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Simmonds pushed his chair back and crossed his arms. ‘I have finished my confession. I have nothing more to say to you, Sergeant Tennison.’

Jane picked up a pencil and tapped the point on the table. ‘I don’t think you’re telling me the truth.’ She was nervous, knowing that she herself was about to embellish the truth, in an attempt to gain further information.

‘David, we have made some enquiries into your military service. We have spoken to an army SIB officer, who told us that you were found in bed with an eighteen-year-old cook in your officer’s accommodation. You didn’t leave the army voluntarily; you jumped before you were pushed. I think you were lucky the whole incident was covered up. Otherwise you’d have been court-martialed and sent to prison.’

Simmonds was physically shaking. ‘It’s all lies! The whole incident was a total misunderstanding.’

‘What, you just woke up and happened to find a young man in your bed? Listen, David, I don’t care about your sexuality.’

Simmonds glared at her. ‘It was a drunken, one-off incident. I paid the price and was hounded out of the army. My mother raised me to be a devout Christian. I do not have a girlfriend and I am celibate.’

‘Personally, I very much doubt the army incident was a one-off. Your denial regarding any relationship with Aiden Lang is also a lie. Did your doting, overprotective mother know why you really had to leave the army? Did she want to protect your reputation in the outside world by encouraging you to be celibate?’

‘Don’t you dare make insinuations about my mother!’

Jane kept going. ‘I think she would be turning in her grave if she knew what you had become. Perhaps you’ve always been envious of her love for your brother, and in some sick, perverted way, to get back at her, you dismembered Aiden Lang’s body and skinned his head.’

Simmonds was losing control. His hands clenched as she pressed on.

‘I think you and Aiden Lang were in a sexual relationship. He wasn’t blackmailing you, and you frequently and willingly paid him for sex.’

Jane pushed her chair back, stood up and slid the confession forms across the desk towards Simmonds.

He leant forward. ‘I have a question for you, Jane: do you think I’ve killed anyone else?’

Jane wondered if Simmonds could have developed a lust for murder, and there might be more victims they didn’t yet know about. The thought chilled her.

‘Have you?’

‘No, but I was this close.’ He held his right thumb and forefinger an inch apart. ‘Guess who it was?’

‘Your little mind games don’t bother me, David.’

‘But they should, Jane, they should.’

‘If you’ve killed more people, then tell me and I will listen. If you haven’t, then don’t waste my time—’

Simmonds suddenly stood up and pointed his finger at her. ‘It was you, Jane. You were going to be my next victim!’ he shouted.

Jane reacted with fury. ‘Sit down NOW!’ she shouted back and shoved the table hard, making him fall back onto his chair. ‘You don’t scare me, Simmonds. You disgust me!’

The interview room door flew open and the custody PC rushed in. ‘You all right, Sarge?’

‘Yes, everything’s fine. You can wait outside.’ She was wide-eyed and breathing hard.

‘You sure, Sarge?’

‘Yes, I’m sure!’ She didn’t feel fine — far from it. But she needed the PC to leave them alone before she continued.

Looking uneasy, he left the room and closed the door behind him.

Jane turned back to Simmonds. ‘Whatever you say now doesn’t matter. The career you were so proud of is over and you will spend the rest of your life in prison. You might get away with pleading diminished responsibility and be sent to a secure psychiatric hospital like Broadmoor, but let me tell you, life in there is worse than a normal prison. It’s like hell on earth. I’ve had to listen to your sickening justifications for your crimes and watch you gloat over your success as a dentist, while pretending to care about the less fortunate. I seemed to upset you when I made reference to your mother. She had to suffer the terrible trauma of having to identify the decapitated body of her most precious son, and what did you do? You filled the deep freeze with little home-cooked meals, pretending to care about her, and yet in that same deep freeze you put the butchered body of Aiden Lang. Not content with that horror, you skinned his head, cut out his tongue and chopped off his fingers — all to hide your sexual preferences—’

‘STOP IT!’ Simmonds collapsed back in his chair, his mouth wide open. He started to cry, sounding like a lost child.

Jane realized her words about his mother had broken him. He still worshipped her and couldn’t bear the thought of how she would view his crimes, even though she was dead.

‘Are you going to make a written confession?’ Jane was worried she had pushed things too far, letting her emotions get the better of her.

But Simmonds was like a deflated balloon, all the defiance gone. ‘Yes. I will write it. And it will all be done properly, Jane. I need you to ask Mr. Davidge to witness that I have made the statement of my own free will, and countersign it.’

‘I’ll get the custody PC to sit with you while you make your statement.’

Jane opened the door and asked the PC to come in.

Simmonds rubbed his hands over his face. ‘I’m feeling very tired now. Could I go back to my cell for a while?’

‘Yes, of course. I’ll ask Mr. Davidge to come to the station, then you can sit with him and make your statement.’

‘Thank you, Jane.’

Jane nodded to the custody officer, who walked Simmonds out of the interview room and back to his cell. Jane felt her legs give way as she sank back into her seat and put her head in her hands, utterly exhausted.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Jane called Davidge as soon as she got back to the CID office. He seemed surprised when she told him Simmonds now wanted legal representation.

‘He wants to make a written confession and have you present as a witness.’

‘He’s confessed?’

‘Yes, to the murders of three women and a young man called Aiden Lang.’

Davidge paused. ‘We’ll see about that. I’m coming to the station right now and I’d like you to advise him to do nothing until I get there.’

Jane put the phone down and went to see Moran in his office. He was talking to Gibbs, who looked a little sheepish when he saw her.

‘I decided it was best to tell the governor what was happening.’

Moran frowned at her. ‘You should have told me he wanted to confess, Jane. It should have been my decision whether or not you continued to interview Simmonds.’

‘I’m sorry, sir. Simmonds was adamant he would only confess to me, with nobody else in the room, and he wouldn’t allow me to make any notes.’

‘What’s done is done, I suppose. As much as I’d have liked to have been there, I would probably have done the same if I’d been in your shoes.’

‘Do you want me to go over what he said in detail or are you happy with a condensed version for now?’ Jane asked.

Moran told her a quick summary was fine and Jane recounted Simmonds’ key admissions, whilst Moran jotted down notes. Then she told him about her phone call with Davidge.

‘Good job, Jane. Simmonds might be lying about some things or change his story in the handwritten confession. I want you to write down his version of events in a statement, while they’re still fresh in your memory. You can use my office.’

‘The conversation was off the record as far as Simmonds was concerned. Davidge will no doubt argue my statement is inadmissible.’

‘Jane, I don’t give a toss about Davidge. Simmonds confessed to four murders. He was still under caution and said things only the murderer could know. A judge at trial will decide what is or isn’t admissible as evidence. I’ll countersign your statement as the same truthful version of events that you recounted to me.’