Murder Club - Mark Pearson [101]
‘His name’s not really Geoffrey Hunt, is it?’
The older woman dropped the coin, but didn’t seem to notice it as it clattered to the ground.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I got his brother’s medical records. The man in the ground had a perfectly uninjured rib cage. The X-rays I looked at here last night showed an old bullet wound. A wound to the chest. Geoffrey’s brother had such a wound. He got it in Zambia trying to defend some children, according to the report I read.’
‘He did defend those children! They lived because of him.’
‘And so did he! Didn’t he? I’m guessing that it was Geoffrey we found in that unmarked grave. I’m right, aren’t I? The man back there is his brother Jeremy.’
Patricia looked at her grim-faced. What are you going to do?’
‘I don’t know yet,’ said Kate gently. ‘Why don’t you tell me what happened?’
‘There were accusations that Geoffrey had been molesting young girls.’
‘I know.’
‘It wasn’t the first time. He had a problem, I begged him to get help and he said that he had. That he had never actually touched any of the girls. Just looked at them.’
‘Go on.’
‘It was too much. I told him that I was going to divorce him. I told him I was going to report him to the police. He became very angry. He had been violent to me in the past, had been abusive. But I held my ground. He couldn’t be allowed to continue hurting those poor children. He hit me.’
‘And so you shot him?’
‘No, Doctor,’ the older woman sighed. ‘He shot himself. I guess I drove him to it.’
‘You didn’t drive him to do anything, Patricia.’
‘Jeremy was visiting, like I said. He found me in a state of absolute shock and said he would take care of everything. He always loved me, Kate. I knew that. I chose the wrong brother.’
‘So what did Jeremy do?’
‘In covering up for the vicar, the Church had demanded his early retirement. If his suicide was discovered, the whole sorry story would be exposed. Jeremy didn’t want to put me though that. He said he would take on his brother’s identity. Nobody need ever know. So we buried him that night in sanctified ground.’
‘And the gun he used?’
‘It was their father’s service revolver, from the war. God knows why they’d kept it. Jeremy buried the gun in our garden. We laid a slab over it and put a birdbath there. He said nobody would ever find out.’
‘And if they hadn’t decided to demolish the church, probably nobody would have done.’
The older woman looked at Kate, her eyes moist with tears. ‘No real harm was done, was there? If this all comes out now, it could kill him.’
‘Were you in love with Jeremy?’
Patricia nodded her head. ‘I know it was wrong. But yes, I loved him, Kate. Almost from the first day I married his brother.’
Kate patted her hand. ‘Don’t worry, Patricia, I’m sure everything will be okay.’
‘But how can it be? We’ve drawn Geoffrey’s pension all these years, it wasn’t much but …’ She trailed off, distraught. ‘And they have found the body now. Sooner or later it will all come out. You can’t take care of that.’
‘No, I can’t,’ said Kate. ‘But I know a man who can.’
Diane Campbell stood at the open window watching the uniforms clear the snow from the car park once more. The sky overhead was a brilliant blue, however, and the sun was shining brightly.
She smiled at Delaney as he came into her office.
‘Full statement from Michelle Riley. Pretty much as you guessed. Five of them from the support group. Became something of a drinking club. Sharing their sorrows, their anger. Then one night at The Castle, after reading about another suspected rapist walking free from court, they decided to not just get angry but to get even. Vigilante style. John Garland’s idea. They’d each pick a card, and whoever was selected they had to kill. Not the person who had raped them, however, so no trails would lead back to them.’
‘First rule of the Murder Club.’
‘Only when it came to Michelle’s turn she got cold feet. Wouldn’t do it.’
‘So Garland did it for her, I guess. Pushed Michael Robinson under the train.’
‘That’s why he wanted Stephanie Hewson to lie in court, let