Chapter 23 - The Plan
Sue woke early, her shoulder aching. In an unfamiliar room, with the light coming from the 'wrong' side of the bed, she quickly remembered why she was there. Wide awake now, she dragged herself upright with one arm, and crept to the bathroom. No sound came from the main bedroom, so she decided to help herself to coffee and biscuits in the kitchen.
Kim joined her half-an-hour later, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "I can't believe how well I slept," she yawned. "Must have been the policeman outside!"
Sue got up and went to the lounge to have a look out of the window. "Was it a skinny young one? This one looks about twelve," she remarked. "No, he must be the morning shift," Kim replied. "The one I saw last night was solid-looking, I reckon he was middle-aged, from the way he walked. By the way, how did you know it was a man who got in?"
"Eh?"
"When he ran away you said 'He's getting away' and 'Stop, Thief' - how did you know it was a man, he had that mask on!"
"You're right - how did I know?" Sue wondered. After a minute's thought she said, "It's just like you said about Steve and the picture - I didn't notice consciously, but it was something about way he ran, and the smell!"
"The smell?"
"Yes, when I had a hold on his top, it smelled of male sweat! You know, like he didn't have his mum doing his washing, and had no idea how often he ought to clean his clothes."
"Charming," Kim yawned again. "I'd better make a start on looking for anything missing. What time do you think the Inspector will come round?"
"Time! I'm supposed to be at work soon!" Sue yelped. "Do you think Fiona will accept a bruised shoulder as an excuse for throwing a sickie?"
"You have had a shock, and the police might want to interview you about yesterday," Kim offered helpfully. "Phone James, he'll give you authorisation. You can't exactly drive there, or type, with your arm in a sling."
At half past ten, Inspector Helford and Sergeant Dean rang on the doorbell. It was a clear sunny day after the cloudy night before, and when Kim opened the door she noticed a Water Board van parked just up the road. Two men in overalls were lifting manholes and prodding down the holes with long poles.
Sue, surprisingly freed from work by Fiona after explaining that her arm was in a sling, was helping Kim search. "She didn't even ask how I got injured, typical!" Sue complained. They had been through the house looking for other places documents could be hidden, but they had found nothing. The disorder left behind by the intruder had been easy to tidy away, and Kim was fairly sure nothing had been taken. In concurrence with that, the Inspector told her that nothing had been found on the perpetrator.
"Who is he?" Sue demanded, before Kim could ask. Dean joined in the conversation, replying, "We don't know, he refuses to tell us anything."
"What did you find on the maps and papers?"
"Ah," said the Inspector in a tone of significance. "That's what we came to talk to you about. I need to speak to you alone, Mrs Coulthard."
Kim glanced at Sue, and made a rueful face. Sue left the room and went with Dean to the kitchen. There they made coffee, chatted and laughed, but all the time Sue's mind was in the lounge, worried about Kim and desperate to know what was going on.
The lounge door opened and the Inspector came into the kitchen. "I'm going to ask my Sergeant to drive your car home for you - with you in it, Miss. Nothing personal, you understand, but I need you safely out of the way while we make some inquiries."
Sue sighed. "OK, but please take care of Kim. She's been amazing so far, but one more fright and she'll go over the edge."
Helford nodded. "Please trust me - I have your friend's best interests at heart."
In the passenger seat of her own car, with Dean at the wheel, she asked him, "Do you know what the Inspector is up to?"
"Sue, you know I can't tell you. But I promise as soon as it's done, I'll ask Mrs Coulthard to call you. I'm well aware you are worried about her. We know what we're doing, honestly!"
So Sue had to stew at home, while back at Kim's house a strange plan was unfolding. The Inspector showed her one of the A4 sheets found behind the photo, and she read it with increasing amazement. When she finished, she had many questions, and he answered them as well as he could. "But that's the problem," he told her. "We don't know for certain, we can only guess. We need you to help up get the proof."
After another hour, during which she got over the worst of the horror and fury which followed the initial astonishment, she was ready to help in the plan. A complex new phone had been plugged into the socket by the window, and the settings adjusted to allow each conversation to be relayed into the room via a speakerphone, and also recorded. She picked up the phone and called the number the police gave her. "No reply," she whispered. "Should I leave a message?" The Inspector shook his head, and she replaced the receiver.
As the Inspector contemplated his next move, the phone rang again. He nodded, and she picked it up carefully, as if it was alight. To her relief, it was James calling from Southcliff Hall to see if she was all right. He'd called the hospital, and been told she was home. Helford wrote on a pad 'Talk naturally', and she did, although she found it difficult.
James told her that she must stay home and not come back to work until she was quite sure she could cope. She thanked him. Then he went on to relate an amusing story about the latest nonsense at the Council - the case of a street trader selling hot potatoes in the main shopping street, who became very upset when told he couldn't continue without a licence. The trader had appealed to the Council, claiming that potato selling was an ancient right under mediaeval law. It was to be pointed out to him in a formal reply that potatoes were unknown in England in the Middle Ages, having been introduced into England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, allegedly by Sir Walter Raleigh.
Kim laughed dutifully, and was about to end the call when James mentioned that the history of the potato had just been handed to him by a certain Councillor. Kim froze, and the Inspector scribbled furiously on the pad 'Ask to speak to him'.
James was happy to oblige, and went away from the phone to call the Councillor back upstairs. His pleasant, concerned voice came on the phone, asking how Kim was progressing. She told him that she was fine, and asked if he could please visit her at home, as she had found something her husband had left hidden. "I need you to explain it to me, please," she said in a strained voice.
The Councillor was silent for a moment, then replied, "I can't imagine what it is - but of course I will help, as soon as I can make a space in my diary. Would tomorrow afternoon be all right?"
Kim looked at the Inspector, and he nodded. "Yes, tomorrow will be fine. Thank you." Her voice sounded icy and unfriendly. Perhaps he would guess, and not show up. She put the phone down carefully.
"Have I blown it?" she asked anxiously.
"No, not at all. You reacted as he would expect - suspicious, but not sure."
"Do you think he'll come? I'm sorry, I should have insisted he come immediately. Now you'll have to come back tomorrow."
"We're not going anywhere, Mrs Coulthard. He was heard by James Goswell to say he would visit you tomorrow. He can't afford to let you show that paper to anyone else, so he'll have to set up something as soon as possible. And he'll need to give himself an alibi, so if he plans to give you problems it will not be tomorrow when he would be a suspect. I expect him - or someone he sends - to come today."
"Do you think he sent the man yesterday, to look for the maps and papers?"
"I'm not sure, but if so, he will know the police could be looking after you for a while. So we'd better be seen to remove ourselves. We'll be there, though - go and look in your back garden!"
In accord with this plan, the Inspector went outside and publicly sent away the officer on duty at the front gate. Kim was reassured when two men appeared outside the back door holding up police identification cards. She let them in, and she recognised the overalls they w
ere wearing. "Oh! The water board men!" Kim exclaimed.
Helford, returning from the front door, grinned. "We had to get someone inside here discreetly." Then he accompanied Kim to the front door, said an obvious farewell to her, waved one last time at the gate and got into his car and drove away. Kim didn't know what to do next, so she put the kettle on for a cup of tea. Sergeant Rice and Constable Chambers were quite happy to be entertained, and they at round the kitchen table until one-thirty, when the doorbell rang again.
Suddenly the two policemen jumped up and hid behind the half open kitchen door. "We'll be listening, so leave the lounge door open, and don't forget to turn on the little blue switch for the microphone," Rice whispered to Kim.
Kim felt her fingers shaking as she turned the knob to open the front door. "Please come in," she told the Councillor.
He followed her towards the lounge, politely enquiring about her health. She decided to take control of the situation by stating, "First I want you to read the letter I found," before they reached the lounge door. She picked up the A4 sheet from the coffee table, and as he began to read it she discreetly flicked the blue switch the police had shown her.
"This is a copy," he commented dryly when he had finished reading and placed it back on the coffee table.
"Yes, of course - I have put the original in a safe place."
"How have you had time to copy it? You said you'd only just found it."
Kim was ready for this. She pointed to a state-of-the-art printer copier in the corner of the dining area, next to the powerful computer set-up her husband had once owned.
"And where is the original?"
"I told you, in a safe place."
He looked at her with hard eyes. She had never seen that look on his face before, and it was incredibly frightening. Gone was the care and concern he had always displayed, and in their place was cold calculation, determination to overpower her will with his own.
"Fetch it," he commanded in a voice of steel.
"I - I don't have it here.....it's not in the house....."
He seemed to know that she was telling the truth. He thought for a moment, then nodded knowingly. "Your little friend Sue.....of course. That's why she let the police take her home. I thought it was odd, a nosey creature like her allowing herself to be removed from the action. So the police know what you've found."
"No, I wanted to ask you about it first. They have been useless in finding out what happened to my Steve, they never wanted to investigate all those months ago. Why should I give them any help now? He's dead, and nothing can bring him back." Her voice rose with apparent passion, although nerves played the major part. "I want to know why he died, and I'm going to find out without their help. Anyway, how do you know Sue went home with the police?"
"You don't realise who you are talking to, my dear. I have plenty of people in this village who will tell me what is going on. This is my village, I have run it for many years now, and I intend to carry on. You and your fellow employees at Southcliff Hall are just working for me, though you don't recognize it." His eyes glittered with delight at his own wickedness. "So little tubby Sue has the original. You have been very stupid, very unwise for a woman of your intelligence. You should have told the police while you had the chance. Sit down."
She obediently sat, as if hypnotised by the force of his character. He took out a mobile phone, and called someone, who he addressed in a sharp tone. "Sue Cheam - yes, you know, works as some sort of secretary at Southcliff Hall. Lives round the back of the Farthing estate, one of the flats. Look for a document." He rang off, and turned his attention back to Kim. With a steely glare, he sat down on the armchair near where she sat on the end of the sofa. For the first time, she noticed that he was wearing driving gloves, an incongruous detail indoors in the warmth of August. He reached for her wrist and held it in a vice-like grip. Suddenly she realised what he was going to do, almost on cue as his free hand extracted from his pocket what appeared to be a pen-knife. With an expert flick the knife sprang open - even in her terror Kim realised it was specially made as a weapon.
"You expect me to believe that you told the police nothing about this?" He waved the knife at the A4 sheet on the coffee table. Kim had been thinking at speed since realising he would not easily accept that statement. She decided to stick as close as possible to the truth.
She gazed at him with a look of fear, hoping he would think he was terrifying her into telling the truth. "I found the letter before the police came this morning, and when I realised it was from Joey to Steve, I wanted to show you and get an explanation. You know what the police are like, they take everything away and I wouldn't be able to do anything myself. So I copied it, and asked Sue to hide the original in her handbag. When the police came, they told me that the man they had arrested last night wouldn't talk, and they asked me to keep looking for whatever he had been after. I promise I gave them nothing at all. I told them I'd left a window open, and he was probably just an opportunist thief. I suppose if you know everything that's going on, you know about him too. Who was he?"
"An idiot," replied the Councillor with contempt. "All along I have been let down by fools, Have you any idea how difficult it is, knowing exactly what needs to be done, but having to depend on brain-dead morons to carry things out? First, that blazing idiot Chewter, making them put the bodies in the basement. What possessed him? Oh, yes, my dear, you may as well know everything. That's what you want, isn't it? You want to know why Steve had to die? He interfered, he and his limp-wristed friend. Between them they worked out that there was a problem with the land over the Edge, but I had decided that the village needed expansion. Without expansion, my lovely village will decline, and be swallowed up by those mediocre minds at Frayminster Council. I had put in many months of hard work to get the Egron deal set up. I've worked with them before, and I knew there was enough greed in the directorship there to keep them moving despite any survey. You understand, we had to bury the survey and bury your dear husband too. He really was a silly man, pestering us with phone calls. The nancy-boy had tried to get Chewter to look at the survey, but I had Chewter on a tight rein. Then he tried to speak to Alfred Wentley, but he rang me right away. They all defer to me, all of those doddering fools. Then your husband got involved, called me one night, so I told him not to worry, I would look at the survey and get the Council to block the Development if there was any danger. He believed me, of course. You all trust me, don't you? I only have the best interests of the village at heart."
Kim stared, appalled, and remained silent. He continued, calmly, as if he was explaining the necessity of having an injured cat put to sleep. His gloved thumb began to stroke the inside of her wrist. She felt sick and dizzy with fear.
"Your husband was intercepted on his way to the airport. The car that took him away was driven by one of my men. He was called up on his mobile and told that a quick meeting had been arranged with us at Southcliff Hall, and he asked the driver to go there first. I had it all under control, all timed to perfection. Joey Fisher was also collected by one of my men, with a similar story. Of course I didn't go myself, and neither did Wentley. All that worked perfectly, but Chewter had this scheme up his sleeve. You must understand, I knew nothing about what happened next. I intended them to be driven round the back of Southcliff Hall, it's so nice and isolated there early on a Saturday morning. They had to be disposed of, and then the bodies dumped miles away. You would have known you were a widow quite soon, and you would have been over it by now. I might even have taken you on....." The deranged eyes looked at Kim with something like pity, but the grip on her wrist never relaxed for a moment. He continued, "When nothing came to light, I assumed the bodies had been too well hidden in the countryside, and would be found eventually. I wanted it to look like a suicide pact between gay lovers, since your husband was stupid enough to tell me Joey Fisher was gay. He was actually worried I'd be prejudiced
by the camp behaviour of his creepy friend, and wouldn't take the survey seriously. So, gay lovers - it was a gift of a story, you almost believed it yourself, didn't you?"
"No, never quite...." Kim whispered. She knew she must get him to go on with his vile story. "What - what was Chewter's plan?" she stuttered.
"He actually wanted to blackmail us. The slimy little toad had the idea of hiding the bodies, and making us pay until he decided to reveal where they were. He must have been waiting for the cars when they got to the back of Southcliff Hall, and said there had been a change of plan. It's taken me all this time to find out which of the morons down the food chain actually fell for this rubbish. As if I would change the plan at the last minute! When I plan, there is never a need to change anything. So it seems, my dear, the stupid pair found themselves not only dealing with the removal of your husband and Mr Fisher, but they also had to carry them to the basement and hide them. I assume they had to get the breeze blocks for him as well, and make the wall. If not, Chewter must have built it himself. I hope it nearly killed him, all that work for a fat pig like him. And how insulting - to pretend I would come up with such a ridiculous plan!"
"I don't understand - why did Chewter end up there too?"
"Good heavens, you don't think I would lie down and let myself be blackmailed? That blustering fool Wentley might, but I paid only until I could let the dust settle, and formulate another plan to get rid of him. He managed to get himself removed from his job, and I wondered if he would stop then, but of course he needed money all the more. His demands grew tiresome. So I arranged for my foot soldiers to go into action again. How was I to know the same two idiots would get used? That's the problem that keeps coming up - lesser minds, further down the chain of command. It only takes one weak link......anyway, they had some kind of problem with their vehicle, and just dumped him down in front of his own construction. Poetic irony, I believe you would call it?"
Kim held her breath, realising he actually expected her to laugh, or to sympathise with him for having to deal with incompetence. He had to be completely insane. What more did she need to ask him? Clarity of thought was surprisingly easy, with adrenaline pumping through her veins.
"Alfred Wentley? Why was he easier to blackmail?"
"You may as well know, as it will be satisfying to have the whole picture before you join your husband. It will be as quick and painless as I can manage at short notice, I promise. You do understand, I cannot allow you to live - or your friend Sue. Of course, your death will be easy to explain - so depressed, you cut your own wrists. Sue - ah, little fat Sue - what shall we say about her? If I'd only had more time, I think I'd have set her up as the murderess. Yes, a nice little confession, perhaps saying she killed your husband because he wouldn't run away with her...." He looked at his watch. "She will have been disposed of by now, but I'll think of something."
Kim nearly choked, and her whole body began to tremble. She wanted to speak, but the only sound that came out was "Aaah...". He tightened his grip. "Al? I'll tell you about Al, my dear, then we'll get this unpleasant business over and done with quickly. Alfred Wentley, you see, was after......."
With a crash the two policemen burst into the room, shocking the Councillor into letting go of Kim's wrist. She leapt away from him, flinging herself to the other end of the sofa and rolling off onto the floor. He recovered from his surprise and tried to reach for her and wield the knife, but it was knocked from his grasp by a swift chop on the arm by Sergeant Rice. Constable Chambers grabbed his elbows, and the Sergeant slapped on handcuffs at lightning speed. The Councillor was on his knees, bent forward over the coffee table, his face near to the A4 sheet. Kim scrambled across the carpet and turned round to look at him, held safely in the grip of the two officers. His face was contorted with impotent rage, as he stared at the letter that had brought about his downfall.
Kim gasped out, "Sue! He knows where she lives, he's sent someone to kill her!"