Pauline Rowson - In for the Kill

Crowder continued, ‘You might like to know that a man’s body has been washed up at Niton.

What’s left of his fingerprints matches those of Clive Westnam. Darren Cobden, the man in the storage warehouse where Joe kept your file, has also been found dead, on the tip at Port Solent in Portsmouth.’

This was worse than I had dared to imagine. I had forgotten about poor Darren, his chocolate covered little girl and his harridan of a mother.

‘Quite a trail of murder and deception, wouldn’t you say?’ Crowder posed.

I snatched my head to look at him. ‘I didn’t kill any of them.’

‘Not even Miles?’

‘That was self-defence. He was going to kill Ruby Kingston and me.’

‘And Westnam?’

‘A thug called Rowde and his henchman are responsible for that. Miles killed Joe Bristow, Darren and Deeta. He was going to kill me.’ I searched Crowder’s face. It was devoid of expression. ‘Please, you have to believe me,’ I pleaded, seeing my freedom slip away.

‘And have you discovered the identity of James Andover?’ Crowder asked, quietly.

‘It was Miles Wolverton.’

Christ, he still didn’t believe me! My ex wife and sons might be safe, but I wasn’t, not from arrest and not from Rowde.

‘Get in the car, Alex.’

I did as I was told with a sinking heart. There had to be a way I could make Crowder believe me. Sergeant Adams started the engine and pulled away. Crowder swivelled to look at me.

Suddenly I saw there was something different in his expression. I hardly dared to build my hopes up. Was it just possible he was prepared to listen to me, and to believe me?

‘I –’

He held up a hand to staunch me. ‘It’s all right Alex, we know what Miles told you.’

I stared at him open mouthed. Then the light slowly dawned. I recalled the dark car with tinted windows parked on the slipway on my first day of freedom. Whilst I had gone for a walk a surveillance team had slipped in and planted a listening device. They’d heard Miles’s confession.

Relief washed over me, threatening to overwhelm me.

‘You bugged the houseboat,’ I said and stared out of the window trying to get my emotions under control. I was surprised to see that we were heading back towards St Helen’s and not to Ryde and the police station. ‘Where are we going?’

‘I thought you might like a lift home.’

I was taken aback but didn’t comment. Instead I said, ‘You’ve been listening to everything, including me being beaten up by Rowde’s thug.

You even heard me making love to Deeta. Why didn’t you tell the local force she was with me the morning she died?’

‘Why should we? We know you didn’t kill her.’

It took a moment to click, then I understood.

‘You were following me.’ I could have sworn that no one had been.

‘Yes.’

My brain was beginning to function. ‘You let me see that detective following me the morning of Joe’s death. He was so obvious that I would believe I would be able to spot anyone else.’ I’d even bragged to Rowde that I could spot and smell a copper. Well, I’d been wrong, thankfully.

‘But why the interest? Did you really think I would lead you to the money?’

Crowder glanced at his watch. We were at the top of St Helen’s. ‘Pull over on the other side of the green,’ he instructed the thin-faced sergeant.

I stared at Crowder surprised, but he said nothing until we had stopped.

‘DCI Clipton was coming to see you on the day of your release to tell you that he had got it wrong. He believed you to be innocent.’

‘Not much good to me then,’ I said with bitterness. ‘Why did he tell his daughter he was going to see Andover if he thought me innocent?’

‘Because he knew that Miles Wolverton was going to pick you up on your release from prison.

I suppose he had some idea of confronting him with it in front of you. Clipton had called the prison; they told him that Miles was collecting you.’

‘But how did he get to the conclusion that Miles was Andover?’

‘We believe that he got suspicious when Roger Brookes committed suicide. We know that Brookes made a call to Clipton, but there was no record of what was said. Perhaps Brookes confessed before he killed himself, anyway it was enough to make Clipton act. He, like us, found out about Joanne Brookes and her drug smuggling. She was never charged though. Miles must have bribed someone high up to keep it quiet. We’re still investigating that.’

‘Did you find all this in his notebook and files when he was found dead in his car.’

‘No, they were missing. Which is what got us thinking. Clipton was a stickler for writing things down. He would never go anywhere without his notebook. When we went to his house, after he died, we found some of his notebooks but not all of them.’

‘Let me guess, the ones covering my questioning had vanished.’

‘Yes, along with a couple of others but they were just decoys. When Jennifer Clipton told us about her father mentioning Andover we knew he must have been investigating you, and that he had discovered something important. We started from scratch, just like Clipton did, this time assuming you had been telling the truth.’

‘Thanks,’ I snarled. ‘Did Clipton really die of a heart attack?’

‘Yes. That was a stroke of luck for Miles Wolverton. Miles knew that Clipton was getting near to the truth; Joe Bristow had told him that Clipton had been asking questions about Joanne Brookes. Miles discovered from one of the prison warders that Clipton had called the prison to find out about the date and time of your release. Miles caught the same ferry and kept an eye on Clipton.

He followed him down to his car when the ferry docked at Fishbourne. Then suddenly Clipton slumped against the steering wheel, Miles opened the back door and took Clipton’s briefcase containing his mobile phone and notebooks.’

‘It would have been nice if you had told me all this.’

‘We didn’t know much of it until the last twenty-four hours. We knew that you had made no secret that you would go after Andover. We thought you might lead us to him, and you did almost at the same time as we got there ourselves.

We didn’t know why you were the victim until we heard Miles tell you. We couldn’t get to you in time before your boat trip, unfortunately. We were too far away.’

‘How is Ruby?’

‘She didn’t make it. I’m sorry.’

And so was I. She hadn’t deserved a death like that. And neither had my mother deserved to die. I was glad Miles had paid for both with his own life. I took a deep breath. Poor Scarlett. I didn’t think she would ever forgive me for leading her mother to her death.

Crowder continued. ‘Rowde’s arrival on the scene complicated things and we were nearly persuaded to step in. Sorry you had to take a beating.’

‘That makes me feel a lot better,’ I said, sarcastically.

‘You won’t need to keep that appointment with Rowde by the way. We’ve picked him up and charged him and his henchman, Barry Chertsey, with extortion, wounding, oh and murder –

Westnam’s will do for a start.’

‘I hope you’ve got enough evidence to put them away for a long time.’

‘Rowde also told me that he was paid by Miles Wolverton to claim he had kidnapped your family.’

‘I know. I’ve found them…’ I faltered.

Crowder’s words jarred. Why? I urged my tired brain to function; it seemed intent on refusing to co-operate. Adams, at a sign from Crowder, began to head down into Port St Helens and the Embankment. Within a couple of minutes we pulled up outside my houseboat. I needed a drink and I needed to think. For that I needed to be alone. I couldn’t get rid of them fast enough.