Chapter Forty-Nine

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Malcolm pushed open the door and strode to the counter.

"Where's my son?" he wanted to know when he got there. "I know you've got Kieran here, I want to know why, and what some strange detective's doing scaring my daughter. Tara's had enough to deal with the last couple of days, we all have, without having some stranger come banging on the door trying to find her brother."

Harrison was in the interview room, with the door closed, but he, Kieran Wright, and Melissa all heard Malcolm Wright's raised voice as he demanded answers of Constable Black, who was unlucky enough to be at the counter.

"You stay here and keep an eye on Mr Wright, Constable," Harrison told Melissa as he left the room. He reached the counter in just a few long-legged strides and came to a stop alongside Constable Black. "Mr Wright?" he inquired politely; the answer was obvious, but he asked anyway.

"Who the hell are you?" Malcolm asked. He ran his eyes suspiciously over the stranger.

"Detective Inspector Harrison." He showed his warrant card. "I've been asked to look into the murders that have taken place here in Oakhurst, and the two attempts on the life of the man your Sergeant Mitchell has identified as a suspect."

"Who's asked you to do that? We don't need you, we know who the killer is, Lewis already figured it out, it's that Wild bloke," Malcolm said, not happy to hear that an outsider had been brought in to handle things he thought had been all but resolved. "Lewis told me he's just waiting for some test results to come back to confirm that Wild's the killer, once he gets them, Wild'll be going straight from hospital to jail."

"I'm aware of what your sergeant believes, but fresh information suggests that Mr Wild may not be the killer," Harrison told him. "My superiors are keen for this case to be resolved – three murders, a fourth girl, your daughter, attacked, and two attempts on the life of the only person identified as a possible suspect – and they feel an independent investigator, me, would be better suited to do that. With a bit of luck, I'll catch the killer in a couple of days and be out of your village's hair, leaving everyone here free to go on with their lives."

"So why've you arrested my son?" Anger reddened Malcolm's face as he leaned across the counter. "Don't tell me you think he's the murderer."

"Your son has not been arrested, Mr Wright, he is simply here to help us with our inquiries."

"Then I'm taking him home. I'm not having him dragged down here to be accused of murder by the likes of you." Malcolm made to go around the counter so he could find his son, but he was defeated by the security door, which was there specifically to stop people doing what he was attempting. Frustrated, he banged on the door with his fist and kicked at it with a booted foot. "He could never have hurt any of those girls; one of them's his sister, and another's his girlfriend, for God's sake."

"Calm down, Mr Wright, I have not accused your son of murder, nor is that why I've brought him down here." Though he gave no indication of it, and couldn't because doing so would have messed everything up, Harrison was pleased by the display of anger, it was just what he had been hoping for. "Kieran is here because I wish to question him about the attempt on Mr Wild's life on Sunday night, he will be released when, and if, he convinces me that he had nothing to do with it."

"He didn't."

A ghost of a smile touched Harrison's lips at that. "You'll forgive me if I don't take your word for it, but you are biased."

"I tell you, he didn't do it," Malcolm said firmly.

"I appreciate you don't wish to believe your son is capable of such an act, Mr Wright," Harrison said compassionately. "But Kieran has the means, he is the licensed owner of a shotgun; the motive, both his sister and his girlfriend are among those who have been attacked, and Mr Wild has been named as the person responsible for the attacks. He also had the opportunity, he lives just up the road from Mr Wild.

"Unless you have something more than your belief, to convince me your son wasn't involved in the attempt on Mr Wild's life, you'll have to wait 'til I've spoken to him to take him, assuming I feel it appropriate to release him." He turned then and started back down the passage to the interview room.

Malcolm started to swear. "I know Kieran didn't try and kill Wild," he called out quickly before the DI disappeared into the interview room he had come from. "I know he didn't, because I'm the one you're looking for. I'm the one shot Wild and his solicitor."

Harrison stopped in the doorway of the interview room. "You'll have to do better than that, Mr Wright," he said. "You can't just make a claim like that to try and save your son, that's not how things work. Just standing there and saying you did what I'm about to question your son about isn't going to help him, it's only going to get you in trouble as well. I'm a busy right man right now, however, so I'll give you a break." He paused for a moment before playing his trump card. "Withdraw your claim, or back it up with something, if you don't do either, I'll have no choice but to arrest you for obstruction of justice."

Malcolm didn't hesitate. "Arrest me then, but I'm telling you I'm the one you're after. I walked down the road after Lewis called to say he was releasing Wild again and shot him through the living room window. I hit the solicitor first, I didn't mean to do that, but if she's going to go around trying to get rapists and murderers off, she's got to accept the consequences, then I got 'im. I thought I'd killed him, but I guess not. If I'd know that, I'd've kicked the door in and gone inside to finish the job."

Harrison considered what he had just heard for several moments before deciding what to do. "Okay," he said finally. "If you're sure about this. Bring him through, constable."

Turning to look through the doorway into the interview room he addressed Kieran, "Looks like you're free to go, Mr Wright, your father's decided to confess to the attempt on Mr Wild's life that I was going to question you about."

Kieran was too surprised by that news to react to it straight away. Once he got over his surprise, he rose and left the interview room, meeting his father in the doorway. "Why'd you say you did it?" he wanted to know.

"I couldn't let them charge you for something I did," Malcolm told his son.

Kieran shook his head. "They weren't going to charge me with anything," he said. "I've done nothing wrong and they'd have realised that, sooner or later."

"I couldn't take that chance." At the prompting of the inspector, he squeezed past Kieran and into the interview room so she could take the seat previously occupied by his son. "Your sister's gonna be worried when I don't come back soon, so you need to reassure her, make sure she knows everything's going to be alright."

Harrison took the opportunity that was presented. "Maybe this will help make your sister feel better; I was at the hospital earlier, and the doctor in charge of your sister's case told me she woke up this morning. It wasn't for long, only a minute or so, but apparently it's a good sign. The doctor thinks it's only a matter of time before she wakes up properly – it'll be a while before she's able to come home, but at least she'll be able to tell us who attacked her." He watched Kieran closely for a reason; he thought he saw something in his eyes but couldn't be certain.

*****

"How did you know Malcolm would confess if we brought Kieran in?" Melissa asked once they had finished interviewing farmer and had put him in a cell.

"I was gambling," Harrison admitted. "Betting he wouldn't want his son to be accused of something he'd done. It was a risk, but it's paid off. Even if he hadn't come in we'd have gotten a result; we were able to get that DNA sample from Kieran Wright, which means we'll be able to tell if he's the killer we're after." He offered a brief smile to the constable at his side. "If we're lucky, we'll catch the killer tonight, assuming you're right about how quickly gossip gets round this village – in which case pretty much everyone who lives here should know by now – but if not we've got the DNA samples to fall back on, and with a bit of pressure, the lab boys will take less than the usual two or three days to tell us if they match.

Melissa wasn't all that comfortable with the action the inspector had taken through the afternoon; she didn't like the false hope he had offered to Emily's family, even if she could understand why he had done what he had. Nor did she like the trickery he had employed – that was how she thought of it – in bringing Kieran in for questioning simply to get his father to confess to the crime he had committed to save his son from a false accusation. She made no mention of what she was thinking and feeling, however, for she doubted it would make any difference, and she had no alternatives to offer.

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