DS Jessica Daniel series: Locked In/Vigilante/The Woman in Black - Books 1-3 (73 page)

‘I know. Stupid, wasn’t it?’

Jessica stood and told him she’d be back in a moment. She returned shortly afterwards and put Carrie’s phone down on the table in front of them. The man shook his head as he gazed at
it. ‘Why did you come to look for it in the first place? You couldn’t have known it was there.’

‘I didn’t. It was instinct and a bit of an accident. It was just all the things that had gone wrong, I thought they were your fault.’ The chief inspector slumped slightly as
Jessica continued. ‘Sorry, but it was your decision to get all that stuff into the papers about Lee Morgan being corrupt and then you were so sure Robert Graves was one of the killer’s
victims. We put the wrong mug shot into the press and I don’t think we recovered from that.’

The man closed his eyes and shook his head. ‘You’re right but that’s why I told Carrie we had to call things off. The relationship was affecting my judgement.’

‘Then you kept talking about being grateful for these people being killed.’

‘Do I wish they were still around? Well, I’m not going to say I’m sorry they’re gone.’

‘They were still people though.’

The man nodded. ‘Maybe I was a little unprofessional in expressing my personal views.’

‘There’s more though. You had been in my office the day after Carrie was killed. Things had been moved around.’

‘That’s true. I knew Carrie was good friends with you. She said she hadn’t told anyone about our relationship but I figured if she’d told anyone, it would have been you.
It was an odd morning and I was a wreck because she’d just died but I couldn’t tell anyone. I didn’t know if you were in your office but it’s so bloody messy in there I
ended up sending all sorts of files flying. I thought I’d put them back but then sent another load tumbling.’

Jessica giggled gently. ‘Jason keeps telling me I should tidy my side.’

‘Is there anything else?’

‘You had her personnel file.’

‘You checked my desk?’

‘Um . . . yes. It was after I thought you’d gone through my things. I had gone up to your office but it was empty and, before I knew what I was doing, I’d gone through your
files.’

‘I guess I shouldn’t really be talking about correct protocol. I’d had that file for a while. Maybe it was a little paranoia on my part but she’d been talking about me
leaving my wife. I didn’t know if I wanted to and I just did something stupid by checking up on her. With the kind of things you read in the papers, there’s always that nagging thought
in the back of your head that someone’s after your money or whatever. I mean, look at her and look at me. She could have been my daughter.’

Jessica nodded but felt close to tears as the image of her friend’s face drifted into her head. ‘Why were you here?’ she said.

‘Paranoia, pure and simple. Ever since I saw someone had gone through my bins, I’ve been waiting for some sort of blackmail note or even someone to simply ask about it but it never
came. Like I said, if anyone knew about our relationship, I figured it would be you but you hadn’t said anything. You had asked about her phone records, then nothing. But you’ve not
been yourself the past few days, maybe longer. I thought I had seen your car around our estate once or twice. I’d convinced myself you were on to me and were going to try to expose the
relationship to destroy my career. I didn’t even know what I thought I was going to do here, it’s not as if I was going to break in or anything. I guess I just wanted to see where you
lived.’

‘So we’ve both been suspicious of each other this whole time?’

Farraday laughed this time, although it didn’t sound completely convincing. ‘Sounds like it.’ Jessica tried to smile but couldn’t force it. ‘Are you okay?’
her boss added. ‘I’m not trying to speak out of turn but . . . you look awful.’

‘I’ve been sitting outside your house almost every night since she died.’

‘You’ve what? Why?’

‘I’d wait on the wall of that house opposite yours, watching the lights and your gates. I don’t know why . . . I thought it was you. I guess I reckoned that if you
weren’t leaving your house then no one else would get hurt.’

He shook his head, seemingly not quite able to grasp what she was saying. ‘I don’t even know what to say . . . I wish we had talked to each other.’

‘I know. I’m just so tired.’

Farraday pointed to the phone on the table. ‘I think I should leave now and maybe we’ll talk more tomorrow? If you want to hand that in and say where you found it, I won’t deny
anything. Just get some sleep and come in when you’re ready. I’ll tell people you’re doing some work for me.’

Jessica wanted to say no but knew the one thing she needed above anything else was rest. ‘Will you call me if anything happens?’

‘Yes.’

She picked up the phone from the table and started playing with the sliding mechanism. ‘I’m not going to tell anyone about this but I don’t think I’m ready to let it go
either.’

The chief inspector stood and put the towel back down on the table. ‘Get some sleep, Jessica, I’ll see you tomorrow.’

She showed her boss to the door and locked it behind him before walking into her bedroom. She took off her clothes and climbed under the covers. Jessica let her eyes close but couldn’t
help but feel she’d forgotten something.

Jessica tried to look at the clock by the side of her bed but her eyes had a hazy greyness around them and she struggled to focus. Her arms were cocooned in the duvet cover and
she twisted one way then the other to free herself, sitting up in the bed. The time soon came into focus.

1.43.

She rubbed her eyes and wondered why there was a faint light drifting through her curtains if it was the early hours of the morning before realising it was the afternoon and that she had slept
for around sixteen hours. Jessica instantly snatched for her phone, hoping Adam had texted her. He had drifted into her dreams during the night but she had no idea how to fix things.

There were no text messages but there was an alert saying she had missed an alarm, which seemed pretty obvious. There were three missed calls, one from Farraday and two from Cole. She sat on the
edge of her bed and dialled the inspector, who answered straight away. ‘Jess, are you okay?’

‘Yeah, fine. I’ve just had some bits to do. Were you after me?’

‘Farraday was. He told me to keep calling you and to get you to meet him when you answered.’

‘Why? Where is he?’

‘He’s at the hospital. John Mills came out of his coma yesterday evening and his doctors say he should be able to talk to us at some point today.’

Jessica could barely move quickly enough, grabbing some clean clothes from her wardrobe, dressing and driving to the hospital. As she parked in a proper bay, she thought it seemed like such a
long time ago she had charged into reception after hearing Carrie had been hurt. So much had happened since then.

She tried to stay calm and followed the receptionist’s directions. As she kept an eye on the coloured lines on the floor and the signs on the wall, it occurred to her that a hospital
always appeared far bigger on the inside than the out. One corridor led into other identical-looking corridors and eventually, after asking for directions from two other people, she found her way
to a small ward that seemed miles away from where she had started.

There was a row of four seats outside a single door and Farraday was sitting on his own. He looked up as she approached. ‘Daniel . . . Jessica . . . how are you feeling?’

‘Good, I’ve slept all the way through from last night.’

‘You look better.’

‘What’s going on?’

‘He woke up late yesterday afternoon but the doctors had to do their tests and he needed more rest than you did. They’re shocked by how alert he is. Usually they’d make us wait
but apparently he’s been asking for us.’

‘Really?’

‘That’s what the nurse said. They’re forcing him to take it easy for obvious reasons. His girlfriend was with him for a bit this morning so they said we couldn’t talk to
him until this afternoon.’

‘He doesn’t come across as the type who usually talks freely to the police.’

‘No, but I presume no one’s tried to kill him before. Is everything okay after last night?’

‘I think so. It’s just going to take time to clear in my head. I’ve spent so long looking at you as the enemy.’

‘I’m sorry. I know I haven’t helped.’

‘I keep thinking I’ve forgotten something too. Something . . . important.’

‘About me?’

‘I don’t know.’

Their conversation was interrupted by a nurse walking through the door. She told them they could go through to speak to the patient but that they would have fifteen minutes and no more and
shouldn’t push him on any thing. Farraday assured her they weren’t going to be grilling the patient and would let him do the talking.

John Mills had a private ward to himself. As they walked in, he was sitting up on a bed in the middle of the room. An empty gurney was next to him but they were separated by some equipment that
was monitoring the patient. Jessica thought that the room, like the rest of the hospital, looked far larger than it actually was. The bright white walls reflected the overhead fluorescent strip
lights, helping the illusion.

Jessica thought Mills must have had a shaven head when he was stabbed but there were now tufts of dark hair growing. He would have been fairly muscular at some point too but his body looked
slightly out of proportion given the weight he must have lost in the past few weeks. As they entered, he shuffled further in his bed so he was fully sitting up.

‘Are you okay, Mr Mills?’ Farraday asked, taking a seat next to the bed. Jessica sat next to him.

‘Dunno, mate. Feel all right but I didn’t think there’d ever come a day when I was inviting you lot in for a cosy chat.’

‘You don’t have to talk to us, Mr Mills. We’re here because you asked for us.’

‘Yeah, I know. I guess things change when some mad twat tries to knife you, don’t they?’

‘What do you remember about that night?’ Jessica asked.

Mills shifted his eyes to look from the DCI to her. He seemed annoyed she had spoken but glanced back to the chief inspector to answer. ‘Which one of you is in charge?’

‘I’m not sure why that matters,’ Farraday said.

Mills bobbed his head from side to side. ‘Yeah, whatever.’

Jessica wondered if it was her specifically he had a problem with, or women in general. It would explain his girlfriend’s black eye if he simply didn’t like females.

The patient carried on looking at the chief inspector as he spoke. ‘Well, boss, I’d just got home and parked my truck on the drive. I’ve got this American-style open-backed
thing. Absolute beauty. Anyway, I’d gone around to the back of it because I’d been out on, er, business.’

‘Did you regularly get home at that time from
business
?’ The DCI coughed as he spoke the last word and Jessica fought to stifle a smile.

‘Sometimes, yeah. Maybe a couple of times a week? It all depends what’s going on that particular week. I’d gone around to the back and thought I heard a noise behind me. As
soon as I turned I felt someone coming at me. It was pretty dark and he was just a shadow at first.’

‘Was it definitely a man?’ Jessica asked.

The man laughed. ‘Fuck me, love, do you think I’d let some bird do this to me?’ He pointed towards the mark on his neck and shook his head dismissively.

‘Okay, Mr Mills, what happened?’ Farraday said and Jessica could tell he was trying to keep his tone steady.

‘Right, well, this chancer came flying at me and nailed me in the neck as I turned. He must have been waiting or something. One on one and he wouldn’t have stood a chance but cowards
use weapons, don’t they?’

Jessica wondered if he thought really brave men used their fists to beat up their girlfriends but said nothing.

‘Anyway,’ Mills continued, ‘he pulled back to do me again but I smacked him straight on the jaw and he went down. I was trying to get to my feet but couldn’t breathe
properly. Before I knew it, that bird from down the street . . .’

‘Carrie,’ Jessica interrupted. ‘Detective Constable Carrie Jones.’

The man looked sideways at Jessica. ‘Yeah, her. She came out of nowhere and tried to get involved. I’ll give her credit, considering she’s a girl, she was fearless.’

‘What do you remember after that?’ Farraday asked.

‘Not much. A bit of the ambulance, then waking up here.’

‘Do you know she was killed saving your life?’ Jessica snapped.

Mills looked straight at her but this time genuinely did seem surprised. ‘No . . . I . . . no one said anything. I figured she scared him off or whatever.’

‘She was stabbed three times and died that night.’ Jessica was struggling to control the anger and emotion in her voice. ‘Do you remember the girl you bullied, the one
you’d watch and intimidate because she was a police officer and you’re such a big
fucking
man? Remember her? She died and you’re here.’

The man in the bed struggled to pull himself up further in the bed. ‘I didn’t know . . . ’

Farraday spoke next, defusing some of the tension. ‘I guess all we have left to ask is if you would recognise the man who stabbed you?’

Mills’s tone had changed and he spoke far more softly. ‘Yeah, I mean it was dark but you don’t forget a face like that.’

Jessica blinked back tears but listened to the description of the killer. She remembered the crucial question she had forgotten to ask the chief inspector the previous evening and knew instantly
who they were looking for.

The killer knew he’d blown it. He hadn’t meant to harm the female police officer but, when she’d come at him, he had no other option. With all the noise, he
hadn’t even risked finishing off that animal Mills. He had been worried about how the papers would talk about him after such a mistake. He’d hoped they would understand the woman was an
accident, collateral damage, as part of a wider project.

Instead they hadn’t, they changed their minds and decided he was the problem. He hadn’t known if he could continue working through his list and thought it would be a good idea to
keep his head down for a little while and then maybe make a comeback when people had begun to forget about him.