Murder Unexpected Read online

  Tessa strolled casually back towards where she had left her car and saw that Malcolm was with Hannah and being looked after. She was thankful that he hadn’t argued, just seemed to pick up on the gravity of what she was saying. If he had been a younger man, the outcome could have been so different.

  She sat in her car and rang Ray, firstly thanking him for the precise details he had given her for the river bank walk.

  ‘You’re welcome, boss. That chap’s being looked after now, so we’re good to go.’

  ‘Not till I’ve put my bloody hair back up into a bun,’ she growled.

  ‘Leon Rowe, this is DI Marsden.’ Her voice carried at many decibels across the broken concrete of the garage forecourt. ‘Please come out with your hands raised, and lie down on the floor.’

  She kept the megaphone at her lips and waited. The firearms officers were strategically placed outside the surrounding wall, with three officers in almost the same place that Malcolm had been in half an hour earlier. If Leon chose to run instead of following her instructions, he would either be spending the night in a cell, or on a slab in the mortuary. Tessa hoped it would be the first alternative.

  She spoke again. ‘Leon, come out now. Don’t make us come in to get you.’

  Her voice echoed across to the derelict tumbledown structure, and still there was no reaction. She turned to the navy-blue clad figure behind her and shrugged.

  He spoke into his shoulder radio. ‘Okay. We’re moving in.’ In the split second that he spoke the last word, the boarded up front door was blasted open by gunfire from the inside. Guns were immediately trained on it and Tessa held her breath.

  Forcing herself to breathe slowly, she raised the megaphone to her lips. ‘Leon Rowe, throw your gun out first to one side of the door so that we can see it, then exit the property with your hands raised.’

  Leon stood just inside the door and to one side. What happened next would be on his terms, not bloody Marsden’s; he would regret not knowing about his child, regret losing Kat, regret…

  He stepped outside, spraying the area with bullets. One shot to the head stopped him.

  Chapter 14

  Kat was hurting so badly. Her mother cradled her in her arms, wanting to take the pain away; she knew how deeply her daughter had loved this evil man, but most of all she knew Kat’s Christian beliefs would never have let her give up completely on her husband.

  And now he was gone.

  DI Marsden had delivered the information before it appeared on News at Ten, and Kat had held it together, even thanking Marsden for letting them know. Mouse had escorted the DI to the door, then returned to find Doris physically supporting Kat as she went into meltdown.

  Mouse immediately rang Enid and Victor, who had arrived wearing pyjamas. They had been settled for the night, and about to head off to bed. Now they were wondering what the hell to do with their devastated daughter, how to comfort her, to let her see there could be a future without Leon Rowe in it.

  Kat eventually stopped the sobs, and following Mouse’s insistence that she take a couple of paracetamol, she finally drifted off to sleep on the sofa. Enid placed a blanket over her and kissed her forehead.

  ‘What shall we do about Martha?’ Enid asked her husband. ‘Shall we take her back with us?’

  Victor shook his head. ‘No. Martha will save her. Kat will be strong for that little one.’

  ‘Don’t worry about the baby,’ Mouse said. ‘I’ll take the crib into my room for tonight, we’ll let Kat sleep downstairs as she appears to be zoned out completely.’

  Enid smiled. ‘Thank you, Mouse, I’m sure you’re right. But if you need us, you ring. We’re only ten minutes away.’

  Doris and Mouse escorted them to their car, and watched until they could no longer see their tail lights.

  ‘Shitty night,’ Mouse remarked.

  ‘Awful,’ Doris agreed, ‘and merits a bit of bad language, I reckon.’

  Mouse stared out of the bedroom window, shocked to realise that the police car that had been so visible for quite a while wasn’t there.

  No longer needed. The evil that had blighted their lives for so long was gone, and it was as if a dark cloud of lethal gases had evaporated, leaving everything in the world that was good in its place.

  Baby Martha would one day have to be told about her father, but she would never have to be influenced by him, by the fact that he existed still.

  Leon Rowe was dead.

  Mouse punched the air in a silent hallelujah, knowing she could never let Kat see how she felt about his death. She guessed all the partners, wives, mothers, children of Rowe’s other victims would all be punching the air over the following days and weeks.

  Kat woke around six, and the feeling of dread was instant. It was over; the worry had gone, eliminated by a single bullet and without injury to any of the police officers present, but the day, despite the early morning sunshine, felt grey.

  She wandered into the kitchen and switched on the kettle.

  Five minutes later she was on the patio, clutching a mug of tea, all too aware that their police guards had disappeared. It was good not to have to be alert for every tiny movement, and her logical brain hoped that Bibi McLoughlin would experience closure of a sort for Danny’s death.

  It felt as though her future for a while would be all about decisions, but for now she would enjoy the peace of the morning, followed by a different sort of peace when she put Martha into her pram for the short walk down to church. She needed prayers, silence and a little solitude.

  ‘Hey, you feeling a bit better?’

  Kat turned her head and smiled at Mouse, cradling Martha in her arms.

  ‘She’s been fed, you want her?’

  ‘Always,’ Kat said, and reached to take the baby. ‘We’re going to church later. I need to.’

  Mouse nodded. ‘I know. Nan and I will head down to the office for a while, keep out of your hair while you come to terms with things. Ring us if you need us.’

  ‘You’ll tell me whatever I need to know later?’

  ‘We will, but seriously, Kat, I think you need some time out. You’ve only just given birth, and maternity leave is there for a reason, you know. And then there was last night’s news…’

  ‘Martha and I can still work.’

  At the stubbornness in Kat’s voice, Mouse gave a brief nod.

  ‘Okay, I give in. I’m going to take some time today to put together the letter that we need to send to Pamela Bird. I’ll make sure you say yes or no to it before we post it. I’ll send it recorded, and for her signature only, so that we know she’s got it, and then we’ll wait for her to contact us. Sound like a plan?’

  ‘It does. We need to move with this now, because I feel there’s so much more to this than when we first picked up the job. The first thing that Pamela Bird is going to ask us is are there any children. Did my son provide me with grandchildren? We have to be prepared to be honest with that, but that means breaking a confidence that Keeley trusted you to keep.’

  Mouse gave a huge sigh and looked at her colleague. ‘You want a bacon sandwich?’

  ‘Yes, please.’

  Mouse grinned. ‘You said that, Kat, without moving your lips.’ She turned around and saw her nan, already dressed for the day. ‘That’ll be three bacon sandwiches then, unless Martha wants one as well.’

  By half past nine, Doris and Mouse had left for Connection, unable to rid themselves of the uneasy feeling that had been part of their lives for quite some time; knowing Leon was dead didn’t seem to be helping.

  It did, however, feel good to be going back into the office, and Doris immediately went to work on the report of the wayward daughter who seemingly hadn’t cared that she could be easily followed, proving to her parents that she was indeed wayward.

  Mouse composed the letter to Pamela Bird, asking her to contact them as they had information on the child she had put up for adoption. Mouse didn’t feel comfortable writing it; there was half a chance this woman wouldn
’t want to know anything about Tom.

  Mouse deliberately kept the letter brief, printed it off for Doris to digest, and rang Kat, reading it to her over the phone.

  ‘That sounds good to me,’ Kat said. ‘Not too much, but enough hopefully for her to want to speak to us. Send it if Nan agrees. We need to get this sorted before I have to take some time to solve the problem of Leon.’

  ‘And after I’ve posted it I’m going to pop over to Hope, and see if I can weasel anything out of Judy that we don’t already know. She needs to be aware that the letter to the birth mother has gone. After, I’ll nip up to Alice Small’s house and borrow the silver cross and chain. If we do get to meet Mrs Bird, it will be the first thing we ask her. If she does say that she left one with him, I’d like to be able to show it to her. Alice did say she would make it available to us should we ever need it.’

  ‘Good idea. I’m going to walk down to church now, let everybody admire this beautiful child I have produced, then I’ll pop into the shop afterwards, catch up on whatever you managed to do. Okay?’

  ‘You’re on maternity leave…’

  Mouse heard Kat laugh as she put down the receiver.

  Kat fed and changed Martha, and laid her in her pram ready for walking down through the village. She then topped up the baby bag with nappies and a bottle of baby milk, fastened it to the pram and wheeled it towards the front door.

  She opened it to be faced with Tessa Marsden, her hand travelling towards the doorbell.

  Kat felt the blood drain from her face. ‘God, you scared me.’

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Marsden apologised. ‘I took a chance you’d be in. I’m heading back from the crime scene, and thought I would fill you in on the bits I’m allowed to tell you.’

  ‘Come in. You want a drink? I’ll pop Martha in the lounge, and we can go through to the kitchen.’

  Marsden walked through and clicked on the kettle. It briefly occurred to her how familiar she had become with this particular kitchen, and with the three occupants currently living here.

  She turned around as Kat came through. ‘Sit down,’ she said. ‘I’ll wait on you for a change. You’re doing okay after the birth?’

  Kat smiled. ‘So-so, but don’t you dare say anything to Nan and Mouse. I’m a little bit sore, and my breasts feel like balloons because I’m bottle feeding, but I know in a week all that will have passed. Apart from those little niggles, I’m good, and loving being a mum.’

  ‘Good. And no more worries about Leon causing problems.’ Tessa watched Kat’s face carefully. The smile disappeared. She handed Kat her mug of coffee, then carried her own to the table. They wrapped their hands around the drinks, as if the action gave them comfort.

  ‘I don’t know how to feel,’ Kat said quietly.

  Tessa held Kat’s hand briefly. She fished in her briefcase and took out an evidence bag.

  Kat took it from her, and looked at the piece of paper inside it.

  Tell Kat I will always love her

  Kat lifted her head and stared at Tessa. ‘Oh my God…’

  ‘I wanted you to see it. We’re obviously signing it into the evidence we’ve collected from the garage, but I think he knew he wasn’t going to survive. He would have never left prison, and I guess he chose suicide by cop rather than face that. He exited that building shooting, and we had no choice but to fire back. I guess he wrote that note as soon as he heard me on that megaphone. He would have known his time had run out.’

  ‘Oh, Leon…’ Kat whispered, and wiped away the tear that escaped.

  They sat for a couple of minutes, sipping at their drinks, Tessa waiting for Kat to regain control, and Kat allowing her emotions to flood her.

  Eventually Kat found words. ‘I’m grateful for you showing me this. I know it seems odd, but it has given me some comfort.’

  Tessa picked up both of the mugs and carried them to the sink. ‘Thank you for the drink, Kat. There’s just one more puzzling thing. We found some unlabelled antibiotics, so we’re assuming he got them from his pharmacy. He had a badly infected stump where his left hand used to be.’

  Kat remained calm. ‘I’m pretty sure he had a left hand when he hit me with it that last night in the bedroom.’

  Tessa fixed her eyes on her, then nodded. ‘So you don’t know what happened to blow that hand off his arm? No stray bullets from anywhere?’

  ‘Oh, come on, you think I know how to fire a gun? Remember Leon had one or two people he had upset who definitely knew how to fire a gun.’

  Tessa waited for a moment. ‘That’s what I put in my report. I am sorry for your loss, Kat. I did actually want to take Leon Rowe alive, but he was never going to let that happen. You need to put him out of your life, and start a new one.’

  She walked towards the front door. ‘Bye, Kat. Let’s hope we don’t have any more bodies linked to you, Nan and Mouse,’ she said with a slight laugh.

  ‘There definitely won’t be,’ Kat said fervently. ‘Bye, Tessa, and thank you for showing me that. It’s helped.’ She closed the door and leaned her head against it; her sorrow washed over her. So many deaths that could be attributed to Leon, and yet she couldn’t help but ache for the man she had known and loved.

  Chapter 15

  Martha obligingly slept while Kat spent almost half an hour deep in prayer. Her colleagues at the church allowed her the time, recognising the depth of angst she must be feeling; news had very quickly spread of the manner of Leon’s death.

  She finally stood and walked to the front, lighting a candle for Leon. Then she turned and pushed Martha in the direction of the small church coffee shop. She lost count of the number of hugs she received, and after finishing her glass of water, she left to go into the churchyard. She went to all the graves that were there as a result of Leon’s activities, and saw the newly opened one ready to receive Danny McLoughlin.

  She stayed longest at Craig Adams’s graveside. As far as she knew, he was Leon’s first victim, and her prayers were for eternal rest for the young man. At twenty-two he had had everything to live for, and for the sake of a missing two hundred pounds his life had been snuffed out by Leon, accompanied by Brian King. Kat removed the small bunch of roses from underneath the pram and laid them gently on Craig’s grave before walking away.

  It was only a short journey back to Connection, and Doris was its only occupant. Mouse had left to visit Judy and Alice, and came bustling through the door five minutes after Kat’s arrival.

  She went straight to the phone, and winked at Doris and Kat.

  ‘Hi, Judy,’ she said. ‘It’s Beth Walters. I’m so sorry, but I’ve accidentally picked up your phone. It looks exactly the same as mine, so I gathered it up when I left. I’ve just tried to use it, and guess what! My contacts aren’t in your phone,’ she said with a laugh.

  There was silence for a minute and then she said, ‘No, I’ll bring it back straight away. It’s my stupid mistake, I hadn’t even had my phone out in your lounge. We both have black covers on iPhones, I assumed it was mine. On the plus side, you haven’t missed any calls, although if you had I could possibly have turned around while I was out and returned it to you. Don’t worry, I’ll be there in half an hour.’

  She put down the receiver and grinned. ‘Couldn’t miss the opportunity,’ she said to Kat and Doris. Mouse took the phone out of her bag, and opened up the photos app. She scrolled back through around twelve pictures then hit pay dirt.

  ‘I knew it,’ she breathed. ‘Every document we got from Alice Small is captured on here. She saw them before Tom gave them to Alice for safe-keeping away from his wife.’

  Mouse quickly sent them via Messenger to her own phone, then deleted evidence of the action on Judy’s phone. ‘She has no security, no passcode, no fingerprint technology on this phone,’ she remarked thoughtfully. ‘What about you, Kat?’

  Kat looked guilty. ‘I promise I’ll do it right now,’ she said.

  Five minutes later she was on her way back to Hope, picking up a bunch of f
lowers on the way to say sorry for being so stupid.

  Kat was feeding Martha when Mouse reappeared. ‘She didn’t suspect a thing, thanked me for returning it so quickly, and for the bunch of the flowers I took as a sweetener. I promised her we’d be in touch as soon as we heard back from the birth mother, and she nodded.’

  ‘You’ve posted the letter to Mrs Bird?’ Kat asked, sitting Martha upright. The baby obliged with a very loud burp.

  ‘I have, sent it first class so hopefully she’ll contact us tomorrow. I think two of us should go to see her, so I suggest Nan goes with me, and if you don’t mind, Kat, you and Martha can be in the office while we’re out. Now Leon’s not here as a threat, we need to be manning this place all the time. I wouldn’t mind betting we’ve lost business during the last few weeks because we haven’t been here.’

  ‘He left me a note,’ Kat said quietly, still holding Martha upright.

  ‘A note?’ Surprise was written on Mouse’s face.

  ‘It said Tell Kat I will always love her.’

  ‘Oh my God, Kat.’ Mouse moved towards Kat and put her arms around her. ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Marsden arrived as I was heading out to go to church. She brought it to show me, but it’s now logged into evidence.’ She dragged in air. ‘Something else she mentioned was the lack of a left hand. I told her he definitely had a left hand when he hit me with it the night he walked out. She seemed to accept that. Sometimes it’s good to act the dumb blonde. And it wasn’t a lie.’

  The gentle tones of Doris cut into the conversation. ‘And how do you feel, Kat?’

  ‘Anger, more than anything, Nan. After Marsden left, I walked down to the church, had half an hour of prayer and me time, then went to the coffee shop in the back of the church. Martha collected lots of money because everybody wanted to press pound coins into her hand. Some sort of custom to do with newborns that you see for the first time. I kept putting them in the baby bag, no idea how much she has to open her bank account, but she could be a millionaire by the time she’s two. We came out of there and walked around to Craig Adams’s grave, and that’s where the anger really bubbled out of me. I talked to him, prayed for him, placed some roses on his headstone and promised there would never ever be any flowers for Leon.’