Deadly Game

by D. S. Butler

  He had known they were the same when he’d watched Marlo taunt their grandmother, saying something just to get a rise out of her, not because he was angry or frustrated, just because he could. But Curtis should have realised they weren’t really the same.

  He had never in his whole life met anyone like him. It was isolating, and so he had been too eager and too quick to invite Marlo in on his plan.

  Curtis, had never loved anyone in his life, but he had nothing against his sister. He had no reason to hurt her. The abduction was just a way to get some money from his parents, who had grown miserly recently, but Marlo had turned it into some big circus event. It was Marlo’s own fault he’d been caught.

  If he’d followed Curtis’ instructions, he would be a rich man by now, and Curtis would have added to his own wealth.

  Curtis blinked in irritation as he realised Zelda was saying something to him.

  “Sorry, I was just thinking about Ruby,” Curtis said. “I hope she’s okay.”

  Kelly Johnson smiled warmly at him, and Curtis knew he’d said the right thing.

  “I wonder if we could have a word in private, Curtis,” Zelda asked.

  Kelly Johnson looked a little put out, but Curtis nodded. He couldn’t really refuse as it might look suspicious. As long as he kept calm, Zelda Smith was no danger to him. The police had no real evidence, at least, nothing a good lawyer couldn’t overturn with a click of his fingers.

  “Why don’t we go out onto the balcony?” Curtis suggested. “I could do with some fresh air.”

  The penthouse flat had its own rooftop garden, which was accessed via a set of stairs, but on this level there was a smaller outside area, a balcony, which looked out on the City of London and St Pauls. Curtis stood up and opened the sliding door, allowing Zelda to step outside first. He followed her and then shut the door behind them.

  It was a pleasantly warm evening and the lack of haze meant the view was good. Like most people who visited the apartment, Zelda couldn’t resist walking over to the edge to take a better look at the city view.

  “Impressive, isn’t it?” Curtis said.

  “Beautiful,” Zelda said.

  While she was looking away, Curtis found his eyes drawn to the seating area.

  The cushions had been taken inside due to the rain last night. The chairs were set around a low table, which was hollow inside and supposed to be used to store the cushions. His mother insisted on taking the cushions inside, though, leaving the hollow centre of the table empty.

  It was a great place to hide things.

  He had long suspected his mother and father of snooping around his bedroom, so he had taken to stashing things out here. Right now, he was thinking about the stun gun he’d hidden there. A friend’s father had brought it back from the Middle East.

  His eyes travelled back to Zelda Smith, and he looked at her thin shoulders and narrow back.

  She was tall but slim, and it wouldn’t take much to make her fall over the edge, especially not if she was incapacitated by the stun gun first.

  The idea was tempting. Curtis hadn’t yet had a chance to try out his new toy...

  He looked over his shoulder, remembering that Kelly Johnson was just inside.

  Could he do it?

  Would they believe him if he told them she’d lost her footing and fell? Maybe he could say she dropped something and reached for it. No, they would never believe him, but they wouldn’t be able to prove anything.

  Curtis smiled.

  After the disappointing ending to the abduction, he’d been feeling a little despondent, but this could make up for it.

  He leaned towards the table, ready to quickly lift the lid, when the balcony door slid open.

  Curtis turned in irritation to see Kelly Johnson standing in the doorway with her mobile phone at her ear.

  “Yes, sir, she is here.” Kelly Johnson covered the end of the phone and said to Zelda, “It is DI Tyler.”

  Zelda turned around and winked at Curtis. “I am in trouble now,” she joked.

  Curtis smiled through gritted teeth as Zelda stepped inside the apartment and he realised he had lost out for the second time that day.

  Chapter 65

  Charlotte paused before she entered Benny’s private room. She hated this part of the job.

  It was never pleasant to tell somebody a relative had died, but in Benny’s case, it seemed even worse.

  Someone in Benny’s position wasn’t going to find it easy to make new friendships, and now his brother was dead, he had no family left. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. The wide, beaming smile Benny gave her when she entered made her feel even worse.

  “Hiya,” Benny said cheerfully. “Did you find Lila and Ruby?”

  Charlotte nodded and pulled up a chair next to Benny’s bed.

  “We did, thanks to your help.”

  “Are they all right?”

  “They are fine. They’ve been brought to this hospital as well just to be on the safe side.”

  That was the wrong thing to say.

  Benny flung back the bed sheets and went to get out of bed.

  Charlotte raised her hands, resting them lightly on Benny’s shoulders. “No, Benny.”

  He looked at her in confusion. “I want to see them.”

  “That’s not a good idea yet. They’re with their families at the moment and getting checked out by the doctors.”

  Benny nodded reluctantly and leaned back on his pillows.

  God, this was so hard.

  She should have delivered the bad news immediately, as soon as she walked in the room.

  Now the right words wouldn’t form in her mind, and Benny had started talking about playing on his Xbox with Lila later as though everything was fine.

  Charlotte reached out and patted Benny’s arm.

  “Benny, listen to me. I’ve got some very bad news. When we rescued the girls, Rob was there, too, and he got hurt. He was rushed to hospital but he didn’t make it. I am so sorry, Benny. Rob is dead.”

  For a few seconds, Benny didn’t say a word. His eyes remained fixed on Charlotte’s face.

  “My Rob?” he asked eventually.

  Charlotte nodded. “Yes, your brother.”

  Benny’s mouth tightened, and his cheeks grew red.

  “Did Marlo kill him?”

  The fact that the incident hadn’t yet been written up, and there wasn’t an official line from the department, meant that Charlotte shouldn’t be going into details, but she thought Benny deserved to know.

  “Yes,” she said, and she held Benny’s hand as big tears rolled down his cheeks.

  * * *

  DI Tyler travelled up in the private lift to the penthouse. It had been a crazy few days. Mackinnon had been wounded, but it could have been much worse.

  Both girls had been returned safely to their families. No doubt there would be an enquiry into certain events that occurred during the investigation, but Tyler didn’t think he would come off too badly.

  The Watsons were still at the hospital with their daughter, and Tyler purposely hadn’t told them he was going to their apartment to see Curtis. His official line was that he was going to brief the family liaison officer, but he really wanted to have a word with Curtis without his parents around.

  He rang the doorbell to the Watsons’ luxurious flat, and Kelly Johnson opened the door.

  “Fantastic news about the girls, sir. The team must be over the moon.”

  Tyler smiled. “Absolutely. It’s a great result. Thanks for your hard work, Kelly. The family liaison officer often has the hardest job of all.”

  Kelly smiled happily and walked towards the living area. “We don’t do the job because it’s easy.”

  Zelda Smith was sitting on the sofa, bold as brass, and she eyed Tyler as though she were daring him to reprimand her.

  Although Tyler would very much liked to have told her exactly what he thought of her actions, he turned to focus on Curtis instead.

  The bo
y was leaning back against the kitchen counter, and he smirked at Tyler.

  “Well done, detective.”

  “You must be very glad your sister is coming home, Curtis.”

  “Of course, I can’t wait to see her.”

  Tyler smiled. “It’s funny. At one stage, we thought you were responsible for the abduction.”

  Curtis’ eyes narrowed as he stared at Tyler.

  “We believed you’d planned for Addlestone to take the fall so you could get money from your parents, not that you really needed it. Maybe the abduction was just a way to hurt them.”

  Curtis glanced away and turned his head, but not before Tyler had seen the smile playing on his lips.

  The little sod was enjoying this.

  Curtis turned back to Tyler and said, “That’s a very interesting theory, detective.”

  “It certainly is,” Zelda piped up. “But Kelly said you caught the man responsible.”

  Tyler ignored her. He took a step closer to Curtis and lowered his voice so that only the boy could hear him.

  “You won’t get away with this.”

  Curtis’ eyes shone. “Oh, I think I will, detective.”

  Before either of them could say any more, the front door opened, and Peter Watson entered the room.

  He strode across the room to his son and put his arm around his shoulders.

  Tyler could tell from the look on the man’s face that he knew what his son had done. He’d heard the name Marlo Wainwright from one of the team, or from his daughter, and put two and two together. Deep down, he had to know what his son was like.

  “Don’t say another word, Curtis,” Peter Watson said. “Unless you have a warrant, detective. I’d like you all to leave my home. I am very grateful you brought Ruby back home safely, but I think we have all had enough of the police in our lives for now.”

  Tyler nodded, turned to leave and gestured for Kelly and Zelda to do the same. Both women seemed very surprised at this sudden eviction.

  Just before he walked out of the front door, Tyler looked directly at Curtis.

  He wanted the kid to know that this wasn’t over.

  The cocky little sod winked at him, and Tyler knew Curtis’ mocking expression would stay with him for a very long time.

  Chapter 66

  A few days later, most of the team were gathered at the Red Herring pub.

  DCI Brookbank had bought the first round and gave a little speech, thanking them all for their hard work. He didn’t stay long, just long enough to down his pint, and then he headed back to Wood Street station.

  The rest of the team stuck around, though, determined to have a bit of fun and unwind. After the past few days, they needed it.

  Mackinnon and Collins had ordered their usual portions of chicken wings and were laughing and joking. Tyler looked tired, as usual, but even he had a smile on his face. DC Webb had left the group and was at the bar, trying to chat up one of the barmaids, and Charlotte sat quietly nursing a gin and tonic with a frown on her face.

  “Are you all right?” Mackinnon asked, pushing his plate of chicken wings closer to Charlotte. “Help yourself.”

  Charlotte managed to raise a smile and took a chicken wing from the plate and picked up a napkin.

  “I still can’t believe we’re not going to be able to prosecute Curtis Watson.”

  Tyler took a long sip of his pint and then set it down on the table. “They’ve got money. A lot of it. And he’s lawyered up. We could get him for blackmailing Addlestone, but Addlestone doesn’t want to press charges. He just wants the whole thing to go away.”

  “I heard his parents were sending him abroad to finish his A-levels,” Mackinnon said. “To a British school in Switzerland.”

  Charlotte shook her head. “So he just gets away with it?”

  Mackinnon understood how she felt. Although they had a strong case against Marlo, the idea that Curtis had planned his own sister’s abduction and would be getting off scot-free rankled.

  Mackinnon strongly believed in justice and he hated the thought of someone like Curtis continuing his life as though nothing had happened.

  He’d only been to see the Watsons once since Ruby had returned home, and the atmosphere had been strained to say the least.

  Ruby was terrified of her brother, and Peter and Claire Watson seemed to be at a loss. Deep down, Mackinnon believed they knew there was something wrong with their son. But they didn’t want to admit it.

  They were in a difficult situation. They couldn’t turn their back on Curtis, but they wanted to protect Ruby as well, so they’d made the decision to send Curtis away.

  “Curtis will commit another crime and eventually he will be caught,” Mackinnon said. “He won’t be able to stop himself.”

  Collins raised his glass to that as Tyler said, “He’ll get his just deserts eventually.”

  “Do you really believe that?” Charlotte asked.

  “I have to,” Tyler said. “The alternative is just too depressing to contemplate.”

  Mackinnon reached for his pint with his right hand and then winced.

  He kept forgetting about his stitches. He picked his drink up with his other hand. The wound was healing nicely now, and that would be helped along by a few days leave. He was looking forward to seeing Chloe and the girls and had made a decision to make more of an effort with Sarah.

  Firstly, he planned to warn her not to borrow money from anybody other than her parents. She might not want to listen to him, but at least he would have tried.

  She wasn’t a bad kid really, and he was determined to try to improve their relationship.

  He’d like to think eventually they could spend holidays together as a family, and maybe he could take both girls down to visit his own parents occasionally. He’d visited with Katy and Chloe a couple of times, but Sarah had never come along.

  He glanced down and saw that Charlotte’s gin and tonic was finished. “Another one? It’s my round.”

  Charlotte shook her head. “No, thanks. There’s somewhere I have to be.”

  * * *

  Charlotte took the underground to Whitechapel. The market was already closed for the day. She crossed over the road, heading for the London hospital. She had already popped into Sainsbury’s and bought Benny a magazine for gamers as well as a bunch of grapes and a couple of chocolate bars.

  She looped the bag over her arm and climbed the steps at the hospital’s main entrance.

  Charlotte absolutely hated the thought of Curtis getting away with plotting his own sister’s abduction and for trying to set Addlestone up.

  After Marlo’s confession, it was pretty obvious that Curtis had been deeply involved, and when they’d finally managed to speak to Kirsty Jones using video call on Monday, she’d told them Curtis was creepy, but she had no idea about the photos. After looking at them, she was horrified and told them they had been taken from her bedroom.

  It looked as though someone had accessed the webcam from the computer in her bedroom.

  She confirmed that Addlestone had never behaved inappropriately towards her. Of course, Addlestone wanted to put the whole matter behind him. He was embarrassed and worried about his reputation, so it looked like Curtis would get away with that as well.

  She’d been to see the Georges and Lila with Mackinnon yesterday, and unlike the Watsons, their home had been a happy one.

  The Georges were delighted to get Lila back and proudly told Charlotte and Mackinnon how Lila was starting college in September. It was outcomes like that that made the job worthwhile, and Charlotte knew she had to focus on the positive results rather than dwell on the fact Curtis Watson was getting off without any punishment at all.

  Benny had been moved from his private room and was now sharing a ward with twelve men. She thought Benny was probably finding that quite difficult.

  When she walked into the ward and Benny caught sight of her, his face lit up and he waved excitedly.

  “Hi, Benny, the nurse told me you’re g
etting out of here tomorrow. That’s fantastic news, isn’t it?”

  Benny nodded. “Yes. But I can’t go back to the flat without Rob.”

  “No, but I hear your caseworker has found a nice place for you to live. It is very close to where you were before, isn’t it?”

  Benny nodded, but he still looked despondent.

  Charlotte handed him the grapes and the magazine she’d brought.

  “Thank you,” Benny said politely as he glanced at the magazine.

  Benny had no one now. He would get swallowed up in the system, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

  Charlotte turned when she heard footsteps behind her and saw an elegant woman with a short grey bob approaching.

  “Hello, Benny.”

  “Hiya, Diane!”

  The woman had an open and friendly face and she smiled at Charlotte. “I am Diane Swanson. I run the Rose Hill community centre, and I’m looking forward to getting Benny back into the IT class.”

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Charlotte Brown, one of the police officers who worked on the abduction case.”

  As they shook hands, Diane said, “I was just checking in with Benny to see if he is ready for the move tomorrow. You are looking forward to it, aren’t you, Benny?”

  Benny smiled. “Yes.”

  “I’ve been popping in every day, and I’m helping him arrange Rob’s funeral.”

  Charlotte smiled. “I’m glad he has someone like you to look out for him. I have been really worried.”

  “We’ve got a good support network, and Benny is very popular at the community centre. He gets on very well with all the members of staff, and both Eddie and I have been popping in to make sure he’s okay. Benny doesn’t have his mum and brother any more, but we’ll be looking out for him.”

  Charlotte smiled. “I’m glad.”

  After Diane left, Charlotte sat on a chair beside Benny’s bed and opened the magazine, “Okay then, Benny, show me what all the fuss is about.”

  Benny began to tell her all about a new game for the latest Xbox.

  Charlotte smiled as Benny chattered away.