DS Jessica Daniel series: Locked In/Vigilante/The Woman in Black - Books 1-3 (115 page)

Edward stood again, sounding a little cheerier. ‘I think that’s everything. At least you should be happy now.’ He played with the knife before putting it back down and
muttering under his breath, ‘Bit messy’. He made a ‘hmm’ noise then began to speak again. ‘Sorry about all of this, I’ve never done it like this before. The men
were easy because it all happened in the storage unit which was easy to clean out.’

Jessica continued to try to move but her body refused to respond to her commands. Her arms and legs felt heavy and she couldn’t shift them. She didn’t know any of the correct medical
terms but Edward had clearly gone mad. She could perhaps just about understand his motive but everything had been exacerbated by his isolation. Jessica wondered about the effect of seeing his
girlfriend assaulted and how it had changed him. It sounded as if he were just a normal teenager before that but now he had turned into a killer whose moods shifted drastically.

He was clearly artistic and clever, while everything must have taken a huge degree of planning. Somewhere along the way, though, he had lost his conscience. The casual way he was talking about
getting rid of her but being unsure how to do it was almost as disconcerting as the fact he was happy to kill an innocent person. Jessica tried to keep herself cool and focused on trying to move
her right arm. She could twitch it ever so slightly more than she could before but still nowhere near enough to do anything of note. It was hard to stay calm but she realised getting frustrated
would do no good either.

The man was still muttering to himself but quickly stopped pacing, turning to look directly at Jessica. Everything that had happened in the previous minutes almost felt as if it were occurring
to someone else but, for the first time, Jessica felt genuine fear at the steel in Edward’s eyes. Something had changed in his thought process.

‘You do look rather pretty sat there all helpless,’ he said. His tone was level and Jessica felt a chill go down her back. It was the most feeling she’d had in a while.
‘The others were all men and not for me but it would be such a waste to leave you there.’

Edward reached towards the belt that was holding up his linen trousers and started to undo it. ‘At least we can have a bit of fun before you have to say goodbye,’ he said casually.
‘Given the reason all of this has happened, it’d be fairly apt, don’t you think?’

Suddenly realising the horror of what Edward intended, Jessica tried as hard as she could to move her limbs. Her legs weren’t responding but her right arm had a tiny
amount of motion, although barely enough to lift it. She wanted to scream but no sound came out. The man dropped his trousers and Jessica tried not to look at him, closing her eyes tightly.

While she stared into the darkness of her eyelids, time almost seemed to hang still but her feeling of terror was interrupted by the doorbell sounding. Jessica opened her eyes and looked up at
Edward. He was on his knees in front of her and had stopped to pull his trousers back up. ‘Bollocks. That had better not be the pool people, I told them Thursday,’ he said breezily.

His tone of voice, as if they were old friends and this was the most normal thing in the world, would have been funny if it wasn’t so terrifying. He stood, refastening his trousers as the
doorbell sounded again. ‘I should have told you how pleased I was you liked my art, by the way,’ he said. ‘I wanted to tell you it was mine of course but it would have given
everything away. Anyway, be right back.’

As he left the room, Jessica saw a flicker of movement from her left by one of the plastic sheets hanging from the ceiling. They were clear but translucent but she thought she could see a
glimpse of something red. Emerging slowly from behind one was DC Diamond. ‘Are you okay?’ she whispered loudly. Jessica wanted to say she wasn’t but couldn’t move.

The constable stepped closer, glancing from side to side before fully emerging into the room. She had climbed through the space where the window should go. ‘We were waiting at the bottom
of the drive like you said but, when no one came out, we thought we’d see what was going on. Are you all right?’

Still looking towards the open doorway, Izzy moved quickly towards Jessica, stopping to look at the knife on the floor and then picking it up. She leant in towards her. ‘Jess?’

She must have realised to some degree what was going on because she reeled back. ‘Oh God, Jess. Can you speak?’

Jessica tried to say something and really pushed to move her arm but nothing happened. She could hear faint voices from the hallway. Izzy’s eyes widened. ‘It’s Dave out
there.’ The constable stood quickly, knife still in her hand and left the room. Jessica closed her eyes and concentrated on breathing.

Jessica took a deep breath and leant back into the seat before downing the rest of her pint. She only drank lager on special occasions but would have probably enjoyed whatever
was put in front of her at that exact moment.

‘Get ’em in then, Dave,’ she said, looking to the constable next to her.

‘Isn’t it your round?’ Rowlands asked.

‘Yeah, but I’m still a patient.’

He laughed, before turning to Izzy. ‘Whatever. Do you want the same?’

‘Yeah, but make it a double.’ Dave slid out from the booth in the pub closest to the police station and headed towards the bar. The atmosphere was relatively upbeat and Jessica was
trying her best to join in with her friends, even though she had kept so many of the details surrounding what had happened in Edward Marks’s house to herself.

It had been a week since the man had been arrested. Between the two constables, Edward had been subdued. Jessica didn’t know the entire story as she had first spent time in hospital, then
at home. The pub visit was the first time she had gone anywhere near the station. Her doctor had signed her off work for a fortnight but she had avoided all calls from anyone at the station except
from Izzy and Dave. It was partly because she didn’t want sympathy from any of them but also because she felt embarrassed at charging into a situation almost on her own. By taking the two
constables with her, it showed she had learned her lesson from two years ago when Randall Anderson had almost choked her to death. Jessica was still aware she had been just moments away from
something awful happening.

It was largely that which kept her away from the station. She had tried to block out the look in Edward’s eyes but it was constantly in the back of her mind. Jessica had not said a word
about it to anyone and, although it was obvious she had been drugged, no one knew the extent of what had almost gone on – and she had no intention of telling them.

‘Are you okay?’ Izzy asked.

Jessica tried to speak with a confidence she wasn’t feeling. ‘Yes, I was a bit unsteady for the first couple of days. The doctor said the dosage of the drug Edward injected into me
could send some people into shock or cause permanent damage. I feel all right but I’ve got more tests tomorrow.’ She looked at the empty glasses on the table. ‘I probably should
have stayed off the booze.’

‘Are you back at work the week after next, then?’

‘I don’t know.’

Something in Jessica’s tone must have not sounded quite right because Izzy followed it up, more quietly the second time around. ‘Are you ever coming back?’

Jessica looked up from the table to meet her colleague’s eyes, feeling vulnerable. She looked away before replying. ‘I don’t know.’

The constable sighed almost involuntarily. ‘Oh God, Jess. I’m so sorry. I know we should have come in quicker. What happened?’

Jessica spoke firmly. ‘Nothing.’

Izzy didn’t look as if she believed her, tilting her head sideways, her long red hair hanging around her shoulders.

The mood was interrupted by Rowlands returning with their drinks. He was using both hands to push all three glasses into one another so they didn’t drop and slowly manoeuvred them onto the
table. He must have sensed a slight tension. ‘Everyone okay?’

‘Fine,’ Jessica said before Izzy could speak.

The constable nodded. ‘Good, good. So, we make a pretty good team all in all then.’

Jessica put her arm around Diamond’s shoulder. ‘Well,
we
do. I don’t know where you come into it.’

‘Hey, I was the one who arrested Edward Marks,’ Dave protested.

Izzy nodded. ‘Only because I’d taken him by surprise.’

‘Exactly. That’s what I mean by teamwork.’

Jessica wanted to change the subject away from what had happened. ‘Fine,
we
make a good team. So tell me, what’s going on with everyone’s favourite MP?’ The two
constables exchanged glances. ‘Come on,’ Jessica added. ‘I know you’re not supposed to know but I’m not going to tell.’

Rowlands lowered his voice. ‘The DCI and DI are keeping it all pretty quiet but, from what everyone says, they’ve got nothing on him except hearsay. The garage owner reckons he took
cash to kidnap Christine Johnson but none of it can be matched back to the MP. The phone calls and texts the mechanic has records of are only to an unregistered pre-pay mobile number they’ve
not been able to tie to Johnson either. There are all sorts of circumstantial bits and pieces but people are saying the only one going down for it is the bloke who owned the garage. It looks like
he did it, of course, but everyone thinks it was Johnson who paid him.’

‘Have they got any sort of motive?’ Jessica asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Dave said. ‘George Johnson’s rich enough anyway and there’s no life insurance, so it’s not that. Apparently he was having an affair,
even if he denies it, but he knows we’ve got nothing on him and so does his solicitor. Jason is furious but what can you do? Someone leaked it to the media saying we’d taken him in for
questioning. People are saying it was the DCI himself who leaked. I think they’re hoping someone else comes forward with information but no one’s holding their breath.’ The
constable paused to have a sip from his glass before continuing. ‘The garage owner should be convicted, which is a result because he’s basically confessed to the actual crime.
He’s not the one they’re after though.’

Jessica nodded, thinking it sounded about right. She took a large slurp of her drink before Rowlands continued. ‘I take it you know what’s going on with Edward even though
you’ve not been in?’

There was a short pause. Jessica had listened to a few voicemails and gone through some emails via her phone. She had also given a statement about everything Edward had told her.
‘I’ve heard bits,’ she said.

‘Do you know they found the remains of the five men in the foundations of the pool area?’

‘Yes.’

Izzy shuffled nervously but Dave seemed oblivious to either her or Jessica’s discomfort and carried on. ‘They discovered the storage unit too. It was in his dad’s name which is
why we hadn’t found it before. Forensics have been in but we don’t know if they have found anything yet. Iz went down to London and went over mug shots with Charlie’s former
colleagues. They insist our “Charlie” isn’t their “Charlie” and we’re getting a formal identification sorted. By the time it gets to trial the bleach will have
grown out of his hair and he’ll be back to dark-haired Edward.’

Jessica already knew most of it but it was good to hear they had evidence building against the man. One of the messages Cole had left her was about giving a more formal statement but she
hadn’t felt ready.

Izzy leant in and picked up the conversation. ‘The biggest issue has been the CPS, although you can’t blame them. They’ve been dithering all week because they don’t know
what name he should be put in front of court under. “Edward Marks” was classed as missing so it’s a bit of a mess at the moment. There was something else though.’

‘What?’ Jessica asked.

‘You asked me to look into unsolved sexual assaults where no DNA had been left. We found one where the victim identified Jacob Chrisp as her attacker. He can’t be convicted obviously
but at least it’s some closure for the victim.’

‘Good.’

‘How did you figure it out?’ Izzy asked.

Jessica sighed, sipping her drink. She didn’t want to talk about it but figured she owed her colleagues some explanation. ‘A few things,’ she began. ‘When I did that
careers day thing at the school one of the kids asked me about how to get away with a crime. It was just one of those silly things but it had me thinking that the best way wasn’t to leave no
clues at all, it was to leave signals that pointed to someone else. If you leave nothing, people like us delve further into your background. Edward obviously didn’t want that.’

She went on to explain about the left-right-hand connection from the wedding and pointed out it had all fallen into place. ‘It was just a guess more than anything,’ she
concluded.

‘Are you going to contact Sam Kellett?’ Rowlands asked. ‘None of us have but someone probably should before it gets to court.’

Jessica nodded but said nothing, not wanting to commit to any course of action. She remembered promising Garry Ashford an exclusive too and thought he would be pleased after the court case when
he got all the juicy details.

She took two more large mouthfuls of her drink. ‘I think I’m going to go on holiday,’ she said, placing her glass back on the table.

It was a statement out of the blue and the two constables glanced at each other before turning back to her. Rowlands made the obvious response. ‘Sorry?’

‘I’m going to go on holiday. I’m owed loads of time off anyway and I’ve not been away properly in years.’

Jessica saw the two constables exchange another look, this time with more worried expressions, then Izzy spoke. ‘Are you okay, Jess?’

‘I just need a break.’

Dave put a hand on her shoulder. ‘I know we arse about but seriously, are you all right?’

Jessica had rarely seen him show genuine concern for her, although she knew most of their mutual teasing was for show. She nodded. ‘I’m good.’

Dave removed his hand, seemingly satisfied. ‘Are you going on your own?’ he asked mischievously.

‘Yeah, why?’

‘I hear you’ve been getting a little, ahem, friendly with a certain someone recently.’