Dead Dream Girl Read online

  ‘Good thinking, Anderson,’ he said, trying for the other’s affable manner with the same limited success. He believed he had it sussed now, why the reporter had been so incensed. He’d had his ace trumped with what Crane had uncovered at Cheyney Hall. Instead of winning the race he had merely dead-heated.

  ‘Well, why aren’t you jumping up and down, you two?’ Patsy asked, in amazement. ‘With all the new things you’ve found out between you?’

  Crane knew it was because they were both too evenly matched, both very, very touchy about their skills, and were in a situation that was like one of those games of chess where it seemed that neither player was going to win.

  TEN

  Crane saw Benson in the Toll Gate. He gave him a rundown of everything he and Anderson had found out. Earlier, he’d phoned him with the vehicle number Julia Gregson had taken from the car at the Raven restaurant. The National Computer had shown it as registered to Leaf and Petal.

  ‘And the description she gave roughly matches Joe, slash, Adrian Hellewell,’ Crane told him, ‘but it could mean she has her own devious reasons for wanting him in the frame.’

  ‘It’s not looking good for either of them. She knows bloody well she should have come forward.’ Benson stubbed out his second cigarette, then added, with obvious reluctance, ‘Good work, Frank. Terry’s going to be pleased.’

  When they’d both been in the force, best mates, frequently working together, Benson had never really been aware by how much Crane had outclassed him, as Crane, out of friendship, had always encouraged the impression that their decisions had been taken jointly. When Crane had left he knew that Benson had then been forced to accept himself at his true value. And hadn’t much liked it.

  ‘Anderson had the breakthrough.’ Crane tried to sound gracious. ‘He had luck; Kirsty fancies him rotten. It did him no end of good when it came to soul-baring time.’

  ‘I knew the bugger would go far.’

  ‘What’s the form now?’

  ‘I’m going to Leaf and Petal this afternoon with a DC, get Hellewell and the shirt lifter in for questioning. I’ll be in touch.…’

  Crane got on with routine work with a routine feeling of flatness that a challenging case might soon be out of his hands, bar the tying up of loose ends. But in the early evening things suddenly began to happen.

  ‘Ted here, Frank. Hellewell’s legged it.’

  ‘Go on.’

  ‘Kirsty says he worked alone over at Leaf and Petal last night. Someone picked him up, she doesn’t know who. Left his own car.’

  ‘Hebden?’

  ‘No, he’s been in London since yesterday lunchtime. It checks out.’

  ‘What does Kirsty think?’

  ‘That he’s somehow caught on she’s grassed him to Anderson. She’s not keen to see him back if he thinks she knows too much as well. I’ve left the DC with her, just in case.’

  ‘What gives now?’

  ‘We start searching. We’ll find him sooner or later, God knows what it’ll take in man hours. If the fairies have him squat it could take weeks.’

  Crane’s mobile rang again the second he’d cleared it. ‘Oh, Frank, I’m so glad I got through,’ Patsy gasped. ‘I’ve been broken into! When I got home from work the door was ajar and the lock smashed.’

  ‘I’m on my way. You’ve told the police?’

  ‘Before I rang you.’

  ‘Much missing?’

  ‘That’s the trouble, nothing I can see. They’ve not taken the telly or the DVD-player and my few bits of jewellery aren’t worth nicking.’

  This made Crane uneasy. When he got to the flat she was sipping from a mug of tea, hands trembling. ‘Am I glad to see you?’

  He took out his mobile. ‘I’ll get someone to fit a new lock. We can sort it with the insurers in the morning.’ He gave details to a locksmith contact. ‘You’re sure nothing’s been taken?’

  ‘Nothing. I’ve looked everywhere. I had a few tenners in a tea caddy. Still there. What can it mean, Frank?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ He glanced around the living room. Everything looked exactly as it had looked on those other nights, when they’d been gathered around the flip chart. The flip chart itself was neatly closed, as if the intruder had also lacked curiosity, as well as the wish to steal any of her modest possessions.

  ‘I’ll get you a drink,’ she said.

  Preoccupied as he was, he realized there was something different about her. She was wearing a sage green jacket, a short pencil skirt and a black top and even more care than usual seemed to have been taken with her appearance. ‘You’re looking posh again,’ he said, ‘as your dad would say.’

  ‘I’ve been promoted. Officially. I’m a supervisor from the first of next month.’

  ‘Well, that’s great! Just great.’ He put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her cheek. He wished it hadn’t made her lavender eyes shine quite so warmly.

  ‘I could have done without a break-in on a day like this. I was hoping I could take you for a meal, with the case looking as if it’s nearly over.’

  ‘You’re right, the bastard’s timing couldn’t be worse.’

  ‘I don’t suppose we could go out? When the lock man’s been? This is just vandalism. You know what kids on the estate are like.’

  He would genuinely have liked to go for a meal. He knew he’d have to steer a careful line between his friendship for her and her attraction to him, but he’d have enjoyed talking about her promotion. It would have pleased him to encourage her to look even further ahead. Complete her education, learn computer skills. He knew now she was the type who could do things, all she’d ever needed was encouragement.

  ‘Sorry, Patsy, but the break-in bugs me, don’t ask me why. We’ll go out somewhere soon, I promise.’ She began to look as uneasy as he felt. ‘Don’t worry,’ he told her, patting her arm, ‘I’ll sort it.’

  He looked around the room again. He’d have felt easier if it had been vandals, nicking her telly and her tea-caddy money, trashing the room, scribbling on the pages of the flip chart. The flip chart!’

  ‘Patsy, was it you who closed up the flip chart last night?’

  She gave him a puzzled look, slowly shook her head. ‘I always leave it exactly as you and Geoff leave it.’

  ‘Well, I went after Geoff last night and I left it open on the last sheet. The one I did on Julia Gregson.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘What if whoever broke in was only interested in the flip chart itself?’ He was already keying his mobile. ‘Geoff? Frank. Look, Geoff, two things. Hellewell’s legged it and Patsy’s been broken into.’

  ‘Keep talking.’

  ‘Nothing’s been taken from the flat, but I’m pretty sure the flip chart’s been tampered with.’

  ‘Who’d want to do that? Who’d even know about it?’

  ‘You don’t think it could be Hellewell? One of his pals?’

  Anderson was silent for a couple of seconds. ‘Do you realize what you’re saying, Frank? God, all our thinking, all our notes. They’d give him the full picture. He’ll know he’s the leading suspect!’

  ‘That could be why he legged it. Kirsty told Benson he was picked up. Someone must be helping him.’

  ‘Frank,’ he said slowly, as if to calm himself, ‘we’ve got to apply some rigorous analysis here before we get too carried away. How could Hellewell know about the flip chart?’

  ‘Could you possibly have been followed yesterday, from Leaf and Petal?’

  ‘It’s … possible, I suppose. But I went on to the siege.’

  ‘Maybe he tailed you there and then on to Patsy’s.’

  ‘Still possible. He’d have gone unnoticed in the crowd.’

  ‘Look, you talked to Kirsty in her own office. Maybe Hellewell found out and wondered what she could be telling you. He must have known things weren’t the same between them any more. Let’s say he feels he’s got to know, shadow’s you to Patsy’s place, but maybe thinks it’s your place. He
could have sneaked in behind you to pin down the actual flat, the front door takes several seconds to close and lock itself.’

  ‘You know, I think someone did come in behind me when the lock was tripped. I thought nothing of it, people are always in and out.’

  ‘Once he knew the exact flat, maybe he decides to come back when he thinks you’ll be out and go through your notes, tapes, whatever he can lay hands on. So then he drives back to the garden centre and pretends to be working late. He could have nipped back this morning, after checking you were at the Standard office and most of the other residents would be at work. A credit card would open the front door, it’s a simple mechanism.’

  ‘If that’s how it did happen he certainly hit the jackpot!’

  Crane smiled sourly. The flip chart had been the whiz kid’s idea, not his. ‘Well, if it is Hellewell, and I can’t see who else it can be, all he’s doing is digging himself in deeper. And why leg it if you’ve got a clear conscience?’

  ‘It would be handy if we could nail him ahead of the police.’ The excitement was rising in his voice again. ‘The A Team!’

  ‘And make a proper job of it.’ Anderson’s enthusiasm was catching.

  ‘I’m working out of town just now, but I’ll be in touch as soon as I’m back. He’ll not go far without money and help. Good luck, pal.’

  Crane knew he didn’t mean those final words, but it was a nice gesture. Patsy’s troubled eyes met his. He said, ‘You’ll have got most of that, yes? We can only see it being Hellewell, and now it looks as if he might know everything we know. But I’m certain it doesn’t affect you, so you mustn’t worry. Me and the paper boy are determined to sort it.’

  He rang Hellewell’s home number. Kirsty answered quickly, sounding very nervous. ‘Mrs Hellewell? Frank Crane. I was with Geoff yesterday.’

  ‘What is it, Mr Crane?’

  ‘Geoff played me the tape he made with you. We’re working together, as you know.’

  ‘That’s all right,’ she said in a low voice. ‘It was only because I know Geoff so well, and not knowing you …’

  ‘I quite understand. It’s vital your husband’s found, Kirsty, if only so he can be eliminated from the new investigation. You told DS Benson that Joe was working late, but would you know if he was away from the nursery some time in the early evening? For about an hour or so?’

  ‘I really couldn’t tell you. I came home not long after Geoff left.’

  ‘Would any of the staff know, do you suppose?’

  ‘I doubt it. Joe’s always here, there and everywhere. It’s the nature of the job.’

  ‘All right. Would you know if he took his passport with him?’

  ‘Let me look, I keep them all together. You can go on talking, I’m using a cordless.’

  ‘You think he was picked up?’

  ‘We have CCTV now. The police asked me to check the tape. A car drew up near one of the greenhouses about nine. It was too far from the cameras to see the number or who was in it, though the police have ways of sharpening the picture. It could be a Honda … maybe an Accord.’ As she talked, Crane could here the sounds of drawers being opened. ‘Ah, his passport’s still here.’

  ‘Good, it narrows the field. Thanks a lot, Kirsty, you’ve been very helpful.’

  She was silent for a short time. ‘Mr Crane, Frank … do you think there’s any possibility, any at all, that Adrian … Joe, didn’t do for that poor kid?’ she said quietly. ‘I’ll never live with him again, but we’ve been together a long time and we have a family. We were very happy once, when we were building the business up. I’d give anything to know he wasn’t involved.’

  ‘Anything’s possible, Kirsty,’ he said gently. ‘And so the sooner we find him the better.’

  ‘But you think it was him, don’t you? You and Geoff?’

  There was no answer to that, at least not one that held the smallest crumb for her comfort.

  He cleared his mobile. Patsy was standing before the flip chart, reading the last completed sheet. She sighed. ‘I feel sorry for Julia. She must have been in an awful state to break down the way you said she did. She must have been crazy about Donna. I can see it all. No one could play the sweet little innocent like Donna. I always had an idea she attracted both sides. I wonder who the other J could be.’

  Crane shrugged. ‘I don’t think it matters any more. Another married bloke, maybe, just keen to keep his head down.’

  ‘I wonder if Donna let anything slip about anyone else,’ she said, in a musing tone. ‘I know she was secretive, but two women together, pillow talk, all that. Something Julia might have written in her diary, seeing as she kept a proper one. It might help put Hellewell away, mightn’t it?’

  ‘Julia wouldn’t have wanted to know, Patsy. She hated hearing about Donna and men. I’m sure the bad dream was an exception. And if—’ He broke off abruptly, stood staring at the flip chart. ‘Christ, maybe you’re ahead of both me and Geoff.’

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘If Hellewell’s seen the flip chart he knows about the diary too, knows about Donna’s affair with Julia. What if he had the same idea as you and thinks the diary could implicate him? He might think Donna really did let his name slip at some point, that there might even be a mention somewhere that she was seeing him the Saturday she died.’

  She paled, watched him a little open-mouthed, not quite understanding. ‘Look, Patsy, let’s say he saw off Ollie, or tried to, because he found out Ollie had been talking to me. So what if he’s aiming to do the same to Julia and then destroy the diary? He doesn’t know she took the number of his car that night at the Raven, because I wasn’t going to put it on the chart till Benson had checked it out. In other words, he just thinks Julia saw someone at the Raven who might have been him. But if she’s out of it and he and Hebden stick to the story he was with him the night Donna disappeared, well, he could decide the evidence is too flimsy to do him any real harm.’

  ‘But … what if Hellewell and Julia really were in it together, like Geoff thought they might be?’

  ‘Geoff had a good point. So what if Julia had killed Donna, and Hellewell thinks if she’s taken in for questioning he might be fingered for colluding with her? That’s a very serious offence in a murder. He’d go inside, his business and reputation could be ruined. But if Julia could be made to disappear …’ He paced up and down the little room. ‘I think I’d better go over there. Warn her to be on her guard. Whether she’s in the frame or not it’s essential the police get her in one piece. I’m really worried now, Patsy, she’s isolated and she lives alone and I’m pretty sure the staff only come in the daytime. I’ve got to go. I’ll call in on the way back. The locksmith should be here any minute.’

  It was dark now after a day of low cloud. He drove to Ilkley on the quicker route this time, along the valley road, through Guisely and Burley and then along past the silently flowing Wharfe. When he reached Cheyney Hall he pulled up on to the verge, took out his mobile, keyed her number. She’d not want to open the door without knowing who was going to be out there. When he got through, there were odd grating sounds, as if the phone were being picked up uncertainly. There was a brief, breathy silence and then words that came out almost as a sob. ‘Help me …’

  ‘Julia? What’s the—’

  Then she screamed. A scream that seemed curtailed. It made the hairs on his neck prickle. He heard a dull sound that could have been a blow, followed by a crashing noise that had to be the fall of a body. The connection was carefully broken.

  ELEVEN

  Crane scrambled out of his car and ran towards the arched entrance. The gates stood open as before. There was a car on the drive, just within the gates. He’d grabbed a torch on leaving the Megane. Its glow identified the car as a Honda. An Accord. His heart lurched. He ran on to the great front door. It was locked. He moved cautiously to the right, as it was so dark, and round to the back of the house to where the wide terrace overlooked the vast rear garden. He had to locate the room that
had been filled with flowers.

  She lay on an oriental rug before an ornate fireplace. The room was dimly lit by a single table lamp, but it looked to have been overturned in a struggle, so that its light was concentrated on her body in its black clothes, and left the man’s features in shade. But he caught a glint of fair hair and the outline of a strong frame and he knew it was Hellewell. He tried the handle of the french window. It gave. Perhaps she’d been out on the terrace earlier. That must have been how he’d got in.

  As the french window opened, with a faint whine, Hellewell fled through a door that Crane knew would take him into the big hall. Crane dropped to his knees at Julia’s side. She’d been given a blow with some object, possibly an ornament, and the wound extended from her left temple into her hair, which was matting with blood. She was breathing, but unconscious. He heard noises in other parts of the house. Was Hellewell trying to get out? And finding the doors deadlocked?

  There was an antique chest of drawers on cabriole legs to the left of the door. It was heavy but not too heavy to drag in front of the door and block his return. Crane needed to do two things urgently: disable Hellewell’s car and get help. It wouldn’t be too long before Hellewell found a way out of the house, even if he had to break windows.

  Crane went out to the terrace, then returned along it as rapidly as he dared in the pitch darkness. He’d seized a heavy silver candlestick from the fireplace mantel and now smashed in the headlamps and taillights of the Accord. He’d not get far without lights. He then took out his mobile and began to key 999. Hellewell appeared from nowhere, snatched the phone from his hand and flung it in the basin of the fountain. As Crane began to turn, a very hard fist struck his cheekbone in a glancing blow.