The Stranger You Know (41 page)

‘But you think he might talk to you for old times’ sake.’

‘It’s worth a try.’

‘No, it’s not. He’s killed four women. Four.’

‘If he killed them, why is he here?’

‘Because he’s arrogant enough to think he can get away with it, maybe. Because he knows we’re after him and he’s trying to do this on his own terms.’

‘When the others find out he’s here, he’ll be charged with murder and I won’t get near him, do you understand? This is the only chance I’m going to get.’

‘Sir—’

But he was gone, pulling the door to slam behind him, leaving me on the wrong side. I waited for the receptionist to unlock it, fuming. I didn’t know what to do. Call Godley and tell him what Derwent was doing? Try to persuade Derwent to stop committing career suicide? Go and sit in the same room so I could at least go and get help when Vinny kicked off, as he probably would?

Derwent had been reckless before. He fancied himself as a bit of a maverick and bull-headed wasn’t the word for him: he truly believed he knew the right thing to do at all times. He wasn’t going to listen to me, or anyone else. And if Vinny had come to finish off the job Shane started, he was offering him a golden opportunity. Pushing through the door I ran down the corridor, almost colliding with a couple of PCs who pressed themselves against the walls to get out of my way.

Derwent had taken Vinny to the little meeting room where we had been waiting. I opened the door quietly, wary of what I might find. The television was still on, though muted, and Vinny was standing there, staring at it with his hands in his pockets and a frown on his face.

‘Have you searched him?’ I asked Derwent, who shook his head and moved towards him.

‘Come on, Vinny. Coat off.’

He obliged without making a fuss, pulling off his cap too and submitting to Derwent’s quick but thorough pat down.

‘Nothing,’ he said to me.

I wasn’t actually all that reassured. It was all very well, Vinny not carrying a weapon, but he’d been an infantry soldier and was trained in unarmed combat. I watched his hands, wished Derwent would stay out of range, and took up a position by the door so I could make a quick escape.

‘Right,’ Derwent said. ‘Sit down.’

Vinny sat. Without the coat and hat I could see him properly. He was rugged rather than handsome and heavy-jawed under stubble that was getting towards being a beard. His expression was open and honest and I thought of the four women who had died, and how they had trusted their killer, and I cautioned myself not to fall for it.

‘Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to talk, the three of us, and you’re going to tell us what’s been going on since you got yourself in trouble in Afghanistan.’

He nodded.

‘As soon as someone realises you’re here, you’re going to be arrested. So let’s make it quick.’

‘All right,’ Vinny said. ‘I’ll do what I’m told if it gets Shane off the hook. I’ve got nothing to fear anyway. I didn’t do anything.’

‘You and Shane are doing a fine job of looking guilty,’ Derwent said. ‘There’s nothing much I can do to help. I won’t be involved in the interviews – they’ll keep us apart.’ He glanced at the screen. ‘I wasn’t allowed to talk to Shane at all.’

‘Probably just as well,’ Vinny said. ‘He’s got a bit of a bee in his bonnet about you.’

‘He broke into my flat and tried to kill me.’

‘Yeah, I thought that was the sort of stupid thing he’d do. I tried to stop him.’

‘Thanks. Next time, try harder.’

‘Fuck you,’ Vinny said pleasantly. ‘You haven’t changed at all, have you?’

‘I’m just saying, you didn’t do a very good job.’ Derwent sat on the edge of a table, propping his injured leg on a chair. ‘Right. No bullshit now. Why did you come here?’

‘To see her.’ He nodded at me. ‘Because she rang the priest who runs the place where I live and he told me she’d been asking for me.’

Damn
. And he’d had time to get rid of any evidence he liked since Shane went missing. I could see this one going west, and fast.

‘What happened in Afghanistan? Why did you decide to play dead?’

Vinny grimaced. ‘I fucked up. There was this man I’d got to know, a local, but he was all right. Same age as us but he had three daughters and four sons. The oldest girl was fifteen. The boys were all under ten. Nice family. No money, but no one has any money there. They had some goats, I think. And some land.’

‘And the oldest girl was raped.’

‘No.’ Vinny sighed. ‘It was the youngest girl. The eleven-year-old.’

‘Shit.’

‘She was just a little kid. The guy who did it was a twat – I’d come across him a few times on patrol and he was always trying to annoy us so we’d beat him up and he could claim compensation. He had pretty good English – I don’t know how because the only thing he ever heard from us was “piss off”. His family were having a boundary dispute with the girl’s dad, and he boasted about raping the girl to teach him a lesson. He said he’d made her worthless and he’d do the same for the others. The local police didn’t want to know – they had enough to do just trying to keep the place relatively civilised. It’s a crazy country, mate, you can’t imagine.’

‘So you decided to intervene,’ I said. I was watching Maitland and Burt who were still plugging away. It was getting late. They’d be finishing soon. All I needed was for them to find us talking to the chief suspect behind closed doors.

‘I was only going to talk to him.’ Vinny shook his head. ‘I can’t explain it. I went mental. He just didn’t care. He was talking about how much he’d enjoyed it. He said she was
tight
.’ His hands spasmed into fists and I could feel the heat of anger radiate off him.

‘I heard you ripped him apart.’ Derwent’s voice was neutral. I actually didn’t know if he approved or not.

‘I lost it. I just wanted to make him suffer. And I wanted to stop him from ever doing anything like that again.’ Vinny put a hand up to his forehead, a tremor visible in his fingers. ‘I can’t really believe I did that. I was covered in blood, and I was kicking him, and suddenly I heard what he was saying and I stopped.’

‘What was he saying?’

‘He wanted me to kill him. He was begging me.’

‘But you didn’t.’

‘I carried him to our camp and found a medic. He was airlifted to Kabul. Got the best medical treatment the British Army can offer, not that it did him much good.’

‘Why didn’t you kill him?’ Derwent asked.

‘Couldn’t. Not like that. It would have been murder, not a fair fight.’

Oh, very virtuous
, I thought. ‘Why weren’t you arrested?’

‘It got hushed up. My CO didn’t want a trial in case it turned the locals against us. They wanted to handle it their way, anyway – they didn’t care if we had a court martial or not. I had a price on my head. It was too dangerous for me to stay in Helmand.’ Vinny looked up at Derwent. ‘I wasn’t scared, Josh. But if I’d been on patrol and we’d come under attack and someone else had got injured or killed, because of what I did, I’d have been responsible.’

‘So you quit.’

‘I quit.’

‘Why didn’t you tell anyone? Why did you play dead?’

Vinny shook his head and looked away. ‘It was my folks. I didn’t want them to know.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I didn’t want them to know I had fucked up. The only thing I’ve ever done right was the army. They were so proud of me. They thought I’d turned my life around, found my feet, all that. I couldn’t tell them that I was back to nothing.’ He pushed up his sleeve and showed off a tattoo across one massive forearm:
Death Before Dishonour
.

‘But they must have mourned for you,’ I said. ‘How could you do that to them?’

‘It’s a big family. Eight of us, and most of the others are married. Loads of grandkids. They wouldn’t miss me.’

‘I don’t think that’s true,’ Derwent said quietly. ‘I remember your mum. She wouldn’t forget about you.’

‘Do you see your family?’

Derwent flinched. ‘No. Not since.’

‘So you know sometimes it’s better to walk away.’

‘I didn’t get a choice.’

‘I didn’t think I had one either.’

I moved to interrupt the pity party. ‘How did you convince them that you were dead?’

‘I’d changed my next of kin to my girlfriend before I went back the last time. We split up while I was there but I got her to tell them she’d been notified that I was dead.’

‘No body, though. No funeral.’

‘The story was I’d been doing something covert and top secret when I died, so for reasons of national security they couldn’t admit publicly that I was dead, or the circumstances.’

‘And your parents believed it?’ Derwent’s eyebrows were up around his hairline.

‘Yeah. Apparently. I think they liked the idea I was someone important, doing something brave and risky. And they were used to keeping their mouths shut about what I was doing in the army.’

‘Why did you come back to London?’

‘I didn’t have any money. I didn’t know what else to do.’

‘Is that why you got in touch with Shane?’

‘Yeah. We had an agreement, the two of us, that if either of us ever got in trouble, the other one would do whatever it took to help out. Shane was so glad I was alive, he was well on for giving me a job and a bit of extra cash here and there.’

‘What was the plan?’ I asked. ‘You came back and Shane put the bar on the market. Where was he going to go?’

‘Thailand. We were going to open a bar or a restaurant there. I got to know it pretty well when I was younger and Shane was up for a change. Or he said he was. But he’s turned down a few offers for the business, so I don’t know.’

‘What do you think he’s waiting for?’ Derwent asked.

‘For his dad to die.’

‘Or because he’s found out he likes killing?’ The two of them turned to look at me. ‘What? He’s still a suspect. And so are you, Vinny.’

‘I haven’t killed anyone.’

‘You didn’t get a taste for it when you were beating that boy up? Get a reminder of how good it feels to be in control? To make someone scared? To hear them beg you for mercy?’

‘It made me sick,’ Vinny said, emphasising every word.

‘I’ve been looking into the Angela Poole murder. Someone I consider to be a reliable witness told me you disliked her.’

Derwent looked at me, obviously surprised. ‘Don’t be stupid.’

Vinny turned to Derwent. ‘It’s not a big deal, Josh. I just thought she was a bit of a pain.’

‘Angela?’ Derwent was baffled. ‘Why?’

Vinny glanced at me, then back at Derwent. ‘If you must know, she was always trying to get me to kiss her. She was a massive flirt. Pinched my arse when you weren’t looking. Rubbed up against me when she got the chance.’

‘Bollocks. Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘You’d have gone tonto.’

‘That’s like lying to me.’ Derwent was outraged. ‘How could you keep that to yourself?’

Shamefaced, Vinny said, ‘I thought you’d blame me.’

‘Did you touch her? Did you kiss her?’ Derwent demanded.

‘No! Not at all.’

‘You fucking
liar
.’ The last word cracked through the room.

‘It’s the truth. Nothing ever happened – ever – but she was a prick tease.’

Forgetting his leg, Derwent jumped to his feet and suffered the indignity of pitching forward, almost falling, and having to be supported by the man he was intending to punch. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing and looked away, towards the screen, just in time to see the solicitor shuffling her pages together. Maitland was yawning, one hand covering his mouth. Burt was talking.

‘Looks as if they’re winding up.’ I snapped my fingers. ‘Hey. Break it up. We don’t have long.’

Derwent shook his head, bewildered. ‘I can’t even think what to ask him.’

‘Well, I can. You didn’t have an alibi for Angela’s murder. Why not? Where were you?’

‘Wandering round.’ Vinny saw the expression on my face. ‘It’s the truth. I had a row with my girlfriend. I went and found Shane but he was with some guys who were really into pot and I wasn’t in the mood. And Josh was with Angela. So I walked.’

‘Did you see anyone or anything strange?’

‘Nope.’

‘Were you anywhere near Angela’s house?’

‘I went past late that night to see if you’d brought her home, but the light was off in her room so I thought you were still together.’

‘She died around midnight.’

‘I know. It was later than that. Half twelve or something. I didn’t see her. I didn’t see anyone.’ He started to laugh. ‘Oh, except that weird little fat kid from next door. He was looking out the window in the front room.’

‘Why are you laughing?’ Derwent asked.

‘Because of you. You’d have loved it. He was wearing pyjama bottoms and a T-shirt with HOW SOON IS NOW on it, and you know you used to take the piss out of him for listening to the Smiths all the time. I was pissing myself laughing when I saw him. I couldn’t wait to tell you about it the next day but I never got the chance.’

‘How did he look?’ I asked.

‘Fat Stu? Fat.’ Vinny started to laugh again. ‘Stupid. He was just staring at me, like he always did. That was his life. Looking out of windows, watching people.’

‘In his statement, he said he saw someone in clothes similar to the ones DI Derwent was wearing that night. Could it have been you?’

‘I suppose.’

‘He said he saw them leaving the garden. Did you go through the gate?’

‘No. Just glanced up at the window.’ Vinny’s smile faded. ‘I didn’t even think she might be there.’

‘And you didn’t see anyone else running away.’

‘No.’

I remembered what Derwent had said about the bruising on Angela’s neck, and how the killer had had big hands. Vinny’s were like shovels.

‘Angela flirted with you, trying to provoke you. It worked on him,’ I said, pointing at Derwent. ‘Don’t tell me you didn’t find it a turn-on. You were a teenager. It doesn’t take much, I seem to recall.’

Vinny looked uncomfortable. ‘She was off-limits. And I didn’t like her.’

‘You don’t have to like someone to want to have sex with them. Especially if you want to rape them.’

‘I didn’t want to rape her.’

‘Did you see her that night? Follow her? Did you want to teach her a lesson?’