The Sister(191)

The computer chimed its electronic delivery tone, announcing the arrival of a new message. He opened it. The contents proved Kennedy was no rapist, but raised disturbing questions. First things first.

He picked up the phone and dialled.

‘Mrs Solomons, there’s been an important development regarding the blood sample we analysed from your house. I think it’s best if we talk about this face to face.’

‘Is it that serious? Look, I’m not leaving Tina,’ she said firmly. ‘Can you come here?’

‘I don’t want to worry you unnecessarily, but it’s best I see you. Are you there for an hour or so?’





Tanner arrived within the hour, and she let him in. Tina stood protectively by her side. ‘Mrs Solomons.’ He glanced at Tina. ‘We need to speak in private.’

‘Call me Jackie.’ She turned Tina to face the stairs. ‘Wait upstairs for me; this will only take a minute.’

‘What’s going on, John?’

‘I think you'd better sit down,’ he said, steering her towards the couch. ‘You won’t believe this, but the DNA we took from your house. It’s a match with the sample taken from you, from when you were raped sixteen years ago.’

A stunned silence reigned for a complete minute while Jackie struggled to comprehend.

‘But that must mean…’ Tears welled, and she wiped them away on her sleeve. ‘John, I need to get my daughter back from social services. Will you help me?’

‘As soon as I get back, I’ll have someone call you. Are you sure you’ll be okay, just you and your daughter … she seems a bit young.’

‘We’ll be fine; I just need a moment alone.’

He let himself out and strolled to the car. So, Kennedy was no rapist.





After the suicide verdict, Kennedy’s funeral took place on a wild, wet and windy day. Over a hundred people packed into the tiny church for the service. Tanner welcomed the invitation by Rose and John Kennedy to deliver a eulogy on behalf of his friends and colleagues.

‘Not many people knew John Kennedy like I did.’

He spoke of him warmly. His eyes settled on Kennedy’s parents, Rose in a wheelchair, and John senior as always, by her side. He thought they'd diminished in physical stature, seemed to have shrunk since the last time he saw them. Their wet eyes shone with pride, as Tanner listed their son’s many achievements.

‘…and he was a great friend, and I wish he could have confided his troubles in someone, but that was the sort of man he was, fiercely private. He wouldn’t have wanted to burden anybody else with his problems.’ He looked up, eyes focused on an infinity beyond the roof of the church. ‘John, heaven will be a safer place now you’re there, and knowing you it won’t be long before you start going after the top job.’ Faces lit with smiles through the tears. ‘Rest in peace my friend.’

Theresa dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.

Miller didn’t venture far inside, preferring to observe the proceedings from behind everyone else.

The discovery of Melissa Lake’s diaries in a hollowed out section of Boyle’s bathroom door had exonerated Kennedy of all suspicion over the Gasman attacks. The detailed chronicles she’d kept as her life insurance, proved to be the salvation of Kennedy’s reputation.





After the burial, Tanner caught up with Miller in the car park and confided in him.

‘I can’t tell you how bad Theresa and I felt suspecting Kennedy was behind a lot of the things that were going on.’

‘Such a shame for his parents,’ Theresa lamented.

‘It wasn’t all bad,’ Miller told them. ‘It led to the arrest and conviction of Danny Lynch and the key members if his gang.’ He folded down his fingers as he continued. ‘What happened to Kennedy led directly to the rescue of Stella Bird, and the release of her long lost sister. It brought about the reunion   of the missing girl, Eilise Staples, and her real mother. And one other thing…’ Miller paused. Some things have to happen, before other things can happen. Was she behind all this? He wondered just how far she’d have had to stretch her self-imposed ‘cameraman’ limits to engineer all those things.

Tanner interrupted his thoughts. ‘I’m still waiting for the report on how you found Boyles flat…’ he winked, ‘and let’s not forget, we solved a lot of old cases out of it too. Even if Boyle is still out there.’

Miller nodded. ‘Yes, that’s true. Something I have to say to you though Tanner. I know you think Kennedy was the Vigilante killer.’

‘Who told you that?’

‘I just know,’ he said, shrugging his shoulders. ‘It wasn’t him, it was Boyle again. He knew Kennedy would likely struggle with an alibi, so it was another way of keeping the poor guy under pressure… The thing is – and I know it’s a bit controversial, but it’s just us talking here – in those cases, Boyle actually did some good.’

Tanner shook his head. ‘I can’t say I disagree with the sentiment, but I can still see Kennedy doing it. Anyway, the official line is that those killings remain unsolved.’

Miller ran his fingertip over the scar on his chin, thoughtfully, and raised his eyebrows at Tanner.