Текст книги "Jessica Daniel: Think of the Children / Playing with Fire / Thicker Than Water"

Автор книги: Kerry Wilkinson

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Текущая страница: 19 (всего у книги 56 страниц)

35

The man had gelled black hair with trimmed stubble on his chin. He had dressed for the weather, with a pair of heavy boots, jeans and a thick coat. He blinked rapidly, stunned by the light, and stared open-mouthed at Jessica, then noticed Annabel sitting to his right. ‘What?’ he said, barely able to get the words out.

‘Do you want to sit down?’ Jessica asked, pointing towards another fold-up chair resting against the wall. He turned around and tried to open the door. ‘It’s locked,’ Jessica added. ‘And people are outside so don’t even bother. I think it’s time for a chat.’

The man turned around and looked from Jessica to Annabel then back again. ‘Who are you?’ he asked.

Jessica snorted involuntarily. ‘That’s an odd question coming from you. I’m Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel and this, as I’m sure you remember, is your sister. Don’t worry about Deborah, she’s fine. I just borrowed her phone to send you a text message.’

The man shook his head. ‘I really think you’ve got the wrong person,’ he said, reaching back towards the door. ‘My name’s Stephen.’

Jessica nodded. ‘I know, we’ve met. Do you remember when I was leaving Deborah’s house with a colleague, and you were walking down the drive?’ The man nodded slowly. ‘“Friend of the family”, that’s what Deborah told us you were at the time.’

The man picked up on her words. ‘That’s right.’

‘You’re not, though, are you?’

‘Why do you think that?’ He was still standing close to the door, looking at Jessica.

‘A hunch, a turn of phrase, a photograph. If you were just a friend, why would she call you “dear”? Why would there be pictures of you with both Benjamin and Deborah from when you were younger?’

It had been the way Lucy Martin called Olivia ‘dear’ that had made the connection for Jessica – it had been exactly how Deborah referred to the man on her driveway all those weeks ago. It was all in the tone of voice, an inflection of concern that didn’t happen when you were speaking to a random person.

‘What’s wrong with that?’ Stephen countered.

‘Why would someone keep pictures of themselves posing with a teenager if it wasn’t their own child?’

He stared back at Jessica defiantly.

‘I didn’t even notice it the first time I was at Benjamin’s house,’ she continued. ‘Everything was so normal, pictures of an apparently happy family. It was the type of thing you wouldn’t even notice but I checked the records. Benjamin and Deborah had a son named Stephen – but he died within a week of being born a few months before you went missing. One of your friendly teachers took you home one night and never gave you back. After everything had died down, they raised you as their own.’

Jessica paused for breath, trying to keep her emotions in check. ‘When I was a kid, all our neighbours knew who I was,’ she continued. ‘It was a bit of a pain because if I ever got up to anything, it would always get back to my parents. I guess it depends on the area. I checked the housing records and within six months of you disappearing, Benjamin and Deborah moved into a new house. I’m guessing their new neighbours would have assumed you were their son. If you happened to look a little like a boy who had been in the newspapers months earlier, then it was just a coincidence.’

Stephen was still staring at Jessica. ‘Sit down or we’re going to be here all night,’ she added.

He turned around and picked up the chair, opening it out and placing it next to the door before sitting on it. Jessica didn’t need him to confirm or deny it to know she was right. On the surface, it seemed so simple. For whatever reason, Benjamin and Deborah couldn’t have children after Stephen died, so they simply took one. Whether it was a Stockholm Syndrome situation with the boy falling for his ‘captors’, or whether it was voluntary, Jessica didn’t know. For whatever reason, Toby – or Stephen – had willingly been brought up by parents who weren’t his. By moving to the opposite end of the city, possibly dyeing his hair or doing something else to change his appearance, with new, unfamiliar neighbours, they didn’t have any awkward questions to answer about where he came from.

None of that answered what had happened with Isaac though.

The man sat forward, hunched and ready to move quickly if necessary. ‘If I’m not Stephen, then how come that’s the name on my driving licence?’

That was one of the key things Jessica had struggled to figure out but she had stumbled across a possible answer on the Internet. She spoke firmly: ‘If the real Stephen was registered at the hospital, Deborah and Benjamin could have applied for a birth certificate then. Given the speed things move, they might have received it in the post weeks after he had already died. Assuming they kept it in a drawer, it would have been easy enough for you to use it to register yourself for a driving licence, as well as anything else you needed to live a normal life under a name that isn’t yours.’

He didn’t say a word, locking eyes with Jessica in an uncomfortable silence.

Annabel interrupted their non-verbal sparring. ‘Why didn’t you come home?’

The man adjusted the way he was sitting and glanced towards Annabel, although Jessica could see he wasn’t looking high enough to meet her eyes.

‘Why?’ she repeated.

He glared at the ground but Annabel leapt to her feet and ran across the room, launching herself into him. The echo of the chair crashing to the ground rang around the room as the two people collided. Jessica realised what was happening too slowly, jumping forward in an effort to pull Annabel away.

The man had been blindsided and knocked backwards with his coat and shirt ruffled up around his face. Annabel pointed towards him and spat out the word: ‘Look.’

Jessica squinted at where she was indicating and saw a zigzag-shaped mark across the man’s abdomen. As he picked himself up, Annabel returned to her seat. She made no attempt to hide the fury in her voice. ‘Don’t tell me you don’t remember. I was only nine. We tied that rope to the tree on the edge of the park near our house. We were taking it in turns to run at it and swing across the stream. I’d got across but you came sprinting over and slipped. You got one hand on the rope then landed sideways in the water. That scar comes from the rock you hit when you landed.’

The man straightened his clothes but wouldn’t look up from the floor. ‘Just tell me your name,’ Annabel shouted at him.

‘Stephen,’ he replied quietly.

‘Oh, fuck you, Toby. Why didn’t you come home?’

For a moment, Jessica thought the man was going to remain silent but then, finally, he spoke. ‘Because I didn’t want to.’

Toby’s words hung in the air as he ran his hand through his now-dark hair. Jessica felt a mix of vindication for everything she had done, along with an almost overwhelming feeling of regret because, in some ways, she had hoped she was wrong. Nobody said anything but Toby had finally met his sister’s stare.

‘Why?’ Annabel asked forcefully.

‘I enjoyed being with Ian and Deb. They bought me things, they looked after me.’

‘They bought you things? That’s why you chose to stay with them? Did they take you or did you go willingly?’

Toby spoke quietly but firmly. ‘None of your business.’

‘Is that all you’ve got to say to me? We thought you were dead. Mum still thinks you’re dead!’ Annabel didn’t sound upset, just angry. Jessica was already feeling guilty about what she had asked the woman to do and was wondering if she had gone too far.

‘You don’t understand,’ Toby said dismissively.

‘So make me.’

‘I got bored. All the kids at school had everything I didn’t, Mum and Dad argued all the time. You got the best things because you were older.’

‘Are you joking? That’s it? You were only ten.’

‘Eleven.’

Annabel shook her head and kicked at the floor. ‘You’re disgusting.’

Jessica wondered how bad things could have been, but then she remembered Annabel had also left home and not returned. Lucy’s account might well have put a rose-tinted view on what life was like with her and Dean. What Jessica did know is that there had to be something seriously wrong to make an eleven-year-old want to leave his birth parents and not go back. Everyone had moments as a child where they threatened to leave home and not return. To have actually gone through with it must have meant he either genuinely hated it there or, even at such a young age, he was materialistic enough to put gifts above everything else. She didn’t know which category Toby fell into.

‘You moved out too,’ Toby said.

‘How do you know that?’

‘I looked you up on the Internet a few years ago. I saw you’d moved and wondered if you were thinking like me. I was going to contact you but Dad convinced me not to.’

‘“Dad?”’

Toby didn’t reply to Annabel but looked towards Jessica. ‘Can I go now?’

Jessica narrowed her eyes and stared at him. ‘Did you ever live in this shed, Toby?’

‘For a bit.’

‘Do you know we found your old clothes? The football shirt and the rest.’

Toby smiled and shook his head mockingly. ‘It was in the papers, I’m not an idiot. Who do you think buried them there? It was time to say goodbye to the old Toby for good and embrace Stephen.’

‘Why those woods?’

The man shrugged. ‘Why should I tell you?’

‘Tell me,’ Annabel shouted. ‘I’m still your sister.’

For the first time, Jessica could see pangs of regret in Toby’s face. He looked at the ground, as if embarrassed with himself. ‘Did you miss me?’ he asked quietly. There was no edge to his tone, it was a genuine question.

‘Of course I did. I was your older sister.’

Toby nodded. ‘I missed you too.’

‘Why those woods, Toby?’ Jessica asked again.

Toby didn’t adjust his position and seemed to reply without thinking. ‘I wanted to return them to that place where we used to play football. I hadn’t been around there in years but, when I went back, there were all these factories. I found those woods by accident but it was quiet and no one was around. It just felt right, like coming full circle.’

‘What about Isaac Hutchings?’ she asked.

‘What about him?’ The response was instant and dismissive.

‘Why did you take him?’

‘Who says I did?’ Toby turned to meet Jessica’s gaze, his eyes defiant, daring her to give him a good reason to continue speaking.

‘What do you usually call Deborah?’ Jessica asked.

‘Why?’

‘Just answer the question.’

Toby smiled slightly, shaking his head as if pitying the question. ‘I call her Mum, because she is.’

Jessica nodded. ‘You’ve got two options now, Toby. Option one is you tell me everything, then I take you to the station and you repeat it all on tape.’

‘Why would I do that?’ Toby grinned and stood. ‘You’ve got nothing on me. This is ridiculous, dragging my sister out because you think it’ll make me confess.’

‘You only listened to option one.’

‘Fine, what’s the second one?’

‘Option two is I open that door and let you walk. Then I get in my car and drive straight to Deborah’s house. I’ll arrest her not only for your kidnap but for the kidnap and murder of Isaac Hutchings. Either way, I get a conviction and me and my colleagues look shit-fucking-hot. Personally, I don’t care who goes down for it. It’s your choice.’

It was as big a lie as Jessica could have told.

‘How can you arrest her? You don’t have anything on her.’

‘Really? Well, for one, I sent you a text message using Deborah’s phone asking you to meet her at the shed. The fact you didn’t question her knowledge of it tells me she knows all about this place. Admittedly that could never be used as evidence but it’s a start. What could be used is all the little bits. How about I go find some of your old neighbours and ask them about little Stephen? How do you think that would go down in court along with the official records to show she never had a child? What about the photos at Benjamin’s house with you, him and her? That’s pretty damning. It might be circumstantial but how do you think a jury would view that in relation to Isaac’s disappearance and everything that’s already been in the media? I’m sure if we really looked into her alibi for that time Isaac was missing we might find a hole here or there. Do you want to take that risk?’

Toby stared at Jessica, eyes bulging with fury. ‘It wasn’t her.’

‘Do you think a jury will believe that?’ Jessica raised herself up from the seat and met the man’s gaze, assuring him she was serious, even though she had no idea if she would be able to find anything like enough evidence.

‘What do you want me to do?’

‘I want you to sit down and tell me everything. Then I want you to go to the station and repeat it all.’

‘What about Mum?’

‘It’s up to you. If you want to tell us your name is Stephen and conveniently forget the Toby stuff, I couldn’t care less. I’m not helping you though so you’d better have your story straight. Somewhere along the line you must have sorted yourself out with an identity but I don’t want to know. The deal is you tell us everything you did and, if no one asks any other questions about Deborah, then she’s off the hook. If you drop her in it, then tough shit.’

Toby stared at Jessica before slumping to the floor, holding his legs to his chest. He looked across at Annabel, who had returned to the chair. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

The woman didn’t reply.

‘Are you sure you want to hear this?’ Jessica asked, turning towards Annabel. The young woman nodded gently but didn’t seem completely aware of where she was. Her eyes had drifted towards the ceiling and her skin had turned pale. ‘Are you okay?’ Jessica added.

‘Yes.’

Jessica eyed her, wondering what she should do. Before she could say anything further, Toby began to talk. ‘I just wanted something like I had with Mum and Dad.’

Jessica looked back from Annabel to Toby. He was cradling himself, rocking gently on the floor. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I wanted a child of my own. That’s why I was done with the old “Toby”. I put together this list. They were all children with brothers or sisters. They’d all been in trouble at school and so on.’

‘Where did you get the information?’

‘I do temping at the LEA office. It’s all there.’

‘The Local Education Authority?’

‘Yeah, it’s amazing what companies give you access to when you get a temporary pass. I did some work at the council offices last year and managed to search through the full council tax records for everyone.’

It was such a matter-of-fact statement that Jessica didn’t doubt him. His tone was completely uncaring, as if talking to a friend in the pub. She knew the exact details of what he did and how he found that information could be sorted out at a later date. ‘What did you do when you had the names?’

‘I went and watched them. Some barely left their houses but others would go to the park or whatever. Eventually I came up with a list of lads who I thought might want a new dad . . . like I did.’

‘You made a list of kids to take?’ Annabel spat out the words, then stood, pacing at the other end of the shed. Toby didn’t answer.

‘So you decided on Isaac?’ Jessica asked.

‘I watched him walk home on his own a few times. Sometimes his mum would pick him up but not always.’

‘And how did you take him?’

‘It was easy enough to know his route because he always walked the same way. Once I figured out where the cameras were, it was just a case of getting him into the car when there was no one else around. It nearly happened a few weeks before but this other car pulled in behind me.’

The casual way he spoke terrified Jessica, as if he had no idea of the enormity of what he had done. ‘And you brought him here?’ she persisted.

‘Yes.’

‘Did Benjamin know?’

‘He didn’t know I was going to go through with it. I’d just talked about theory. I sent him a message that night to say we should meet here.’

Jessica didn’t say it out loud but, if that was true, it meant the second phone they found at Benjamin’s house belonged to Toby. With the emails Benjamin had sent to Nathan Bairstow about maintaining privacy, it now seemed obvious the unregistered SIM card belonged to him. That meant Benjamin hadn’t sent the text message to say the snatch had happened; he had received it.

Trying to take it all in, Jessica attempted to speak calmly. ‘Why did you kill him?’ Toby began to rock even harder on the spot, tears streaming down his face. Annabel stopped pacing and moved across to stand next to Jessica. Together they looked down at him. Jessica couldn’t feel any sympathy for the man but she wondered if his sister did. The only sound in the room was Toby’s ever-increasing sobs. He tried to speak but it was impossible to make out what he was saying.

For the first time since he entered the room, Jessica began to feel cold. The adrenaline had been keeping her warm but now she felt nothing but disdain for the man crying at her feet. ‘What did you do, Toby?’ she asked, harsher the second time.

The man calmed himself slightly, the howls giving way to gentler sobs. ‘He wanted to go home.’

‘So you killed him?’

Toby nodded but the movement escalated into the whole of his body shaking almost uncontrollably. ‘It wasn’t violent, I didn’t hurt him.’

Jessica could join the dots herself. Toby had snatched the boy, assuming he would want a new father in the way he himself had but when the inevitable rejection had come, he hadn’t been able to cope. She already knew Isaac had been suffocated but didn’t want to know the specifics. When Toby was at the station, someone else could interview him.

There was an anger burning inside her, a fury for poor Kayla Hutchings, for the child taken from her and a selfish regret for the laws Toby had made her break in the last few days.

‘Did you steal Daisy Peters’s car?’

Toby didn’t reply so Jessica stepped forward and kicked him with as much force as she could manage. His head rocked backwards, bouncing off the door before cannoning forward again. He looked up at Jessica, lip snarled in rage. He placed his palms on the floor as if to pick himself up. ‘Don’t move,’ Jessica said. ‘You’re going to sit there and answer all my questions without crying. Did you steal Daisy Peters’s car?’

Toby seemed more shocked than hurt. The impact had achieved what it was meant to and he had stopped sobbing. Jessica had acted on impulse, not necessarily wanting to hurt him but, at the same, not caring if she did.

‘I didn’t know that was her name but yes, I took the car,’ he admitted.

‘How did you know to hook the keys out?’

‘I live across the road. It’s quite hard not to notice a pretty girl with a nice car.’

‘You live across the road?’ The fact she had stood just metres from his house was barely believable. Toby shrugged, a broken man.

‘Why was Benjamin driving the car, not you?’

‘It’s not his fault.’

‘I didn’t ask that.’

‘I asked him. He didn’t know what I’d done but, after Isaac had . . . gone, after that, I couldn’t go through with it. I asked if he’d help me move him.’

‘Why bury him in the woods?’

‘I don’t know. I just knew about them because that’s where I left the clothes. I knew it was quiet. I figured he wouldn’t be found. I gave Dad a map.’

Jessica was appalled at the cowardice of the man slumped in front of her. Not only had he killed Isaac because of the boy’s rejection, he didn’t even have the guts to do anything with the body.

She didn’t know if she felt sorry for Benjamin. Fourteen years ago, he had done something terrible. In this instance, he was trying to help out a son that wasn’t his. The call to Nathan Bairstow must have been made in a panic because Toby had told him that Isaac was dead. There were still bits and pieces someone would have to get out of him but whoever interviewed him at the station, it wouldn’t be her.

‘Get up,’ she commanded. Stung by her aggression, Toby climbed to his feet. He almost seemed to have shrunk in size since first walking into the room. ‘We’re going to drive you to the station now,’ Jessica said. ‘You’re going to walk inside and you’re going to confess to everything you’ve just told me. You’re not going to mention the text message that brought you here and you’re not going to mention this meeting. One word and I’ll be around Deborah’s house with a warrant. Is that clear?’

Toby nodded limply.

Jessica banged on the side of the shed, which was the signal for Rowlands to remove the padlock. She felt sorry for the poor guy, who had been waiting outside for the whole time, first hiding out of sight until Toby was in the room and then waiting by the door just in case.

Jessica reached out and touched Annabel on the shoulder. ‘Do you want to say anything?’ she asked the woman.

Annabel shook her head and looked away. ‘They should bring back hanging,’ she said with a tearful snarl.