‘You met John Powell?’ he said.
She nodded. ‘We went to the Starling Farm,’ she said. ‘The kids there race stolen cars…’
‘And you?’ he asked. ‘Did you take part?’
‘Not the first time,’ she said. ‘The first time I just watched but when I went on Sunday afternoon I joined in. John was driving. I just sat beside him. I had my eyes closed most of the time but it was so exciting…’
‘And after the racing?’ Ramsay said flatly. ‘ What did you do then?’ He wanted to tell her that she was a stupid fool, that her mother had been frantic with worry, but he knew that Prue wouldn’t have wanted that.
‘I asked John to take me home,’ she said defensively. ‘But he wouldn’t. He was going with some friends to a sort of party in one of the boarded-up houses on the estate.’
‘You could have phoned me,’ Prue interrupted. ‘I would have come for you.’
‘I know.’ Anna paused. ‘It was pride, I suppose. I couldn’t bear phoning up, begging to be collected. Like a child. And I wanted to be with John.’
‘So you went to the party with him?’
She nodded. ‘I didn’t enjoy it much. It lasted all night. I just wanted to go to sleep. John drank himself senseless and was in no state then to take me home.’
‘What happened in the morning?’ Ramsay asked.
‘I said I should go to school but they all laughed at me. What did I want with school, they said. I told them I’d have to phone my mother. She’d be frantic. She’d have the police out looking for me and it would only cause trouble. So John took me to the Community Centre and I used the phone there.’
‘You were still in the Community Centre when Connor got the news that the Pastons had been arrested?’ Ramsay asked.
She nodded. ‘Connor told John to run away. He said the police would be on to him like a shot. They’d cause a disturbance to distract them, and give John a chance to get away. But John said he wasn’t running anywhere. I think in a way he would be glad to be caught. He knew he was out of his depth. It had all got out of hand.’ She looked directly at her mother. ‘I tried to leave then,’ she said. ‘But Connor wouldn’t let me. He said I would only give them away. I was a sort of hostage, until it was all over.’ She shivered. ‘I think he must be mad,’ she said. ‘I heard him plan it all-the petrol bombs, the looting. He phoned some friends from Newcastle to join in.’
‘Did you go out on to the street with them?’
She nodded again.
‘How did you get away?’
‘When the police came it was dreadful, chaotic. I don’t think Connor had expected it to happen like that. They weren’t interested in me by then. I walked up to the Centre. I knew Mum would be worried.’
‘Of course I was worried,’ Prue cried. ‘I was worried all night.’ But she put her arm round her daughter’s shoulder and there was no anger in her voice.
‘What will happen to John?’ Anna looked at the policeman.
‘You don’t really care?’ Prue interrupted. ‘After all he’s done…’
‘There was an accident on the Coast Road,’ Ramsay said. ‘The stolen car which John and Connor were driving was being followed by the police. It was speeding. John was the driver. As you say he didn’t seem to care what happened to him. He hit a Mini and was spun into the oncoming traffic.’
‘Is he dead?’
Ramsay shook his head. ‘He’s very ill. They think he’s got spinal injuries.’
‘And Connor?’
‘He was killed immediately.’
There was a silence. Anna stood up as if she were exhausted and said she was going to bed. The adults watched her leave the room.
‘I suppose the police will be blamed for that as well,’ Prue said bitterly. Ramsay looked at her, surprised. It must be a new experience for her to consider herself a champion of the police force.
‘We’ve got the disturbances under control,’ he said. ‘There was a danger that they’d spread when news of Connor’s death got out, but there were only a few skirmishes on the Starling Farm. There was worse trouble in the west end of Newcastle but that’s all quiet now too.’
Prue stood up and brought the whisky bottle to the table.
‘So the murders of Gabby and Amelia Wood had nothing to do with joy riding after all,’ she said.
‘No,’ he said. ‘Not directly.’ Yet there was a link, he thought, between the crimes of Jackie Powell and her son. They were motivated by the same sense of dissatisfaction, the same inability to live in the stifling atmosphere of conventional family life.
‘Why did she do it?’ Prue cried. ‘ What could she have against Gabby?’
‘Jackie Powell was Gus Lynch’s mistress,’ Ramsay said. ‘You never guessed?’
‘I knew there was someone. He made jokes about her. The little woman, he used to call her. The bored housewife who needed his attentions to bring her a bit of excitement. She’s been more demanding lately but I never realized it was so serious.’
‘Oh,’ Ramsay said, ‘she took it very seriously. She saw it as an escape. She couldn’t stand the thought of being on her own with Evan after John left for university. She thought that when Gus moved out of the area he’d take her with him. Of course he never had any intention of doing that.’
‘How did you know?’ Prue said. ‘You weren’t surprised, were you, when she went for Gus? You were looking out for her.’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I thought she must be desperate by then. She hadn’t been home all day. I guessed she would try to see Lynch. That’s one reason why I spent so long at the Grace Darling yesterday evening.’ He poured himself another whisky. ‘I didn’t expect violence, though. I should have realized that was a possibility.’
‘But how did you know she was having an affair with Gus? He didn’t tell you?’
‘No,’ Ramsay said. ‘Joe Fenwick told me. He asked me to his flat on Friday night. He’d seen them together once in the Centre and when she started phoning he realized who she was. He didn’t realize, of course, how important the information was, but he thought I should know.’
‘I still don’t understand,’ Prue said, ‘ why she would want to hurt Gabby. They can’t even have known each other. Not well. I know she’d met Gabby at the party at Barton Hill but they had nothing to do with each other.’
‘Jackie Powell was protecting Gus Lynch,’ he said. ‘Gabby was blackmailing him. She was worried she might not get a grant for drama college. She used the information she had to get money out of him.’
‘She knew about the missing funds?’
He nodded.
‘Did he set Jackie up to it?’ she cried. ‘What a bastard!’
‘No,’ he said. ‘ Really. I don’t think so.’ He found it strange to be defending Gus Lynch.
‘What happened that lunch time?’ Prue asked. ‘Do you know?’
Ramsay nodded. Once Jackie Powell had begun to make her statement there had been no stopping her. The tension of the previous week had been released in a stream of words. But before he gave Prue the details he wanted to explain why he made so many mistakes during the course of the investigation.
‘It took me so long to work out what happened because I had the perspective all wrong,’ he said. ‘I knew the thing had been planned in advance-the fact that the table at the Holly Tree had been booked the day before proved that. But I thought the murderer had planned it. In fact of course Gabby set it all up, using the name of Abigail Keene. She sent Jackie a letter inviting her to lunch-if you’re going to try blackmail it’s best, I suppose, to do it in a civilized setting, and she’d expect Jackie to pay. The reply came in the envelope we found in Gabby’s drawer.’
‘So Gabby knew about the affair too?’
‘She knew everything that went on in the Grace Darling through Ellen.’
‘Yes,’ Prue said. ‘ Of course. Did Gabby blackmail Jackie about her relationship with Gus?’