Blood of the Innocents

by Collett, Chris

Amira dissolved into tears and this time it was her mother who moved across to offer comfort.

  Mohammed Akram glanced at Mariner. ‘We would like to be left alone now, Inspector.’

  ‘Whatever other skills she has, Yasmin’s pretty adept at keeping all the different facets of her life separate from one another,’ said Millie as they drove away.

  ‘It’s something we all learn to do, some more efficiently than others,’ said Mariner, thinking that he’d managed to get it down to a fine art: his work, mother and Anna all running on separate, parallel tracks.

  Kings Rise was holding a memorial service for Ricky the next morning at a local church, to assist pupils through the grieving process, though how many of them would genuinely be mourning the boy was open to debate. It was another unrelentingly hot and dry day, and it was obscene to Mariner that the sun could shine so cheerfully over such an event. Fiske had insisted on accompanying him and Charlie Glover, keeping the police presence to a minimum. The three of them slipped into the back of the church and had to stand in the unbearable heat: the place was so packed with family and schoolfriends. If this lot was anything to go by, Ricky had more mates than his mother knew. Half the church seemed to be filled with spotty adolescent kids. Mariner tried not to think that it might just be a sick excuse for a day off school.

  One of Ricky’s uncles spoke nervously, and with hesitance, about the ‘grand lad’ Ricky had been, while Colleen’s sobbing seemed to echo throughout the whole chapel. Mariner detested the indignity of these manufactured occasions and, as the congregation rose falteringly to its feet and began an uneasy rendition of the final hymn, he noticed one or two of the kids stifling giggles. When Fiske’s pager went off, he wanted to punch his superior officer in the face.

  Afterwards, they joined the long line that filed past the family to pay their respects.

  ‘What the hell is he doing here?’ demanded Colleen emotionally as Fiske appeared in front of her. ‘You did nothing. Nothing!’ Suddenly she lunged for him. Mariner heard camera shutters clunk behind them and knew that this would not be Fiske’s finest hour. Turning his back on the debacle, Mariner walked over to where Charlie Glover stood, lighting up a cigarette. At least Colleen would appreciate that particular brand of camaraderie.

  They drove in an uncomfortable silence back to Granville Lane, where Tony Knox had mixed news. ‘Lewis Everett’s parents are home. They flew in from the Bahamas in the early hours of this morning, boss. But they don’t know where he is either. As far as they were concerned their precious son was looking after the house and doing his work experience. They admit that he can be a bit wild but they don’t see him eloping with anyone. Too selfish for that, so they say.’

  The vestibule they’d entered the previous day was, this afternoon, cluttered with matching Luis Vuitton luggage and a bulging sack of golf clubs. Mr and Mrs Everett were nicely tanned, but they no longer looked very relaxed.

  ‘Thank you for seeing us so promptly,’ Mariner said. ‘I realise you must be tired and jet-lagged and have things to do.’

  ‘This is not the kind of reception you expect or want on return from a peaceful holiday,’ admitted Mr Everett, with slight irritation. ‘But we’d like to sort it out as soon as we can.’

  ‘You’ll be aware by now that a young girl has gone missing in the area. We have reason to believe that she was having a relationship with your son.’ Mariner produced the photo. ‘This is Yasmin Akram. Did you know that Lewis was seeing her?’

  Everett gave the picture a perfunctory glance before passing it to his wife. ‘Lewis has had various girlfriends. We don’t always meet them.’

  ‘And Yasmin?’

  ‘I don’t recall her, do you, darling?’

  Mrs Everett was studying the snapshot more carefully. ‘No.’

  ‘And have you any idea where Lewis may have gone? We need to find him. He may be the last person to have seen Yasmin before she disappeared.’

  ‘I’ve had a look round,’ Everett said. ‘Some of his camping gear has gone from the garage, but as to where he’s gone, I wouldn’t know.’

  ‘We’d like to do a more thorough search of his room, if that’s all right.’

  Everett flattened a yawn. ‘If you must.’

  ‘Do you know if Lewis kept any kind of diary?’ Mariner asked Mrs Everett.

  ‘I don’t think so.’

  ‘Perhaps we could have a look on his computer.’

  Even on the more thorough search, the only paperwork they could find was a school planner, but it contained nothing personal. On his PC they looked for traces of records on Outlook but there was nothing.

  ‘What would Lewis do for money while he’s away?’

  ‘He has an allowance paid into his bank account and a debit card that he can use to withdraw cash from ATMs. He has a credit card too,’ Everett told them.

  ‘We’ll need the details. The credit card company may be able to help us track his movements.’

  Lewis’s credit card records provided the break they needed. A phone call to the company revealed that since the day of his disappearance, Lewis had been spending heavily at petrol stations, restaurants and surfing shops in the area around Newquay in Cornwall.

  Knox contacted local police with the description of Lewis and his car, with a request to publicise it widely, especially around the camp-sites in the area.

  ‘That could take some time,’ he was told. ‘There’s hundreds of them and in this weather they’re pretty full, too.’

  ‘Do what you can, will you?’ Then it was back to the waiting game.

  When Mariner got home that evening, he found that his answering machine had been working overtime. An unexpected message from Anna told him that she had the chance of a night’s respite from Jamie if he felt like calling round. It happened occasionally when Manor Park had an overnight vacancy. Mariner looked at his watch: it was ten fifteen. It didn’t take long to make up his mind.

  The house was dark: Anna making the most of the opportunity for an early night. So often was her sleep disturbed by Jamie’s nocturnal wanderings that she took a full night when ever she could. Mariner let himself in and, after taking a long, cleansing shower, eventually slipped into bed beside Anna.

  ‘Hello, you,’ she murmured, sleepily.

  ‘Hi.’ In the heat of the night she’d thrown off the duvet and he could make out the luscious curves of her body. He slid a hand round over her stomach and up towards her breasts, feeling his own body starting to respond.

  But Anna wriggled away. ‘Mm, I’m really tired.’

  Pity. Sighing heavily, Mariner had to content himself with moulding his body to hers and breathing her scent. He lay there for a while, trying to drift off, but sleep just wouldn’t come. Eventually, he got up and prowled the rooms, coming to rest at the bedroom window where he stared out at the eerie orange glow cast over the street by the sodium light, until at last it was faded out by the dawn. The next morning he felt like death warmed up while Anna was full of energy. ‘I’ve got a meeting with Simon about the festival this evening,’ she bubbled. ‘Any chance you could sit with Jamie for me?’ Suddenly, irrationally Mariner began to question the motives for that late night phone call.

  ‘Sure,’ he said, indifferently.

  She picked up the undertone. ‘Is that going to be a problem?’

  ‘Of course not.’ But he wasn’t convincing.

  She was still watching him carefully when the phone rang. ‘It’s the wife,’ she said, handing it over.

  In fact it was Tony Knox. ‘Cornwall police have come back to us. They’ve found Lewis Everett. But he’s not there with Yasmin. He’s there with his mate Daniel who’s also skiving off work experience.’

  ‘Really gives you confidence in the future generation, doesn’t it? Are they are on their way?’

  ‘They’re being escorted back this afternoon.’

  ‘We’ll talk to Lewis as soon as he gets here.’ Which, he realised, might mean interviewing him through the evening. He ga
ve Anna an apologetic look. ‘I’m sorry, I won’t be able to make it tonight after all, something’s come up.’

  She studied him for a moment. ‘That’s OK, I can take Jamie with me. Simon won’t mind.’

  Mariner picked up his jacket. ‘I’ll see you later, then.’

  ‘Sure, have a good day.’ No hint of disappointment, not even the demand for further explanation, so why, as he walked out to his car, did Mariner feel so piqued? Because Simon wouldn’t mind. He wouldn’t, would he? Bastard. In all honesty, what Mariner had really wanted her to say was that she would cancel the appointment. Knowing that he was being unreasonable, he recognised the growing feeling inside him for what it was. He was jealous, of Simon Meadows, with whom Anna seemed to spend ever-increasing amounts of time.

  It was essential to her autistic brother’s well-being that Anna and Meadows should get on, so it came as a bit of a shock to Mariner that he should begin to resent their relationship. But it was turning into something he couldn’t deny, even to himself. After all these years of bearing witness to the devastating impact of human jealousy, a tiny part of him was beginning to appreciate its power.

  Lewis Everett arrived back in the city in the early afternoon and had legal representation right from the start. His father made sure of that, and insisted on being present, too.

  Approaching six feet tall, Everett was lean and lanky in that gangling, post-adolescent way, his hair fashionably mussed and with a few days’ fuzzy growth on his chin. The first thing to draw Mariner’s attention, as they faced each other across the interview room table, was the tattoo on his left forearm. Mariner wondered if he’d got it at the same tattoo parlour as Shaun Pryce.

  ‘I understand you’re seeing Yasmin Akram,’ Mariner began.

  ‘Was seeing, past tense. It was months ago.’

  ‘How did it start?’

  ‘We met on a school trip.’

  ‘Oh yes, the trip to the Tate. You were late back to the bus.’

  ‘We went sightseeing. Got carried away.’

  ‘And lost. You continued to see Yasmin after that?’

  ‘Not for long.’

  ‘Who broke it off?’

  ‘I did. She was a prick tease.’

  ‘Lewis!’

  ‘Please, Mr Everett. We agreed: no interruptions. What do you mean by that, Lewis?’

  ‘She used to wind me up. All over me, hands going everywhere, then suddenly the parents and their religious beliefs would come into her head and she’d want me to stop. She’d say she couldn’t go any further. I got fed up with it.’

  ‘But you saw her again recently.’

  ‘I see her sometimes across the platform at the station, waiting for her train. One day a couple of weeks ago, she sent me a text. Said she wanted to meet me again. She had something important to tell me. She asked me to meet her from school.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘I told her I wouldn’t be at school the next week. I was doing work experience up at the factory centre.’

  ‘Huh.’ Lewis’s father couldn’t stop himself. Mariner silenced him with a glare.

  ‘I told her she could come over to the centre on Monday after school. She’d be finished before me.’

  ‘And did she come?’

  ‘Eventually.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘She was late. She’d walked all the way round on the road. It’s miles.’

  ‘She didn’t know about the short cut over the reservoir.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Did you tell her about it?’

  ‘Yeah, so she’d know next time. Anyway, by the time she got to Dung Heap’s it was nearly time for her to catch her train.’

  ‘But did she tell you?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The “something important” she wanted to say.’

  Lewis snorted. ‘She said she really missed me and that she’d changed her mind.’

  ‘About what?’

  ‘About doing it - sleeping with me.’

  ‘What had brought this on?’

  Everett lifted his bony shoulders. ‘Who knows? Her mate Suzanne had been giving her a hard time. And there was something about her sister, too.’

  ‘So she was planning to go through with it this time.’

  ‘I said, great, but what was she going to do about protection. I said it would be easier if she just went on the pill.’

  ‘That’s very considerate of you,’ put in Tony Knox.

  ‘If you must know, I thought when I said that she’d back down again.’

  ‘But she didn’t.’

  ‘No. She’d already sorted it. I was pretty stunned. Her dad had even found out, but she’d fixed him too.’

  ‘She told him she was on the pill for medical reasons.’

  ‘Whatever.’

  ‘So what did you do?’

  ‘We arranged to meet again on the Tuesday afternoon, after school. I was going to get off work early and we’d go back to my place. She was going to tell her parents she was staying at her mate’s house for the night.’

  ‘So what happened?’

  ‘Monday night, Dan called with this big plan about going down to Cornwall. But it was cool. I could meet Yasmin as planned then we’d go down afterwards, drop her off at the station or something on the way.’

  ‘Have your cake and eat it.’

  ‘Then, Tuesday morning, Dan called to say we’d have to go earlier or we wouldn’t get a pitch at the camp-site. I texted Yasmin to let her know I wouldn’t make it, and that I’d see her when I got back.’

  ‘Just like that.’

  Lewis shrugged again. ‘I felt bad letting her down. She’d gone out on a limb for me but, well, you know—’

  ‘Girls in Cornwall more of a certainty?’

  ‘Less complicated. Yasmin had messed me around before, so she could easily do it again.’

  ‘What time did you send the text?’

  ‘Some time that morning.’

  ‘What exactly did your message say?’

  ‘I’m going to Cornwall with Dan, don’t bother turning up at the reservoir. To be honest, I was pretty convinced she wouldn’t come. I thought she’d bottle it at the last minute like before.’

  ‘Is there any chance that Yasmin could have misunderstood your message?’ The shrugged responses were beginning to get on Mariner’s nerves. ‘And what time did you leave to go to Cornwall?’

  ‘I left the workshop at lunchtime, about one o’clock. I told them I didn’t feel well—’

  ‘Christ, Lewis, when are you ever going to do a decent day’s work?’

  ‘Mr Everett, please.’ He turned back to Lewis. ‘Then what did you do?’

  ‘I went home and packed my stuff, and waited for Dan. But his car was leaking oil—’

  ‘All over my drive, I notice,’ Lewis’s father interrupted.

  Mariner lost patience. ‘Mr Everett, if you can’t remain silent, I’ll have to ask you to leave. Go on, Lewis.’

  ‘We didn’t get it fixed till nearly four.’

  ‘And you went on the motorway?’

  ‘Straight down the M5.’ He sliced through the air with the edge of a hand.

  ‘Did Yasmin ever talk to you about her parents?’

  ‘Only to moan about how strict they are.’

  ‘She ever talk about running away?’

  ‘Not for real.’

  ‘But she had mentioned it.’ A nod. ‘Did she say where she would go if she did?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Did you think about taking her to Cornwall with you?’

  ‘No way.’

  ‘Will anyone be able to corroborate the time you left?’

  A shrug. ‘Dan?’

  ‘Your best pal? Not much of a back-up,’ said Knox.

  ‘The traffic cameras might pick up the car.’ Lewis was hopeful.

  But Mariner kept pushing. ‘I still don’t understand why you turned down a perfectly good opportunity on your doorstep to drive all the way down to Cor
nwall. Especially given that Yasmin had started contraception for your benefit. Was she too tame for you?’

  Lewis’s face screwed up in a flash of irritation. ‘She was using me too, man. All of a sudden she had this thing about losing her virginity. That’s all she wanted me for. Listen, I really like Yasmin, but like I said, she’s a mess. When we were going out she didn’t really know what she wanted. And I’ve heard about her dad, too. He sounds seriously scary. Cornwall was just a laugh, a chance to get away from all that.’

  ‘Without the responsibility,’ put in Mr Everett.

  His son stared back insolently. ‘Yeah, that’s right.’

  ‘Ever heard of a boy called Ricky Skeet?’ Mariner slid the photograph across the table. ‘This is him.’

  Lewis looked at the picture, at ease with the question. ‘No.’

  Knox produced the grass. ‘We found this in your room.’

  ‘It’s for personal use. To be honest, it’s been there ages. I’d forgotten all about it.’

  ‘Where did you get it?’

  ‘A friend got it for me.’

  ‘What’s his name?’

  ‘John Smith.’

  ‘You sure it wasn’t Shaun Pryce?’

  Again, it was a smooth response. No hint of recognition. ‘No.’

  Mariner put the second photograph on the table. ‘This is him.’ Lewis frowned.

  ‘What?’ said Mariner.

  ‘It’s just - weird. I’m pretty sure I don’t know that guy, but it’s like I’ve seen that picture before.’

  ‘This picture? Or one like it?’

  ‘Could be one like it.’

  ‘Have you ever been into the girls school?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘That is weird, then.’

  They were able to let Lewis go home with his father in the late afternoon. His car was impounded for fingerprinting but Mariner was pretty sure they were wasting their time.

  ‘Young lad like him, you’d have thought that he’d jump at the chance of a girl offered to him on a plate,’ Mariner said to Knox afterwards. ‘Would he really forgo that opportunity? ’

  ‘He was hedging his bets. Yasmin had messed him around, hadn’t she? Like I said, the girls in Cornwall must have seemed more of a cert.’