A Reason to Kill Read online

  ‘Yes, I think Karen might just have forgotten to hide the pills,’ Mac said.

  Thirty-Eight

  Mac had spent a sleepless night at Rina’s, sleeping in the little bed in the cramped room. Not that the location had anything to do with his restlessness.

  Morning brought clarity, along with a thumping hangover. Rina was on hand with painkillers and coffee. He refused breakfast.

  ‘I have to be off early,’ he said.

  ‘You’ve decided, then?’

  ‘Did I even really have a choice? I’m going to talk all of this through with Eden, get a warrant to search the house. Bring her in for questioning. She still killed a man, Rina, and I’m being a fool if I think I can let that go.’

  Rina nodded. ‘You have to follow your conscience,’ she told him.

  Mac laughed harshly. ‘Duty,’ he said. ‘Not conscience. Thankfully, that doesn’t even come into it.’

  Rina watched him leave, sitting quietly at her table and sipping her morning tea. She wished Tim was here, but he’d made good on his promise and gone home to visit his kin. It was about time, she thought.

  Then she too made up her mind. She went through to the hall and collected her coat then walked up on to the still-deserted promenade and used the public phone. Nothing would happen for a few hours, she thought. Enough time.

  Mac arrived at the Parker house just a little before noon. He drove. Andy was in the car with him and a patrol car followed, a scientific support van drifting in their wake.

  George and Paul were in the street, playing football. They were not yet back at school but both looked much better. Mac’s conscience needled that he was about to cause more pain.

  George came over, Paul trailing a bit behind. ‘You’ve come to see Karen,’ he said.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘She said you’d want to talk to her. She said she’d see you later. I’m staying the night with Paul while she goes to see her boyfriend. She’s not seen him much lately.’

  ‘When did she decide to go out?’

  ‘Oh, I think he phoned her this morning. She said she’d like to stay over. I didn’t mind.’

  Mac nodded, pushed the suspicions away. He didn’t even want to acknowledge they were there. ‘George, I have to …’

  The boy was feeling in his pocket. He produced a front-door key. ‘Here,’ he said. ‘OK if I go back to Paul’s?’

  Mac nodded and George turned to go, then he swung around and looked Mac in the eye. ‘She did it, didn’t she? She isn’t coming home.’

  He didn’t wait for a reply, just turned back to his game, but Mac could see from the set of his shoulders and the stiffness in his limbs that the tears were not far away.

  Epilogue

  The morning post brought a padded envelope addressed to Mac and delivered to the police station. It was postmarked Exeter and contained a brief note and a mobile phone.

  ‘I don’t want to risk any one else getting the blame,’ Karen’s note said. ‘You’ll find the evidence on the phone. Just don’t let George down. He’s your responsibility now.’

  ‘So, that’s it then,’ Eden said as he looked at the pictures lifted from the phone. ‘Case closed.’

  Mac nodded. But not for George, he thought. Not for George.

  A young woman with a neat, dark-red bob smiled at the driver when she got on to the Manchester bus.

  ‘You look cold, love.’

  ‘Freezing,’ she laughed and her blue eyes sparkled.

  ‘Never mind. Nice and warm in here.’ He watched her in his mirror as she took her seat. Nice-looking, he thought. Then he closed the doors and made ready for his journey, just another passenger to be noticed and then just as quickly forgotten.

  From the window, Karen gazed out into the gathering dusk, finally leaving all of her past behind.