MURDER AMONG FRIENDS a totally gripping crime thriller full of twists

by JANICE FROST

  Adam didn’t seem surprised at seeing the police on his doorstep. “Is this about that missing girl? We don’t know anything about that. What is this? A case of rounding up the usual suspects?”

  Steph stuck Stacey’s picture under his nose.

  “Still don’t know anything about her,” Adam said.

  “All right if we come in and ask you some questions?”

  Adam sighed. “Sure.” As they passed the stairs, he shouted up, “Phil! Cops are back.” Phil joined them in seconds.

  “So, you’ve seen the reports about Stacey Ashworth going missing then?” Steph said.

  “Hard to miss. It’s all over the student forums,” Adam said. “Lottie Purdey’s getting everyone riled up about it.”

  “You object to that? She’s concerned about Stacey’s welfare. As are Stacey’s family and a lot of other people, DS Harper and I included.”

  “Sure. We’re concerned too.” Phil agreed with Adam. As always.

  “You two were at the gig last night?”

  “Yep. We were. So were a lot of other people. Are you going to be questioning all of them?”

  Steph ignored the question. “Stacey was with her friend, Thea. Did you see either of them?”

  “Nope. I only know what Stacey looks like because of the pictures that are being posted everywhere. Never met either of them. How about you, Phil?” Phil shook his head.

  “You have seen them before.”

  “Not that I’m aware of.”

  “They were in the café at the leisure club on Outer Circle Road, Hi! To Fitness, a few weeks ago. You two were there with Mark Ripley. They were at the table next to you. Ring any bells? Sometimes we remember better with a bit of context thrown in.”

  Adam shook his head but Phil looked thoughtful.

  “Phil?”

  “I’m not sure. I do remember a couple of girls messing about taking selfies. It seemed like they were trying to get our attention. One of them looked pretty young, maybe fourteen or fifteen? The other was a bit older.”

  “You didn’t speak to them?”

  Phil hesitated. “No. Why would we? They were schoolkids. We aren’t into young girls.”

  “Did Mark speak with them?”

  Phil frowned. “Not that I remember.”

  “Actually, he did. As you were leaving, he hung back to ask if they’d like to meet him later for a drink.”

  “No kidding?” Adam grimaced. Phil looked uneasy. “He was probably just playing around with them.”

  “We mentioned before that Mark encouraged Tristan Morley to approach underage girls.”

  “And I told you, not on my watch. We were really strict on that.” Beside him, Phil nodded vigorously. “Tristan Morley must have heard wrongly. It can be pretty noisy out on the street. Like I said, Phil and I would never do that, and I feel we can vouch for Mark, seeing as he’s not here to defend himself. Right, Phil?”

  Steph didn’t even glance at Phil to confirm his response. “Do you remember Stacey and Thea now, Adam?”

  “I can vaguely remember some kids giggling and being a pain, but I didn’t pay them much attention. As for the gig, if they were drunk, any bloke in his right mind would steer well clear of them for fear of them crying ‘rape.’”

  Steph didn’t comment. “Who were the other two men with you at the gig last night?”

  “One of them’s a mate. He’s Phil’s cousin. The other was just someone from the leisure club he works at.”

  “Names?”

  “My cousin’s called Chase Gilbert,” Phil said. “He’s a student here too. Works part time at Hi! To Fitness. Who was that lad he brought along with him again, Adam?”

  Adam scratched his head. How hard could it be to remember the name of someone you’d been with the previous evening? “I can’t remember offhand. He wasn’t a very memorable bloke, was he, Phil?”

  “I don’t think I spoke to him all night, actually,” Phil said.

  “We’ve been informed that one of the men who was with you at the gig last night was taking quite an interest in Thea Martin and Stacey Ashworth.”

  “Well, that wouldn’t be Chase. Chase bats for the other side.” Adam smirked.

  Phil glared at Adam, clearly displeased with his description. “My cousin is gay.” So, he was capable of standing up to Adam after all. Who’d have thought it?

  “Right. So, neither of you remembers the name of the person who was with Chase. Was he a student?”

  “No idea. Chase might know. Want me to call him?” Phil said.

  Steph nodded. Get on with it already. “Tell him we need to talk to him.”

  Phil’s call was answered immediately. “Hey, Chase, how’s it going, cuz?” A pause. “Good, good, man. Yeah. Great news.” Steph drummed her fingers on her arm. “Can I stop you a minute, mate? We’ve got the police here asking about that girl who went missing last night. They want to talk to that dude you brought along to the gig. You in your room?” Another pause. “Yeah, yeah, that’s right. Anyway, they want to talk to you. I know, I know, mate, but it is what it is. Thanks for that, cuz. See you Wednesday for training, right? Cheers.”

  Elias handed him a pen. Phil wrote Chase’s contact details on the back of a torn brown envelope that was lying on the coffee table.

  “Chase says you’re on the wrong track if you think the guy he brought along last night approached this girl, or her friend. Apparently, he’s very shy when it comes to women. Never had a girlfriend. Probably never hit on a girl in his entire life, according to Chase.”

  Steph signalled to Elias that it was time to leave. It took about ten minutes to get over to the university and another five to locate Chase’s accommodation. He met them at the door to his room, which was located at the end of a corridor through a set of fire doors that someone had propped open with a Meerkat toy. It reminded Steph of Jane Bell. She kicked it out of the way.

  A lemon-scented mist hung in the air in Chase’s room. A can of air-freshener missing its top sat on his desk next to an open laptop, the screensaver displaying a rainbow LGBT logo. The bed was unmade, dirty clothes had been heaped into a pile in a corner, three empty pizza boxes and half a dozen empty coke cans lay on the floor next to an overflowing wastepaper bin. Steph didn’t judge. It looked like her place most days of the week, and she had a lot more space.

  “Phil said you wanted to talk to me about the missing girl.”

  Elias showed Chase the selfie of Thea and Stacey.

  “I’ve seen them at the leisure club where I work, but I’ve never spoken to either of them.”

  “Do you remember seeing them at the gig last night?”

  “Yes. Together at first.” He pointed at Thea. “Then she was on her own. I saw her leave with another girl. Have you spoken to her?”

  “Yes. She was concerned about Thea and took her out for a bit of air. We think Thea’s friend Stacey came looking for her. Did she approach your group? Ask whether you’d seen her?”

  “Yes. She was pretty drunk.”

  “Okay. I’d like to ask you some questions about the man who accompanied you to the gig.”

  “You mean Dale? Dale Lister?”

  “Yes. How well do you know him?”

  “He’s not really a friend, just someone I know from work. He’s a lifeguard and pool attendant. I work in the gym. Also, we work shifts, so our paths don’t cross very often. Mostly I see him in the staff kitchen when I’m on a break. I don’t normally socialise with him out of work. Last night was the first time, if I’m honest. I’d been talking to him in the kitchen the previous day, and I felt a bit sorry for him.”

  “Why?”

  “He was saying how he’d been on various dating sites and wasn’t having much luck. The girls he was attracted to weren’t interested. He got a bit agitated about it to tell the truth. Started going on about how girls are too fussy, and they only go for the best-looking guys.”

  “The alpha males.”

  Chase looked at Elias in surprise. “That
’s exactly how he put it. And how guys like him don’t get a look in, and it wasn’t fair that some guys can get any girl they want while others are stuck with being celibate whether they like it or not.”

  Steph exchanged a look with Elias. “He used that exact word? Celibate?”

  “Yeah, you know. Like a Catholic priest.”

  “You said he was agitated. Was he angry, do you think?”

  Chase thought about it. “Could have been, I guess.”

  “And you felt sorry for him?”

  “I did think he was wallowing in self-pity a bit but sure, I felt sorry for him.” Chase rubbed his nose. “Look, don’t get me wrong. I talk to everyone, but Dale is kind of negative, like he can suck all the good energy out of you. Do you know what I mean? A couple of the female staff at the gym told me he creeps them out. I sort of know what they mean. He can come across as charmless.”

  “Anything else?” Steph sensed he was holding back.

  “I don’t know, but I got the impression . . . the way he was talking about women and the whole dating thing. It came across a bit like he thought he was entitled to have a girlfriend. Almost like the girl shouldn’t have a say in the matter. If he wanted her, he should be able to have her as a right. It came across as misogynistic. I don’t agree with any of that stuff.”

  “Why did you feel sorry for him then?” Elias asked.

  “I suppose because I know how it feels to be the outsider. It’s not easy growing up gay. The only person I told before I came out was my cousin, Phil. He was great about it. Not everyone was.”

  “Did you ever mention Adam, Phil and Mark’s pick-up group to Dale?” Steph asked.

  “No. But he might have heard us talking about it at the club.”

  Steph thought, suddenly, of Dominic Tickle. He had learned about the group from overhearing conversations about it at the gym. Had it been the same one? “Go on.”

  “I remember this one time we were all discussing their group in the changing rooms. Dale was hanging about in there. I think he was checking the lockers, making sure the keys fitted or something.”

  “Was Mark Ripley there at the time?”

  Chase cocked his head to one side. “Yes, he was. He was usually there with Adam and Phil. Not sure what they liked about the guy, being honest. I’m sorry about how he died, but I never rated him. The group was all his idea. You know that, don’t you? Phil’s heart wasn’t really in it, but he’s easily influenced by Adam. Adam can be a real dick.”

  “We’d noticed,” Steph said drily. “Tell us more about that occasion. What was the conversation about, exactly?”

  “They were talking about the group and the strategies they use, but mostly Mark was boasting about how many girls he’d slept with. How easy it was to get them to go to bed with him. Next thing, we hear a loud bang.” He clapped his hands together, making Elias start. “It was Dale. He tried to make out he’d had to bang a locker door because it wouldn’t close properly, but it was obvious he’d just hammered it with his fist. His knuckles were bleeding.”

  He was angered by Mark’s words. Steph felt a chill. She pictured Mark lying across the bench, bleeding into his brain.

  “I hope I’ve not landed the guy in trouble telling you this. You don’t really think Dale has something to do with that girl going missing, do you? I think he’s got a lot of anger and resentment in him but he’s too shy to approach women.” He paused. “And I can’t really see any woman going off with him unless she was really drunk.” He seemed to realise what he’d just said and uttered a quiet, “Oh!” He looked at Steph, then at Elias, made another connection. “You think he killed Mark too, don’t you? But why?”

  Because Mark was one of the alphas, the one with all the gifts, and Dale was a loser. Unattractive to women. Charmless. Invisible to men like Adam and Phil, who couldn’t even remember his name after spending an evening in his company.

  Had he found his niche by going online and encountering other men who shared his feelings of resentment towards men who could attract any woman they wanted, and who reinforced his misogynistic views?

  “Did Dale leave the hall at the same time as you and the others last night?” Steph asked.

  “No, he left before the end. When the band came back on.” A pause. “Oh God.”

  “It’s important that you do not get in touch with Dale, Chase. And don’t discuss the conversation we’ve just had with anyone. Do you understand?”

  “S . . . Sure.” Chase bowed his head, ran his fingers through his hair. “I wish I’d known you were interested in Dale when I spoke to that other detective. Maybe that girl wouldn’t have been killed, or the other one gone missing.”

  Steph and Elias exchanged a look. “What other detective?” Steph asked.

  “The one who came to the leisure club asking about Adam and Phil. Jane something? Sorry, I forget her surname. My supervisor would know. She was her teacher at Ollie Granger’s.”

  Steph stared at him, astonished. “Jane Bell?”

  “Yes, that’s it.”

  “Right.” Steph suppressed her anger with some difficulty. “Well, I doubt it would have made any difference.”

  “Thanks.” Chase looked unconvinced.

  They thanked him and left his accommodation. Immediately, Elias said, “This Dale fits our profile of the killer.”

  Steph was silent. She agreed, but that wasn’t what was uppermost in her mind. Elias looked at her. She hoped he wouldn’t say it, but of course he couldn’t stop himself. “I’m guessing you’re even more angry at Jane Bell now.”

  Angry doesn’t cover it. But now wasn’t the time. She needed to focus.

  “We need to trace Dale’s whereabouts, fast,” she barked.

  Elias began stabbing numbers into his phone, then spoke with the manager of Hi! To Fitness, Dale’s supervisor. “He called in sick this morning.”

  Another call, this time to the station, and Elias had Dale Lister’s address.

  “He lives on Walter Street. That’s near the Lincoln Imps stadium at Sincil Bank, isn’t it?”

  Steph didn’t answer. She was already running towards the car.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  The girl was drunk, but not as drunk as her friend. She was wearing the slutty satin top she’d been admiring in that shop in the Riverside Centre that time he saw her there. It looked good on her. She kept glancing over, but he knew it was the others she was interested in, not him. Adam. Phil. Chase, even, though she wouldn’t bother with him if she knew what he was.

  Even if she had noticed him, he was sure she wouldn’t remember. He’d walked right past her at the pool once and she hadn’t batted an eyelid. Guys like him were invisible to girls like her.

  He liked the sexy way she moved to the music. He’d noticed her in the bar at lunchtime too. One of the girls she was with looked just like her. An older sister? He shut his eyes, imagining what that would be like. The two of them. He was already hard, but the image made his cock feel like a column of solid concrete.

  “You alright, mate?” Chase asked. He’d asked that earlier too, in the bar when he was talking to his friends. The alphas. Chase had introduced them but they obviously didn’t find him interesting enough to include in their conversation. Chase was the only one who bothered to check if he was okay.

  “Yeah. Great, man. Cool band.” He clutched his plastic beer glass so tightly, it crumpled like cardboard. Good thing it was empty. Chase hadn’t noticed. He’d already turned back to Adam and Phil.

  He looked for the girls. Where were they? What the fuck? He scanned the crowd and finally picked out the younger one dancing — if you could call what she was doing that — she looked like she was possessed by a devil. He waited. Minutes passed. Where the hell had her friend gone? It couldn’t take that long to piss.

  The band stopped playing. He kept his eye on the girl. She was totally out of it, staggering about, eyes half-shut. What a state! For a moment he considered how easy it would be to get her to go outside wi
th him.

  She wasn’t as sexy as her friend. Small tits, skinny as fuck. But she was there for the taking. He hesitated. A beat too long. Another girl came up to her out of nowhere and took her hand. He watched them weave through the yelling, stamping crowd towards the exit at the back of the hall.

  He wasn’t that bothered. She wasn’t the one he wanted. He was going to wait for that other bitch to show up. She’d rejected him once. He’d sworn he’d make her sorry.

  His eyes roved the room. There she was.

  Chapter Thirty

  Jane suggested that Thea have a lie-down. There was a bed in the spare room.

  “It’s so pretty! Your whole house is lovely. I wish I lived somewhere like this instead of in that big, soulless, modern monstrosity. This place has so much character.” She beamed at Jane. “I like old things.” Jane hoped she was still referring to the house.

  “I might pop out for a bit,” she told Thea. “If I’m not back before you wake up, there’s some leftover lasagne in the fridge. Warm it up if you’re hungry.”

  Thea looked at the bed, stifling a yawn. “I’m tired, and my head feels like a giant’s punched it, but I know I won’t be able to rest again until I know if Stacey’s okay.”

  “They’ll find her.” Jane noted the dread in Thea’s eyes. Both of them understood that finding Stacey wouldn’t necessarily mean a happy outcome. She gave Thea a hug.

  “Find her, Jane. Please? I know you can do it.” Her voice sounded small, like a child’s. Jane left her to rest. She checked on her after ten minutes and was relieved to see that she was fast asleep, cuddling a teddy bear that had once belonged to Norah. For some reason, her daughter had never taken to it. It had escaped the charity shop because Jane liked its silky fur and smiley face. Bears should never have unhappy faces. ‘It’ was now a ‘she,’ and her name was Sylvie, because the name Sylvie made Jane think of woods, and woods made her think of bears, probably because of the song, which was in her head as she descended the stairs.

  She was glad Thea hadn’t asked where she was going. She wouldn’t have felt comfortable lying to her. She suspected Thea would sleep for several hours. She’d had a shock, and her body was still dealing with the effects of unaccustomed drinking. At first, she’d been worried about the dogs until Jane suggested that she give her keys to Allie so that she could pop round and attend to their needs. Still, Jane moved around the house as quietly as she could.