The Hangman’s Hold. Michael Wood

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СКАЧАТЬ said he was divorced. His wife had cheated on him with another woman. He’d moved to America to put some distance between them. I felt sorry for him. Can you believe that? I actually felt sorry for him.’

      ‘Adele, you didn’t know,’ Scott said, taking on the role of a friend. ‘There’s no way you could have known.’

      ‘Are you going to tell me what he’d done?’ she asked. Matilda had only told her the basics in the car on the way to the station: that he had been killed and was known to the police. When pressed further, Matilda claimed she didn’t know all the facts herself.

      ‘Do you really want to know?’

      ‘No.’ She half-smiled.

      ‘How did Brian seem last night?’ Aaron asked, remaining focused and formal.

      Adele thought for a while. ‘Nervous to begin with, but then so was I. We both soon relaxed. He was chatty, he smiled, he laughed. He came across like any other normal member of the public.’

      ‘How did the date end?’

      Adele baulked at the word date. It was like she was reviled for having a date with a criminal. ‘He walked me to the taxi rank opposite John Lewis. We kissed and said we’d arrange to go out again. I went home.’

      ‘Did Brian say how he was getting home?’

      ‘He was driving.’

      ‘Did he drink alcohol during your date?’ Scott asked.

      ‘No. He had juice.’

      ‘Did you see which direction he headed in after he’d left you at the taxi rank?’

      ‘No. As my taxi pulled away I turned to look through the rear window and he was still stood on the pavement. He waved. I waved back. That was it.’

      ‘Adele,’ Scott adjusted himself in his seat, ‘when you arrived home, did Brian contact you anymore that night?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘Did anything out of the ordinary happen?’

      ‘You mean apart from being burgled?’

      The detectives remained silent, giving Adele a chance to relax and calm down a little before continuing.

      ‘Did you recognize the person burgling your home?’

      ‘No. It all happened so quickly. He was dressed in dark clothing.’

      ‘You’re sure it was a man?’

      ‘He was tall, a great big barrel. Yes, he was a man.’

      ‘Did he say anything?’

      ‘No. He looked at me and ran towards me. I just froze. The next thing I know there’s this gloved fist in my face and I’m on the floor.’

      ‘Did you lose consciousness?’

      ‘No. I was just a bit dazed.’ Adele wiped her nose with a soaked tissue. She took a deep breath. ‘I don’t want to know what Brian had done, but do you think I was set up? Get me out of the house then burgle me?’

      Scott and Aaron exchanged glances. ‘I don’t think so, Adele,’ Scott said.

      ‘It’s bad, isn’t it? What he did. He didn’t spend eight years in prison for being a serial burglar, did he?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘I … No. Don’t tell me,’ she said before bursting into tears. She eventually stopped enough to speak. She looked up. ‘He was a rapist, wasn’t he?’

      Scott turned away. He had no idea what to say.

      Aaron leaned forward and placed his hand over Adele’s. ‘I’m only telling you this now because you’re in such a state. There’s no point in you getting better, then finding out afterwards and feeling all shit again. Brian Appleby was on the sex offender’s register.’

      The tears stopped flowing. ‘The bastard,’ Adele hissed.

      In the observation room, Matilda was slumped into a very uncomfortable chair. She had one hand clamped to her mouth. Her eyes were full of tears. She couldn’t imagine the torment Adele was going through right now.

       Chapter Five

      ‘In 2008, Brian Appleby was sentenced to sixteen years for sexual offences on three girls under the age of sixteen. He was released from Ashfield Prison, in Gloucestershire, in January last year after serving half of his sentence.’

      The briefing room was packed with detectives and uniformed officers. Matilda Darke was perched on the edge of a desk near the front. Her face was a picture of worry. She had just observed her best friend describe her date with a sex offender. It had been a horrible experience. Adele was usually a confident, positive person, but this could damage that.

      As soon as the interview had concluded, Adele had been allowed to leave the station. Matilda had said she would go round straight after work and see how she was. She hoped she would be welcomed when she knocked on the door.

      ‘Police first became aware of Brian Appleby when Daisy Bishop, the fourteen-year-old daughter of his next-door neighbour, accused him of putting his hand up her skirt in the summer of 2008,’ Aaron continued, reading from the file to the whole room. ‘Once that came to light, two other girls made allegations: Allegra Chalmers said he had sex with her on two occasions in 2007, and Bryony Watts accused him of raping her, also in 2007.’

      ‘How old were Allegra and Bryony?’ DI Christian Brady said. Having just had a tooth extracted that morning, the left side of his face was slightly swollen, his speech affected.

      ‘Allegra was fifteen and Bryony thirteen.’

      ‘Bastard,’ Christian muttered, immediately thinking of his own young children.

      ‘Good riddance to bad rubbish,’ Ranjeet said. Nodding from other officers around the room showed they shared his sentiment.

      ‘So he’s released from prison in January and goes home to Essex. Why doesn’t he stay there?’ Scott asked.

      ‘Hate mail, windows broken, spat at in the streets. He was basically run out of town,’ Aaron said.

      ‘Why did he choose Sheffield?’

      ‘No idea. His wife divorced him a year after he was sentenced. His parents and two brothers disowned him. He has no connections at all with Sheffield.’

      ‘When did he move up here?’ Scott asked.

      Aaron flicked through the file. ‘He approached Essex Police in the summer. He last visited them in August, telling them he’d found a place to live in Sheffield.’

      ‘Aaron, what did you find in his house?’ Matilda asked for the first time.

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