Page 48 of Worse Than Murder (DCI Matilda Darke Thriller #13)

‘When Travis wasn’t working on the farm, he was always tinkering around with his car. One day, Jack went out to look for him. The girls were all running around the garden. I think they had a few friends over, too. Jack found Travis in his car, watching them. He… Jesus. He was… pleasuring himself.’

‘Oh my God.’

‘The thing is, Jack…’ Iain pauses. He swallows hard and it looks as if it hurts. ‘Jack said that he understood how Travis felt. He said he felt relief that it wasn’t just him who thought about… children in that way.’

I’ve heard some sick horror stories in my time, but this one is right up there with the most disturbing.

It’s suddenly very hot in here and I feel sick.

I have so many questions racing around my mind, but I don’t want to ask them as I really do not want to hear the answers.

But I’m a detective. It’s my job to ask these questions.

‘What happened?’ I ask. ‘Jack and Travis. What happened next?’

‘I’ve… no idea. Jack started crying. He broke down right in front of me. And I knew. I knew what he’d done.’

‘Did he admit to killing Celia and Jennifer?’

‘No. He said he must have done, but that he couldn’t remember. He said he saw the twins, and Alison, playing in the field. He was watching them and smiling at how much fun they were having. Everything after that was a blank until he drove up to the house and saw the police there.’

‘How much time had gone by from when he was watching them to getting back home?’

‘He didn’t know. I assumed it was hours.’

‘And he had no memory?’

‘None at all.’

‘Did you believe him?’

‘I didn’t know what to believe.’

‘Were Travis and Jack harming the twins together?’

‘I… I don’t know.’ Iain looks as if he wants to vomit. ‘I had so many questions I wanted to ask him, but at the same time I wanted to get as far away from him as possible.’

‘That’s understandable.’

‘I told him he had to go the police. He said he couldn’t as he wouldn’t be able to tell them anything.

I told him to at least tell Lynne. He refused.

He said she was suffering, and he couldn’t hurt her any more than she already was.

I was so angry. I was fuming. I gave him an ultimatum.

I said he had until the following day to either tell Lynne or go to the police, or I’d tell them myself. ’

‘What did he say to that?’

‘He didn’t. He walked away.’

‘Was that the last time you saw him?’

Iain nods. ‘The next day everyone was making a big fuss about the storm that was forecast. I was helping out on the farms and with sandbags. I called Lynne at lunchtime and asked to speak to Jack. She said he’d gone over to see Mum and had taken Alison with him.

The next thing, it’s pitch dark, the storm’s blowing in and Jack’s nowhere to be found.

I went out to look for him. Mum had told me what time they’d left hers.

I couldn’t find him anywhere. I came back.

Lynne refused to do nothing, so we went out again.

That’s when we found the car by the edge of the lake. Alison was asleep in the back.’

‘What do you think happened?’

‘I think he killed himself. He knew I wouldn’t let it rest. He knew I’d either tell Lynne or I’d drag him to the police station. There was no other way out for him. Mum said later that she felt he was saying goodbye while he was there.’

‘But why did he take Alison with him?’

‘That was Lynne’s idea. He said he was going over to see Mum and she said it would be a lovely surprise if she saw Alison. She hadn’t seen her for a while.’

‘And you never said anything about the day before, about finding Jack with the magazine and what he’d told you?’

‘Lynne,’ he says, his voice breaking. ‘She knew that I knew more than I was letting on. Don’t ask me how. She kept badgering me. I had to tell her.’

‘What did she do?’

‘She went apoplectic. I’ve never seen anyone like that before.

I thought she was going to do some serious harm to herself.

We spent hours talking, trying to work out what and why Jack had done what he’d done.

Then, the topic turned to Alison, and we wondered if he’d ever…

you know, touched her. Lynne knew how much Alison doted on her father.

She didn’t want her experiencing more heartache.

We decided, together, with Jack gone, it wasn’t in anyone’s best interest to bring it all up, least of all with Alison. ’

‘But surely, Lynne wanted to find out where Celia and Jennifer were?’

‘She did, but she said protecting Alison was more important.’

‘When the twins disappeared, why did you give Travis an alibi? I’ve seen the two police statements. Lynne said she was on her own, baking in the kitchen. A few days later, she changed it and said she was sleeping with Travis. That wasn’t true, was it?’

‘No.’

‘Then why lie? Why give Travis an alibi after everything he’d done?’

Iain takes a couple of deep breaths. The lines of worry and fear and hatred are etched on his face. He looked physically sick.

‘You’d need to ask Lynne about that.’

‘I’m asking you.’

‘I’d rather Lynne tell you. It was her statement, after all.’

I nod. ‘What happened with Travis? You didn’t wave him off after a family meal, did you?’

‘No. We lied to you. I’m sorry about that.

After me and Lynne had decided what to do for the sake of Alison, I went round to see Travis.

I told him I knew all about him and Jack, his past, and what they’d been up to.

He said I had no proof. He was right. How I kept my hands from him, I’ve no idea.

I wanted to… I wanted to smash his face in.

I told him he was no longer welcome at the paddocks, or the house and I didn’t want to see him again. ’

‘And he just left?’

‘I might have been a bit more forceful. I threatened him. He had this grin on his face. He knew there was nothing I could do. I needed him to know that, if he stayed around here, I’d destroy him.’

‘What happened?’

‘I stood over him while he packed a bag. I drove him out of the village. We drove down the A591. I looked over at him and I decided I didn’t want him in my car anymore. We’d driven far enough. I pulled over and told him to get out.’

‘Where was this?’

‘I don’t know. It was the middle of the night, and to be honest with you, I didn’t give a fuck. I turned around and went back home.’

‘Did he say where he was heading?’

‘No. We didn’t speak at all once we were in the car.’

‘Did you…’

‘Look, Matilda, I’m sorry, but I really don’t care where Travis is or what happened to him.

He came into our lives. My father gave him a job and a roof over his head, and he took advantage of that.

He saw a happy, loving family, and he decided to destroy it for his own sick pleasure.

My brother might have had…’ Iain swallows hard.

He’s clearly struggling with who his brother really was, even after all this time.

‘He might have had proclivities towards young children, but he never acted on it before Travis came along. He never showed… he changed once Travis arrived. Maybe Travis saw something in Jack and took advantage of it. He was an evil man and I’m glad he’s missing.

I just hope he suffered a long, violent and painful death.

Now, if you don’t have anything else to ask me, I’ve got horses that need mucking out. ’

I don’t move. I’m not finished.

‘The sightings of Jack over the years. Did you think they might be real, that he might still be alive?’

‘I don’t know. I hope they’re not. If I do ever see him again, I’ll tear him apart with my bare hands.’

I look down at his huge, calloused hands and see they’re balled up into fists, his knuckles white.

‘The problem I have is with Jack’s disappearance.

At the time, he was struggling with all kinds of emotions.

He’d killed his daughters. He was struggling with his sexual orientation towards young children, and he was about to be exposed.

A man in that position would usually kill his last surviving child, and his wife, as well as himself, in order to protect them from the truth.

Yet, he didn’t do that. He walked away and made it look like he drowned.

That takes planning and organisation. Someone in that state of mind doesn’t have those skills. ’

‘I really wouldn’t like to get into Jack’s head on that last day. Despite all the horror he created and how much I physically hate him, he’s still my brother. I can’t begin to image how much he was suffering.’

‘But if he cared about Alison as much as he claimed, why leave her in the back of the car on her own, in the middle of a storm, when who knows what could have happened to her? She could have died.’

‘But she didn’t.’

‘Jack didn’t know that.’

‘Jack was obviously not in his right mind. He might not have even realised Alison was in the car with him. Maybe his mind told him to end it, and he listened. Look, the twins have been found. Lynne can finally lay them to rest. Surely, we can draw a line under this now. It’s bad enough it’s being brought back to light, but do we need to go over everything? ’

‘To get to the truth, yes.’

‘We have the truth. Just because it’s not on the front pages and everyone isn’t talking about it, doesn’t mean we don’t know. Me and Lynne know what happened. That’s the main thing.’

‘Alison doesn’t.’

‘Alison doesn’t need to know.’

‘I think she does.’

‘That’s none of your business,’ he says, sternly.

‘No. But it is Alison’s.’

‘If you tell her, you’ll kill her. She won’t be able to cope with it.’

‘If she’d been told the truth from the beginning, she wouldn’t be in this situation.’

‘You don’t know what it was like thirty years ago. We were protecting her. We still are. Look, you don’t live here. You don’t know what’s going on in this community. You don’t know this family. Don’t stick your nose in where it doesn’t belong.’

‘Travis did report his car stolen. Three days before the twins disappeared. I…’

‘Look, I’m sorry, but I’m really not interested in anything to do with Travis fucking Montgomery. He’s done enough damage to this family. Now, I’m very busy. I’ve got two new horses coming today. I don’t have time to indulge you in trying to occupy your mind against your own grief.’

Iain doesn’t give me time to respond. He stands up and brushes past me, leaving the small office.

Is that what I’m doing?