The Retirement Party

by Graham Miller

  'Well, yes, it is. But it does mean that we can't round up all the nonces who live in our area and lean on them.'

  'Come on! This isn't an episode of Life on Mars. You can't say that any more.'

  'Sorry. We are unable to go through the sex offenders register and find anyone on there who might be relapsing on their rehabilitation.' He paused for a second. 'Doesn't matter what you call it, we don't have many leads.'

  'Ex-boyfriend?'

  'The delightful Kyle? Yeah, turns out he started seeing someone while he was still with Mazey. She found out and dumped him. He's a bit of a spotty teenager. The only real mystery is how he got two girls to go out with him.'

  'And Mazey wasn't bad-mouthing him around the area? Nothing like that?'

  'No, she just moved on.'

  'So, what is happening?'

  'Well, I've got people out trying to track down this WankyBoi. And we're also going through anyone who likes strangling girls and has just got out of prison. Going nationwide too, you know, in case it's not a local.'

  'Probably is a local though,' DC Angel countered. 'Or someone really lucky to pick a blind spot on CCTV to carry out their attack.'

  'Hmmm, there's not much else that we can do at the moment.'

  'I might be able to help there. I ran into some of the girls who knew Mazey, hanging around McDonald's.' Haines' eyebrows shot up but DC Angel continued. She briefly outlined what she'd learnt about a possible route to the identity of WankyBoi.

  'Well,' Haines grinned. 'This is a bit more like it. Did you get names and details?'

  'No, it's all information received. It was the best way to keep them talking.'

  He nodded. 'If you're confident in this it's something I can get started on.' He made notes as he spoke. 'Katie Smithson left year 11 last summer, from Bradwick Comprehensive.'

  'I think you'll find it's Bradwick High School now.'

  'I'll tell you one thing that hasn't changed.' He reached for the phone. 'The school secretary. She knows everyone who goes through that place.'

  'Will she take a call on a Saturday?'

  'I have her home number. You'd be surprised how often you need to trace someone from school. One I've spoken to her, I'll also try the recently retired headmistress.'

  'You really have access to her as well?' DC Angel couldn't hide her surprise.

  'Well, she is my aunt and only lives up the road. But if these lads are being naughty as grown-ups then it's likely they weren't behaving themselves in school.'

  DC Angel tried, and failed, to work out how many data protection laws and police procedures were about to be broken.

  'First of all I'll see if either of them can remember Katie Smithson and her family.' Haines was in his element now. 'This is excellent, it's a step towards finding who's behind the videos. And Mazey was already halfway to reporting them.'

  DC Angel debated with herself whether or not to challenge the exact nature of the shortcuts. But she could also see that the sooner they could apprehend the makers of the video, the quicker they'd find Mazey's killer. And they could write off the shortcuts as information received if they were careful with their wording when questioning the suspects. 'You're right. You work your magic on the phones.'

  She left him to plug into the Bradwick grapevine while she found a terminal to put her findings into the system. It was only when she went through her notes that she realised that she hadn't mentioned Dark Car Man to Haines. On reflection, she realised that looking for a dark coloured family car made by Ford was a fool's errand. She put the details into the computer and tried to forget about them.

  It was already late afternoon by then so she switched off and went to see if Haines needed anything before she went home.

  'No, you're all right. I'll stay for a bit. This is what I like about this town, everyone knows everyone and they're all willing to help. Sue, the secretary is heading into the office now to look up some records. I think we'll have a name by tomorrow morning.'

  'Well good luck, sir, and don't work too hard!' DC Angel left the office wondering if Haines had even noticed that tomorrow would be Sunday.

  Chapter Eleven

  Emma sat in her car in the station car park and tried to plan what was left of her evening. She'd woken in the morning intending to sort out a few errands and generally catch up on the work of looking after the house. But she was too used to the job and its demands to be upset about the change of direction.

  What she really wanted was to sink a bottle of wine and watch some rubbish on late night TV. But then she'd seen the look in Haines' eyes when she'd passed over the information she'd gained from the gang outside McDonald's.

  Going home, getting drunk and staying up 'til the small hours was a bad plan. She suspected that by tomorrow he'd have everything he needed to go and make some arrests. The last thing she wanted was to be either still drunk or hung over when the call came through. This was her big chance and she wanted to be in on the action with a clear head.

  She started the engine and headed for home. She lived in a smart four bed semi in one of the nicer areas of Bradwick. She'd had a simple plan – she got the mortgage and rented out rooms to cover the bills. She had the nicest room and had resisted the urge to turn all the downstairs rooms into bedrooms, although she had converted the garage into one. She always rented out to other shift workers – primarily nurses and police officers and always to women. There was something comforting about knowing that everyone around you was in the same boat with long shifts and erratic sleeping patterns.

  She let herself in and Florence the cat immediately wound itself around her legs. She used to be a huge animal, but a few years ago the vet had insisted that she be put on a diet. Emma had chatted to her housemates and realised that the wily animal was getting far more than her required two meals a day. This had led to a very simple system being implemented. When Emma was led into the kitchen by the cat, she glanced at the cat food on the counter. On top was a piece of cardboard which said "evening" and the other side said "morning". Whoever was around fed the cat, flipped the cardboard to show when she was last fed, and her days of being corpulent were over. Now she knew that Florence had been fed Emma ignored her, no matter how often she miaowed or sat by her empty plate looking pathetic.

  Emma settled on the sofa with her single glass of wine and got her mobile phone out. She'd met a traffic officer called David Marks through a specialist dating site for workers in blue-light jobs. They'd had a fairly informal relationship for several months. It was her perfect relationship – she didn't have the time for someone who'd make a lot of demands of her. With David, they had an agreement that they could text each other for a bit of no strings attached fun whenever they felt like it. And it was definitely what she needed right now.

  She texted and asked him to come over for a glass of wine. When he responded and asked if that was all, she told him to bring his toothbrush and added some flirty emojis.

  As she expected, that created the right response and he said he could be there in twenty minutes. She had a quick shower, moving quietly around the shared house as she wasn't sure who was asleep. When she was done, she stayed in her bathrobe and waited in the lounge. She was glad of a few quiet minutes to herself, sipping her wine and taking in the peace of the house around her.

  She heard David's arrival before she saw him. He was a motorcycle police officer and had arrived by his personal bike tonight. She moved to the front door to avoid him having to ring the bell and wake people up.

  He stood there and took in the bathrobe with a slow grin. 'I feel a bit overdressed now,' he said, indicating his leathers.

  'Well, why don't we take the wine up to my room and we'll see what we can do about that?'

  'You are forward, aren't you?'

  'Is that a problem?'

  'No, no, not at all. Nice to know where you stand.'

  * * *

  The next morning she was woken by a text message from Haines. "It's nice and early on Sunday morning. Fancy wak
ing up a naughty teenager who's been making videos?"

  She had been expecting this. She quickly replied and agreed to meet at the station. Glancing across the bed she saw the sleeping form of David. His hair was tousled and he was spread out over his side of the bed. She needed to get moving and hoped he'd stay asleep.

  Returning from her shower and morning routine she found David sat up in bed. She kept the bathrobe on and slipped into fresh underwear without undoing the robe.

  'Why are you being so coy? I think I saw everything last night!'

  'I'm not being coy.' Emma wasn't prepared to get into this with David right now. 'I just have to go to work today.'

  'No! It's Sunday. We could spend the day in bed together before grabbing some brunch.' Seeing the look on Emma's face, he faltered slightly before ploughing on. 'Or, or, how about going out for a proper Sunday lunch? My treat. After coming back to bed, of course.'

  'No! I did tell you last night what the deal was. You knew then there was a chance I'd have to go in to work early today.'

  'I thought you were just joking. Flirting.' He looked genuinely hurt.

  'No. You're in the job. You know what it's like.' Despite her harsh words, she did feel an urge, a basic need to go back to bed. David was sat up in bed with the duvet pooled around his waist. She took in the sight of his bare shoulders and chest, muscles at rest, the stubble on his cheek. She was tired of being the career woman. She wished she could go back to bed, could have the warmth of human contact and the companionship of a day shared.

  But balancing out that basic need, she had her career. She knew that being there when the arrests were made was critical. She might get into the interviews, contribute to the report to CPS. All of that was what would help her career. And, on a personal level, she felt she needed to be there at the arrest. To be a woman when the men were arrested. She shed her robe and clipped a bra on with her back to him.

  'Well, in Traffic we tend to have shifts. And if you're not on the rota, your time's your own.'

  Emma took a deep breath. 'Look. I don't have the time to do this now. I need to be in work.' She felt uncomfortable so she slipped a teal top on and started looking for trousers.

  'So, you can just call me up, have your fun, then boot me out in the morning?'

  'Hey! As I remember it wasn't all one sided. You got your fun last night as well. And I did say in my text that it was just for the night.'

  'Like I said, I thought you were messing.' He looked hopeful and patted the bed next to him. Again Emma felt that tug. She could smell him, imagine the sleepy early morning, languid feel that sex would have. 'We could have one more go. No, brunch or spending the whole day. Just some quick fun?'

  'No, we can't. I'm already showered and dressed. I have a job and a career.' She found her jeans and pulled them on.

  'Okay. Well I'll leave then. I know when I'm not wanted.' He pulled a T-shirt on, messing his hair up even further and started looking around for more of his clothes.

  'You don't have to leave straight away.' She put on her shoes. 'Stay if you want. Have a shower and a coffee before you go home.' She attempted to be conciliatory. 'I could give you a ring later, when I get home?'

  'You think I'm going to go home and stare at the phone waiting for you to be ready?' Anger was rising in his voice. 'Actually I have more pride than that. You can't just pick me up and put me down when you feel like it. You go to work if you want, but don't expect me to be available when you get back.'

  Emma glanced at the clock and at David Marks who was now lying on his front, trying to snag his clothes without exposing himself. She knew she needed to get into work. They had a mountain of work to do to prepare for the interviews if the arrest went off okay. And then they'd have to work on tracking down the other two WankyBois as well. She realised that she was focused on work and still hadn't answered David. She just couldn't deal with this argument and her work at the same time. 'Just don't slam the door on the way out. Everyone here is on shifts so they need their sleep.'

  With that she slipped out of her room and went to work.

  Chapter Twelve

  Haines and Angel pulled up on a very ordinary suburban street. Grass and trees separated the road from the pavement. Haines always looked at the cars to judge an area. Here it was all smart family cars, mostly three to five years old and mostly good makes. The houses were all solidly built 1930s semi-detached and looked well kept. It was early on a Sunday morning and the street was quiet.

  DC Angel saw Haines frowning at the sat nav and checking his notes. 'What were you expecting? Somewhere run down? A council estate?'

  'No, but this looks like a nice area.'

  'Precisely.' DC Angel nodded. 'They can afford to give their kids smartphones and computers and they probably just leave them alone and unsupervised for hours on end.'

  'Now who's being prejudiced?'

  'I'm not,' DC Angel argued. 'It's just that if you have a big house then the kids can hide in the bedroom and edit and send dodgy videos. If they're growing up with a big family in a small house then they're more likely to go out and cause trouble on the streets. Stands to reason.'

  'I suppose you're right.' Haines turned to look at DC Angel. 'Are you all right with being in early on a Sunday?' He had picked up something in her attitude when she'd arrived at the station.

  'Yeah, it's fine.' She hoped that she hadn't brought her argument with David into work with her. She was aggrieved that her planning hadn't accounted for his ego. 'To be honest I was kind of expecting it when I saw how hard you were going after the information yesterday afternoon.' She was keen to move away from analysing the past day. 'Anyway, who are we here to see?'

  'One Julian Lockwood, age nineteen, left school with no real qualifications, still lives at home, unemployed.' Haines read from his notes.

  'He sounds like a fine example of manhood. Let's see what he has to say for himself.'

  'Take it easy though, Angel.' For once Haines sounded slightly vulnerable. 'We're on shaky ground with the identification. You have information received and I used my contacts to get his name and address. Let's let him dig himself into a hole, otherwise a defence lawyer will be screaming "entrapment".'

  'Okay then. We'll take it easy and let him incriminate himself.'

  The door was opened by a middle-aged woman they soon ascertained was Julian Lockwood's mother. As soon as she knew what they wanted, she called for her son. A teenage boy sloped down the stairs while the mother looked concerned.

  'What have you been up to, Julian?' she asked.

  'I told you, it's Jules!' He sounded sulky.

  Haines glanced over at DC Angel with a slight nod. She took the hint and said, 'Is there somewhere we can talk in private?' She left the slightest of pauses as his eyes widened in panic. 'We need your help with some videos we've found the internet.'

  Instantly he went from slouching to on the move. He wheeled past his mother and ran for the kitchen.

  'Is there any way out of the back garden?' Haines barked at the startled mother.

  'No, only his shed is out there.'

  'Right.' He barged past the startled woman and through the kitchen. Angel made a snap decision and went round the outside to the gate that she'd seen when they approached.

  The gate opened onto a narrow passageway that led from the front, down the side of the house towards the rear garden. She waited just at the end of it, listening to her boss cursing as he chased the teenager around the garden. Her instincts were spot on as Julian appeared at the other end of the passageway.

  He thought for a fraction of a second then charged straight for DC Angel. She deliberately shifted her weight to one side and he went for the opening. He made contact with her shoulder as he barged past. She caught hold of his wrist as he passed her and spun on her foot.

  He wasn't expecting it and spun right around the corner. His own weight and speed had worked against him and he smacked into the wall. DC Angel hadn't let go of the wrist and now twisted it expertly
so that he was pinned in place.

  Behind her Haines nodded in satisfaction at two things. Firstly the skill of his new DC in subduing a suspect and secondly that Julian's phone skittered out of his pocket, unseen by either of them.

  'Julian Lockwood, I am arresting you for assaulting a police officer. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.' DC Angel had him cuffed and frogmarched up the front garden before he knew what happened. Haines slipped Julian's mobile into an evidence bag just before his own phone started buzzing. They bundled Julian into the back of the unmarked car.

  'Wait there a minute,' Haines said to Angel. 'I'd better take this. It's DI Hargreaves.'

  He walked a short distance away and then came back with a face like thunder. 'Damn it! I need to get back to the station. No, I can't do that. I've got to meet someone. Smooth things out.'

  'What? Now? In case you haven't noticed, we've just made our first arrest in the Taylor case.' DC Angel realised she might be overstepping her bounds and added, 'Sir.'

  'I know. But DI Hargreaves has someone I need to meet. He actually used the phrase "organ grinder not the monkey".' There was a significant pause. 'To me.'

  'Right. What do we need to do now?' Angel stopped dead and held up a hand. To his credit Rob Haines just waited. He could see the concentration on her face as she rewound what had just happened. In a matter of seconds, she smiled. 'It's the shed. That's what the mother said. "His shed" not "the shed". That must be where he spends his time, not in his bedroom at all. We need to get that secure before we do anything else. We know there is more than one of them. For all we know one of his co-conspirators will be on his way over now to delete everything. Did you secure his phone? We don't want him texting his creepy friends.'

  'The phone is here.' He held up the evidence bag. Then he looked at his watch. 'Crap! Okay. Five minutes to sort this out. You whistle up uniforms to secure the scene and we'll need whoever's on weekend call-out at the technical team to start right away with whatever we find both in the shed and his bedroom.'