Nick Oldham - Dead Heat

‘First of all I want to say I’m sorry for dragging you into this whole, sorry mess. I should never have asked you.’

‘What’s done is done. You weren’t to know how it would escalate.’

She inspected her nails. Henry could tell she was far from recovered and that she was still close to the edge — a position he knew well, but one he had decided to avoid in future. ‘I suppose it’s only right that you know all the ins and outs of things, as far as I know them.’

‘I am curious. That’s the detective in me, but you don’t have to tell me anything you’d rather I did not know. I probably know more than you think, anyway.’

‘I think it’s only right and proper — after all, you nearly got killed twice,’ she said and took a deep, thoughtful breath. ‘Mmm,’ she said, ‘a potted history: John and I married young, too young, both of us pretty immature, even though we believed different.’

‘I can relate to that.’

‘Anyway,’ she shrugged sadly, ‘he was just starting out in business and I wanted to be a homemaker. He spent all his waking hours dedicated to being a success. I was neglected day in, day out, or so it seemed. I fell into an affair with a man who made me feel good about myself, something John could never do. Unfortunately I got pregnant to him. I convinced John it was his, although how he fell for that I really don’t know. The marriage continued. Charlotte’s birth brought us closer together for a time, but then business took over again. I decided to make the best of a bad job. . We had money, cars, houses, so I lived a material life and brought Charlotte up pretty much single-handed.’

Tara sniffed back some tears, pulled herself together.

‘Can I get you anything?’ Henry asked.

‘No, I’m fine.’ Her voice was frail. ‘He never knew Charlotte wasn’t his. It was a well-kept secret.’

‘Until recently.’

Tara nodded. ‘Our relationship was increasingly bad. I knew things weren’t right with the business, but I never took much notice of that side of things. What he did to make money didn’t actually interest me, that’s why I didn’t know what he was up to. I just knew that he was at his limit financially and he was desperate and now I know he resorted to desperate measures to get back on line. I still don’t know the details, only that some very iffy-looking characters started turning up to see him.’

‘He was involved with the Mafia,’ Henry blurted, regretting it immediately.

Tara’s face dropped. ‘My God,’ she uttered. ‘They bailed him out?’

‘Yeah — and then they had him by the short and curlies. He tried to break free, but they wouldn’t let him go. He was far too useful for them. His engineering import business was ideal for drugs trafficking — importing crushers, then building them here. Lots of places to secrete drugs in the crates. His fuel laundering gave big profits that they wanted a percentage of — and, above all, he was on the periphery of the regeneration of Blackpool. If it came to fruition, he could have made over fifty million. They wanted a piece of that, too.’

‘My God,’ she said again. ‘Anyway, it was obvious the whole thing was getting to him and to me and we argued and argued until, one day, during a ferocious row, I blurted it out about Charlotte. .’ Her voice trailed off. ‘Trouble was, she was listening in at the time.’

‘Ah,’ Henry said knowingly. Kids and ears and doors.

‘I’ve spent the last few months trying to keep her on the straight and narrow.’

‘Hence the horses?’

‘She’s always been into them, but she started drifting. . started doing rebellious teenage stuff, times two. The horses kept her normal, that’s why we started going for lessons again. It gave her focus. That’s how she met Leanne, who she adores by the way, and that’s how I met you.’

‘And then the horses started being mutilated?’

‘I even thought it could have been Charlotte doing it.’ Tara closed her eyes painfully and winced.

‘How’s the head?’ Henry asked.

‘Very, very sore. My brain’s still a bit woozy,’ she said. ‘On the night they burned down, I caught her coming back from the stables. She said she was just checking on Chopin. I’m still not sure if I believe her. Was she mutilating the horses in response to what was happening to her?’ Tara looked desperate for an answer.

‘No,’ said Henry firmly, remembering Verner’s boastful admission. ‘She wouldn’t hurt a horse. I saw her with one the day that Coulton threw me off your property. What it was,’ he said, ‘was the Mob putting pressure on John. You’ve read The Godfather , seen the film? They like hurting horses. Did John like horses?’

‘He was passionate about them. It was the only thing he cared about outside work. I wish he’d been half as passionate about me,’ Tara said wistfully.

‘They probably knew that. They hit people where it hurts them.’

‘And it was destroying Charlotte, too, finding horses mutilated. That and the discovery that the man she thought was her father wasn’t sent her into orbit. I feel like I’ve failed her very badly.’

‘I don’t think you have. You love her, she knows that and she’ll be fine,’ Henry said reassuringly. ‘Children are very resilient.’

‘Only because we adults oblige them to be.’

It was a sentence spoken with passion and Henry had to agree. It was the actions of adults that dragged kids along in their wake. He should know. His stupidity in the past must have had deep and long-lasting effects on his two girls. He was intelligent enough to know that, even though they appeared to be straight-down-the-line kids now, there would be scars there somewhere.

‘But I do think we’ll be OK,’ Tara said resolutely. ‘I’ll make damn sure we will be.’

‘Good,’ Henry said.

Tara chewed on her bottom lip, held Henry’s gaze and said, ‘Why did you lie for me, Henry?’

He shifted. His neck reddened and his bottom tightened. ‘I’m not a hundred per cent sure myself.’

‘You didn’t have to. I would have faced what I did, answered to the law.’

‘I know. . and my instincts as a police officer told me you should be punished for what you did, but I thought you’d suffered enough. Justice, to me, is a peculiar creature. It’s not black, it’s not white, it’s just a murky grey, and as far as I’m concerned, justice is done. . and it’s something I’ll have to deal with, so don’t press me on it.’ He paused. ‘Not a particularly good explanation, I’m afraid.’

‘I won’t push you, then.’ She leaned forward and touched his cheek with her fingertips. ‘Thank you, Henry Christie. I believe you saved my life.’

‘I’d love to say it was a pleasure.’

They both laughed and the moment lightened.

‘Immediate plans?’

‘Getting away from it all, just for a couple of weeks. I know we’ll have to come back to it, but I think we need a break. My friend has a villa on Lanzarote. We’ll chill out and burn brown, I reckon.’

‘Sounds good.’ He hesitated. ‘Is that guy in the car Charlotte’s father?’ Tara nodded. ‘Does she know?’

‘One thing at a time, Henry. If ever. At the moment he’s just a friend, OK?’

At the door Henry waved them away. Charlotte looked back, waving madly at him until the Jaguar turned out of sight. As Henry closed the door, the house phone started to ring. It was answered by Kate.

‘For you,’ she said, holding the receiver out, a disapproving look on her face.

‘Henry? It’s me, your Chief Constable,’ FB’s voice machine-gunned down the line. ‘Seven a.m. — my office — headquarters — tomorrow morning, please.’

‘Seven. .?’

‘Yes — I start that early to keep the bastards on their toes. Be there.’ He hung up.