'Til Death (DI Steven Marr Book 1) - UK Crime Fiction Whodunnit Thriller (19 page)

‘Why?’

Becky paused, and let out a breath.

‘I was pregnant, last year during the summer. I lost the baby.’

‘Christ, Becky…’

‘It’s OK, I didn’t want everyone to know. I didn’t even know if I wanted Alex to know; it all happened in a couple of days. Your wife, well, Lizzie was really nice to me about it; she really helped me to make sense of it.’

‘Did you end up telling Alex?’

‘Yes, and I’m so, so glad I did. He was fine with it, but you…well, you can never be too sure how people are going to react, can you? But I only got the courage to tell him because of Lizzie. I’m sorry boss, I really am, but I really did feel like I owed it to her, and I really didn’t either you or Sam would tell her.’

‘It would have been nice to make that decision myself, Becky.’

Becky didn’t reply, but she didn’t feel guilty: Marr could tell.

And why, in the end, should she? It was no-one’s place to talk about it. The only one responsible, in the end, was him. So, in the end, the question was whether or not he would have told Lizzie himself. If he didn’t, and he knew that it would stay a secret if he didn’t, would Marr have said anything?

The answer, swimming to the surface on his mind, was undeniable.

No, he wouldn’t.

He wouldn’t have said a damn thing, and would have gone to the grave not saying. And on his child’s birthday, and on her graduation day, and on her wedding day, and on his and Lizzie’s anniversary, he’d have still said nothing. Knowing, deep down, that he wasn’t really worthy of his family.

Marr sighed.

‘It’s OK, Becky; I know you were trying to do the right thing.’

He heard Becky exhale, and when she spoke she sounded a lot more relaxed.

‘Do you think Lizzie will be OK?’

‘Your guess is as good as mine. Only time will tell, and all that. How did she react when you told her?’

‘She just looked really sad.’

‘Did she believe you?’

‘Well, no. She asked me for proof, and I said that I didn’t have any, but that I’d talked to both of you about it.’

‘And then?’

‘She said thanks for telling me, and she asked me to leave. I tried to say that you really did love her, but she just laughed.’

Marr thought of the hollow laughs he’d heard Lizzie utter back at the house, and he almost shivered.

‘Jesus. Well, thanks for at least being honest about it. I was half worried you’d go on holiday for a week or something.’

‘I did consider hiding in the CSI lab, but Ray’s always down there.’

‘Can’t argue with that.’

‘Oh, and one more thing; case related.’

‘Go on.’

‘I found out who Caroline called on the burner phone.’

‘Shit, who? Coulthard?’

‘Well, it’s a house rather than a who. It was the Markhams.’

‘What?’

Marr sounded more surprised than even he expected.

‘Michelle and John Markham, Anna’s parents.’

Marr whistled.

‘Didn’t see that coming’ he said.

‘Do you want to go and see them now?’

Marr looked at the clock. It was half past eight.

‘No, leave it until tomorrow. I’ll come and pick you up tomorrow morning and we’ll go and ask them what they were nattering to Caroline about.’

‘Done. Do you want company this evening; I’m buying?’

‘No, thanks. I’m really not in a social mood. Rough day and all that.’

‘Got it. Hope you sleep OK.’

‘Me too, but I’m sure my good friend Jack will help out.’

Becky laughed.

‘He normally does. Do you want me to drive in the morning? I can always pick you up if you’re planning to have a headache.’

‘No, it’s OK, I’ll behave myself. Probably about time, too. Night, Becky.’

‘Goodnight, sir.’

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

Marr sent the text at about half past seven the next morning.

Change of plan, you drive.

The reply took little over a minute to come through.

Already filling up, be there in 10.

She really
was
on the ball, Becky. A cop that would probably go far. Or decide that she was too good for job. Either was fair.

Marr looked at his bedside table, where a half empty bottle of Glenmorangie was resting, along with a receipt from the hotel bar. Marr looked at the total cost, and his headache instantly got worse.

He showered and made his way down to the car park, where Becky was already waiting. Politely, she said nothing about his appearance.

‘Don’t ask’ Marr said.

‘I wasn’t going to,’ she replied.

The traffic was pretty quiet as they drove out to the Markham’s house. This time around, Marr found himself noticing how nice a house it really was. A real family home: the sort of place he’d like to retire to once he’d done his thirty years.

Assuming, of course, that he had anything resembling a family in thirty years.

It was Michelle Markham that opened the door. She looked slightly puzzled that two cops were on her doorstep.

‘Oh, hello,’ she said, ‘Can I help you?’

Marr replied.

‘Mrs Markham, we’re sorry for troubling you. I’m sure the last thing you want is to see us over and over again. Unfortunately we do need to talk to both you and your husband. Is he in as well?’

Michelle nodded.

‘Yes, of course. Come in; I’ll put the kettle on.’

Ten minutes later, the four of them were settled around the kitchen table. John Markham had dark circles under his eyes that Marr suspected weren’t much to do with tiredness.

‘You look like I feel, Inspector,’ he said upon seeing Marr’s similarly rough expression. ‘A friend’s 50
th
birthday party, Chelle was kind enough to agree to drive. Not an offer I’ll be taking up again for a whole. You?’

‘Something similar,’ Marr replied.

On the way over, Marr had wondered how easy it would be to find out who received the phonecalls from Caroline Marcus. Spouses or not, there was no guarantee that either one of them would own up to talking to their daughter’s potential killer, let alone the night before the murder had taken place.

Things turned out to be a little bit easier than Marr had expected. Whatever else John Markham might have been, he was
not
good at hiding things. When Sam pulled out the records from Caroline Marcus’ burner phone, his cheeks flushed. Michelle turned and looked at her husband; the look wasn’t returned.

‘Well, that makes things easier.’ Marr said, trying to keep the mood as light as he could. The last thing the Markhams needed was anymore stress.

Michelle was absent-mindedly touching the corner of the phone bill.

‘John,’ she said ‘I thought we were done with this; I thought it was over.’

John nodded, but still wouldn’t look at his wife. He reached a tentative hand out for hers, but Michelle pulled it away. Marr felt uncomfortable just sitting there, but there wasn’t anything he could do.

Tell the truth John
, he thought.
While you’ve still got the chance.

John looked at the record, the times and dates attached, as well as the length of phone call. There was little harm in him seeing: it wasn’t like he was even pretending it hadn’t been him who’d spoken to Caroline.

He did, though, still look hesitant.

‘Mr Markham’, Becky said, ‘I promise you that anything you’ve done is liable to be looked upon with sympathy. You just lost a daughter. It would be much easier if you could just tell us what you and Caroline talked about. You might even help us find out more about what happened the night Anna died.’

John finally brought his face up to meet Michelle’s. She nodded, and he turned towards Marr.

‘Caroline rang me to tell me about her and Greg. At first, she was in tears, all embarrassed. Almost hysterical. It took me a minute or two to even work out it was her: I nearly hung up. Eventually, though, she calmed down a bit. Started asking me if she could trust me, if I’d be able to help her. Initially, I thought she might have done something really stupid like taken pills or something. I mean, Anna had mentioned before that she’d been a bit troubled. I…well, I just wanted to try and help.’

Marr nodded, indicating John should continue, and he did so.

‘Anyway, she started saying that she was a horrible person, and that she didn’t deserve Anna as a friend. Then, after ten minutes or so of that, she told me that she and Greg had been sleeping together for years, and that she loved him. That she couldn’t live without him and that she wanted him to herself’

‘How did you react to that?’ asked Marr.

John shrugged.

‘How the hell are you meant to react to that? The day before the wedding? The first thought, aside from why the hell Caroline was calling me, was that she might be making it up. I mean, again, Anna said she had problems, you know? I just thought she might be feeling…well, a bit jealous.’

‘So, anyway, I asked her why she’d phoned me. And she said that it was because Anna always listened to me. She said that Anna wouldn’t believe it coming from Michelle, but that she would from me.’

‘Anyway, I wanted to get it all straight in my head, so I asked Caroline for more information. She seemed happy that I was asking; she probably took it as me definitely believing her. So she told me that she’d been sleeping with him on and off before he even met Anna. They stopped for a while when he and Anna first got together, but then after a few months he got bored with the relationship, and it started up again.’

John shook his head. He did look relieved to be letting this out. It must have been tough, lying to Michelle.

‘She said,
we tried as hard as we could to stop, but it just felt like it was meant to be
. Bless the girl, I think she saw it as destiny, rather than something that you could just stop doing if you chose to. She kept saying that she loved Greg, and that he loved her. After a while, I got a bit annoyed and just asked her outright why she’d called me rather than Anna.’

‘And what did she say?’ asked Sam.

‘She said that she wanted advice, on whether or not she should tell Anna about the affair before the wedding.’

‘And what did you say to that?’

‘Well, it was obvious enough. She was hoping that I’d do the telling: break the bad news for her. She might have thought she could deal with the fallout, but actually looking Anna in the eyes was something different altogether.’

‘Did you say that to her?’ Marr asked, receiving a shake of the head in reply.

‘Not as such, no. If it had been someone else I might have done, but Caroline didn’t seem quite stable enough. Some people can’t take home truths, can they?’

‘So I told her that it was probably for the best that she talked to Greg about it. After all, he was still planning to get married to Anna, so presumably did still love her. I said that she should talk to Greg and make him choose. I don’t think he’d have chosen Caroline, but it just seemed like the best way to keep everyone happy. I told her that, and then I cut the call. She tried to call back a couple of times, but I just repeated myself to her and hung up. Eventually, she gave up trying. And that was that.’

John turned to Michelle.

‘I’m really sorry, love. I didn’t want to keep it a secret but…I guess I just didn’t want Anna to find out. She was so looking forward to the wedding. I didn’t want it ruined.’

Michelle still looked upset, but her face had lost its tension. Marr exhaled as quietly as he could. The Markhams would be OK. In time, anyway. John really
had
been trying to do the right thing. He might have been stupid - well,
very
stupid - but it was because he loved his daughter.

‘I know, John. I know you were.’ His wife said, reaching forward to put her arms around her husband.

They both held each other, and Marr knew that it was time to leave.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Back out in the car, Marr felt frustrated and relieved at the same time. It was nice to know that John Markham hadn’t done anything too stupid. He really
was
a good man.

At the same time, they was now right back where they’d been forty-eight hours ago. Except now, the one decent lead they had had turned out to be nothing.

And there was something, somewhere still bothering him. Marr knew from experience that eventually it would click inside his head. He just hoped that the click happened before Caroline’s suicide inquest was held.

‘Do you think he was telling the truth?’ Becky asked as the car began to pull away.