Cold Revenge (Willis/Carter #6)(51)

Willis nodded and started packing her rucksack. ‘You’d better be prepared for the worst. If we find links to you in those graves, you may never get out of here.’

‘Don’t threaten me.’ Douglas jumped forwards a little, his anger uncontained. He was a few inches from Willis’s face. She raised her hand and firmly, gently, pushed him back.

‘Personal space, remember?’ Willis signalled to Kowalski outside that she was ready to leave. ‘I will be in to see you soon. By that time I may have some more news about Lambs Farm.’

Douglas turned away and stared at the spot on the wall, a stain.

On the way out Willis wanted to talk to Kowalski.

‘It’s important that Mr Douglas doesn’t get access to anything from the outside, now we are investigating two murders of people he was close to. I want his cell searched for a phone. He’s not to go off on any work parties.’

‘Douglas is no problem. The governor allows him a fair bit of freedom. He deserves it, he spends all his time helping the others with their legal papers, their letters home. He also brings in a fair bit of revenue for the prison from the kitchen. This is the governor’s shout, not mine and not yours.’

‘Okay, I’ll put it in writing. He’s not to go out unaccompanied. It’s dangerous for him at the moment.’ Kowalski opened the door for her. She paused before exiting. ‘Do we understand one another?’

‘We do, but it’s our business to look after Jimmy, not the Met’s.’





Chapter 27


After Willis had gone, Douglas stood with his back to the cell door and focused on the spot on the wall straight ahead. It was a point of meditation for him. A stain on the wall, a hole. A stain exposed layers of old paint and years of dirt from people who had passed through the cell, lived there for a while, left their lives in the walls, their crimes, their failures, their dead and dying dreams. It was his porthole to a fantasy world. He thought about Heather. Douglas had actually first got Heather to speak to him on a Saturday when she was hurrying to catch the bus into town and she passed him as he stood by his gates. Her face was burning red from the heat of the May sun and the exertion of running for the bus. She had her backpack slowing her down. She was going into town.

‘My, you’re in a hurry, aren’t you?’

She paused by the gateway to the bungalow’s field and shaded her eyes to get a better look at who was talking.

‘I’ve seen you at the farm, haven’t I?’ he said. Douglas’s good looks meant he looked twenty-four instead of thirty-four.

Heather nodded. She knew very well who he was. All the stable girls fancied him, but he’d never talked to her before and now was not a good time, as she had to hurry to catch the bus, yet she didn’t want to be rude.

He looked at her backpack. ‘Where are you going?’

‘Town.’

‘I’ll give you a lift. I’m on my way there now.’

Heather started to shake her head and then looked up the lane. If she missed this bus there would be no more today.

‘Thanks.’

He went around the other side of the van and opened the passenger door for her.

‘What’s your name?’

‘Heather.’

He held out his hand, with a smile.

‘How do you do?’ He took her hand and held on to it, turned it over and looked at it. ‘Pretty hands.’ He ran the tip of his finger along the inside of her wrist.

She pulled her hand away and rubbed where it tickled.

He stood behind her as she bent to get into the van. She was hot and her T-shirt stuck to her back; it rose up. He saw the dip at the base of her spine and the perfect strip of skin.

The first girl he’d had sex with was fourteen and he was twelve and he tried to do what he saw on the films. She’d laughed at his small cock and he’d hit her. Once he started hitting her he couldn’t stop until she managed to fight him off. She’d let him try again and this time he’d managed it and she agreed he wasn’t small – when he was erect he was bigger than average. She agreed because he held a knife to her throat.

By that time Douglas was fourteen and had learnt that his pretty looks could fool a lot of people into thinking he was sweeter-natured than he was. Douglas learnt to open doors for women, he learnt to make witty conversation and he learnt to have sex in many more ways than they showed in porno movies because he understood that to really have power over someone you had to make them feel safe first. You had to gain their trust, you had to find out what was in their heart, what was the one thing they wanted in life. And you had to collect people’s dreams like a magpie collects shiny things, you had to pretend to give them everything.

Outside, the corridor banged and shouted into life.

‘How’s it going today, Jimmy?’ Officer Kowalski unlocked his cell door. ‘What’s on the menu today?’

Douglas turned with a smile. ‘What do you fancy? Pigeon breast in port and cranberry sauce? Suckling pig with crispy skin to die for?’

‘You’re making my mouth water.’

‘Ha-ha, well, I’m putting together a great Christmas menu, and I’ll make sure you get to approve it.’

‘You know, Jimmy,’ Officer Kowalski looked along the corridor, and then took a step inside the cell, ‘I am sorry to hear about your old girlfriend.’