The Collared Collection (32 page)

Elizabeth was on the doorstep early next morning; David showed her through to the bedroom then went to shower and shave.

‘I’ll make a pot of coffee in a minute,’ he said, pulling the door to.

Elizabeth looked as though she might burst. ‘I have news,’ she whispered. She cast a furtive look at the door, making sure they were alone.

I asked, ‘The names?’

‘Yes – Keith recognised two, Joanne Clack and Ben Ellison, but Christine Jones didn’t ring any bells … he’s got others working on that one.’

The suspense was killing her. ‘So, what could he tell you about Joanne and Ben?’

Though her eyes shone, she looked very grim. ‘It’s rather grisly, I’m afraid.’

She had to know, ‘Please?’

‘Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. When she was ten years old, Joanne Clack lured Ben Ellison, who was in the same class as her at school, to a disused boathouse …’

She knew she wasn’t going to enjoy the rest of the story and it didn’t bode well for a happy ending. Quietly, she said, ‘Go on …’

‘They went there on the pretext of playing hide and seek, but the Prosecution argued Joanne always intended to kill the boy. He was small for his age, a sickly child who was quite frail, and she was easily able to overpower him.’

‘Oh, God … how did she do it?’

‘You’re very pale, Callie, are you sure you want to hear this?’

She whispered, ‘Of course … tell me what happened.’

‘She knocked him unconscious with a plank of wood and then cut his wrists with her penknife – she wanted to see how long it would take him to bleed to death. Some sort of macabre experiment – apparently she was acting out something she’d seen on TV.’

Callie took a while to answer, ‘That’s ghastly … his poor parents.’

‘There’s worse to come.’

‘What could possibly be worse?’

‘She hadn’t cut deeply enough and the blood flow wasn’t much to speak of – she quickly became frustrated and when he started to regain consciousness, she impaled him with a metal stake.’

Her hand flew to her mouth, as bile rose in her throat. ‘Oh, Christ … she must have been a monster.’

‘You could be right – when she was sure he was dead, she calmly walked home and sneaked her blood-soaked clothes into the washing machine. She told her mother she’d fallen in a muddy puddle.’

‘When and where did this happen?’

‘Thirty-four years ago, in Yarmouth. Keith was a cub reporter then – he’s a few years older than me.’

‘OK, that would mean Joanne Clack is about forty-four-ish now?’

‘Yes, how old was Dee?’

‘Forty-six – we were invited over for drinks to celebrate her birthday in February, not long before Dominic walked out.’

‘Oh bollocks. That eliminates the most obvious possible connection – it seems Dee wasn’t Joanne after all, given a new identity.’

‘Only two years out, so it would have been possible – if we didn’t already know Dee’s previous name was Christine Jones.’

‘Ah yes, I was getting carried away and conveniently forgot that.’

‘But there has to be a link … don’t forget Dee’s wrists were slashed after she was drowned. I imagine that’s not very high on the list of favourite methods by which to dispatch your victim.’

David re-entered the room, carrying a tray laden with coffee and toast. ‘Here you are. I made plenty for two, Elizabeth.’

‘Thanks,’ she beamed, ‘I skipped breakfast.’

David grinned back. ‘You’re looking a lot better – how’s the eye?’

She fingered her patch self-consciously. ‘Not bad, the ophthalmologist is confident I’ll regain at least sixty per cent of my sight, though he may have to surgically remove some scar tissue. I’m very lucky.’

That didn’t sound too lucky to Callie and she was gripped once more by the guilty knowledge that Elizabeth had been horribly maimed trying to protect her.

David grabbed his laptop. ‘I’m working at home for a few hours, so let me know if there’s anything else I can get you.’

‘What a nice young man,’ Elizabeth said when he’d gone, ‘you really ought to snap him up, Callie.’

She hesitated, ‘I know – at least I think I do.’

After what Elizabeth had told her, she couldn’t touch the coffee or toast.

Chapter Fifty

At 4 a.m. on Sunday morning, she slipped out of David’s apartment block by the back door and took a convoluted route to where he’d parked his car the night before. She wore a ridiculous black wig, cut in a short, scraggy style that would never come back into fashion – if it had ever been in, that is – and had enormous frog-eye sunglasses stuck on her nose. When she’d checked in the bathroom mirror before she left, she was pretty confident her own mother wouldn’t recognise her – and just hoped she wouldn’t scare Sam and Alex too much.

Callie sat in the passenger seat for a few minutes, until David joined her. ‘So far, so good,’ he said. ‘You OK?’

‘My legs are a bit wobbly and I could have done without the dark glasses so I could see where I was going – but yes, I’m good. And I can’t wait to see the boys; I’ve missed them so much.’

He leaned to kiss her. ‘Hold tight for phase one of the journey – Operation Fool Balaclava Man is Go-Go-Go.’

She had to smile at his
Boy’s Own
enthusiasm.

Fifteen minutes later, they parked outside Mike’s mother’s house; she greeted them effusively and showed them through to the lounge. A twenty-something white girl chirped, ‘Hi, I’m Trish. Will I do?’

David looked her over. ‘Wow! Amazing; thanks a lot for helping us out, Trish.’

‘No problem, Mike bribed me with a very expensive dinner. Where do you want me?’

Dressed in an identically awful wig and wearing the same dark glasses and clothes, Trish’s similarity to Callie was uncanny. David took her in his arms and led her to an armchair in the bay window. Callie took her cue and left through the hallway door that opened into an integral garage, where a car waited with its engine running.

The driver said, ‘Morning, lady. Taxi for Heathrow?’

She got in, laid over the back seat. ‘Hello, Mike.’

After they’d driven a few miles, he said, ‘You can get up now, I’m sure we don’t have a tail. I couldn’t miss them, with so little traffic on the road.’

She cranked herself upright, tugged at the wig to make sure it was still in place – it was starting to feel really itchy and uncomfortable. ‘Where did you find Trish? She looked just like me … from a distance, anyway.’

‘That’s all you need – she lives a few doors along from Mum. She’s a very sweet girl, a drama student – and has really wild hair under that wig. She usually dresses like a sixties flower child but she’s more or less your height and size, now you’ve lost weight.’

‘Have I?’ She looked down at her body.

‘Definitely.’

‘I hadn’t really thought about it … I suppose my clothes are a bit loose now you mention it – a useless appendix wasn’t too high a price to pay for that.’

He laughed. ‘Just don’t lose too much, or you’ll have to resort to falsies, like Ginny.’

She snorted. ‘Yeah, I knew her all those years and I didn’t know her little secret! Incredible, really – she only told me shortly before she died. I always thought she was blessed with big boobs.’

‘It’s hardly the sort of thing that comes up in general conversation … not between gentlemen, anyway – of course, I could never be accused of being one of those.’

She noticed, courtesy of the rear view mirror that he had that funny look on his face again. ‘What is it?’ she asked.

‘Err … well … nothing, really.’

She sighed, ‘Mike, it obviously is something … something you’ve had on your mind for some time; why don’t you tell me all about it and clear the air?’

‘It’s awkward; I don’t want to run down a mate.’

‘Who? David? What do you mean? You have to tell me now!’

‘Don’t get excited, Callie, it’s probably nothing. God, I wish I hadn’t started this … shall we just say that you should be careful with him, don’t necessarily believe what he says until you know it to be true.’

‘Mike! What are you talking about? You can’t drop loud hints and then leave me dangling like that – it’s not fair. Tell me what you’re on about, please.’

He looked away, avoiding eye contact. ‘Oh, shit … it’s only that I’ve seen David and his wife, Michelle –’

‘I’ve had the pleasure, if you remember – you’ve seen them what?’

He overtook a black cab. ‘Well, in my opinion, they seemed awfully close for a couple on the verge of divorce. And I’ve clocked them more than once – quite lovey-dovey, they were.’

Callie didn’t know what to say. ‘Do you mean you think they are seeing each other again? I thought she was shacked up with someone else?’

‘I heard they’ve separated after a major bust-up. Of course, I could be wrong.’

‘Yes, you could,’ she snapped. ‘It would be difficult for David to be carrying on with Michelle while I’m living under his roof, don’t you think?’

‘Hey, calm down, don’t shoot the messenger! I’m only telling you what I’ve seen and there may be nothing in it … I just don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all. Your life has been bad enough lately, without some bloke leading you up the garden path.’

She didn’t want to discuss it anymore. She was positive Mike was wrong … wasn’t she? They drove the rest of the way with prickly silence hitching a lift.

At the Arrivals Gate, she spotted first Sam, then Alex – it seemed to take them an age to wend their way through the barriers and she was literally jumping up and down with excitement as she waited impatiently. She crushed them both to her and gabbled on about how much she’d missed them – for once, they didn’t look as though they wanted the floor to open and swallow them. Callie found it bizarre they were totally unfazed by the fact she was wearing a disguise and neither of them asked why; she was worried that perhaps they thought it was an improvement.

Dominic (looking slightly less insipid with a tan) ogled her new hairstyle. ‘Did you steal that out of the dressing-up box?’ he sneered.

‘I think it suits you, Mum,’ said Sam, showing admirable loyalty, she felt.

Mike guided them to a nearby coffee lounge and went to the counter to buy drinks all round. ‘Would you give me a hand here, Dominic?’ he called.

He grudgingly agreed, ‘Oh … yeah, right,’ and stomped off.

‘Can you come home with us, Mum?’ Sam asked.

She tightened her grip on his hand, ‘I can’t yet, Sam, it might not be safe for you if I’m there. I know it’s really rotten being apart like this, but I hope it won’t be for too much longer – there are two very clever policemen working on the case and I’m sure they’ll catch the bad guy soon. Then we can all be together again. I can’t wait.’

‘I miss you, Mum,’ said Alex and flung his arms around her neck – a very demonstrative and emotional gesture for a fourteen year-old, who tried to appear ultra-cool most of the time.

‘And I miss you both very much.’ She had to change the subject before she started to bawl her eyes out. ‘Come on – tell me all about your holiday, did you make any nice new friends?’

She slept the whole way back to Mrs Durant’s house, so the subject of David and Michelle was neatly avoided. That was not the case, however, as she and David drove home to his place. She asked, as casually as she could manage, ‘Have you seen Michelle lately?’

‘Why do you ask?’

‘Oh nothing, just something Mike mentioned …’

‘He’d do well to mind his own business and catch Balaclava Man … but actually, yes, I have seen her a couple of times. She’s agreed to come and remove your stitches, save you taking the risk of going back to hospital.’

‘Oh? When?’

‘Tomorrow morning.’

She grimaced. ‘Great, that’s really given me something to look forward to.’

Chapter Fifty-one

In dulcet tones, Dr Bennett reassured Callie, who was unable to hide her extreme apprehension, ‘This won’t hurt a bit. I promise.’

She lay on David’s bed, at the medic’s mercy. But she’d been truthful – Callie was hardly aware of the stitches coming out and the ordeal was over in no time.

‘The wound looks good – it’s clean and healing well. I’ll put a fresh dressing on and then we’re done.’

‘Thank you, it was kind of you to come and do this for me.’

‘David was worried about your safety at the hospital and I can’t say I blame him after your latest attack. This wasn’t far out of my way.’ She started to replace things in her medical bag. ‘He tells me you’re thinking about going away for a while?’

That came as a surprise, ‘Well … only thinking about it at the moment, I haven’t made any plans yet.’

Uncharitably, she wondered if Michelle and David wanted to get rid of her so the coast was clear for them to snuggle up close and very personal. She shook her head to evict the suspicion, but it didn’t entirely disappear.

‘Can I get you a cup of tea, or coffee?’ Callie asked.

‘Thanks, a tea would be lovely. Will David be long?’

‘Shouldn’t be, he’s just popped out to collect a suit from the dry cleaner’s.’

‘Oh, I see. I’d better hang around until he gets back anyway, so you aren’t alone – a cuppa would be very welcome, while we wait. Shall I make it?’

Callie stood up and started to move toward the kitchen. ‘No, you take a seat; the exercise will do me good.’

Michelle smiled. Callie hadn’t really noticed before how pretty she was.

She handed over a mug. ‘Sorry, I couldn’t find any biscuits.’

‘He’s probably scoffed the lot – he can’t be trusted within a mile of a packet of custard creams or bourbons.’

‘Michelle … is it alright if I call you Michelle?’

She nodded. ‘Of course, most of my patients do.’

‘OK … I was wondering … oh, this is really embarrassing –’

‘Mike has told you he’s seen David and me together and you’re worried I might have sunk my evil claws into him again?’

A nervous laugh escaped her lips. ‘Well, I wouldn’t have put it quite like that, but yes … I was wondering if you maybe regret leaving him?’

Michelle reached over to touch her hand. ‘Callie, please don’t fret on that score. He’s a nice guy, but we should never have got married – we were poison together. It was an unhappy situation for each of us, and if we didn’t both work such crazy hours avoiding each other, we’d probably have split up long before we did. Honestly, I know he loves you to bits, and he’s getting a divorce from me because he wants to marry you. He adores your kids too.’