Page 91 of The Chapel of Bones

‘You put Donnal in the wall, but you buried Tina outside. Why was that?’

‘I planned to put them both in the alcove, but in the end I found there was only room for one. I had to make other arrangements for Tina.’

‘How did you feel when you realised you were going to do some work at the place where you killed those people?’

He shrugged. ‘I didn’t feel anything. Nobody there knew me.’

‘But it must have come as a shock when you found out Mrs Jones had asked the builder to knock that wall down,’ said Gerry.

This question caused the suspect to smile. ‘I think I managed to react appropriately.’ The smile broadened. ‘I earned an Oscar that day, I can tell you.’

‘I’m still puzzled about Sue Potter,’ said Wesley. Gadson’s cold, unfeeling, almost mocking manner was starting to get to him. But he had to stay calm if they were to find out the truth. ‘Why did she have to die?’

There was a long silence before the answer came.

‘We were taking down an old tree in Belsham churchyard. The vicar had been told it was dangerous and might fall on someone. One day this woman came up the church path. I recognised her as Tina’s cousin, the one who used to come round to the zoo to see her.’ He hesitated, as though he was reliving a bad memory. ‘She walked in on me and Carla once. As I left the room, I heard her asking Carla if she was all right. Carla didn’t say anything, but no doubt Tina gave the nosy old bitch chapter and verse afterwards.’

‘Tell us what happened when you met her again?’

‘I saw her staring at me, and it took me a few moments to remember where I’d seen her before. Gave me a hell of a shock when I realised who she was. I had my shirt off and she said she recognised my tattoo; the big dragon on my back. She probably saw it when I was working at Dad’s zoo.’

‘Was Darren around when she spoke to you?’ Wesley asked.

‘No, he’d gone into Neston to get something to eat. Anyway, she asked me if I knew what had happened to her cousin. She said she’d been told she’d gone abroad, but she wanted to get in touch with her because her husband had died, or something like that.’

‘What did you say?’ Gerry asked.

‘I told her I didn’t know what she was talking about and walked away, but she followed me. She said she’d been to the zoo a few months ago and asked Dale about Tina, but he’d said he couldn’t tell her anything because he hadn’t been in the country when she walked out on Dad. She asked me to let her know if I remembered anything and she scribbled down her address and pressed it into my hand. I could tell she wasn’t the type to let it go. I wouldn’t have put it past her to start a police search for Tina, and if she told them she’d seen me . . .’

‘We found fingerprints at the scene of her murder. The same ones were found in the alcove where you hid Dr Donnal’s body and on the knife you used to kill him. We discovered that inside the chest where you’d hidden it.’

‘I called one evening and the stupid cow let me in. She was dressed in this costume.’ Gadson rolled his eyes. ‘She looked ridiculous. Anyway she thought I’d come to help her find her precious cousin. She even showed me a photo album with pictures of Tina. I was in a couple of them. Only in the background; I’d never have posed with that woman. I hated her.’

Wesley looked at Gerry. This explained the missing photographs torn out of the album in Sue Potter’s kitchen. It was something they’d been wondering about since the case began.

‘Let’s get to the lanzani note,’ said Wesley. ‘You sent it, I presume. Why?’

Gadson smirked. ‘I couldn’t resist that. It was the name I used at St Julian’s when I lived there as a student. Pretentious, I know, but I was young. It was meant as a threat – to put her off talking. Seemed like a good idea at the time.’

Wesley’s eyes met Gerry’s again.

‘So you strangled an innocent woman because you couldn’t risk her trying to trace her missing cousin.’

‘So perish all interfering busybodies.’

Wesley could feel his blood pressure rising. ‘Just because she was concerned for a relative doesn’t mean she deserved to die.’

Gadson fell silent for a while. When he spoke, it was almost in a whisper. ‘I admit I was there, but you can’t prove I killed her. I’ve only ever been concerned for one person, and that was Carla.’

‘Your brother Dale found your father’s diary. That’s how we know what really happened. You couldn’t trust Dale to have any family loyalty, so you dealt with him as well. Along with Jim Baker. But he’s still alive.’

‘Jim should have died. Didn’t make a very good job of it, did I.’

The chilling statement was uttered so casually that it sent a shudder through Wesley’s body. He didn’t answer, and nor did Gerry.

‘Where did you go when you left the UK after the murders?’

‘Where I told everyone I was going, of course. Africa. I worked in a wildlife reserve in Kenya. Loved it. I was able to reinvent myself there and nobody could find me if I didn’t want to be found. I was brought up with wild animals, so workingon a game reserve suited me. I acquired some new skills along the way too, and they stood me in good stead when I returned to Devon.’ Gadson smiled. ‘It was remarkably easy to become a new person and build a new life back in the home country. What I didn’t expect was that there’d still be people here who could betray me. I thought they’d be long gone.’