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

long enough to make enough money to tell them all to fuck off. The book about the murder would be the icing on the cake. Of course, she would make sure she was the star. After all, it was her story as much as anybody else’s.

Publishers would be queuing up for the inside story of the hunt for a child-killer. Now, if she could also meet him? A tingle went down her spine. You had to be talking about a bestseller; book tours, TV interviews, the Richard and Judy book club, even morning TV with Piers Morgan or Kay Burley. It was all there for the taking.

What this article needed was a good headline. She could wait for the subs to do it or she could help the process along and give them a narrative to work with.

She finished off the glass of Rioja and poured some more. Time to go easy on the sauce tonight. She needed to get this done and dusted. Her deadline was only an hour away.

She read through her last paragraph. She wrote angry extremely well. Perhaps because it was always bubbling up inside her, ready to explode. Now she had an excuse to let it roam free with all its savage verbosity.

And then it came to her. The one word headline she needed:

INCOMPETENCE

English was a beautiful language.

Chapter 73

‘You did well today, Ridpath.’

He was back at home, a cup of cold tea in his hand, sitting in the living room.

Polly was in front of him on the couch, her black hair dyed a deep green, exactly the same as the day they had met all those years ago. It was 17 March, St Patrick’s Day, and he and some friends had gone to a Chinese restaurant to line their stomachs with some stodge before a night out in town on the lash. Polly had been their waitress. On an impulse, Ridpath had asked her to meet them later at One Central Street followed by a trip to Nick the Greek’s. For some reason, she had turned up and the rest was history.

‘Did I? It doesn’t feel like it. I interviewed a young boy who didn’t know his answers could possibly send his father to jail for life.’

‘But the answers didn’t, they helped clear his father.’

‘And next time? Will the next boy I interview help convict his father?’

‘You always said it was part of the job, remember? “Find the truth”, you used to say to me.’

Ridpath grimaced. ‘“The truth is out there.” Wasn’t that the tagline of some awful TV series you used to watch.’

‘X-Files. And Mulder and Scully weren’t awful, they were simply confused.’

‘Like me, you mean?’

‘You’re not confused, just a little obsessive.’

‘My obsessions cost you your life.’

‘Don’t blame yourself. You didn’t pull the trigger. You didn’t shoot the gun. You did your job and stopped a man from killing seven people. A woman who couldn’t accept the fact her son was a killer pulled the trigger.’ She pulled aside her white shirt to reveal an unblemished chest. ‘See? The wounds have healed.’

‘Mine haven’t.’ A long pause. ‘I don’t know if I can keep doing this, Polly.’

‘What else would you do?’

The truth was he didn’t know. He had been a policeman working for GMP or working with the coroner for so long, he could think of nothing else. Finally, he said, ‘I could be a teacher like you.’

She laughed. ‘The first stroppy teenager who gives you some lip, you’d slap the cuffs on and charge them with insubordination.’

He smiled. ‘Teachers can do that, can’t they?’

‘Seriously, Ridpath, you know what you have to do now.’

He nodded. ‘Find the killer.’

‘Got it in one. But before you do that, you’d better ring Eve. Remember you’re supposed to lay flowers on my grave with her tomorrow.’

‘Shit, I’d forgotten.’

‘She hasn’t. She never forgets.’

Chapter 74

The FaceTime call was answered almost immediately. ‘Hi Eve.’

‘Hi Dad, I was waiting for you to call.’

‘I guessed. Sorry, it’s a bit late again.’

‘That’s OK. I checked on Ah Kung and Paw Paw and they are fast asleep. Ah Kung is snoring so loud he could wake King Arthur beneath Alderley Edge.’

‘How do you know that story?’

‘We learnt it years ago, Dad. There’s an army sleeping beneath Alderley Edge led by King Arthur. If England is ever in great trouble, Merlin will wake them and they will ride to our rescue.’

‘Do you believe it?’

She laughed. ‘Not really, but it’s a good story and we all have to have something to believe in, don’t we? White knights, castles, maidens in distress, all that stuff.’

‘You’re reading about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, aren’t you?’

She laughed again. A high, unrestrained laugh. ‘How did you guess? Ah Kung and Paw Paw leave me alone when they see me reading.’

There was a silence for a moment before Ridpath said, ‘I have something to tell you.’

‘You can’t make tomorrow, can you?’

‘How did you guess?’

‘I’m a detective’s daughter, remember?’

‘I have to work.’

‘Your case? Are you back on it?’

‘I think so. Can we go another time? I’d really like to go with you and see Mum.’

‘OK, we can go midweek when it’s quiet and there’s nobody there.’ Another pause. ‘Dad, do you often think of Mum?’

‘Every day, sweetie.’

‘Same here. I suppose we’ll never stop thinking about her.’

‘I hope we never do, Eve. We’ll keep her alive in our hearts and our memories for ever.’

‘I like that idea.’

‘And remember she’s always part of you.’

‘At least half of me.’

‘So she lives on. You just have to make her proud. We both have to make her proud.’

‘We will, Dad.’

‘I’ll call you tomorrow.’

‘OK, and Dad…’

‘Yes…’

‘Be careful, won’t you. I don’t think I can handle losing both of you.’

‘Don’t worry, I will.’

The screen faded to black.

‘How did I do?’

‘Not bad,’ answered Polly from the couch. ‘I don’t think you need me any more, do you?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Bye, Ridpath.’

‘Poll, don’t go…’

But she had already vanished.

On the Sixth Day

Sunday, August 10

Chapter 75

The following morning Ridpath drove to Police HQ. He’d spent a night tossing