‘It. Everything. What we set out to achieve. It’s all complete. Really, it doesn’t matter what happens to me now because it’s over. Finished. We’ve done it.’
‘Done what?’
‘Proved our point.’
‘Which was?’
Again, that smile. ‘That we are superior to you.’
‘To who?’
‘All of you.’ Turner stretched out his arms, put his hands behind his head, relaxed. ‘And that’s all I’m going to say.’
Mickey stared at him.
Lost.
91
Phil exhaled. Felt no sense of triumph at guessing correctly. ‘What happened?’
Paula sighed once more. ‘It was… Adele. Adele and me. We just couldn’t bear it any more. He was… hurtin’ me. And starting to look at Adele in a way I didn’t like. I couldn’t have that. I wouldn’t have that.’
She stopped talking, reached for the empty glass once more. Sighed. Continued.
‘So one day I… hit him. With a shovel. From the back garden. And he fell. And that was that.’
‘So where is he?’
‘We-’ She corrected herself. ‘
‘And you weren’t worried about getting caught?’
‘I did it at night.’
‘I mean about the murder. You weren’t worried about people finding out?’
She thought for a moment. ‘I went over that in my mind. Over and over. For ages afterwards. Ages. No. Because I’d done the right thing. He was a monster. I hadn’t killed a man. I’d killed a monster.’
Phil looked at her, the sad, defeated woman before him. He didn’t know what she had gone through, could only guess at that. But he did know one thing. Police officer or not, there were times when the law just wasn’t enough.
‘I got my story straight, stuck to it. People asked. But not much. They knew what he was like. Most people round here were relieved for me when he’d gone.’
‘Did you do this all yourself?’
‘Yes.’ A fast answer.
Too fast, thought Phil.
‘No, you didn’t. Adele helped you, didn’t she? And you want to protect her.’
Paula looked at him, straight in the eye for the first time since he had arrived there. Then she dropped her gaze. Nodded at the floor.
‘That’s OK,’ he said. ‘I can understand you wanting to protect her. You did it for her. You didn’t want her to suffer for it.’
She nodded again.
‘And Wayne? How did he take it?’
‘He didn’t know. I told him his dad had gone. Run away. Left us. I thought that would be it, you know? The end of it. That would be fine. I’d get my son back and we’d all be happy. A happy family.’ She sighed. ‘Wrong.’
‘What happened?’
‘He… he blamed me. For what had happened. For his dad running away. Said I was a, a bitch. And a cow. That it was my fault he’d gone. I’d driven him away. My fault.’ She swallowed back tears.
‘And then what?’
‘He joined the army. Wanted to get away. Said what his dad always said. The army makes a man of you. Well, it makes a certain kind of man out of you…’
‘And his name?’
‘Changed it. Ian was his… his dad’s name.’
‘Buchan?’
‘I went back to my maiden name. Adele too.’ Another sigh. ‘Ian didn’t.’
‘Did you keep in touch with him?’
‘Not really. No, in fact. And then the army got in touch. Told me he’d been burnt in a fire. Badly burnt. Well, I went to see him. You have to, don’t you? I mean, he is my son, after all. So they sent him back here, to the garrison. And I went there.’ Another sigh. ‘My God. What had happened to him…’
‘What had happened to him?’
‘He’d… he’d raped a woman. A translator. Afghan. A local, civilian, working with the army. He’d been, been pursuin’ her. Stalking her. They didn’t actually say that, not to me, but that’s what they meant. And this woman, Rani, they said her name was, she kept turning him down. Anyway, one night he followed her home, got her on her own. Tried to…’ Another sigh. ‘Like I said. His father’s son.’
Phil waited, impatient for Paula to continue but knowing he had to let her do it in her own time.
‘He raped her. I mean, not just, you know, had sex with her. It was bad, what he did to her. They told me.’
‘His father taught him to hate women. He was just acting out.’
She nodded. ‘But he made his own mind up to do it. He was a man. Anyway, then, I don’t know exactly what happened next. Neither did they. Did he get upset when he realised he’d gone too far with her? Had he killed her? Did he want to hide the evidence? I don’t know. But he started a fire. He was always startin’ fires when he was a kid. Loved them, he did.’
Still does, though Phil, but decided it was best not to say it.
‘Anyway, he got caught in it. Couldn’t get away. Couldn’t get out. It… it… they let me see him. There’s… not much of him left now.’
‘Was he invalided out of the army?’
She nodded. ‘Came back to Colchester. Didn’t want to come and live here, though. They covered it up, arranged for therapy, treatment. All sorts of stuff. Tried to put him back together again.’ Another sigh. Her voice became bitter. ‘Needn’t have bothered. There’s nothin’ left of him. His mind… Should have left him where he was.’
‘So what happened with Adele?’
She sighed. Steeled herself for the pain to come. ‘He… tracked her down. And, and took her.’
‘Why?’
‘He’s not right, is he? He’s…’ She sighed.
‘Did you know it was him at the time?’
She shook her head. ‘Only afterwards. It only made sense afterwards. I didn’t know what to think at first. I knew she hadn’t run away. She wouldn’t. I mean, she’d had her wild years, but she’d come through that. And then, then I thought about it. Guessed it might be him. Comin’ for her first. Then me next.’
‘Why didn’t you come to us? Say something?’
She gave a harsh laugh. ‘Yeah, you’d really put yourselves out to find my Adele, hadn’t you? And how could I? My son’s after my daughter and me because we killed his father? Yeah. I can see that goin’ down well, can’t you?’
Phil said nothing. She had a point.
‘Did you recognise the names of the other women? When you’d heard they’d gone missing or been killed? Did you not connect them with your son?’
‘I might have… I don’t know. No.’ Shaking her head, closing her eyes, saying the words without conviction, as if to confirm it to herself.
So she didn’t have any more guilt to carry around, thought Phil.
‘You should have talked to me,’ said Phil. ‘To me.’
She didn’t answer. Couldn’t answer.
