Dead Guilty Page 20

  She might be trussed up like a Christmas turkey right now, but she wasn’t giving up without a fight—

  Suddenly she heard a noise, a door opening and shutting somewhere in the building.

  Jade began to tremble as the footsteps neared the room and the door swung open. She braced herself, terrified of what was going to happen to her.

  Then he was there, right by the bed.

  ‘Hey, sweetheart, how are you?’

  She could feel him stroking her hair. She tried to move away, pulling herself out of his reach. Her chest heaved because she could barely breathe in the gag.

  ‘Hey, there’s no need for that.’ He sounded wounded. ‘I’m not going to hurt you. Here, let me take this off or you’ll choke.’

  His fingertips were gentle against her cheeks as he pulled off the tape masking her mouth. Jade let out a gasp, then gulped in huge mouthfuls of air.

  ‘Oh dear, you have got yourself in a state. I was going to suggest that tonight we have our first dinner together but, frankly, you’re a mess. I don’t want to sit opposite you looking like this.’

  ‘Please let me go,’ Jade begged. ‘I want to go home.’

  His answer chilled her to the core.

  ‘But, darling, you are home.’

  52

  Thursday

  Maggie awoke early after a decent night’s sleep but she still felt tired as she dragged herself into the shower and turned on the water full blast. After the drama of Tuesday and Declan’s confession over dinner, yesterday had been another mentally punishing day. Patricia had requested that the press conference due to take place early evening be postponed, until she and Philip were better able to face it, but the Director General of Police, whose press team was now involved, wanted to push ahead to get it out of the way. From what Maggie could ascertain, the police in Majorca had decided the subject of Jade’s disappearance would inevitably be raised during the press conference, but questions could easily be dealt with if they stuck to the line that she’d left willingly. If they waited any longer, more British media would arrive on the island and the press conference would become a bun fight for information. It was couched as concern for the Pope family, but Maggie could see it for what it was: them protecting themselves.

  Patricia, true to form, dug her heels in and refused point blank to participate, so Maggie had spent the day relaying messages between the two camps and imploring the Spanish police to dismantle the press conference area they’d set up on the seafront by the beach because the Pope family weren’t coming. It was only with half an hour to go that they finally believed her and the press conference was called off. Now relations between the Spanish and British police were tense to say the least.

  Maggie lathered a second application of shampoo into her hair. At least the debacle had given her the opportunity to show George she wasn’t treating his parents as meaningless. Their conversations yesterday had been perfunctory and confined only to the press conference, but he hadn’t seemed as angry with her and, when the event was finally cancelled, had expressed his gratitude for her tenacity in making the Spanish concede to his parents’ wishes.

  The problem now was the press conference had been rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon – only a few hours before the team had flights booked back to the UK. Any delay would mean her potentially missing her flight and not being at Umpire’s house when Lou and the kids arrived for their stay. She hadn’t had the chance to warn him that might happen as he’d been working late on a case. Nor had she rung Lou: she was hoping it wouldn’t have to come to them postponing as well.

  Her shower finished, Maggie stepped out of the cubicle and towelled herself dry. She was due to meet Walker, Shah and Paulson in forty-five minutes to catch up on what they’d been doing yesterday: beyond a brief exchange with Walker when she’d filled him in on her illuminating conversation with Declan, she hadn’t spoken to them all day. While she was dealing with the press conference, Walker had gone to Palma again to speak to the jeweller and Shah and Paulson were chasing up the other leads – including asking if any locals could remember seeing Declan on his phone to Tamara near the beach. Walker wanted them to now investigate the possibility he had called Tamara but was interrupted by Katy and had done away with her. His admission that he’d lied for ten years and had been sleeping with his girlfriend’s best friend behind her back had put him back in the frame for her murder.

  Meanwhile, Lyndsey Shepherd had been in touch to inform them Terry Evans wanted Clive Reynolds and Philip Pope prosecuted for assault, even though neither had actually laid a finger on him. It was taking all of her diplomatic intervention to make Evans realize why it might be callous to report them given what both men were going through.

  Shah was the only one already seated when Maggie arrived in the hotel dining area. Breakfast was an all-you-can-eat buffet, but her colleague’s plate was empty.

  ‘I daren’t get up or I’d have lost the table,’ he grinned. ‘It’s dog eat dog in here this morning.’

  Maggie could see what he meant: the room was busy with guests piling their plates high and tempers were straining as elbows grazed in the rush to serve themselves.

  ‘I’ll hold the table while you get something,’ she said. ‘I’m not that hungry.’

  Paulson and Walker appeared soon afterwards and made beelines straight for the large aluminium dishes bearing sausage, bacon and eggs. The thought of eating a cooked breakfast in thirty-degree heat turned Maggie’s stomach so when Shah relieved her of table-hogging duty she got herself a bowl of fruit and a pastry.

  The four of them seated, Walker dropped his voice to a hush and eyed the people at the table next to them, who were busy tucking into their own fry-ups.

  ‘I know this isn’t the best place to talk, but we need to get a clip on today, there’s a lot to chase up. My trip to see the jeweller proved interesting: he didn’t recognize the ex-con who’s moved nearby but he did mention a visit from someone else connected to the case: George Pope.’

  Maggie almost choked on the piece of grapefruit she was chewing. Shit, she should’ve informed him about George almost being arrested at the shop, instead of storing the information away until she’d spoken to him herself.

  ‘Apparently there was an incident a few months ago – George went to speak to the shop owner after the papers reported on me tracking him down and there was a bit of a row. So George apparently went back this week to apologize and while he was there he asked how difficult it would be to make a replica of Katy’s ring.’

  Paulson frowned. ‘Isn’t that what the suspect asked the jeweller ten years ago?’

  ‘No, the suspect wanted to know about the value of the ring. Besides, the jeweller says the man who went into the shop after Katy’s murder definitely wasn’t Katy’s brother. I’m just curious to know why he’s asking about a replica now.’

  ‘Why don’t I talk to him about it?’ Maggie interjected hurriedly. ‘I’ll be seeing him and his parents in a bit.’

  Walker nodded as he speared a piece of sausage on his plate with his fork and shovelled it in.

  ‘So, anyone got anything else interesting to share?’ he asked.

  Paulson said he’d drawn a blank trying to find witnesses who might have seen Declan calling Tamara, then Maggie told them about Annika from the restaurant reporting the incident of a man trying to drag her into his car.

  ‘She later decided she was mistaken and withdrew the allegation,’ Maggie finished. ‘But it might be worth following up.’

  ‘It does sound weird,’ said Paulson.

  ‘Any mention in the case file about it?’ Walker asked Shah.

  ‘No, boss, but I’ll see what I can find out. I’ve made a couple of decent contacts here now.’

  ‘Good lad. How did you get on finding out about Johnnie’s stay in Ibiza?’ he asked through another mouthful.

  Shah paused for a moment, then leaned into the centre of the table. The others did the same.

  ‘There was no stay. Johnnie
wasn’t there when he said he was.’

  53

  ‘What the fuck,’ exclaimed Paulson, loud enough to make people turn and stare.

  ‘Keep your voice down,’ said Walker furiously. ‘Are you sure?’ he asked Shah.

  ‘The family still own the house in Es Cana. I called the company that manages the property for them and they put me in touch with a woman called Marta Hernandez who was their housekeeper ten years ago. She is adamant Johnnie was never at the house during June 2009. In fact, she insisted the property was empty throughout that entire summer.’

  ‘So where the fuck was he?’ said Paulson, his voice lowered.

  ‘Well, I thought he might’ve stayed on his boat, but Marta said she would’ve known he was in Es Cana because the villa has a private jetty and that’s where he always moored. But that’s not the only reason.’

  The three of them leaned in even closer.

  ‘The girlfriend Johnnie was supposedly with? That was her daughter, Camila. They were in a relationship in 2009 – but they broke up two months before Katy was murdered. Camila was so upset she told him to sod off and stay away from Es Cana.’

  ‘So he lied back then and he’s lying to us now,’ said Walker.

  ‘He’s also British, like the man who accosted Jade and Mason at the bar,’ Maggie pointed out. ‘We should see if Mason is able to identify him.’

  ‘Hang on, let’s not get carried away. Why would Johnnie want to kill Katy in the first place?’ asked Paulson. ‘We need a motive.’

  Maggie spoke first. ‘If I had to choose any, it would be jealousy. The way he speaks about Katy, it’s clear he really cared about her. Maybe it went beyond a brotherly kind of love. Maybe he couldn’t bear that she was with someone else and wanted her for himself. He could’ve dumped Camila because he was hoping Katy would give him a shot, but when she turned him down he lost it. He said he knew she wanted to dump Declan so maybe he thought his chance had come at last.’

  ‘That’s a good enough motive for me,’ said Walker, putting down his knife and fork with a clatter. ‘But we’re on very dodgy ground if we show Mason a photo of him. See if you can get a better description for now. Then it might be worth asking Lara Steadman to see if she remembers seeing a man in the club who matches the same profile.’

  ‘She said she never saw who abducted her,’ said Maggie.

  ‘It’s worth a punt,’ said Paulson. ‘Try to get a better description of the flat from her too. If we can find out where it was, there might be a link to Johnnie. His parents have owned a lot of property over the years.’

  Maggie nodded. ‘I’ll call her.’

  ‘The one person who knows Johnnie better than anyone is George Pope,’ Walker mused.

  ‘I was going to talk to him on Tuesday about Declan, but then Clive Reynolds went after Terry Evans and since then I’ve not really seen him other than to discuss the press conference,’ said Maggie. ‘I can ask him about both of his friends today.’

  ‘Tread carefully. We don’t know how loyal he is to them and we can’t risk anything getting back to them,’ said Walker.

  ‘Boss, I’ve had a thought,’ said Shah. ‘We’re pretty certain that because of the email she was sent Lara Steadman was an early victim of the killer and had a lucky escape. What if there were more like her, but not in Saros?’

  Walker’s eyes narrowed. ‘Meaning?’

  ‘What’s to say the killer hasn’t used the same MO on other women in other places? I think we should be looking into finding similar crimes in Ibiza and the other two places where Hickman-Ferguson’s parents owned property.’

  Maggie’s breath caught in her mouth. The Popes were long-time friends of Johnnie and his family: it would devastate them to think he might have been involved in Katy’s death and now with Jade’s disappearance.

  ‘Excellent suggestion, Amit,’ Walker was saying. ‘Where are the other gaffs?’

  ‘There was a house in Menorca they had for about a year when Johnnie was at school, but they sold it to buy the villa here. They also rented an apartment in Palma for a time too. I’ve got the addresses though.’

  ‘Get on it, and you help him, Vince.’

  ‘We could always catch ferries across to those islands if we need to,’ Paulson said. ‘I think the one from here to Ibiza takes a couple of hours.’

  Walker thought for a moment. ‘Find out if one’s leaving for Ibiza today and get yourselves on it. I want the girlfriend tracked down – see if she had any concerns over the way Johnnie spoke about Katy. If he’s our man, I want every stone turned to prove it.’

  54

  George wasn’t at the apartment when Maggie arrived. In fact, he wasn’t even on the island.

  ‘He’s had to fly back to London for work,’ Patricia informed her. ‘I can’t imagine he’ll come back now. His trial is due to start on Monday.’

  It shocked Maggie how disappointed she was and she knew it wasn’t only because she’d missed the opportunity to quiz him about his two friends. She minded because she didn’t like how they had left things.

  ‘What about the memorial service, though? Don’t you want to still do something?’

  ‘There seems little point now,’ said Patricia resignedly. ‘After Tuesday’s debacle, it feels like the moment has passed.’

  Maggie could see she was upset and felt a huge surge of sympathy for the woman. ‘How about you and Mr Pope do something privately, just the two of you? I could arrange for some flowers for you to place by the pond, if you want?’

  Philip had been listening to their conversation. ‘That sounds like a lovely idea.’

  ‘The whole point was to make it a public event so people would remember Katy and be reminded of the fact her killer has never been caught,’ Patricia retorted.

  ‘I thought it was for us to remember her,’ said Philip quietly.

  Keen to avert another row, Maggie thought on her feet.

  ‘Why can’t it be both still? We could ask the reporter from the Press Association to attend on his own to take one picture that he can then circulate to all the other media.’

  Philip looked to his wife to answer first. Maggie thought Patricia was going to shoot down the idea, but to her surprise she nodded.

  ‘That would be perfect. Thank you.’

  ‘Shall I arrange some flowers, then?’

  ‘Actually, just one would be enough. A yellow rose, if they have it. Yellow signifies missing someone.’

  Maggie could see it was taking all of Patricia’s willpower not to lose her composure. The events of the last couple of days had cut deep.

  ‘I’ll call the florist now,’ she said, reaching into her bag for her phone.

  ‘The signal isn’t great in here,’ said Patricia. ‘You’re better off standing out on the balcony. The door is unlocked.’

  Maggie thanked her and went outside. She was expecting it to be busy down by the pool but there was only one person using it, an elderly woman slowly breast-stroking from side to side. It was still early, not quite ten.

  As she looked up the number for the florist and dialled it, she stood at the railing and watched the woman swim. The call went unanswered but didn’t go to voicemail so Maggie tried again and as she did so something in the pond closest to the apartment block caught her eye. It was pale and long and at first she assumed it was one of the huge carp that populated the murky depths. Then she realized it wasn’t moving, but was lying prone just below the surface.

  ‘Oh my God,’ she breathed. ‘It can’t be.’

  Dropping her phone and bag on the floor, she pelted back inside the apartment and ran for the door.

  ‘What on earth!’ Patricia exclaimed.

  ‘Call DCI Walker. Tell him to get here now,’ Maggie yelled, already out of the front door and halfway down the stairs. She ran along the pathway alongside the building and skidded to a halt as she reached the pond.

  Now, staring down at it, there was no mistaking what she’d seen from the balcony.

  Suddenly
she heard a voice behind her.

  ‘Is that . . . oh my God . . . is that someone’s hand?’

  Eyes wide with shock, Terry Evans clamped his own hand to his mouth to muffle the low moan coming from it.

  Swallowing hard, Maggie inched closer to the pond. She could see fingers, ghostly pale, reaching from the depths to graze the surface, then a slim hand and wrist and then—

  She stood bolt upright and exhaled, her body trembling with the release.

  ‘It’s not real.’

  Terry unclamped his hand.

  ‘What?’

  ‘It’s not a real hand. I think it’s from a shop dummy. Look, it’s got a join at the end.’

  Terry scrabbled closer to the pond, Maggie moving aside so he could see.

  ‘Oh, you’re right. Thank goodness. But who would do such a thing, knowing the Pope girl’s hand was dumped here? What a terrible, awful joke to play.’

  Maggie, still trembling from the initial shock, looked around. ‘We need something to fish it out with.’

  ‘Wait a minute,’ Terry interrupted. ‘What’s that on its finger?’

  She peered into the pond and saw he was right: there was something on the fourth finger. She knelt down, wincing as the sharp stone edging cut into her flesh, and reached out her own hand. The water rippled as she delicately took hold of the littlest finger and pulled.

  As the dummy hand broke through the surface of the water, they both gasped. There, on the fourth finger, was a diamond solitaire ring.

  Maggie looked up at Terry, who was ashen with shock.

  ‘Isn’t that an engagement ring?’ he asked.

  She didn’t answer him, fearing that if she did Evans would take her words and spread them around Saros and beyond. Because it was an engagement ring – and she was pretty certain it was Jade Reynolds’s.

  55