The Red Dahlia (48 page)

They drove in silence towards Mayerling Hall. Midway down the lane, they saw a local squad car and stopped. Langton got out and had a conversation with the driver.

‘Still no movement, nobody has been near the place or left it!’

They drew up outside the house. Langton checked his watch.

‘Okay, this is how we work it: we each take one of them. Separated, we might get something. Let’s go!’

They were about to head towards the front door when Langton gestured that they should go via the back way, and enter through the kitchen. They made as little noise as possible as they headed down the gravel path through the gate into the back kitchen garden.

Langton paused outside the door. They could hear someone singing; it sounded like Justine. Langton rapped sharply on the door and tried the handle: it opened.

Justine was carrying a packet of cornflakes to the table; Emily had a bottle of milk in her hand; Mrs Hedges was pouring boiling water into a teapot: they all turned in surprise. Emily dropped the milk bottle in shock. It smashed on the tiled floor.

‘Morning, sorry if we surprised you.’

Justine banged down the packet of cornflakes and went to get a cloth from the sink. Emily looked at her fearfully.

‘It’s okay, don’t worry; we’ve got another pint. Just pick up the bottle, will you? Mind you don’t cut yourself. Put it on the draining board.’

Emily did so, and then Justine tossed down a wet cloth onto the floor.

‘We would like to interview you.’

‘What about now?’ Justine said, rinsing out the milk-soaked cloth.

‘Could you please accompany Detective Inspector Lewis, Mrs Hedges?’

‘Me?’

‘Yes, this shouldn’t take long; if Emily would like to go with Detective Travis, I’ll stay here and talk to you, Justine.’

Justine threw the cloth into the sink. ‘No way. You want to talk to any of us, then we want a solicitor present. You can’t just barge in here.’

“Fraid we can, Miss Wickenham, we still have the valid search warrants: so, we can do this quickly and be gone, up to you, or we can take you into the station and do it there. Mrs Hedges, would you mind?’

‘Stay where you are! They are just trying it on. I know the law. I have to go and see to the horses.’

‘You will have to wait.’

‘No I won’t.’ Justine faced them, hands on her hips.

‘Yes you will. Now, if you want to call someone out to be with you, then go ahead, we can wait.’ Langton knew they had only search warrants for one visit, so he was bluffing. It paid off.

‘What do you want to know?’ Justine said.

‘We just need to ask some questions; it shouldn’t take long.’

‘Questions about what? We’ve been interviewed over and over again, and there is nothing else we can tell you. We don’t know where he is: he has not made contact with any of us. Is that what it’s about?’

‘Why don’t you call your solicitor, if that is what you want?’ Langton said and pulled out a chair to sit down.

‘It’s only bloody nine o’clock!’ Justine said furiously.

Langton turned to Anna and Lewis and shrugged. ‘We’ll just sit here and wait.’

Justine glared at them and sat down. ‘We are not going anywhere. Go ahead: ask what you want to know and then leave us in peace.’

‘Who contacted you before you came into the police station to get your brother to sign?’

‘Mrs Hedges: she called to say that there was a ruddy army traipsing all over the house looking for Dad.’

‘So you called Justine, Mrs Hedges, to say what?’

‘Just what Justine said. I thought she should know about what was happening.’

‘And that was enough for you to arrange to bring Emily home?’

Justine took over again. ‘Yes, Mrs Hedges said Father was under arrest, and that Edward had been taken into custody. I mean, is this necessary? You met me there. You were with me when I spoke to Edward. We’ve been over all this!’

‘Yes I know that, but why did you think that it would be safe to bring Emily back home?’

‘It’s bloody obvious, isn’t it? You had arrested Daddy!’

‘But what if we had not found enough evidence to charge him?’

‘It was fucking obvious that you had!’

‘Please don’t swear, Miss Wickenham. If you knew there was evidence here that would warrant the arrest of your father, your pleading ignorance of what happened here was a lie.’

‘I did not fucking lie!’

‘But you have just stated that you knew your father would be arrested, so you had to have known he was guilty. So you are guilty of perverting the course of justice, which could implicate you as a party to murder.’

‘That is not true; this is bloody ridiculous!’

Langton was at it again, bluffing her to scare her. But, as before, it was working. ‘So, Mrs Hedges, what exactly did you tell Miss Wickenham when you called?’

Mrs Hedges was shaking, wringing her hands. Justine spoke for her. ‘What she just said: that all the police were here and Father had been arrested. Do you want me to repeat it again?’

‘But surely he was still at the house, and for you, Justine, to immediately begin to arrange to bring your sister home…’

‘He’d gone by then.’ Mrs Hedges had to clear her throat she was so nervous.

‘Gone?’

‘Yes, he’d already left. That’s why I called Justine.’

‘What exact time was that?’

She was now really agitated. She looked to Justine and back to Langton. ‘I don’t know, some time in the morning.’

‘What exact time?’

‘I don’t know, I can’t remember.’

‘Leave her alone, she’s done nothing wrong,’ Justine said angrily and put her arm around the elderly woman.

‘I would very much like to, but you see it’s very important at what exact time you were informed that your father had left the house, so that it was now safe for you to bring back Emily.’

‘Well, it would have been before I came to the station, just before twelve.’

‘I see.’

‘So this would coincide with your father disappearing?’

‘Escaped I think is the word you’re looking for; all this is just you lot trying to cover your tracks, because he escaped and you can’t find him, so you want to interrogate us. Well, we don’t know where he went, we have not been contacted by him, we do not know where the fuck he is and we don’t bloody care!’

‘But you must have had a pretty good idea that he wasn’t coming back, otherwise why bring Emily home?’

‘Because the less time she spent in that shithole of a mental institution the better.’

‘Why didn’t you take her to your flat?’

‘Because, I have said this over and over, I had to come back here to look after the horses, so it just makes sense that Emily is here with me.’

‘Even though your father could return?’

‘He’s not likely to is he, for Chrissakes? You’ve got patrol cars up and down the lane, the place has been swarming with police. Of course he’s not coming back; it would be crazy if he even considered it. He is an intelligent man!’

‘So you know where he is?’

‘No I do not, we haven’t a clue, all right? But it makes sense to anyone with half a brain that he is not coming back because he would be picked up, right?’

‘So he did contact you?’

‘No! Jesus Christ, how many more times. He has not called, he has not tried to speak to any one of us.’

‘So where is he?’

‘We don’t know!’

‘He has no passport, he has not cashed any money. Where do you think someone on the run could hide out for this length of time?’

‘Ask some of his sicko friends; they’d hide him, just like that crowd helped Lord Lucan.’

‘We have already questioned his known associates.’

‘Well they would all lie through their teeth! They wouldn’t want to be involved with that bastard, but he could blackmail them into helping him. Go and do your job: question them and leave us alone.’

‘As I said, we already have and we are certain none helped your father escape. They are all scattered quite a distance from here, so how would he have got to them?’

‘You tell me.’ Justine stood with her hands on her hips.

Langton paused. He glanced to Travis and sighed. ‘You see, Miss Wickenham, we have come to the conclusion that your father never left this house.’

There was a pause and then Justine laughed and shook her head. ‘Well, you bloody searched long enough! If he was here, they couldn’t find him, so this is all a bit of a farce isn’t it? Surely wasting your time here isn’t going to help you find him? I told her; I said you’d never catch him and it’s true.’ Justine pointed to Anna; she then took a look at Emily who was sitting, head bowed, chewing at her nails. She went over and put her arm around her. ‘It’s okay, Em; don’t get upset, it’s all right.’

‘Mrs Hedges,’ Langton turned towards her. ‘You were, I believe, in your bedroom throughout the search. Is that correct?’

‘Yes sir, I never left; well, just to make myself a sandwich and a cup of tea. I was told to remain in my room, I never left it but for that; there were police officers here in the kitchen the whole time.’

‘What did you think she did, hid him under her skirt? This is farcical!’ Justine was at it again.

‘Could you please take DI Travis to your room, Mrs Hedges?’

‘Why?’

‘We would just like to check something.’

Mrs Hedges looked at Justine who gave a shrug, smiling. ‘Sure, that’s okay, you take her up there. I’ll carry on with breakfast.’

Anna followed Mrs Hedges out of the kitchen and up the narrow staircase, sidestepping piles of neatly folded sheets and towels. Mrs Hedges opened the door into her bedroom. ‘They searched in here, twice,’ she said.

‘Yes I know, but I just needed to see for myself, thank you.’

Anna looked around the sparse, neat room. A low footstool stood beside her rocking chair. The single bed had an iron railing and a handmade quilt. There was an old-fashioned wardrobe and chest of drawers, plus two small cupboards either side of the bed. If anyone had tried to hide beneath it, they could very easily have been seen.

‘This is the oldest part of the house, isn’t it?’ Anna said, with a friendly smile.

‘Yes, yes it is; it looks out to the back, so it’s very quiet.’

‘Yes, I remember you told me how you would stay up here when the weekend parties were going on.’

‘Yes.’

Mrs Hedges saw Anna looking at two sections of the wall which had been partly eased back.

‘They did that, the police; it’s a false wall: the panel was put up so I could hang pictures. It’s thick stone behind the partitions.’ Mrs Hedges pointed to an ironing board. ‘I’ve been doing the ironing up here as the laundry room has been taken apart; it was really something for me to do.’

‘Did you have much cash up here?’

‘Pardon?’

‘Any savings? Did you keep them up here?’

‘Some, yes; never been too fond of banks. My sister was with a company that took all her savings, so I used to keep mine here.’

Anna pointed to a drawer. ‘Do you still have them?’

‘My money?’

‘Yes, is it still safe?’

She opened the drawer and took out a biscuit tin. ‘Yes, it’s all here.’

‘So you didn’t give any money to Mr Wickenham?’

‘No, no; he didn’t know I had it, in any case. It was my secret, really; my wages were paid into a bank account at the local bank. This money’s tips and extras the house guests would give me.’

‘How much money do you have in your savings account, Mrs Hedges?’

‘Oh, well, a lot.’

‘Like how much?’

‘I’ve at least seventy-two thousand pounds.’

‘And you have not withdrawn any of it recently?’

‘No, no, I’ve not been out of the house.’

‘I see, thank you.’

As Anna turned to leave, Mrs Hedges caught her arm. ‘Leave them be. They are blameless. Maybe now they can have some kind of life without their father.’

Anna hesitated. ‘But he could walk back in here, Mrs Hedges; maybe not right now, but sometime. If he did come back, you know they would be too afraid of him not to comply with anything he wanted them to do.’

‘I’m here for them and he won’t come back.’

‘How can you be so sure?’

Mrs Hedges wouldn’t meet Anna’s eyes, she looked to the floor. ‘Because I’ll protect them.’

‘You?’

‘Yes me, I’ve taken care of them.’

‘What do you mean?’

There was a pause, as Mrs Hedges chewed at her lip. ‘I meant like I always tried to do when they were children.’

‘But you failed; you know what he did to Emily.’

She made no answer.

‘Mrs Hedges, two young girls — perhaps even more — not much older than Wickenham’s daughters were murdered in the most brutal way.’

‘I know; I know that now.’

‘If he did come back, you know he would have them in his power to do anything he wanted.’

Before she could answer, Langton called for Anna. She hesitated, then thanked Mrs Hedges. Together they went down the narrow staircase and into the hall. Langton was standing with Lewis.

‘This is a waste of time. If the sisters know anything, they are not about to tell us. If they want to get a solicitor, we can either wait or call it quits.’

They called it quits; the three returned to their patrol car. Anna had wanted to stay, but Langton’s patience had worn thin. He leaned against the bonnet of the car.

‘Listen, if they do know where he is, they are refusing to say. We’ve already run up massive costs for this waste of time, and I’m gonna have to go back and answer to the Commander: she just hit the proverbial.’

Anna folded her arms.

‘What? We tried, didn’t we, Lewis?’

‘Yeah, that Justine is something else.’

‘I’m not satisfied!’

Langton laughed.

Anna glared back at him. ‘I’m not. Just come with me, the pair of you, please, it’ll take a few minutes.’

Disgruntled, they returned to the house. Justine was standing in the hallway. ‘You thinking of moving in, or what?’

Anna looked at her, and wasn’t giving anything away. ‘You can stay with us if you want, I just want to…’

‘Do what the hell you like. I’m going to have my breakfast!’ Justine slammed into the kitchen.

Anna looked around the hall. ‘Right, we have forensic officers around the hall, we have others examining the dining room, and outside we have God knows how many officers.’