Читать книгу The Triumph of Katie Byrne - Barbara Taylor Bradford - Страница 15

The only thing Michael Byrne saw when he went into the barn was Katie’s face. Everything else was a blur. His daughter looked pale and drawn, and her eyes held a haunted look. Her appearance made him draw in his breath, and as he stepped forward he noticed how taut she was in the chair, her tenseness and anxiety obvious. He hurried to her, concerned.

When Katie saw her father with Mac MacDonald her face changed and her blue eyes lit up. Instantly she leapt to her feet and ran across to him.

Michael held her close, his arms wound tightly around her, as if never to let her go. How could he let her go? How could he let her out of his sight ever again? The world out there was full of maniacs and criminals, and she was a sweet, innocent girl who was unprotected and defenceless when she was alone.

He looked at Niall, who was walking towards him. Michael’s relief that he had both of his children in his sight was reflected in his green eyes, so like Niall’s.

Draping an arm around Niall, Michael pulled his son closer, drew him into the circle of his embrace with Katie, and the three of them clung together without saying a word. Finally they broke away from each other and stood huddled together, looking at the detectives in the barn.

Mac spoke first: ‘Thanks, Katie, and thanks to you too, Niall. You’ve both been very helpful.’

‘What happens next?’ Niall asked, his eyes on the commander.

‘We keep going with the investigation, with the gathering of evidence. We’ve got police everywhere, scouring the area, looking for anyone who might be behaving in a suspicious way. We’ve even put up some roadblocks for the same reason,’ Mac explained. ‘And early tomorrow morning we’ll be back here checking every inch of the terrain again. After you leave, we’ll be blocking off this whole area and posting guards to protect the crime scene.’

‘Denise was strangled, wasn’t she?’ Katie spoke softly and her shaking voice betrayed her raw emotions.

Mac nodded, his eyes softening briefly as he looked at the girl. ‘We’ll know more about her death tomorrow, once I’ve spoken to Doctor Marsh, the Medical Examiner. And I’ll also have the reports from the forensics techs who were here. Every bit of evidence, however small, will help us to solve this crime, and find Denise’s killer, Katie.’

Katie nodded and exhaled. A deep sigh of sorrow and anguish rippled through her, and although she tried hard to be totally controlled, her eyes filled with tears as she thought of Denise and Carly. She leaned against her father, striving to get a hold of herself, wanting to be strong and brave.

Niall said to Mac, ‘Can we take Katie’s school bag with us when we leave, Lieutenant?’

Mac MacDonald answered, ‘Of course you can,’ and then he looked across at Dave Groome. ‘I’m presuming that’s okay, Dave. The techs have taken fingerprints?’

‘Sure have, Mac. From all the school bags. And we’ve finished with Katie’s.’ As the detective spoke he lifted her bag full of books off the table and took it to her, gave her a friendly nod as he handed it over.

‘Thanks,’ Katie murmured and glanced at the bag she was holding, and frowned. ‘I’ve just remembered something,’ she began and then paused.

Dave Groome stared at her. He trusted this girl, was prepared to listen to anything she had to say. He had taken her statement earlier, and he had been impressed with the way she had handled herself. She had been calm and very precise in the details she had given him; she was an articulate, intelligent young woman, and he felt a certain admiration for her. ‘What is it, Katie? What’ve you remembered?’ Dave probed.

Katie shook her head, still frowning, and taking a deep breath, she murmured, ‘Well, it might not be anything really, but –’ She stopped and stared across at the far wall where a row of hooks had been hammered into place for their coats. The two coats which had hung there previously had now been taken away by the police, and all the hooks were empty. A lump came into her throat, and tears welled.

After a split second, she went on in as steady a voice as she could muster, ‘It’s about my bag of books, Detective Groome. At home, earlier, when I realized I’d left the bag behind, I tried to think where I’d put it in the barn. I just couldn’t remember. Then later, when Niall and I arrived, I saw my bag immediately. It was over there, against that wall, with Denise’s bag and Carly’s, all three standing on the floor underneath their coats. Except there was no coat above mine, since I was wearing it. The bags were neatly placed, and I thought, oh, three bags in a row, like that old nursery rhyme…three pretty maids all in a row. Then I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t put it there, I’d thrown it down in the dressing area behind the curtain.’ She indicated the curtain in the corner, and finished, ‘And I couldn’t help thinking…how odd. Who moved my bag? And who arranged all three of them like that, in such a neat row?’

‘Do you think the assailant took your bag and put it with Carly’s and Denise’s? Is that what you’re saying, Katie?’ Dave asked.

Katie nodded. ‘Yes, I am. Who else would have done that?’

Dave looked at her thoughtfully, and after a moment said, ‘Perhaps one of the girls arranged the bags that way.’

Katie shook her head most emphatically. ‘I don’t believe so, Detective Groome. They never saw my bag after we arrived at the barn. You see, I was the only one who changed into a costume this afternoon, because I was the only one rehearsing. So they were never in the dressing area.’

‘Couldn’t they have noticed you didn’t have your bag of books with you when you left?’ he pressed.

Katie explained, ‘They were too busy to notice anything, they were concentrating on their parts, and anyway I rushed out, I was in a hurry. No, no, they didn’t notice, I’m sure of that.’

There was a silence.

Mac broke it when he said, ‘Sorry, Katie. I’m afraid we’ll have to keep your bag after all. The killer may or may not have handled it. We’ll have to have it checked by the lab for trace evidence to be sure. If it’s clean you can have it back.’

Katie nodded and gave him the bag. ‘Have you heard anything about Carly, Lieutenant? Since she got to the hospital?’

‘She’s still unconscious, but she’s stable,’ Mac answered. ‘And she’s in good hands at New Milford Hospital.’

‘Will I be able to go and see her tomorrow?’ Katie asked.

‘Hopefully you will, yes.’

‘Thanks, Mac,’ Michael said briskly, cutting in, wanting to get his children home. He edged Katie and Niall towards the door, and added, ‘Let’s get going, kids.’

Mac followed them to the door of the barn. He put his hand on Michael’s shoulder. ‘We’ll solve this, Mike, I’m certain of that. And let’s stay in touch.’

Once they were alone, Mac sat down on one of the chairs, leaned back and closed his eyes, concentrating his thoughts on the murder. And the events that most likely preceded it. What he needed was evidence; he also needed to talk to the two detectives who were here on the scene with him, and get their input.

Finally he sat up, and looked across at Charlie Graham. ‘So what did you find up there by the rhododendron bushes, Charlie?’

‘A couple of things, Mac. I had the techs bag a cigarette butt we’d spotted, and they also took away a bag of heavily trampled leaves. Some of the leaves were wet, probably with urine, we decided. It was a man up there, not a deer. Most likely the attacker.’

Mac nodded, and asked, ‘What about the undergrowth and the brush at the end of the wood where the body was found? I’m assuming there were signs that someone had been there. Loitering. Or hiding.’

‘That’s right. The techs took away trace samples, as well as leaves and grass,’ Charlie answered. ‘It’s my feeling the perp was still in the vicinity when Katie and Niall arrived and began to call the girls’ names.’

‘They saved Carly Smith’s life,’ Dave Groome asserted, walking over to join Mac and Charlie at the table. He sat down and went on, ‘The perp was probably about to finish Carly off with additional blows to the head, when Katie and Niall showed up. She might easily have ended up dead like Denise Matthews.’

Mac nodded in agreement, turning cold inside when he thought about the dead girl and the fiend who had raped and killed her. Had he planned to do the same to Carly and been interrupted? Or had he simply wanted Carly dead? Shifting his weight in the chair, Mac thought out loud when he said, ‘He wouldn’t want a witness, would he? Someone who could identify him…as Carly could, and will, when she regains consciousness.’

‘That’s true,’ Dave agreed, and looked off into the distance, frowning.

Mac said, ‘I guess Keith and Andy aren’t back yet.’

Charlie shook his head. ‘It was a pretty tough mission you sent them on, Mac, going to see Denise’s parents and Carly’s mother. Keith radioed in a short while ago. They’ve taken Mrs Smith to the hospital in New Milford so she can be with her daughter. They’re probably on their way back here already.’

There was a moment or two of silence; none of them spoke. All three men were lost in their thoughts, worried and concerned about the crime and solving it. Finally it was Dave who said in a quiet voice, ‘What do you think happened here this afternoon, Mac?’

‘Somebody was stalking the girls, in my opinion, hiding up there in the rhododendron bushes. Once Katie had left, whom I’m sure he saw, by the way, he came down the hill, and went into the barn. Some kind of altercation took place. The girls ran out frightened, and headed straight into the wood. He chased them, attacked them both, then he raped Denise, and strangled her.’

‘What did the doc say?’ Charlie asked.

‘That it was a violent attack by an angry man. We’ll know more tomorrow, after the autopsy’s done.’ Mac rubbed his chin thoughtfully with his hand, and looking from Dave to Charlie, he said, ‘No weapon was found at the scene, which means that the perp took it away with him.’

‘It could have been a piece of wood, a stone, something handy he found there,’ Charlie suggested.

‘Or he brought some kind of club with him,’ Mac said.

‘That’s true,’ Dave agreed, and continued, ‘We’d better come up with a profile of this guy real fast. Was he after all three girls? Or only Denise? Was he a local? Or a stranger passing through? A serial killer on the loose? Who the hell is he? And where is he now?’

‘I wish I could answer all your questions, Dave, then we’d be in clover. But I can’t. Not yet. However, there is one thing…in my considered opinion, it’s a local,’ Mac replied. ‘Maybe not from Malvern or any of the towns close by, but he’s from this area.’

‘What makes you rule out a stranger, Mac? The idea of a drifter wandering around doesn’t grab you?’

Mac shook his head slowly. ‘No, Dave, it doesn’t.’

Charlie said, ‘Three pretty maids in a row…that’s what Katie said.’

‘What do you make of the school bags being lined up the way they were, Mac?’ Dave cut in, and rose, walked over to the window, glanced out, then turned back to face Mac. ‘Weird, eh?’

Mac lifted his hands in a futile gesture. ‘I don’t know what it means, if anything.’

Dave said, ‘I kinda trust Katie’s judgement. If she says her friends wouldn’t have done that, then I tend to go along with her. Look, maybe the perp came back to the barn to check it out, to remove any evidence he’d left behind. Then he spotted the bags, lined them up.’

‘But why?’ Mac said.

Dave shrugged. ‘Who knows? A message of some kind, if he’s a whacko?’ The detective sat down heavily in a chair as a thought struck him. He said, worriedly, ‘Could Katie be in danger?’

‘No, I’m sure not,’ Mac answered confidently, then wondered if she could be. ‘We’ll know more when we get the lab report on the bag.’ After a moment he added, ‘The perp wouldn’t stick his neck out, draw attention to himself. He’s lying low, he probably thinks he’s gotten away with murder.’

‘Has he?’ Charlie asked, looking unhappy.

‘No, he hasn’t,’ Mac stated in a strong voice. He pushed himself to his feet and began to pace up and down. ‘Tomorrow, first thing, we’ll start a background check, talk to Denise’s school friends, her known associates, and especially her boyfriends –’

‘According to Katie, Denise didn’t have any boyfriends, ’ Dave interjected. ‘Except for her brother Niall, who dated Denise last year. Niall says it never went anywhere, never became a romance. I’m sure he’s telling the truth. And by the way, he accounted for his whereabouts today.’

‘So he has an alibi?’ Mac asked.

Dave nodded. ‘Oh yes. He finished work in Roxbury at about four-twenty, or thereabouts. He’s working on a remodelling job over there. He then went to the hardware store in Washington Depot, where he purchased a special hook for a picture. Then he drove to Marbledale, where he met a pal at the pub. They had Cokes and a packet of crisps. He says he left the pub at about five-forty and drove home to Malvern, arriving there a couple of minutes after six. Apparently he turned around and drove Katie back to the barn only a few minutes after he’d arrived.’

‘So Niall’s not under suspicion. I’m glad to hear that,’ Mac muttered, almost to himself.

‘Even if the perp is from around here, he could be someone Denise didn’t actually know,’ Dave pointed out.

‘Yes, that’s true,’ Mac agreed, and went on, ‘Let’s go outside and see what’s happening. Then we should get back to base. I’d like to go over whatever evidence there is available. We must make the most of the golden hours left to us.’

Dave and Charlie followed Mac across the barn, and Dave said, in a low undertone, ‘This looks as if it’s going to be a tough case. Let’s pray for a few breaks.’