Two Wrongs (Detective Inspector Ross Reed Book 1) (14 page)

Reed sat bolt upright, he was trying to process what Anderson had just said. His head was a little foggy from his snooze. “How do you know that Gulliver didn't kill Carmella Chapman?”

“I saw him come home that night.”

“So? He could have come home after he killed her.” Reed said, already trying to pick holes in the story, desperate not to lose his main suspect to someone who obviously knew something he didn’t.

“No. I don't think so.” Anderson was speaking with a new found confidence. Finally playing what he thought was his trump card.

“What time did you see him come home?”

“It was 12.50”

Reed quickly did the mathematics in his head. If Anderson was telling the truth, Gulliver was unlikely to have had time to kill Carmella, move her body and get home by that time. “How did you see him come home? According to your statement you arrived home at 12.30 and yet you seem certain that you saw Gulliver get home at 12.50. You're lying about something, which bit is it?”

Anderson didn't answer. “Mr. Anderson, could you answer the question please?” Reed was trying to hurry an answer so Anderson couldn't fabricate an answer.

      “I...”

      “What?!” Reed slammed his fist down on the table in frustration.

“I was watching his flat.” Anderson finally spat out.

Reed calmed himself and gathered his thoughts, “Why were you watching his flat?”

“I just... I watch his flat because of the girls. He has girls round there.” Anderson hung his head down, ashamed at his own words.

Reed believed him. It made sense, Anderson was a sex offender trying to keep on the right path but needing to get his thrills somehow, so it seemed feasible he would spy on somebody else to get them. Reed also remembered David Jones voicing his concerns about Gulliver's interest in young girls.

“Is it fair to say you admired Gulliver a little?”

“I suppose so.” Anderson answered.

“Or were you more... jealous?” Reed probed.

“No!” Anderson said, his head flipping up again. Reed tilted his chair back a little and let the silence work on Anderson's conscience. Reed tried to keep eye contact with him but Anderson's eyes were flitting around the room. Something wasn't sitting right with all this but Reed couldn't put his finger on it. Something about tonight.

“Look Nic,” Reed started, trying the friendly approach. “I know you've had your problems in the past but all I'm interested in is the here and now. I believe what you're saying about watching Gulliver. Are you sure about the time you saw him?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I make a mental note of the time so, you know, I can keep an eye out next time.”

“Fair enough.” Reed paused, tapped his fingers on the table. “Is there anyone else you keep an eye out for? Or admire?”

“No. I never meant to watch him, it's just that one night when I came home I heard some giggling and popped my head round the corner to have a look and there he was with a couple of girls going into his flat. I walked past his window a couple of times and saw them... having sex. The three of them.” Anderson said, showing signs of enjoying the story as he told it.

“Was Carmella one of the girls?”

“No, I don't think so. This was ages ago. He never keeps the same one for long, Carmella was just his latest one.”

Reed nodded his head in an almost understanding way. “OK. Let's leave it there for now and get some rest, we'll pick this up again in the morning. You'll have to stay here I'm afraid.”

Anderson nodded, sensing he had Reed on side. Maybe that he even had a friend in all of this, which was exactly how Reed wanted him to feel.

Reed arrived home just before 6am. He lay down on the sofa, just about mustering enough energy to set the alarm on his phone for 8am. He would have gone to bed but there was nothing there for him. He had never spent the night on a sofa with Kate, so he couldn't miss her there. If he went to bed, he'd expect to feel her soft, smooth skin next to his and it wouldn't feel right without it.

It felt like only five minutes had passed when his phone started vibrating on his chest, he switched it off quickly before the ascending volume of a cockerel really kicked in. Reed started to get himself up before being halted by what felt like someone cutting the muscles on the right-hand-side of his neck with a spoon. This is why you shouldn't sleep on a sofa; he had obviously got himself in some unnatural position during his short sleep and would pay for it for the rest of the day.

He had about an hour before he was scheduled to sit down with DCI Whitehead and tell him about Anderson's interview. It had been Whitehead who had insisted on Reed conducting the interview in the middle of the night and then he had arranged a briefing for 9am. Reed couldn't help thinking that this wasn't a mistake on Whitehead's part.

Reed managed to peel himself away from the sofa and climb wearily up the stairs. Catching his reflection in the full sized mirror at the end of the landing, he stopped. His clothes were crumpled, he needed a shave, his hair looked as though it had been rubbed with a balloon, and there were big black bags under his eyes. He looked just as bad as he felt.

As he brushed his teeth he had a sudden wave of joy wash over him. Rather than tidy himself up, he would show Whitehead the results of what he had missed whilst tucked up in bed. After changing his underwear, Reed took great pleasure in putting his creased clothes back on. With a quick spray of deodorant for his own self-respect, he felt good to go.

After receiving a few curious looks from people who were too polite to ask about his appearance, Reed gave Whitehead a rundown on the interview with Anderson. Surprisingly, he didn't have too many complaints. That might change if the tapes were required to be played in court. Audio or visual, they were both likely to pick up any snoring. After rejecting Whitehead's offer to go home to ‘freshen up’, Reed started to feel better by the minute.

Plumridge had just delivered Reed's third coffee of the day when Nic Anderson was led into the interview room. He beamed a smile in Reed's direction which wasn't returned. Anderson looked offended. The two officers waited for permission to remove the handcuffs before sitting Anderson in his chair.

“Sleep well?” Reed began.

“Yes. Fine.”

“I didn't. Something's troubling me. If Gulliver was the only one you admired or whatever you want to call it, why were you pleasuring yourself at Carmella Chapman's murder site?” Reed held out his hands palm up for effect before continuing, “Here's my theory: you think Lee Gulliver took Carmella there, had sex with her and then killed her.”

“No!” Anderson's eyes expanded to a fixed stare.

“I haven't finished yet.” Reed stated while imitating Anderson's wide eyed stare. “You did see Gulliver, I believe that much. I'm not so sure about the time though. I think the fear of seeing your hero; your only friend of any sorts being arrested and taken away from you has forced you to bend the truth a little.”

Anderson's face was the colour of hot embers, rage shining through his eyes like torches. There may even have been the beginning of a tear forming.

“Well?” Reed shouted.

There was enough force in the question to break Anderson's stare. He blinked sporadically as his eyes returned to human proportions. Reed's didn't. A wry smile came across Anderson's face before he said loud and clear, “I think he fucked her, yeah. And good on him.”

Reed was out of his chair before Anderson had even finished his sentence. Life was about choices; choices that could affect your whole future. Reed could jump across the table and pummel Nic Anderson to the floor like he wanted to, leading to his career going much the same way as his marriage, or he could leave.

Reed headed straight for the main exit so he could light a cigarette and try to calm down. A journey which was made longer than it needed to be as he had been forced into a detour from his normal route after hearing Whitehead's voice booming down one of the corridors. Other than that it was a clear run. It had taken all of Reed's restraint not to react to Anderson's comments about Gulliver and Carmella.

Once he was inhaling greedily from his cigarette, Reed admitted to himself that he was well and truly addicted again, but in truth, he wasn't overly concerned by the fact. It felt good to add to the destruction of his life. Punishment to himself for not doing the right thing by Carmella's memory. He wasn't having much luck through the correct channels of police work and he had been too much of a coward to do it through any other.

If Anderson was telling the truth about when he saw Gulliver arrive home, and it was a big if, then Gulliver would have been hard pushed to have killed Carmella and dispose of her body before returning home. Time would have been tight but Gulliver's car didn't exactly scream ‘sensible driver.’ A fact that was reinforced by him being caught speeding on the night that Carmella was killed.

Nic Anderson had also been caught speeding just a few minutes after Gulliver. Had he followed them to the end of Carmella's road and taken her? Had he been familiar enough to Carmella from around the town and the block of flats where Gulliver lived for her not to be alarmed? Maybe he fabricated a story about Gulliver in order to gain her trust.

Had Gulliver killed her not knowing he was being watched by Anderson before running away, leaving Anderson to hide the body? Maybe it was more simplistic than that and Anderson was just lying about the time Gulliver had got home. There were too many grey areas and not enough clear cut facts. Reed needed the DNA from the earring found at the murder site.

Closing his eyes, he tried to imagine the chain of events that happened that night. Gulliver had given Carmella a lift home from the club, that was a fact backed up with CCTV footage. Despite Gulliver's lie, they knew he turned right off the A11 at the Elveden crossroads onto the A1075, where he was caught by a speed camera before passing Thetford Common on the Bury Road.

They could have stopped at the Common before having an argument, or his advances were rejected and he got angry, picking up a stone and hitting her on the head with it. Trying to predict what someone would do after they had just killed someone was way beyond Reed's imagination. What they did know was that the killer had tried to muddy the waters a little by moving the body. If it was Gulliver, and Anderson was telling the truth, he would have had to have been quick. Maybe after lashing out he checked her pulse and panicked before trying to hide her body. Then there was the bleach; whoever killed Carmella had had the presence of mind to try and cover any DNA evidence by saturating her body with bleach. It was a cold and calculating act by a cold and calculating killer. Was the bleach the key to all of this? Was it a statement from the same person who had killed Tina Westwood?

Then there was the earrings, was that another statement? There had definitely been one missing from Tina and potentially two missing from Carmella. Were they little trophies taken by the killer?

Gulliver had links to both girls. It was undeniable that he knew Carmella and there was also the fact that he worked with Tina’s dad, Alan. It had been Reed’s intention to keep the two cases separate but maybe it was time to reveal their cards.

It was also a possibility that Anderson was a co-conspirator, with or without Gulliver's knowledge. Maybe Gulliver was telling the truth and he did drop Carmella off at the end of her road, allowing Anderson or someone else to pounce. Or he may have killed her and Anderson had tidied up for him so as not to lose his idol.

Driving at the speed restrictions in place, the journey from Carmella's body to Gulliver's flat would take twenty minutes assuming there were no hold ups from other traffic. Could Gulliver have made it in ten?

The scariest part was, if Anderson was telling the truth, it matched Gulliver's statement for the time he arrived home.

Had they concocted it together?

It was a very real possibility.

Tyler had agreed to meet Reed for lunch. He was waiting in his office for her to arrive and then they would head to The Stag pub just off the All in Attleborough. They would no doubt order their usual baguettes, bacon for Reed and tuna for Tyler. From there they would head over to the Chapman's house. Reed felt it was important for him to show his face and update them on the investigation where it was possible.

The Chapman’s knew Reed was in charge and would look to him personally to provide the answers regarding their daughter’s death. All their other hopes and dreams for Carmella had been cruelly snatched away; the only thing left for Carmella was her funeral and finding her killer. Eight days had passed since Carmella had been dumped in an overgrown urine-smelling pit. The least her parents deserved now was to know how and why it had happened and this was what kept Reed going.

During lunch with Tyler, Reed went through what had happened in the interview with Anderson. He couldn't remember if his food was nice or not, the taste got lost somewhere during the conversation, similar to when you're driving and the miles just disappear as you get lost in your thoughts. After eating, they traveled to the Chapman's house in silence. Both of them trying to make sense of their lunchtime conversations. Both of them failing.

Brenda Chapman opened the door and invited them in. She opened the patio doors and called her husband, Brian, in from the garden and waited for him to arrive before going to make some tea. He was wearing grey tracksuit trousers and a white t-shirt that were both covered in a thin layer of sawdust. He had facial hair which was, understandably, about four days old.

Whilst he waited for his wife to return, he recalled various stories of Carmella from when she was a baby through to just a week ago. It struck Reed that there would be no new memories to tell of. This seemed to dawn on Brian too as his laughter at a story he had just told merged seamlessly into crying.

Once they settled down with their drinks, Reed told them what he could without jeopardising the investigation. He felt a deep sense of guilt as the words came from his mouth, knowing he sounded too upbeat and felt he was giving the Chapmans false hope. He wasn't sure if it was for the Chapman's sake or his, trying to convince them all that they would catch the killer soon. Even if they did, Carmella would still be dead. Wanting to get out of the hole he was creating, he made a show of looking at his watch and making his excuses.

When they got outside, Tyler suggested that they see if the Westwoods were home. They needed to know if either Alan or Susan knew Lee Gulliver and, more importantly, if their daughter had.

They would have to be careful not to imply that Gulliver was too strong a suspect as Alan Westwood worked alongside him and might have to continue to do so.  

Susan Westwood answered the door and welcomed them in like they were old friends. Despite them refusing, Susan went in the kitchen to put a pot of tea on in case they changed their minds. Reed stood from his chair and walked over to some photos that were on display on a mahogany unit.

There was one of Alan, Susan and Tina at the beach. Alan had his arm around his wife, and his daughter, who looked to be about six years old, was perched on his shoulders. Tina looked to be giggling uncontrollably; Susan was doing a cheeky pose in her swimsuit, while Alan looked like a different man from the one Reed had met. A happy man.

Susan came in holding a tray with all the ingredients for tea but only three cups.

“Is Alan not around?” Reed asked.

“No, he's gone to town. Then he's taking the dog to Thompson Water, he'll be gone for hours.”

Reed knew Thompson Water, he had spent a lot of time there when he was younger. He used to go night fishing there and it was a great place to gather your thoughts or lose them completely. A vast expanse of water was lined with reeds that housed a variety of wildlife. There was thick forest all around that had walkways snaking through it that could lead for miles without actually going anywhere.

“We can wait, if you want to call him?”

“No, that's fine. He doesn't have a phone anyway. Does he need to be here then?”

“It's not essential, we can talk to him another time. We were hoping to ask you both a couple of questions. Maybe you'll know the answers anyway.”

“You only missed him by a couple of minutes. He'll be a couple of hours like I said. Ever since Tina was killed, he just disappears into himself. And this latest murder has hit him really hard, bringing it all back.”

“You too, I would imagine?”

“Of course, yes.” Susan dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief as though to enforce the point, then carried on, “It opens up old wounds that you thought had healed. It's the worst thing that could happen to a parent, losing a child. I wouldn't wish it on anybody.”

Reed was surprised by how chatty Mrs. Westwood was but had to take full advantage. “Terrible.” He stated his understanding, “If you wouldn't mind, we'd like to ask a couple of questions? I don't want you to read too much into it, it's just some things that might fill in some blanks.”

“OK.” Susan said, brightening at the thought she could be of some help.

“Do you know somebody called Lee Gulliver?”

Susan took a few seconds to process the name before saying, “I do recognise it, but I can't remember why.”

“Did Tina mention it?”

“I don't know. I don't think so.” Susan's face had contorted a little from the torment of not knowing. A feeling she must have known all too well.

“Don't worry Mrs. Westwood, I can tell you, he works with your husband. Maybe Alan has mentioned him?”

“Yes, that's it.” Susan triumphed. “Alan attended a course with him. It was a two day course and finished on the same day as Carmella Chapman went missing. The Friday. It was a chemical mixing course for health and safety I think, something like that. What with Alan being in charge of the night shift, he has to stay up to date with these things. Lee Gulliver took the same course for the day shift.”

“Was this at the factory?” Reed asked.

“No. It was at Newmarket, some college there. Alan wasn't best pleased about going to college at his age.” Susan smiled.

“Did they go together?”

“They were on the same course but they went separately. Alan was booked into a hotel because he normally works nights and his boss didn't want him driving when he was tired. I think Lee Gulliver travelled back and forth each day.” Susan said cheerily before adding, “Which was probably a blessing for him.”

“Why's that?”

“Well, the hotel couldn't have been up too much. Alan stayed the first night, but he left early on the second.”

“Do you know what time he left?” Reed asked.

“I didn't ask, but I can tell you what time he got home. He scared the life out of me, I wasn't expecting him home you see. He scared me half to death when I heard the front door open. When I looked at the clock it was 1.18am.”

Reed managed to hide his shock a lot better than Tyler did. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her eyes widen. Luckily, Susan had been looking at Reed whilst she had been talking. She was still looking at Reed now. Waiting for some sort of response.

“I think that's everything then.” Reed said with a lightness he wasn't feeling. He couldn't really tell her that due to the information she had just given, her husband had now become a potential witness in Carmella Chapman's murder. Or a potential suspect.