When Evil Wins Page 18

  There was a sharp banging on the door to Janus Malik's flat. He opened his eyes and the radio's output returned to static.

  “Janus Malik. Open the door. This is the police,” came the call from behind his front door. How the police had got in without buzzing his flat he did not know.

  Janus leapt up from his chair; “Okay, okay, I'm coming,” he shouted in utter panic. He opened the door and three police officers walked in.

  “Mr Janus Malik?” one of the officers asked.

  “Yes,” Janus replied.

  “Mr Malik, we are here to take you to the station for questioning, if you do not come willingly we have a warrant for your arrest.”

  Janus was stunned. What the hell was going on?

  “Officers, I have no idea what this is about but I have no issues with your request. If you'd allow me to get dressed first, I'd appreciate it.” Janus was still in his dressing gown.

  “Whilst you change one of us will have to be with you. Is this clear?” the lead officer stated.

  “It's more than clear,” Janus said.

  “PC Evans, please accompany Mr Malik to his bedroom,” the lead officer commanded.

  PC Evans nodded.

  Janus went to his bedroom and the police constable followed. Once Janus was ready he was led from his flat and carefully guided into the back seat of the police car.

  Once at the police station he was placed in an interview room and instructed to wait; not that he’d had any choice in the matter. Whilst he was waiting he tried to recall what the spirit had been telling him. His memory was in disarray; the shock of the raid had thrown him completely. He recalled snippets of the conversation with the spirit. He was the perpetrator; Richard would live, someone else must… Must what? Janus didn't know.

  The door to the interview room opened and a plain clothes officer, he assumed it was an officer, entered.

  “Mr Malik, I'm Detective Inspector Davis from Thames Valley police, please remain seated.”

  “What's going on? What am I here for?” Janus asked.

  “Mr Malik, you're here to help us with our enquiries into the explosion at Wyverny House three days ago.”

  “The explosion at Richard Jameson's house?” Janus tried to clarify.

  “Exactly. What do you know about it?” Davis persisted.

  “Nothing. I only found out about it when some officers came around to tell me.”

  “Can you account for your whereabouts between the times of 6.00 a.m. and 8.00 a.m. that morning?”

  “I was asleep, in bed, in my flat.”

  “Can anyone corroborate that?”

  “No,” Janus sighed. “I live alone. Why are you asking me these things?”

  “Further analysis of the bodies at the scene…”

  “Bodies? What bodies?” Janus said, before the police officer could finish his sentence.

  “The bodies of Mr Jameson's daughter and nanny.”

  “Oh no. Not Stephanie?” Janus said, slumping in his chair.

  “Stephanie Jameson and Natasha Ericsson,” Davis clarified noting Malik's reaction; either the man was an excellent actor or he truly knew nothing of what he’d been told. “You know nothing about this, Mr Malik?”

  “Of course I bloody know nothing. Why would I? How could I? And what do you mean by 'further analysis of the bodies'?” Janus was furious at the intimated accusations and how he was being treated.

  “The path. lab. has found significant levels of a benzodiazepine in both the victims' bodies. It seems they were tranquilised before the explosion. Do you take or have you ever been prescribed sleeping tablets?”

  “No. Never,” Janus responded to the question.

  “Mr Malik, we have the authority to retrieve your medical records and it will harm you if we find out you have been lying during the course of this interview.”

  “Inspector Davis, I'm not lying,” Janus pleaded. “Since the death of my father the Jameson's have been the closest thing to a family I've ever had.”

  “Mr Malik, so far I'm happy with your responses. However if anything else comes to light we will be taking you in for further questioning. If there's anything you haven't mentioned, I would suggest you come clean now; because if you don't it will not look good for you in court,” Davis bluntly outlined the situation as it stood.

  “There's nothing, absolutely nothing. Why are you doing this to me?” Janus implored again.

  “Mr Malik, I can assure you we are not doing anything to you. We are just following the relevant lines of enquiry,” Inspector Davis answered Janus’s question.

  “It doesn’t feel like that,” Janus said. “Can I go now?”

  “Yes, you're free to go.” The Detective Inspector stood up and opened the door to the interview room. “The exit is to the left,” he said to Janus, adding, “thank you for your time and cooperation.”

  “I didn’t have any choice did I?” Janus almost yelled at his interrogator, his frustration going past boiling point. “You didn’t need to raid my flat; you could’ve just asked me to come in,” Janus finished.

  “Unfortunately the evidence we're gathering doesn't warrant such an approach,” the detective retorted.

  Janus left the police station with his anger bubbling. He knew now that he would have to redouble his efforts to clear himself, as he was now in the frame. And to find out who or what was behind everything that was going on. He also needed to contact Richard as soon as possible, especially after what had been revealed during his interview.

  Once Malik had left the building Detective Inspector Davis picked up the phone, this was not a call he wanted to make but he was fairly sure Harris would be open to other suggestions after the initial disclosure that they were going to have to treat the deaths of Stephanie Jameson and Natasha Ericsson as murder.

  “This is Detective Inspector Davis; can I speak with Chief Superintendent Harris?”

  Chapter Forty

  Janus sat down in the Estuary café near the police station; the morning's events had shaken him badly. He ordered a coffee.

  The police now had him in their sights as the person responsible for the fire at Richard's house and the deaths of Stephanie and her nanny. He sighed, all this before ten in the morning. He took out his mobile phone and pressed the speed dial for Richard, expecting the voice mail to kick in again, as it had done on every other occasion he'd attempted to contact his boss.

  “Richard Jameson,” Richard answered.

  “Richard, at last, it's Janus. I'm so sorry.”

  “Janus, my friend; you’ve heard then?”

  “Yes. I'm truly sorry. Is there anything I can do?”

  “Not really. Liz is being taken to the mental hospital shortly…”

  “Mental hospital?” Janus said, aghast.

  “Yes, she's had a breakdown. Stephanie was everything to her and her one and only chance at motherhood. Now that has been taken from her.”

  “Richard, if only I could change things. It's my fault.”

  “What on earth are you talking about, Janus?”

  “That note, Richard. I shouldn't have given you my manuscript.”

  “What do you mean? What note?”

  “The one at the restaurant, it wasn't for you, it was for me.”

  Richard recalled the lunch at the Royal Dragon, and the note, 'If you carry on publishing work of this kind expect an accident within your family'. “Don't be daft, Janus. That was just a stupid prank, besides you don't have any family,” Richard said bluntly.

  “No, but since you took me on and took me in, you and your family, and Mandy, have been the nearest thing to a family I've had. And Mandy, she was the closest thing to a sister I ever had.”

  “I see what you're saying; but I'm not convinced…” Richard's voice trailed away. “Janus, I've got to go, I've got to settle Liz in the hospital and the doctor's just arrived.”

  “One thing, Richard.”

  “Quickly then, Janus.”

  “I should have helped Stepha
nie. I had a vision about what happened. I saw it.”

  “Did your vision show you a date, a time?”

  “No,” Janus replied.

  “I know you have abilities, Janus, and I know they're sometimes helpful to you. But if you didn't know the day then there was nothing you could have done. Believe me, Janus, none of this is your fault. Okay? Do you understand that?”

  “Yes, Richard,” Janus answered flatly, his feeling of guilt almost assuaged.

  “Janus, I must go. Liz needs me.” Richard put the phone down.

  Janus was glad for what his boss had said but it hardly touched the guilt he was feeling about the loss of the Jameson's only child.

  Chapter Forty-one

  Janus decided to walk back to his flat, it wasn’t far and he needed time to think to make up his mind about what he would do next.

  He was still deep in thought when he got to the entrance and didn't notice the two men sitting in the car opposite. He opened the door and entered; walking slowly up the stairs to his first floor flat.

  Janus knew he needed to make contact with the spirit once more, just to find out what he had missed when the police had interrupted his séance. He quickly walked around his room closing the blinds, turning the radio on, before finally sitting back down on his sofa; a hissing gently filling the room.

  “My guide of guides, please find the spirit of Arthur Doyle. It is necessary that I am in contact with him once more.” The low level hiss of the radio continued.

  “My guide of guides,” suddenly the hiss turned into a crackling static, Janus sighed with relief.

  “Hotel Lima One, Hotel Lima One. Do you read?” came a voice breaking through the radio's noise.

  NO, NO, NO, Janus thought angrily, as the police band bled over the radio signal; then the gentle hiss of the un-tuned radio’s static started up once more.

  Janus turned the radio off. It was apparent that there would not be any contact with the spirit world at this time. He was going to have to figure out what he would have been told if he hadn't been interrupted earlier.

  He thought back to the spirit’s last words, ’Richard must live, but one other must….’ One other must what? he thought, closing his eyes; searching for the answer: but nothing came to him.

  Putting the thought to one side he wondered what else he could do to shed light on all that he now knew.

  Getting up from his sofa he went and sat in the chair in the alcove that was his study, the one he used when writing. He hoped this would create a spark that would enable him to figure out a way to add to his knowledge; something that would give him the upper hand to stymie the police’s views and conclusions.

  Sitting at his desk he leant forward placing his elbows on the table and his chin in his hands, closing his eyes and opening his mind again.

  What else can I do to get to the bottom of this? he asked himself

  He listened to his breathing, focusing on nothing, waiting for an idea to bud. Then it was there; during the time he'd been investigating the problem, he’d only focused on Mandy and had ignored what had happened to Liz. He’d never considered, further, his intuition that Liz's car crash had been more than an accident. Perhaps getting to the bottom of this would reveal the information that would help him fill in what the spirit had almost been able to tell him.

  But before he took any further action he would attempt to contact the spirit world again; hoping he would get through this time. He put the radio on and sat back in his sofa.

  “My guide of guides.” Static prevailed.

  “My guide of all guides, if there is a time in which I need you to answer, it is now; is there any information you can pass on to me at this time?” There was no change to the white noise issuing forth from his radio.

  “My guide, please hear me now, at this time more than any other I require your guidance.” The hiss of the radio continued as before.

  Janus stood up from his sofa and turned the radio off, any thought as to help from the spirit world being dismissed. It was obvious that nothing was going to happen. It was now down to him to find out more about the circumstances surrounding Liz’s accident and Mandy’s death.

  Janus recalled a conversation the Jamesons had had the last time he was at their house for dinner. Richard could not stop praising the family run garage for the quality of work they did and for their ever so reasonable prices. Liz had chipped in her praises too.

  Richard had even suggested to Janus that, although he was based in Leigh, he ought to take his car to Brown's Automotive Services & Sundries for servicing when it was required. The round trip would be more than worthwhile.

  There was no other option; he would have to go to Hertfordshire and the Jameson's local garage, in Chorleywood, to understand everything about the Jameson's car, which was more likely a four wheel drive MVP rather than a car, but that fact was fairly irrelevant.

  If there was anything untoward about how Liz had received her car, after its service, or there was something about the way the service had been done that was different from usual, he needed to know.

  Janus considered himself lucky to know of the Jameson's preferred garage; it certainly made the next steps he would have to take a lot easier. The only thing was getting there.

  After checking the National Rail Enquiries web site he decided to wait until the next day, before he could haul himself off to Chorelywood. The train connections weren't that great and if he left today, he'd probably arrive after Brown's garage had closed.

  Chapter Forty-two

  Once Janus Malik had left the interview room at Leigh police station, Detective Inspector Davis had called Superintendent Harris.

  “Superintendent?” the desk sergeant said, after Harris answered his phone.

  “Yes, what is it?” Harris was upset; things didn't seem to be going so well at the moment. His glorious clean handover to his replacement was looking like it would not be so clean after all.

  “I've a Detective Inspector Davis on the line for you.”

  “Good, put him through.”

  “Super', I've got some news.”

  “It'd better be good, Davis.”

  Davis wondered what he should tell the Super' first, the fact that they had got a suspect or the fact that the Strickland suicide was going to have to be investigated again, but this time as a murder. He plumped for the good news first.

  “It is. We have a suspect for the fire at the Jamesons’ house. Admittedly the evidence is circumstantial at the moment, but we're working on that. But the best thing is that this person could also be the perp behind the Strickland suicide, which is now looking like murder, because of the Jameson link between the two cases, obviously.”

  Harris was silent for a moment, contemplating the news; then he smiled to himself, Okay the Strickland case was more than likely going to be opened up again, but now that didn't matter so much, because Thames Valley had a suspect.

  “What have you got for me, Davis?”

  “Janus Malik.”

  “Janus Malik! Are you sure?” Harris never thought that he would hear that name in the frame, but… come to think of it…

  “Sir, he's certainly close to all the victims and had access.”

  “But what about a motive? R.J.P had just published his latest book and why would he want to dispose of the Strickland woman?”

  “We're working on the theory that he was having an affair with Mr Jameson's wife and that Jameson's PA found out what was going on and was about to announce the whole damned thing to the world.

  “We also know from the previous investigation that Amanda Strickland was not in a good position financially, she may have been attempting to blackmail Janus Malik, but we need to do more work on that.”

  “And what about the fire?” Harris continued.

  “We think that he was trying to hide some evidence of the affair; perhaps letters, perhaps something else, but if the explosion could be put down to a gas leak then that would be good.”

  “The da
ughter and the nanny?” Harris was now hoping that everything was going to be tidied up in a nice little package that he could present to the CPS on his leaving.

  “The team reckons that he expected the whole place to be burnt to the ground before the fire brigade got there.

  “Sir, if we could tie the whole thing up then that would fit in with your requirements wouldn’t it? And that would be the end of our arrangement?” Davis was thankful to his former boss for sorting out his move to Thames Valley, especially after that little incident, but the stress of the debt had always been there, nagging at the back of his mind. If he could wrap this whole thing up then surely his former boss would be obliged to remove the proverbial Sword of Damocles, which had been hanging over his head for such a long time, once and for all.

  “Yes, Davis, okay, carry on as you are. Let's see what else this Malik has been up to.”

  “Okay, sir,” Davis said, happier than he had been in a long time since the reappearance of his former Guv’.

  Chapter Forty-three

  Janus awoke to the sound of his alarm. From the information he had got from the National Rail Enquiries website, he knew he had to be at Leigh station ready to catch the 9.22 a.m. departure, which was in about an hour. The journey was about two and a half hours, in total, and consisted of minimal changes. From Fenchurch Street he would have to get to Marylebone then from there he could get to Chorleywood.

  Brown's Automotive Services and Sundries was only a short walk from Chorleywood station; in fact it was only around the corner, in Shire Lane.

  Janus got up and put the percolator on, then jumped in the shower.

  After his coffee he left his flat for the station. He wondered what he would say to the staff of the garage once he got there. He needed to know a few things but how would they take the questioning? Would they be friendly and answer questions from an outsider or would he be treated as an out of towner? He didn't know; he hoped they were ordinary, reasonable people.