LITMIR.BIZ

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he was watching me. He would turn up behind me when I was walking down the street or driving somewhere, even if it was somewhere I hadn’t planned to be. It was his way of letting me know that he was there, so I wouldn’t do anything stupid.’

      ‘So what made him move in Christina?’

      Ted turned to Charlie. ‘She’s not called Christina. She’s called Lucy, and was the girl they caught me with in the car.’ When Charlie raised his eyebrows, he added, ‘I told you it was a set-up.’

      Billy was speaking again.

      ‘My old friends drifted back and so the parties carried on. Then Henry turned up again, and I told him to stay away, that I didn’t want him round anymore.’

      ‘Why not?’

      ‘Because it just wasn’t right. What happened to Alice, and because some of the girls he brought with him were, well …’

      ‘Too young?’

      ‘Maybe. I’m not a good person, I know that, but I’m no child molester. And Henry was cruel.’

      ‘How do you mean?’ Amelia said.

      ‘If someone didn’t want to take part, he would make them.’

      ‘You need to explain, Billy,’ Amelia said, some tension creeping into her voice. ‘This is your story, not mine. You have to tell it.’

      Billy nodded and took a deep breath. ‘Before Henry started coming to the parties, things happened because everyone wanted it to. Random sex, sometimes threesomes, even more occasionally. And women together. It was just everyone getting off in every room, like every man’s fantasy. It was fun and everyone had a good time. If you just wanted to drink, or take some coke, that was okay, but not in Henry’s world. He made people do things. To him, to each other.’

      ‘And he made you do things?’

      ‘Sometimes,’ Billy said, looking down, his cheeks flushed red. ‘Some of the girls Henry brought would start to cry, say that they didn’t want to, but Henry would make them. Or the other guy, the one who killed Alice.’

      Ted gasped at that but stayed silent. Charlie knew he had been waiting a long time to hear this story.

      ‘Tell me about him,’ Amelia said.

      There was another long sigh from Billy. ‘He’s a big Scandinavian guy. Arni, they called him. Muscles and long hair. But it wasn’t just his build. He was nasty and vicious. He didn’t smile much, and if people didn’t do what he wanted, he would hit them. Usually just slaps, but if someone that big hits you, it hurts, and so you do as he says.’

      ‘What happened to Alice?’ Amelia said.

      Billy looked up at the ceiling and another tear ran down his cheek. ‘It was the same old crowd, Henry’s lot, all in black, but there was someone new with them.’

      ‘Alice?’

      Billy nodded. ‘She was different. Her clothes were brighter, and she was talking politics at first, because she seemed interested in what they had to say, how they lived their lives.’

      ‘So how did it go wrong?’

      ‘It went the usual way, with the women naked, and Henry telling them who to have sex with, as if he was dishing out treats. Alice looked embarrassed, as if she didn’t want to be there, but was too polite to leave. Then one of the girls didn’t want to take part, and so Arni tried to make her. He held her down and told one of the men to, well, you know. Alice tried to stop him, said that it was wrong, that it was rape, which made Arni angrier.’

      ‘What happened?’

      ‘Arni did to the girl what Alice accused him of. He held her, face down, and had sex with her, and everyone else just watched and let him carry on as the girl screamed.’

      ‘Everyone?’

      Billy swallowed.

      ‘Yes, me too,’ he said, and then shook his head. ‘Everyone except Alice. She tried to stop it, but people held her back.’

      ‘Did you hold her back?’

      ‘No, I didn’t,’ he said, ‘but I did something just as bad.’

      ‘Which was what?’

      ‘I did nothing. I let it happen because I was scared, except that Alice wasn’t, and the more the girl struggled and cried, the more Alice tried to stop it.’

      ‘What happened next?’

      ‘Henry told Arni to shut the bitch up, and so Arni took the knife from his waistband. It was long, with a serrated edge, and he slashed the girl’s throat. He held her hair back and ran the blade across her neck like he was in a slaughterhouse or something. Blood went onto the floor. Big pools of it.’ Billy wiped his eyes. ‘She died pretty quickly. And then it was Alice’s turn.’

      Charlie leaned forward and put his hand on Ted’s shoulder. ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’

      Ted shrugged it off. ‘I’ve got to do it,’ he said, his voice breaking. ‘I’ve got to know.’

      ‘Arni went towards Alice,’ Billy said, ‘and Henry encouraged him, shouted at Arni to really hurt her, because it will be her last time with a man. Some of the other women held Alice’s arms, Christina too, but Arni couldn’t do it so soon after the other girl, and so Henry took over. Everyone just laughed as Henry raped her, and brutalised her. I couldn’t believe it. They were women, and so what hold must Henry have over them to make them do that? It was almost like he was commanding them, and so if they could do that to Alice, what could they do to me?’

      ‘How did Alice end up in the pool?’ Amelia asked.

      ‘Arni dragged her when Henry had finished. Just pulled her through the house by her hair, naked, and put her in the water. She tried to fight, but Arni was too strong. He held her head under until she stopped struggling. Henry put on the dishwasher first, so that their traces were gone, and then we all left, like we were running away.’

      ‘What about the other girl Arni killed?’

      Billy shrugged. ‘They took her away. I didn’t go with them. I just drove around. I didn’t know what to do.’

      Ted turned to Charlie. ‘You can turn it off now,’ he said. Charlie could tell he was crying.

      When the screen went blank, the only sounds were Ted’s sobs. Charlie didn’t say anything, but then there was a noise in the corner of the room. When he looked, it was Jake, Ted’s son.

      ‘I know who they are,’ Jake said.

      Ted looked surprised. He wiped his eyes. ‘You do? How?’

      Jake looked down, nervous. ‘I guessed some of that story, from things I’ve heard.’

      Ted looked at Charlie, and then back at Jake, before pointing at the sofa.

      ‘You need to talk,’ Ted said.

       Chapter Forty-Four

      Sheldon was wary as he approached the police station. He was on leave, which really meant an unofficial suspension, but he needed to find the connection between Billy Privett and John Abbott, about why Amelia Diaz had made calls relating to John Abbott after videoing Billy.

      He was interested first in why the young woman who had ended up as Billy’s housekeeper had seen a theft case against her dropped. He remembered how Chief Inspector Dixon looked shocked when she saw her in the court corridor, and it had been Dixon who had visited the young woman not long before she was released. It wasn’t too long before she was being photographed in a car with Ted Kenyon, and then the press lost interest in Alice Kenyon and the story became all about Ted.

      The station was mostly in darkness, just the small lamp over the public entrance

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