“Which was why Graham didn’t go for his usual pre-lunch drink that day?”
A graceful inclination of the head acknowledged this. “I don’t think Sergeant Baylis had to come. I think he was just giving a warning, giving Graham time to prepare himself. He said there were suspicions about the bones belonging to Sheila, and that DNA tests would be conducted to try and make a match with other Helling relatives.”
“So, from that moment, your husband knew that his time was limited?”
“Yes.”
“Hadn’t he known before?”
“No. I tried to keep it from him. But when the police came, I could keep quiet no longer. That was the shock that brought on his stroke.” With sudden passion, Irene Forbes said, “I hope he will not live long. Graham has always hated the idea of being impaired, of doing anything at less than his best. He would make a bad invalid. And he would not enjoy court proceedings.”
“No.” Jude let a moment of silence hang between them, before going on, “I’m sorry to keep interrogating you, Mrs Forbes…”
“I am not really Mrs Forbes. Only in my soul.”
“Yes. But, look, I’m very worried about Carole. I’m sure she’s been abducted by someone because of what she’d worked out about the bones.”
Irene Forbes let out a humourless laugh. “Well, I can assure you it wasn’t Graham. He’s lying upstairs in bed, with only one side of his body working. He’s not capable of abducting anyone.”
“I wasn’t suggesting he was. I was thinking of Brian Helling.”
“Ah.”
“He was the one who dug up the bones in the old barn, wasn’t he?”
“Yes. And he was the one who came and told me about his discovery. He took pleasure in it. He liked the idea of having power over Graham. He liked the idea of having power over anyone.”
“Irene, I’ve got to find him!”
“I don’t know where he is.”
“I know you don’t, but I just wondered…when he came to see you…presumably he talked of blackmail…”
“Of course. That’s the only reason he’d dug up the bones in the first place.”
“But presumably he also gave you a promise that, if you coughed up the money, he’d hide the bones somewhere safe…somewhere nobody else except for him could find them.”
“Yes. He said he’d do that. I asked him to hand them over for us to dispose of, but he wouldn’t. He wanted to keep them, so that if he ever needed to raise his ransom demands…So that he would always have a hold over Graham…”
“Mrs Forbes…Irene…did Brian Helling say anything about where he might hide the bones?”
“No. Well, he didn’t say anything that meant anything to me.”
“What were his exact words?”
“He said, “Don’t worry about anyone finding the bones. Nobody ever goes to Fort Pittsburgh.””
? Death on the Downs ?
Forty-Five
Though flickers of unhealthy light intermittently penetrated her prison, Carole could see nothing of the outside world. Nor could she draw attention to herself. She had been securely gagged. But she could hear the two men talking.
At first she was full of a wild, crazy hope. This was a rescue. Why else would he have come? He was her saviour.
But they weren’t far into their conversation before that hope was crushed. More than crushed – stifled, strangled till no breath of life remained.
“It’s an impasse,” she heard Brian Helling’s voice say. “A Mexican stand-off with no weapons.”
“No weapons?” Lennie Baylis’s voice echoed.
“Well, no guns. One knife between the two of us.”
“But I hold all the cards,” said Baylis. “I’ve got the authority of the West Sussex Constabulary behind me.”
“Hardly.” There was triumph and derision in Brian Helling’s tone. “You shop me, I tell them about your deals with the boys in Brighton. How long have you been taking a percentage for turning a blind eye to their transactions? Nice little pay-offs from all the pubs and clubs. You must’ve salted away quite a bit by now, Lennie.”
“The police look after their own. Nobody’d in the force’d believe you, Brian.”
“No? All right, maybe not me on my own, but I could get Will Maples to back me up.”
“He won’t say anything. He’ll keep quiet to save his own skin.”
“You can’t be certain of that. I still know too much for you to turn me in, Lennie. You can’t afford the risk.”
“Maybe not.” There was a silence. “Of course, it needn’t be the police. I could just alert the Brighton boys to where you are.”
An intake of breath. Brian Helling was frightened, but he disguised his fear as well as he could. “Another risk too far. I might still be able to get information to the police.”
Baylis seemed to accept this and changed tack. “I’ve got plenty on you, though, Brian. I know about you digging up the bones in the barn behind the Forbeses’ place. I can get you on blackmail – and on torching your mother’s place.”
“You’ve got no proof of that. The fire could have been an accident.”
“No way. There was petrol on the dog’s fur.”
“The dog? Wasn’t that little bugger burnt to a cinder?”
“No, it got out of the cottage. Forced its way through a half-open window, we reckon.”
“Damn.”
“Yes. Bad luck, Brian. Always enjoyed hurting animals, didn’t you?”
“Better than enjoying hurting people, Lennie.” The line was spoken with deep viciousness. “You remember what you did to me here, don’t you?”
Baylis laughed, and in her prison Carole shivered. The sound was pure cruelty.
Then he asked, “Why did you kill your mother, Brian?”
“She’d lost her nerve. After Carole Seddon went to see her and then you went to see her the same day, she was all set to turn me in. I couldn’t allow that.”
“I see.”
“And with the insurance on Heron Cottage, I’ll be able to pay off what I owe in Brighton.”
“What? No way you’re ever going to get the insurance. You’re mad, Brian, do you know that? Always have been, from when you were a kid.”
“I’m not! But if I were, what you did to me here might help explain why!”
There was another callous laugh from Baylis.
With an effort, Brian Helling calmed himself. “So, like I said, it’s a Mexican stand-off. We know too much about each other. Each one of us has the power to destroy the other. And that’s what’s going to keep us both quiet.”
There was a long silence while Lennie Baylis took this in. At the end he asked flatly, “So what about her?”
“We both know the answer to that. Carole Seddon’s got rather a lot of information, hasn’t she? You know exactly how much. That’s why you’ve been taking such a personal interest in her investigations – to find out if she’s got anything incriminating on you.”
“Hm.”
“And you know she has, or you wouldn’t have come out to this godforsaken place. Carole Seddon knows enough to shop both of us – particularly if she’s overheard what we’ve just been saying.”
