Straight Back

by Menon, David

  “How do you mean ‘he seemed like a good sort’?” Ollie questioned. “Did something happen to make you change your mind?”

  Joan hesitated. Sometimes the truth was really hard to tell. “I came round to the house one Thursday afternoon. He was lying on top of Sheridan’s bed whilst she was inside it, wearing not very much, and I didn’t think it was appropriate so I told him to leave. I mean, why would he want to do that unless he had some kind of ulterior motive? My daughter didn’t do anything about it because she just didn’t see any wrong in him. She thought he was misunderstood but Arif, to his great credit, insisted that he never came to the house again.”

  “And what was this man’s name?” Jeff wanted to know.

  “His name was Leo McKenzie,” Joan revealed. “And he’s still in post at Sheridan’s school.”

  When they got back to the station, DC Joe Alexander was the only one in the squad room.

  “Where is everyone, Joe?” asked Jeff. He didn’t hold anything against Joe for having jumped in there with Rebecca. He was certainly more grown up than that and besides, if he hadn’t hesitated for all those weeks and months instead of acting on what he could see clearly written all over Rebecca’s face then Joe wouldn’t have stood a chance. He knew he’d only got himself to blame.

  “DI Stockton and DC Bradshaw have gone out to follow up on a call we received about an hour ago from someone who lives over the road from the petrol station,” Joe explained. “He says he saw two men get out of the Mondeo when it parked at the petrol station but that one of them then walked off.”

  “Walked off?”

  “In the direction of the city centre apparently,” Joe went on. “The man who rang up said he could give a full description. He was cleaning his windows at the time apparently and got a pretty good view.”

  “But why would he just walk off?”

  “Who can say at this point, sir,” said Joe. “A sudden attack of conscience and he no longer wanted to be a part of what was going on? Possibly but not likely in my opinion, sir, but perhaps more importantly right now is that we got the registration number of the Mondeo on some CCTV footage from a set of traffic lights further back along Stockport Road. I ran it through the system and it’s registered to Farndale Motors of Littleborough. I’ve checked them out. They’re a small garage business which also hires out cars but the interesting thing here is that they are absolutely certain that the Mondeo was not hired out to anyone last Sunday afternoon. They were closed then and, as far as they’re concerned, it was sitting on their forecourt.”

  “So why didn’t they report it missing?”

  “I spoke to a Liam Nightingale. He says he’s the son of the owner and he’s in charge of the place whilst his parents are away on holiday in Florida. When I pressed him on why he didn’t report the car as missing, he said he didn’t realise it was.”

  “Do you detect the smell of bullshit, Joe?”

  “Very strongly, sir.”

  “Right, well, we’ll wait for everyone to come back and then we’ll go over what we’ve got so far. But there are two people we definitely need to speak to urgently. One is Liam Nightingale and the other is Mr Leo McKenzie.”

  NINE

  Hayley Adams had always been a particularly needy child. She absolutely had to have one hundred percent of your attention or else she thought you didn’t want her around. It sorely tested her mother’s patience at times. Jeanette Adams would have to admit that, although she loved her daughter, she wasn’t always very easy to like. Hayley was now thirteen and there was still at least one episode of tears every single day. Jeanette’s son, Stefan, was completely different. He was just two years older than his sister but Jeanette could rely on him to take care of his own breakfast if she was running short of time and she didn’t really need to worry about him at all. He was self-confident and able to act like the young man that he was.

  Jeanette was worried about Hayley in another way. Jeanette had now been divorced from her ex-husband, Steve, for two years and Hayley hadn’t adjusted to her parents being divorced at all. It had been the cause of all her tears since it happened because she’d got it into her head that her dad and her dad’s family had rejected her.

  “And yet far from it,” Jeanette insisted. “My ex-in-laws have gone out of their way to make her feel as much a part of their family as before but she just won’t have it and then we get these tears, tears and more tears. I’ve tried my best to understand. I’ve tried my best to sit down and talk to her, just her and me. Her dad has sat her down and her grandparents have sat down with her and tried to reassure her. But none of us are getting anywhere. My ex-husband has Hayley and Stefan every other weekend and at least one night a week but those visits are always on a knife edge because, if the slightest thing goes wrong, she starts crying and tells my ex that he doesn’t want her. It’s starting to affect Stefan too because, of course, her constant tears are having an impact on his visits to his dad and he hardly speaks to Hayley now because he’s simply had enough of her behaviour. I don’t know what to do anymore.”

  “I can see it must be exhausting,” said Leo McKenzie. He was Hayley’s form teacher at school and Jeanette wanted him to keep an eye on Hayley, who’d got herself a boyfriend in her class called Craig. That’s why she’d come into school for a meeting with Leo who she’d met several times before on parents’ evenings. “What’s your worry with regard to Craig?”

  “She thinks that she can replace all the love that she thinks she’s lost by having a baby,” Jeanette explained. “And I’m worried sick that she’ll use Craig to get herself pregnant.”

  “Ah, I see,” said Leo.

  “Craig is a sensible lad and I know his parents,” said Jeanette. “But a lad who’s newly full of testosterone and a girl who may be only too willing … well, I don’t need to spell it out, do I?”

  “No, you don’t,” said Leo. “But, tell me, if you could be completely honest with Hayley and say to her whatever you felt like, then what would that be?”

  Jeanette paused. Not because she didn’t know what she’d say but because of how harsh it would sound.

  “I’d want to say “come on you, selfish little madam, it’s not all about you and you’ve got to grow up and get on with it like your brother has”.”

  “I can understand all of that, yep.”

  “I’m really sorry to land all of this on you this week, Leo, after all this terrible business about Sheridan Taylor. You used to teach her I understand?”

  “Yes I did,” said Leo, as neutrally as he could. “And her sister, Paige, is in my class now, as you know.”

  “To be burned alive in that car,” said Jeanette, who then shivered. “The poor girl. Her poor mother as well. Have you spoken to the family?”

  “No,” said Leo, who’d been sweating like a bloody pig these past few nights, wondering and waiting for the police to knock at his door. Life shouldn’t have turned out this way. It’s certainly not how he’d always imagined it would be. But it has turned out this way and he just had to deal with it. “I won’t approach the family until the dust has settled a bit. It’s not appropriate to go in there, interfering, at this time. I mean, they also have to face up to the fact that Sheridan murdered an innocent man at the petrol station.”

  “I know,” said Jeanette. “But, and I’m not trying to excuse it, but that must’ve been a ‘heat of the moment’-type of thing, sad as it is for the man’s family. But to set alight to a car with a young girl in it … no, that was a deliberate act and he should be strung up for it.”

  “Well, look, leave it with me about Hayley. I’ll have a chat with her and with Craig and see what the score is.”

  “Thank you, Mr McKenzie, I really appreciate it,” said Jeanette. “But I’d better get back to work now. You really are a very special teacher, you know. The school and the kids are lucky to have you.”

  Leo smiled. “I do my best.”

  “You rang, m’lady?” said Jeff when he arrived at June Hawkins’
pathology lab where she was examining the remains of Sheridan Taylor on the usual long stainless steel table.

  June looked up from the job in hand and paused for a moment. “'You know Jeff, I often dream that you're Parker to my Lady Penelope.”

  Jeff laughed. “You are naughty.”

  “Well, I’m not, darling, because you never give me the chance!”

  “At least you haven’t got Bon Jovi blasting out of your speakers today,” said Jeff, noting the quiet calm of the lab compared to how it normally was.

  “Well, that’s because Jon Bon Jovi has effectively ditched Richie Sambora.”

  “Is Sambora the guitarist?”

  “Correct,” said June. “He was the backbone of the band and, just because he didn’t want to go on tour at the same time as Jon Bon Jovi did, Jon Bon Jovi ditched him. So I’m boycotting the band in support of Richie. And in any case, their last album was shite.”

  “Good, well, I’m glad we’ve got that cleared up,” said Jeff. “And there was I, about to go and find a room where paint was drying. So, why have you brought me down here?”

  June had been examining the body of Sheridan Taylor. It hadn’t all been burnt to a cinder and there was enough burned flesh left for June to have made some interesting discoveries.

  “She was pregnant,” June declared.

  “What?”

  “You know, that condition women have when they’re carrying a baby?”

  “Yes thank you, Doctor, I do know,” said Jeff, smiling. “I just don’t know why I’m surprised, that’s all.”

  “You mean you didn’t think that nice girls from nice families opened their legs with as much apparent enthusiasm as girls from an estate?”

  “Shut up!”

  “Sorry,” said June, laughing. “I was only teasing and it was worth it to see the look on your face.”

  “Yes, well, you’ve had your fun at my expense,” said Jeff. “Now let’s get down to business.”

  June would love to get down to anything with Jeff Barton but sadly he’d proved immune to her charms. Perhaps it was a good job. She wasn’t that good with kids and he was very close to his little boy.

  “Yes, but what’s really interesting for you, is that she was certainly sexually assaulted and the DNA from that doesn’t match the DNA from the foetus.”

  “So, whoever assaulted her that night wasn’t the father of her baby?”

  “Correct.”

  “How far gone was she?”

  “It is a guess but I’d say about four months, maybe five. There isn’t a large bump so I don’t think she could’ve been showing. But still, I guess it would be interesting to see if her mother knew.”

  Jeff gathered the team together around the whiteboard in the squad room. He’d just come from a blazing row with Chief Superintendent Chambers during which she’d repeated her previous insistence to DI Rebecca Stockton that there would be no extra resources available for the investigation. He thought that Chambers might have changed her mind given the emerging complexity of just what they were finding out but it had been a surefire, resounding, non-negotiable ‘no’. Jeff hadn’t been able to stop himself from seeing red. He just couldn’t figure out why an investigation like this one would not take priority over others. They were all in the office first thing every morning and all stayed well into the evening. He didn’t want to think where Rebecca and Joe went to spend what remained of the day but Adrian had children to go home for, just like Jeff had Toby to go home for and Ollie had his partner. They should’ve interviewed Sheridan Taylor’s father and her stepfather, Arif. They both had alibis. Her father was in Spain and Arif was out with her mother. Maybe they should’ve had a more intense talk with Arif, not that Jeff suspected him of anything, but just as a matter of routine. Developments and discoveries had overtaken routine like they do on most investigations. That’s when you rely on getting more resources to follow things up.

  “Okay then, everyone,” said Jeff. “First of all, I know we’re all getting pushed to the limits on this and you’re not seeing enough of the people who really matter to you. I’m sorry about that. I have asked for extra resources but I’m afraid to say my request has been turned down.”

  “Turned down, sir?” DC Adrian Bradshaw incredulously.

  “I know,” said Jeff. “It’s hard to believe, Adrian. But that’s where we are. Both DI Stockton and myself have made the request and we’ve both been turned down.”

  “It doesn’t seem right, sir,” said DC Joe Alexander.

  “No it doesn’t, Joe,” said Jeff, who was pissed off that he was having to expect so much from his team that wouldn’t be expected of other teams fighting different types of crime. He was irritated by the stance of Chief Superintendent Chambers. What the fuck was she thinking? “But, like I said, it’s where we are and we’ve got to get on with it. Now, this case started off with Sheridan Taylor taking out a knife in a petrol station and fatally stabbing Sam Jackson who’d intervened on behalf of the counter assistant whom Sheridan was verbally abusing. In a panic, she runs out onto the forecourt and jumps into a purposely-waiting Ford Mondeo. She knew the driver. But what also matters to us is that a witness living across the road saw the Mondeo drive up to the petrol station and he says there were two men in it, one younger, one older. The younger of the two got out of the car and walked off in the direction of the city centre. Why?”

  As Jeff goes through everything on the board he uses the marker pen to point at the relevant maps, photos, and names. It’s something he’s done a hundred times before but in this instance he feels like they could be getting close to something. They just needed to join up a couple more dots.

  “Later on that same evening, the car is found burned out behind a warehouse in Cheetham Hill with Sheridan’s body inside. We now know from June Hawkins that Sheridan was pregnant but by whom? Was it the driver of the Mondeo? Is that how she recognised him and got in without any objection? No, because June also confirms that Sheridan was sexually assaulted in the Mondeo before the driver set it on fire whilst she was still in it and that the DNA of that is different to the DNA of the foetus that had been growing inside Sheridan. So did the driver know she was pregnant? Did he know who the father was?”

  “Then there’s the Mondeo itself. Registered to a small, family-run garage and car hire company in Littleborough. Being looked after by the son of the owner at the moment who says he didn’t notice the car was missing. DS Wright? I’d like you to take DC Bradshaw with you to see Liam Nightingale straight after this briefing to press him on the ridiculous responses he’s given to our questions so far. Depending on the answers he gives us I believe he’ll lead us to this man, Leo McKenzie.”

  “McKenzie is a teacher at Sheridan’s school. Now, according to Sheridan’s grandmother, Sheridan’s mother Ellie Taylor came home to find McKenzie lying on top of Sheridan’s bed and Sheridan was in it. We will need to re-interview her on the basis of this new information and I’ll be taking care of that with DI Stockton.”

  “Is it your thinking, sir, that Leo McKenzie is the father of Sheridan’s baby?” asked Ollie Wright.

  “That’s exactly what I’m thinking, Ollie.”

  “But I take it that Ellie Taylor didn’t report McKenzie for being caught in a compromising position with her daughter?” Rebecca questioned.

  “Correct, DI Stockton,” said Jeff.

  “So why didn’t she?”

  “According to her mother, Ellie Taylor wanted to give McKenzie the benefit of the doubt because he’d been good to her and her family since they’d had to uproot themselves from the posh end of Greater Manchester to a not-so-salubrious area after her husband had gone off and left her bankrupt.”

  “That’s some benefit of the bloody doubt, sir,” said Rebecca. “Finding your daughter’s teacher in her bedroom.”

  “There’d be no benefit of the doubt if that happened to me and one of my daughters,” said DC Adrian Bradshaw. “Nor my son for that matter. What was this Ellie Taylor woma
n, thinking for God’s sake?”

  “That’s what we need to find out, Adrian,” said Jeff. “And I admit it does sound pretty incredible. Now, DC Alexander?”

  “Sir?” said Joe, who’d been wondering when the boss would get to him.

  “I want you to go down to see our witness across the road from the petrol station. Take this picture of Leo McKenzie with you that we downloaded from the website of Sheridan’s school where he teaches. I reckon he’ll say it’s him who he saw walking away from the Mondeo last Sunday afternoon. Well, that’s it for now, everyone. All I need is five minutes to down a cup of strong black coffee to stave off the continuing jet lag.”

  TEN

  Hayley Adams was walking down the street about a block away from her home. She was in tears. It was her usual state. Her mum just didn’t understand. All she wanted was a baby to replace all the love that she’d lost when her father left. Why was that so hard for everybody to understand? Why couldn’t she get it through to them all? She wanted the love. She wanted the baby because it would be totally dependent on her.

  She was going out to meet him. She’d done it before. Only once, but ever since her teacher, Leo McKenzie, took her to one side one morning when she came into school all upset, she’d known about him. He was the only one who seemed to understand. He held her so tight that night and he never got on to her about anything. He made her feel safe and warm. He gave her drinks and chocolate and said that, next time, they’d have themselves a party. He provided her with a place to go when nobody she knew understood.

  He drove up alongside her and she smiled when she realised it was him.

  “How are you, Princess?” he asked after they’d driven off.

  Hayley started crying again. “I hate my life. I hate the way my mum is making me feel.”

  “It’s not fair, love,” he said, softly. “But, tonight, you can forget all that because you don’t need to be upset. Just for a few hours, whilst you’re with me, you can smile again and be yourself. I promised you we’d have a little party and that’s what we will have.” He reached over and stroked her face gently. “I’ll take those tears away. You’ll see.”