by Helen Phifer
He heard the voice again. Walter, you are too paranoid. You need to keep calm if you don’t want to give the game away. You need to learn to play it cool. The downside to having to lie in bed was that it meant he couldn’t move around or put the lights on. He had to stay perfectly still. It was beginning to turn into a bit of a circus outside and he giggled. That was a great metaphor. He loved the circus.
There were police everywhere. The ambulance drove away with the girl, who also happened to be handcuffed to one of the coppers. A stretcher was carried down with what he assumed was the guy from upstairs. Something had happened and he’d bet a tenner that the girl had snapped and stabbed him. Which technically Wally thought he deserved, although he couldn’t tell the police that because then they’d want to come into his flat and ask questions, too many questions.
It was a shame, though; he thought the girl had guts. Maybe the moron with the loud music next door to him would give a statement about the arguing every night. Mrs Batta would probably tell them everything as well; she lived right next door to them. He was just drifting off to sleep when there was a loud hammering on his door. He felt his heart start racing as he lay there ignoring the noise. There was no way he was speaking to them, unless they didn’t stop knocking.
He looked across at his clown suit, which was hanging up drip-drying. They would want to come in and then they would ask him about it. Well, he wasn’t going to let them. He got off the bed and took the costume into the bathroom, shutting the door. There was more hammering that he couldn’t ignore. Taking a deep breath he began to walk towards his front door, trying to slow his breathing down and trying not to look as if he was a murderer.
Chapter Ten
Annie kissed Alfie goodbye then turned to Lily.
‘Are you sure you want him to stop over? He’s been a bit cranky the last few nights.’
‘Of course I’m sure. Would I even be asking if I wasn’t? You’ve just fed him and I have everything I need for him. Get yourself home, have a long soak in the bath and a bottle of wine. Spend some time with Will, just the two of you.’
Annie must have looked wistful because Tom picked up on it. ‘Is everything okay with you two?’
‘Yes, it’s fine. Well, apart from him being brought home stinking drunk yesterday after Stu’s funeral and me having to put him to bed. We’re fine; I’m just wishing he was going to be home on time, that’s all. They found a body in a house yesterday and I know fine well they’ll have put him in charge of the case. If it’s suspicious he won’t be home for hours.’
Tom hugged her with his good arm. ‘Well, spend some time doing something you want to do until he gets home. Haven’t you got some business plans to be drawing up?’
Annie squeezed him, kissed his cheek and smiled. ‘Oh yes, I have plenty to do while he’s not home.’
Lily gently pushed her arm. ‘Good, go then before you change your mind. I want to take Alfie to see some of my friends and show him off. I’ll ring you if he won’t settle, so don’t worry.’
Annie let go of Tom and kissed Alfie once more, then Lily. She left them while she could. She’d sworn she wouldn’t be one of those obsessive mothers who never let her kids out of her sight, so why her eyes were filling up with tears was beyond her. She’d never imagined having children could turn a person into such an emotional wreck.
She ran down the concrete steps and got into her car before she changed her mind. The gates were already opening for her so she drove straight out and didn’t look back. Once she was on the road back to her house she felt better. It would be nice to have a break from Alfie; as much as she doted on him, she was knackered. In fact she might have a soak in the bath and go to bed for a couple of hours. If Will came home early he wouldn’t complain if she was already in bed.
By the time she got home she felt much better. She’d had the radio on full blast and had been singing along to the songs she knew. When her house came into view she smiled to herself. Home sweet home.
She parked the car and pulled out her phone to text Will.
‘Lily has insisted Alfie stops there tonight. It’s just you and me. I’m going for a long soak in the bath and a couple of hours’ sleep. Try not to work too late. I love you xx’
She sent the text, hoping he would read it and rush home to her. In reality she knew that his phone would either be dead or on silent and he’d be too busy to read her message. Of all the days for a body to turn up, it would be when he was working. Then she crossed herself. Sorry, whoever you are; that was mean. I’m sure you didn’t want to die either. Please ignore that.
As she went into her house it felt strange not having Alfie tucked under her arm. They’d been pretty much inseparable since his birth. She locked the door and went into the kitchen to get a bottle of water. There were several bottles of her favourite rose wine on the wine rack and she was tempted to pour herself a large glass. What if Alfie needed her? Stop it, for Christ’s sake. Lily can bring him back. One glass won’t hurt. She pulled the bottle out, which was freezing cold because it had been in there for so long. After unscrewing the cap she took a glass from the cupboard and filled it half full. Taking a sip, she sighed. It tasted so bloody good.
As if it was a magic potion she felt her entire body relax as she sipped some more. She kicked her shoes off, went upstairs and began running a bath. Pouring a generous dollop of her Chanel No 5 bath gel in it she inhaled. She went into the bedroom, took a clean pair of pyjamas from the drawer and her Kindle off the bedside table. She went back into the bathroom where she was going to soak until the water went cold and she was out of wine.
__________________________
Will felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He was busy writing up his notes from the post-mortem. He wanted a full-scale set of house-to-house inquiries done in the area. He’d printed up a questionnaire and emailed it to Claire, who he knew would do the rest; she’d been a PCSO around the same length of time as he’d been a detective sergeant so she would know exactly what to do.
He still had no motive for Pauline’s murder; there was no sign of a break-in. Her handbag had been undisturbed. When he’d spoken to the CSI they’d told him there were five hundred pounds in the chest of drawers so the money hadn’t been a motive. He wanted to know why someone had decided to kill a middle-aged woman so violently and he wanted to know now.
He pulled out his phone and smiled. The thought of Annie alone in the bath made him feel as if he wanted to drop everything and drive straight home. In fact he didn’t know if there was anything else he could do right now. Matt still hadn’t sent his report over and they had no witnesses or a suspect to interview.
He stood up, looking around. It was getting late. Adele and Brad were in the video imaging unit going through the CCTV; everyone else had knocked off. He’d told them to finish for the night; he wanted them all in bright and early to get a fresh start. His radio, which was turned down on his desk, began to ring. He looked down at it and groaned.
‘Go ahead.’
‘Sarge, we need someone from CID at this scene.’
‘Which scene?’
‘Abbey Road, the block of flats opposite the church. We have a stabbing and it’s serious.’
He let go of the button so the officer on the other end couldn’t hear him. Jesus, no fucking way.
‘Right, is there no one else?’
‘Nope.’
Will ended the call and looked at his watch; technically he still had two hours left of his shift. He would have to go and take a look. He wished they weren’t so thin on the ground for staff. He might just have to pass it on to Kendal if it was serious. He had enough to do. Brad and Adele came out of the office.
‘Brad, there’s been a stabbing. You need to come with me. Adele, you can get off if you want. We’ll go through everything in the morning. Did you find anything?’
Will looked at Brad, who looked like a kid who’d just been told he couldn’t have a puppy.
‘Boss, I have something on t
onight. I can’t really work late.’
‘Why, what time are you on till?’
‘Now. I’m due to finish at six.’
Adele stepped forward. ‘I’m on till eight. I’ll go with you.’
Will nodded. ‘Thanks.’
He didn’t bother to look at Brad, who was probably going to the gym or for a game of golf with his mates; his list of priorities was not what your average adult’s would be. He walked off and Adele followed him out the front of the station. Adele looked relieved they were going in Will’s car.
‘Is Barrow normally this crazy?’
‘Well, it’s crazy, but more the Jeremy Kyle standard of crazy, if you know what I mean. Domestics over my boyfriend slept with my best friend’s mother and now she’s pregnant sort of stuff. There have been a fair few murders, though, and I suppose you’ve heard all about them. I think the whole world has heard about the murders in this town. If you don’t count the killings, then no, it’s not normally this violent. We have our fair share of drug-related incidents, though. Although I suppose it’s a sign of the times – too many people watching horror films on Netflix and playing violent games on their Xboxes.’
‘Carlisle has been like that for a long time. I suppose it was only a matter of time before Barrow caught up. There are definitely far more murders here, though, for a small town than there are back there for a city.’
Will nodded. ‘Completely agree; you know one of the national papers called this the “Murder Capital of England”. The rate is unbelievably high compared with most small cities.’
They got into the car and Will drove them to the address where the incident had taken place. An ambulance was just pulling away, as another was pulling up. He shook his head.
‘What the hell’s going on?’
Adele shrugged. She couldn’t get a signal on her mobile tablet so she couldn’t load the log to find out. ‘These tablets are great when you’re in a good area that gets a signal. The rest of the time they’re a load of crap and weigh your pockets down.’
‘They are very useful for checking your hair and make-up in, though, according to Shona, who uses it more for applying her lip gloss than doing any actual work on.’
Adele laughed. They got out of the car and Will approached the new acting duty sergeant who was looking flustered. The ambulance staff were loading a woman onto a stretcher. She had been lying on the floor.
‘Smithy, what’s going on?’
‘You couldn’t make it up, Will, honestly. Apparently she’s stabbed her abusive boyfriend. He’s bleeding like a stuck pig and they’ve had to blue-light him up to the hospital, but according to the paramedics it’s not life-threatening.’
He pointed to the stretcher. ‘She left the scene then came back waving a bloody great big butcher’s knife at officers, so they tasered her and she hit the deck like a sack of shit.’
‘Another fine day in paradise then?’
‘You can say that again. It’s only my second shift as a sergeant. Parker has been a sergeant for three years and never had a day like this. What’s going on? Murder scene and a stabbing in less than twenty-four hours. Jesus, I’m going back to being a plod. My life was so much simpler last week.’
‘Ah, but think about it. You could have been the officer who tasered her and then you’d have to explain yourself and fill out all those use-of-force forms.’
‘Suppose so. Should I leave this with you then?’
Will wanted to tell him ‘no’ but he couldn’t because technically it was down to his department to deal with it.
‘We’ll take over once your prisoners have been discharged from hospital. Have you done any inquiries yet?’
Smithy shook his head. ‘It’s literally all just happened.’
‘You don’t need me to tell you what to do; you know the drill. Get CSI to attend and a couple of PCSOs to scene guard. We’ll do some doorknocking while we’re here to see if anyone witnessed it. As long as the hospital says he’s going to improve and we don’t have another corpse, then it should be pretty straightforward.’
‘Thanks, Will, I really appreciate your help.’
Will nodded; he pictured Annie alone in the huge bath and groaned inside. He walked towards the front door of the flats followed by Adele. There was no blood around the communal area. The crime scene was contained inside the flat, which made life a whole lot easier. They both took their paper notebooks out of their pockets. Will’s was immaculate, not a crease on it; Adele’s was crumpled and scribbled all over.
Will took the door to the right and hammered. Adele did the same on the door opposite. There was loud music coming from inside the flat she was knocking on. Will knocked again and the door opened slightly. A pale-faced man opened the door two inches.
‘Police. I’m DS Will Ashworth. Nothing to worry about, but there’s been a serious incident involving the occupants of the flat above. Did you hear or see anything?’
The man, who was half hiding himself behind his door, breathed out and his shoulders relaxed, which made Will wonder what he was so uptight about. Adele hammered on the door again. The Meat Loaf was turned down and a voice shouted, ‘Fuck off, no one’s in.’
Will turned to her – a big grin on his face – and she rolled her eyes.
‘Police. Open the door.’
There was a sound of heavy footsteps and several locks were unbolted. The door was opened wide. The world’s oldest rocker was standing on the other side in a pair of ripped jeans, his stained white vest just covering his larger than life beer belly and his grey hair tied back in a ponytail.
‘Sorry, love, thought you were those wankers from upstairs. What’s up?’
Will had to turn back to hide the smile on his face. The man had opened the door a bit wider and Will couldn’t help but compare the two blokes. This one was a skinny thing, with a shock of bright ginger, short, spiky hair.
‘So, did you hear or see anything?’
The man nodded. ‘Well, I didn’t see anything. All I heard was them arguing, again.’
‘Do they argue a lot?’
‘Yeah, like every other day. I’m kind of used to it now, but I have no idea why they stay together when they obviously don’t like each other.’
‘Did you hear anything tonight, any threats?’
‘Not really.’ He lifted his finger and pointed across the gloomy hallway. ‘Trev turns his music up really loud to drown the noise out, so I kind of block it all out. It’s just normal behaviour. I’m used to it.’
Will nodded. ‘What’s your name – just for my notes?’
The man began to squirm. ‘Why do you need that? I didn’t see anything and I’m not giving a statement. Have you seen the size of that bloke upstairs? I have to live here; you don’t.’
‘I don’t need a statement. I just need to document that I’ve spoken to you.’
Just then Adele asked her bloke his name.
‘Trevor Parks, love. Do you want my phone number as well?’
Will chuckled, shaking his head.
The strange man, who looked terrified, mumbled, ‘Walter Lacey.’
Will scribbled it down and turned away. ‘Thanks.’
__________________________
Adele looked over her shoulder, immediately recognising the man as the one from the van earlier outside the bakery. The door shut and Will crossed to speak to Adele. Her guy had also gone back inside his flat and shut his door. The music started again and Will gave a brief laugh.
‘Well, if you get fed up of Steve, it looks as if Trev will be willing to show you a good time.’
Adele laughed. ‘Thanks, I’m telling you, for me, that’s about as good as it gets. I’ll bear that in mind. Who was that you were speaking to?’
Will looked down at the name he’d scribbled onto his pad. ‘Walter Lacey; why, do you know him?’
‘Oh, it’s nothing really, I just wondered. He was in a van earlier on today that nearly ran into the back of the car while Brad was getting his lunch.
’
‘Strange guy – if you ask me, he looked as if he’d done something wrong when he opened the door before I even told him what I was there for.’
Adele laughed again, but all the same scribbled his name into the back of her notebook. A white-suited and booted Debs walked into the hallway, her camera in one gloved hand and her bag of tricks over her shoulder.
‘Is it really bad? My stomach’s a bit off today.’
She directed her question at Will, who shrugged. ‘I haven’t been in yet. I was waiting for you to come do your stuff and tell me about it. I’m so hungover; I want to go home and collapse. How much did we drink?’
‘Far too much, that’s how much.’
‘How come you’re working today?’
‘It didn’t seem right asking for any more time off; I can’t exactly say I’m grieving because I’ve got a guilty conscience. Besides, I’d rather be working with you on the goriest, bloodiest crime scenes you can find me, because I love it so much. Not.’
Will smiled at her. ‘You just can’t resist my charm, can you?’
She shook her head and walked off. ‘If I chuck my guts up I’m blaming you, Ashworth. What were you thinking buying whisky shots like there was no tomorrow?’
‘I’ve been asking myself that very same question all day.’
Will went outside. Adele followed.
‘I suppose we better put some protective clothing on and go take a look when Debs has finished.’
‘I suppose we’d better. Tell me, do you ever get any ordinary, run-of-the-mill kind of CID jobs or had I better prepare myself to be working all the violent crimes this town has to throw at us?’
He paused to consider her question. ‘I could lie and make you feel good about your transfer down to sunny Barrow; but I can’t, so you better prepare yourself.’
‘I was afraid you were about to say that.’
__________________________
Annie stayed in the bath until her skin was wrinkled and the water was too cold to be relaxing. She’d already let the plug out three times and refilled it. After drying herself she smothered her skin in her favourite body lotion and wrapped her dressing gown around her.
