The Night Hawks Read online

  She looks at David to check that he is listening, but he’s staring at the roof of the house. She can hear the weathercock turning in the wind. When he speaks, it’s almost to himself. ‘There’s another way in,’ he says.

  ‘What?’

  ‘There’s another way in. If you get onto the roof of this outhouse, you can get onto the roof. There’s an attic window that doesn’t close properly.’

  ‘How can you possibly know that?’

  ‘I used to live here.’

  Can this be true? Judy doesn’t have time to find out. She knows that she should wait for back-up – it should be here any minute – but, in the meantime, Nelson could be in danger. Nelson, Ruth and Michelle.

  ‘How do I get up there?’

  There’s a flat-roofed outhouse, just a large shed really, near to the gable end of the house. David gives Judy a leg up. It’s lucky he’s so tall. From this vantage point, Judy is able to scramble onto the sloping roof.

  ‘It’s the window at the far end,’ says David. ‘The latch doesn’t close properly.’

  Judy isn’t expecting it to work. If David has lived in this house, it can’t have been recently. People get their broken windows mended. Even the Noakes family, who didn’t seem particularly house-proud. Judy edges along the gutter. The roof is tiled but slippery with moss. She can’t use her torch because she needs both hands, but David is shining a light on her from below. When she reaches the far window, she sees that it’s held by an iron latch, slightly ajar. She’s able to wriggle her fingers inside and manipulate the metal bar upwards. It takes a couple of anxious minutes but eventually the window swings inwards and Judy drops inside.

  She’s in an attic room with sloping ceilings. There are boxes everywhere, some with the warning ‘Hazchem’ encased in a sinister chevron. Hazardous chemicals. If Judy gets out of here alive, she’ll send a chemical weapons team over in the morning. Judy finds her phone and switches on the torch. The door is in front of her. She’s terrified that it’ll be locked but it opens easily. She pauses on the landing. Two storeys below she can hear voices and the sudden bark of a dog. Immediately she hears Cathbad’s voice in her head. He said, ‘I think I’ve heard the Black Shuck barking.’

  Not now, Cathbad, says Judy silently. And she starts to descend the stairs.

  The hall seems very dark after the overhead light of the hospital room. Ruth hesitates for a moment, feeling dazed. She thought the sitting room was opposite the so-called surgery but, just for a second, she can’t see the door in the gloom. Has it disappeared? Is this the house of nightmares where everything rearranges itself as soon as your back is turned, doors becoming walls and staircases sinking into the ground? No, of course not. There it is, closed but she hopes not locked. Ruth turns the handle. Yes, here are the fringed lamps and the depressing sofas. And here is the table with the vase, photograph and telephone.

  Ruth grabs the phone and, once again, dials 999.

  ‘Stop!’ Paul is at the door, the gun pointing at her.

  Ruth doesn’t stop. Ridiculously, she closes her eyes as if this will protect her from a bullet.

  ‘Ambulance,’ she croaks. ‘Black Dog Farm. Near ­Shering­ham. Someone’s been shot. Please hurry.’

  She opens her eyes. Paul is still aiming at her but, to Ruth’s amazement, a figure suddenly appears behind him and fells him to the ground with what looks like a karate chop.

  ‘Judy?’ Ruth wonders if she is, after all, dreaming.

  ‘Get the gun,’ pants Judy. It’s on the carpet by Ruth’s feet, the long barrel pointing towards her. She picks it up gingerly just as Michelle appears in the hallway.

  ‘Judy,’ she says. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I got in from the roof,’ says Judy. ‘I’ve called for back-up.’

  A wave of relief sweeps over Ruth. It’s so strong that she has to sit down, her head swimming. She puts the gun carefully on the sofa cushions.

  ‘What’s going on here?’ says Judy.

  ‘Harry’s been shot,’ says Michelle. ‘He’s in the room across the hallway. Paul left the dog guarding him.’

  ‘The dog,’ says Judy. ‘I thought I heard a dog.’

  She is fitting handcuffs onto Paul who doesn’t seem to be resisting. ‘Paul Noakes. I’m arresting you on suspicion of attempted murder . . .’

  Ruth looks at Michelle and they both hear it at the same time. The unmistakable sound of a car pulling up outside. Ruth exhales. Police? Ambulance? Either way they are saved. And, a few seconds later, a uniformed police officer appears. Ruth feels weak with relief.

  Judy has pulled Paul to his feet. ‘Get him in the squad car, Mark,’ she says to the policeman. ‘There’s an injured man in the other room. Is the ambulance here?’

  ‘What’s going on?’ says Mark. He sounds rather dazed.

  ‘DCI Nelson’s been shot,’ says Judy. ‘The gun’s over there.’

  Mark goes over to the sofa and picks up the gun. He breaks open the barrel with one practised movement. Thank God, thinks Ruth. We’re safe from it now.

  But Paul says, ‘It was you.’

  Mark looks up and snaps the gun shut again.

  ‘You killed my parents,’ says Paul.

  Ruth expects Mark to ignore this. Even to laugh. But instead he says, very seriously, ‘I had to do it, Paul. For you and Chloe.’

  Judy moves forward but Mark turns the gun in her direction.

  ‘Stay there, Judy,’ he says in a polite tone.

  ‘You killed my parents,’ says Paul again.

  ‘Yes,’ says the policeman in what strikes Ruth as a dangerously offhand tone. ‘The world’s a safer place without them. That’s what Chloe said.’

  ‘Does Chloe know?’

  ‘Of course she does. She let me into the house, she gave me the gun.’

  Ruth looks at Michelle, who looks at the door. She knows that they are both thinking about Nelson in the next room, injured, delirious, possibly even dying.

  ‘DCI Nelson’s hurt,’ she says desperately, to the room in general. ‘We need an ambulance.’

  Mark ignores her. So does Paul. They are staring at each other.

  ‘Was Chloe there?’ says Paul, almost in a whisper. ‘When you killed them?’

  ‘Of course. She’d wanted me to kill them for a while, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. But then Nathan died. And that was your dad’s fault, Paul. He gave him the wrong dose of a vaccine. It was the same with the other boy, Jem. Well, you know about that, don’t you? He died here in this house. You took his body out to sea in the boat.’

  ‘I couldn’t save him. He was already dead when I—’

  ‘You just did what your dad told you, didn’t you,’ says Mark. ‘That’s all you ever did.’

  And then several things happen at the same time. There’s a siren outside. Mark raises the gun. There’s that scrabbling, slithering sound again and the dog bursts into the room.

  ‘Dexter,’ shouts Paul to the dog. ‘Seize him!’

  But the dog hesitates, looking at Mark, wagging its tail. ‘You forget,’ says Mark. ‘I’ve bonded with that dog now. I took charge of him this morning. I love animals. Here, boy . . .’

  While his attention is distracted, Judy throws herself at Mark. The gun falls to the floor. Ruth runs into the hall and shouts ‘Help!’ Two paramedics appear, looking wonderfully solid in their green uniforms.

  ‘In there,’ pants Ruth, pointing to the white room.

  Michelle is at her side as they lift Nelson onto the stretcher. Ruth hears voices outside and, when they emerge into the hall, it is full of police officers. Judy is grasping the arm of a handcuffed Mark. Tanya is there too, holding the gun. The new young DC has Paul in custody. They all jump when the grandfather clock chimes. Nine o’clock. It feels like midnight.

  ‘Are you coming with us?’ says the param
edic to Michelle. Or Ruth. Or both.

  ‘Yes,’ says Michelle. ‘I’m his wife.’

  Then she turns to Ruth. ‘You can come too.’

  Chapter 36

  The ambulance driver does his best along the rutted track, but Ruth is worried about Nelson, who is awake and obviously in a lot of pain.

  The other paramedic keeps talking to him. ‘Hang on in there, mate. What’s his name?’ he says to Michelle.

  ‘Harry.’

  ‘Hang on in there, Harry.’

  But Nelson isn’t Harry to anyone but Michelle, thinks Ruth. Don’t die, Nelson, she tells him silently, as she has thought once before, in similar circumstances; the ambulance ride, lights shining on the wet road, Nelson’s blood seeping into her hands. She looks out of the window and sees David Brown standing outside Black Dog Farm, watching them drive away. She waves feebly but, of course, the windows are opaque from the outside. As she watches she is sure she sees something else, a black shape crossing behind them, its eyes glowing red in the darkness.

  The journey takes no time at all, or else it takes hours. The siren must be on but Ruth can’t hear it inside the ambulance. She’s aware only of Nelson, who seems to be drifting in and out of consciousness. Michelle sits beside him, holding his hand. The countryside slides past, industrial estates, golf courses. At least it’s night so the roads will be clear. Then a series of roundabouts and the ambulance is slowing. The paramedics are readying themselves for action. The doors open and Nelson’s stretcher is lifted out. Ruth sees a neon sign saying ‘A and E’. The paramedics are actually running now, which terrifies her. Michelle follows, loping along easily in her trainers. Ruth pants after them.

  The stretcher-bearers pass through the waiting area, along a corridor and through a set of swing doors. Ruth is only a few metres behind but, when she pushes through, she finds herself in an empty corridor, the next set of doors swinging to and fro. One of the overhead lights is failing and it flickers on and off like a distress signal.

  Nelson is somewhere in the hospital, but Ruth has no way of knowing where he is. She can ask but she doubts if anyone will tell her. After all, his wife is at his side.

  Judy holds a team meeting as soon as they are all back in the station. It feels wrong to have a briefing without the boss, but Judy is now the senior officer in charge. Nelson has been taken to hospital and, according to the paramedics, he is ‘stable’. Judy has to get on with the job in hand. Mark Hammond and Paul Noakes are both in custody.

  ‘Did you guess?’ says Tanya. ‘Did you guess about Mark?’

  Her voice is devoid of its usual undertone of snark. Judy knows that they are all stunned by Mark’s arrest. He’s a much-liked officer, a local boy, the object of everyone’s sympathy after Nathan’s death. Coming only a few years after the murder of Tim, another valued colleague, it’s a blow.

  ‘No,’ says Judy. ‘But just this evening I suddenly thought about him. When Chloe was talking about her teenage boyfriends, she said they were all “spotty and intense”. I remembered the boss telling me about Mark’s speech at Nathan’s funeral. They had known each other since they were spotty schoolboys, he said.’

  ‘All schoolboys are spotty,’ says Tony. ‘It’s not much to go on.’ He’s the only one who seems to be revelling in the drama though, to his credit, he keeps trying to look serious and solemn. But Tony didn’t know Mark. Or Nathan. Or Tim.

  ‘So Mark was having an affair with Chloe Noakes,’ says Jo. She’s sitting in on the meeting because Mark’s involvement – and Nelson’s injury – makes the case high priority. Judy believes that Jo is actually quite shocked. She hasn’t mentioned press conferences once.

  ‘The teacher at Greenhill said that Mark and Paul had fought over a girl,’ says Tanya. ‘I suppose that was Chloe.’

  ‘I think so,’ says Judy. ‘Paul is very protective of his sister. As she is of him.’

  ‘But Chloe had an affair with Neil Topham,’ says Tanya.

  ‘Yes, and that’s when she split up with Mark,’ says Judy. ‘But I think they got together again recently. Chloe wanted her parents dead and she thought Mark was the man to do it.’

  They have arrested Chloe too. She’s in an interview room downstairs, separated from her brother and her lover.

  ‘I can’t believe it,’ says Jo. ‘I mean, he was a copper. A good one, by all accounts.’

  ‘I don’t think he would have done it if Nathan hadn’t died,’ says Judy. ‘But that sent him over the edge. Nathan died on Thursday the nineteenth. Mark knew that he’d been taking part in illegal drugs trials at Black Dog Farm, saving up to get married. Mark went to the farm that evening and shot Douglas and Linda dead. Chloe arranged it all. She was in the house when it happened. They set it up to look like suicide except that Mark made a mistake with the fingerprints. He wasn’t to know that Douglas was left-handed.’

  ‘What about the suicide note?’ says Tanya.

  ‘Mark did that,’ says Judy. ‘It wouldn’t have been hard to send it to Douglas’s printer. Mark was good at IT. Neil Topham taught him.’

  ‘And Alan White?’ says Tanya. ‘Did Mark kill him too?’

  ‘I think so,’ says Judy. ‘I think Alan saw Mark leaving the farm that night. He recognised him because he was another of his ex-pupils. And Alan said something to Cathbad about going to the police. He must have said it to others too.’

  ‘Poor old Alan,’ says Tanya. ‘He was looking forward to his retirement.’

  It’s an unusually empathetic statement from Tanya. But Judy feels sorry for Alan too. She remembers him telling Cathbad that he was scared and that he needed protection. If she’d followed this up, maybe Alan would still be alive. But there’s nothing to be gained from this line of thought. She is in charge of the investigation now and their priority must be to make sure that the guilty people are charged and that the charges stick. She starts to outline the interview strategy when Tony interrupts to say, ‘What about the dog that was buried in the garden? Did Mark know about that? Is that why he put it in the suicide note?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ says Judy. ‘One person who probably did know is David Brown, the lecturer at UNN. Apparently, he used to live at Black Dog Farm.’

  ‘David Brown?’ says Tony, his smooth brow wrinkling. ‘Oh, he must be the son of the Manning-Browns. You know, the woman who fell into the combine harvester?’

  If Tony is going to continue being so cheery, thinks Judy, it’ll be a long night.

  ‘This is an interview under caution,’ says Judy. ‘Present: DI Judy Johnson and DC Tony Zhang.’

  ‘I know how it goes,’ says Mark Hammond.

  ‘You have a right to a solicitor at any time while in police custody. Do you want us to contact a duty solicitor for you?’

  Mark shakes his head, but Judy needs him to say the words.

  ‘You would like this interview to go ahead without a solicitor?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘OK. Can you tell us what happened on the night of Thursday the nineteenth of September and morning of Friday the twentieth, at Black Dog Farm?’

  ‘I drove there on my moped, left it in the bushes by the lane. I walked up to the farm. Chloe let me in and gave me the gun. I don’t know where she got it from. Paul had the dog – he often looked after him in the week – so there was no danger of him barking. Douglas was in the kitchen reading the paper. He stood up when I came in and I shot him. Linda was there too, I hadn’t seen her at first. She screamed and ran past me so I followed her and shot her as she was running up the stairs. Afterwards I put Douglas’s hand around the gun so that his prints would be on it. I left it beside him, then Chloe and I left the house. I gave her a lift back to Lynn on the moped.’

  ‘Did you write the suicide note that was found in Dr Noakes’s study?’

  ‘Yes, I did that when I got home. It was easy to link my computer to Douglas’s print
er. I tried to make it sound like Chloe’s father – she said he was a pompous bastard – but I wanted to say sorry too, especially for the story about the body in the garden. Chloe said that used to terrify her as a child.’

  Judy notices that Mark’s face changes when he mentions Chloe. He really does love her.

  ‘Let’s get back to the night of the nineteenth,’ she says. ‘Did you see anyone when you left the farm?’

  ‘I didn’t think so at the time. We went by the back roads and everything was very quiet. But Mr White must have seen us leaving the house. And he told Paul.’

  ‘Alan White told Paul Noakes that he’d seen you leaving the house?’

  ‘Not exactly. Alan told Paul that he knew something about the murders but that he didn’t want to tell the police because he didn’t trust them. That must have meant that he saw me and recognised me. He knew I was in the police. I’d even given a careers talk at the school. Paul told Chloe.’

  ‘And Chloe told you?’

  ‘Of course.’ Mark sounds almost smug but Judy is willing to bet that there were many things that Chloe didn’t tell her boyfriend.

  ‘So you killed Alan?’

  ‘I had to. I felt bad about it. Really. He was a decent bloke. I always liked him at school, even though some of the other kids took the piss out of him.’

  ‘How did you kill Alan?’

  ‘I arranged to meet him at the dig. He was there early. I saw Alan leaning over, looking into the trench. I’d picked up a big stone earlier and I hit him over the head with it. Then I pushed him into the hole.’

  ‘Did you know that he was dead?’

  ‘Yeah. I was pretty sure he was.’

  ‘What did you do next?’

  ‘Went home. I was on compassionate leave after . . . after Nathan died. His funeral was that morning.’ His face changes and, for the first time, Mark looks moved. He pinches the bridge of his nose as though he might cry.

  ‘Did you stage a break-in at Black Dog Farm this morning?’ asks Judy.

  ‘Yes, I wanted you to find out about the drugs trials. That’s why I put the thing about Noakes’s scientific work in the note. I made it look like a break-in because I knew that meant that you’d have to do a proper search of the place. But then Paul turned up at just the wrong time. Typical.’