Death on High (The Lakeland Murders) (28 page)

‘Maybe it does Andy.’ Vicky put her wine glass down. Hall sensed that she was being a little more slow and deliberate than she needed to be. ‘So what happened then?’

‘I think he starting talking to you about it, just after the summit of Fairfield. The going was easier, and it would have been easier to talk. Plus seeing Lillian a few minutes before acted as a spur to action I’d imagine.’

‘So he told me that he was leaving me for her, and I pushed him over the edge? Then why didn’t she tell you that I’d done it, if she was so close to us at the time. Or are you saying that she was too far away to hear this imaginary conversation of yours?’

‘Oh no, I think she was very close indeed. Certainly close enough to hear Tony, very probably to be able to hear you as well.’

Vicky nodded. ‘OK. So then what?’

‘He told you what had been going on with him and Lillian, but then he said that he wasn’t leaving you. I don’t think your husband had any intention of leaving you at all, Vicky. Not at any time in his affair with Lillian. He just used her. And I think that it was Lillian who pushed him. I think she ran forward, and pushed him over the edge.’

Vicky picked up her wine glass. Hall couldn’t begin to read her expression.

‘So why haven’t I told you all this? Why would I possibly cover up for the woman who’d been having an affair with my husband?’

‘You tell me, but here’s a couple of ideas for now. First, I think you’re actually happier without Tony, better off too probably, and I don’t just mean in monetary terms. I think you realised that as soon as it happened too. At the very moment our eye witness saw you just standing there I think that’s exactly what was going through your mind. But I think you also sympathise with Lillian. I think you understand exactly why she did what she did. You might even wish it was you who’d done it instead.’

Hall picked up his glass and took a cautious sip. Vicky poured herself some more, then held up her glass.

‘Cheers Andy. You are wasted on Kendal, you really are.’ She paused, and Hall said nothing, but he looked at her steadily. ‘Hollywood would be more your speed. That’s just a total work of the imagination.’

‘Not quite Vicky. What little I know for certain, about you, Tony and Lillian, is in there, and it does make sense. It’s internally coherent if you like.’

Vicky nodded. ‘But you acknowledge there are other equally plausible explanations that would fit the facts?’

‘Oh yes, and the most likely by far is that your husband just slipped and fell, and that Lillian was up there by co-incidence. That’s why we’re having this chat over wine and those cheesy things, rather than down at the station. My idea is only even worth discussing if we assume that Tony’s death wasn’t an accident.’

‘And why do you want to believe that so much? Why are you even here? Is it because of your little friend? She’s much too young for you, you know.’

Hall smiled. The ‘much’ was a bit harsh. ‘I just think that’s what happened. I may never be able to prove it, but I still think that’s how it was.’

‘Well, thanks for telling me. It passed an idle hour I suppose. But why did you bother? You can’t do anything about it.’

Hall took another small sip and nodded. ‘I suppose it was for what our American cousins call closure. For me, as much as for you.’

‘I see that Andy, but I also see that your judgement at work is being influenced by your personal life. In my experience that never ends well, and I’m only a bean-counter. You’re dealing with things that really matter.’

‘How do you mean, influenced?’

‘Well you’re just going through what is obviously a very painful separation and divorce, so maybe it’s clouding your judgement.’

Hall had thought about it, of course he had. It currently stood at about number eight on his list of worries. ‘I hope not, although of course you might be right. But to be honest it’s in a copper’s DNA not to trust anyone else’s word, and to work from the assumption that people just do pretty much what they want, when they want to do right in the moment. And that’s irrespective of the consequences for them or anyone else, not to mention whether or not what they want to do is legal. You know what I mean?’

‘I do.’ Vicky laughed. ‘You’re just getting a bit middle-aged and grumpy, that’s all. Now, are we done with your all theorising and story telling?’

‘I am if you are.’

‘Great, then let’s talk about you.’

They talked for an hour, the bottle was empty, and Vicky had drunk three-quarters of it. Hall found himself wondering how much alcohol was in the wine. Vicky was funny, charming and attractive, and Hall knew that he’d need to leave soon. He resisted the urge to look at his watch. Then, just as he was about to say that he’d have to be going, Vicky changed the subject.

‘So you need a witness to verify what a suspect says to you?’

‘One person’s uncorroborated word against another won’t stand up in court.’

‘So I can say what I like?’

Hall held his breath.

‘What if I told you that you were right? Pretty much in every detail. I suppose I shouldn’t really be surprised. My lawyer told me that you were a rare thing, a genuinely clever policeman.’

‘So Tony’s death wasn’t an accident?’

‘Lillian pushed him over, though I’m certain she didn’t mean to kill him. Why would she? And I didn’t know she was nearby before it happened, I couldn’t see her, I didn’t even sense her presence. But Tony had said some nasty, cruel things, about me and her. He was a really horrible man. Not when he was young, when we first met, but the older he got the less I loved him, then eventually I didn’t even like him. And by the end I couldn’t stand him being near me. He knew it of course, before the end, and that’s why he was treating me worse and worse. I don’t know where or how it would have ended. So Lillian has done me a favour, she really has. And I’m never going to tell anyone what she did that day.’

Hall sat back. He was astonished, not only because it seemed that he’d been right, but also that Vicky was willing to tell him so.

‘Why are you telling me all this?’

‘Because I know it means something to you, for whatever reason, and there’s no risk to me. Is your little friend losing her job over all this?’

‘No, but she’s being transferred. And she’s not hopeful that she’ll get a decent job.’

‘So you’ll be all on your own?’

‘Not exactly. I always work in a team. And a colleague of mine who’s currently working elsewhere will be coming back very soon, and I’m looking forward to that.’

‘Pretty is she?’

‘Not exactly Vicky. She’s a fifteen stone ex Marine with hands like shovels.’

‘Sounds just my type.’

Hall doubted that.

‘So what now?’ Vicky said after a while. ‘Shall I fetch us another bottle?’

‘No, I have to go. I need to get back in to the office tonight.’

‘Not something I said, I hope.’

Hall smiled and stood up. He felt the dressing tape tighten on his chest as he did so.

When he was back in the car, he said ‘I’m clear, you can cease recording now. Time is 8.25pm.’ When he heard the recording played back the next day Hall couldn’t hear a trace of triumph in his voice. He was going to call Jane when it was over, but decided to text her instead. He didn’t want her to say anything that might be overheard.

Half an hour later the recording was being transcribed, and the two tech support officers who had listened live swore statements to that effect. The officer in the unmarked car outside Vicky’s house also gave a statement to the time of Hall’s arrival and departure from the house.

Jane, who’d beaten Hall in to the station, listened back to the two sections that Hall selected, where he told Vicky what he thought had happened, and what she later admitted.

‘You’ve got them Andy, that’s amazing. You didn’t even bluff her. What does the CPS say?’

‘That it’s enough to bring Lillian in again tomorrow morning.’

‘What about Robinson?’

‘Tough. He can’t do a thing.’

‘Do you think he might think again about what happens to me? If we can prove that Lillian is guilty of murder, or manslaughter at least.’

Hall looked tired. ‘Don’t get your hopes up Jane. But I wanted you to know that you’re a great detective. Your instincts were right all along. Just remember that, wherever you have to spend the next year or two.’

‘But how did you know Andy? Where did that all come from? I could never have come up with that.’

‘I don’t know Jane. Really I don’t. Pictures just form in my mind, and I wait until I see one that feels real. But does it matter anyway?’

Thursday, 28th March

Andy Hall often thought that if Cumbria Constabulary’s computer network was as efficient as the station’s grapevine then his emails would actually arrive a fraction of a second before he hit the send key. And sure enough Superintendent Robinson was sitting in Hall’s office when he arrived at work at seven AM. Hall wondered if Robinson still had his pyjamas on under his uniform.

‘Does all this get you anywhere?’ asked Robinson abruptly.

‘Too early to say sir.’

‘What does the CPS say about your covert recording? I can’t believe they’re happy about it at all.’

‘I checked it out in advance, and they were happy, because it was the only realistic way of making any further progress in the case. As you’ll see every word of our exchange has been transcribed, and I had an officer outside to confirm both the time that I arrived and when I left.’

‘Have you had some form of relationship with this woman?’

‘No sir, I haven’t. What makes you ask?’

‘The tone of some her answers implies otherwise.’

‘It’s not the case.’

‘I see.’ Robinson looked sceptical. ‘So I suppose your next move is to get Mrs. Harrison in with her lawyer to get this all confirmed?’

‘Yes, Ray Dixon is picking her up and will complete the interview under caution at 9am.’

‘And then what?’

‘Then we will arrest Lillian Hall, and she will be interviewed under caution.’

‘Do you have enough to arrest her?’

‘The CPS says so, yes. But I did put them on notice that you might want to chat that through with them.’

‘That won’t be necessary, Inspector.’ Robinson was sitting in Hall’s chair behind his desk, and Hall was still standing, coat on, by the door. ‘So I expect that you think that this development exonerates DC Francis?’

‘No sir, but as I said in my email to the Deputy Chief I do consider that the punishment is excessive, bearing in mind Jane’s outstanding potential and achievements to date.’

‘And you think I have allowed personal feelings to cloud my judgement?’

‘I do.’

‘But your written submission to the Deputy doesn’t say that.’

‘It doesn’t. I believe that loyalty to colleagues is important, and that it works both ways; both up and down the chain of command.’

‘Is that a rebuke Andy?’

Hall took his time. ‘It’s just an explanation of why I didn’t mention my own opinion with respect to your personal motives.’

Robinson looked uncomfortable, if only for a moment. That was unusual. ‘My decision stands. Now, let’s talk about Lillian Hill. Do you really expect to be able to charge her?’

‘That depends on what she says. She may confess, but I don’t think that’s likely. I think she’ll probably simply say it was Vicky. They’d both potentially end up with a perverting the course of justice charge of course, but the CPS doesn’t think we’d have a chance with manslaughter unless one of them confessed.’

‘I see. Well done to you I suppose. You seem to have conjured something out of absolutely nothing here. But tell me this. What made you so sure that it was Lillian who pushed Tony over? Isn’t it just as likely that it was actually Vicky?’

Hall was impressed. Occasionally Robinson said something which proved that he was more than an empty uniform. ‘Absolutely sir, and it still is. On the balance of probabilities I actually think that it’s more likely to have been Vicky, but her lawyer is going to tell her to stick to her current version of what happened from now on, in order to limit the damage from here.’

‘So why did you suggest to her that it was Lillian?’

‘Look sir, I never expected her to say anything. I just did it because the CPS authorised it, and it would have worried away at me for the rest of my career if I hadn’t tried. All I was looking for was an admission that Tony’s death wasn’t entirely an accident, and that just seemed more likely to happen if I told Vicky that I thought it was Lillian. Nothing more to it than that I’m afraid. I just got lucky, and it seems that the rest of my guesswork turned out to be more or less right.’

‘But why did Vicky Harrison tell you? I just can’t work it out.’

Hall smiled. He started to take off his coat, and put his laptop bag down next to the desk.