Chapter Thirteen
Lorne joined the rest of the team in the kitchen. The Platts’ hands were behind their backs, locked in cuffs, and Stephen and Graham were guarding them.
“Down here, Lorne,” Patti called out.
Lorne and Sean rushed back down the stairs to the cellar. Patti was standing at the entrance to the cupboard where Mr. Platt had sprung from, shining a torch inside. Two members of Patti’s team stood aside for Lorne and Sean to take their places.
“My God!” Lorne covered her mouth for a second then asked, “How long has that been there?”
Patti shook her head in despair. “Until I examine the skeleton thoroughly, I won’t have an accurate answer for you, Lorne. I can give a rough guestimate if you like? Years.”
Sean cleared his throat. “Could the tradesmen have seen this? Is that why they were killed? Because they discovered it?”
“You could be on to something there, Sean. If the Platts assumed the men had seen the skeleton, then they probably panicked and thought the men would notify the police once they left the house.”
“So they killed three men because of
this
?” Patti asked. “It seems a little unbelievable. If the first man had looked in the cupboard, why invite more men down here, knowing that they might witness the same?”
“Perhaps they got a thrill out of killing Paul Lee and then purposefully enticed the others down here, confident they could catch them off guard and kill them, too,” Lorne suggested quietly in case her voice travelled up the stairs and the Platts might overhear.
“This can now be regarded as a serial killer case, I take it?” Sean said.
“Three murders that we know of and an actual skeleton in a cupboard. I think that’s a pretty darn accurate assumption, boss,” Lorne agreed.
“And that’s just the start. Look around you. Do we know what lies beneath these renovations?”
Lorne gasped. “God, don’t say that, Patti. Isn’t four bodies enough?”
“It’s something we can’t discount at this point, Lorne. We’ll get the gear in over the next few days and see what we can find.”
“Next few days? You anticipate your guys being here that long?” Sean asked, surprised.
“You want us to be thorough, don’t you, DCI Roberts?” Patti replied sharply.
Lorne stifled a giggle at the pathologist’s put-down as the colour rose in Sean’s cheeks. “Sorry, of course. What’s next?” he asked.
“Well, I suggest you get on with your side of the job and leave me and my team to tear this place apart. I think I’m going to need reinforcements to handle this, though.”
Lorne tugged Sean’s sleeve. “Thanks, Patti. Good luck. Let me know what you find. I’ll be tied up for the next day or two, questioning the suspects. You’ve got my mobile number?”
“I have. I bet you’re finished before we are.”
Lorne and Sean climbed the stairs again and received the evil eye from both the Platts when they entered the kitchen. Lorne shook her head in disgust. “Get them in the cars, boys. We’ll take Mr. Platt with us, okay?”
Back at the station, the desk sergeant read the two suspects their rights and informed them that a solicitor would be provided, if they didn’t have the money to fund one for themselves. The suspects remained silent, so the duty sergeant put in a request for a solicitor to attend. While they waited for the solicitor to arrive, the suspects were put in separate cells. The instant Lorne stepped into the incident room, she picked up the phone and dialled social services to talk to Ms. Murray, the woman dealing with the Platts.
“Hello, Ms. Murray. This is Acting DI Warner at the Met. We spoke the other day.”
“I remember. What can I do for you, Inspector?”
“I’m ringing up to tell you there has been a development since we last spoke. We’ve just arrested the Platts for murder.”
The woman gasped. “What? You’re kidding me?”
“No, I’m
deadly
serious. I was ringing up to let you know that Denis and his girlfriend would like to take care of the children.”
“That’s not possible. The children will be placed in emergency care.”
“I know there are procedures you have to follow, but I do think you should allow Denis to care for the children. They know him, after all.”
“Are you serious? You’ve just told me his parents are murderers, and you want the kids to remain within the same family? I find that incredible, Inspector.”
“His parents might be killers, but Denis is as genuine as they come, Ms. Murray. Have you ever met the young man?”
“No, I haven’t. I will have to put your proposal forward to my superiors. I wouldn’t hold my breath on receiving a positive outcome if I were you.”
“What will happen to the children then? You told me the only reason the kids were placed with the Platts in the first place was because you’re short of suitable foster homes at present, wasn’t it?”
“Things change rapidly. I have no idea at this stage without looking at our files. We’ll arrange for the children to be picked up from school. I’ll have to go now and organise that ASAP as the school will be finishing for the day soon. Thank you for the information, Inspector. Leave the children’s welfare to me.”
“Umm… before you hang up. I’ll be expecting you to come into the station to give a statement in the next day or two.”
“Statement? About what?”
The woman’s tone annoyed Lorne considerably. “About the number of visits you’ve made to the Platts’ home over the last few months. I’d like it documented that you didn’t find anything wrong with the fact the house was immaculate in spite of three young kids living there.”
The woman tutted. “Really? Because there are no toys strewn about the place, you think that should highlight the children not being cared for properly? Have you heard yourself?”
“Let’s put it this way—I thought at least half of your job was to be observant. If the situation jumped out to me as being suspicious, Ms. Murray, then I find it absolutely incredulous it didn’t place a seed of doubt in your mind.”
“You really have no idea about the sights I see, Inspector. Please do
not
judge me.”
“I’m not judging you personally, Ms. Murray. However, I do believe the system is at fault when something like this is completely ignored.”
“You’re unbelievable. Spend a day with me, Inspector, and then see if you are willing to make the same accusation. I need to get on now. Like I said the other day, we’re understaffed here.”
“Very well. I will be ringing your superior myself to put across my request for Denis to look after the children, though, all the same.”
“Do as you please,” the woman said before she abruptly hung up.
“Aggghhh! Some people are so damn infuriating. Bloody woman has no idea.”
Sean approached the desk, grinning. “Calm down. What was that about?”
“The woman at social services is refusing to let the kids stay with Denis.”
“I’m inclined to agree with her.”
“What?” Lorne pushed back her chair. It clattered against the desk behind. “I’m telling you this from the word go, Sean, that man had nothing to do with these killings. If anything, he
despises
his parents. Why, I have no idea, but he does.”
“Has he told you that?”
“Not in so many words. I know simply by reading his body language when he’s in the same room as them. Once I’ve gained his trust, I’m sure he’ll be a key witness in his parents’ downfall.”
“So
that’s
why you’re bending over backwards to help him get the kids.”
“I’m not
using
him, if that’s what you’re insinuating. Let’s not fall out about this, Sean. He’s different to them. Any idiot can see that.”
“Well, this idiot can’t see it, Lorne. I think it would cause irreparable harm to those kids if social services placed them with Denis. I also think you should back off and not cause any ill-feeling with that department, too.”
Seething, Lorne swept her hair over her shoulder and headed for Katy’s office. “Thanks for the advice,” she called back before slamming the door after her. Once seated, she picked up the phone and immediately dialled Ms. Murray’s head of department, despite Sean’s warning.
Mr. Wenlock apparently had been pre-warned by Ms. Murray that Lorne would be making contact with him.
“Ah, Acting Detective Inspector Warner. Yes, I’m well aware of the case you’re referring to, and no, I don’t agree with you lambasting a member of my staff.”
“Lambasting? I hardly did that, Mr. Wenlock. All I asked was for Ms. Murray to consider placing the children with someone they are comfortable with. In my eyes, that person would be Denis Platt.”
“Unfortunately, that decision is not down to you. It will be taken by this department. I’m requesting that you leave us to do our job. Over the years we’ve been quite successful at it.”
A recent number of cases highlighted in the media where SS had gravely let down children in their care—notably in Oxford, Rochdale, and Bradford—sprang to Lorne’s mind. Fearing she wasn’t getting anywhere fast, she decided it would be wiser not to press the issue. “Okay, I hear you, Mr. Wenlock, but please grant me this, that the three children will be homed together.”
“That I can’t guarantee, Inspector.”
“It would be guaranteed if Denis took them in,” she said, persistently making her point.
“We need to put it forward at the next group meeting. At this moment, I’m not ruling anything out. The more you push, the more likely the decision will go against you, Inspector. Was there anything else I can help you with today?”
“No. You’ve been most considerate. I’m sorry if I’m coming across as obstinate. I tend to do that where children and their safety are concerned.”
“I understand. I assure you I will think carefully about your request. Goodbye, Inspector.”
Lorne exhaled and puffed out her cheeks. She hung up only for the phone to ring straight away. “Hello, DS Warner,” she replied out of habit.
“Ma’am, it’s the desk sergeant. I’m ringing up to inform you that the solicitor has arrived.”
“Only one?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Okay, I’ll be right down.” Lorne left the office and spotted Sean standing in front of the incident board. She walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. “The brief is here. Do you want to sit in on the interviews?”
“Of course. You said brief, as in singular?”
“That’s right. I thought we’d start with Mr. Platt first, agreed?”
“I concur. Do you intend playing one off against the other?” Sean asked, turning to face her.
“I would do if two solicitors had shown up. That’s far more difficult to do when there’s only one. He’s going to know what the other suspect has said and no doubt take pleasure in shooting us down in flames.”
“Why don’t you demand another one?”
“I think I will when we get down there on the grounds of the solicitor wasting time.”
“Yep, good call. Although, we have arrested them already due to our findings. Once they’ve been questioned, we can ship them out on remand, can’t we?” Sean asked.
“The longer we can keep them here, the better. That way, we can question them more. Maybe they’ll surprise us both by admitting their roles in the crimes without us having to use too much pressure,” Lorne said.
“He looks the obstinate type. Regarding her, I’m not so sure. One minute she looks as though she’s about to burst into tears, and the next, she gives you the impression she wouldn’t think twice about ripping your throat out.”
“Yeah, I noticed. Maybe she’s mentally unstable. What’s the betting they both try and pull that card somewhere down the line.”
“If they do, it’ll be another nail in social services’ coffin, won’t it? They check folks’ medical backgrounds before even contemplating placing kids with them, right?”
“I presume it works like that.” Lorne gasped and shook her head.
“What is it?”
“I’ve just had the most dreadful thought. What if the three kids heard the couple killing the men?”
“Presuming the men were killed at the property in the first instant,” Sean acknowledged thoughtfully. “It doesn’t bear thinking about.”
“We’ll try not to go down that route then. Let’s remain focused on what the Platts did to their victims and go from there.”
Chapter Fourteen
As it was almost five o’clock, Lorne quickly rang home and spoke to Charlie before she set off to interview the suspects. She warned her daughter that she wouldn’t be home for hours and to go ahead and eat without her.
Lorne took a deep breath, preparing herself for the first interview. Then together, she and Sean made their way down the stairs.
“He’s first, right?” Sean verified.
“Yep. I bet the first words out of his mouth are ‘no comment.’”
Sean chuckled. “And the last, no doubt. We need an element of surprise to get a reaction from him.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve been wracking my brains, but I haven’t come up with anything logical so far. It’s going to be a case of suppressing our frustration and smiling a lot. That usually pisses them off enough to get a reaction. Just follow my lead. That is, if I’m to lead the questioning?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t have a clue where to start.”
They made their way down the corridor to Interview Room One. Courtney Platt was already seated at the table, his cuffed hands clenched together until the whites of his knuckles showed. He slowly turned to face them. Platt’s eyes narrowed and homed in on Lorne’s. She smiled to combat the creepy sensation rippling along her spine.
After introducing herself and the chief to the young male solicitor, Mr. Jenson, Lorne set the tape running and gave the usual spiel—date, time, names of those present in the room, and what crime the suspect was being questioned about.
“So, Mr. Platt, can you tell us why you were hiding in your cellar when we called at your property today?”
Platt said through gritted teeth, “No comment.”
Lorne’s smile broadened, and she turned her attention to Jenson. “Just for the record, we found your client in a store cupboard in the cellar. He attacked us when he was discovered. Would an innocent person do that, in your opinion, Mr. Jenson?”
Jenson raised an eyebrow. “Your questions should be aimed at my client, Inspector, not me.”
“Indeed, Mr. Jenson. Just for the record, after your client came out of the cupboard, our team of forensics found a skeleton sitting inside. Nice company your client keeps, eh?”
Again Jenson’s eyebrow rose, then he shrugged and looked down at his notebook.
Ignorant shit!
“We’ll see if your wife can enlighten us on that count after we’ve finished questioning you, Mr. Platt.” Lorne beamed as if the suspect was a very old, dear friend of hers.
Platt responded by inhaling deeply and tutting in disgust.
“Okay, we’ll come back to the skeleton part of the case later and now get to the real reason you were arrested today, Mr. Platt. When did the renovations begin on your home?”
“No comment.”
“I used to renovate houses for a living myself at one stage and know the sequence in which the tradesmen carry out their tasks. Bearing that in mind, I would hazard a guess at Paul Lee laying the electrics at your property around two weeks ago. Is that when he began?”
“No comment.”
“Did you find his work faulty? Is that why you killed him?” Lorne asked, her gaze never faltering from Platt’s and her smile set firmly in place.
“No comment,” Platt spat out with a snarl.
“Did you kill him because you couldn’t afford to pay his bill? That seems a little extreme to me.”
“No comment.”
“Or was it because Mr. Lee discovered the skeleton you had stored in the cupboard?”
Platt’s eyes flickered shut for a moment then reopened; his gaze intensified.
Lorne combatted the urge to shudder beneath his evil glare.
“No comment.”
“Ah, but there was a reaction there, Mr. Platt. I’m right, aren’t I? Everything would have been okay, and Mr. Lee would probably still be alive today if he hadn’t snooped in that cupboard, yes?”
“No comment.”
And that was how the rest of the interview panned out. As much as Lorne wanted to reach across the table and slap the suspect’s face for frustrating the hell out of her, she didn’t. “Okay, I’m happy to leave things there. I’ll arrange your transport to the remand centre right away.”
Mr. Jenson shuffled in his chair.
“Something wrong, Mr. Jenson?”
“No. So, my client has actually been arrested?”
“Were you not made aware of that upon your arrival? We don’t usually interview suspects while they are wearing cuffs, Mr. Jenson.”
“Yes, no, sorry.”
Lorne and Sean glanced at each other in despair. Eager to move on to questioning Mrs. Platt, Lorne asked the uniformed police officer to take the prisoner back to his cell. “Bring in Mrs. Platt on your return. Thank you.”
The officer helped Platt to his feet and guided him out of the room. Lorne ended the interview tape, ejected it from the machine, and wrote Platt’s name and the case number on the tape. Then she glanced up at Jenson and said, “It would be helpful if you directed your next client to be compliant.”
“Helpful for whom?”
The door opened, and in walked the cuffed Mrs. Platt, accompanied by a female officer, who steered the suspect to her seat. Jenson introduced himself to his client and leaned over to whisper something in her ear. Sean nudged Lorne with his leg, intimating he knew what the solicitor had just informed his client. Lorne suspected Sean was thinking along the same lines she was. She placed a new tape in the machine, switched it on, and again relayed the same information whilst smiling at the accused.
“Mrs. Platt, can you tell us when the renovation work started at your property?”
The woman stared long and hard at Lorne before she uttered the same words her infuriating husband had. “No comment.”
“You’ve taught your client well, Mr. Jenson. Maybe you’d care to inform your client that the more she cooperates with us, the more lenient her sentence is likely to be in the long run.”
“And you can guarantee that, Inspector, can you?” Jenson replied, curling his upper lip into a sickly smile.
“I can have a word in the right ear, if that’s what you’re asking? What’s the alternative? Spending the rest of her life behind bars?”
Mrs. Platt looked sharply at Jenson. He gave her a warning look not to devour the carrot Lorne had dangled before her.
“Mrs. Platt, were you involved with the murders of the three tradesmen at your property?” Lorne asked quickly, while the woman’s uncertainty was on show for all to see.
“No. I mean… no comment.”
Lorne inhaled and exhaled a few short breaths before she asked, “What about the skeleton? How long has that been there?”
“No comment,” Platt said, her eyes drifting down to the table.
“Who does the skeleton belong to, Mrs. Platt?”
“No comment.”
“It’s only a matter of time before we find out. I promise if you help us now, I’ll put in more than a good word for you.”
Mrs. Platt’s gaze locked onto Lorne’s again. “You would?”
“My client won’t be led up the garden path, Inspector. Stop promising her things you have no control over. Be warned, your comments are on the tape, too.”
“I’m well aware of that, Mr. Jenson. Mrs. Platt, why would you want to be locked up until the day you die if you’re innocent of these crimes? Do you really love your husband that much? Is that love worth throwing the rest of your life away for?”
Mrs. Platt paused for a few seconds then said, “No comment.”
“If that’s all you have to say in response, then we might as well draw this interview to a close.”
The woman let out a relieved sigh, but Lorne jumped on the chance to make her worried again.
“I have an appointment booked to visit your son. He seems very keen to tell us what he knows about this subject, and more, by all accounts.”
The woman glared at Lorne through narrowed eyes. “He wouldn’t dare. He knows nothing.”
“Doesn’t he? That’s not what I picked up from the conversation we’ve already had. This is your last chance, Mrs. Platt. Are you going to work with us or not? The choice is yours.”
The woman glanced at her solicitor once more as if in a genuine quandary about how to proceed for her own well-being. Another warning look from her solicitor appeared to help make up her mind. “No comment.”
Lorne nodded, closed her notebook, and ended the tape. “You’ll be transferred out of here to await your court appearance, where, no doubt, the judge will look badly on your lack of willingness to cooperate with this investigation. I sure hope you get accustomed to your prison cell quickly, Mrs. Platt. You’ll be staring at the same bars for the rest of your life. How old are you now? Fifty? That’s maybe thirty to forty years you’ll have left to suffer in there. Do you think you’re capable of surviving that?”
Mrs. Platt ignored Lorne’s question and turned to Jenson. “I want to go back to my cell now.”
“I’m sure the inspector can arrange that. I’ll see you in court. You’ll have the best barrister our firm can supply. I promise you.”
“And how will your client be able to afford such a luxury, Mr. Jenson, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“That’s
our
business, Inspector, not yours.”
Lorne watched the woman and her solicitor leave the room with the uniformed officer. “That sort of defence costs a lot of dosh. Nothing showed up in their bank accounts to indicate they have the sort of money to get them out of this mess.”
“Perhaps they’ll sell the house. Property prices in London have gone through the roof lately. That would be my guess anyway.”
“We need to get Patti to rush the examination of the cellar, though, just in case the Platts get hauled up in front of the judge soon.”
Sean nodded. “Agreed. Why don’t we call it a day today?” He glanced down at his watch. “It’s almost seven thirty now, and we’ll start afresh tomorrow.”
Lorne rubbed her forehead between her eyes. “Sounds like a good idea.”
* * *
Denis cried out and woke up to find Sam leaning over him, smoothing the damp hair away from his brow.
“Sweetheart, you were dreaming, crying out in your sleep.”
He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him, and sobbed openly for the first time in years, relieved that his parents were behind bars, unable to hurt anyone else.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Is it because of the children? They’ll be fine. I’m sure Inspector Warner will do her best to help us get them.”
Denis remained silent, unsure whether to reveal his dark secret to Sam or not. Such an occasion had never risen before in their relationship. The guilt at hiding the truth from her was ripping his insides to shreds. He listened to her soothing words, entwined in her arms, the warmth of her body overcoming the cold sweat layering his tortured skin. Finally, he drifted off to sleep without uttering a single word. He would have to tell her one day. He had a feeling that day was just around the corner, too. The question was, whether he would survive the trauma of other people learning about his twisted past.