The fireworks display still showered the sky with cascades of colour and created a background din of bangs and crackles. The blast of a shotgun would hardly be noticed on Bonfire Night. It would be just one more distant explosion to frighten the pigeons. No one would bother to dial the emergency number or come to see what was happening in the old cheese factory.
Then he glimpsed something light-coloured, moving across an opening. The figure was ahead of him in one of the cavernous rooms, slipping through another doorway deeper into the abandoned factory.
The person moved with a lightness and agility that surprised him. He recalled Jason Shaw’s description of the woman he’d seen in the woods near the Corpse Bridge that Halloween night, the ghostly white flicker and swirl as a figure dodged through the trees. Was he seeing the same phantom that Shaw had described so convincingly? Could the same apparition be right here in the cheese factory? Even for the most impressionable mind, that didn’t make any sense.
But that pale shape reminded Cooper of something else. He could see an individual sitting across the table from him in Interview Room One at West Street.
40
After that it was easy. Even Jason Shaw wouldn’t have walked into the gift shop at Knowle Abbey with a shotgun.
Fry directed the police vehicles round to the back entrance, where their presence wouldn’t be noticed from the shop. With officers outside each entrance, she simply walked in with Irvine and Hurst, told Shaw he was being arrested and read him his rights while Irvine put the cuffs on.
‘You do not have to say anything,’ she recited. ‘However, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something that you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’
It felt odd saying it surrounded by tea towels and bookmarks with pictures of Knowle Abbey, and shelves of mugs saying ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’.
‘What’s this all about?’ said Shaw.
‘I’m sure you know.’
‘Is it Sandra?’ said Shaw as he was led out to the car. ‘I think I was in love with her, in a way. It’s not often you meet a woman like that.’
‘Save it,’ said Fry.
‘She had so much life in her. I had to avenge her.’
‘Really?’ said Irvine as they put Shaw into the back of the car. ‘Weren’t you responsible for her death?’
‘No. It was Manby to blame for that.’
Hurst grasped Irvine’s arm. ‘We can’t question him now or take into account anything he says.’
‘I know.’
‘And if you mean the quarry man Redfearn,’ he said, ‘I don’t know anything about that.’
Fry stopped the car from driving away.
‘There’s one thing we have to ask him,’ she said.
‘But, Diane,’ protested Hurst.
‘If we believe there may be immediate danger to life.’
Hurst backed off then. ‘You’re right.’
Fry leaned into the car and stared hard at Shaw.
‘Where are the explosives, Jason?’ she said. ‘You took some explosives from Deeplow Quarry. Diesel and ammonium nitrate pellets.’
Shaw shook his head. ‘I took them. But I don’t have them now.’
Fry watched the car drive away across the parkland towards the gates of Knowle Abbey. She hadn’t taken much notice of the phone call she’d received from Ben Cooper. She knew that Jason Shaw would be under arrest long before Cooper was due to meet him at the cheese factory in Hartington.
Guiltily, she’d been imagining Cooper waiting at the derelict building for hours in the cold and the darkness, hoping for his coup, while she was busy doing the real work here at Bowden.
But if it was true that Shaw hadn’t killed George Redfearn, who had? And who was Cooper meeting in Hartington?
Though the tall, athletic figure was familiar to Cooper, she was no longer the young woman who’d sat nervously in Interview Room One staring at a cup of cold coffee. He couldn’t imagine this woman being intimidated by her surroundings. Her hands were steady now and the rings on her fingers glinted in the glare of a rocket as she stood in the darkness of the abandoned factory.
‘Poppy,’ said Cooper. ‘I wasn’t expecting you.’
‘I’m sorry.’
Cooper peered into the gloom, trying to make out her face. ‘What for?’
‘Everything, I suppose. It wasn’t meant to be like this. It all went wrong.’
There was no light in here, except for a few patches of greenish light from the fog-shrouded moon filtering through the skylights in the roof. Poppy Mellor stood on the edge of one of the rectangles of light, making the shadows around her seem so much darker.
‘Are the rest of the group here?’ asked Cooper.
He looked round, but could see nothing in the darkness. It was another of the large storage areas. The low ceiling and heavy pillars seemed to press in on him and made him feel claustrophobic, though he knew the room must be extensive.
Poppy didn’t answer him. It was as if she weren’t really listening, but just wanted the opportunity to talk.
‘The group have been like a family to me,’ she said. ‘Closer than my real parents or my brother. And just like a proper family, I didn’t really choose them.’
Was she armed with something? Her right arm was pressed too close to her side for him to be sure. Cooper realised he would have to let her talk. He needed her to stay calm and relaxed, and then he might find out what was going on. He also needed time for his back-up to arrive.
Cooper glanced nervously around again. If back-up was going to arrive.
‘Yes. We just came together for this one purpose. It was almost random. We talked to each other all the time on those walks. We talked like I’ve never been able to talk to my dad.’
‘They were loyal too,’ said Cooper.
‘You’re right. They were. None of them gave away the fact that I was there at the bridge, did they?’
‘No. We accepted your story completely.’
‘Thank you.’
She spoke as if it were a genuine compliment.
‘So what did happen at the bridge?’ asked Cooper.
‘It was bad luck. The fact is, Sandra was out of control that night. I don’t know what she was on exactly, but she was totally out of her head. She began to run around in the woods like a crazy woman. Then she came after me and chased me towards the bridge. She scared me. I thought she was going to do me some harm. God knows what she was thinking, but I’m sure she was hallucinating. The others had no idea what was going on, though. We were supposed to be quiet and not draw any attention to ourselves. When they heard all the commotion they didn’t know what to think.’
‘They imagined someone else must be there,’ said Cooper.
‘Yes, exactly.’
‘And that would have ruined the plan.’
Cooper felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He reached for it slowly, but Poppy backed away again and he lost sight of her in the shadows.
‘Sandra caught me near the bridge,’ said Poppy. ‘I seriously thought she was going to do something bad to me, she was so nuts. I think I must have screamed. Jason says he heard a scream anyway. I suppose that must have been me. Though Sandra was making plenty of noise too, crashing about in the trees. But then she seemed to start coughing or choking and she fell on the ground. I had no idea what to do. I thought she was still messing around.’
‘And no one came to help you?’
‘Yes, Jason did.’ Poppy moved her head sideways so that he couldn’t see her eyes. Was she looking towards someone who stood in the darkness? Or was the gesture merely theatrical?
Cooper moved too, trying to maintain eye contact. Perhaps he ought to arrest her right now. But what had she admitted to, really? Perverting the course of justice? Conspiracy? There wasn’t much of a case against her. He needed to know more.
‘It was lucky I wasn’t relying on Rob,’ said Poppy. ‘He’s not the bravest of people.’
‘What happened to Sandra?’ persisted Cooper.