Carl looked uneasy and paused, obviously thinking up an answer. ‘Oh that, it’s a coyote carcass I just found, I’m going to put it in the incinerator.’
There was a wretched few seconds’ pause, Carl’s eyes flicking nervously.
‘There’s no point in lying, Carl. We know that you falsified the Mandy Anderson search records,’ Blane said gently.
Carl’s body sagged as if he had been punched and the air drained from his body. Blane stepped forward, removed the Ranger’s gun from its holster and handed it to Sheriff Mitchell, who turned to face Carl and spoke as a friend. ‘The District Judge has issued warrants for your and Jack’s arrest, Carl, and forensics are searching the house now.’
‘Oh, dear God, I knew it, one day, oh, my God…’
Carl Brennan now looked as if someone had just sucked the lifeblood out of him, as ashen-faced he trembled and chewed his bottom lip. Blane could see he was close to tears, not because of what he had done but for the deep love he had for his son.
‘He’s a good boy, Don, he loved Mandy and if anyone’s to blame, I am.’
The dejected man gave a long low sigh and began to explain. He had just returned home from work that fateful day and was opening the front door when he heard Jack arguing with a girl inside the house. He went in and saw Jack at the top of the stairs and the back of the girl so he didn’t know who it was at first. Carl heard the girl say to Jack that he shouldn’t have tried to kiss her and she wanted to go home. Jack was pleading with her to stay and tugging her by the coat when Carl shouted out to the pair of them to stop and come downstairs immediately. Carl began to cry as he went on to say that on hearing his voice the girl turned sharply towards him and Jack let go of her coat, causing her to stumble forwards and fall down the stairs.
‘I heard the loud crack as her neck snapped and she ended up by my feet with her face staring up at me. Jack stood there, frozen to the spot, not knowing what to do. I told him to go to his room and stay there.’
‘He never told you Mandy had given him a birthday card or present?’
Carl looked bemused and stunned by Don’s question, as he answered, ‘No.’
‘Why didn’t you just call Sheriff Mitchell and explain what happened?’
‘Because I was scared that Jack would be arrested and taken from me. Even if I told the truth I’d just be seen as a father trying to cover for his son. It was an accident, I swear before God it was an accident.’
‘Was lying and disposing of her body worth all this, Carl?’ Blane asked softly.
‘No, but my son was.’
‘Did you tell him what to say at the time?’
‘Yes, but we never spoke about it again after that day. He’s obliterated her fall from his mind, as if she never came to the house and it never happened.’
Carl’s composure fell apart as he began to sob. He appeared to have aged twenty years in the few moments it had taken for him to explain the tragedy and kept on repeating, ‘God forgive me.’
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Over at the police forensic lab, Anna and Blane watched avidly as the two digital files on the mini-camera were loaded onto a computer. The date and time stamps showed that both were taken on the day Mandy went missing. One was of her at Prezzies gadget shop timed at 1.45 p.m., and the other sitting next to Jack on his bed at 3.10 p.m. This picture was obviously taken by Jack holding the camera up towards himself and Mandy and it also appeared that he was about to kiss her on the cheek.
‘Maybe that is what they were arguing about, like Carl said, Jack trying to kiss her,’ Anna suggested.
‘Probably, but how can a father’s love for his son result in so much sadness and misery?’ Blane remarked, visibly moved as he looked at the last pictures of Mandy alive.
‘Are we going to break the news to the Andersons now?’ Anna asked.
‘No, Sheriff Mitchell will be handling the case and knows them well. I couldn’t face them or know what to say right now.’
Anna could see how tired and upset he was so she put her arms around him and gave him a spirit-lifting hug as she whispered in his ear.
‘We could go back to the cabin, have something to eat and then start where we left off on the sofa last night?’
Blane said nothing, but from the way he squeezed her, Anna knew his answer was yes.
Having stopped to buy some chicken, ribs and side salads for a barbecue, they made their way back to the cabin. ‘Were Agent Roberts’ enquires in Jamaica helpful?’ Blane asked.
‘I haven’t had had a chance to look through the documents yet,’ Anna replied as she leaned over to the back seat to get the thick envelope out of her handbag.
‘By the amount of stuff in here, it looks like he’s gone out of his way to help me.’
‘That’s Bill Roberts for you, thorough in everything he does,’ Blane commented.
Anna began to read Bill’s report:
Copies of all the documents that I have referred to are attached to this e-mail in pdf format.
1. August 6th 2012 Samuel Peters attended British High Commission, Kingston, Jamaica and applied for a fast-track visa to attend sister Esme’s funeral. Stated he would be staying with sister Marisha Peters at 51 Clarendon House, Brixton. Biometric data, by way of photograph and fingerprints, were taken and he flew to the UK on August 8th on a six-month open return ticket. Kingston Customs could not assist me as to if or when Samuel Peters returned to Jamaica.
2. His visa application form gave occupation as fisherman living in Manchioneal Bay for last 25 years. I visited location and found it to be a small and impoverished fishing community. Samuel lives alone in a run-down wooden shack. According to friends he has not been seen since he said he was ‘going to Esme’s funeral’. They described him as pleasant but lazy, often drunk and sleeping long hours due to his love of spiced rum.
3. I attended Registrar General’s Department to check Samuel’s background further. It transpired that a Samuel Peters made Internet applications, on September 20th 2012, for certified copies of his marriage certificate to a Gloria Rediker and birth certificate for their son Arum Joshua Peters. These were sent to Marisha’s address and payment was made with her Visa card.
4. A week later Samuel Peters made Internet applications for copies of a Gloria Peters and Xavier Alleyne’s marriage certificate and their daughters’ birth certificates, Donna Mavis Alleyne, born 1986, and Aisa Moira Alleyne, born 1988. Marisha Peters’ credit card and Brixton address again used. The Gloria Peters that married Xavier Alleyne gave a maiden name of Rediker and the certificate clearly shows that she was a widow?
5. I checked to see if another Samuel Peters with similar details was dead or existed and I could not find even a close match. Therefore Gloria Peters’ marriage to Xavier Alleyne is bigamous.
6. Gloria Peters and Xavier Alleyne married in 1986 in Montego Bay, where he owned a banana plantation. After the collapse of his business Xavier died from a heart attack in 1990 aged 32. The plantation was sold to property developers after his death. Gloria allegedly moved to the UK with her daughters and obviously I will leave further enquiries concerning her whereabouts to you.
7. David and Mavis Rediker came to the island in 1975 with their daughter Gloria. David was a botanist for the Jamaican Natural History Museum in Kingston. He died in 1982 and Mavis in 1984. The current director of the museum remembered the Rediker family and informed me that David was, figuratively speaking, ‘a victim of his own research’. He said David became addicted to and overdosed on atropine from the berries of the Sacred Datura plant. It is a member of the nightshade family found on the island and more hallucinogenic than LSD.
8. The Redikers lived in a house that was provided by the museum. After David died they allowed Gloria to remain at the premises to care for her mother who was dying from cancer. The director recalled that Gloria, then aged about 18, became pregnant by and married a fisherman called Samuel whom he described as very apathetic and unsupportive.