Truth or Dare: Pre-order the nail-biting new Helen Grace thriller now

by M. J. Arlidge

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘For God’s sake, Helen, we’re way past the time for lies and subterfuge. I know that you and Hudson were lovers.’

  Peters nearly shouted his accusation, several heads jerking up in the incident room beyond. Helen stayed stock-still, in mute shock, stunned that Hudson had confessed this to Peters.

  ‘It’s true that we were together briefly …’ she stuttered.

  ‘Something else you saw fit to conceal from me.’

  ‘Which was wrong of me. In fact, the whole thing was a stupid, stupid mistak—’

  ‘A mistake which has poisoned relations within the team,’ Peters interrupted. ‘Fatally undermining its effectiveness at a critical moment in the policing of this city.’

  ‘No, sir, that’s not true—’

  ‘And all because you were angry that he had called time on the relationship, because you were embittered and upset—’

  ‘No, that’s not how it was at all.’

  ‘And determined to force DS Hudson out.’

  And now Helen saw it. The simple cunning of Hudson’s plan. Getting in first with Peters, playing the victim, painting her as the vengeful woman scorned. Now she saw the full extent of the forces ranged against her, and how weak her position was.

  ‘Look, sir, I don’t know what DS Hudson has told you, but it was me who ended the relationship, because of what I’d learned about Joseph Hudson’s character. And I was happy to do so, believe me—’

  ‘So you’ve never threatened him?’

  ‘Absolutely not.’

  ‘Never told him he should move on?’

  Helen paused, once more thrown on the defensive. ‘On a couple of occasions, I suggested that it might be better if he transferred to another station, perhaps back to Cheshire …’

  ‘So he is telling the truth.’

  ‘No, I – I never threatened him. It was a suggestion, nothing more.’

  It sounded feeble and Peters was quick to pounce on it. ‘I’m afraid I don’t believe you, DI Grace. Where DS Hudson has been frank and contrite, you have been evasive, deceitful and uncooperative. In order to further your own ends, you have attempted to destroy a decent man’s career, in the process leading the team on a wild-goose chase, dragging the reputation of this station through the mire.’

  He tossed his copy of the Southampton Evening News onto the desk. Helen had seen the headlines the previous night, but had ignored them. Now it was hard not to stare at the vicious character assassination, Emilia Garanita’s damning headline ‘Boozing whilst losing’ goading her from the desk.

  ‘Which is why I have no choice. I’m officially suspending you pending an—’

  ‘No, sir, you can’t, please—’

  ‘I’ve made up my mind,’ he concluded savagely. ‘DS Hudson’s in, you’re out.’

  Chapter 104

  ‘You’re kidding me?’

  Emilia Garanita laughed as she said it, staggered by what Hudson had just confided.

  ‘Why? Do you find it odd that someone would be attracted to me?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ Emilia recovered quickly. ‘I just didn’t know Helen Grace was capable of forming meaningful connections with another human being.’

  ‘Well, she is. And it was meaningful, for a time.’

  ‘And how long did this go on for?’

  Emilia scribbled a brief note in her pad, but never took her eyes off Hudson. They were hidden away in her car, out of sight, out of mind. She was certain he was supposed to be elsewhere, but he seemed increasingly careless of his professional duties, intent only on bringing his superior down.

  ‘Eight, nine months or so—’

  ‘Right,’ Emilia murmured, genuinely surprised. ‘And you managed to keep it a secret from your colleagues all that time?’

  ‘From colleagues, friends, even you,’ he replied with a hint of triumph. ‘Relationships between serving officers aren’t completely forbidden, but it is severely frowned upon, especially if you’re at the same station. It’s even worse if you’re in the same team, working together every single day.’

  ‘Of course, I can see how that would get – complicated. So, why did it end, if you don’t mind me asking?’

  Her politeness was all pretence. Having stumbled upon this gossip, she fully intended to ring every last drop of juice from it.

  ‘I called time on it,’ Hudson replied quietly. ‘I thought I had the measure of her, but I was wrong. She turned out to be controlling, paranoid, even violent …’

  ‘Go on,’ Emilia cooed, scribbling furiously.

  ‘Anyway, she was enraged when we broke up, made it clear to me that I had no future at the station. She started giving me grunt work, duties barely fit for a DC. She also openly denigrated me in front of fellow officers whilst spreading rumours about me behind my back, trying to turn the team against me.’

  Emilia doubted this was true, but wrote it down nevertheless. First-hand testimony like this was worth its weight in gold, however dubious its veracity.

  ‘What did you do?’

  ‘Well, I challenged her on it, said I would take it up with HR, and that’s when she threatened me.’

  ‘Threatened you how?’

  ‘She promised to ruin me. She told me that not only would she drive me out of Southampton Central, but she would also ensure that I never worked for the police again.’

  ‘But why? Why all this hostility towards you?’

  ‘Because I wouldn’t go quietly. Because I was prepared to stand up for what’s right. Remember, I’d done nothing wrong. We were in a relationship, then we weren’t. Fair enough, shit happens. But to victimize me like that, to try and force me out, destroy me like that, simply because I’d tired of her attentions? Think what would happen if this was the other way around, a male boss victimizing a female lover. He wouldn’t last ten minutes.’

  ‘And nor should DI Grace,’ Emilia responded knowingly. ‘We live in an equal opportunities world these days.’

  ‘Putting aside the morality of it,’ Hudson continued, ‘she’s guilty of misuse of office, abuse of her position, constructive dismissal, harassment. They’ll throw the bloody book at her. I’ve already complained to Peters, things are in train—’

  ‘Which way do you think he’ll jump? Will he back her?’

  ‘I doubt it. He’s a straight man, a time server. He’s always disliked Helen’s disregard for established protocols and rules. You ask me, he’ll be happy to get rid of her.’

  Emilia stopped writing, stunned by what she was hearing. She had come today hoping for some more juicy titbits, but had got more than she could possibly have bargained for. Illicit relationships, abuse of power, a celebrated officer who’d gone rogue … It had the makings of a story that would run and run, one which might very well bring the curtain down on Helen Grace once and for all.

  Chapter 105

  ‘Please, sir. I’m asking you to give me more time. A day, two days at the most, to bring this thing to a close.’

  Helen had never begged a superior for anything, but she had no choice. Her career, her future, was hanging by a thread.

  ‘Can’t be done. I’ve let this situation drift for too long.’

  His tone brooked no argument, but Helen had to try.

  ‘Look, sir, none of what you’ve been told is true. DS Hudson has twisted the facts to suit his own ends. It was me who ended the relationship, me who was threatened as a result. I went to Grace Simmons about it, she spoke to DS Hudson, wrote up a report for HR backing me—’

  ‘So where is this report? I haven’t seen it.’

  ‘Joseph Hudson got hold of it, destroyed it before it could be submitted.’

  It sounded far-fetched, even ludicrous, prompting Peters to shake his head in weary disbelief.

  ‘Even if that were true, why did you not come to me about it, then?’

  ‘Because I thought I could handle it myself. But obviously I misjudged DS Hudson’s determination, his desperation to bring me down.
’

  ‘And I’m to take your word for that?’

  ‘Of course not, sir, but I am the senior officer here, one who’s achieved a great deal since I took over the team—’

  ‘Who has also repeatedly broken the rules, ignored protocols, frequently placing both yourself and your fellow officers in danger.’

  ‘Yes, my methods are a little unorthodox—’

  ‘Who’s barely escaped suspension on a number of occasions previously and who has a penchant for killing suspects, rather than bringing them in.’

  ‘That’s not fair,’ Helen returned, enraged at the accusation.

  ‘You’re a renegade, Helen. A loose cannon. Which is why we end up with headlines like this …’ He cast an angry glance at the newspaper on the desk between them.

  ‘But you must see what’s going on?’ Helen countered forcefully. ‘What this is.’

  ‘It’s a fucking PR disaster,’ Peters replied curtly. ‘That’s what it is.’

  ‘For the last few months, DS Hudson’s been conducting a campaign against me. He’s the reason these stories keep appearing, why Emilia Garanita is always in the right place to snap an unflattering photo and stick the knife in—’

  ‘That’s a very serious allegation, DI Grace,’ Peters warned.

  ‘Sir, you asked me before if I had doubts about anyone in the team, if I felt one of my officers might have been feeding information to her. I’ll admit I wasn’t entirely truthful in my response. I did have doubts and now I know for certain – Joseph Hudson is the leak.’

  Peters didn’t look minded to accept this accusation. He had his view of events and didn’t want it muddied by her counter claims.

  ‘He’s been manipulating this situation from the off—’ she cast an arm towards the murder board – ‘waiting for the right moment to strike, using all this bloodshed and tragedy for his own selfish ends. All because he can’t bear being bested by a woman, because he can’t bear being rejected.’

  ‘As I said previously, DS Hudson tells a very different story.’

  ‘I bet he does.’

  ‘He says you confronted him in the bike park two nights ago, explicitly threatening to run him out of Southampton Central …’

  ‘No, that’s not true. Not one single word of it.’ The words erupted from Helen, loud and decisive, silencing Peters. ‘He threatened me. That’s the sort of man he is. The kind of man who’d abandon his wife and child, who’d sacrifice colleagues and friends on the altar of his own ambition. I knew that well enough by the time I confronted him in the bike park, which is why I specifically mentioned the drinking during our argument that night.’

  ‘You’ve lost me,’ Peters replied tersely, looking confused and angry.

  ‘I thought Hudson was leaking information to Garanita, so I decided to test that theory. I didn’t walk into that ambush totally unprepared.’

  ‘You’re saying you deliberately lied about the drinking?’

  ‘Of course. I haven’t touched a drop in over thirty years, you must know that.’

  ‘You mentioned it purely to see if that “information” would be leaked to Garanita?’

  ‘Exactly. And this is the result.’ She gestured to the paper, but Peters didn’t take his eyes off her.

  ‘Even so,’ he continued, for the first time looking a little uncertain, ‘I only have your word for any of this, leaving us no further on.’

  ‘Not exactly,’ Helen countered. ‘Joseph Hudson is lying, he is the leak. And I can prove it.’

  ‘How?’ Peters demanded, incredulous.

  In response, Helen placed her phone on the desk. ‘Because I recorded the whole conversation by the bike park, in the hope of exposing Joseph Hudson. That was my plan all along.’

  Peters looked incredulous, but before he could respond, Helen continued: ‘Would you like to hear it?’

  Chapter 106

  Helen marched away from her office, leaving a stunned Peters in her wake. Her superior had listened to the recording twice, was still digesting its contents, but Helen didn’t have any more time to waste. She had a killer to catch.

  She made good progress across the room, moving rapidly to the murder board. She needed a moment to gather herself, to refocus her thoughts on the investigations in hand, to provide the leadership the team so desperately needed. But she knew it would be far from easy. In truth, she was still reeling from the events of the last few hours.

  She had been the victim of the grossest possible betrayal, an attempted coup by her own deputy. The effects of this would be profound and damaging, not least on her own officers, several of whom might have been seduced into supporting his bid for power. She had her suspicions as to who they were and she would have to deal with them later; her first priority was to neutralize Joseph Hudson. Whether Alan Peters would help her was unclear, he was still processing the morning’s revelations, but he had at least granted her a stay of execution. Meaning she was still at liberty to deal with Joseph Hudson herself if she had to.

  Resolved, determined, she completed the last few steps to the murder board, wrenching her mind back to the case in hand, to her conversation with Blythe, to the telling questions that remained unanswered. But even as she did so, she spotted DC Bentham approaching, a look of excitement on his face.

  ‘Good news, ma’am. We’ve got her. We’ve got a trace on Belinda Raeburn.’

  Chapter 107

  Helen roared through the city streets, weaving in and out of the congested traffic.

  The team had done their homework, unearthing a local friend whom Raeburn was staying with, through him discovering that Raeburn was currently at her weekly class at the Pure Box gym on Ogle Road. According to the receptionist there, Raeburn had signed in for her eleven o’clock class as usual, but would be leaving shortly, as the class had just finished.

  Firing a look at her bike’s display, Helen saw it was two minutes past the hour. All thoughts of Hudson, Peters and the rest now well behind her, she upped her speed, swinging wide past a van, before executing a wild U-turn, doubling back so that she was now heading the right way along the Western Esplanade. It was not a manoeuvre she would normally attempt, but the one-way systems in the centre of Southampton were designed to hamper progress and she could ill afford delay – if they lost sight of Raeburn now, they might spend the rest of the day hunting for her. Her phone had been off for over twenty-four hours now, presumably in an attempt to avoid her troubles, making it hard to keep track of her. So it was imperative that they bring her in. Gentle pressure, strategically applied, could crack this investigation wide open, Helen felt sure of that. Raeburn had nothing left to lose, whilst Helen held all the cards, all the leverage, not least the prospect of charges relating to the murder of Martin Hill and her inappropriate relationship with Eve Sutcliffe.

  Swinging left onto Portland Terrace, Helen raced down the wide avenue. Ogle Road was just up ahead and Helen signalled to turn, praying privately that Raeburn was still in the vicinity. Even as she did so, however, she saw the teacher emerge from the mouth of the street, slinging her gym bag over her shoulder, before heading down Portland Terrace.

  There was no question that it was Raeburn – the svelte figure, the long blonde hair, the smooth, swinging gait – so Helen increased her speed. Would Raeburn crack straightaway or would this be a hard-fought encounter? Either way, Helen just wanted her back in the interview suite, under lock and key, confronting the many questions that lay in wait for her.

  Helen was bearing down on her fast, the teacher unaware of the danger, but now Raeburn surprised her, checking up and down the road, before stepping off the pavement. Helen had assumed she’d head further into town, but in fact she now seemed to be heading for the NCP car park. Was she parked there, planning to head off elsewhere? Or was she planning to cut through it to Westquay? If so, Helen would have to dump her bike and pursue her on foot, which would complicate matters. Concerned, Helen started scanning around for somewhere she could park, but as she did so, she noticed
something else.

  The road had been clear when Raeburn had checked for traffic, but as she stepped down onto the warm tarmac, a car had emerged from a side street. A small red car. For one crazy minute, Helen thought it might be Emilia Garanita, but now she clocked that it was a Fiat, not a Corsa. This should have put her mind at ease, but in fact the opposite was true. For the car had lurched out of the side street at some speed and was now roaring towards Raeburn. It seemed a crazy manoeuvre and at any minute Helen expected the driver to spot Raeburn and slow down. But the driver now hit the accelerator, increasing her speed as she approached Raeburn. The latter, who was wearing headphones, seemed lost in her own world, oblivious to the approaching danger. Helen, by contrast, could see it all too quickly – a sudden vision of what was happening forcing itself into her consciousness. How could she have been so stupid? So slow?

  Ripping back the throttle, Helen urged the bike forward. Her speed ratcheted up – fifty miles per hour, sixty, sixty-five – and, even as she raced towards Raeburn, she yanked up her visor.

  ‘Belinda!’ Her scream was hoarse and ineffective, drowned out by the roar of her engine. ‘Belinda! Get out the way!’

  But it was too little, too late. Raeburn did now look up, but only to see the car bearing down on her. Helen could only watch in horror as the Fiat barrelled into the terrified teacher, sending her fragile body cartwheeling into the air.

  Chapter 108

  The car roared on, as a horrified Helen watched Raeburn’s broken form crash down to earth, bouncing off the tarmac, before lying still. Immediately a piercing scream rang out, a passing shopper horrified by what she’d just witnessed, but Helen’s attention was drawn not to this sudden interruption, but to the red Fiat that was now speeding towards her.

  She had been so shocked by what she’d just seen that she hadn’t thought of her own safety, her bike grinding to a halt as the attack on Raeburn took place. Tensing, Helen now gunned the throttle, preparing to speed away from the approaching car, but even as she did so, the Fiat screeched to a halt. The car was not ten feet from her now, the blinking driver shocked to see the lone rider blocking her path. Helen, however, was not surprised. There was a grim logic to the murder that she could have foreseen – and prevented – had she been quicker on the uptake. Which is why she glared at Lilah Hill through the cracked windscreen with contempt, rather than shock. The team had been chasing two suspects all morning, little thinking the pair would cleave together in such brutal fashion.