Scream, You Die (22 page)

With a finger, Scarlett delicately wiped away the tears from her sister’s eyes. She said, “It’s time to unburden yourself, Rose. Time to let it out.”

Rose drew in a deep breath. “It’s as you say, Scarlett, I was giving Mum and Dad a hard time. I know now how selfish and childish it was, but every day they’d be on about how well you were doing and how you were going to be this great barrister one day and I was so jealous of you. I just wanted them to acknowledge something good about me for a change.”

Scarlett felt hurt and saddened. Sighing, she replied, “I don’t think Mum and Dad meant it like that. I know they loved you just as much as me. I guess it was because I was at uni. Don’t forget you were only sixteen at the time. You weren’t ready for any of that, so probably that’s why they went on so.”

“I know that now, Scarl. I’ve had a lot of time to run everything through in my head and work it out, but it’s like you just said, I was only sixteen. A child really. A spoilt child. And I just rebelled by getting drunk and giving them grief.”

“And did things happen on that night like I’ve been told?”

“The bit about them coming to get me from casualty’s right. But it wasn’t because I was drunk.”

Scarlett threw her a questioning look.

Her face took on a hurt look. “Honest, Scarl! Sure, that night I did go out for a drink, but I didn’t get drunk. My drink was spiked – I think by this couple I met”

Scarlett raised her eyebrows.

“Straight up, Scarl. It’s the truth. I only had a couple of drinks and then something weird happened to me.”

“Okay, I believe you. Just take me through it. Slowly.”

Rose took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Well, that night I’d sneaked out as soon as Mum and Dad went out. I’d arranged to meet up with some schoolmates in the park. One of the lads had bought half a bottle of vodka and we passed it around. I only had a couple of sips and then it was empty. That’s when someone said, ‘Let’s go into town.’ I thought about Mum and Dad, about them being out for their wedding anniversary, and I just thought there’d be no harm in it. That I could have a couple of drinks and I’d be back in the house well before they got home.”

“So you went into town?”

Rose nodded. “I wasn’t really dressed for it like the others, so I stuck at the back. When we went into the pub we all went into a corner and two of the older lads bought the drinks. I had a couple of halves of lager, but then I needed the toilet. When I came out they’d all gone. I thought they might have been waiting for me outside, but when I went out they were nowhere to be seen. I couldn’t believe it. I just set off running, to see if I could catch up with them, but as I got to the corner of the road I bumped into this couple – literally – and I ended up on my arse. The man helped me up and asked me if I was okay and what I was running from. I told them what had happened and that I was looking for my mates. The girl said they were just about to go in the bar I’d come out of and she said, ‘Seeing as your mates have gone why don’t you join us and get yourself cleaned up and we’ll get you a drink?’ I told them I’d got no money, and the man just said, ‘Our treat.’ So typical me at the time just thought free drinks and so I said yes. We went back into the bar and the man bought me a pint of lager while I chatted with the girl. They seemed nice, the pair of them, and we got drinking and talking but I never got to finish my drink. Within twenty minutes I came over all weird. I started feeling all wobbly on my feet and I started slurring my speech. I couldn’t even think properly. The next thing I remember was the police around me and I was at the hospital.”

Scarlett scrutinised the puzzled look on her sister’s face and said, “So how did you end up at the hospital?”

“The police took me there.”

“So how did that come about? Can you remember?”

She shrugged. “Not really. It’s all a blur. And it’s such a long time ago now.”

Scarlett acknowledged with a nod. “Just tell me what you remember.”

“Well, as I say, I just remember suddenly coming over all weird. Everything just began spinning and I felt sick. I can remember the girl saying she would help me to the toilet. The next thing I’m outside. The girl and the guy are holding me up and trying to get me in the back of this car. I started freaking out. I think I started fighting with the girl. I’m not sure. Anyway the next thing the police were there and I was in the hospital. But even that’s a blur. And then Mum and Dad turned up.”

“They’d come to pick you up?” Scarlett interjected.

Rose nodded. “I tried to tell them what had happened, but they just wouldn’t listen to me. They just kept saying I’d spoilt their evening and that I was a selfish, spoilt brat. Even Mum was going off on one. It was awful, Scarl.” Her eyes took on a pleading look. “On the way back home I was trying to make them listen to me. Trying to tell them I wasn’t lying and that’s when this car came from nowhere. Rammed into us from behind and we skidded off the road and smashed into a tree.”

“Rammed you?”

Rose nodded.

“Definitely rammed you? Not an accident? It didn’t swerve or skid before it hit?”

“No. I’d come round by then. It just hit us from behind. One minute we were all shouting at one another and the next minute there’s was this loud bang and we’re skidding off the road and into a tree. It happened so quick!”

Scarlett straightened herself against the cushions of the sofa. Sitting rigidly, she said, “What happened after that?”

Rose’s mouth tightened. Slowly she shrugged. “I’m not really too sure. Again everything is just a blur because of the accident. I just remember coming to in the back. I must have been thrown off the seat when we crashed. I can remember thinking my head hurt and I put my hand up to it. I saw I was bleeding. I started to panic and I shouted for Mum. When I looked to the front all I saw was this tree trunk through the smashed windscreen. Then I saw Mum.” Rose’s face paled. “She wasn’t moving. Her face was all bloody.” She paused a moment and then said, “I knew she was dead.” She paused again, drifted her gaze up towards the ceiling and after a few seconds returned her eyes. “I can remember thinking, ‘Where’s Dad?’ He wasn’t in his seat and his door was open. My door was stuck and I had to kick it open. It was dark. There were no lights anywhere. We were on this country road.” She paused again and continued, “When I say no lights – there was a car by the edge of the road. It had its headlights on. The doors were open. And that’s when I saw Dad.” Her face took on a scared look. “He was on the ground holding his stomach. I could see blood all over his hands. There were two men standing over him. He looked at me and just shouted at me to run. And that’s what I did. I ran into the woods and just kept running.”

Scarlett leaned forward and placed a hand on Rose’s shoulder. “Did you see who the men were?”

Rose shook her head vigorously. “No! They were dressed in dark clothing. Everything was happening so quick. I can remember thinking that both of them were quite stocky – a lot bigger than Dad. And I can remember that one was taller than the other. Quite a bit taller. But that’s all. It was so dark. As I say, there were no street lights. We were on a country lane.”

“Anything else you remember, Rose?”

“Yes! Remember what I said about the car at the edge of the road?”

Scarlett acknowledged with a quick nod.

“I told you the doors were open.”

Again Scarlett nodded sharply.

“Well the light was on inside the car and there was someone sitting in the back. I can remember at the time thinking that it was the guy from the bar. The one with the girl I’d bumped into.”

“You’re sure about that?”

“At the time yes. That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw him.”

“Okay Rose, you’ve done ever so well. I want you to concentrate now on the man you saw. Had you seen him before that night?”

Rose shook her head. “Nope. Never seen him before.”

“And you’re confident that was it the same guy? The one with the girl? The one who you think spiked your drink?”

She nodded frantically. “That was the first thing that entered my head as soon as I saw him.”

“Okay, hold that thought. Did he tell you his name?”

Rose shook her head again. “If he told me I can’t remember. I do remember he had some kind of foreign accent. Italian? French? I don’t know I’m not good with accents. Anyway he was foreign. The girl was also foreign. She looked to be slightly older than him and he said it was his sister.”

“When you say older, do you know roughly how old?”

“I would say in their twenties. So now they’ll be in their thirties, won’t they?”

Scarlett nodded and said, “Did you recall if she told you her name?”

Rose’s mouth pinched. “No.” She stared into Scarlett’s eyes. “You think I’m stupid don’t you?”

Scarlett offered a reassuring smile. “No I don’t, Rose. You were sixteen. Like you say, you’d just been dumped by your mates and these good Samaritans turn up offering to buy you a drink. Who wouldn’t say yes?”

“You’re just saying that to make me feel good.”

“No I’m not, Rose. It could have happened to anyone. It has happened to a lot of people. Trust me, you’re not the first and you won’t be the last.”

Scarlett was in the office early catching up on her paperwork. It had piled up during her two days off. She had left Rose in bed. Before leaving for work she had looked in on her and saw that she was fast asleep, snoring away gently. Scarlett had thought she looked so peaceful, especially given last night’s revelations. After all this time she now had a completed version of events about what had happened to their parents eleven years ago, though frustratingly it had not provided her with the evidence as to who was responsible for killing them. Nevertheless, finding and speaking with Rose had certainly untangled some of the Gordian knot of their murders. She had far more than the detectives who had originally investigated their killings – four suspects. She would give it a couple of days and then coax Rose into giving better descriptions of the three men and the woman she had seen that night. One thing she’d already determined was that she wasn’t going to tell anyone that she’d tracked down Rose. She knew from last night’s questioning that, mentally, Rose was not ready to be interviewed. Especially as a suspect, which she still officially was. No, she would handle this herself. She, more than anyone, knew how important it was to maintain trust with a witness. The fact that this was her sister increased that importance.

“Who was that I saw you with yesterday?”

“DI Taylor-Butler’s voice made her jump. He had appeared by her side without her noticing. Her stomach emptied and a sudden coldness flooded over her. Without looking up from her paperwork she replied, “Yesterday? Who was I with?”

“Yes. I saw you going into Dorothy Perkins with a fair-haired woman. I’ve not seen her with you before.”

Scarlett daren’t look up at him. She kept his looming figure in the corner of her eye. She could feel herself flushing. She swallowed hard and thought fast. Controlling her voice she answered, “Oh her! It was a friend from my uni days. She was in London for the weekend so we caught up.”

“Oh yes? She looked a lot younger than you.”

She pretended to cough while thinking up a response. Half covering her mouth she said, “She’s only a couple of years younger. She was starting her course as I was finishing. We shared a flat together for a while.”

He started to drift away from her side. “Pretty, anyway. You’ll have to introduce me to her if I see you two again.”

Scarlett rolled up her eyes and watched the back of him striding away.
You’ve no fucking chance of that happening.
Then she caught herself. What was Taylor-Butler doing in Oxford Street on a Sunday? She knew he had issues with her. Had he taken to stalking her? She checked him as he left the room. As the door clattered shut she took a deep breath. Was she getting paranoid? One thing was for certain, she knew she had to get Rose out of the house. In the eyes of the law she was harbouring a criminal and she didn’t need any more complications in her life right now. She lifted her mobile out from her bag and dialled Alex’s number.

****

Following morning briefing Scarlett returned to her paperwork. CPS had notified her that the Lycra Rapist had entered a “not guilty” plea, and his trial had been set for seven weeks’ time and she had to get a full file together. Across from her Tarn was working through the forensic schedule, matching it with the exhibits they had seized. She had temporarily dragged him away from the murder enquiry.

Briefing had not thrown up anything earth shattering to move the investigation forward. There were still no firm sightings of Andrius Machuta and the Audi Q7 hadn’t been found. The e-fits, from two witnesses who had seen the driver of the Audi, had come back and were on display. There were similarities in the features of both, but neither of the images had anything which would make the men stand out. The e-fits had been circulated and later that day DCI Diane Harris was holding another press conference.

The ringing of the desk phone disturbed her and she glanced up, catching Tarn’s gaze. She gave him the nod to answer it and returned to her task. But she didn’t have her head down long. The excited note in his voice brought her interest back. Tarn eyes were grabbing her attention and she watched him scribbling notes as he exchanged conversation with whoever was on the phone. She could tell from his patter that it was someone else in the job. Two minutes later Tarn was hanging up. He flourished another quick note on some scrap paper and then flashed an excited look.

“We might have found Andrius.”

Scarlett straightened. “Where?”

“Brixton. That was communications. They’ve just taken a call from someone who said they think they’ve seen the man we’re after on Brixton Station Road. They say he’s gone into an old abandoned railway station there. I’ve asked them to pull up the location for us and send it.”

Scarlett put down her pen and scooted back her chair. “Come on, let’s tell the boss.”

Ten minutes later she, Tarn, DCI Harris, DI Taylor-Butler and the office-bound detective sergeant were in the HOLMES office sat in front of a computer screen. One of the female operators was typing the location into Google. As she typed she said, “There’s only limited CCTV covering that section. It’s the railway arches that run down towards Brixton Market and the leisure centre. Some of the arches are lock-ups and shops and I’ve just done a check and the location Communications have given comes up as an old station which used to be on the Liverpool line. It was abandoned shortly after the war.” As she finished talking several colour images appeared on screen. She flicked to one and tapped it open. Displayed was a metal railway bridge spanning the road and beside it a bricked-up archway with a painted blue door set into the wall.

Pointing to the screen the operator said, “This picture is a couple of years old. The blue door is securing the entrance to the old Coborn Road station. Communications have said that the person who phoned it in said they saw our suspect going in through this door. You can see on this picture its metal but he must have somehow managed to force it.”

DCI Harris dipped her head towards the screen. “Get me a print of that.” Then she turned to DI Taylor-Butler. “Hayden, get everyone back for a briefing and get on to SO 19. I want a firearms team as backup and I want a secure cordon putting around that station. Andrius is going nowhere until we can get an arrest team down there.”