Truth or Dare by Tania Carver Read Free Book Online

sure you’re not just flattering me?’
    Mickey and Anni said nothing.
    ‘How did you find her?’ asked Marina. ‘This Fiona Welch?’
    ‘Simple,’ said Anni. ‘She was a teaching post-grad at the university. Psychology. All the guys had been her students.’
    ‘So she was arrested,’ said Mickey. ‘We questioned her, tried to break her down… nothing. She stuck to her story. She was Fiona Welch. The one who died was an imposter.’
    ‘She knew everything,’ said Anni, ‘had her whole life story memorised. Told it like it had happened to her. She was so convincing that we began to think maybe she was right. Maybe the woman who died was an imposter and she was the real one.’
    ‘We tried everything,’ said Mickey. ‘Everything. Got nowhere. She was Fiona Welch. And nothing we could say or do would shift that opinion from her mind.’
    ‘So she admitted to making the two men kill their girlfriends? Working on the third one to do the same?’
    Anni nodded. ‘Completely. We didn’t even have to prompt her. Like she was proud of the fact. Like she wanted to be caught.’
    ‘So we could all see how brilliant she is,’ said Marina. ‘How clever, manipulative.’
    ‘Showing off,’ said Mickey. ‘But it didn’t get her very far. She still got found out. Still got caught.’
    ‘That’s true,’ said Marina. She frowned, thinking. ‘Strange, though. She goes to all that trouble to pretend to be Fiona Welch. Puts in all that effort. Why? Just to end up being caught?’
    Mickey shrugged. ‘We got wise to the original Fiona Welch,’ he said. ‘If she hadn’t died we’d have put her away. And she wouldn’t have been let out. Ever.’
    ‘True,’ said Marina. ‘But the original Fiona Welch wanted that. Or would have accepted it. Because that way she would have been famous. That was what she wanted. Notoriety. She would have been listened to. Feared, even. She would be a famous serial killer. She would have her writing published. She would be, she thought, taken seriously.’
    ‘That’s right,’ said Anni. ‘So?’
    ‘So,’ said Marina, ‘what’s this one playing at?’
    ‘How d’you mean?’ asked Mickey.
    ‘Well, if what Anni said is true, it’s as if she wanted to be caught.’
    Mickey shrugged. ‘So?’
    ‘So she’s manipulated you, too. She’s in here because she wants to be.’
    Mickey fell silent.
    ‘But why?’ asked Marina.
    Anni stood up. ‘Let’s go and ask her, shall we?’

10
    ‘S he’d left her phone on the bed,’ said Sperring once he and Phil were back in the Audi.
    Phil had given a silent prayer that the Audi was where he had left it and intact. He pulled away, hoping that the brakes still worked. Even though they hadn’t noticed anyone they would have been seen, made as police. He just hoped no one had had the time or inclination to tamper.
    ‘So you had a look,’ said Phil, leaning forward to turn down the Midlake CD that was playing. ‘You know that’s inadmissible.’
    Sperring shrugged. ‘Won’t come to that. Anyway, I just had a look. She’d be none the wiser. Left no prints.’ He started to remove his latex gloves.
    Phil drove in silence for a while, surreptitiously testing his brakes. They seemed to work fine. He relaxed slightly. ‘So,’ he said eventually, ‘you’re dying to tell me. What did you find?’
    ‘And you’re dying to hear it. Don’t try and kid me that you’re not. Well,’ he said, settling into the seat, making himself comfortable, ‘I had a look at her calendar, see if she’d marked down any dates and that. Strangely, she wasn’t the type to be that organised. So I had a look in her contacts.’ Sperring smiled. ‘Found a few names worth looking at.’
    ‘Such as?’ Phil kept his eyes on the road. He was still relatively new to Birmingham and had to concentrate every time he drove. Not just because the roads were confusing but because the other drivers were so aggressive. He had thought London drivers were bad but they