Delayed & Denied (6 page)

‘Which part?’

‘All of it. That you believe him. Are you really so sure that he didn’t do it?’

‘You know me, Ray. I’m not absolutely certain that the sun will rise tomorrow morning, so certainty would be a bit of a stretch, but I will say that I’m beginning to move in that direction. How about you?’

‘Aye, maybe. But he’ll look like a total twat if it turns out that this doctor bloke did it, after all. He’ll have done all that time for nowt.’

‘I know, and when we get back to Kendal the first job is to look at this doctor. I’m pretty certain that he wasn’t interviewed at the time, when the investigating officers were doing the background and talked to Sharon’s colleagues at the hospital.’

‘You’re right, he wasn’t. I had a quick look while you were saying your goodbyes.’

‘OK, well that’s for another day, then. But it’s a priority. Next stop for now is Jack Lee’s place. He hasn’t replied to my emails, but I do happen to know that he’s at home, right at this minute.’

‘Oh, aye, Andy? And how would you know that? Clairvoyance is it, or one of your old mates from out this way keeping an informal eye on the bloke for you, maybe?’

‘Something like that. Come on, let’s knock on the door, and see if he’s in talkative mood.’

‘I doubt he will be.’

‘I’m sure you’re right. But I’ll lay out his options for him, and let’s see where that gets us, shall we?’

Jack Lee’s house in Whitehaven was much the same as Burke’s, except better kept. And when Hall pressed the bell he heard it ring inside. What were the chances of that, he wondered. A few seconds later the door opened, cautiously.

‘Mr. Jack Lee?’ said Hall, smiling.

‘Aye. Who wants to know?’

‘I’m Andy Hall, and this is my colleague Ray Dixon. I’ve emailed you a few times. We’re investigating the death of Sharon Burke.’

‘Adam did it. I don’t want to talk to you, and I’m not going to. I’ve just lost my wife, you know.’

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know.’

‘Aye, six weeks back. It was sudden, like, so she didn’t suffer.’

‘Well look, we can easily come back at another time, if this isn’t convenient.’

‘No. You just never come back. I don’t have to talk to you.’

Hall smiled, but other than that he didn’t move a muscle.

‘You certainly don’t have to chat, that’s true. But I’d have thought you’d be interested in talking to us. You see we now know that Adam Burke is an innocent man, and I’m confident that the police will make an arrest in connection with the death of Sharon Burke, and possibly quite soon. We already have some valuable new information, you see. This matter isn’t going away, I promise you that. All we’re asking for is ten minutes of your time. We’re not serving police officers, so we have no powers at all. It would just be a chat, I promise. Who knows, you might even get something from us.’

‘Like what?’

‘Like an understanding of what happens from here on in, for example. Aren’t you at all curious?’

‘You can tell me that from where you are.’

‘No, I’m afraid we can’t. All we want to do is to hear for ourselves what happened in the aftermath of Sharon Burke’s disappearance, that’s all.’

‘But I’ve already said all this. To the cops, and at the trial. I’ve got nothing to add.’

‘So you’re refusing to talk to us?’

Hall’s tone was as neutral and reasonable as always. Dixon had heard him talk that way to a child killer once, and he still wondered how Hall had done it. And it was clever, what Hall was doing this time. Banking on Lee responding to the copper vibe that they both gave off, even though he had laid no claim to any kind of official powers.

And it seemed to be working, because Lee opened the door a little further.

‘No. No, I’m not refusing. Of course not. You can have ten minutes.’

‘Make it twenty. I’m afraid that ten simply won’t be long enough.’

‘All right. Come in. I’m still in shock, though, over my wife.’

‘We appreciate that. We won’t upset you, I promise you.’

Ray Dixon seemed to sense that Hall would lead the interview, even though they’d previously agreed that he would, so he simply smiled at Lee when Hall introduced him, and flicked on the recorder.

‘I only really wanted to ask you about the circumstances surrounding Adam Burke’s confession to you. Were you surprised, when he said it?’

‘Yes and no, really. Like I said at the time, he’d acted pretty weird since she’d disappeared. And he was always an odd bloke, like, but I expect you’ve already seen that for yourself.’

‘Yes, we’ve spoken to him today. But was he worried weird, or something more, would you say?’

‘Hard to say. Adam was a mate, a good mate, but who knows how someone will react when their wife vanishes like that, whether it was murder or not, like.’

‘Very true. OK, thanks, Jack. This is helpful. Now, tell me all you can remember about the circumstances of Adam Burke’s confession. Where were you, when he told you?’

‘Right here. He was sitting just where you are now. It was a different sofa then, like. We’d been out for a drink, and we were just having a coffee before he went home. Like I told the cops at the time, he didn’t want to be on his own.’

‘So you’d been out regularly, over the preceding weeks?’

‘Aye, we had. Once or twice a week, probably.’

‘And your wife was upstairs, asleep?’

‘Aye, that’s right.’

‘And how did it come up, the confession? What was the context?’

‘How do you mean?’

‘Well, did he just come out with it, or was there a lead-in of some kind?’

Lee frowned, and seemed to be thinking hard.

‘I’m sorry. It’s all so long ago. I just don’t remember.’

‘That’s fine. It’s only natural. So let’s talk about exactly what he said. Can you remember?’

‘Just that he’d killed Sharon, and dumped her in Crummock Water.’

‘Just like that?’

‘Like I say, I can’t really remember now. It’s a long time ago, and I’ve just lost my wife.’

‘Don’t worry. Did he say why he’d decided to confess to you?’

‘I asked. I do remember that. I was shocked, amazed, like. So I asked him straight out.’

‘And what did he say?’

‘He said that he had to tell someone, like. That it was doing his head in.’

‘And did you ask him for more details?’

‘Like what?’

‘Like how he’d killed her, or how he’d moved the body? Anything like that, really.’

‘No. No, I don’t think so. Like I say I was completely stunned. Well, it’s not every day that your best mate admits that he’s a murderer, is it?’

‘Indeed not. So what happened then? Did you tell Adam that you’d have to tell the police what he’d said?’

‘No, not at the time. But I told my wife everything the next morning, and she persuaded me that I had to do the right thing. So I did. I didn’t want to, like, I hated myself for it, but I still did it anyway.’

Hall kept eye contact with Lee, and smiled encouragingly.

‘Of course you did. Quite right, too. You had no choice. So Jack, just one other thing that you might be able to help us with, and I must admit that it’s got me stumped.’

‘Oh, aye? What’s that, then?’

‘Why did Adam say anything to you precisely when he did? Why not confess earlier? And did you know that the police had actually told him, just a couple of days before he confessed to you, that they were scaling down the enquiry? Did he tell you that?’

‘No.’

‘Are you sure he didn’t say anything about that? You sound pretty sure, I must say.’

‘Aye, I’m sure. He didn’t tell me that. I’d remember.’

‘OK, fine. So why do you think he told you when he did?’

‘Like I told you, it was doing in his head in. It was the guilt that really got to him, in the end. Aye, it was the guilt. That’s what made him tell me.’

‘And did you see Adam again? After that night, I mean.’

‘Just in court, like. I’ve seen him about in town a few times over the years since he got out, but he doesn’t socialise much, doesn’t Adam.’

‘And you’ve never spoken since?’

‘No.’

‘You’ve had no contact at all?’

‘None.’

Hall stood up, and Dixon reached forward to turn off the tape, before getting to his feet.

‘Oh, yes,’ said Hall, ‘I almost forgot. In terms of the new information that I mentioned. I said we’d share some of it, didn’t I? So let’s see. First, we now have some new evidence to support the account that Adam Burke gave of the day and night of his wife’s disappearance.’

‘He said he was in bed, poorly, didn’t he? Well, I can tell you that he’d been fine at work the day before. I remember that very clearly.’

‘Yes, you and two other witnesses said that at the trial, didn’t you? He’d been fine on the Thursday. And what we’ve found out doesn’t contradict that testimony, not at all, but it does explain why Adam Burke was indisposed for the better part of twenty four hours. I can’t give you the details, but it is a viable explanation.’

‘I see.’

‘And there’s more. We now have a pretty solid lead as to the identity of the person with whom Sharon Burke may have been having an extra-marital relationship.’

‘Really? So this person could actually have been the killer?’

‘That’s certainly a possibility. You never had any ideas about who it might have been, did you?’

Lee hesitated, and Hall didn’t even exhale as he waited, and watched.

‘No, sorry. Like I said, I never really knew Sharon that well. As I told the coppers at the time, she was just my mate’s wife, that’s all.’

‘You did say that, yes. But it’s a funny thing about other people’s lives, and other people’s wives, come to that. You just can’t help but wonder what kind of relationship they have, can you? How they get on, behind closed doors.’

‘Here’s another job for, Ray’, said Hall as they were driving away. ‘Check on Lee’s wife’s cause of death, would you? Discreetly, mind.’

‘You’re not thinking that he topped her too, are you, Andy? Why would he do that, after all these years?’

‘I’m just wondering, that’s all.’

‘You should have been a policeman, mate, with a mind like that.’

Hall smiled, and listened to the new noise that his old BMW was suddenly making. It was, he decided, another one that he could safely ignore.

Hall dropped Dixon at his house, and told Ray that he needed to get off home when a coffee was offered.

‘Nappies to change, eh?’

‘Something like that, yeah. But that was a good day, wasn’t it, Ray?’

‘Good? The best, mate.’

‘Because we might be on the road to putting right a major miscarriage of justice?’

‘Aye, that, of course. But mainly because it made me feel like I mattered again, you know? Christ, but I’ve missed that. So anyway, boss, what’s the next step?’

Hall counted the points off on his fingers.

‘One, can we stand up this claim that Sharon drugged Adam Burke? What drugs, if any, were found when the house was searched? That’ll be in the file. And if the place was clean, what do her old workmates at the hospital say? Could Sharon have been nicking tranquillisers, or sleeping pills, or whatever? Then, what about this doctor? What’s he got to say for himself? Finally, and you need to be really, really careful Ray, what’s the story on Mrs. Lee’s death? I expect there was a PM, in which case Sandy Smith will be able to get a squint at the file.’

‘And she’ll know what it actually means.’

‘That too. Can I leave it with you?’

Dixon opened the door.

‘Tell you what, Andy. Why don’t I follow up on the doc and the drugs, and you have a word with Sandy. How’s that?’

‘What, are you frightened, Ray?’

‘Too right I am, mate. There’s nothing like a conversation with Sandy to dent a bloke’s new-found feeling of self worth, now is there?’

Hall really enjoyed his evening. Grace seemed extra adorable, after not seeing her for eight whole hours, and Jane listened with a satisfying level of attention as he summarised the events of his day.

‘That’s great, love’, she said. ‘Lots to go at then, isn’t there?’

‘That’s true’, said Hall, cautiously.

Jane smiled, because it was exactly the response that she’d expected. Hall wasn’t a man to ever see a half-full glass, but rather a glass that might easily fall off the table altogether, in any one of a number of catastrophic scenarios. It was just how he was made. So she waited for him to go on.

‘What worries me is that we’ll end up in a worst of all worlds situation, where we’ve got a shed-load of new circumstantial evidence that undermines the prosecution case significantly, but not quite enough to make a retrial inevitable. Imagine how Burke would feel then.’

‘Blimey, love, that’s a bit of a negative take on things, even for you, isn’t it?’

‘Just realistic. I’m not even sure if Ray can even talk to this Dr. Fleming, since his name didn’t come up at all in the original enquiry. He wasn’t even spoken to when they were doing the background checks on the victim.’

‘So you’re asking if I mind if you talk to this bloke now?’

‘I suppose I am, yes.’

‘Well, thanks for asking, love. And of course you can. You know the rules. So long as you don’t misrepresent who you are, or the extent of your powers, then I’m fine with it. He doesn’t have to engage with you at all, after all.’

‘Don’t you want to check with the ACC first?’

‘No way. He tried to play us, by making me your point of contact, but that also means I have the authority to make this call. And I have. So have at the bloke, Andy. I know you’ll be careful and responsible. I’ve never even known you raise your voice to a suspect.’

‘You know why that is, Jane.’

‘Aye, I know. You realised that it was the only way you’d survive in the job, if you could build a wall between yourself and the offender, so you didn’t ever get sucked in to their madness, or their badness. But you’re getting drawn right into this one, aren’t you, love?’

‘Burke’s innocent, Jane. He’s not especially likeable, he’s not even intelligent, but he deserves help. Sarah Hardcastle was right. I completely get that now. I’m going to do all I can to help put this right, or at least leave it less wrong than it is now.’