Lynda La Plante: Hidden Killers

Jane was gasping for breath as she picked up the little boy’s tin bus and rammed it down on Allard’s head, knocking him face down and giving Gibbs the chance to drag his arms up and cuff him.

Janet was crying and laughing at the same time. She slumped against the corner and then started to sing in a screeching voice ‘The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round .’ She picked up the knife wanting to have another go at Allard. ‘He could have got my boy, he could have hurt my boy.’

‘Just knock it off, will you. Gimme that now .’

Gibbs had tied a towel around Allard’s head, so he was disoriented and cuffed, but still using his body like a ram and kicking out at anything as Jane and Gibbs hauled him into the lift.

Moran and Edwards screeched to a halt beside the patrol car. Edwards immediately went to assist Gibbs and get Allard in the car. Moran went directly over to Jane, and held her, asking quietly if she was all right. She nodded, and he gently touched her face.

‘You come back with me, Edwards will go with Gibbs and lock the bastard up. Come on, let me put you in the car. I won’t be long.’

Jane sank into the passenger seat, and closed her eyes. Moran had a few words with Gibbs and Edwards and then headed into the estate.

Moran found Janet sitting on the sofa, shaking and drinking from a bottle of brandy. ‘If she wasn’t here, he’d have killed me, I just thank Christ my mum took the kid to a friend’s cos I got to work and…’

‘Shush, shush,’ he said, sitting beside her. ‘We got him and you’re safe.’

She nodded. ‘You want me in court, Nick, I’ll do it, do whatever you want. She knocked him for six with the double-decker bus.’

‘Will you be all right?’

She nodded, taking another swig of brandy. ‘You make sure she’s all right because she was in here alone with him.’

‘I will, but you muddied the waters, Janet. What the hell were you doing blackmailing the bastard?’

‘I couldn’t work, I’m still red raw from where he sliced me, an’ I wanted to get something out of it. I had to get my mother-in-law over from Jamaica to look after my son, I was broke, Nick.’

He sighed. ‘Is it true you have evidence, I mean apart from being able to identify him?’

She took another mouthful of brandy.

‘Tell me, I am looking out for you, for Chrissakes, and I always have, but this is you pushing the limit… was it a lie?’

She hesitated and then slowly got to her feet. ‘It might mean nothin’, but when those coppers found me, I stuffed it into me bag along with you know what.’

Janet went to a cabinet and opened a drawer. She took out something wrapped in newspaper. ‘You can smell him on it, and I know he raped that young girl because he thought she was me, and I know you used that blonde copper in my fur coat because it was me he was always after.’

Moran frowned as she slowly placed the newspaper-wrapped parcel on the coffee table. As he reached over to open it she put her hand over it.

‘It’s all been my fault, Nick, cos I stole his money out of his cab and I know you was protecting me and couldn’t use me as a witness, and to be honest you have always been about the only person I could trust.’

‘You’ve certainly screwed me over, so what is it?’

Janet slowly opened the newspaper. It contained Peter Allard’s balaclava that she had ripped from his head. He didn’t touch it but rewrapped the newspaper around it. He knew it could not be used as evidence as it was too long after Allard’s arrest.

‘Will you still look after me, Nick?’

He got up and smiled, saying he would make sure she was taken care of. He had no idea what she had meant by the double-decker bus but he would find out.

DS Gibbs drove Jane back to the section house and as she attempted to get out of the car he had touched her arm.

‘Listen, I need to apologize to you, I behaved like an arsehole, and I just want to clear the air between us. To be honest when I did that run into that estate I had a few seconds when I didn’t think I would be able to deal with stuff, you know, the tension and all that crap. I’ve had these recurring sweats and panicky feelings, but when I saw you with that bastard I never felt for a minute I couldn’t cope. Maybe it’s over, you know, I’ve come through it.’ Jane was taken aback when he leaned towards her and kissed her cheek, before he gave an embarrassed wave of his hand for her to get out of the car.

Jane was back on duty on the Monday morning. DCI Shepherd had been informed of the arrest of Allard, and told her that she was to be at Hackney Station to make a formal report. He didn’t appear interested in discussing what had occurred, having already had a lengthy conversation with DI Gibbs.

Jane was not disappointed. In fact, she was partly relieved as she had been very traumatized, and had hardly slept after she had left Gibbs. However, like Spence, she had been somewhat comforted by the fact that she had remained in control and had not suffered from nerves.

Peter Allard had been charged with assault and battery and held in the cells at Hackney. On his arrival at the station, Moran had received a call from Maidstone. The stones from the patio had been lifted, and using arc lights, as the soil beneath was being carefully sifted, they had partly uncovered a roll of carpet.

The body was inside the carpet, covered with plastic, and thick duct tape bound her from head to toe. As a result of the tight bindings there was little decomposition. It was without doubt Susie Luna, as in the pocket of her overall was a name tag from the Majestic Hotel where she had worked.

After clearing her absence with DCI Shepherd, Jane arrived at Hackney Station and went into the incident room where DC Edwards gave her the update on the discovery of the body. Moran was waiting for the formal identification but it was pretty conclusive. ‘He wants to see you, and he’s had DCI Shepherd on the phone, so he’ll no doubt fill you in.’

Jane felt nervous, wondering if this was going to be a severe reprimand over her suspicions about Moran. She was not that eager to go and see him, but she had no option. She checked her appearance in the ladies’ locker room and then went to his office, which she still thought of as Bradfield’s. She knocked on the door, and it was a moment before she heard Moran say ‘come in’. He gave almost a curt nod of his head, to indicate for her to sit in the chair opposite his desk.

‘We need to discuss a few things just to clear the air a bit. I have given DCI Shepherd a rundown. He started off being a bit tetchy about your professional conduct, saying that you were not a team player – he already seems to think you were acting without backup on the Shirley Dawson case.’ Jane chewed her lips.

‘Shepherd said he had discussed this with you previously, about some unethical procedure. Apparently, despite the coroner’s report that it was a non-suspicious death, you and DS Lawrence continued to investigate. You went without authority to question Katrina Harcourt and introduced evidence of the black patent leather shoes but-’

Jane interrupted. ‘It was a good job we did.’

‘Hang on, Tennison. Although he disapproved of what he described as unethical procedure, he did express his admiration for the way you triggered the investigation into the murder of Shirley Dawson. What was it that made you suspect foul play?’

Jane hesitated before answering. ‘I found it very distressing because I was alone in the flat with the victim, her eyes were open, and I had to lift her out of the bath to be taken to the mortuary. Something just didn’t feel right. She was the same age as me, and she had a small child, and it was seeing the baby food, her bottle ready to feed her.’