The Moor (DCI Ryan Mysteries, #11)(75)

“It would hide an existing wound,” MacKenzie realised.

“Bingo,” Ryan said. “It completely obliterates the evidence of a previous attack, which I think happened soon after Charlie came back to his caravan, not long after nine o’clock.”

He could almost hear the cogs whirring.

“So, let me see if I have this right,” Phillips said, leaning his elbows on the table. “You’re telling me somebody snuck across to the caravan to lie in wait for Charlie, so that when he went inside his caravan he was disabled by a blow to the head. We didn’t see this on the tape, because they avoided setting off the motion-activated light and just walked around the back of it, so the tape would stay dark. Right?”

“Right.”

“The doors are always open, as we already know, so that’s no great surprise. But how did they lock it…” Phillips trailed off. “Ah, wait, now I see.”

He shook his head, almost in admiration.

“That’s bold,” he said. “Very bold.”

“Hang on! Some of us haven’t read the case papers,” Gregory protested, dunking the last of his soda bread. “Then what happened?”

“The person who disabled Charlie could have used a rock, a kettle, anything. The CSIs haven’t finished going over every item in the caravan, so we’ll wait to see what heavy object they find that fits the bill. But they brought the pistol with them, for later, and left it inside the doorway, or they already knew where Charlie kept his own. I think we’re going to find our Mr O’Neill had some side ventures, so it’s likely he kept some protection in the caravan.”

“And so, they left again, under cover of darkness?” Gregory asked.

“Yes, they left the door unlocked as they went, because it serves a purpose later. That’s another very high-risk move,” he said. “Anybody could have come along to see Charlie in that time, and could have stepped inside. But there was a tight turnaround and they had to take the chance.”

“They,” MacKenzie murmured. “Aye, I see what you mean.”

It was like they were speaking a different language, Gregory thought. One where each followed the other’s train of thought, and needed only to say a couple of words to be understood. “Marco and Leonie walked deliberately beneath the lights because they wanted their little drama to be captured on camera. They wanted us to see them trying the door, apparently finding Charlie dead, then Marco kicking the door down. In all fairness, I think the vomiting part was genuine,” Ryan said.

“What really happened was, Marco tried the door—which was actually unlocked—and then clicked the latch before breaking it down, for show. When he ran inside, he picked up the pistol that had already been left waiting for him, and staged the rest of the so-called suicide. He had his gloves on, but there’s nowhere to stash them in a leotard, so he had to hide them somewhere inside. I think they’re still there, and he was hoping they’d never be found if we believed the idea of it having been a suicide.”

“So, it was never locked,” Gregory said. “And they waited until the fireworks started before running for help and completing the rest of their plan. That’s cunning.”

“Yes, and planned to the finest detail, given the time constraints,” Ryan said. “They had to act quickly. I think, when Pinter’s report comes back, we’ll find that Leonie exercised enough force to kill Charlie from the off. There was no assurance that he’d stay down, otherwise.”

“But are you saying Marco was the one to kill Esme, too? I thought they were going away together?”

“No, I think that was Leonie,” Ryan said. “Contrary to what her husband said, I think she found out about his plan to leave her, and went around to confront Esme about it. When she saw the bags already packed, a terrible fight started, and Leonie saw red. She wasn’t pregnant back then, and she’s very strong, so it would have been easy to gain the upper hand.”

There were nods around the table. It took the strength of a world-class gymnast to perform acrobatic displays of the kind they’d seen at O’Neill’s.

“Samantha remembered the trapdoor opening during our session,” Gregory put in. “It seems that’s where the killer—Leonie—bundled Esme’s body for safekeeping. The rucksack went that way, too, and then she put everything back as she found it. Samantha remembers the coffee table being moved around, to cover the edges of the trap door so as not to arouse suspicion.”

“Poor kid,” Ryan said, as they heard the dulcet tones of Angela Lansbury wafting through from the living room.

“But why did Marco stay with Leonie after she’d killed Esme?” MacKenzie wondered. “I know, there’s the argument that they’re as bad as each other, but—”

“I don’t think he ever knew,” Ryan replied. “When we spoke to him today, I think he was telling us the truth about that part.”

“Why would he help her to get rid of Charlie, then?”

“We’ll have to ask them, but my guess would be that Leonie lied, and told Marco that she’d found out Charlie was the one to kill Esme. Maybe she said she’d acted in the heat of the moment, whacking him around the head, and they needed to make it look like a suicide—otherwise, their baby would be born in prison.”