‘Romance?’
‘Not the best word,’ Knox said. ‘We’re thrown together by a mutual problem. There’s no one else we can confide in, and don’t say the police. If we had told you, we’d still be on the street, and Adamant would have dealt with us. The original plan wasn’t to kill Gerald Adamant, only to discredit him, expose him for what he was.’
‘What changed?’
‘Helen saw beneath the veneer. She realised that if he knew he had been engineered into marriage, he would react. She phoned me up the night of his death, told me that she has a task to complete. I told her not to, but she wasn’t listening. She hung up the phone. The next day, it’s in the newspapers and on the television that Adamant’s dead, and Helen’s been arrested for murder.’
‘Her death benefited you as much as Archie Adamant.’
‘Helen phoned me up two days before she died. She tells me she’s going to tell all she knows out of love for Holden, and for me to distance myself from London. I panicked, knowing full well that Adamant would start eliminating any potential witnesses, anyone who knew the truth, the same way his father had with Aberman. I met Archie, he told me I had to remove the threat.’
‘And you agreed?’
‘I had no option.’
‘There’s a flaw in your testimony,’ Isaac said.
‘What’s that?’
‘According to Daisy, the man she arranged for Gwendoline to take to the room in the hotel was a regular customer of hers.’
‘I’m keeping a watch on Helen. I see her meet Holden in Bayswater. They look more than friendly. I see them head to the hotel, the concierge inside keeping a close watch of who’s going in, who’s going out. I know Daisy’s into prostitution, and she uses the hotel.’
‘You’d been there with her?’
‘Once or twice. We go back a long time, and I get a special rate. I phone her up, tell her that I need to meet her in the next ten minutes. She’s not available, refers me to the other woman, not as attractive as Helen, not as agreeable as Daisy, but I’m not there for romance.’
‘Why didn’t you kill Gwendoline?’
‘I kill out of necessity, not pleasure. The woman Daisy supplied is unknown to me.’
‘What happened?’
‘The woman collapses on the bed after I drugged her, and I leave the room. Holden’s not locked his door.’
‘You enter the room?’
‘Old man Holden is going for his life. He doesn’t see me. Helen, she’s underneath. They’re both naked. Helen looks over at me. She realises why I’m there. She attempted to let Holden know what’s going on, but there’s no time. I shot him first, then her.’
‘How did you feel after murdering them?’
‘Sickened. I liked Helen, even thought it was love once, and, as for Holden, I had nothing against him. I did what was necessary.’
‘It sounds callous,’ Larry said.
‘I come up against scum every day. I’m one myself. Sometimes you have to do what you know is wrong. That was one of those occasions. After that, I walked out of the hotel and phoned Adamant.’
‘What did he say?’
‘Not a lot. He wants to stay behind the scenes, not talk to murderers.’
‘Barry Knox, you’re a self-confessed murderer. Are you willing to sign a confession?’
‘I have no option. I’m only sorry that Helen died.’
‘Daisy and the other prostitute?’
‘I’m sorry about them, but Daisy, she figured it out after a few days, phoned me up. I went over to her place, tried to reason with her. To her, Helen was a saint, and I had killed the woman.’
‘Gwendoline’s flatmate?’
‘I fancied meeting up with Gwendoline again. Macabre, I suppose, but the woman had been unconscious when I killed the other two. I phoned her up, she didn’t know it was me. My hair was longer, I even dyed it. We’re getting along fine until she remembers. After that, she’s out of that room fast.’
‘That’s when you went to where she lived?’
‘She panicked, dropped some papers out of her handbag. I can see the address, so I go out there. I knock on the door, another woman answers. She sees me there, recognises me from another time.’
‘You’d used her services?’
‘Once or twice. I knew I had to deal with her. I take her into her bedroom, pretend that it’s purely professional. She’s lying there pretending to be coy as I go through the seduction routine. I reach into the pocket of my jacket, pull out the gun and shoot her. Another one dead. Believe me, it becomes easier after the first couple.’
‘And then?’
‘I get out of there.’
‘Someone shot Slater and his receptionist,’ Isaac said.
‘It wasn’t me. I’d met Slater a few times, and I knew he was involved with Aberman’s death, and that he and Gerald Adamant had a special relationship. Apart from that, I know no more. From what I read, it needed a professional shooter to execute the shot, is that correct?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m okay at close range, but with long distance, I’m not good. The army tried to train me as a sniper, so I know. You’ll need to look elsewhere for their murderer.’
Chapter 28
Archie Adamant was not going to be as easy to crack as Barry Knox had proved to be. The man sat in the interview room; to his side, Geoffrey Westfield, Queen’s Counsel. The legal man looked composed and well in control of the situation. Isaac did not like the look of him, knowing full well that he was going to cause trouble regardless of whether the client was innocent or guilty.
‘Mr Adamant, we have received a written confession from Barry Knox,’ Isaac said after the formalities had been dealt with.
‘Let me make it clear,’ the QC
