The Sister(100)

Come on, Johnny. Pick up the phone!

Finally, he answered.

‘Hello, Johnny, is that you?’ he half whispered.

‘Hi, Dad.’ He chuckled. ‘You dialled my number, who else is it going to be?’ He looked at his watch, 10:30. It was late for him to be calling. ‘What’s up? Is everything okay?’

‘Yes son, everything’s fine. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.’

‘Why do you sound like that, Dad, what’s going on?’

‘I just had a call from someone pretending to be Lee Oswald, son. Lee Harvey Oswald.’

Fear fluttered up from the depths of his stomach, catching in his throat, he fumbled over his words. ‘It’s all right. I’m okay. It’s probably just someone playing silly buggers.’

‘But he said he knew you.’

‘Dad, it’s just a nutcase, go to bed now or you’ll start worrying Mum.’

‘He said your full name. He said he always called you Jack.’

The assumed wrong number. Jack. The assassination headline. The pretending to be Lee Harvey Oswald. His heart sank, but he played it down. ‘Look, I think it’s just a prank caller. We’ll keep an eye on it, okay?’

‘Do you really think so? I might be getting old and stupid, but it didn’t sound that way to me. Anyway, you’re a big boy now, if you say it’s okay, then it’s okay.’

‘Yes, really, it’s fine. Tell Mum I’ll be over tomorrow. Oh, look at the time! I have to be up in a few hours.’

His father chuckled softly down the phone. ‘Well I haven’t!’

‘Goodnight, Dad,’ he said.

It was past eleven o’clock when Kennedy put the phone down. He walked down the hall turning off the lights, starting with the kitchen as he always did; a routine he carried out automatically, without thinking. He started thinking about how no one else had his mobile number apart from Marilyn. He considered calling her to ask if she’d given his number out. She’s far too discreet to do that. Then he remembered giving the number as an emergency contact the last time he was with his mum at the hospital. I’m not often home; I’m a detective. He’d said it apologetically as if it explained everything. You can always reach me on this number. He’d given his name. Was it possible someone with a grudge happened to be within earshot when he did that? He had one foot on the bottom step on his way upstairs. The phone rang and startled him. It reminded him of his old school bell. No matter how ready you were for it, when it rang; you still jumped.

Lifting the receiver, he said, ‘Okay, Dad, what did you forget to tell me?’

‘Is that you, JFK?’

Apprehension twisted his stomach into a knot that tightened all the way up into his chest. Kennedy struggled to breathe normally.

‘What is it you want?’

‘What do I want? I want a favour, Jack, I’ll be in touch.’

For a moment, he stood still listening to the handset as if he were unsure the caller really had gone. He dialled 1471. A disembodied voice recording played down the line. You were called today at 11:05 p.m. The caller withheld their number.





Chapter 83



Sunday evening, 18 March





The caller’s tone was insidious and persuasive. ‘Trie, there’s something else you need to do to prove your love for your daughter.’

Her natural instinct was to ask who the hell he thought he was to ask her to prove her love for anybody, but she stayed calm.

‘What’s that?’

‘You’re going to meet me for sex.’

‘That’s preposterous, you’re sick.’

‘Here is my number, write it down.’ She did as he asked, and wrote it down on a scrap of paper. Just the number, no name, and then hid it in the index box. She put it under T. Her thinking was Terri wouldn’t have to look up her number in the index and with no other name under T that Terri would ever need to call, it seemed as good as place as any.

‘You have until tomorrow to decide. Think of it as insurance for your daughter’s future. You are concerned for her future, aren’t you? Oh, and Trie, don’t do anything silly, will you?’ It wasn’t a question. It was an instruction.

If she reported him now, everything would come out, the information she’d planted and the secrets she’d passed. Theresa slumped by the phone considering her options; he had her completely snared. When the police found out, she’d go to prison. When that happened, when little Terri found out, she ran the risk of losing her. She made her decision.

Opening the index, she retrieved the scrap of paper with the number on it, hesitated, then picked up the phone and dialled.





Chapter 84



John Tanner was divorced. He always thought it would be selfish to bring a child into the world and not be there for it. When it became clear to his wife, Maggie, that he wouldn’t relent, she left him, apparently returning to Scotland to be closer to her family. It soon emerged she’d started an affair with one of his colleagues. There were some ugly scenes, culminating in a fight, in the station car park.

Originally tipped to take over from Kennedy, his rival’s position became untenable, and he managed to pull some strings to get a transfer to headquarters in West Lothian. Once there, it wasn’t long before he moved in with Maggie.