CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
The sketches were spread out across two desks in the office. It was all there,
the whole story. They were even numbered, so there was no doubt at all about
the sequence of gruesome events.
‘That’s the first time I’ve ever had a storyboard of a crime.’ Swift tugged his ear. ‘Do we know how Mick is?’
‘The hospital think Mrs W saved his life. She did all the right things,’ Julie said.
‘She must be the only person in this case who has.’
‘He lost a fair bit of blood, but he’s going to be fine.’
‘In a manner of speaking.’ Swift looked down at the drawings. ‘These must have taken him hours and hours to do. Why didn’t he just come and talk to us?’
‘He’s still wary of being interviewed. Mrs W thinks he was tortured when he was
captured in Afghanistan. He won’t tell her, but she does know that he hates being questioned.’
‘So he drew it instead.’ Rhys picked up the first picture. ‘He’s got a real talent. So this is Rosa?’
Julie nodded. ‘And that’s Quigley, and this is the scaffolding pole he smashed her head with.’
Rhys sighed. ‘I’ll never get over how people can do things like that to each other.’
‘So, what if he didn’t hit her twice?’ Julie picked up the fourth picture, where Quigley had the pole raised above his
head. ‘What if he hit her once, she tottered to the cottage to find Lizzie for help,
and Lizzie caused the second injury?’
‘But why would Lizzie do that?’ Rhys picked up the fifth picture, Rosa on her knees, holding her head with her
left hand ‘Does she look as though she’s crawling away?’
‘I’d have said so.’ Julie took the picture from him.
‘And this is lovely Lizzie.’ Swift handed her the next. ‘Standing in the bushes by the cess pit, watching. And look, she’s wearing her coat.’
‘So she didn’t help Rosa then?’ Julie asked. ‘Oh God, I hope Mick’s able to talk soon. The gaps between these pictures could tell a different
story.’
Swift walked down the line of remaining drawings. ‘Quigley being caught off balance, being pushed into the cess pit by Lizzie,
Quigley attempting to crawl out of the pit and being garrotted by none other
than Lizzie Slaithwaite.’
‘God, this is gruesome.’ Morgan shuddered and Rhys passed him the wastepaper bin. ‘Who told him?’ Morgan frowned at Julie.
‘Don’t look at me,’ Julie laughed. ‘It’s happened to all of us.’
I bet it hasn’t happened to you,’ Morgan said. ‘Mrs Iron Guts.’
‘Just give me empty eye sockets and a kite or two circling overhead and I’ll be with you. Now, concentrate, is there any sign of James Pritchard in these
pictures?’
‘No, Sarge, just Rosa, Quigley and Lizzie.’
‘Right,’ Swift said. ‘I’m going in. Are you ready for this, Julie?’
‘I certainly am. Shall I bring these with me?’
Swift nodded. ‘Bring a selection. Rhys, you go and get James Pritchard and see if you can raise
Eurig will you? Let’s start by telling Pritchard the good news that he’s almost certainly not related to Lizzie Slaithwaite, shall we, before we see
what she’s got to say?’
Pritchard was shaking. It was only slight, but Julie could see a tremor in his
fingers. He sat down in the orange plastic chair and looked down at the table.
‘How are you doing?’ Swift asked him.
‘I’m just wishing I never got involved in any of this, wishing I’d come to you instead of being persuaded to move poor Rosa. What was I thinking?
When I think what I gave up.’ He shook his head. ‘I must have been mad.’
‘Maybe not as mad as you think,’ Julie said. ‘We think you have been manipulated, that you would have confessed to anything,
if it kept Lizzie Slaithwaite happy.’
Pritchard raised his head and looked at her. He couldn’t have slept a wink. His hair was lank, and the stubble on his face included a
surprising amount of grey. Already he looked like a different man to the one
who had walked with them into the station yesterday. He didn’t speak.
‘We have some news for you about Lizzie Slaithwaite.’ Julie waited but there was no response. ‘We have received information which makes it less likely that she is in fact your
daughter.’
Pritchard closed his eyes.
‘Apparently her mother couldn’t remember which of the four of you she slept with. She kept a newspaper cutting
with a photograph of your debating team. Lizzie had worked out who you all were
and what had happened to you. She knew that one member of the team had
emigrated to Arizona, another had been killed in a car accident. The third is a
prison officer in Swansea, and then there was you, slap bang in the middle of
rural Wales, the only one who she could use to achieve her goal.’ Julie shook her head. ‘Of course, it might not have been any one of the four of you at all. It could
have been someone else entirely. Especially given the fact that Lizzie’s actually eight years younger than she has been claiming.’
Pritchard looked at his solicitor. ‘What do I say?’ His face was white now. This would be the moment he remembered, Julie thought,
the moment he realised that he had allowed a total stranger to systematically
unravel his life.
‘I think the best policy now would be to tell the truth, James,’ the solicitor said.
Swift waited until Pritchard raised his head from his hands. ‘Mr Pritchard, new evidence has come to light which suggests you were not
involved in the murder of Jason Quigley. We also think that you had absolutely
nothing to do with Rosa Quigley’s death. We think you were persuaded by Lizzie to move Rosa’s body, which implicated you beautifully for Rosa’s murder.’
‘Lizzie wouldn’t do that.’
Swift laughed a totally mirthless laugh. ‘Ha. You think so? After all you now know, you would still lie for her? What
makes you think this wasn’t her plan all along? We now think what she wanted was Sean. That was always the
case. Even if she had to kill his parents to make sure she got him permanently.’
‘No. It can’t be true. She told me. She only took Sean because she was afraid for his life.’
‘And nobody can corroborate that now, can they, Mr Pritchard?’ Pritchard suddenly looked totally defeated and Julie felt so sorry for him. His
world had been turned upside down twice in under a year. She very rarely felt
sorry for anyone who was guilty of wrong-doing, but this man had lost
everything because of Lizzie Slaithwaite.
‘Did you kill Jason Quigley or Rosa Quigley?’ Swift was business-like, sharp even. ‘Please answer the question.’
‘No.’ It was whispered, barely there.
‘You’ll need to speak up for the tape.’ Pritchard’s solicitor smiled at his client. ‘It won’t be heard otherwise.’
Pritchard paused. ‘No. I didn’t kill either of them. I moved Rosa’s body away from the cottage because Lizzie and Sean were in danger from
Quigley.
‘But they weren’t, Mr Pritchard. Jason Quigley died before Rosa did,’ Julie said.
‘That can’t be right. Lizzie told me he was out there somewhere, looking for them both.’
‘Lizzie told you that?’
‘She was terrified, she couldn’t have known he was already dead.’
‘Mr Pritchard, we believe that Lizzie Slaithwaite murdered Jason Quigley. We also
suspect that Rosa, having been seriously assaulted and badly injured by
Quigley, crawled as far as the gateway to the cottage and that Lizzie inflicted
a second, fatal head injury on Rosa,’ Swift said. ‘We think she planned the whole thing.’
Julie had never enjoyed seeing grown men weep. She knew that Pritchard cried for
the damage he had done to his real family, for the daughter he thought he had
finally found and lost again and for his own stupidity.
‘You will want to make a new statement.’ Swift was still clipped, much to Julie’s puzzlement. Pritchard nodded.
‘Can we just have a few moments for Mr Pritchard to gather his thoughts?’ the solicitor asked.
‘I’ll send another officer in to take Mr Pritchard’s statement, Swift said. He signed off from the tape and stood up. ‘I can only hope you never realise how much damage you’ve done to so many people with your blind faith in that woman.’ He swept out, leaving Julie with the two men.
‘I’ll give you twenty minutes before I send in someone to take your new statement.
I’ll arrange for coffee to be sent in.’ She stood up and opened the door.
‘Thank you.’ Pritchard’s voice was hoarse. ‘I’m so sorry.’