Read Online Sidney Chambers and The Dangers of Temptation by James Runcie - Free Book Online
Authors: James Runcie
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dentist stretched out a hand in farewell. ‘I’m hopeful that Danny will be all right in the end. He just needs to find out who he is and get on with his life.’
Sidney shook the man’s hand and tried to find reassuring words but felt, in his heart of hearts, that it was almost certainly too late. The rest of Danny’s life was likely to be entirely different from anything either of his parents had ever hoped for.
Sidney checked with the doctors that their patient was now recovered sufficiently to go home and then alerted Keating. He went to see Danny Wilkinson in his hospital room and told him that the police were convinced he had killed Pascoe in an act of revenge and had then taken an overdose that was intended to look like a murder attempt. Danny, still pale, and propped up on his pillows, seemed shocked. Sidney got to the point straight away: ‘Is there anything I can do to explain your story or stop you going to jail?’
Danny wondered whether to maintain his denial. ‘I don’t think you have any actual witnesses to the murder.’
‘There is plenty of circumstantial evidence. And it was your shirt.’
‘I don’t see how you can know that.’
‘There are your fingerprints on the scythe.’
‘Don’t you think that, if I had done it, on a cold winter day I would have worn gloves?’
‘Not if you wanted to get caught.’
‘Why would I do that?’
‘Perhaps you wanted to send a message to your mother?’
‘My mother?’ Danny’s voice was filled with contempt.
Sidney had had enough. ‘Danny, we all know you did it. The evidence is there. You have no alibi.’
‘I was in my room at the time he left us.’
‘No one saw you. The only thing I don’t understand is why you needed to go through the whole business of joining the cult. Pascoe walked freely around Grantchester. He was an easy target.’
‘And so anyone could have killed him.’
‘Not anyone. You.’
Danny sighed. It was as if he was wearied by his denials at last.
‘Tell me, Danny. It will only get worse if you don’t.’
‘I don’t know. I suppose I don’t care any more.’
‘It must have been an extraordinarily hard decision to take. You must be exhausted. Don’t bear this burden alone.’
‘I had to learn to hate,’ Danny began. ‘I had to despise Pascoe even more than I did already. I had to prepare for so long in order to kill him. I had already had fantasies about punching him in the face or kicking his head in but I wanted to do something so violent that I needed fury and desperation. So I had to see him up close. Let the anger build. If it was to be a crime of passion I was going to show him what that really looked like.’
‘But you had to disguise all those feelings when you were with him.’
‘I let them build up inside. I had never felt so alive than when I thought of that man dead.’
‘And no one else knew?’
‘Tom helped. I talked to Tom.’
‘He knew about your plan?’
‘His dad too.’
‘But surely they warned you that you would be caught?’
‘I said I didn’t care. They said I needed to be clever about it. Tom’s dad knew people. They were going to come up with the perfect murder for me but I couldn’t wait. I remembered the old gardener at the church cutting back the long grass and the hedges and I noticed the shed was never locked. I remembered something from school,
As for man, his days are as grass
, and grass needs to be cut down, doesn’t it?
Thrust in thy sickle, and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe
.’
‘So you stole the scythe and hid it until the time was right?’
‘I told Pascoe I wanted to talk about the nature of love; what it really meant. He fell for it. That’s a joke. As if he knew about love, real love. He said we should go for a walk. I suggested the river past Byron’s Pool. It was a cold day and there was no one about. I waited until we reached the pool. I had brought a rug and a bit of the loving
Sidney shook the man’s hand and tried to find reassuring words but felt, in his heart of hearts, that it was almost certainly too late. The rest of Danny’s life was likely to be entirely different from anything either of his parents had ever hoped for.
Sidney checked with the doctors that their patient was now recovered sufficiently to go home and then alerted Keating. He went to see Danny Wilkinson in his hospital room and told him that the police were convinced he had killed Pascoe in an act of revenge and had then taken an overdose that was intended to look like a murder attempt. Danny, still pale, and propped up on his pillows, seemed shocked. Sidney got to the point straight away: ‘Is there anything I can do to explain your story or stop you going to jail?’
Danny wondered whether to maintain his denial. ‘I don’t think you have any actual witnesses to the murder.’
‘There is plenty of circumstantial evidence. And it was your shirt.’
‘I don’t see how you can know that.’
‘There are your fingerprints on the scythe.’
‘Don’t you think that, if I had done it, on a cold winter day I would have worn gloves?’
‘Not if you wanted to get caught.’
‘Why would I do that?’
‘Perhaps you wanted to send a message to your mother?’
‘My mother?’ Danny’s voice was filled with contempt.
Sidney had had enough. ‘Danny, we all know you did it. The evidence is there. You have no alibi.’
‘I was in my room at the time he left us.’
‘No one saw you. The only thing I don’t understand is why you needed to go through the whole business of joining the cult. Pascoe walked freely around Grantchester. He was an easy target.’
‘And so anyone could have killed him.’
‘Not anyone. You.’
Danny sighed. It was as if he was wearied by his denials at last.
‘Tell me, Danny. It will only get worse if you don’t.’
‘I don’t know. I suppose I don’t care any more.’
‘It must have been an extraordinarily hard decision to take. You must be exhausted. Don’t bear this burden alone.’
‘I had to learn to hate,’ Danny began. ‘I had to despise Pascoe even more than I did already. I had to prepare for so long in order to kill him. I had already had fantasies about punching him in the face or kicking his head in but I wanted to do something so violent that I needed fury and desperation. So I had to see him up close. Let the anger build. If it was to be a crime of passion I was going to show him what that really looked like.’
‘But you had to disguise all those feelings when you were with him.’
‘I let them build up inside. I had never felt so alive than when I thought of that man dead.’
‘And no one else knew?’
‘Tom helped. I talked to Tom.’
‘He knew about your plan?’
‘His dad too.’
‘But surely they warned you that you would be caught?’
‘I said I didn’t care. They said I needed to be clever about it. Tom’s dad knew people. They were going to come up with the perfect murder for me but I couldn’t wait. I remembered the old gardener at the church cutting back the long grass and the hedges and I noticed the shed was never locked. I remembered something from school,
As for man, his days are as grass
, and grass needs to be cut down, doesn’t it?
Thrust in thy sickle, and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe
.’
‘So you stole the scythe and hid it until the time was right?’
‘I told Pascoe I wanted to talk about the nature of love; what it really meant. He fell for it. That’s a joke. As if he knew about love, real love. He said we should go for a walk. I suggested the river past Byron’s Pool. It was a cold day and there was no one about. I waited until we reached the pool. I had brought a rug and a bit of the loving
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