by Agatha Frost
“What?” she barked through a hoarse cough. “What do you want?”
“We’re looking for Billy, Sandra,” Barker said, stepping forward as he glanced awkwardly to Julia. “I’m Barker Brown. We’ve met several times.”
“Whatever he’s done, he’s not here,” she cried over the sound of the TV, rolling her eyes heavily before looking over her shoulder. “Turn that racket down!”
Julia peered into the messy living room, spotting a young teenage girl with bright red hair sitting on the couch, a remote control clasped in her hands. Instead of turning the TV volume down, she cranked it up.
“Do you have any idea where Billy is?” Julia asked over the noise, applying her friendliest smile.
“Even if I knew, love, I wouldn’t tell you,” Sandra said with a smirk. “We don’t snitch on our own ‘round here, especially not to the police.”
“We’re not here on official business,” Barker said, not seeming to want to admit he was no longer an active DI. “We just wanted to ask him some questions about his arrest earlier today.”
“What arrest?” Sandra snapped as she puffed smoke expertly out of her nose like a dragon.
“Do you have any idea what time Billy will be back?” Barker asked, avoiding her question.
“If you’re not police, clear off.”
With that, Sandra slammed the door shut and disappeared back into her flat. The TV suddenly turned off, followed by loud shouting, and then a girl crying. They lingered for a moment, but it was evident they weren’t going to find the information they had wanted from Billy's mother.
“She’s not the most – cooperative mother,” Barker said tactfully.
“You could say that.”
They shared a smile before heading back towards the stairwell. Julia felt like they were on a wild goose chase, following breadcrumbs into the dark. She knew there was every chance Jim’s death was the mugging gone wrong that DS Forbes suspected, but she also knew it was likely to be something more personal. If somebody had thought they were murdering Barker, she knew it would only be a matter of time before that person tried to finish what they had started.
“What now?” Julia asked as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
“I don’t know,” Barker said as they emerged from the stairwell. “Hey! Get away from that car!”
Barker darted towards a gang of boys who had gathered around Julia’s Ford Anglia. Her heart stopped when she noticed one of them trying the door handles. Startled by Barker, most of them scattered, apart from three, who stepped back with dangerous smirks on their faces. The boy who appeared to be the leader of the group was wearing a black cap, a blue matching tracksuit with three white stripes running down either side, and bright white trainers. Under the shadow of the hat, Julia recognised the boy’s face.
“I should have known it would be you,” Billy snorted as he slurped beer out of a can from the side of his mouth. “PC Plod and his sidekick, coming to save the day.”
Julia found herself clutching her handbag closer to her body as she approached the gang. Billy caught her eyes and smirked, his brows darting up and down. With the clothes and the can of beer, it was easy to forget he was still a child.
“Just the boy I was looking for,” Barker said smugly, stuffing his hands into his trouser pockets. “Would you mind stepping away from the lady’s car, Billy?”
“It’s crap anyway.” Billy swigged from his beer can and spat the beer across Julia’s windshield. “I’ve seen tins of beans more advanced than this hunk of junk.”
Julia bit her tongue, knowing it wasn’t the right time to jump in and defend her beloved vintage vehicle. She looked to Barker, who stepped forward to stand between the boys and the car.
“Heard you were arrested yesterday, Billy,” Barker said firmly, his arms folded protectively across his chest. “Trying to sell a dead man’s phone? That’s low, even for you.”
“I was framed, wasn’t I, lads?”
Both of his friends grumbled their agreement, their arms and chests puffed out, despite all being on the thin side. They stayed two steps behind Billy, apparently knowing their place behind their leader.
“That’s always the story with you, Billy,” Barker said with a small laugh. “You never just own up to anything, do you?”
“That’s because pigs like you always blame me for everything,” Billy said, glugging the last of the beer before crunching the can in his hand and tossing it into the ruined park. “You lot like to pin things on lads like us.”
“And what are ‘lads like you’?” Barker asked.
“Street lads. You think because we dress like this we’re criminals.”
“But you are criminals,” Barker said flatly. “You alone have a criminal record longer than my arm, and that’s not even including your scrawny henchmen.”
The two boys took a step forward, their arms puffing out even more as they glared under their caps at Barker. Julia found their appearance more amusing than menacing, even if she wouldn't want to cross them in a dark alley.
“Is this your bird?” Billy scoffed, stepping forward and walking around Julia. “Bit fat, isn’t she?”
“She has a name,” Julia snapped as she straightened out her pale blue dress. “Would you speak to your mother like that?”
“Probably,” Billy said, which caused a snicker among his friends. “I found the phone, alright? I didn’t know whose it was. Some pig caught me trying to flog it down the Marley Street Market. I wasn’t to know it was a dead man’s.”
“I heard you found the phone in a bush,” Barker said firmly, cocking his head back to stare down at the boy. “Sure you didn’t take it from his body after you hit him over the head with a rock?”
“Why would I want to do that?” Billy snorted. “Didn’t even know the poor bugger.”
“Because you thought he was me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, PC Plod.”
“That’s DI Brown, to you.”
“Not from what I heard,” Billy said, walking behind his two friends and slapping them both on the shoulders. “The streets have been talking about you getting sacked. Best news we’ve heard all year!”
Barker gritted his jaw, his cheeks burning bright red, just as they had when Harriet had called him out on his suspension. Julia stepped forward and rested her arm on his shoulder, but he shook it off to start circling the boys.
“The thing is, Billy, you are a criminal,” Barker said coldly, making sure to look in the kid’s eyes at all times. “It’s only a matter of time before you do something that’s going to land you behind bars for good, and when that day comes, the streets will be a safer place.”
“Yeah, well, until then, I’ll just keep doing what I do with my lads.”
The two boys mumbled their agreement as they watched Barker circle them once more.
“It’s no life, is it, Billy?”
“So what? Nothing else to do.”
“Where did you get the phone?”
“I told you, I found it.”
“But where?”
“In a bush at the bus station,” Billy said, holding back his laughter. “What does it even matter? They let me go. They have CCTV footage of me finding the phone. I didn’t kill that pig, even if it is one less of you on the streets.”
Barker suddenly stopped in his tracks, the whites of his eyes shining brightly. Julia was sure he was about to lay his hands on the kid, so she jumped in between them and rested her hands on Barker’s face. He looked through her for a moment, before finally meeting her eyes. She shook her head and pulled him towards the car.
“Wish it would have been you that had taken a brick to the head,” Billy said before spitting at Barker’s feet. “After what you did, it’s the least you deserve. C’mon, lads. These two losers aren’t worth our time. I heard there’s a party at Trisha’s flat.”
With that, the trio headed towards the nearest stairwell and disappeared, not before turning and smirking at Barker one last tim
e. Julia rested her hand on his chest, letting him know they weren’t worth it.
“I'm all right,” Barker said after shaking his head. “He’s usually even worse than that.”
Julia pulled him over to a green steel bench outside of the closed park. The paint had worn away where people had scratched their names in more than one place to reveal the rusting metal underneath. They both perched on the edge of the bench, looking up at the sky as pale pink leaked into the horizon.
“What did Billy mean when he said ‘after what you did’?” Julia asked, resting a hand on his.
“How long have you got?” Barker whispered with a small laugh. “I’ve arrested that kid a dozen times since moving to Peridale. I think the boys at the station had given up on him, but I wasn’t going to let things slide.”
“Do you think he murdered Jim?”
“I don’t know,” Barker said with a sigh as he stared up at the fading sky. “I can’t believe this is happening. When I first came to this village, a lot of people at the station weren’t happy about me coming in from the city. They thought they should have promoted from within the station, but Jim championed me. He was behind me the whole way, even when he had to suspend me. He was probably just coming to see how I was doing that night. That’s the type of guy he was. He would give you the clothes off his back if you asked him. He didn’t deserve to go out like that. That should have been me.”
Julia bowed her head. She felt selfish for being glad that it wasn’t Barker who had died, but she didn’t want to tell him that. She couldn’t imagine how she would have reacted if it had been Barker that she had found blood soaked on the doorstep that night.
“When I went to Evelyn’s B&B to talk to Jeffrey, he wasn’t there,” Julia said.
“You don’t have to explain.”
“Just listen,” Julia interrupted him. “He wasn’t there at first, but he came back around six, just before it started raining. His shoes were all muddy. Evelyn said he had been out for a run, and even though he didn’t correct her, he didn’t say anything to the contrary.”
“You think he was in the village at the time of the murder?”
“I’m almost sure of it,” Julia said, edging closer to him. “He was at my gran’s yesterday doing her gardening, and I tried to talk to him to establish an alibi, but he didn’t give me anything. He did, however, know that you and I were connected. He called me ‘Brown’s girlfriend’.”
“He always called me ‘Brown’,” Barker muttered. “Just talking about Jeffrey is bringing back so many bad memories. I thought he was firmly in my past with the rest of it, but here he is, swanning around the village like he owns the place.”
“The rest of it?” Julia asked.
Barker looked at her before looking up to the sky again as dusk set in. He stood up and held his hand out for her.
“A story for another day,” he said. “Have you told anyone about Jeffrey’s ill-timed run?”
“I told the police everything in my statement yesterday.”
“Good,” Barker said with a firm nod. “We have to trust they know what they’re doing because right now, all I want to do is go back to the village, grab a bottle of wine from the shop, and curl up on the couch with you and a DVD.”
Julia rested her head on his shoulder as they walked back to the car under the setting sun. Barker’s proposition sounded like the best thing she had heard all week, and for one night, she was going to forget all about the wreath, Jim’s murder, and Jeffrey Taylor.
“Can I pick the DVD?” Julia asked as she unlocked the car.
“Yes, but I’m not watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s again.”
“But it’s my favourite film.”
“And Die Hard is mine,” Barker said as he climbed into the car. “But we haven’t watched that three times, have we?”
“As long as I’m with you, Barker, I’ll watch Die Hard one hundred times.”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” Barker said with a wink as he pulled his seatbelt across his chest. “Did you mention something about chocolate cake earlier? I’m starving.”
Chapter 8
It was a rare occasion that Julia took a lunch break and an even rarer one that she left the café and went somewhere else to eat. Her lunch usually consisted of a hurriedly made sandwich, which she would eat in small bites in the kitchen in between serving customers, but she had been given a lunch invite that she couldn’t refuse.
Still in her apron and covered in flour, she ran across the street to The Plough where Barker was already perched on a bench waiting for her. She glanced back to the café, hoping Jessie would be okay on her own despite the sudden lunchtime rush.
“I can’t stay long,” Julia said, glancing at the door. “Is he here?”
“You’ve got flour in your hair,” Barker said as he reached out to brush it away. “He’s already inside.”
They walked into the old pub, the musky smell of old wood and beer hitting Julia. To her surprise, it was already quite busy, but she didn’t recognise many of the faces, so she guessed they were tourists passing through for the day, unlike her café, which was filled with regular faces today. The one face she did recognise was that of DS Forbes, who was already tucking into a meat and potato pie, which he had drowned in gravy.
“Sit down!” Bradley exclaimed, standing up a little, his large stomach hitting the table. “I hope you don’t mind, but I already ordered. I was starving! They’ve got me working double time since – well, you know.”
Bradley scooped up a large forkful of the pie filling and crammed it into his mouth. A blob of gravy trickled down his chin, landing on the paper napkin he had tucked in his collar to protect his white shirt. Julia found the man comical, but she wasn’t confident of his inspector skills. She had been more than a little intrigued when he had called Barker and asked them out to lunch to inform them of the latest developments.
“I’ll have whatever Bradley has,” Barker said to Shelby when she came over to take their orders. “And a pint of whatever craft beer you have at the moment.”
“I’ll have the same, but make my drink orange juice,” Julia said without looking at the menu. “I need to go back to work with a clear head.”
“I need a pint to take the edge off,” Bradley said after sipping his beer, which he also spilt down his front. “The stress of this case is making me lose my hair!”
Julia looked up to his balding head, which shone brightly under the light, wondering if it was possible to notice if the little hair he had left at the sides was thinning.
“Have you heard about Jim’s funeral?” Bradley asked. “Happening on Sunday. They released his body last night.”
“So soon?” Barker muttered, glancing awkwardly to Julia.
“They didn’t have much to discover in the post-mortem, did they?” Bradley said with a small shrug, his voice catching a little. “Pauline wants us all there in our uniforms for his send-off. It’s what Jim would have wanted.”
“These developments?” Barker asked, eager to shift the course of the conversation. “Must be pretty good if you wanted to meet us here.”
“It is need-to-know information,” he mumbled through a mouthful of the pie as he tapped the side of his nose. “But I trust you both understand what I’m telling you doesn’t leave this pub.”
“Of course,” Barker said.
“Absolutely,” Julia added.
“Good.” Bradley took another deep gulp of his pint, followed by another mouthful of pie, before speaking again. “Billy Matthews’ alibi has fallen apart. He said he was with his two cronies, but we've arrested them for nicking a car without him on the night of the murder. Shilpa from the post office came forward with her CCTV recordings this morning when she heard about the murder. Her security camera reaches out to the bottom of the lane leading up to your cottage. Caught Billy Matthews heading up that way at about half past five, putting him there at Jim’s death.”
“Have you arrested him?” Barker asked, e
dging forward.
Shelby returned with the plates of food, followed by the drinks. Barker followed Bradley’s lead and drowned his pie in gravy, but Julia much preferred to taste her food, so she decided to go without. She pricked the thick crust to let a little of the steam escape as Bradley took the pause in conversation to wolf down more of his pie.
“It’s all circumstantial so far,” Bradley said. “You know how it is, boss. Billy was caught trying to flog Jim’s phone down at the market, but CCTV proved his story about finding it in a bush at the bus station. Then he’s caught near the crime scene around the time of the murder, but he wasn’t the only one. We don’t have anything we can pin to him quite yet.”
“Did you look into Jeffrey Taylor?” Barker asked, his voice lowering to a whisper.
“Ah,” Bradley said, finally finishing his pie and wiping his mouth with the napkin tucked in his shirt. “Your old friend. He’s a fascinating character with a real motive, but it’s difficult to pin this on him too. I checked into what you said about Jeffrey being out and about in the village during the rain, and it seemed he ran past every CCTV camera that we’ve checked in the village. He did run up your lane at around quarter to, but he was not seen again until he passed the station camera around six and headed into the B&B. He must have run up by Peridale Farm and circled the long way. I checked in with Peridale Farm, but they’re living in the dark ages and don’t have any cameras. Here, I have a video on my phone.”
Bradley wiped his gravy-covered fingers on his trousers before pulling his phone from his pocket. He flicked through his files before turning the screen around and pressing the play button. A grainy video started to play, and it took Julia a second to recognise it as the perspective of the village from the post office. It pointed out at the village green, her gran’s cottage, and the small lane leading up to their cottages. First, a man in a red tracksuit and black cap, who was unmistakably Billy Matthews, walked up the road while looking down at his phone. He disappeared from view, and then the footage jumped to Jeffrey Taylor jogging across the village green and towards the lane as he checked his watch. Neither man looked like they were on their way to commit murder, but Julia knew it was possible they hadn’t headed in that direction with the intention of killing Jim, rather taking the opportunity when they thought they saw Barker alone on his doorstep.
