Girls Of The Dark (11 page)

Chapter 27

D
espite the strength of the late autumn rays filtering through the branches of the trees, it was still cold.

              Professor Morgan pulled his overcoat tightly around his body as they walked along the woodland path. Calvin Suter had on an expensive looking padded jacket, which bore the name of an exclusive outward bound brand on the shoulder. He seemed entirely unaffected by the chill.

              ‘You’re settling well into the new flat?’ Rhodri glanced across at his companion.

              Calvin smiled. ‘Yes, it’s perfectly cosy and comfortable. I didn’t know very much about Mauchline before I viewed the property, except that the Robert Burns memorial is situated there. Actually, it’s very pleasant.’

              ‘And your new place is on the Kilmarnock Road?’ Morgan made the inquiry sound as innocent as possible.

              ‘I have moved back to the area of Scotland that I know best, Professor. Am I not permitted to return to my home even after forty years of banishment?’

              Morgan could see that Calvin wasn’t really offended by the question. ‘Not at all. I simply thought that after the release you’d want to get as far away as possible from your past. In fact, I believe it’s not such a bad idea to surround yourself with what you find familiar. Too many of my patients seek a life completely at odds with the one they lived before their imprisonment. It doesn’t always make them happy.’

              ‘I enjoy the countryside, but I like to be close to the city. My publishers are based in the west-end and several newspapers have approached me to write pieces for them. The payment came through from my interview for Informing Scotland. That money should tide me over for a while, certainly until I receive my compensation.’

              The professor’s posture stiffened. ‘Is that really likely to happen? Your innocence has never been proved.’

              Calvin stared off into the distance, where the gorge shelved down towards the River Ayr. ‘I have already spoken with a couple of lawyers. There are a number of reputable firms vying to take on my case.’

              ‘That’s because of your high profile and the sums involved if you were to prove the conviction was unsafe.’ Morgan sighed. ‘Many lives will be affected if you pursue this civil action, not least the families of the girls who were killed. Any money you gain will very likely come from the public purse.’

              Calvin stopped walking, turning to address his friend. ‘How can anyone even put a price on forty years of a man’s life? Those were the decades when I would have got married, had children and built a career for myself. I may have gone back to study and taken a degree, without paying the terrible cost of losing my liberty.’

              Morgan wondered if Calvin would really have done any of those things. Without the education and guidance he received in prison, the professor strongly suspected that he would simply have gone on to kill more innocent young women.

              ‘The problem Rhodri, is that in your heart you believe I’m guilty. That is why you think I should forget the past and move on. You are probably my only friend in the world yet you still think I’m a monster.’ Morgan was about to argue against this point but Calvin raised his hand. ‘Oh, I know you’d never use those words but the essence is much the same. I’ve come to terms with that, I honestly have.’ Calvin beat a fist against his chest. ‘But
I
know the truth. I want others to know it too. Someone is going to compensate me for my long imprisonment. I’ve already got a couple of individuals in mind. Believe me, those people are going to pay a very heavy price for putting Calvin Suter behind bars.’

Chapter 28

M
rs Tulloch was seated in the waiting area by the interview suites. Alice left her there for twenty minutes before emerging from one of the closed doors and inviting her inside.

              The woman’s solicitor bustled in a few moments later. He was overweight and scruffily dressed. Alice felt the man didn’t inspire confidence.

              Andy nodded to the odd couple before him and flicked on the tape.

              ‘Mrs Glenda Tulloch,’ Alice began. ‘We have asked you here today to explain your whereabouts on the afternoon of Wednesday, 6
th
November 2015.’

              ‘I was at work until 1pm. I am a receptionist at the Fitzroy Art Museum. On that occasion, I had lingered in the staff room to eat a sandwich before driving home. I was back at the house by a quarter past two. At which time, I took the dog for a walk.’

              Alice slipped a photograph out of a file and pushed it across the table. ‘This is a still taken from the CCTV camera at the junction between The Great Western Road and St Georges Cross. It shows your black hatchback jumping a red light.’

              The solicitor pulled the picture towards him. ‘You can’t see who is driving, Sergeant.’

              ‘No, but Mrs Tulloch has already informed us that she is the registered keeper of the vehicle and nobody else in her family ever drives it.’ Alice switched her gaze back to the lady seated in front of her. ‘Were you driving your car through these traffic lights at 1.47pm on the 6
th
November?’

              ‘Yes, I suppose I must have been.’

              Alice and Andy weren’t expecting this.

              ‘You admit to jumping the red light?’ Alice leaned forward.

              ‘That is certainly my car. I don’t recall doing so, but I must have. It was a very busy morning at the gallery. I may have been tired and didn’t notice that the light was red.’

              ‘Isn’t this a matter for the traffic department?’ The burly solicitor growled impatiently.

              Alice kept her gaze fixed on Glenda Tulloch. The woman’s face was immaculately made up. Her expression masked beneath a slick of expensive foundation. ‘We have a witness who claims that a small back car, matching the description of your Fiesta, jumped that red light on the afternoon of the 6
th
, just after running down a Mrs Kathleen Nevin. The vehicle failed to stop, leaving the lady lying seriously injured in the road. Mrs Nevin later died of her injuries.’

              Andy watched Glenda closely. She barely even flinched.

              The solicitor on the other hand, had gone red in the face. ‘You have absolutely no proof that it was my client’s car which hit this woman. Did the witness identify Mrs Tulloch at the wheel? Did he or she provide the vehicle’s registration number?’

              Alice sighed. ‘
No
, but he saw a car, identical to Mrs Tulloch’s, speeding away from the scene of a hit and run, so fast in fact, that it jumped the lights a hundred yards down the road.
That
is the point at which we clocked the registration details.’

              The solicitor smiled unpleasantly. ‘I’m afraid that you don’t have enough evidence to connect these two events. My client will plead guilty to the traffic offence. As far as the hit and run goes, she is entirely innocent.’

              Alice looked straight at Glenda. ‘Is that right, Mrs Tulloch?
You
were the person driving the car in this photograph?’ She tapped on the grainy image.

              ‘Yes, if you say that my car was caught on camera at that particular time and date, I must have been.’

              Andy Calder decided to intervene. ‘This will mean losing your licence for
at least
a year. How are you going to get to work now, eh? I can’t quite imagine you hopping on the bus.’

              For the first time, the detectives identified a flicker of emotion from the woman. ‘I’ve pleaded guilty haven’t I? Why don’t you just get on with charging me? Let’s get this terrible business over and bloody done with.’

*

Andy reclined in the chair, placing his hands behind his head. ‘I’ve passed the details onto Traffic. They’ll be handling it from now on.’

              Alice shook her head. ‘Damned lawyers. It’s simply common sense that a vehicle jumping a red light a hundred yards away from a hit-and-run was the same vehicle that committed the frigging hit- and-run.’

              Andy raised an eyebrow. He’d never seen the young sergeant so riled up before. ‘Since when has our justice system been based on common sense?’

              Alice cracked a smile. ‘Aye, that’s true enough. That woman was lying through her perfectly whitened teeth. Did you have any luck finding a connection between Lisa Abbot and the Tullochs?’

              ‘Sorry, there was nothing obvious in the records. Abbot’s life has followed a course which is a world apart from that of Brian and Glenda. They’re like chalk and cheese.’

              ‘What about the Kerrs?’

              Andy shook his head. ‘Nothing.’

              Alice fell silent for a moment, clearly running through the evidence in her head. ‘Did we ever check the insurance details?’

              Andy sat up straight. ‘For Glenda’s car, you mean? No, I don’t think we did.’

              ‘Because she mentioned it, remember - when we went to her house? Glenda claimed that Matt and Fran weren’t added to the insurance because it was too expensive. Let’s just double check that shall we? To be sure we’ve covered every angle.’

              ‘Aye, I’ll get onto her company right now. It’s got to be worth one final shot.’

Chapter 29

D
ani had prepared a meal. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a few chicken breasts in a sauce of white wine and herbs. She was simmering a pan full of rice to accompany it.

              James was pouring the drinks, his father and sister seated at the kitchen table looking solemn. He deposited a gin and tonic and a neat whisky in front of their recipients.

              ‘Thank you,’ Jim muttered, immediately taking a gulp from the glass.

              ‘Was it that bad?’ James slipped into the chair next to his dad.

              It was Sally who answered. ‘The solicitors asked a great deal of questions. This was just a preliminary deposition, but Suter’s team appear to be going into a lot of detail, poking right back into the past.’

              Dani carried across the two serving dishes, gesturing for her guests to help themselves. ‘Have they called any other witnesses to give evidence?’

              ‘There are the lawyers who assisted in the two appeal cases. Police Scotland have released all of the files on the original investigation. DCI Harry Paton is dead, of course, as is Anthony Alderton. Dad is the one left to carry the can.’ Sally knocked back a mouthful of her drink, the action not even taking the gloss off her blood red lips.

              ‘They seemed to have spoken with a couple of members of the original jury,’ Jim commented. ‘There must be a few of them still alive.’

              Dani nodded, reaching over to grab a pad off the worktop. She jotted a few things down. ‘They might be trying to establish that the original jury were prejudiced by the media representations of Suter before the trial. Calvin hinted as much when I last spoke to him.’

              ‘Is there any chance you and Rhodri can persuade the man to give this up?’ James looked pleadingly at her.

              Dani sighed heavily. ‘Rhodri would have more influence than me, but he’s already tried. Suter is absolutely determined. I think the idea of retribution is what’s been keeping him going in prison for the past four decades.’

              ‘Then he’d better be prepared for the fight.’ Sally dished up some food for her father. ‘I’ve got an army of top rate investigators digging into Suter’s past right now. In fact, it’s rather refreshing to be gunning for one of the baddies for a change. Calvin Suter has been enjoying the luxuries of the prison service’s equivalent of Buckingham Palace for the last few years. When I send him back inside, he won’t be going anywhere so pleasant.’

              Not for the first time, Dani noted how careful she must be not to get on the wrong side of Sally Irving-Bryant. ‘Can you let me know everything that your team find out?’

              ‘Of course. I’ll have Mike send you a duplicate copy of all the info he sends me.’

              ‘Brilliant, thanks. Now, come on, let’s eat up. We’re going to need all our strength for the battle ahead.’

*

Andy put down the phone and crossed his arms over his chest. ‘That was weird.’

              Alice flicked her head up. ‘In what way?’

              ‘I’ve just spoken with the Monarch Insurance Head Office in Edinburgh. They received our court order this morning and are sending all the relevant documents over by courier this afternoon. But I asked the woman to read out the car insurance details over the phone, so we would know if it was a waste of time or not.’

              ‘
And
?’

              ‘Glenda Tulloch is the main policy holder for the black Fiesta, but there are two other named drivers. The first of them is Brian Tulloch and the other is a 32 year old woman by the name of Sara White.’