M. Arlidge - Eeny Meeny

‘I pulled you out.’

Helen cast her eye down at the photo. If you looked hard a bump was visible round her midriff. Helen had saved Diane’s life, but even more importantly she had saved Amy’s. The thought made her queasy – their killer was even more devious and twisted than she’d given her credit for.

‘What’s all this about? Why do you want to know about that day?’

The six-million-dollar question.

‘I can’t say right now, Diane, but we’re much closer to understanding why Amy was abducted. I will tell you more the minute I have it. But I must ask you to keep this conversation between you and me for now.’

Diane nodded – she had no problem with that.

‘We will catch Sam’s killer,’ Helen continued, ‘and Amy will get justice. You have my word on that. As for the rest of it, that’s up to you. I’ve got no interest in wrecking anybody’s marriage.’

Diane showed her out. Helen was straight on the phone. There were several messages from Charlie and when Helen got through to her she was brought up to speed on the Mickery situation. The game was getting stranger and stranger at each turn and Helen had the nasty feeling that things were building to a perfectly planned climax. Helen had encountered many unpleasant people during her time as a copper and her mind scrolled through them now, desperately searching for the culprit.

‘I’m coming, Charlie, but I need you to do something for me first.’

‘Yes, boss?’

‘I need you to check out the whereabouts of Louise Tanner.’

Hannah Mickery had never been a nail-biter. But her fingers were bitten to the quick now. It was ironic really. A lot of her work had been turning hair-pullers and nail-biters into rational, stable human beings. But now look at her. A gibbering wreck, all sense of self-control eroded by her terrible ordeal.

Where was Grace? This waiting was slow torture. When she’d made the deal with her abductor it had all been so simple. She would do as she was told and then she would be free. Amusing to think that in the brief heady moments after the deal she’d had a flash vision of a life beyond fear and despair. A life in which she could put her ordeal, and more specifically her recovery from it, to good use. To help others. To help herself.

Now that all seemed like arrant nonsense. A feeble flight of fancy and the product of a disordered mind. Perhaps she wouldn’t get to see Grace? Perhaps she would fail? The torture wasn’t over yet.

Then suddenly Grace was in the room. Mickery was filled with elation, even though Grace was visibly startled by her appearance. She was trying to do her sympathetic face, but Mickery felt like an exotic and repulsive creature being gawped at in the reptile house.

Helen for her part was stunned by what she saw. Mickery, cool as a cucumber in previous interviews, looked like one of the crazy ladies you see every day at the soup kitchens. Homeless women who’ve been so battered by life that they look completely unhinged.

‘I don’t want her here,’ Mickery snapped, casting an accusing glance at Charlie.

‘DC Brooks needs to be here as a matter of proced-’

‘She can’t be here. Please.’

Now there was a plaintive tone to her request and tears were threatening. Her whole body seemed to be shaking. With a nod from Helen, Charlie quit the room.

‘What happened to you, Hannah? Are you able to tell me?’

‘You know what happened to me.’

‘I can guess, but I want to hear it from you.’

Mickery shook her head and looked at the floor.

‘You’re not under arrest and I’ve got no intention of bringing charges against you for things that you were forced to do. If you’ve killed Sandy… then tell me where -’

‘Sandy’s not dead,’ Mickery interrupted, ‘at least I don’t think he is. And I didn’t do anything to him.’

‘So where is he? If we can get help to him…’

‘I don’t know. We were in a metal container, a freight container down by the docks I’d guess. I could smell the sea when I was dragged out.’

‘Who dragged you out ?’

‘She did. Katherine.’

‘Let me be clear on this. She dragged you out and spared you, despite the fact that Sandy was alive and unharmed?’

Mickery nodded.

‘The gun was empty. She never intended for us to die. It was all a big fucking joke.’

Helen sat back in her chair, processing this new development.

‘Why, Hannah? Why did she spare you?’

‘Because she wanted me to give you a message.’

‘A message?’

‘I was to contact Brooks, but speak to you. Only to you.’

‘And what is that message?’

‘I commend you.’

Helen waited for more, but nothing was forthcoming.

‘That’s it?’

Mickery nodded. ‘I commend you,’ she repeated. There was no way she wasn’t giving this message, Helen thought to herself.

‘What does it mean?’ Hannah Mickery’s question was desperate. As if Helen’s answer could make sense of her terrible experiences.

‘It means we’re getting closer to the killer.’

‘Who is she?’

Helen paused. What to tell her?

‘I can’t be certain, Hannah. Not yet.’

Hannah snorted – disbelief writ large on her face.

‘And what am I supposed to do whilst you’re playing cops and robbers?’

‘We can offer you secure accommodation and personal protection if that’s what -’

‘Don’t bother.’

‘I mean it, Hannah, we can look af-’

‘You think anything you do will stop her? She’s not going to be beaten. She’s going to win. Don’t you see that?’

Mickery’s eyes blazed. She looked completely demented.

‘Let me call you a doctor, Hannah. I really think -’

‘I hope you can sleep at night.’

Mickery gripped her arm, pinching the skin sharply.

‘Whatever it is you’ve done, I hope you can sleep at night.’

Helen left the interview to seek the station doctor, with Mickery’s words still ringing in her ears. Her accusation had been prophetic and troubling. Helen was so engrossed in her chain of thought that at first she didn’t notice that someone was calling her name.

Whittaker. She should have been expecting this. Inwardly, Helen cursed herself for not having a battle plan ready for this tricky situation.

‘How is she? Did you manage to get anything out of her?’

His tone was business-like, but Helen could tell he was tense. He was a good politician, a good actor, but he was rattled. He had no idea what sort of state Mickery was in and what she was saying. She could destroy his career in a couple of sentences.

‘She’s in a bad way, sir. But she’s bearing up and cooperating.’

‘Good, good.’ Not very convincing, thought Helen.

‘What about the lawyer?’ Whittaker continued. ‘Is he…?’

‘We’re not sure at the moment. It looks as though she might have let them both go.’

This clearly unnerved him.

‘Well, keep me up to speed. We won’t be able to keep a lid on this thing much longer, so…’

And with that, he was gone. What now? Helen knew she had little choice. It was hard to find a private space in the nick, somewhere you could talk freely. But behind the canteen bins was one such place. So she went there now and called Anti-Corruption.

‘What I’m about to tell you does not leave this room, ok?’

Helen was now back in the incident room. Charlie, Bridges, Grounds, Sanderson, McAndrew – they’d all been summoned to a team briefing and were listening, tense and expectant. They nodded in unison to Helen’s question and awaited more.

‘So far our killer has targeted five couples. Every one of them is connected to me in some way.’