DS Jessica Daniel series: Locked In/Vigilante/The Woman in Black - Books 1-3 (114 page)

He said nothing, narrowing his eyes but Jessica was on a roll. ‘As for why you made everything so public with leaving the hands, I’m not really sure. It was you who gave me the leads
from the photographs too. I think maybe you wanted everyone to find out what the other men had done when they’d attacked Samantha. Perhaps she was your first proper girlfriend and you never
recovered from it?’

‘You don’t know anything.’ His tone was hard to judge – firm but unthreatening.

‘That’s what I’m saying,’ Jessica said. ‘I really don’t. I have no idea why you killed your brother but all I can come up with is that it was the only way to
make your plan work. You’d fallen out with him over who owned the house so it got that out of the way while also confusing us. As Edward, all you’d have to do is sign the house over to
your brother, who you planned to kill, then set the wheels in motion. I don’t really know why you sent me fingers but perhaps that was part of the game? I also don’t know how you
managed to subdue the other men because they are almost all bigger than you.’

‘You’re so wrong.’

‘Am I?’

‘Yes and I can prove it.’ The man quickly got to his feet, surprising Jessica with his movement. She took an involuntary half-step backwards but he didn’t move towards her,
instead stepping towards the kitchen door, holding it open for her. ‘Come and see.’

Jessica was a little confused. She realised she didn’t know everything but felt sure her explanation about which brother was which was correct. Without really thinking, she walked towards
the door, ducking ever so slightly under the man’s arms and going through it. It was then Jessica realised she had made a terrible mistake as something sharp punctured her neck and the man
pushed her to the floor.

Jessica swung violently with her legs as the man lunged down on top of her, sitting across her midriff and pinning her arms to the floor. She heard a clattering noise as something bounced to the
ground. He was a lot stronger than she would have thought and no matter how much she fought, she couldn’t escape his grasp. His eyes locked on hers; they were fierce and staring, although he
seemed completely in control of himself. ‘Just go with it,’ he said.

As Jessica tried to struggle, she could feel her arms and legs heavy with the effort. Her mind was alert but her body wasn’t reacting to her commands. She didn’t know how much time
had elapsed while he was on top of her but it didn’t feel long before he stood. Jessica couldn’t move her neck far but saw him crouch and pick up an empty syringe from the floor. She
tried to move but her limbs weren’t responding.

‘I really didn’t think that would work,’ he said, a mixture of confusion and amusement on his face.

Jessica wanted to speak but her lips wouldn’t move and she could feel a small amount of drool around the corner of her mouth. The man went into the kitchen then returned
without the syringe. He picked Jessica up and leant her against the wall so she was in a sitting position.

‘Sorry about that,’ he said. ‘I don’t want you to swallow your tongue or something stupid.’

Jessica’s mind was screaming ‘GET OFF ME’ but no words were coming out.

The man stood back and looked her up and down. ‘If it’s any consolation, you’re right, I am Edward. It’s pretty clever figuring it out from those photos. If I’d
thought it through, I would have hidden those ones but the left-right-handed thing didn’t even occur to me. I wanted you to find the rugby photo and so on. As you say, I wanted people to know
what those animals did to Samantha. I was hoping it would get on the news a bit more so they would be exposed but it didn’t quite work as I hoped. The problem with this
unfortunate
situation is that it might never come out now.’

Jessica was trying to stay calm and focus on breathing. It wasn’t hard exactly but felt slightly unnatural because she found herself thinking about it. She felt so stupid – she had
literally fallen for the oldest trick in the book. Someone had said, ‘Look over there’ and, while she had, they’d seized their chance.

Edward sat cross-legged on the floor a few feet away from her, his head tilted slightly. ‘Pancuronium if you’re wondering. It’s a muscle-relaxing drug. When my father was ill
in his later days he was in a lot of pain and his doctor prescribed it. Small doses would help him sleep but I managed to keep plenty of it over the final few months. Larger doses of it leave you
in a state, well, like you are in now. As you can probably tell, most of the other men were bigger and stronger than me, so I needed something in my favour. Jacob was a bit different but it was
easy enough to spike his drink. This is quite a useful little drug really. It takes around a minute to kick in and then, depending on the person’s size, can last for anything up to three
hours. I didn’t want to take any risks with Jacob because he’s a big guy.’

Jessica continued to focus on her breathing. She had never heard of the drug but didn’t doubt the things Edward was telling her were true. Her arms felt floppy and useless by her side and
she fought to move one of them a small amount. She realised she wasn’t totally paralysed but certainly couldn’t do much more than twitch her right arm.

Edward scratched his chin, appearing a little unsure. ‘As I’m sure you know by now, this wasn’t really part of the plan. I don’t actually know what to do with you.
I’ve got this storage unit in the city with two big chest freezers. I got them about a year ago from this supermarket that went out of business. After I’d killed them, that’s
where I kept the bodies before going back for the hands when I needed them. I’ve never had a live victim in the house so I’m at a bit of a loss because my tools are all
there.’

He stood and paced before walking into the kitchen and returning. He sat back down in front of Jessica and started playing with a large kitchen knife, moving it from one hand to the other and
staring closely at the handle and blade before looking back to her. ‘This is a pretty good knife, you know. I like cooking and I use it a lot. I don’t really want to have to throw it
out but it’s not as if I can use it on you then go back to chopping carrots tomorrow, is it?’

He laughed slightly as he spoke. ‘This is like one of those big movie moments, isn’t it, where the dastardly crook reveals everything to the plucky secret agent, who is seemingly in
an impossible situation but the agent then somehow escapes.’ He shuffled forward and poked Jessica in the shoulder. ‘You’re not going anywhere though, are you?’

Edward stood and put the knife deliberately on the floor close to Jessica, then stepped towards her, picking her up and holding her over his shoulder. She felt sick, her head hanging limply
against his back. She bobbed up and down as he walked toward the area where the pool was being built. Edward pushed through a plastic curtain, then placed her gently on the floor, propping her up
so she could see the room before he left.

Jessica couldn’t do anything other than twitch her arms but it was suddenly obvious what he had done with the bodies of the other men. When she had seen the room before, the whole area was
covered in plastic sheeting and she hadn’t bothered to look. It was uncovered now, revealing a giant pit in the centre of the room where the pool would go. The surface wasn’t level,
with some areas far deeper than others and a few sections filled with concrete that had set.

Edward entered back into the area with the knife and set it down on the floor next to Jessica. Instinctively she tried to move towards it but her limbs were incapable of responding. He started
to walk around. Plastic sheeting was pinned to the ceiling and shielded the gaps in the walls where the windows would go. Jessica could hear the rain falling but it sounded louder because, aside
from the sheets, there was nothing to separate them from the outside. Edward talked loudly as he wandered around the space where the pool would be before ending up back next to Jessica.

‘I know you’re not stupid so you’ll know by now that this is where all those bodies ended up. Charlie, Lewis Barnes, Jacob Chrisp, Matthew Cooper and Steven Povey are all in
the foundations of the pool. I’ve got a company coming around on Thursday to put the sealant in and get a proper bottom down. For obvious reasons I’ve had to do a lot of the foundations
myself; I couldn’t really get a company in to help me bury bodies, could I? I don’t really know what I’m doing. This other company dug it all out for me and I’ve just been
burying them then pouring the concrete into the space they dug. It was actually a little easier than I thought.’

Edward paused and coughed, kicking a bit of plastic sheeting before continuing. ‘When you were around the other week I was worried you’d take me up on the offer and have a much
closer look around here. The covering sheets were all out and luckily you didn’t pay too much attention. There were no bodies on show but it was a bit of a mess. I dreaded it every time you
came around because, on the second occasion, Charlie’s phone went off. I’d been keeping it just in case but obviously forgotten to turn it off. I was surprised the battery hadn’t
died.’

As he finished his loop, Edward crouched near to the edge of the pit. ‘There’s still a space at this end and I’ve got loads of cement left. It’ll be a waste of a day and
I’ll have to do something with your car but at least the driveway’s long enough so no one will see it for now. I’m a bit pissed off you spoke to the neighbours actually but I can
just say you came and went. I’ll think of something. Maybe I’ll use your phone to send a text then ditch it?’

Jessica was still trying to concentrate on breathing but panic was beginning to set in. The knife was on the ground mere inches away but her body wouldn’t move.

Edward stood and moved to stand directly in front of her. ‘Right, to business,’ he said, clapping his hands. ‘I know it’s a bit of a cliché but I figure you may as
well go out actually knowing what’s gone on, so what the hell. I’ve got to be quick though because I’ve got a body to bury and a car to get rid of, though you already know
that.’

The man’s cheeriness was incredibly unsettling and he continued speaking in the same tone. ‘Right, here goes. I am your woman in black. It was pretty funny actually when I saw those
headlines. At first, it was just a disguise but then I realised it really had confused you. I was a bit pissed off with those robbers who stole my disguise but I guess it didn’t do any
long-term harm. Either way, I dress up in women’s clothing now and then, so what? I might have to have “words” with my nosy neighbour though. I know the city pretty well and, once
you realise where the cameras are, it’s pretty easy to get out of places without being spotted.’ He paused for a moment, then added, ‘Any questions?’

Jessica couldn’t have spoken even if she’d wanted to. Edward smiled. ‘No, right, well, it was me who reconciled with Charlie. The guy’s a complete dick; I bet you
didn’t know that. I was the one who looked after Dad and he left me the house. Charlie whined on about his share and then pissed off to London. I got in touch a few months ago and gave him a
sob story about signing over half the house and making up and so on but it was just because I needed him for this. He was the key one because I wanted the story to come out about what they’d
done to Samantha but I couldn’t do everything as Edward because you lot would know it was me. So I came up with the idea of killing “me” off and becoming Charlie. That way
you’d have no way of knowing I was involved. Well, in theory anyway.’

Jessica found his tone and mood difficult to judge. He spoke about the killings in a matter-of-fact voice with no emotion at all. He seemed almost put out by the entire affair and, although he
clearly intended to do her harm, he almost seemed regretful about the whole thing.

He began to speak more quickly, clearly becoming impatient. ‘You probably want to know why I sent you the fingers. I should really apologise because it can’t have been nice to get
something like that in the post, especially when a big package arrives. Whenever the post van turns up, I always get a little excited wondering what’s inside. I feel like a kid again whenever
something with my name shows up that I haven’t specifically ordered. Anyway, sorry about that. It was just because I didn’t want you to forget. That was the reason I gave the thumbs-up
and waved at the camera too – I wanted you to find the reason for it all so people would know. I figured you might have been struggling to identify everyone and I wanted to keep you
interested. I couldn’t make it too obvious, which is why I used the fingers and called you over for that first picture. It almost worked out.’

Edward tapped his hand on the floor as if wondering what else he should say. ‘Umm,’ he muttered to himself, tutting. ‘Right, I suppose the only other thing is to tell you
why.’ He stood, pacing a couple of times before sitting directly in front of Jessica. He moved the knife away from her and made sure her eyes could meet his. She had no choice but to look at
him.

He lowered his tone and his voice cracked a couple of times as he spoke. ‘I was a virgin, you know. I met Samantha on holiday and we had a really good time. We’d talked about meeting
up again when we got back to England. She was the first girl who ever really showed much interest in me. I know you know most of this now about the attack on her. I wanted to tell them to stop but
Jacob was so much bigger than me. I didn’t know what to do; I was just some scrawny kid.’

Edward looked away, then met Jessica’s eye again. He sniffed and then spoke even more quietly; his demeanour had changed completely from being breezy and cheerful to sounding far more
solemn. ‘I wasn’t always like this. You know in “The Shining” when Jack Nicholson goes a bit crazy in a big house on his own? I’ve felt a bit like that since Dad died.
I’ve got all this space and don’t know what to do. I paint and cook but it’s only for me.’

He paused for a moment. ‘I’ve not had a girlfriend since Sam. The dressing up is just for show. Manchester’s the right place to be for all of that with other men but I
don’t really know what I am. I started to think all of this through about a year ago. I figured that, if I could make the other men pay for what they did to Sam, maybe I would be able to get
over it too? It took ages to find out where everyone was but the Internet’s a wonderful thing. After that, I had the problem of it being obvious it was me. That’s when I thought of
using Charlie too. Believe it or not, after all the planning, it really wasn’t that hard.’