Chapter 106
Alice spent a long time conversing in private with her solicitor, Robert Haugh.
Lottie marched up and down the corridor with Boyd. ‘I wish I could hear the lies she’s spinning him.’
‘I’ve come across Bobby Haugh a few times. He’s old stock and won’t be taken in by her.’
‘I’m not so confident. She blindsided us. She controlled and influenced so many others that I—’
The door opened before she could finish her sentence, and the grey-haired solicitor beckoned them into the interview room. ‘My client wants to make a statement.’
‘Better be the truth this time.’ Lottie brushed in by him and made herself comfortable while Boyd started the recording. ‘What have you to say for yourself, Alice?’
She was different, as if an alter ego persona had slipped like a veil over her features. The mournful lilt of her voice was new too.
‘You may find this hard to believe as a mother, but I was always jealous of my daughter. My husband doted on her and I was relegated to second place in our marriage. Then he died. Good riddance, I figured. I suppose you could say that by then my jealousy had morphed into hate. Yes, I hated Caroline. We looked alike physically but were so different. She was cowardly and whingey. I never understood why she couldn’t be more like Sadie Tormey.
Now she had gumption.’ Her voice changed.
‘Then again, you don’t want me to go back to the Tormeys, you want me to discuss the Healys. ’
‘Correct.’
‘The only way Caroline could be brave was when the two of them were together. It was like she inhaled an energy from Sadie.’
It struck Lottie that Alice’s view of how Caroline interacted with Sadie echoed Denise and herself, if Sadie was to be believed.
‘Why did you kill your family?’
‘Caroline stole my money. She wanted to steal my granddaughter as well. They were planning to run away.’
‘You had started to abuse Freya and her friend Lily. I’d run away from you too,’ Lottie said, though she would have told the authorities what Alice was up to first. Then again, seeing Alice’s smugness across the table, maybe she would have fled as far from those manic eyes as she could. ‘Tell me what happened.’
She listened then as Alice, her eyes wide with some sort of manic pride, told the story of last Sunday night.
When she was sure all the guests would have left, Alice returned to her daughter’s house.
‘Thought we’d have another drink,’ she said, waving a wine bottle, the cork already popped.
‘Why?’ Caroline asked frostily. ‘I need Freya to go to bed. She’s wired after being with Lily and the others all afternoon.’
‘She seems exhausted to me,’ Alice said sharply, then mentally kicked herself. She’d meant to keep her snappiness subdued, and had hoped that the sedatives she’d placed in the 7Up would have taken effect by now. Not to mention the wine. She’d need to use more.
‘You know what kids are like, Alice,’ Cam said.
She felt like saying, Who asked you? It was his and Scanlan’s fault for not being more careful with her money.
‘I’ll bring Freya up to bed. You two relax with a drink. You deserve it.’ She poured two large glasses of the white wine that she’d already tampered with. Then she hugged her granddaughter. ‘Come on, chicken, time for bed.’
‘Ah no, Gran. It’s my birthday.’
‘None of that now. It’s been a long day. Some milk will help you sleep.’ She offered the child a glass laced with extra sedatives.
‘Ugh, milk is for babies.’
‘And you are my baby.’
Freya giggled nervously. ‘You’re too old to have a baby.’
‘Cheeky madam.’ Alice forced a smile. ‘Drink up.’
‘Stay away from her,’ Caroline said. ‘I’ll bring her to bed.’
Alice turned. Caroline was staring at her with foggy eyes, swaying slightly, glass in hand. Good. The sedatives were taking effect at last. Once this was all over, Alice could get her life back on track. She despised being outwitted and swindled. For that, Caroline had to pay.
‘Finish your drink and follow me up then.’
Freya was being difficult. Even with the sedation, the child resisted the idea of the pink dress.
‘That’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.’
‘I think it’s pretty. I want to take your birthday photo.’
‘No way am I putting that on, Gran. It’s gross.’
Alice had to act quickly. Caroline could become suspicious. ‘Do it for me, honey. Please?’
‘Don’t want to.’
‘After the lovely presents I got you? I think I’ll have to take them back.’
‘You can’t. They’re my presents.’
‘Just humour me and I’ll bring some of them up to your room.’
Freya looked at her with uncertainty before relenting. ‘Okay, I’ll put on this silly dress, but then I’m taking it straight off.’ She clamped her teeth in defiance as if that was the end of it.
As the child undressed, Alice used her phone to surreptitiously video her.
‘What are you doing with your phone, Gran?’
‘I got a text but I can’t read it.’ Alice fumbled with the phone, hurriedly switching off the video app.
‘I’ll help you.’
‘Ah, it’s fine now. Got it working.’
She slipped it back into her pocket and pulled the dress down over Freya’s head.
She hated this child almost as much as she hated Caroline.
Freya was too vociferous. Caroline had always been compliant, until Alice discovered she wasn’t.
Now she planned to use Freya to help replenish the nest egg Caroline had stolen from her.
Once the girl’s parents were out of the way.
Eventually the child lay down, and fell asleep immediately. Alice snapped a few more photos. The dress was not necessary for her plans, but she liked the symmetry it was giving her. And, she’d end up being Freya’s legal guardian when her parents were found dead.
‘I’ll be back for you,’ she whispered.
She left the room intending to make her way down the stairs, but was stopped by Caroline swaying on the landing, waving her empty glass.
‘Wh-what are you up to?’ Her words slurred into each other.
‘Putting your daughter to bed, as you seem to be incapable of it. You need to sleep too.’
‘You’re up to s-something.’ Caroline held the glass like it was a weapon. ‘I want you to leave.’
‘Always the troublesome child,’ Alice said as calmly as she could muster to cover her rising anger. ‘Here, give me that glass before it shatters. You never could hold your drink. No wonder Cam wanted you to be teetotal. Freya is asleep and you need to go to bed.’
‘You… you s-stay away from my Freya. What’d you do…?’ Caroline’s head rolled from side to side but she was unable to form any more words.
Alice grabbed her wrist, steering her into her bedroom. Her main concern now was getting Caroline to change into the clothes she’d brought. The clothing was important because it was a direct link to the old murders. And once the guards made that connection, Sadie Tormey was toast.
Caroline was like a drunk, arms and legs flopping around.
With some trouble, Alice undressed her. She noticed the bruise on her back, the one she’d caused, and a wild idea came to her.
She then dressed her in the hideous outfit she’d stashed in the bottom of the wardrobe earlier.
Soon, like Freya, Caroline was sound asleep.
Now to deal with Cameron.
He was passed out on the couch, half sitting half lounging. Alice took a knife from her bag and approached him carefully.
It was easy to make the cut, but the spurt of blood surprised her.
Luckily it sprayed upwards onto the wall behind him.
Cam opened his eyes, but just as quickly closed them.
Good. She didn’t want to have to make another cut.
Too messy. At first glance it had to look like he’d done it to himself, and then the guards would walk the path she’d laid for them.
She watched as the life quickly seeped out of him.
Once she was sure he was dead, she washed her hands ferociously under scalding water and pulled on gloves.
She would bury her own clothing in her garden when she got home.
When things settled, she’d burn them. After cleaning the knife and leaving it with Cameron’s body, she decided to take the presents and cards.
If Freya refused to play with them, she could sell them.
It took her two trips out to the car before she got back to Caroline.
It was easy to strangle her comatose daughter, and Alice felt no remorse at what she was doing.
She hated Caroline and it was a means to an end.
She could not have her or Cam ruining her ventures.
They thought they were smart, but she was smarter.
She spread out her daughter’s hair like she imagined a loving mother would do.
For some reason she was unable to look at Caroline’s face, so she placed a pillow over her and then put her own shoes on the bare feet. Perfect!
‘Now to get my little money-spinner,’ she murmured, putting the ligature into her pocket. She hoped the child would not be too heavy to carry down the stairs. Then again, Alice was strong. She kept fit with digging and walking. And climbing trees to peer in at Freya. It should be a piece of cake.
It wasn’t.
‘No, no, you stupid child, no!’ Alice cried, trying not to scream out her frustration. The girl was dead. Her plan had been to say, if asked, that Freya had wanted to spend the night with her. ‘You weren’t supposed to die.’
She must have given her too much of the sedative. Had she had a premonition and that was why she had made sure Freya put on the hideous dress? At least it looked like Cameron had killed his own family. Once the guards no longer bought into that scenario, Alice would lead them to Sadie.
She took the ligature out of her pocket and strangled her already dead granddaughter.
Those in the interview room bristled in stunned silence until Lottie shook herself.
‘You’re telling us you never meant to kill Freya?’
‘I wanted her for myself. Like Sadie didn’t mean to kill Poppy. At least I can’t see any situation where she would want to kill her. But I underestimated her inventiveness and cunning. Maybe she did intend to kill her own sister along with her mother.’
‘Sadie says you killed them.’
‘She would, wouldn’t she?’
Lottie knew she was unlikely to get a confession for the twenty-year-old case. Not today, anyhow. ‘Why didn’t you just ask Caroline for the money back?’
‘I couldn’t ask outright or I’d be admitting what I’d done.
Then last week we had a massive row over nothing.
She fell to the floor and I accidently stood on her.
’ Alice grinned at her own lie. ‘She mewled like a kitten. I wanted to kill her then, but I thought I’d find my money somewhere in the house once I got a chance to search.
And if it wasn’t there, Sadie had to have it.
I’m not stupid, I knew she was planning something for Caroline and Freya. ’
‘Why dress them in the old clothing?’
‘It was my insurance if things went wrong. To lead you to Sadie. I thought you’d be able to link the two crimes. I gave you the Tormey name, I gave you Oak House.’
‘Why would you want to highlight murders you yourself had committed?’ Lottie asked, genuinely intrigued by how Alice’s mind worked.
‘How many times do I have to tell you? I did not kill Poppy and Denise Tormey. Do your job, Inspector, that’s if you have it in you to solve an old crime.’
‘I think you’re full of bullshit, Alice. You’re so arrogant you thought you’d get away with murder twice in your lifetime.’
‘That’s enough, Inspector,’ Mr Haugh said.
Undaunted, she said, ‘Alice Quigley, you are a deviant paedophile and I hope the court wipes the floor with you.’
The woman ran a hand over her brow dramatically. ‘You know what? I think I went a little bit insane. What do you think of that for my defence, Mr Haugh?’
The grey-haired man looked weary. He’d had enough. So had Lottie.