Hidden Killers

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Moran parked up outside the Allards’ house.

‘She’s very nervous, sir. It might take a while for her to come to the front door.’

‘Take as long as you like, I’ll be here.’

‘Thank you.’

Moran watched Jane walk away, then down the small pathway leading to the doorway where she rang the bell. He saw her step back and look up at the first-floor window, and then move closer to the door. It was another few minutes before the door opened and Jane stepped inside.

Marie replaced the chain lock. Jane waited for her to turn, and was taken aback by the way she looked. Her hair was lank, she had lost even more weight and seemed shrunken and shaking with nerves. Jane dropped her bag to the floor and held out her arms, hugging Marie.

‘I am so sorry not to get back to you before now, but it has taken such a long time and I wanted to come to see you personally as I didn’t want any of the officers here when I tell you what I have found out. I know how much it will affect you.’

Marie stepped away, her eyes wide with anxiety. Jane put an arm around her shoulders and suggested that they went into the lounge to sit down. Marie seemed to calm down as Jane sat on the sofa opposite her.

‘I am so sorry to be the one to tell you, but the woman that was blackmailing you is not connected to the police. She was attacked by your husband and suffered a terrible beating that has scarred her for life. She was not prepared to identify him before, but she is now prepared to go to court.’

Jane was surprised at how easily she was able to lie, because in reality she knew that Janet Brown would not go to court.

Marie pressed her body back in the easy chair and clasped her hands together.

‘He has lied to you, terrible lies… the rape victim was just a young, vulnerable teenager. She won’t ever recover from the ordeal, and you know that he also attacked me, and if the police officer hadn’t been there…’ Jane’s performance was getting better by the second as she lowered her head and ran her fingers over her lips, reminding Marie about when she had first seen her with her lips cut.

‘Oh my God,’ Marie said, clasping and unclasping her hands.

Jane left a long pause, taking out a handkerchief from her pocket and blowing her nose. Marie seemed unable to look directly at her; she was so tiny and vulnerable and trembling, but even though Jane felt sorry for her she had to use that to get some answers.

‘How long did you know, Marie, that he was leaving you and your two children and going out to attack and rape women? How long have you known he was evil? Do you realize that you made the reality invisible to yourself, refused to smell the sex? You could smell them on him, couldn’t you?’

‘No… no… that’s not true.’

‘Yes, it is, Marie, don’t lie. You kept that room upstairs locked. You said it was to protect your children but you knew what was in there, and you used to go into that room when you were here alone… didn’t you?’

‘No… no, I did not. He would never…’ She stopped.

‘What did he do to you when he found out you were looking in that room, seeing those disgusting pornographic magazines? You knew when he was on steroids and behaving like a crazy man… you knew and you kept quiet because you didn’t want to know the truth. But he will be out soon, Marie, and he will come back here, and you will have to live with it all over again.’

Jane knew that some of what she was saying was getting through, as Marie bent forward, clutching at her stomach.

‘He will get out, Marie, he will come back unless you stand up and face the truth. You said to me that you couldn’t have sex and that was the excuse… that is his excuse. He blames you – it’s all your fault that he went with those women and raped and assaulted them. It’s your fault because he says you couldn’t have sex. You lied about it to me, but it isn’t true, is it? What did he do to you, Marie?’

Her face crumpled and she began to sob uncontrollably. Jane felt for her but she knew she had to plough on because Marie had not yet admitted knowing the truth about her husband or if he had, as Jane suspected, abused her.

‘Why don’t you tell me, Marie, because I am really trying to understand why you appeared to be adamant your husband was innocent, when I can see the pressure you have been under with the blackmail and the threats…’

‘I been frightened of him, always frightened. He made me do things, always he threatened to take my children from me, so I stay, but if I make him happy he would not beat me. If I not do what he want he would lock me up and take children to his mother. Always he threaten me so I do what he wants.’

Jane got up and gently laid her hand on Marie’s shoulder. As she turned back she noticed a photograph of Marie with her eldest child as a toddler. Jane pointed to it.

‘Was that taken when you lived in Maidstone?’

Marie seemed relieved to be changing the subject. She wiped her eyes.

‘Yes… yes.’

‘And you worked at the Majestic Hotel when you were there, didn’t you?’

‘Yes, I did,’ Marie replied.

Jane waited a moment before saying quietly, ‘I need to ask you about your friend, Susie Luna.’

Marie reeled back in her chair, visibly shaken by the reference to Susie Luna.

‘Five years ago you gave your husband an alibi, confirming that he was at home with you on the afternoon and evening that your friend went missing. If you lied about that, and we find out, do you know what that means… committing perjury? You could be sent to prison for six years. But if you want to tell me the truth now, I might be able to help you. Did you lie for him, Marie?’

Marie was expressionless. Very slowly she stood up, and with no emotion she began twisting strands of her hair through her fingers. It was strange, but it seemed to calm her.

‘He says he will take my children if I not do or say what he want me to. But I have plan now…’

Jane was confused by the complete change in Marie’s demeanour.

‘I have something for you,’ Marie said calmly. She started walking towards the door as Jane stood up.

‘Where are you going, Marie?’

She walked out of the room. ‘Follow me…’

Jane hurried after her, down the hallway and into the kitchen. She was horrified as she watched Marie pulling a large knife out of the knife block on the counter. Marie knelt down, opened a cupboard door, and used the knife to release a worn envelope that had been stuck to the inside of the cupboard with Sellotape. She then stood up, put the knife back in the block and laid the envelope on the kitchen counter, placing her hand on top of it.

‘This is proof… but you not send me away from my children.’

Moran looked up as Jane came out of the house and gestured for him to come inside. He hurried from the car and followed Jane into the lounge. Marie was sitting calmly on the sofa, staring into space and twisting her hair between her fingers.

‘Marie has given me this, sir. It’s Susie Luna’s passport. She has also admitted that she posed as Susie, wearing a rose in her hair, at a few locations, including a bus stop and outside a fish and chip shop.’

Moran took it, then flicked through the old, dogeared passport and glanced over at Marie.

‘So when you were posing as your friend, where was your husband, Mrs Allard?’

‘I don’t know… when I go home, Susie had gone. I never saw her again.’

Moran held up the passport. ‘So where did you find this?’

‘It was in her handbag,’ Marie replied.

‘We’re going to need a statement from you at the station, Marie,’ said Jane gently. ‘I’ll stay with you throughout.’

Jane stayed with Marie for two and a half hours as she gave a statement. She admitted that she had introduced Susie to her husband. Their son was three years old, and Marie was pregnant with their daughter. Under pressure to recall how well her husband had known Susie Luna, Marie became very distressed and said that he had sex with her, but he made Marie deny it when the police in Kent questioned them both as being the last people to see Susie Luna alive.

Marie admitted that, because of her pregnancy, she had felt very sick at work and had returned home early, walking in on Peter raping Susie. He was very angry and Marie had run out, afraid that he was going to beat her up. Marie never saw her friend again. Susie Luna had always worn a red rose in her hair and Peter had told Marie to put it on and walk around obvious places for two hours. Marie went and stood for twenty minutes at a bus stop and then outside a fish and chip shop for a further half an hour, eventually standing outside a pub. When she returned home, Peter was working out with his weights and never mentioned Susie Luna again. A few weeks later, Marie found Susie’s handbag, went through it and took out the passport. Peter used a leather strap to beat her, snatching the handbag from her, and she thought he must have thrown it in one of the industrial bins outside the hotel. Marie kept Susie’s rose and used to always have it by her little statue of the Madonna. She looked at Jane.

‘I saw it every day when we move here, so I never forget her, but Peter, he sometime frightened the children, and Kim, my little boy, when they arrested Peter, he ask me if he was bad boy, would he be punished like Susie Luna? I could not believe my boy even remember her, because he was only three year old. But Susie was always so sweet and kind to him. I took the rose as my daughter want to put it in her hair. Susie Luna has been a ghost in my heart.’

Jane was exhausted and remained sitting in the interview room with Marie. ‘You have been very brave, Marie. And you know if you ever need to talk to someone, please call me.’

Marie nodded.

‘Today I feel better than I have for as long as I remember. I won’t go and visit him but if he call me, Detective Moran said I not mention Susie Luna and I won’t. I will keep secret until he pay the price for her murder.’ By mid-afternoon Marie was taken home. Moran knocked on the open door, and leaned against the door frame as she turned towards him.

‘She will make one hell of a witness for the prosecution… well done, Tennison.’

‘Thank you, sir. You were always right about Peter Allard and hopefully we will now have enough to legally make sure he gets a long sentence.’

Moran watched Jane pick up her bag, put away her notebook and walk past him. He had previously thought of her as a waste of space. A female probationary officer of no consequence… but he now knew she was a force to be reckoned with, and not to be treated lightly.