Confession at Maddleskirk Abbey Page 22
As Father Mutch made his way towards the passenger door under the protection of rifle cover, Napier shouted, ‘One of you cover the pilot. Mrs Goddard, leave that machine. Now!’
She had to await the gradual wind-down of the rotors, with the helicopter disabled in a strange silence.
‘Out!’ snapped Napier, who opened her door when it was safe. ‘Cover her every move,’ he directed his armed officers and she cautiously left the aircraft.
Napier addressed Goddard. ‘Now you, Goddard, drop your gun and put your hands on your head, NOW! Do it now, or you get a bullet … raise your arms above your head. You’re both nicked.’
Without taking his eyes off the pair, Napier shouted, ‘Everyone else – get as far back as possible and lie flat on the ground … everybody … NOW! This machine might be booby-trapped … it might explode. …’
Father Mutch had managed to manhandle John out of the helicopter and was running with him at his side, heading as far away as possible before lying on the ground behind a hummock. When the pilot was safe from the rotors, Mrs Goddard obeyed Napier’s orders, a marksman having her in his sights. He had a good view as she descended from the cockpit and covered her every step. She appeared to be in a desperate hurry.
‘Over here!’ called the officer with a rifle. ‘Now!’
She obeyed, then Sue frisked her for concealed weapons; there was none, no stiletto, no firearm. The policeman produced a set of handcuffs and locked her wrists behind her back.
‘Can I go now?’
‘We’ve a vehicle waiting,’ said the police officer.
‘I want to get away from here. …’
‘You’re going nowhere!’
While almost all eyes had been on the pilot, Goddard had emerged from the ‘copter under the close watch of an armed policeman. His hands were clasped together on top of his head. He was walking from the helicopter as Napier eased himself closer to the firearms officer, who had his rifle aimed at Goddard’s moving head. ‘We need him alive,’ he whispered to the officer. ‘He’s got something in his hand, look. Right hand. On his head … it looks like a mobile … bring him down, shoot him in the leg, the knees if you can. I’ll stage a diversion.’
For the briefest of moments, no one moved.
Then Napier shouted, ‘I’ll walk towards Goddard with an offer he can’t refuse. Keep your eyes on whatever he’s clutching on his head …’
There was silence as everyone stopped to watch this drama.
‘Goddard!’ shouted Napier. ‘I’m coming to talk to you, I’m sure we can discuss this like civilized men. I am not armed.’ He began his lonely, dangerous walk, arms raised above his head.
‘Keep away, keep away, keep away!’ shrieked Goddard. ‘Keep away, I said!’
He waved his right hand and Napier saw he was still clutching the gadget that looked like a mobile phone. Immediately two shots rang out as Goddard sank to the ground with both knees broken, the device spinning away from him.
‘Get me away from here!’ he screamed.
‘Run!’ shouted Napier at Father John, then he bellowed, ‘Everybody stay down … cover your heads …’
Napier managed to gallop about twenty yards from the helicopter as it exploded in a fireball which produced a huge cloud of black smoke and sent metal splinters and other debris flying in all directions. The blaze crackled and produced lots more minor explosions as the searchers dropped to the ground for safety or hid behind boulders. Many of them witnessed Goddard’s instant death from a piece of flying jagged metal that hit him in the neck whilst he lay immobile. His wife, still handcuffed, tried to flee but there was a police officer in pursuit; a rugby tackle brought her to the ground as she had been heading for shelter in a small clump of conifers.
‘We’ve got her but he had that coming to him, I can’t mourn him,’ commented Napier, ‘but it’s his wife I want to talk to. I think she’s the brains behind all this … but well done, everyone.’
After the initial explosion, the stricken helicopter settled down to be consumed by the fire that was now raging through it, fanned by the moorland breeze and as things calmed down, Napier was first to move. He was heading towards the stricken helicopter when it suddenly exploded again with a plume of dark smoke rising from the flames that wrapped its carcase; he hurled himself to the ground as the fire roared, then it stopped as suddenly as it had started. There were no further casualties but it was another half-hour before anyone could approach the blackened remains of the helicopter.
‘Somebody will have to clear up this mess,’ shouted Napier as people became mobile once more. ‘But not until we’ve got the evidence we need.’
At that point, a small blue Morris traveller arrived and out stepped ex-Sergeant Oscar Blaketon and ex-PC Ventress.
‘You left it a bit late!’ shouted Napier. ‘We’ve got him!’
‘I shall pray for his soul,’ offered Prior Tuck.
‘I won’t,’ said Napier.
And so the siege of Whinstone Ridge ended without further loss of life. The remains of the helicopter, which included a surviving cache of drugs destined for delivery later that day, were eventually removed on a low loader for forensic examination. Its shattered carcase contained the DNA from Detective Inspector Radcliffe, in addition to evidence of other murders, serious crimes and drugs offences. Goddard’s body was eventually removed to the mortuary for a post-mortem and Napier called for a loud-hailer to thank everyone.
Geraldine Goddard was sentenced to twenty-five years’ imprisonment as an accessory to the murder of Inspector Radcliffe, and a cold-case review was opened into the murder of the Goddard girls. It was belatedly revealed that Goddard did have a motive for their murder – their natural father was a drugs baron who had warned Goddard off his pitch and stolen some of his most valuable customers. The killings were Goddard’s brutal revenge on his rival; they brought that bloodline to an end.
Scientific tests established the innocence of the man now known as Father John and confirmed the guilt of Michael Goddard, not for one murder but several, in addition to innumerable drugs offences. The woman called Sue disappeared as suddenly as she had arrived.
Father John remained peacefully in Maddleskirk Abbey whilst Detective Chief Superintendent Napier became a frequent visitor to the abbey church to listen to the monks chanting their calming music. ‘I’ll be back,’ he said to the abbot on one such occasion as the monkstables continued to preserve the tranquillity of their monastery. ‘But hopefully in peace and not to deal with another murder.’
‘Amen to that,’ said Abbot Merryman.
By the Same Author
Murder at Maddleskirk Abbey
A Full Churchyard
THE CONSTABLE SERIES
Constable on the Hill
Constable on the Prowl
Constable Around the Village
Constable Across the Moors
Constable in the Dale
Constable by the Sea
Constable Along the Lane
Constable Through the Meadow
Constable in Disguise
Constable Among the Heather
Constable by the Stream
Constable Around the Green
Constable Beneath the Trees
Constable in Control
Constable in the Shrubbery
Constable Versus Greengrass
Constable About the Parish
Constable at the Gate
Constable at the Dam
Constable Over the Stile
Constable Under the Gooseberry Bush
Constable in the Farmyard
Constable Around the Houses
Constable Along the Highway
Constable Over the Bridge
Constable Goes to Market
Constable Along the River-bank
Constable Around the Park
Constable in the Wilderness
Constable Along the Trail
Constable on the Coast
Constable on View
<
br /> Constable Beats the Bounds
Constable in the Country
Constable Over the Hill
CONSTABLE AT THE DOUBLE
Comprising:
Constable Around the Village
Constable Across the Moors
HEARTBEAT OMNIBUS
Comprising:
Constable on the Hill
Constable on the Prowl
Constable in the Dale
HEARTBEAT OMNIBUS VOLUME II
Comprising:
Constable Along the Lane
Constable Through the Meadow
Copyright
© Nicholas Rhea 2015
First published in Great Britain 2015
ISBN 9780719818172 (epub)
ISBN 9780719818189 (mobi)
ISBN 9780719818196 (pdf)
ISBN 9780719815751 (print)
Robert Hale Limited
Clerkenwell House
Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.halebooks.com
The right of Nicholas Rhea to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988