Chapter 21
Julian’s plan was simple. He would be waiting for Turney when he came to the house that evening and he would have a knife. He would wear gloves and Amanda and Felicity would help him dispose of the body. The four of them, including Clarissa, would be bound together and there would be no comeback. Turney would be consigned to the past and good riddance.
The evening after he had seen them in the morning, Felicity drove him and Amanda to the house but parked around the corner. Julian left them in the car and let himself into the house. It was already dusk and he expected Turney quite soon. He walked up the stairs and into Turney’s old bedroom. He was sure to hear Turney come through the back door and he would be ready. He had rehearsed the thrust he would make with the knife — one of Felicity’s kitchen knives.
Very soon he heard the back door open and close and footsteps on the stairs. He stood behind the open bedroom door and tensed himself. The steps continued along the hall towards him and then went further to the front of the house. He heard the main bedroom door opening.
It was irritating that Turney had not come straight into his own room but there was no reason to be worried. He might have remembered something he could sell in his wife’s room and had gone to fetch it. He would be back down the hall soon.
Half an hour later, Julian could feel that something was not right. He walked slowly and quietly along the hall and looked inside the open bedroom door. A figure lay on the bed but it was too small to be Turney. He walked across and listened to the man’s deep breathing. It was not cold and the man had lain on top of the covers, he had kept on his overcoat, which Julian could see was very worn. His shoes were on the floor; the soles had holes in them, as did the socks covering his feet.
Julian shook the man’s foot until he woke. ‘Who are you?’ he asked.
‘He said I could stay here.’
‘Who said?’ asked Julian but he already knew the answer.
Turney sat on the grass roughly where he had seen Julian the day before. He saw Felicity drive past the house and turn the corner and then, once he had seen Julian let himself into the house, he walked out of the park round the corner to the library.
There was a bench outside and, as usual, one or two derelicts with bottles in their hands sitting there. He told one that he had a place for him to stay the night and offered him money. He had a job pushing the others away. They could all see bottles floating in front of their eyes when they realised he had a twenty pound note in his hand.
He told the man he needed to get in the back way and he shepherded him along the alley and helped him over the fence. He told him the door was unlocked and watched him as he went inside. Then he went back down the path and uncovered the can of petrol he had left earlier.
He gave the man thirty minutes and then very quietly let himself into the house leaving the back door open. He sprayed the petrol around the ground floor and threw a match inside. It all happened very quickly. There was a great deal of smoke. He walked down the side of the house to the front and waited behind the hedge to see whether anyone came out of the front door. They didn’t. The sound of fire engines sent him back along the side of the house and over the fence.
At Anderson's flat he waited outside until the man left then he climbed up the fire escape and levered open the small sash window to the side of the back door. It opened more quietly than he thought it would. He thrust himself head first through the window opening and rolled over his back to land on the floor.
Anderson took the call in his study. Clarissa was in the lounge and hadn’t moved towards the phone that sat a foot away from her hand. He wasn’t surprised; she wasn’t keen on picking up the phone. Early on, Turney had called frequently and sometimes he had spoken.
He told her what had happened and that he would have to go. She didn’t seem surprised that something had occurred at the house and it made him feel that there was something he should know. Was one of the bodies Julian Simanovicz, she asked? He didn’t stop to ask her why she thought that. It could wait.
He didn’t use his car and started to walk round. It would have taken him ten minutes, which with the ten minutes to walk back made twenty. It was too long and might be what Turney was waiting for. He turned back. On the way, he considered what it could mean. That two bodies had been found after the fire had died down might mean nothing. The house had appeared to be empty for some time and squatters might have moved in. And even if one were identified as Julian, it didn’t mean the other was Turney. He didn’t hesitate further. Turney had staged this to get him out the flat. He was right to go back.
He phoned Fielding on his mobile.
‘It was definitely arson,’ she said, ‘I’ve had a look at one of the bodies, it could be Julian Simanovicz and what’s more Amanda and Felicity are here.’
‘What are they doing there?’ he asked.
‘They won’t say but it looks as though they had some plan with Julian to get rid of Turney. It didn’t work out.’
He trotted back to the flat and took the stairs two at a time. He had his key ready at the front door. He pushed it into the lock but it wouldn’t turn. He heard the sound of footsteps inside. Through the opaque glass he could see a shape running away from him. He tried the key again but realised that Turney must have pushed the knob on the lock on the inside. It wasn’t going to work.
There was no sound from inside but he couldn’t afford to wait any longer. He mashed the glass with the pistol he took from his pocket. Down the hall he could make out two shapes. One was Turney but Clarissa was right behind him. He couldn’t shoot.