When the Evil Waits by M Lee (top fiction books of all time txt) 📕

‘I’ll need it for my interview with Claire Trent at five thirty.’

‘You want me to be in the meeting?’ asked Emily.

Ridpath shook his head. ‘Best if I handle this one alone. If Turnbull is there it could get nasty.’

‘Do we have enough to prove Michael Carsley is innocent?’

‘I think so. We know David went with his brother to the park and then he vanished. My theory was he got bored waiting for his brother and decided to walk home. He was picked up by the man in the white car outside the ATM. Michael Carsley doesn’t have a car and can’t even drive so that rules him out.’

‘It had to be somebody David knew,’ said Chrissy.

‘Not necessarily. He was young and maybe he was starting to panic and felt lost. An adult stops and says he’ll drive you home. What do you do?’

‘You get in the car…’ said Emily.

‘At least, we know now why they left Scotland. I’ll get onto Glasgow and find out everything about Irene Carsley.’ Chrissy adjusted the City scarf around her neck. ‘Poor woman, what made her hit her kids?’

‘See if you can find out, it might help convince Claire Trent.’

‘When are we going to tell Daniel his dad’s going to be charged? I promised I would tell Ruby as soon as I knew anything. Well, I know something and we haven’t told him.’

‘He’s in no state to hear that news now.’

‘I agree, Ridpath, but can you imagine the state he’ll be in when he finds out? Besides, I gave my word.’

‘I agree, he must be told. Let me talk with Claire Trent, maybe I can convince her and Turnbull to release Michael Carsley.’

‘And if you can’t?’

‘I’ll come back here and tell him. He has to find out this evening. I’m sure it will be plastered across the newspapers tomorrow morning.’

‘It may be on the evening news…’

‘I’ll take that chance.’ Ridpath stood up. ‘I’m going back to HQ, do you want a lift?’

They both nodded.

‘Ridpath…’

‘Yes, Chrissy.’

‘I don’t want to do this again.’

‘Do what?’

‘Be present at an interview. I just want to do my work in the office. In fact, I don’t ever want to leave there again.’ She paused for a moment, regarding both Emily and Ridpath. ‘I don’t know how you do what you do. It’s like you are…’ She searched for the words, ‘…vultures feeding on carrion. No disrespect meant.’

‘None taken, Chrissy.’

‘The interview made me feel dirty. How do you sleep at night?’

‘With difficulty, sometimes, Chrissy. I take a long hot bath to wash away the sins of the day,’ answered Emily.

‘And you, Ridpath?’

Ridpath stood there, eventually answering, ‘I don’t.’

Chapter 66

Claire Trent was waiting for Ridpath in her office. Paul Turnbull wasn’t there.

‘Where is he?’

‘I thought it better that he stayed away until I heard your new evidence. He’s convinced that Michael Carsley is guilty; no alibi, the domestic abuse of his wife and kids, and there is another reason why he was finally arrested this afternoon. Turnbull got a warrant to search the house, finding the underpants David was supposed to be wearing hidden in the bedroom.’

‘What was Carsley’s answer?’

‘He said David must have changed them before he went out.’

‘Why would he do that?’

‘Exactly Turnbull’s response. So what’s your evidence, Ridpath? It had better be bloody good.’

He had spent a long time on the drive back to HQ thinking about the sequence of events and how best to present the evidence to Claire Trent. His theory that the boy had decided to walk home on his own was only that, a theory. But it did explain the video footage and the timeline.

He decided to show Daniel’s interview footage first to give a better context for everything else.

‘You’ve just shot this?’

‘We concluded the interview not long ago, at slightly before five p.m.’

‘Get on with it, then.’

Claire Trent sat through Daniel’s interview, not a glimmer of emotion appearing on her face. ‘So you only got two things from Daniel; he’d arranged to meet the boys in the park and he didn’t go back to check on his brother.’

‘It means we have to discount the story of the man in the playground. He made it up.’

Claire Trent’s mouth soured as she thought of all the newspaper articles and wanted posters adorning lampposts, shops, police stations and post offices throughout Manchester, not to mention the press conference and interviews she had given on television, her newly cut hair and brilliant white teeth on prominent display.

‘Why would he do that?’

Ridpath stared at the top of her desk. The wood wasn’t real, but a cheap veneer over MDF. ‘Guilt, probably. His dad had told him to look after his brother and he let his dad down. Guilt drives people to do strange things.’

‘In this case, to waste thousands of hours of police resources and manpower chasing somebody who didn’t exist. I should charge him for wasting police time.’

‘You can’t charge a ten-year-old who’s just lost his brother.’

Claire Trent nodded. ‘More’s the pity. This interview was well done, Ridpath – congratulate Emily Parkinson for me, she has a talent for getting information. But none of it contradicts any of Turnbull’s evidence.’

‘You’re wrong, boss. I asked Daniel a question after the social worker said stop the tape. Luckily, Chrissy kept rolling.’

Ridpath played the question about why they had left Glasgow, and the boy’s reply; that it was the mother who beat them, not the father.

‘This is merely the assertion of a ten-year-old. It wouldn’t stand up as evidence.’

‘But it gives the real reason why they left. Plus I understand now why Daniel refuses to live with his mother.’

‘Still…’

‘Chrissy is going to check with Child Services in Glasgow.’

Claire Trent frowned. ‘OK, you’ve probably got a chance of removing one of Paul Turnbull’s planks of evidence, but you have to remember it was Michael Carsley who was given a warning, not his wife.’

‘I think it’s the reason the Procurator Fiscal didn’t proceed with the case. There wasn’t enough certainty about who was responsible for the abuse.’

Claire Trent frowned again. ‘Get Chrissy to