Basic was playing his Gameboy.
Getting closer to the carpark that led into the park, I could see lights ahead. To start with, I figured it had to be a mobile headquarters set up to manage the incident but when we came through the last of the trees, I could see news vans.
Quinn, it turned out was already holding a press conference. Unwilling to risk the press being able to discover the truth, he was giving them his version of events as swiftly as he could. They would run the headlines and have his story out in the morning. Serial killers were worthy of the national and international news. If a different version of events came out afterwards, it would be far too late for the press to change what had already been written.
They could print a retraction, yes, but would they? They would have a juicy story that sold copies of their paper or got folks to watch their channel.
Ahead of us was a large marquee, and inside it was a raised platform and several rows of chairs. Coming into the marquee, we were stopped by a pair of uniformed officers.
‘We have orders to deny you entry, Mr Michaels,’ one said.
Amanda leaned in to get his attention. ‘Are you kidding me, Mark? Quinn is up there lying his butt off. You have to let Tempest in.’
Mark shook his head and did not look likely to be swayed. ‘The chief inspector would have my job.’
Amanda was going to argue, but I touched her arm. ‘Let’s just watch from here for a moment, shall we?’ I made it sound like we were going to behave, but I didn’t move away, even though that was what the cops wanted me to do.
Watching the press conference and looking around the marquee, I was impressed at how quickly it had all been arranged. There were several senior-looking police officers in front of the lines of press where they sat on a raised platform looking down.
How apt for the chief inspector to want to look down at people.
‘Who is that?’ I asked, my question aimed at Amanda. I was pointing my arm so she would know who I was talking about.
‘That’s the chief constable for Kent,’ she told me.
Not only had Quinn been able to assemble all this in a record time, but he was able to gather his bosses to the scene to impress them as well. He had to have called them in advance and had them primed …
‘He knew this was happening.’ I voiced my thoughts for my friends to hear. ‘They got here so quickly.’ Spinning around to face Amanda, Big Ben, Jane, Jan, and Basic, I let my thoughts spill words from my mouth. ‘Think about it. How did he know where to send the cavalry? How long was it between parking Jagjit’s car and arriving at the house? Thirty minutes? Less? It couldn’t be much more than that and that’s not long enough to get people anywhere.’
‘He was following us,’ Amanda concluded, probably remembering some of his tricks from when she worked under his command.
I listened to him for a few seconds. That Quinn would give us no credit was a foregone conclusion, but he had the nerve to sell our discoveries as his own.
Quinn hadn’t seen me yet; we were in the dark just outside the marquee. ‘What I can tell you for sure is that his reign of terror is over. We have apprehended thirty-three suspects, all of whom are involved in the murder of an as yet unconfirmed number of women over a thirty-year period.’
‘How many women, Chief Inspector?’ called a man’s voice.
Quinn bowed his head and looked distraught for a moment. He was lapping up the attention before giving his answer. ‘As I said, we cannot yet release the number, but it is believed to be more than twenty. It started with his wife who I believe he murdered in the early eighties.’
‘No, he didn’t.’ I shouted loud enough to be heard.
The crowd of reporters swung their attention my way.
I was about to confront Quinn and I had a pretty good idea for how it was going to go.
A murmur from the press, quickly became a buzz as word spread. They had recognised me and wanted to know what I was doing here.
Quinn chose to ignore my outburst and was attempting to continue with what he had been saying. The press were no longer listening though. They were asking me questions instead.
They were yet to leave their seats and come my way, but their cameras were pointing at me now and I could see one or two starting to get to their feet.
Smiling at Mark, the cop who didn’t want to let me in, I said, ‘You can let me pass, or I can take your boss’s press with me. It’s your choice, big fella.’
He wasn’t going to give me an answer or make a decision, and I was going in regardless. Before setting off, I turned inward to Amanda and placed a kiss on her lips.
‘I’ve been struggling to know what to get you for Christmas. I finally worked it out.’ From my pocket I produced the keys for the Lotus. ‘I didn’t get a chance to gift wrap it, sorry. And it’s stuck in the police impound. When you get it though, it’s yours.’ I kissed her again and hustled away to do what I probably should have done a long time ago.
The press had been throwing questions at me ever since I called Ian Quinn a liar and I had ignored them while I talked to Amanda.
Now it was time to address them. ‘Ramsey Mitchell, or the Sandman as Chief Inspector Quinn wants you to call him, is not the serial killer behind the murders.’
My
