Ten Guilty Men (A DCI Morton Crime Novel Book 3) (26 page)

Morton heard the sound of an engine outside. His heart rose in his chest. He had to act fast.

‘Gabriella. I know you heard those engines. That will be the police. Let me help you. Put the knife down.’

‘No! Not until she admits what she did.’ Gabriella’s arm wavered as if her muscles were beginning to cramp from holding the knife for so long.

‘Brianna,’ Morton said. ‘Tell me why you went back that night.’

‘I... I went to apologise. For stealing the money. I felt bad about leaving them to argue over a set-up. I wanted to make things right.’

‘Liar!’ Gabby screamed. She pressed the knife in closer against Brianna’s jugular, breaking the epidermis but not yet drawing blood. A few millimetres further, and Brianna would bleed out before Morton could do anything.

Brianna fell silent. Morton could see the terror in her eyes.

Then they heard the megaphone.

Chapter 53: Ayala in Charge

Ayala arrived on site not long after Morton. He had his phone on loudspeaker so that Detective Mayberry and the six constables crowded around him in the car park could listen in to Morton’s one-sided phone call.

Obviously something major was going down, but without video it took a while to realise what.

‘We need to secure the perimeter,’ Ayala said. He turned to the nearest two uniformed officers. ‘I need you to recon the outside of the building. Look for points of entry and egress. If there is a back or side door, one of you stay there while the other loops back around to me.’

The officers nodded and made their way towards the building.

‘Mayberry, make sure the rest of the building is evacuated. Go inside quietly, and don’t disturb the main hall,’ Ayala ordered. He watched Mayberry head off towards the entrance. Mayberry kept his body low and shuffled through the doors, making as little noise as possible. Ayala turned to the other four constables.

‘Gents, I want two of you to watch the road at the front, and two the road at the back. The boys from hostage negotiation will be here soon, but until then, we’re responsible for what happens. If you hear anything going down, wait until my say-so before you storm the building. Hopefully, the hostage negotiation team will be on site before we have to face that possibility. We have a man inside, and an open phone line. But we need to get communications open, and figure out what demands are going to be made.’

‘What about the media?’ one of the constables asked.

‘What about them?’

‘They’re here.’

‘Shit.’

***

Mayberry half-crouched and half walked as he approached the crematorium. His heart thundered in his chest as the front door creaked. He paused, sure that Gabriella must have heard him enter the building.

The foyer was smaller than his lounge at home. The double doors obviously opened onto the main hall, to be avoided at all costs. That left two doors remaining, one on either side. Both appeared to open onto corridors. The door on the right had a sign labelled ‘Toilets’. Mayberry headed there first. He followed the passageway around to the right, away from the main hall, where he found the men’s, women’s and disabled bathrooms.

He gingerly knocked on the door marked ladies. When he was certain no response was forthcoming, he walked in. Mayberry breathed a sigh of relief. All the cubicles were empty. He headed next door to check the men’s room: also empty.

He thumbed his radio. ‘B-bathrooms c-clear. Over.’

As Mayberry returned to the entrance foyer, the doors to the main hall swung open and a man dressed in religious garb burst through the door at a rate of knots. Before Mayberry could stop the man, he was gone. Mayberry thumbed his radio again.

‘P-p-priest! I-incoming!’

***

Ayala’s team had just enough time to set up a barricade by parking their vehicles across the entrance to the crematorium car park before Pastor Roberts came flying out of the building at top speed.

A multitude of white lights flashed. The journalists had set up camp across the road outside Adelaide Church, and were using telephoto lenses to record the proceedings.

Ayala ran forward to intercept the pastor. He seized the pastor’s arm, and immediately noticed how the pastor shook with fear. He steered him away from the media and into the nearest squad car.

Ayala crouched by the car. ‘Pastor, are you all right?’

The pastor looked upwards, his eyes hollow. He clasped his hands together in prayer; his lips moved, but he said nothing.

One of the constables appeared at Ayala’s elbow with a blanket. ‘To help with the shock, sir. Until paramedics are on-scene. I’ll go fetch him a cup of tea.’

Ayala nodded his thanks, and draped the blanket over the pastor.

‘Who’s in charge here?’ A deep voice called from behind him.

Ayala turned to see a suited gentleman slide over the bonnet of a squad car. ‘Hey, you can’t be back here. No press.’

‘Do I look like a journo?’ He held out a hand. ‘DS Harper Lawson, Hostage and Crisis Negotiation. And you are?’

‘Detective Inspector Ayala. We’ve got two men inside. DCI Morton is in the main hall where Gabriella Curzon has two hostages remaining. She has released one already.’

‘And the other man you have inside?’

‘DS Mayberry is evacuating civilians from the rest of the building.’

‘Good. I’ll take it from here.’

Chapter 54: Crisis

‘Gabriella Curzon! This is the police. We want to know what your demands are. Do you have a phone?’

Morton watched Gabriella jump as soon as she heard the megaphone. It wasn’t Ayala’s voice, which meant the Hostage and Crisis Negotiation Team had been called in.

‘Gabby. Listen to me. They’ll have the whole building surrounded. Let me call out to my team, and let them know everyone is all right. Can I do that?’

‘Tell them to leave. I want to get out of here. I don’t want anyone to die. I just want the truth!’ Gabriella said.

She’s losing it
, Morton thought.
But at least she’s said she wants this to end peacefully
.

‘OK. I’m going to reach into my pocket, and call my second-in-command. I’ll put it on speakerphone so you can hear.’

Morton made a show of putting his hand into his pocket very slowly. As he did so, he turned the phone off. ‘See, it’s off. Now, I’m going to turn it on and call Detective Ayala.’

The phone took a moment to boot up, and then Morton punched in his security code. He dialled Ayala.

‘Ayala, it’s me. We’re all OK in here. Pass your phone over to whoever is on the megaphone.’

‘I’ll do that now, boss. Hold on.’

Morton heard the phone crackle as Ayala handed it over.

‘Harper Lawson. Crisis Management Negotiator. To whom am I speaking?’

‘This is DCI Morton. I’ve got you on speakerphone. With me are Kallum Fielder, Brianna Jackson and Gabriella Curzon.’

‘What does Miss Curzon want?’ Lawson asked.

Gabriella called out across the room. ‘I want Brianna to admit the truth. I want her to tell you she killed Eli.’

‘Sorry. We didn’t quite catch that. Can you move the phone closer to Miss Curzon please?’

Morton looked over at Gabriella, dying for an excuse to get close so he could disarm her.

‘Kick it over,’ she said.

‘Can’t I just–’

‘No. Slide it along the floor.’

Morton did so. Gabriella repeated her request.

‘I can’t give you that, Miss Curzon.’ The doubt and confusion in Lawson’s voice was obvious. He was used to hostages making much more tangible demands – money, escape, food. Before he could suggest any of those things, Gabriella spoke again. ‘I want you to hear her tell the truth. I want you to record her confessing to Eli’s murder.’

‘I can record everything. But I need a show of good faith.’

‘I already released a hostage!’

‘That was a start, but you want something and I want something. Can we do a deal?’ Lawson asked.

Gabriella fell silent, and looked over to Kal, who was still nearly catatonic.

‘I don’t think he’s going anywhere anytime soon,’ she said. ‘He’s not up to moving anywhere.’

Lawson’s voice came back immediately. ‘Who isn’t moving? Is he injured?’

Morton held up a hand to forestall any reply from Gabriella. ‘Mr Fielder appears to be suffering from some shock, but is physically unharmed. I believe Miss Curzon was suggesting that Kallum might need assistance to get to the door. Am I right about that, Gabriella?’

She nodded. ‘Yes. He isn’t fit to move.’

‘Let me help him to the door,’ Morton said. Gabriella scowled at the thought of losing her last witness. ‘I’ll come straight back – not that you need me now that you’ve got a live recording for testimony. Is that OK?’

Gabriella bit her lip, obviously wavering. Then she nodded. ‘But no sudden moves. If anyone other than you comes back through the door, Brianna dies.’

‘Mr Lawson, I will be bringing Mr Fielder to the door. Can you have someone waiting to receive him?’

‘Absolutely.’

***

In a back room to the left of the main hall, Mayberry found two men, both dressed in overalls, apparently waiting to turn on the incinerator. Both held mobile phones to the paper-thin walls, to record the goings-on of the hall on the other side.

‘G-give m-me those r-radios,’ Mayberry whispered. ‘You’ve g-got to leave.’

The nearest man looked at Mayberry, then shook his head. ‘No chance, mate. I’ve been here ten years, and this is the first time anything exciting has happened.’

‘Keep y-your voice d-down! They’ll h-hear.’

The other man, no more than a teenager, looked worried. ‘Maybe we should go with him, Dave. But keep the phones, yeah?’

‘Is th-there anyone else h-here?’

The younger man shook his head. ‘Alright. Lead on, Mister Copper.’

Mayberry held out his hand palm up. ‘F-first, g-give me your ph-phones or y-you’re under a-arrest.’

Dave threw his mobile towards Mayberry, who barely caught it in time. ‘Have it your way. The recordings are already in the cloud anyway.’

***

Two hostages had been released, but Gabriella kept the knife pressed against Brianna’s throat. Her hand continued to quiver. She wouldn’t be able to hold it there much longer.

‘Gabriella, if Brianna killed your sister then how did she do it without you seeing her? You were there too,’ Morton said.

‘I don’t know how, or why I didn’t see her. But you tell me who else could have killed Eli? I know I didn’t.’

She’s got a point
, Morton thought.
Unless she’s lying.
‘Let’s go through the night again. Paddy left you at the house, and then what?’

‘Then I used the bathroom, went outside for a smoke and we left.’

‘But you didn’t see Brianna at all?’

‘No. But she did it. I know she must have. No one else could have,’ Gabriella repeated stubbornly. ‘I know she came back. As if she’d go all that way to apologise.’

‘But you’ve got no proof,’ Morton reasoned. ‘Everything is circumstantial.’

‘You’ve got no proof I did it either. That didn’t stop you barging into my lecture.’ Gabriella furrowed her brow. Her hand shook more violently. ‘I’ll get you your proof. Tell him, Brianna. Tell him what you did.’

Brianna looked over to Morton, her eyes wide with terror. ‘I didn’t,’ she whispered.

‘Liar!’

Morton took another step down the aisle. ‘Gabriella, stop. Put the knife down. Ellis wouldn’t want you in jail. The only person that is committing a crime here is you.’

‘If you can’t get justice for my sister, I will.’ Gabriella angled her hand as if preparing to draw the knife across Brianna’s throat.

Morton wanted to spin around to look at the door. He knew Gabriella would have only a moment before the Hostage and Crisis Team burst in. The threat of imminent harm took all other options off the table. They had to risk an arrest.

‘Last chance,’ Gabriella whispered in Brianna’s ear.

Brianna sobbed in terror. ‘OK! I did it. I killed Eli.’

‘Why?’ Gabriella demanded.

‘The money. I wanted the money.’

Gabriella dropped the knife, which clattered to the hardwood floor noisily. Just as she did so, the police burst in through the door.

Morton yelled out for them to stay back, and dashed forward, but Brianna was too quick for him. She snatched up the knife, and turned it on Gabriella. Morton was three feet away. Time slowed as he approached.

He swung his right fist at Brianna, connecting with her left shoulder blade from behind. She spun around, the knife glinting wickedly in her hand.

As Brianna flailed, Morton threw his leg out to counteract the momentum of the punch. He steadied himself in time to see Brianna still holding the knife, closing in on her would-be captor. He lashed out with his foot, connecting with the back of her knee. Brianna dropped to the floor; the knife tumbled from her grasp and clanged to the floor.

Morton flicked the knife away with his foot, and stepped over Brianna to where Gabriella cowered. She seemed shocked to have gone from captor to victim in less than a minute. Morton slapped a pair of cuffs on her. A similar click came from behind, and he knew someone had cuffed Brianna.

The slow motion ended in a whir and a din of shouting. Officers flooded the room. With the hostages now safe, all that remained was to drag the half-sisters outside. Then Morton’s team rushed in.

‘Boss, you all right? You’re bleeding.’ Ayala pointed down at Morton’s leg.

Morton rolled up his trouser leg to take a look. The knife must have nicked him as he disarmed Brianna. The cut wasn’t long, but it bled profusely.

‘You’re going to have to get that checked out. It looks pretty serious.’

‘It’s miles from the femoral artery. I’m in no danger,’ Morton said. ‘I have been cut before, you know. She barely grazed my leg.’

‘Go get it checked out. Or I’m calling Sarah.’

The ultimate threat. ‘Ayala, you’ll pay for that. Escort the two women back to New Scotland Yard. They’ll undoubtedly both want lawyers.’

‘Got it. There’s an ambulance waiting outside. They’ll fix you up.’

Morton’s eyes narrowed. If there were an ambulance and a negotiation squad out there, then the media wouldn’t be far behind. ‘Journalists?’