‘Yes, you too, Alex. And thanks for offering to go out of your way to drive Tilly back to the station. You don’t have to do that.’
‘It’s nothing.’ I wave a hand dismissively. ‘It’s on the way anyway.’
He turns to leave, then stops. ‘That perfume you’re wearing…’
I’d forgotten about that.Crap. I think I’d overdone it a bit in the car earlier with the Baccarat Rouge. ‘It smells familiar…’
‘Really? Maybe your wife wears it?’ I make sure to glance down at his wedding ring.
‘No… I don’t think so. Anyway,’ – he smiles jovially – ‘it’s nice, I like it.’
‘Oh, thanks,’ I say, admittedly a little pleased. ‘It’s only the cheap stuff.’
FIFTY
DAN
The plan was to race back over to Tilly’s apartment with a cock-and-bull story of my own, get her to come down to the station with me of her own volition, on the pretext of asking for her help. If she gets any inkling that I’m on to her, she may try to abscond, and there’s every chance she could be successful too, if past behaviour is a good indicator. And I cannot let that happen. Once she’s safe down at the station, we can then re-interview her, present her with this new information that’s come to light, and ideally get a confession from her.
What I wasn’t expecting to see when I arrived at the apartment for the second time that day was that Tilly had company. And what I wasn’t expecting, evenmorethan that, was for that company to be Erin Santos. I suppose in terms of a professionally successful outcome, this was the double whammy, only I was unprepared, and unsure, at first.
I hadn’t recognised Erin instantly. She looks very different now to what she did six years ago. Her hair is much shorter and bright blonde and she was wearing make-up and smart clothes. Her cover about being a representative from Women in Prison was highly plausible, as was the ID she briefly showed me.
Only, she’d offered me herlefthand when I’d gone to shake it, and if that wasn’t enough to arouse my suspicions, those arresting green eyes – not unlike Tilly’s, or Samantha’s, or Julie’s – were unmistakable as they briefly met with mine. Still, I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure it was her though.
I stood on the doorstep as ‘Alex’ closed the door behind me, leaving me standing there with little more than a very bad feeling and a waft of her perfume. That’s what did it.It was that same perfume…
Immediately, I realise that I shouldn’t have left them alone together. During our last phone conversation, Erin had told me she wouldkillSamantha Valentine if she saw her again, and I believed her. Perhaps I would kill her too if I were her. As it was, I felt sick enough already knowing that Julie Edwards had pulled the wool over my eyes – over everyone’s, it appears. But moreover, that one of the ways she garnered my sympathy was through her supposed ‘condition’. She knew that my son was deaf. We’d even communicated in sign language together. She was good at it too. I feel embarrassed, angry with myself, violated, I suppose, that I’d been taken in and allowed my personal feelings, my emotions, to get in the way of my professional judgement. But I’ll deal with that later. Right now, I need to call for back-up and somehow get back inside that apartment. Erin could be armed. And I don’t want her to do anything stupid, even though that’s howIfeel right now –stupid.
I ring the buzzer of Flat 68, next door.
A woman in a dressing gown with a towel wrapped round her hair answers. She looks me up and down.
‘Yes?’
I flash her my badge and an apologetic smile as she steps back in surprise. ‘I’m sorry, but I need access to your apartment. Do you have a balcony?’
I’m not the greatest fan of heights, so I take an extra breath as I climb from next door’s balcony onto Tilly’s, and don’t look down. I press my back up against the glass doors. The curtains are almost fully drawn, but thankfully not quite, and I’m able to look inside with a more or less clear view of the small kitchen/dining area. Tilly’s seated at the table, and Erin has her back to me. Only, the way that she’s standing, her stance, concerns me. If I didn’t know better – and at this point, I don’t – I’d say that she was pointing a gun at her, though I can’t see clearly from here. I should call for back-up right now. We could have a potential Code Zero on our hands.
I pull my phone from my pocket, make to place the call, but at the last second, I think better of it. A terrible thought flashes into my head then.If Erin Santos is going to shoot Julie Edwards, then let her.Frankly, the world would be a better, safer, kinder place without her in it, and admittedly, I feel angry that she’s duped me. But it’s not my job to play judge and jury, no matter what she’s done or who to. My job is to make sure no one gets hurt and bring any culprits to justice, just like what should’ve happened seven years ago. It comes to me again then, something that Ken Edwards had said on the phone. He said that his brother’s name was Ray and that he’d taken his own life. Didn’t Erin tell me that Ray was also her stepdad’s name? Ray Denis, the man who killed her mother, and subsequently himself, while he was in prison serving time for it? Ken said he sometimes changed his name. It’s got to be the same person.Oh sweet Jesus, no…
I pull my phone from my pocket again, but then Erin suddenly spins round, like she senses there’s someone behind her, watching her. I pull back against the wall, hold my breath for a moment, too scared to move in case she comes to investigate.
‘That was a pretty darn good performance, Erin.’ Tilly is speaking, I can hear her through the glass. I strain to listen. ‘I’m quite impressed. You’ve come on in leaps and bounds, hun, you really have! If I was to give you one piece of advice though, going forward, I’d say to work on your accent. You still sound like a thick Northerner.’
‘Well, I learned from the master, didn’t I? Andyoustill sound like a liar.’
‘Anyway, accents aside, I think he recognised you.’
I edge towards the window, peer through a tiny crack.
Tilly is smirking. ‘Dan Rileyrecognisedyou, Erin. And now there’ll be an army of them knocking down the door at any moment, ready to cuff you and take you back to Larksmere. Tatty-bye, my old friend! It was nice seeing you again.’
‘Tell me your name, Samantha. I just want to hear you say it before I paint the walls with your brains.’
Yep, she’s got a gun! I see it then as she turns slightly to the right, the black metal object in her hand is unmistakable.
‘Don’t do it, Erin,’ I whisper the words into the cold air like smoke, my fingers shaking as I reach for my phone –and then it slips through them,smashes as it hits the concrete below me. My heart immediately follows suit. Suddenly, Erin is at the window. She’s heard it.They’ve seen me.
