Sleeping Angel (Ravenwood Series) (21 page)

Another murder
. And no ordinary murder either. Her mind flashed back to the previous night, the snapshot frozen in the streetlight, that boy left hanging on the gate – left there, for her to see, blood pooling around her party shoes.

‘All right,’ said Detective Inspector Reece, pushing himself up from his chair and walking over to the window. ‘Let’s go back to the party. You say Gabriel and this boy Calvin had a bit of a fight – some pushing and shoving – is that how you’d describe it?’

‘Well ... Calvin was threatening me and Gabriel tried to protect me – give Calvin a bit of a scare, so he’d back off.’

Reece sighed. ‘But April, I have a dozen witnesses who say that Gabriel threw Calvin to the ground, then proceeded to try to drown him. They thought Gabriel meant to go through with it.’

‘He’d never have taken it that far ...’

‘April,’ said Reece, turning to face her, ‘Stop lying to me. I’m starting to get very tired of it.’

April started to object, but then thought better of it. She had never seen DI Reece angry like this.

‘I think I’ve been very tolerant of you and your friends, April,’ he continued. ‘Especially after your father died – I could see how hard you were taking it, so I was prepared to cut you some slack.’

‘Listen, Mr Reece—’

‘No, April, you listen!’ he said sharply. ‘I am sick of you taking advantage of my good nature. I have protected you, I have given you information I shouldn’t have – and I’ve always tried my best to be straight with you. But it’s a one-way street, isn’t it? You haven’t got the decency to cooperate and give me a straight answer.’

April was taken aback. Mr Reece had always been so gentle and understanding with her; clearly this had pushed him over the edge. And she could hardly be surprised – April had spent the entire time she had known him telling him half truths, obscuring the facts and, yes, lying to his face. It was less than he deserved, much less.

‘All right,’ she said quietly. ‘What do you want to know? Ask me anything you like, and I promise I will tell you all I know.’

Reece looked at her, his eyebrows raised.

‘Seriously, Mr Reece, I’ll tell you everything. But I can’t guarantee you’re going to like what you hear.’

Reece pouted doubtfully, then nodded. ‘Okay, let’s start from the top. Did Gabriel kill Calvin Temple?’

‘No,’ said April. ‘He was with me till shortly before I found Calvin.’

‘But you don’t know for sure.’

April looked down at her tea cup. ‘Honestly? No.’

‘Do think Gabriel is capable of killing?’

April looked up at him. ‘I think everyone is capable of killing, given the right circumstances. Isn’t that what people say?’

‘No, April,’ said Reece impatiently, ‘They do not. I happen to know a bit about this subject, so I’d ask you not to be so flippant. This was not some boys’ scuffle, however much you might like to portray it as such. This was a cold-blooded, vicious murder carried out by somebody pretty bloody unbalanced, in my professional opinion.’ He paused. ‘Okay, next question: if Gabriel didn’t kill Calvin, do you have any idea who might have done?’

‘I don’t know. Honestly, I would tell you if I did.’

Reece shook his head with some exasperation. ‘This new open policy of yours doesn’t seem to be bearing much fruit, does it?’

‘I’m sorry Mr Reece. I just don’t know.’

‘Maybe you know the answer to this one: why you? Why was Calvin left hanging on your grandfather’s gate? If it was just a fight in the street that got out of hand, we would have found him where he fell, but this was clearly pre-meditated, deliberate. Why leave him for
you
to find?’

April swallowed. Did he really want to hear the truth? Having promised to tell the truth, did she now have any choice?

‘I think it was a message.’

Reece frowned. ‘A message? What sort of message?’

‘Someone’s trying to scare me, showing they can get to me any time they like.’

‘But who? Who would send such a message?’

She closed her eyes. ‘The vampires,’ she said quietly.

‘The vampires,’ he repeated. ‘You’re telling me that a vampire did this.’

April looked at him. ‘Yes.’

‘Oh Jesus Christ, April!’ Reece yelled, making April jerk backwards in surprise. ‘Is that the best you can do? I ask you to be honest with me – after all I’ve done for you – and that’s what you give me?
Vampires
?’

‘Mr Reece, I’ve wanted to tell you all along. I just didn’t think ...’

‘Maybe you didn’t think I’d believe you? Is that what you were going to say? Well, guess what – I don’t. Forgive me, April, but I really don’t think I can take that one to the Crown Prosecution Service with much hope of starting a prosecution. He banged his hand against the window frame in frustration. ‘And I suppose you want me to believe that Isabelle, Layla and Benjamin were all killed by Dracula and his pals, too?’

‘No, Benjamin was a vampire himself,’ muttered April, looking down at her hands.

‘What was that?’ said Reece, bending over and cupping his hand behind his ear. ‘Because I don’t think I heard it properly. Are you telling me that Benjamin Osbourne killed Annabel Holden because he wanted to drink her blood?’

             
He turned his face towards the ceiling and barked out an ironic laugh. ‘And there I was thinking we had built up some sort of relationship, April. I thought there was some sort of mutual respect between us. Stupid of me really, wasn’t it? All along, you’ve just been taking the mickey, haven’t you?’

‘No, Mr Reece, honestly. I knew I shouldn’t have said anything.’

‘I’d have to agree with you on that one, April.’

Just then there was a gentle knock on the door and Stanton appeared, clearing his throat. ‘Sorry to interrupt, sir. Telephone call for you – said it was urgent.’

Reece sighed deeply, then nodded wearily. ‘Wait here,’ he said pointing at April as he followed Stanton out, ‘I haven’t finished with you. Not by a long chalk.’

April slumped forward, her head in her hands. ‘What have you done now, April?’ she moaned to herself. ‘Stupid, so very, very stupid.’

She couldn’t blame the policeman for his reaction, not one little bit. What had she expected him to do? Say “Really? Vampires? Of course! It’s the breakthrough I’ve been waiting for. Now the whole case makes sense.” Why had she been so naive? All she had done was to undermine her relationship with the policeman, alienating one of the few people she had been able to rely on. And for what? So she could feel better about herself because she had told the truth for once. Well, she didn’t feel better, she felt sick.

Reece walked back in. ‘I have some good news and some bad news. The good news – from your point of view, anyway – is that we have CCTV footage from Covent Garden tube station. Seems Gabriel left you and shot off in the opposite direction. There’s no evidence he went anywhere near this house.’

She nodded and waited for the bad news.

‘The bad news is that I have this from Detective Chief Inspector Johnston – I’m sure you remember him? He’s not at all happy about last night’s murder.’

‘But Mr Reece—’

The policeman held up a hand. ‘I haven’t finished, April,’ he said. ‘Would you like to know why DCI Johnston is unhappy? Because this murder is in Covent Garden and – I don’t know if you’ve looked out of your window this morning – both ends of the street are completely jammed with camera crews: Sky News, BBC, even CN-bloody-N’s out there. Highgate is one thing, but this is right in the middle of London’s billion-pound tourism industry. We’re not going to be able to sweep this under the carpet, not now it’s been sent around the world on a million bloody iPhones.’

             
He walked over to the window and looked out, as if to make his point. ‘DCI Johnston is feeling the pressure   from every single political party with an axe to grind against the police – and that would be all of them – not to mention the Met’s top brass and the mayor’s office. They all want this solved yesterday.’

April sat there, not wanting to speak, wishing she could disappear.

‘All of which adds up to one thing, April. If I don’t crack this quick smart, my career is down the toilet. More important, there will still be a murderer on the loose – more people might die. Is this making you feel bad?’

She nodded, still not looking up.

‘Good. Then maybe you’ll realise this isn’t some stupid role-play game for you and your friends. A boy had his throat cut  last night.’

‘I know, Mr Reece. I saw him.’

‘Keep that image in your mind, April. Remember it, and remember that’s what keeping secrets looks like.’ He stared down at her. ‘So, is there anything else you want to tell me?’

She shook her head.

‘Right,’ he said. ‘Right then. That’s just fine.’

‘I’m so sorry if I upset you, Mr Reece. I honestly didn’t mean to.’

‘That’s fine, April,’ he said, picking up his coat. ‘Just promise me one thing, okay?’

‘Anything.’

‘For God’s sake, don’t breathe a word of your stupid bloody vampire nonsense to that pack of jackals out there on the street. That would be the final nail in my coffin – and yes, pun intended.’

‘Honestly, I wish you could ...’

Reece held up another hand and reached for the door. ‘I think I’ve made myself clear, April. If you change your mind, you know where to find me.’

April watched him close the door behind him, then put her head in her hands again and began to cry.

April pulled the curtain back and peeked out.
They’re still there.
Well, that wasn’t quite true: the TV vans with their satellite dishes had gone, but the photographers and reporters were still there. She counted eight of them camped out on either side of the road, chatting and smoking, waiting. Waiting for her.

‘They obviously know I’m going to have leave for school,’ she said into the phone.

‘You can’t really blame them,’ replied Fiona, the line a little crackly. ‘It’s not often you get a mutilated body strung up only ten minutes from the newspapers’ offices.’

‘Thanks for that,’ said April. ‘Like I needed reminding.’

‘Sorry. Doesn’t your grandpa’s house have a back entrance?’

‘Annoyingly, no. Anyway, unless it had a secret tunnel linking it to Buckingham Palace or something, they could just wait for me at the back door couldn’t they?’ She sighed. ‘I feel like a criminal.’

‘Don’t take it so hard, sweetie,’ said Fiona. ‘It’s not your fault.’

But April wasn’t so sure. Her stomach churned as she thought of Calvin hanging on the gate, his head rolled back, his neck torn open.
Jesus
. She had to stop and take a long breath. No, she hadn’t killed Calvin and she had no idea who had, but the facts remained – someone
had
killed him, and whoever it was, they had wanted her to see the grisly outcome.

‘I just wish I knew what it was all about,’ she said. ‘I mean, it’s one thing killing Calvin, it’s another leaving him here. I can understand why Mr Reece was so angry yesterday; it doesn’t look good for me. Why would someone leave him hanging outside my home?’

‘I know what you mean, but if it was a message, I’m not getting it,’ said Fiona. ‘Is it a threat?’

‘Yeah, that did cross my mind. That and a million other things, none of which make sense.’

April had spent the entire previous day turning it over in her mind, not to mention answering endless questions asked by various police officers. Her grandfather hadn’t exactly been over the moon to find a corpse impaled outside his house either. He had grilled April about the events at the party, insisting she tell him every detail, then had spent hours on the phone haranguing everyone from the police commissioner to the headmaster at Ravenwood.

‘What kind of children do you allow at your school?’ he had yelled at the no-doubt apologetic Dr Tame. ‘I am paying you a small fortune and this is the kind of student my granddaughter is mixing with?’ Such had been Thomas’s onslaught, April had even managed, briefly, to feel sorry for the headmaster. But only briefly.

They must have been trying to frame Gabriel – or me?’ she put to Fiona.

‘Doubt it. It’d be a pretty poor way to achieve that,’ replied her friend. ‘I mean, I’m no criminal mastermind, but if I wanted to frame someone for murder, I’d go a bit more low-key. You know: hide the murder weapon at their house, plant some DNA evidence on their clothes or something.’

‘Really? Remind me never to get on your wrong side.’ April drew back from the window as she saw a paparazzo look up at her window. ‘I just wish I’d been able to ask Gabriel about it.’

‘Still no word?’

‘I guess I should be getting used to it by now. It’s not like he hasn’t disappeared before, but never like this. I’m just so worried about him, Fee. There’s something going on inside his head. He really seemed in pain and, after everything Jessica said, I’ve been imagining all sorts of scenarios.’