02 Blue Murder (29 page)

“
Tell us,” Bhar urged Kyla
with surprising gentleness. “Start at the beginning. Early in the
evening, you had a row with Emmeline over Trevor Parsons. Did you
have a relationship with him?”

“
No!” Kyla
cried, eyes widening. “Trev was Emmeline’s. I’m her best—I
was
her best friend. We
have nothing in common now, but for years we were everything to
each other. I’d never let some guy come between us. Especially not
a guy like Trevor.”

“
What sort of guy is that?”
Kate asked.

Kyla made a derisive sound. “Thick.
Conceited,” she said. “There are guys like Trev on every street
corner. Most aren’t as good-looking, or as gifted at moving a ball
up the field. Otherwise, they’re exactly the same.”

“
So Trevor Parsons never
laid a finger on you, and vice versa,” Kate said.

“
I just said
that.”

“
Then what was the row
about? Between you and Emmeline?” Kate insisted.

Sighing, Kyla went to her purse, digging out
a pack of Marlboros and a lighter. Opening the window, she lit a
cigarette near the screen, directing the smoke outside. “Gigi has a
touch of asthma. Don’t want to make it worse. Anyhow … Trev always
had a wandering eye. You’ve met Phoebe Paquette?”

“
We have,” Bhar
said.

“
Trev got her pregnant and
legged it. Phoebe’s a cold one—don’t kid yourself, she’s no prize.
But she didn’t deserve to be left to raise Trev’s baby alone. When
Trev took up with Em, I reckoned she could keep him in hand. I was
wrong. Not an hour into the party, I went to the kitchen to bring
out another tray of snacks and there’s Trev getting fed a sandwich
by Phoebe. He’d just put his arms around her when I broke it
up.”

“
What happened next?” Bhar
prompted.

“
What do you think? Phoebe
said she needed the loo and waddled off. Trev slunk away like
nothing happened. I tidied up the kitchen in a sort of fog. Stashed
the sandwich and beers while I tried to decide if I should to tell
Em or not. It was none of my business,” Kyla said. “Still. If I’d
been in Em’s place, I would have wanted her to tell me. So I
did.”

“
And it blew up in your
face,” Kate guessed.

“
Of course. I tried to be
discreet, but Em was—well. A wee bit out of control, if you want
the truth. Then Trev turned up and accused me of lying because he’d
turned me down. And Em believed him.” Kyla broke off, laughing
incredulously. “After we’d been friends for so long. After sharing
so much. She knew about my sister Tessa, how she fell in love with
Sir Duncan and fell apart. I knew about her own family
skeletons.”

“
The Wardles are bankrupt,”
Bhar said. “And Emmeline’s been selling cocaine to help keep up
appearances, at least for herself.”

Kyla nodded, directing another plume of
smoke out the window. “But in the end, when it came down to Trev’s
word or mine, she believed Trev. Said I was mad, as mad as Tessa.
So I picked up the amphora vase. I knew what it meant to Em’s
family. I knew it was all they had left. But in that moment, I just
didn’t care.”

“
So you pitched it,” Kate
said.

“
Pitched it at Em’s head.
Lucky for her, I missed. The vase shattered on the
floor.”

“
What happened after that?”
Bhar asked.

“
Em called me names. So did
Trev. They both stormed off in different directions and I went
outside to get some air. That’s when I found Clive.”

“
Dead?” Bhar
prompted.

Kyla blinked. “Of course he was dead. Why
would I kill Clive?”

“
I don’t know. I don’t even
know why you moved his body,” Kate said. “Were you planning to
transport him off the premises in the wheelbarrow? Dump him a few
streets away?”

Kyla took another drag off her cigarette but
said nothing.

“
Here’s my theory,” Kate
continued. “You ran into the back garden, just like you said. You
found Clive’s body and realized the game you’d been playing with
Sir Duncan had suddenly turned quite real.”

“
What?” Kyla looked from
Kate to Bhar and back again.

“
When you found out Sir
Duncan had moved next door to your best friend, you decided to meet
with him. Maybe so you could confront him over your sister. Maybe
because you idolized him as a child,” Kate said, warming to her
theory even as it coalesced in her mind. “I’ve met Sir Duncan. He’s
very seductive. Hypnotic, even. Did you tell him about the people
who’d let you down? Emmeline, who cared more about a tosser like
Trevor than a lifelong friend? Clive, who was pestering you for
money? Because you did owe Clive money, didn’t you,
Kyla?”

For the first time, the young woman seemed
completely rattled. “Yes, I owed Clive money. Over two thousand
pounds. He was doing my assignments in maths and chemistry while I
skived off to do photo shoots. I’m trying to get a modeling
portfolio together. A way to support myself that will pay enough to
help all of us. Gigi will always need special care and Dad—Dad’s
lost everything. If I can’t keep us from losing the house, he may
even lose the will to live.”

“
Fair enough. And Sir Duncan
wouldn’t part with his own dosh, but he was willing to get rid of
your enemies, is that it?” Kate asked.

“
What? I never asked Duncan
for money. I wouldn’t take it if he offered! I barely know the
man!” Kyla cried, stubbing out her cigarette with a violence that
reminded Kate of Tessa.

“
Then why do the Wardle
house CCTV cameras show you and Sir Duncan standing near Clive
French’s body?” Kate persisted. “What was he doing at the scene of
the crime? Providing disposal tips? Or just moral
support?”

Kyla’s hand went to her mouth. For a moment,
Kate thought the young woman would burst into tears. Then she
stumbled to the bed and sat down, not speaking for several
seconds.

“
Are you going to arrest
me?” she whispered, voice shaking.

“
Ms. Sloane. Kyla.” Bhar’s
tone was so carefully neutral, Kate wasn’t sure if he was fighting
sympathy or rising anger. “Tell me the truth. Without it, there’s
no way I can possibly help you. Did you kill Clive French or Trevor
Parsons?”

“
No.” Kyla’s voice was
steady again.

“
Do you know who
did?”

She shook her head.

“
After what happened to
Tessa,” Bhar continued, still in that painfully neutral tone, “what
made you seek out Sir Duncan? Why go within a hundred meters of
him?”

“
I met him at Parkwood,”
Kyla said softly, not meeting their eyes. “Waiting to visit Tessa.
He was so kind. He actually listened to me, which is more than most
people do. I wasn’t just a pretty face to him.”

“
Of course
you were just a pretty face to him. You were
Tessa’s
pretty face,” Bhar snapped.
Kate, alarmed, put a hand up, willing him to remember who was the
good cop and who was the bad in this particular scenario. At the
same moment, her mobile rang. It was the “emergency” tone she’d
assigned for Ritchie’s carer and Henry’s school.

“
Everyone, calm down. Take a
break,” Kate said, hoping her suspicions about the call didn’t
prove correct. “I’ll just step outside the room to answer
this.”

***

“
W
ell?” Bhar appeared in the hall just
as Kate disconnected.

“
How is she?” Kate
whispered, nodding at Kyla’s bedroom door.

“
Scared shitless. Didn’t say
a word to me. Just stared into space. I hope—hope she doesn’t go
the way Tessa did.” Bhar pointed at Kate’s mobile. “What about you?
Problem?”

“
Yes,” Kate sighed, fighting
a wave of bitter frustration. How could she ever advance in her
career if her family life kept interrupting? “The bullies cornered
Henry during lunch again. Except this time, someone told him to
stand his ground and fight. So he did.”

Bhar gave a low whistle. “That took guts. Is
he hurt?”

“
I don’t know. He’s in the
school infirmary. I’m under orders to get there, now.”

“
Do it,” Bhar urged. “I’ll
take over. If the guv is free, he can accompany me to Molly
French’s house. Help me make sense of what Kyla’s said.”

“
She’s more or less already
admitted she’s guilty,” Kate said. “Guilty of obstruction at the
very least. You have to place her under arrest.”

“
I know. But not until I’ve
gotten as much as I can before the lawyers descend. Go on,” Bhar
repeated, jerking his head toward the stairs. “Rescue Henry. Catch
up with me and the guv at Mrs. French’s, if you’re
able.”

***

A
fter Kate departed, Bhar took another five minutes alone in
the hall before reentering Kyla Sloane’s bedroom.

“
My colleague was called
away,” he said, relieved to find Kyla looking mutinous rather than
vague. With that set to her features, she looked nothing like
Tessa, except for relatively minor details like height and hair
color. “I shouldn’t have said that. About you being nothing but
Tessa’s pretty face to Sir Duncan. It was …
inappropriate.”

“
You’re talking about
yourself. Not Sir Duncan,” Kyla sighed. “Don’t feel too bad. My
dad’s just like you. He wants to forget about Tessa. To put her
away in a compartment and move on with his life. But he can’t. Not
so long as I’m around, and he has to look at me.”

Bhar felt himself beginning to blush.
Fortunately, his complexion was so dark, he doubted Kyla would be
able to tell.

“
I believe you about the
fight with Emmeline. The vase. How you rushed into the back garden
to get away. I believe you found Clive dead and panicked. Tried to
cover it up. Was that for Sir Duncan’s benefit?”

Kyla nodded. “He’d been so kind to me. Even
tried to give me money, but I wouldn’t take it. So he gave me
modeling agencies to try. Agents I could send headshots to. When I
found Clive, I thought … I thought every terrible thing I’d ever
heard about Duncan was true. And he’d end up in Parkwood, just like
Tessa. I—I went wild. I dragged Clive into the wheelbarrow. But
even though he was a little guy, he was heavy—so heavy. I couldn’t
get far before I needed a breather. Then I saw the blood on the
ground and set the bonfire. But the wind kept picking up. I was
afraid I’d set the whole garden on fire. So I called Duncan, and he
came over. Talked sense into me. Told me to touch nothing else, run
into the house screaming and say I’d just found the body. He said
if I kept calm enough, no one would be able to prove I’d moved
things around.”

“
And you did it? Right
then?”

Kyla nodded.

“
Sir Duncan was in the back
garden when you ran into the house? And Trevor Parsons came down
the stairs with an axe in his head?”

“
When I came in, Trev was
already on the floor. Em was already screaming.”

“
So Sir Duncan was in the
garden with you at the exact time Trevor was being
killed.”

“
I guess so,” Kyla shrugged.
“I never thought about it. Even though I panicked when I saw Clive,
I knew in my heart Duncan never killed anyone. That’s why he got
off. It was all a mistake.”

“
A mistake?” Bhar snapped.
“Kyla, listen to me. Sir Duncan might not have been convicted, but
let me assure you, he’s killed at least a dozen people. He’s a
monster!”

“
No, he’s not! I’ve met
monsters,” Kyla cried. “You might not have them in your world, but
they’re around every corner in mine! You think Em’s mum cares about
anything besides money? You think a muscle-bound jerk like Trev
ever loved anyone but himself? Look at Phoebe Paquette, hooking up
with a coke dealer just to have some guy—any guy—at her beck and
call! He’s the coldest creep I’ve ever met!”

“
A coke dealer?” For a split
second, Bhar thought he’d heard Kyla wrong. “You
mean—Jeremy?”

Kyla stared at him. “My God! You don’t know
anything, do you? Jeremy dealt the coke! Clive was the courier! He
gave out free tastes in those stupid little key chains! When I told
Em I wanted nothing to do with Jeremy or his business, that was the
beginning of the end for us. All downhill from there.”

Bhar digested that. He would have to ring
Hetheridge. But he had one last question to ask.

“
Kyla. Did Jeremy dislike
Clive or Trevor? Hold a grudge against them? Hate them,
even?”

“
That’s what I’m trying to
tell you,” Kyla said. “All you can see is Duncan, but Jeremy’s the
real monster. He has no feelings at all.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

A
fat man with a grizzled beard waited outside Molly French’s
third-floor flat. Despite the late October chill, he wore a bowling
shirt, shorts, plastic sandals and black socks that came up almost
to his knees. He sat in a deck chair with a cricket bat balanced
across his lap.

“
Police?” he called as
Hetheridge and Bhar approached.

“
Indeed. I’m Chief
Superintendent Hetheridge. This is Detective Sergeant Paul Bhar.”
Ignoring the cricket bat’s implicit threat, Hetheridge put out his
hand. The fat man shook it like a prizefighter completing the
preliminaries before he came out swinging.