Liar Liar - [52]
Ford briefly met Helen’s gaze, then resumed staring at his feet.
‘How many tours of the fires did you do that night?’
‘Just the one.’
‘You absolutely sure about that?’
‘Course.’
‘The fires at both Bertrand’s Emporium and the Simmses’ residence started well before midnight. I would estimate it’s only a fifteen-minute journey back to your house from Millbrook, allowing you plenty of time to change into your uniform and head back to the site of the first fire.’
‘No.’
‘It would have got going nicely by then, wouldn’t it?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Oh, I think you do, because you caught it on camera.’
‘No law against that,’ Ford shot back.
‘But it’s not your job, is it? That’s the work of fire investigators. You’re job is to fight the fire. Yet we found footage of your house of all three fires that night. According to the time code on the tapes, this footage was recorded around two thirty a.m., well after you and the other volunteers had left the scene of the fire in Millbrook. The others went home to clean up presumably, but you went back.’
Ford said nothing.
‘So that makes at least two tours of the sites. And I’d like to suggest that actually you made three tours – if you include the one where you set the fires.’
‘No way.’
‘Do you smoke, Richard?’
‘Sometimes.’
‘Which brand?’
‘Don’t answer that,’ Shapiro said quickly.
‘We’ll come back to that,’ Helen continued.
‘I’d like to talk to you a little bit more about that footage, if I may?’ DS Sanderson piped up. It had been pre-agreed that she would wade in at the appropriate point, to keep the opposition on their toes. ‘Can you confirm that the recordings – of all six recent fires – were made by you personally?’
Ford shrugged.
‘Yes or no?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why did you record the fires?’
‘For professional purposes,’ Shapiro intervened.
‘I’m asking Mr Ford, not you,’ Sanderson said brusquely.
‘It’s my job. I’m interested in it, like.’
‘Fire interests you?’
Ford said nothing.
‘I’d say it interests you very much,’ Sanderson suggested, unabashed. ‘I think you spent most of your time in that little room at the top of the house. You wouldn’t believe the amount of newspapers, empty pizza boxes, cans and so on we found up there. Have you been living in that room? Do you sleep in that room?’
‘Sometimes.’
‘Yet there’s no bed. No TV. No heating except a small stove. There’s very little in the way of home comforts in fact, but… there is your collection, isn’t there?’
As the words hung in the air, Helen took over.
‘We’ve bagged every last item. The books, the DVDs, the clippings, the recordings, everything.’
Helen watched Ford closely – how would he react to knowing that his precious haul was now in the hands of strangers? And worse than strangers, the police.
‘We found a lot of souvenirs, Richard. A fire-damaged sign from Travell’s, a cash box from Bertrand’s, family photos from the Bevois Mount fire. You went back to these sites – returned to the scene of the crime – and took things that didn’t belong to you. Your little trophies…’
Ford gave Helen a look then dropped his gaze. Was that anger Helen saw?
‘You took them because you wanted to revel in your crimes. In the wanton destruction and loss of life that you have caused. And when DC Brooks came to talk to you yesterday, you tried to destroy the evidence.’
‘It’s her word against his -’
‘Are you kidding me?’ Helen replied angrily. ‘We pulled tapes, clippings and more from that stove. Your client was destroying the evidence because he’s guilty, because he’d been caught red-handed. Two people are dead, two more are grievously injured and I would suggest that unless your client wants to spend the rest of his life behind bars, then he’d better start talking.’
Helen turned, fixing Ford in the eye.
‘So what’s it going to be, Richard? Are you going to play ball or shall I charge you with a double murder here and now?’
69
The wheels squeaked noisily as they slid over the tired linoleum floor. Thomas Simms cursed under his breath – he already felt as if the eyes of everyone in the hospital were glued to him and his son. He didn’t need the ancient hospital wheelchair trumpeting their presence to one and all.
It was a long journey from Luke’s ward to the main exit and each step of the way Thomas questioned the wisdom of what he was doing. He hated being away from Alice and it was convenient to have Luke in the same place, being looked after by the attentive nurses. But his son had begged to be discharged and in the end Thomas had relented. There was little more that the surgeons or doctors could do – Luke’s legs were set in heavy plaster after the operation, his shoulder was in a sling – now there was nothing to do but rest up and wait. And Luke clearly didn’t want to do that here.
Here he couldn’t hide from the visitors, journalists or prurient well-wishers, so Thomas had arranged that they would go and stay with his sister, Mary, who had a big place in Upper Shirley. They obviously couldn’t go back to their own house – Thomas privately wondered if they would ever return there again – and he couldn’t face staying in a hotel, so Mary’s had seemed a good bet. He and his older sister hadn’t always got on, but it was the best he could do in a no-win situation.
The international bestseller that "grabs the reader by the throat" (Crime Time).First in the new series featuring Detective Inspector Helen Grace.Two people are abducted, imprisoned, and left with a gun. As hunger and thirst set in, only one walks away alive.It's a game more twisted than any Detective Inspector Helen Grace has ever seen. If she hadn't spoken with the shattered survivors herself, she almost wouldn't believe them.Helen is familiar with the dark sides of human nature, including her own, but this case-with its seemingly random victims-has her baffled.
Детектив-инспектор Хелен Грейс расследует серию преступлений, в каждом из которых похищены два человека. Похититель ставит свои жертвы перед страшным выбором – убить другого или умереть самому. Как долго продолжится эта смертельная игра, зависит только от Хелен. Ведь этими похищениями маньяк шлет послание лично ей.
Detective Helen Grace is on the trail of a twisted serial killer in this riveting thriller in the gripping * international bestselling series."Ruby wakes up in a strange room. Her captor calmly explains that no one is looking for her. No one wants her. Except him."When the body of a woman is found buried on a secluded beach, Detective Helen Grace is called to the scene. She knows right away that the killer is no amateur. The woman has been dead for years, and no one has even reported her missing. But why would they? She s still sending text messages to her family.Helen is convinced that a criminal mastermind is at work: someone very smart, very careful, and worst of all, very patient.
Detective Helen Grace faces her own dark compulsions in the new thriller from the international best-selling author of Pop Goes the Weasel and Eeny Meeny.In a world where disguises and discretion are the norm, and where one admission could unravel a life, a killer has struck, and a man is dead. No one wants to come forward to say what they saw or what they know – including the woman heading the investigation: Detective Helen Grace.Helen knew the victim. And the victim knew her – better than anyone else.
From the international bestselling author of Eeny Meeny comes the second thriller in the truly excellent series * featuring Detective Helen Grace."A man s body is found in an empty house.A gruesome memento of his murder is sent to his wife and children."He is the first victim, and Detective Helen Grace knows he will not be the last. But why would a happily married man be this far from home in the dead of night?The media call it Jack the Ripper in reverse: a serial killer preying on family men who lead hidden double lives.Helen can sense the fury behind the murders.
Действие романа происходит в нулевых или конце девяностых годов. В книге рассказывается о расследовании убийства известного московского ювелира и его жены. В связи с вступлением наследника в права наследства активизируются люди, считающие себя обделенными. Совершено еще два убийства. В центре всех событий каким-то образом оказывается соседка покойных – молодой врач Наталья Голицына. Расследование всех убийств – дело чести майора Пронина, который считает Наталью не причастной к преступлению. Параллельно в романе прослеживается несколько линий – быт отделения реанимации, ювелирное дело, воспоминания о прошедших годах и, конечно, любовь.
Егор Кремнев — специальный агент российской разведки. Во время секретного боевого задания в Аргентине, которое обещало быть простым и безопасным, он потерял всех своих товарищей.Но в его руках оказался секретарь беглого олигарха Соркина — Михаил Шеринг. У Шеринга есть секретные бумаги, за которыми охотится не только российская разведка, но и могущественный преступный синдикат Запада. Теперь Кремневу предстоит сложная задача — доставить Шеринга в Россию. Он намерен сделать это в одиночку, не прибегая к помощи коллег.
Опорск вырос на берегу полноводной реки, по синему руслу которой во время оно ходили купеческие ладьи с восточным товаром к западным и северным торжищам и возвращались опять на Восток. Историки утверждали, что название городу дала древняя порубежная застава, небольшая крепость, именованная Опорой. В злую годину она первой встречала вражьи рати со стороны степи. Во дни же затишья принимала застава за дубовые стены торговых гостей с их товарами, дабы могли спокойно передохнуть они на своих долгих и опасных путях.
Как часто вы ловили себя на мысли, что делаете что-то неправильное? Что каждый поступок, что вы совершили за последний час или день, вызывал все больше вопросов и внутреннего сопротивления. Как часто вы могли уловить скольжение пресловутой «дорожки»? Еще недавний студент Вадим застает себя в долгах и с безрадостными перспективами. Поиски заработка приводят к знакомству с Михаилом и Николаем, которые готовы помочь на простых, но весьма странных условиях. Их мотивация не ясна, но так ли это важно, если ситуация под контролем и всегда можно остановиться?
Из экспозиции крымского художественного музея выкрадены шесть полотен немецкого художника Кингсховера-Гютлайна. Но самый продвинутый сыщик не догадается, кто заказчик и с какой целью совершено похищение. Грабители прошли мимо золотого фонда музея — бесценной иконы «Рождество Христово» работы учеников Рублёва и других, не менее ценных картин и взяли полотна малоизвестного автора, попавшие в музей после войны. Читателя ждёт захватывающий сюжет с тщательно выписанными нюансами людских отношений и судеб героев трёх поколений.
Александра никому не могла рассказать правду и выдать своего мужа. Однажды под Рождество Роман приехал домой с гостем, и они сразу направились в сауну. Александра поспешила вслед со свежими полотенцами и халатами. Из открытого окна клубился пар и были слышны голоса. Она застыла, как соляной столп и не могла сделать ни шага. Голос, поразивший её, Александра узнала бы среди тысячи других. И то, что обладатель этого голоса находился в их доме, говорил с Романом на равных, вышибло её из равновесия, заставило биться сердце учащённо.