Hush Hush

by Mel Sherratt

  ‘What are you looking at?’

  Grace looked up to see Perry standing next to her. She held up the piece of paper she had been doodling on. It was something similar to a five-year-old’s masterpiece that they would show to a proud parent. There were bubbles, lines leading to them, lines crossed out, squiggles, names and arrows.

  ‘I was trying to collate all the evidence we had,’ she explained. ‘Anything else linking the Steeles to the two murder victims, in the hope that they will all lead to one person.’

  ‘And do they?’

  ‘Not yet. Do you think the Woodmans are involved?’

  ‘We know their family don’t usually resort to this level of violence. They’re petty thieves. They’ve done a bit of time for taking vehicles without consent, breaking and entering. But nothing along the lines of murder.’

  Her phone went. It was Sam.

  ‘I’m sending you an email with the camera footage attached from Dale Chapman’s home. We have a figure dressed in dark clothes running from the scene.’

  Grace quickly searched it out on the computer as Sam continued.

  ‘We followed with the camera on to the street outside but lost sight. There are open fields across the way, so a number of possibilities. Our suspect could have vanished on foot. They could have gone into a house nearby. Or they were being picked up by an accomplice, or there was a vehicle parked close to drive away in.’

  ‘You know the area better than I do,’ Grace stated. ‘Where would our suspect run to?’

  ‘Into the dark and off camera? There could be lots of places. It’s possibly a local, someone who knew the area. Or maybe someone has been following Chapman for a while, checking out his moves.’

  ‘From Steele’s Gym?’

  ‘That’s possible too. Our suspect needed to know Chapman would come home around that time or else have to sit around waiting for him. Also, our suspect was careful to shield their face, keep their back to the lens as they left. My guess is whoever it was got away over those fields and we lost them. We’ve found a couple of shoe prints in the soil around the edge of the garden. We’re going to match them up if we can, but from first impressions CSI reckon it’s a common brand of trainer. The shoe size is relatively small. Size eight.’

  ‘Could our suspect be a woman?’

  ‘Impossible to tell,’ Sam replied. ‘But whoever it was has a slight frame.’

  Grace pondered for a moment. ‘So, basically, it could be anyone?’

  TWENTY-THREE

  When he heard about the murder of Dale Chapman from Alex Challinor that morning, Eddie shoved his chair across the room. Chapman had been a family friend for years. Eddie hadn’t particularly warmed to him but he’d been a good customer of theirs, especially when Leon had started loaning him money.

  The last time he’d seen Chapman was a week ago. Eddie had just come out of the gym when Dale was going in. They’d stopped for a chat, and there hadn’t seemed to be anything wrong then.

  He rang Leon but there was no answer. Jade came into his office as he disconnected the call.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ he asked. ‘It’s Sunday.’

  ‘I couldn’t sleep.’

  ‘Hungover?’ he sneered at her.

  ‘No! I dropped Megan off at Freya’s as they’re catching the train to Birmingham. Then I heard about Dale Chapman. She had a text message from a friend of his son’s.’ She flopped down onto the settee. ‘First Josh and now Dale? Why would anyone target him?’

  ‘I don’t know, but when I do find out who it is, I’m going to bring them down.’ Eddie thumped the desk. ‘No one messes with us like this. It’s going to bring the cops here again. You haven’t heard any talk lately?’

  Jade flicked back her hair. ‘I heard he had a fallout with Leon.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘Last week. Clara told me.’

  Eddie remained deadpan. He’d heard that too. He’d have to look into that.

  ‘Do you think we all might be in danger?’ Jade asked.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, two people we know have been murdered. Both are members of our gym.’

  Eddie shook his head. ‘It’s nothing personal.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes. No one is out to get us. We’re safe as houses in this city.’

  A silence fell on the room as they each absorbed the news and its implications.

  ‘I don’t like this though,’ Eddie said eventually. ‘We’d better start asking our associates. There’ll be rumours going around soon, once word gets out about Dale.’

  ‘I’ll keep my ears open,’ Jade said.

  ‘As long as you don’t go blabbing about it.’ Eddie sneered. ‘You can’t keep anything to yourself during pillow talk.’

  ‘That’s not fair!’ Jade protested. ‘A lot of my pillow talk, as you so smoothly call it, was to find out information for you and Leon.’

  Eddie sat back in his chair and swayed from side to side. ‘There’s an idea.’

  ‘Oh, no. I’m not doing any of that again.’ Jade folded her arms. ‘I’m not that teenager you could manipulate all those years ago. I’m a grown woman – a businesswoman at that.’

  ‘You’re also still a shrewd bitch that likes getting one over on someone.’

  Jade glared at him. ‘I’m not doing it!’

  ‘I’m only asking you to listen out,’ he chided. ‘Just put some feelers out. See if anyone has any gossip.’

  Jade stood firm for a moment and then dropped her arms to her sides. ‘I’ll see what I can find out, but I’m not making any promises. And you,’ she said, pointing at him, ‘and Leon need to do your bit too. As well as include me in more business stuff. I’m part of this family. Even more so now Dad is gone.’

  ‘That’s if Mother will allow you to be.’

  At the mention of Kathleen, Jade turned and stormed out of the room. The slam of the door made Eddie clamp his teeth together. At least that would give Jade something to focus on, and keep her out of harm’s way while he tried to figure out what to do next.

  Grace went in to tell Nick about their latest findings. She caught him looking at his screen, hand on chin as he leaned on the desk with his elbow. He looked stressed, no doubt getting it from every side now there were two murders.

  She wondered if she’d ever want to do an inspector’s job, with all the added pressure. It was why she enjoyed her grade so much, so she could be more hands-on rather than behind a desk for most of the day.

  Nick beckoned for her to sit down and Grace updated him.

  ‘It’s going to take an age to get to everyone,’ she said. ‘We now have over one hundred people in the gym on the two evenings the murders took place, even though at this stage it’s a tenuous link.’

  ‘And some of them you’ve already seen?’

  ‘Yes. They’re not going to take kindly to being questioned twice. We’ll get there, though.’

  ‘Seems all in hand.’ Nick paused. ‘How about you?’

  Grace frowned at him.

  ‘The Steele family. Everything okay? How have they been with you?’

  ‘I haven’t seen them for a few days, although I’m on my way to the gym shortly.’

  ‘Who’s going with you?’

  ‘Perry.’

  ‘Okay. I just wanted you to know that if you feel intimidated, or if they lean on you when they shouldn’t, my door is always open.’

  ‘I can handle them, sir. It’s more my colleagues I’m worried about,’ Grace said.

  ‘They’re not as slippery as the Steeles.’

  Grace knew he was making a joke of the situation but she still didn’t feel comfortable.

  ‘You can’t tell them now,’ Nick said, almost as if he had read her mind. ‘You’ll lose their trust.’

  ‘I’ll lose it even more when they do find out, sir.’ Grace sighed. ‘They’re bound to, sooner or later.’

  ‘You worry too much.’ Nick bowed his head and got back to his wor
k. ‘And less of the sir, it’s Nick,’ he added just as she was about to leave.

  ‘Sorry, Nick.’

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Then

  She hated her father. Why was he so cruel?

  What kind of man ruled the house with the moods that he came in with when he’d been drinking? Her mum said he never worked a day in his life, but she knew he brought money in, so where did that come from? He must do something for it, unless he stole it. She couldn’t see him doing that though. If he was stealing money all the time then he wouldn’t be able to get so drunk. He’d have to keep his wits about him, be one step ahead of the people who were after him.

  Her teacher said that bad people go to prison for a very long time. She wished that her dad would go to prison. Then she could be happy. It would be nice not to have to stay in her room for so long.

  It would be nice not to be scared when he turned up. It would be nice not to be woken by her mum screaming at him to let her go, or for him not to hit her. She wished they could leave. They could live somewhere far away. She wouldn’t mind if she didn’t see her friends again and had to change schools. As long as they were safe and he didn’t find them. They would be very happy without him. They could make noise, laugh and play. But not here, not when he kept telling her to stay in her room.

  They shouldn’t have to live like this.

  Perhaps she should tell her teacher at school. Maybe she could help them. Although she knew she wouldn’t dare. He didn’t like anyone poking their nose in. She’d get in real trouble then. She would have to stay in her room a lot more.

  She squeezed her eyes shut now, trying to imagine she was somewhere else. Anywhere but here.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  Grace pulled into the car park of Steele’s Gym. Nick’s words were still going around in her head. He didn’t seem to be worried that there could potentially be another murder linked to her estranged family, never mind how her colleagues would feel if they found out who she was. She couldn’t snap out of her discomfort, but equally knew she couldn’t tell them herself. And she wanted to stay on this case now that she had started it.

  She wasn’t sure who her loyalty lay with in solving it though.

  To judge by the lack of cars, the murders seemed to be keeping people away, despite the gym having reopened on Friday. Inside the reception area, Clara Emery sat behind a desk. She wore her blonde hair loose and nails painted vampire red. A silver stud over her left eye plus one in her top lip gave her a style of her own.

  Even though Grace had met her briefly during the week, she still held up her warrant card. ‘Is Eddie in? We need to speak to him.’

  ‘I’ll just see if he’s free.’ Clara picked up a phone.

  ‘Free or not, I want to speak to him,’ Grace muttered to Perry.

  ‘He’ll be with you in a moment,’ Clara told them.

  ‘Thanks.’ Grace decided to do some digging while she waited. ‘How is everyone feeling? It must have been a terrible shock on Wednesday. It was your boyfriend who found the body, right?’

  ‘Yes.’ Clara paused before continuing: ‘Trent was a bit freaked by it. Said he couldn’t get the image from his mind. He keeps screaming out in his sleep.’

  ‘Do you live together?’ Grace hoped her questioning sounded like small talk.

  Clara shook her head. ‘But he was with me when it happened. I told you that on Wednesday.’

  Grace gave Clara a long stare before nodding. ‘What can you tell me about Dale Chapman?’

  ‘I didn’t like him much. There was something about him that gave me the creeps.’

  ‘Oh?’ Grace encouraged her to continue, noting that Clara hadn’t queried why she was asking and that she was talking about him in the past tense.

  ‘He was one of those men who looked at you as if he was undressing you and didn’t care if you realised.’

  ‘Was he a regular here? Can you recall when you last saw him?’

  ‘Last night.’ Clara glanced around before telling them a very interesting nugget of information about an altercation Grace would be asking Eddie about.

  After a while, when Eddie still hadn’t arrived, Grace decided she was done with waiting. They went through to the gym. It was eleven a.m. She looked about as she walked, noting the T-shirts with the boxing club logos on them, the sense of safety in numbers. Packed with young boys sparring, testosterone levels as high as the noise. Apart from Clara, she was the only woman, but she didn’t feel intimidated. The average age of the clientele that morning must have been about seventeen.

  ‘I’ll go through to Eddie,’ Grace told Perry. ‘Have a word with some of the boys while I’m gone – see if anyone has any information for us.’

  Eddie was sitting at his desk when she got to him. Grace sat down when he indicated for her to do so and he closed the door.

  Just me and you, the gesture said.

  ‘Sorry to keep you waiting. What can I do for you, Sergeant?’ he asked.

  ‘There’s been another murder. Last night,’ she told him.

  ‘Yes, one of the boys in the boxing club told us it was Dale. His mum is friends with Dale’s wife. It’s worrying.’

  For some reason, Grace wasn’t buying that, but she kept her assumptions to herself. ‘A bit close to home again?’ she went on.

  Eddie didn’t take the bait. ‘Have you found out any more information yet?’ he asked. ‘You say this happened last night? Do you know what time?’

  ‘Within half an hour of him leaving here.’

  Eddie sat forward. There was a short pause. ‘You know that for certain, do you?’

  She nodded. ‘Mr Chapman signed out of the gym at eight thirty. We had a call from his wife at soon after nine. I was wondering if there had been anything happening here last night that might shed some light on it.’

  ‘You mean you want to find evidence that someone followed him from here and beat him to death?’ Eddie shook his head slowly in disbelief. ‘And you think this because Josh Parker was murdered here too?’

  ‘I’m not implying anything at the moment,’ Grace stated. ‘I’m merely asking you a few questions before we start talking to the rest of the staff. If you didn’t see anything, then maybe they did.’

  ‘I don’t know what happened.’

  ‘Just like you don’t know what happened to Josh Parker. He was murdered, Mr Steele. On your premises.’

  They stared at each other, like two hyenas ready to pounce. Grace waited for him to fill the silence.

  ‘So because that happened here,’ Eddie went on, ‘and because Dale Chapman is one of our members, that means it’s someone from my gym that murdered them both?’

  ‘Not necessarily. But it could be someone that you know.’

  ‘You think it was the same person?’

  ‘It’s a line of enquiry we are following.’

  ‘Oh, I get it. You think this someone is out to get our family – by that, I mean my family. Not yours.’

  ‘I was told by your receptionist that Dale had a falling-out with Leon yesterday,’ she said, not taking the bait either. ‘She remembers seeing them arguing. Is Leon around?’

  ‘He isn’t on shift until this afternoon.’

  ‘I need to see him before then.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Is his address still the same one we have on record?’

  ‘What is it with you, Grace?’ he growled. ‘Don’t you believe your own family?’

  ‘I want to talk to him.’

  ‘If you think Leon has anything to do with the death of Dale Chapman then I assume you have evidence to bring him in for questioning?’

  ‘I’m not about to bring him in.’ Grace stood up, worried that Perry might come in at any moment.

  Eddie stood up too, blocking her as she got to the door. ‘You haven’t been back in Stoke for two minutes and yet you’re already causing me so much grief!’

  ‘Only doing my job. You do want to find out who murdered your right-hand man, as well as one of your gy
m members?’

  ‘Of course I do.’

  He looked her up and down in a way that reminded her of their father doing the same when she was younger. It made her feel uncomfortable but more determined to stand her ground.

  ‘You need to watch your back, Ms Detective,’ he said. ‘You never know who might be out to get you too.’

  ‘Are you threatening me?’ Grace glared at him.

  Eddie held up his hands in mock surrender. ‘I’m just saying it seems as if someone is out to get our family, so …’ He let his words tail off purposely.

  ‘But I’m not part of your family, and I haven’t done anything to cause anyone to—’

  ‘And you think I have?’

  She pushed past him. ‘We’re on the same side here. I need to find out who has murdered two people in the space of a week: you want people to come to your gym. If anything else happens, we might have to close it until further notice and that will affect your—’

  ‘You wouldn’t do that.’ He sniggered.

  ‘Oh, please don’t come with that one.’ She pointed a finger at him. ‘You’re no more important to me than anyone I deal with on a daily basis. You’re not getting any special treatment.’

  ‘Maybe not from you.’

  Her brow furrowed again. ‘Excuse me?’

  He pressed a finger to his lips. ‘I’m saying no more.’ He went to sit back at his desk. ‘Close the door on the way out, will you?’

  ‘I’ll leave when I’m finished. I want to check Mr Chapman’s locker – and the security camera footage please.’ Grace wanted to tell him how obnoxious he was but decided it would be a waste of time. People like him didn’t care anyway. He was only trying to intimidate her. ‘Are you saying that someone is giving you information?’ she continued.

  ‘No, Sergeant.’ Eddie shook his head in mock horror. ‘Not at all. You must have misunderstood me.’

  ‘Well, let me make myself very clear,’ Grace replied. ‘If I find out any police officer, of any rank, at my station is corrupt, then I will get him or her removed from the force. I have no time for moles.’