Imperfect Killing Page 9

  ‘She used me,’ Stokes hissed. ‘Humiliated me, like she did the others before me. She used people like toys.’

  ‘So you killed her,’ Sean insisted. ‘Bit by bit your plan came together – the clothes in the prop store, the revolver from the same, even a way in and out of the building leading into the car park. Everything looked so perfect. All you had to do was fashion a homemade bullet and attach it to a blank-firing cartridge, probably one you’d increased the charge in by adding more gun powder from other cartridges, making it so powerful it almost blew the gun up.’

  ‘She wouldn’t speak to me,’ Stokes shook his head. ‘Could barely even look at me.’

  ‘All of which drove you forward until you thought you had the perfect plan,’ Sean told him.

  ‘I wasn’t the only one she trampled over,’ Stokes replied. ‘I wasn’t the only one who wanted her …’

  ‘Dead,’ Sean finished for him. ‘I doubt that. Not many people are like you, Oscar. They get over things, move on, but not you. Tell me – what did she say to you just before you pulled the trigger?’

  Stokes closed his eyes and cleared his constricting throat. ‘No comment.’

  ‘Did she beg you not to do it?’ he asked, studying Stokes’ reaction before answering his own question. ‘No. Not that. Something else.’ He thought for a few seconds before asking again. ‘Did she say your name?’ Stokes’ eyes flashed open reflecting the horror of what he’d done, the finality of his act – for both the victim and himself. ‘She did, didn’t she? She said your name.’ He saw in Stokes’ eyes that more than anything else he wished he could undo what could not be undone – and he knew. ‘You weren’t going to go through with it were you?’ he told him. ‘Face to face with her you couldn’t do it. But she said your name and you knew she knew. How could you have let her live once she knew? You couldn’t, could you? My God – if only she hadn’t said your name.’

  ‘I think that’s enough for now,’ Ashley-Smith stepped in. ‘My client’s very tired and these questions are barely questions at all. More like calculated guesses and loose observations. They prove nothing. Next time you interview Mr Stokes I expect to see some actual evidence.’

  ‘We’ll see,’ Sean told her, ‘but for now I have enough. This interview is concluded.’ He stretched out a hand and turned the recording off. ‘We’ll leave you alone to have a consultation,’ he told them, gathering his exhibits and notes, rising to leave before Stokes stopped him.

  ‘It wasn’t my name,’ he said. ‘She didn’t say my name.’

  ‘What then? Sean asked.

  ‘She said “you”,’ he answered. ‘She just said “you”.’

  ***

  Sean stood in the yard at Southwark Police Station, leaning on the wall outside the custody block, watching the marked cars come and go. The occasional one screamed out with lights spinning and sirens wailing, then disappeared into the heavy traffic of Borough High Street that lay on the other side of the barrier. He was deep in thought as he sipped coffee from a polystyrene cup, trying to comprehend just how close Sue Evans had been to still being alive. Maybe if she’d just said nothing she would be. Benton’s voice broke his concentration as he came walking down the ramp.

  ‘He’s back in his cell,’ he told Sean. ‘Not looking too happy either.’

  ‘Good,’ Sean answered distantly.

  ‘Reckon he’ll go down for it?’ Benton asked.

  Sean shrugged. ‘Being in possession of the bag with the gun and clothes in is going to be hard to explain away, but we still need forensics to remove any doubt. Match the gun to the bullet that killed her, find some firearms residue on him and he’ll go down.’

  There was silence between them for a few seconds before Benton spoke. ‘You really messed with his head in there,’ he said. ‘I thought he was going to spill his guts and confess everything.’

  ‘I think he wanted to,’ Sean replied. ‘Maybe sooner or later he will. Now the jealousy and anger’s gone, Stokes doesn’t strike me as the sort who can live with the guilt.’

  ‘All the same,’ Benton continued, ‘you really did a job on him. I mean, how did you know she’d said his name or recognized him or whatever? How did you know it was him in the first place, just from watching the videos? And how did you work out he took the stuff from the props room and that it would still be there and …’

  ‘It was all there to be seen,’ Sean stopped him. ‘People just didn’t want to look.’

  ‘I’m not so sure,’ Benton shook his head. ‘I don’t think it was just a case of looking.’

  ‘Then let’s just say I used a little more imagination than most,’ Sean answered in a tone that let Benton know he wouldn’t discuss the matter further.

  ‘Still,’ Benton moved on, ‘he almost got away with it. Almost committed the perfect murder.’

  ‘It was never going to be the perfect murder,’ Sean told him.

  ‘How so?’ Benton asked.

  ‘Because he had a motive,’ Sean explained. ‘Jealousy. And it was always going to lead us to him. Who knows, maybe one day there’ll be a killer who’s as intelligent as Stokes – as cunning and strategic as he is, but who kills without motive. Who kills for killing’s sake. If we ever come across someone like that, he’s going to be damn difficult to catch. Almost impossible to stop.’

  ‘Better hope he doesn’t exist then,’ Benton smiled.

  ‘Yeah,’ Sean agreed. ‘Best we hope he doesn’t.’

  If you’re a DI Sean Corrigan fan, try the first in the series:

  A KILLER WHO’LL NEVER STOP.

  A DETECTIVE WHO’LL NEVER GIVE UP.

  Click here to buy Cold Killing

  If you’re a DI Sean Corrigan fan, try the second in the series:

  HE’S GOING TO SAVE HER.

  WHETHER SHE LIKES IT OR NOT.

  Click here to buy The Keeper

  If you’re a DI Sean Corrigan fan, try the third in the series:

  HE SEES YOU WHEN YOU’RE SLEEPING.

  Click here to buy The Toy Taker

  If you’re a DI Sean Corrigan fan, read the fourth in the series:

  THE CRIME IS TREACHERY. THE SENTENCE IS DEATH.

  Click here to buy The Jackdaw

  About the Author

  Luke Delaney joined the Metropolitan Police Service in the late 1980s and his first posting was to an inner city area of South East London notorious for high levels of crime and extreme violence. He later joined CID where he investigated murders ranging from those committed by fledgling serial killers to gangland assassinations.

  Find Luke on Facebook: /LukeDelaneyOfficial

  Follow Luke on Twitter: @lukedelaneyuk

  www.lukedelaney.com

  Also by Luke Delaney

  Cold Killing

  The Keeper

  The Toy Taker

  The Jackdaw

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