do it during that walk. He’d probably been saying that he would do it for days, weeks maybe, so that Sunday was his last chance. And you wanted to be absolutely sure that he’d follow through, as he’d promised. Perhaps you’d said you’d tell people at the church, Vicky perhaps, if he didn’t do it that day. Is that how it was?’

  ‘He was going to leave Vicky. I think he told her that day, and either she pushed him over or he fell as they were arguing.’

  ‘Did you hear them argue?’

  ‘I could hear their voices as I was walking, and I made towards them, but I couldn’t hear exactly what either one of them said.’

  ‘Did you see Vicky push him over?’

  ‘No, I heard him shout out, and then it was quiet. I ran as fast as I could, but when I saw Vicky she was there on her own.’

  ‘That’s not what Vicky says happened.’

  ‘I’m not surprised.’

  ‘Why’s that Lillian? Because it isn’t what happened at all, is that it?’

  ‘No, it’s because Vicky doesn’t want to admit that Tony was leaving her for me, she can’t bear that. It’s why she said all that to you. It’s all lies.’

  ‘And that’s why she pushed him over, because Tony was leaving her for you?’

  ‘I didn’t say that. I don’t know what happened. I told you, I didn’t see. They were arguing, but he might have just fallen.’

  Hall changed tack.

  ‘So you think that Vicky loved her husband, and didn’t want to lose him?’

  ‘I don’t know if she loved him, but she certainly didn’t want me to have him I promise you that.’

  ‘Really? He told you that, did he?’

  ‘Not in so many words, but you’re right, he did delay telling her. He’d been saying he’d do it for weeks. So I think he was scared of her.’