Luke Delaney - The Keeper

Lawlor shrugged his shoulders.

‘You need to tell me if you understand.’

‘Yeah, I understand, OK?’

‘You also have the right to free and independent legal advice. You have the right to consult with a solicitor before, during or after this interview, and this can be done in person or over the telephone, do you understand?’

‘Yes.’

‘So far you haven’t asked to speak with a solicitor and you haven’t consulted with one and there are none present in the interview. Are you sure you want to continue without one present?’

‘I don’t need a solicitor. I ain’t done nothing.’

‘Well, if you change your mind just let me know and I’ll stop the interview and arrange it, OK?’

‘Whatever.’

‘Fine. The date is Friday the seventh of April and the time is eleven oh five p.m. I am now starting the interview. Jason, do you know why you’re here?’

‘Yeah, because you ain’t got a clue who killed that woman so you thought you’d stitch me up for it.’

Sean looked down at the table and then straight into Lawlor’s eyes. ‘You’re here because I believe you abducted Karen Green on the morning of Thursday the thirtieth of March, and then killed her one week later. I also believe you’ve abducted Louise Russell and that you’re holding her against her will.’

‘No you don’t.’

‘It’s late and I’m tired,’ Sean told him. ‘I’m not here to play games, so why don’t you just answer my questions, OK?’

‘You know I’ve got nothing to do with this.’

Sean let the oppressive silence hang for a while, guessing it would intimidate Lawlor. ‘You’re a registered sex offender, aren’t you, Jason?’

‘What of it? I’ve done my time, paid my debt to society.’ A sly smile spread across his lips.

‘But you haven’t been signing on, have you? You’ve missed your last two appointments.’

‘So send me back to prison then. There’s nothing for me outside anyway. You think anyone’s gonna give me a job or rent me a decent place to live? Course they’re fucking not. I’m better off inside.’

‘Don’t worry about that — you’re going back inside. But right now I need to know where you were the Thursday before last.’

‘Eight days ago? I can’t remember eight days ago. I was probably pissed somewhere.’

‘OK, try one day ago — last night, when Karen Green was taken into Three Halfpenny Wood and killed — strangled to death. Where were you then?’

‘I was pissed, in some pub in Sydenham.’

‘Is that going to be your answer to everything, that you were pissed and can’t remember?’

‘Probably.’

Sean leaned back in his chair, studying Lawlor, looking for a way in. ‘The two women who have been taken look the same: white, late twenties, slim, short brown hair, attractive.’ He saw a flicker of interest when he said attractive. ‘They could have been sisters, twins even. Why is it important that they look the same? Why is that important to you?’

‘To me?’ Lawlor snapped. ‘No, not to me. I told you, this ain’t got nothing to do with me.’

‘The woman we found, Karen Green, she’d been raped and sodomized. There was a significant amount of semen in her. Whoever raped her didn’t use a condom.’

‘If you’ve got his spunk then check it for DNA and you’ll know it’s not me.’

‘That takes time. I haven’t got time. You need to answer my questions now.’

‘I am answering your questions, but I don’t know nothing!’

‘Your last rape conviction, I looked it up. You didn’t use a condom.’

‘So?’

‘That’s pretty unusual for a rapist.’ He emphasized rapist.

‘Maybe.’

‘And you used artifice to get into the house. You tricked her, told her you were there to read her meter. We checked our records, Jason. You’re the only one in this area with form for using artifice.’

‘So somebody’s copying me. Maybe I told someone how well it worked. No need to break in. No need to drag them into a car. I must have an admirer.’

‘No use of a condom. Previous for using artifice to gain entry. Previous for rape. Can’t account for your movements when either woman was taken or for when Karen Green’s body was dumped. Failed to attend your registered sex offenders’ appointments. Things don’t look good for you, Jason.’

‘Do the fucking DNA tests,’ Lawlor almost shouted. ‘Why are you pissing around with these stupid questions? It weren’t me.’

‘We will, Jason, don’t worry. We’ll do the tests and then you’ll be dead in the water and all your lies will be shown to be exactly that.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘The crime you were convicted for — not using a condom was a pretty stupid mistake, don’t you think? Leaving us your DNA.’

‘It wasn’t a mistake, it was something I had to do.’

‘What do you mean, “had to do”?’

‘You’re a man, you know what I mean.’

‘No. No I don’t.’

‘Then what about you?’ he asked Sally, who looked shocked at being suddenly involved in the interview, as if she’d been awoken from her daydreaming.

Sean intervened. ‘You should stick to answering questions,’ he told Lawlor, ‘and let me ask them. So I’ll ask you again: why was it something you had to do?’

‘I needed to feel myself inside them. I needed to, you know, release myself inside of them. I needed to feel myself come inside of them. It’s like it makes it last for days, you understand? If I use a Durex then I take myself with me when it’s over, but if I come inside them then I can smell them on me for days. I can think about my come being still inside them days after and that helps me … helps me control my needs.’

Sally felt as if she was going to be sick. She couldn’t bring herself to look into his face, her eyes wandering around the room, but never resting on Lawlor.

‘And how does that make you feel?’ Sean asked.

‘It makes me feel good. It makes me feel really good.’

Sean could see Lawlor was reliving past experiences, his lips full and flushed red with blood, his eyes wide as if he was watching himself committing his own crimes with unbridled pleasure.

‘Just good?’ Sean wanted to pull him out of his trance, to keep him talking.

‘No. Powerful. In control. It’s like a drug from heaven — once you’ve had a taste, there’s no going back, no stopping. When you’re inside them, you’re accepted, you understand? You’re wanted. You’re alive and you’re loved, but …’ His excitement seemed to fade as fast as it had grown.

‘But?’ Sean encouraged.

‘But, when it’s over, you feel ashamed and embarrassed. You just want to tell them you’re sorry and to run away, to get as far away as you can. And the fear, the fear is crushing, you know? It makes you feel weak, which is why the urges come back, which is why you know you’re going to do it again, to not feel ashamed any more, to feel accepted and loved, even if it’s only for a few minutes.’

‘Is that why you’ve changed the way you operate? Is that why you keep them for days, so you can feel accepted for longer, loved for longer?’

‘I’ve told you, I’ve got nothing to do with this. I would never kidnap anyone. That takes planning. I never mean to do what I do. I just see someone and the needs come back, I can’t help myself. I follow them home, and if they’re alone I try to trick my way inside and then I do bad things. But I didn’t take these women — I’ve never taken any women — I never would.’

‘Why?’ Sally asked.

‘I like doing it to them in their houses.’ Somehow Sally managed to keep looking him in the eyes, despite her disgust.

Sean studied the man in front of him, a scared opportunistic offender, triggered by his surroundings, incapable of planning and forethought, the complete opposite of the man who killed Karen Green and the man who would undoubtedly kill Louise Russell, unless he could find him and stop him.