Disordered Minds

certainly had a motive.'

Roy arched forward, stabbing his cigarette at the other man. 'I've told you a thousand times, she couldn't have done so. There was no way she could have seen us. Even Lou's saying we were hiding behind the shed.'

'Perhaps Louise told her you were waiting,' said George.

'Oh sure!' he said scathingly. 'And you think Cill would have come out if she knew her rapists were planning to jump her.' He took a pensive drag on his cigarette. 'We'd have been mad to go near Grace after the grilling we had on the Monday morning. All we could think about was putting distance between ourselves and anyone who'd known Cill. If we'd seen Howard, we'd have run a mile in case he guessed what we'd done.' He paused, remembering. 'We were scared out of our wits the cops had only let us go to follow us back to the body. We were a mess for months ... shat bricks every time we saw bulldozers on the waste ground.'

'Then why lie about Howard attacking Colley with a knife?' she asked reasonably. 'It was so easily disproved, and it makes everything else you say suspect.'

'Because I was sick to the back teeth of you and that damned author bleating on about Howard's innocence. I knew he was guilty ... everyone knew he was guilty. About the only thing Lou's said that's true is that he was a pervert. He was always creeping around the kids in Colliton Way.'

'That's tantamount to saying all perverts are murderers, Roy. On that basis, Louise's father could have murdered Grace.'

He shrugged. 'She'd go for it if there was a shred of evidence to support it. He didn't think twice about destroying her. She hates him with a passion.'

George nodded. 'She certainly flew that kite when she talked to Andrew Spicer.'

Roy showed a reluctant interest. 'When did she talk to him?'

'Nearly three months ago.'

That surprised him. 'She never told me.'

'It was also the first time she mentioned seeing blood on Grace's window on the Tuesday,' George said. 'It suited us, of course, because it pointed toward Howard's innocence ... but it didn't suit you or your friends. Jonathan believes she started trying to set you up from the minute he arrived on the scene.'

Roy frowned. 'She told Sasha Spencer it was Howard. I heard her. She even gave chapter and verse on how he did it ... by sneaking out when his mother was drunk. That was the truth. It's this garbage about getting us into the house that's the lie.'

'She only named Howard to give the impression that she was frightened of you.' George watched a frown draw his heavy eyebrows together. 'She wanted the police involved. It's probably why she stole Jonathan's wallet and passport. She's a sexy woman and she's bored with playing nurse to a mental cripple.' She pulled a face. 'To be honest, I don't think she cares who gets dragged into the net, just so long as she can walk away and start again. She doesn't have your loyalties ... or your conscience.'

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Has she ever expressed remorse for delivering Cill into your hands?'

He squeezed the glowing end out of his cigarette and dropped it into the ashtray. 'We don't talk about it.'

'What did you say at the time? How did you explain the fact that Cill was still missing?'

He thought back. 'I said she'd run away from us when we left the alleyway.'

'And Louise believed you?' 'I didn't ask.'

DS Wyatt leaned forward. 'When did you speak to her?'

'On the Monday afternoon. She called from a pay phone on her way home from school wanting to know if the police had questioned us about the rape. I said they had and they'd let us go.'

'What else?'

'I told her to keep her mouth shut about Saturday night, otherwise the police'd know we'd been lying about the rape.'

'Did you threaten her?' Roy nodded. 'What with?'

'I said we'd tell the cops it was her idea.'

'The rape, or abducting Cill from Grace's house?'

'Both. It was Lou delivered the poor kid to us each time.' He stared bleakly at the wall behind Wyatt's head. 'I don't know why we went along with it now, except we knew Howard liked her. It was him we were really after.' He shook himself suddenly as if to rid himself of phantoms. 'It was Lou's big mouth that was the problem. I told her we'd have her if she made it any worse for us.'

'Are we talking about the lunchtime conversation on the Saturday or the Monday afternoon one?'

'Saturday. She'd already dropped us in it by describing us.'

'Is that when she said Cill was at Grace's?'

He nodded.

'And?' asked Wyatt.

'She came up with the idea of giving Cill a scare. Problem solved if she didn't name us.'

'What about Grace?' put in George. 'She must have known about the rape, and almost certainly knew, or could guess, that you were responsible. Why didn't you think it was necessary to give her a scare as well?'

Roy's eyes narrowed suspiciously. 'We weren't that bloody thick. If Cill denied it was us, then it didn't matter