DCI Isaac Cook Box Set 1

by Phillip Strang

  The thought of her lying dead in her flat did not concern him. He’d seen enough death in his lifetime, and a woman in her forties, even one such as Sue Christie, was not going to faze him. He had seen Barrow with Woolston’s widow, and whereas he did not like the man, he had to admit that he had good taste in women.

  His brother would not have been interested, even if he broached the subject, which he had no intention of doing. With Cameron, it was always business, and especially the business of foreign arms trading, illegally if possible.

  ‘Arbuthnot could have brought this off, kept us out of it,’ Cameron Smythe said.

  ‘No point in speculating. Woolston killed him,’ Claude said.

  ‘Woolston’s a nuisance. What are you doing to bring this man in?’

  ‘We’ve some people undercover looking for him.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Leave that to me. You just keep the contacts open.’

  ‘There’s a facility where he can go when you find him.’

  ‘In England?’

  ‘As you’ve just said, leave it to me. We’ll have him out of the country within hours.’

  ‘One-way trip?’

  ‘He’ll not be coming back. They’ll extract whatever they want, force him to complete the project, and then…’

  ‘When he’s outlived his usefulness, they’ll rid themselves of him.’

  ‘Bullet to the head, that sort of thing.’

  ‘Nasty.’

  ‘Does it concern you?’

  ‘Not at all.’

  ‘Then how will you flush out Woolston?’

  ‘There’s only one way.’

  ‘You’ve got the people?’

  ‘Once we agree.’

  ‘Are we there yet?’

  ‘The files he gave us were fake. It was just a ruse to flush out Sue Christie.’

  ‘It worked.’

  ‘He’s working to a plan. If he knows about us, then we’ll be in his line of fire.’

  ‘For a self-proclaimed pacifist, he certainly has no issue with murder.’

  ‘He’s the same as all of them. If it’s a noble cause, then anything is justified.’

  ‘Is it a noble cause?’

  ‘This project of low-cost energy? I suppose it is, but the alternative project is of more interest to us.’

  ***

  Isaac brought the team together in Challis Street. Sue Christie’s death had brought renewed focus on the Homicide department to find Malcolm Woolston.

  ‘Woolston didn’t kill her without reason,’ Larry said.

  ‘Woolston’s told me that already. If she had sold out, as he claimed, then that means Ed Barrow has too.’

  ‘That’s never been a secret that Woolston intends to kill Barrow as well.’

  ‘Is he the last on the list?’ Wendy asked.

  ‘We’ll not know unless the man contacts us.’

  Isaac’s phone rang. ‘There are people after me,’ Woolston said.

  ‘We are,’ Isaac replied.

  ‘It is important that these people do not catch me.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘They will force me to complete a weapon of immense destructive capability.’

  ‘You could refuse.’

  ‘That will not be possible.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘They will threaten my family.’

  ‘Why didn’t you stay dead?’ Isaac asked. ‘Leave well alone?’

  ‘I knew Bob Robertson’s surfing the net would cause trouble. I had to pre-empt them.’

  ‘What do you want us to do?’

  ‘I want you to know in case anything happens to my family or to me.’

  ‘We can’t protect your family any more than we are now, and besides, if you surrender yourself to us at Challis Street, you’ll be protected.’

  ‘There is no protection there for me. I just wanted you to know.’

  ‘Where will they take you?’

  ‘You will never find me, they’ll make sure of that.’

  ‘We would continue to look. You are still a self-confessed murderer.’

  ‘They will stop it, apply the Official Secrets Act.’

  ‘We’ve been there before,’ Isaac said.

  ‘Then you know what I’m talking about.’

  ‘Whether I do or not is immaterial. You have committed crimes, I’m a police officer. I have my duty to do.’

  ‘They will not allow you.’

  Yet again, Isaac had to admit, a bizarre phone call.

  ***

  Gwen Barrow did not often travel to the centre of London. It was her first time there for some years, and the meeting in a hotel room close to Leicester Square was important.

  As she entered through the swing doors of the hotel, a wave of nostalgia swept over her. It was where she and Malcolm had honeymooned. Even the room was the same.

  She wasn’t sure what to expect, not sure if she should have agreed, but Sally said it had been arranged, and it was important. Besides, there were questions unanswered. It had been eleven years since she had seen the man, not all of them bad, but now with Ed almost certainly involved in something nefarious, and Malcolm killing people, her relationship with her current husband was tenuous.

  Ever since Malcolm had returned, she had not slept well, not wanting to see him, wanting to see him, and there he was standing in front of her as he opened the door. Gwen was not sure if she wanted to chastise him or hug him.

  ‘A long time,’ he said.

  ‘I wasn’t sure.’

  ‘Hear me out.’ Malcolm put his arms around his former wife and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She did not react.

  ‘Why here?’

  ‘I couldn’t think of anywhere else that had pleasant memories.’

  ‘You’ve not changed,’

  ‘I’m older, less hair, but I suppose I’m still the same.’

  ‘Sally said I had to come. I was in two minds.’

  ‘She was right. It may be the only chance that we get to spend time together.’

  ‘If you hadn’t killed anyone.’

  ‘Not even then. They’ll not leave me alone.’

  ‘They?’

  ‘The government, the military, Ed.’

  ‘He’s been a good man to us,’ Gwen said.

  ‘He’s involved.’

  ‘But why Sue?’

  ‘She had her fingers in too many pies.’

  Gwen sat down on the bed. The man looked the same to her, a little older maybe, and where there should have been hair, there was none. The voice remained the same, the mannerisms. She was in their honeymoon suite, yet she felt she was with a stranger.

  Ed had been there for them for the last eleven years, in truth a better father to Sally than the man standing in front of her, yet he had not been the father. And now, Malcolm Woolston was back in their lives. She had not known that Sally had a phone number for her father and that she had phoned him up after her mother’s request.

  Gwen was not sure what to expect, what she wanted from the meeting. Malcolm came forward, attempted to put his arms around her. She pulled back. ‘It’s been so long. I don’t know if I can,’ she said.

  Malcolm, her resurrected husband, moved to the other side of the room and sat in a chair. ‘I had to disappear.’

  ‘I was wrong to come,’ Gwen said.

  ‘Then why?’

  ‘I had to know.’

  ‘That I’m alive?’

  ‘If you are capable of murdering people. If I’m safe. If Sally and Susie are safe.’

  ‘You have always been safe, but then you went and married Ed.’

  ‘But you must have known.’

  ‘Yes, but I was willing to concede that it was the best thing at the time.’

  ‘And now?’

  ‘On the street, it was so much easier, but then since I’ve returned, the situation is not clear. I’d always suspected Sue, and even Ed did not know of her duplicity.’

  ‘But why is this so important? Thi
s talk of weapons makes no sense. The government is always trading with rogue nations, selling them arms, currying favours, especially if they have oil. What is so different with what you developed?’

  ‘I needed to make a stand. To show them that someone still has ethics.’

  ‘And leave us on our own? What ethics are those?’

  ‘You should not have come.’

  ‘I had to see you one more time.’

  ‘Before what?’

  ‘Before they take you. They will, you know that.’

  ‘I cannot allow them to do that.’

  ‘I’m asking you not to kill Ed.’

  ‘Why? Do you love him? Can you forgive him for what he did to me?’

  ‘He’s important to us, and yes, I love him. Maybe it’s not the same as with you, but he’s been there for us, you haven’t.’

  ‘He was having an affair with Sue Christie.’

  ‘I’d always suspected it. It upsets me to think about it, but I can forgive him for that; I cannot forgive you for killing Sue.’

  ‘She would have sold out Ed or anyone who got in her way. I tested her. She was involved with Claude Smythe.’

  ‘General Smythe?’

  ‘And with his brother. The two are traitors. Their involvement is suspect, and not even Ed knows about them.’

  Gwen realised that the man who had been her husband was delusional, seeing conspiracies when there were none, killing people for no reason, upsetting his family’s lives. She pulled a gun from her handbag.

  ‘What the hell?’

  ‘I can’t allow this to continue,’ she said. ‘If someone is after you or not, it does not matter. Whatever happens, they will not use us as a lever if you’re dead.’

  ‘You’d shoot me? What about Sally? What about our granddaughter?’

  ‘You should have thought of that before. You should have remained dead. Our lives were fine before you came back.’

  ‘I need to finish this,’ Woolston said.

  ‘It stops here.’ Gwen pointed the gun and pulled the trigger.

  Woolston was hit in the chest. Gwen ran over to him, tears streaming down her face. There was the sound of people running in the corridor after the noise of the gunshot.

  ‘Gwen, leave,’ Woolston said.

  ‘I’m sorry. I had to.’

  The door opened, two men and a woman stood there. ‘What the…’ the hotel manager said. ‘Phone for an ambulance and the police.’

  ‘Let her go,’ Woolston said faintly.

  ‘I can't do that. She’s attempted to kill you.’

  ‘She’s my wife. I’ll not press charges.’

  ‘Charges? I don’t think that applies, do you? A clear case of attempted murder from what I can see.’

  Gwen sat close to her husband, cradling his head in her lap. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘You’re right. The madness has to stop. I had wanted to stop it falling into the wrong hands, but now, maybe, it’s not so important.’

  ***

  Isaac Cook had despaired about how to deal with Malcolm Woolston and the murders he had committed, and now the man was at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in West Smithfield in intensive care. And coupled with that, his wife, or at least his ex-wife, was under arrest, having been charged with his attempted murder.

  Isaac and Larry made the trip to the hospital after receiving a phone call from Sergeant Hastings, the first police officer on the scene. At the hospital, they flashed their ID badges and proceeded to the emergency department. A doctor came out and spoke to them after they had been there for fifty minutes. ‘Mr Woolston has been shot in the chest. There’s some damage to one of his kidneys, but he will survive. He’s a lucky man.’

  ‘I doubt if he’ll agree with you,’ Isaac replied. Larry and Sergeant Hastings stood close by.

  ‘When can we question him?’ Larry asked.

  ‘Not today. It’s possible tomorrow, but he’ll still be weak. Is it important?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Sergeant Hastings,’ Isaac asked after the doctor had left, ‘did he say anything?’

  ‘He was unconscious by the time we arrived. The medic stabilised him and then brought him here.’

  ‘He’ll need a uniform to guard him.’

  ‘He’s not going anywhere fast.’

  ‘There’s more to this case than you know. It’s not only him getting out; it’s also about preventing others getting in. His wife?’

  ‘Down at the station.’

  ‘We’ll need to interview her.’

  ‘No problem. She’s been charged with murder.’

  Chapter 24

  Gwen Barrow was looking sorry for herself when she was led into the interview room. Ed Barrow was outside with Sally.

  ‘We’ll talk later,’ Isaac said to the two of them as he walked through with Larry Hill.

  ‘Mrs Barrow, you’ve been charged with attempted murder,’ Isaac said, after dealing with the formalities.

  ‘He had to die,’ Gwen Barrow replied. ‘I had to protect my family.’

  ‘You could have told us where he was. We could have arrested him.’

  ‘I needed to see him, to know whether he’s sane or mad.’

  ‘We need to know how you knew he would be in the hotel.’

  ‘He phoned me.’

  ‘We will be checking your phone records. If we find any inconsistencies, it will not be to your advantage.’

  ‘Will he live?’

  ‘According to the doctor, he will.’

  ‘He had phoned Sally; she phoned me. I wanted to see him after he killed Sue Christie.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘He was my husband. I needed to know.’

  ‘What did he say?’

  ‘Yes, he admitted to killing her, as well as the others. He would have told me more, but I needed to complete my task.’

  ‘It was premeditated?’

  ‘He intended to kill Ed.’

  ‘What were his reasons?’

  ‘He thinks he and Sue had sold him out.’

  ‘Had they?’

  ‘Probably not, but with Ed, you can’t be sure.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘They were having an affair.’

  ‘We suspected that. Do you have proof?’

  ‘A woman doesn’t need proof, she knows.’

  ‘Did your daughter know your plans?’

  ‘No.’

  Isaac realised that the interview was not going well for Gwen Barrow. The woman was guilty, Malcolm Woolston was in the hospital, and the case was effectively closed. Although Woolston’s motives may have been idealistic, he had still committed murder.

  ‘Was this the first contact you had with your ex-husband?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And Sally?’

  ‘You’ll have to ask her.’

  ‘We’d like to hear from you first.’

  ‘Sally had met him in the park.’

  Isaac realised that the two women were guilty of not informing the police about Woolston, but it was probably not enforceable, and under the circumstances a conviction was unlikely.

  ‘Please tell Malcolm that I’m sorry,’ Gwen Barrow said.

  ***

  DCS Goddard phoned not long after Isaac and Larry left the interview room. ‘Case is wrapped up, a definite conviction,’ he said.

  ‘I suppose you’re right,’ Isaac said. ‘The man’s not going anywhere, and his wife has admitted to attempted murder, but why?’

  ‘Isaac, you do this every time. Let sleeping dogs lie. If there’s something else it’s not our business. Just make sure the case for the prosecution is watertight.’

  ‘There’s more.’

  ‘You and your department have been mandated to solve homicides. And that’s what you’ve done. If Woolston is mad or whether they were justifiable killings, according to him, you’ve done your job. Just wrap this up and leave well alone.’

  ***

  Sally had been distraught on learning that one of her pa
rents, a self-confessed murderer, was in intensive care in a hospital and the other, her mother, had been charged with attempted murder. In spite of the circumstances of her father’s apparent suicide many years previously, she had led an untroubled life, apart from the usual rebelliousness during her teenage years. And now she had the conflict of divided loyalties for two people that she loved, and the need to recognise the fact that both were under arrest, and neither were likely to be free to walk the streets for a very long time, if ever.

  ‘Why, mother?’ Sally asked her in a secure room at Challis Street.

  ‘He intended to kill Ed. I had to stop him.’

  ‘But shooting my father?’

  The two women were sitting on the small, uncomfortable bed. Neither woman was able to deal with the other. Gwen wanted her daughter to leave. If Malcolm had died, it would have been better for all concerned, but it appeared that he would live, which only complicated the situation.

  ‘He killed Sue Christie, did you know that?’

  ‘They told me upstairs.’

  ‘I just wanted it to stop. Your father was never mad, but what he did, disappearing like that, then returning to blight our lives.’

  ‘Did he explain why?’

  ‘He blames Ed, and he said Sue was worse. Whatever it is, it had to stop. Can’t you see that?’

  ‘Not at all. I’ve two parents, both murderers. How do you think this will affect Susie as she grows up, knowing that her grandparents are criminals?’

  The two women held hands, not sure what else to say. After ten minutes, Sally left, leaving her mother lying on the bed, her face pressed into the pillow.

  ‘What did she say?’ Ed asked Sally on her return upstairs. He had grabbed a coffee out of an automatic vending machine. He realised the seriousness of the situation with regards to Gwen, a woman he cared about, and Malcolm, who had been a friend but was now a social leper. The man had killed Sue Christie, and whereas he had not been upset over the deaths of Arbuthnot and Hutton, he was of the woman that he had once loved, once proposed marriage to, made love to on a weekly basis.

  Sure, he had known that she had been a smart woman, always playing one man off against another, using her beguiling nature to seduce and discard as she wanted, but she had been loyal to him, even when Malcolm had first been waylaid by Arbuthnot.