Two Wrongs (Detective Inspector Ross Reed Book 1) (7 page)

Reed got back to Wymondham headquarters shortly after Tyler. He had decided it would be best to visit Gulliver at home, reveal what they knew, then take him to the station. He would tell DCI Whitehead what he was doing, even he couldn’t disagree with this course of action. In fact, he would probably be happy that they finally had something to go on.

They pulled up to Gulliver’s flat and were pleased to see his car parked outside. Reed had bought Tyler and Plumridge with him. The more eyes on Gulliver the better; it made people uncomfortable. Plummy used his plump fist to good effect, almost rattling the door off its hinges as he knocked. When Gulliver opened the door, it wasn’t shock on his face, it was more like disappointment.

“Alright?” Gulliver enquired.

“Just fine thank you. Can we come in?” Tyler replied.

“S’pose so.”

After being led to the lounge, Plumridge stood looking out of the window, Tyler avoided taking a seat after her last visit here, and Reed sat in a chair opposite Gulliver to allow him direct eye contact.

“I understand you have something you want to tell us.”

“What? No! Who the fuck said that? They’re talking shit.”

“Alright Lee, calm down. What makes you think someone told us anything?” Reed asked, surprised by his angry reaction.

“Well they must have done, why else would you be here? Huh, unless you’re getting desperate?

“On the contrary, we’re making steady progress.”

“Good. You can leave me alone then. Shit sticks you know, you lot keep coming round, I’m gonna have a kicking coming my way, guilty or not.”

“You keep swearing in front of my colleagues and that kicking might come quicker than you think.” Plumridge threatened, still looking out of the window. Reed looked over at his bulk silhouetted at the window and it seemed a valid threat, although he knew it wasn’t going to happen. Plumridge wouldn’t hurt anyone but he could play the part well enough.

“Sorry, but I’ve told you everything I know.”

“Everything you wanted to tell us you mean.” Tyler said.

“What. . . What do you mean?”

“You said on the night of Carmella’s disappearance you left Newmarket, took the A11 all the way to the Wretham roundabout, turned on the A1075 to Thetford before you dropped Carmella off at the end of Bridgeham Road, is that correct?” Reed asked.

“If that’s what I said, then yeah.”

“It is what you said but it’s not what happened.”

“What. . .” Gulliver tried speaking but Reed’s raised hand told him to stop.

“I suggest you think very carefully before you say another word.”

Gulliver took Reeds advice, he made a show of leaning back into the sofa and his eyes were fixed firmly on the floor. Plumridge was still looking out of the window. Reed and Tyler looked straight at Gulliver, somehow hoping to see into this man’s brain, see what his thoughts were and if Gulliver could feel them in there it might prompt him to blurt out the truth.

“I’m sorry, OK? I panicked, I must have got confused. That is the route I
thought
we took, and it’s the way I normally go. You’re right though, I remember now. We turned off at the Elveden crossroads because we were going to go to the garage but we didn’t in the end. I don’t know why not.” Gulliver burst into tears. “What happens to me now?”

“That depends on whether you can convince us that what you’re saying now is the truth. I have my doubts so it could take some time. You’re going to come with us to the station and have a formal interview. I don’t expect you will want me to arrest you so you’ll be coming voluntarily to help us with our inquiries. Then you’re going to sit down with DC Plumridge here and try to convince him.”

Finally Plumridge turned round and looked straight at Gulliver before saying, “And at some point you’re going to have to pay a speeding fine too.”

Nicholas Michael Anderson had been caught on the same speed camera as Lee Gulliver, just eight minutes behind. He was a convicted sex attacker and it just so happened that he lived in the same block of flats as Gulliver, meaning he could have taken the same route home and it potentially placed him in the vicinity of Carmella when she was dropped off.

Reed wasn’t too put off by the fact that Carmella had not been sexually assaulted. He had studied Anderson’s files and there were two convictions of sexual assault; one on a 15 year old girl in a park late at night. The other was against a 20 year old woman that took place in a car park behind a supermarket. In each case the women had been groped through their clothing and the younger victim had also suffered the indignity of him being inside her with his fingers.

The attacks had been 18 months apart with the youngest victim first. In the second attack, the victim had been punched in the head resulting in a black eye. In her statement she was proud that she hadn’t let him get his own way, screaming as loud as she could, lashing out as hard as she could, resulting in her attacker getting frustrated and hitting out at her. That didn’t stop her continuing her fight and in the end, he relented and ran off. Reed, without meeting her, wanted to shake her hand, somehow proud of a woman he had never met.

Anderson was given a combined six years for the attacks but served only four. It would have been three but he was involved in a fight whilst in prison for which he claimed self-defense. On his release he was put on a course of drugs to suppress his sexual urges. He also had regular counselling which he was still attending every month up until a year ago.

The fact that Carmella had no physical signs of sexual assault didn’t really mean anything. He could have groped her which wouldn’t have necessarily left any marks or he could have been disturbed before being able to satisfy his desires. Carmella had been described as sporty and fit by family and friends so perhaps wouldn’t have been the easiest of targets. The scrapings taken from her fingernails at the autopsy showed no sign that she had scratched at her attacker and Reed wondered if fear could have frozen her solid.

Anderson was picked up at his home address, a flat that was separated from Gulliver’s by one other. Was it just coincidence that they lived so close? Did they know one another? Was this a team attack? Was either of them involved at all, in either murder?

Reed pushed the questions from his mind and entered the interview room, followed by Tyler, where Anderson was waiting. He was stood backed into the furthest corner away from the door. His head was hanging in such a way that it gave the impression his neck was too weak to hold it up. Anderson somehow found more shadows than were really there. When he did finally look up, his eyes seemed to beam like little torches from his gaunt face. With his dull clothes swamping his tall skinny frame, he could have passed as a makeshift clothes hanger. If Reed wasn’t expecting to find a human in there somewhere he doubted he would have noticed him at all.

“Please sit down Mr. Anderson.” Reed said, taking a seat himself.

Anderson seemed to slide out of the shadows like a snake from under a rock. His hair looked like a string mop head; it was shoulder length and it sat heavy with grease. He pulled out a chair opposite Reed and sat down, looking at the surface of the table. Reed had asked Tyler to join the interview and ask a few questions of her own, just to see what his reaction was to a woman.

Tyler did the formalities with the tapes and introductions. Anderson had not wanted a solicitor present. He had been told that he wasn’t under arrest but that the interview would be recorded and could be used as evidence.

“I’m Detective Inspector Reed and we would just like to ask you a few questions. I hope you don’t mind?”

Anderson looked up slowly to Reed, then to Tyler, then back to Reed before giving the faintest of shakes of his head to indicate that he didn’t.

“For the purpose of the tape, Mr. Anderson shook his head indicating: no.” Tyler said. She looked straight at him, trying to provoke him to look at her. He was making her feel sick. It was hard to stay impartial when you knew what someone had done.

“We would like to know where you were on the evening of the 27th of July 2013?”

“I went for a drink at the Red Lodge pub and after that I went home.”

The room was silent as Reed and Tyler shared a look. The voice they had just heard was that of a small boy rather than the man sat before them. It was soft and high pitched.

“You seem very sure; was it a special night, a night to remember?”

“No.”

“Did you meet anyone at the Red Lodge?” Reed continued.

“No. I go there because nobody knows me, it’s what I like. The landlord should know my face by now, you could ask him.”

“We will. After you left the Red Lion, what did you do then?” Tyler asked, there was still no adverse reaction from Anderson about being questioned by a woman and he was happy enough to answer her.

“I went home.”

“Straight home?” Tyler asked before Anderson had barely finished his answer.

There was a pause from Anderson as he slowly lifted his head and looked at Tyler. It wasn’t anything sinister, but something was there turning her stomach further. “Yes, straight home.”

“And what route did you take?” Tyler asked, they knew at least part of his journey.

“From the Red Lodge I headed to the A11. I turned off at the Elveden crossroads and then I came into Thetford on the Diss Road to my flat.” Anderson said, including the road he was caught speeding on, unlike Gulliver. Unfortunately it didn’t take him close to Bridgeham Road where Carmella was supposedly dropped off.

Reed purposely left the room quiet and when Anderson looked up wondering where the next question was coming from, Reed locked eyes with him. This lasted a good 10 seconds and Anderson didn’t flinch. He must have had more than his fair share of people staring at him and being questioned by the police was nothing new. Reed was beginning to wonder if this man ever blinked and he noticed there was a little smirk set on his face; had it had always been there or was he laughing at the attempt to intimidate him?

“Do you have any idea why we wanted to talk to you?” Reed asked.

“I have an idea, yes.”

“What’s this idea of yours then?”

“Probably to do with my past,” Anderson said, holding Tyler’s gaze for a moment before continuing, “and the fact that a young girl has been murdered. I didn’t think it would take too long before I got dragged in.”

“Yes, that’s part of it. But there is the small matter of her body being dumped at Thetford Common, an area you would have passed on your way home. Throw in the fact that she was killed some time close, very close in fact, to when you were on the road and we have a whole lot of coincidences going on.”

Anderson glanced from one officer to another before finally blinking, a blink that made up for all the time that he hadn’t done. It was exaggerated; his eyes screwed up to the size of peas, and then reopened to that same wide stare. Reed thought this was Anderson’s first sign of emotion and it made him wonder why? Still Anderson didn’t speak.

“We caught you speeding on the A1075, we know what time you headed home. What we would also like to know is why the rush? Especially as it’s a road you say you use frequently, surely you must have known there was a speed camera there?” Reed changed his questions to implications now. “Or maybe, it isn’t your normal route. Maybe you had to change your normal route and now you’re telling a few lies.”

Anderson started to shift in his chair, his cheeks were reddening and his eyes were flitting between the two detectives in front of him. Reed let the room fall silent again, he wanted Anderson to process the information he just received. If he was lying, the silence might prompt him to tell the truth.

After a few minutes of silence, Tyler, who had been taking notes on a pad, set her pen down slowly, then said in a gentle voice “Look at me, Mr. Anderson.”

Shyly, doing as he was told, he settled his eyes on Tyler. His blinking was more frequent now, it still looked like he was putting all his effort into it. Maybe it was a nervous tic. Tyler knew that they had made him uncomfortable; she sat forward so her elbows were resting on the table, closing the gap between them slightly before resting her chin in her hands. She reminded Reed of a lovestruck teenager taking in her idol. Then she whispered, “We can place you at the scene of where Carmella was found at a time that coincides with her death. I know how young girls can be; maybe she led you on before spurning your advances. You were frustrated, angry and hurt; she was toying with you. I believe you lost control and you hit out at her. You didn’t mean to kill her. You panicked. You tried to hide her body. Is that what happened?”

Anderson’s eyes started to flit around again. Tyler held hers straight on him. “No.” He whispered back to her.

“I believe it was. A crime of passion of sorts, a jury will be sympathetic to that.”

“No.” There was nervousness to his reply. At being caught? Or being framed?

“It adds up,” Reed added, “Had you become acquainted with her when she visited Lee Gulliver’s, a neighbour of yours? Had you struck up a rapport with her as you passed her in and around the flats?”

“No.” Anderson still wasn’t raising his voice but his blinking reflex was in overdrive making up for lost time.

Reed wanted the man to break. A reaction was simmering below the surface and he wanted to see that reaction start to boil. He stood up, “As my colleague has said, we have a fair amount of circumstantial evidence. I am sure we have enough to at least get a search warrant for your home and I wonder what we’ll find there, even if it doesn’t relate to this. When you factor in your history, well...”

Bolting up to match Reed’s height, Anderson sent his chair flying across the room, crashing against the wall. “It wasn’t fucking me!” The force at which Anderson shouted sent saliva shooting from his mouth, his spittle like bullets as they flew through the beam of the overhead light.

Tyler stood now, not sure what to do. Reed gave it a few seconds of being face to face with Anderson before making to leave the room, touching Tyler’s arm to indicate that she should do the same. Anderson stayed upright watching them go.

Reed and Tyler hovered around outside the interview room trying to digest all that had just happened in a mutual silence. Anderson had displayed the demeanor of someone trying to stay in control but he just proved he could be provoked. There had been a real evil in his eyes. Had Carmella somehow provoked him too? Had she pushed him so far as to be attacked?

“Tell him he can leave but I want him watched.”