Where Wolves Fear to Prey (Manor Park Thrillers Book 1)

by G H Mockford

  It was the last part of the statement that I didn’t like. ‘Do you want me to bring them down to the station?’

  ‘To Central? Yes, please. Or…’ there was a pause again, and I was certain he was putting his hand over the mouthpiece so he could talk to someone else, ‘we could visit you at your home.’

  I thought for a moment. Why would they offer to do that? Were they being helpful, or did they want to have a look around my house? I had nothing to hide, so I thought why not? ‘I’m at school at the moment, but I can come home and meet you.’

  ‘I’m not asking you to leave work, Alex.’

  ‘I realize that, but this is important, and I’m not up to facing work today. I’ll meet you at my house in, say, an hour?’

  ‘See you then, Alex. Thanks for your help.’ Stokes hung up. I’d not given him my address, but they probably knew it already, as well as everything else about me.

  I put the phone down, told Louise I was going home, as suggested by Miss Arnold, thanked Sally, and drove away without revisiting my classroom. I had a head full of questions and worries. This hadn't been the way I'd planned to start my holidays.

  Fifty-Nine

  I pulled up outside my home, locked the car and went inside. As I shut the door, I had a terrible thought, one that I was shocked I hadn’t thought of last night. Wolf-Man had a key to Sarah’s apartment, who was to say he didn’t have one to mine? The police had them now anyway, although he could have another set, of course. I quickly checked around my house just in case he was there. It didn’t take long to complete my search.

  I put my iPod into the dock and dialled up some music, but decided that maybe now wasn’t the time. I went upstairs. My clothes were still in a pile near the bottom of the bed. I decided to leave them. Stokes would bring a bag, an official bag no doubt, to put them in. I went back downstairs into the kitchen and did the washing up so I could fill the time as I waited for their arrival.

  I was on the last pot when there was a knock on the door. Still on edge, I dropped the plate in the sink sending a wave of water spilling over my groin. I dried it up as best I could with a tea towel, and answered the door.

  DC Stokes and the fat Welshman, whose name I couldn’t remember, were stood outside. There were no coffee stains on the older man’s tie today, but he had a paper bag tucked under his arm.

  ‘Hi, Alex, may we come in?’ Stokes said.

  ‘Sorry,’ I said as I showed them into my living room. ‘I’m afraid there’s not a lot of room.’

  ‘Don’t worry about that,’ the Welshman said, making his way in and sitting on my chair. Stokes sat on the sofa, but there was no way I was going to sit next to him, so I used my piano stool.

  ‘This is for your clothes,’ the Welshman said as soon as I sat down. I got back up, took the bag from him, and went to get them. Was he playing mind games? Trying to put me off my stride by not letting me settle in my home? Was he bad cop to Stokes’ good?

  I came back downstairs and handed over the brown paper bag. It had a cellophane window down the front of it. The fat sergeant took some tape from his pocket and sealed up the top. He then placed it on the floor between me and him.

  ‘Sergeant Rees and I would like to clarify a few facts with you,’ Stokes said.

  ‘Okay,’ I said. At least I knew the Welshman’s name now.

  ‘You went into Miss Alec’s apartment?’

  ‘Yes, I told you I did.’

  ‘For how long, approximately?’

  I breathed in through my teeth and slowly shook my head. ‘I don’t know, less than a minute.’

  ‘You don’t sound very sure,’ Rees said.

  ‘I didn’t look at my watch. I had more pressing concerns,’ I said, realizing it sounded more defensive than I intended.

  ‘Hmmm,’ Rees said in reply.

  ‘There’s been a suggestion that it was you who pushed Sarah out of the window, Alex. What do you say to that?’ Stokes said.

  I had visions of the lads who were also at the crime scene. They must have told the police their theory. I was hoping they wouldn’t, but I guess I was the obvious suspect at the end of the day. There were possibly other witnesses who had also seen me in the window, or neighbours who had seen me exit the flat. ‘I told you,’ I said, ‘I went in because of the man with the hoodie and mask.’

  ‘Yes, Alex, tell us some more about this man in the mask.’

  ‘It had a snarling wolf painted on it, but I thought it was a dog at first,’ I said. Stokes just nodded and looked at me. ‘I told you this last night.’

  ‘So tell us again,’ Stokes said.

  ‘He was short. What, five foot eight, nine, maybe ten? Short compared to me anyway. I’m not good at guessing people’s heights. Most people are shorter than me, even most men.’ Rees was shorter, but Stokes was about the same height as me.

  ‘His eyes?’

  ‘I…I don’t remember. They may have been dark or hazel like mine. He seemed to recognise me though. Richard Rollins and James Harrington have dark eyes,’ I said.

  ‘Who?’ Stokes said.

  ‘Rollins I told you about last night, but James Harrington, another teacher at my school, he was acting weird today.’

  ‘Thanks, Alex, but we’ll decide who the suspects are,’ Stokes said.

  I just nodded. Was he implying that I was a suspect or was I just being paranoid? ‘Would you like a drink?’ I offered. I needed some thinking space though I wasn’t quite sure why as I had nothing to hide.

  Rees stood and asked, ‘If I’m going to fill up, do you mind if I use your toilet first?’ He clearly wanted a look around my house, or maybe I was being paranoid again, but I doubted it. ‘It’s in my room. You can’t miss it, there’s only one up there.’

  Rees grunted his thanks and disappeared upstairs while I went into the kitchen with Stokes following behind me.

  ‘When did you see Mr Rollins last?’ he asked. The question took me by surprise. It wasn't one I'd been expecting.

  ‘Erm…’ I had to think about it. ‘At school on…Wednesday?’

  ‘You don’t sound very sure.’

  ‘It was Wednesday,’ I said, trying to sound more definite. ‘I’m just trying to remember exactly when.’

  ‘Try harder,’ he said simply, not aggressively. Not very, anyway.

  ‘The last time I spoke to him was when…’

  ‘When what?’ Stokes said.

  I paused. I was going to get myself into trouble. I should have told them this last night, but I was trying to protect Charlie and Paul. ‘I talked to him about a girl he was alleged to have had sex with.’

  ‘A girl at school, a pupil?’ Stokes clarified. I nodded. ‘And why were you doing that? Were you tasked by your head to investigate the allegations?’

  I was surprised with the tack Stokes had decided to take, or maybe it just didn’t occur to him how personally involved I was. But then, why should it? I knew the police had been into school about it. Had Rees and Stokes also been in? It would make sense. If they had been in today to discuss Sarah, they might have found out about Charlie too. I was treading on thin ice. Very thin ice. ‘No, I…’ the words died in my throat.

  ‘Alex?’ I could tell that I had caught Stokes’ interest now. The kettle boiled, and so I made the coffees, using it as an excuse not to answer the question. ‘Alex?’ Stokes repeated more firmly this time.

  ‘No, I was helping her father find out if Rollins had done it.’

  ‘And why would you do that, how do you know the father?’ I went quiet. ‘Answer the question please, Alex.’

  I tried to think of an answer that wouldn’t get me or Paul in trouble. As try as I might I couldn’t think fast enough, it was one of the reasons why I didn’t want to be a senior leader at school.

  ‘Alex?’ The policeman waited again, but I didn’t answer. ‘Alex, do you have a personal problem with Richard Rollins? Is that why you decided to investigate the allegations? Is that why you are accusing him of attacking Sarah?’<
br />
  ‘No!’ I said a little louder and more quickly than I intended. If Stokes had noticed, he didn’t show any sign of it. ‘Why are you asking me that?’

  ‘Because,’ came Rees’ rumbling Welsh accent from the bottom of the stairs, ‘Richard Rollins is not at home and hasn’t been there since Wednesday night, according to his neighbour. Neither has he been to work. Why didn’t you tell us that last night? Do you know where he is, Alex?’

  I had to give Stokes his dues. His questioning technique had definitely improved since yesterday. I picked up two of the coffees. The policeman took one and moved back into the front room while I picked up the third. I put my mug on the table and moved back to lean against the frame of the kitchen door, trying to look cool and calm. ‘He’s missing?’ I asked. It hadn’t occurred to me that he might have disappeared. I had assumed, like everyone else that he hadn’t been to work because he had something to hide.

  ‘Yes, Alex. Does that surprise you?’ DC Stokes said. His eyes seemed to cover my entire body, but lingered on my eyes and hands. I hoped he hadn’t seen the wet patch on my trousers. I wasn’t sure what he was up to, but I guessed he was looking for the obvious clues that I was lying. At times, I did the same thing. Eyes looking away, hands covering the mouth - the classic tells. I was doing neither, but then I had nothing to hide, not about Rollins going missing anyway.

  ‘Yes, of course it surprises me,’ I said. ‘Why wouldn’t it?’ What were they trying to imply?'

  ‘Maybe you already knew?’

  ‘I know he isn’t at work today, and he wasn’t there yesterday,’ I said.

  ‘But not that he had disappeared? That he hasn’t been seen at home?’

  ‘No, why would I know that? Or the school? We don’t send people round to teacher’s houses if they don’t come to work.’

  ‘Maybe you should,’ said Rees, who was fixed me with a cold stare.

  Stokes said nothing.

  ‘Do you think I have something to do with it? Is that it?’ I said.

  ‘That’s an interesting question to ask, Mr Freeman,’ Rees said, as he leaned forward and put his mug on the table, deliberately, it felt, not using the handy coaster. ‘Do you?’

  ‘No!’ I said, trying to project disgust, outrage, and honesty into my voice.

  ‘Maybe you blamed him for Sarah’s accident and went round,’ Rees said, locking his eyes onto mine.

  ‘No,’ I said shaking my head.

  ‘Maybe you went round there to teach him a lesson.’ Rees smiled, presumably at his clever little joke.

  ‘He’s been missing for two days,’ I said, feeling confident that I had seen a huge hole in the net he was trying to draw around me.

  ‘So maybe you attacked him, maybe killed him, for what you thought he did to that girl. Now you’re trying to pin the attack on Sarah on him too. Or maybe it’s more complicated than that. Maybe Sarah rejected you last night and so you attacked her, and now you are using Rollins as a scapegoat,’ Rees pressed.

  ‘No,’ I said quietly as I shook my head. ‘Look, I’m trying to help you.’

  ‘Then give us something that can help us, Alex,’ said Stokes. ‘Is it unusual for Mr Rollins to miss work?’

  ‘Yes. He didn’t even ring in. We’re expected to call by seven at the latest if we aren’t coming to work. I heard that Miss Arnold, our Head, is pursuing disciplinary proceedings because he hasn’t contacted the school.’

  ‘And you didn’t think anything of it? The school didn’t? Miss Arnold didn’t call the police?’ Stokes asked.

  I sipped my coffee, using it to give me the time I’d need to decide what to do next. Charlie was missing, I should tell them what was going on, her life could be at stake.

  ‘Alex, I think there’s something you want to tell me.’ Stokes said. I couldn’t tell if he was saying it in victory or if he was trying the “good cop” routine again.

  ‘Okay,’ I said and took a deep breath. ‘I just think it’s a big coincidence that he’s accused of sleeping with this girl, doesn’t come to work, and then Sarah’s attacked. Maybe he’s just ran off. Hiding. On the run.’

  Stokes nodded. ‘So why didn’t you tell us this last night? About the girl, I mean?’

  ‘I didn’t think it was relevant,’ I answered, scratching my neck.

  ‘That’s for us to decide, Mr Freeman, not you,’ Rees rumbled. ‘Right now CID at Central are investigating a murdered prostitute, a gang shooting, a handful of missing persons, your Mr Rollins among them, as well as many assaults, including your Miss Alec. And, to top it off, this morning, a concerned neighbour’s rung in about a little old lady next door who didn’t go round for tea last night as she usually does. We found her dead, cut to ribbons. Her cats too. I doubt very much if any of these crimes are connected, or if anything’s relevant, but we’ll decide, Mr Freeman, not you. Understand?’

  I hung my head. I should be telling them more about Charlie and about her being missing, and for the life of me I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t. I guess it came down to loyalty. Paul didn’t want me to and it wasn’t my place, but would I forgive myself if anything happened to her?

  ‘Let’s get this down to forensics,’ Rees said, getting up with the paper bag. ‘We’ll be talking to your Head Teacher again. Don’t go on any sudden holidays, Mr Freeman, we’ve not finished with you, yet. We’re going back to Byron Comp. I hope we don’t find out about any more details that you may have conveniently missed out.’

  The two police officers went and I was left wondering if I had done the right thing, especially now Arnold would be involved.

  Sixty

  Paul Blackmore phoned for an ambulance.

  ‘Don’t worry about me,’ Bill protested. ‘Go and find Charlie.’

  ‘I’m not leaving you like this,’ Paul replied.

  ‘But Charlie could be in danger,’ Bill said. He winced and began to breathe rapidly.

  ‘You’re not exactly in the best of states yourself,’ Paul said with an easy smile. ‘Just take it easy, they’ll be here soon.’

  ‘And then you’ll go?’

  Paul nodded to the elderly man. He looked a shadow of his normal self. Pain was etched upon his face, and his skin had gone grey. The old boy was obviously putting on a brave face. ‘You promise?’ Bill added.

  ‘I promise. I’ll see you loaded up, and then I’ll clear off out of your hair.’

  ‘That’ll be easy, I don’t have much. If you don’t, I’ll tell Suki to haunt you tonight.’ Paul smiled at his neighbour and friend. He had to help the old man after all he had done for him. He owed him a debt.

  Both Bill and Suki had looked after him after Charlotte died. He’d been a mess. They’d forced him out of bed, cooked meals, and made him realize that he had something to live for - Charlie. Paul had forgotten all that, it seemed such a long time ago and now, with Bill in need, the memory of the support the elderly couple gave him all those years ago came flooding back.

  ‘I believe you. Now, lie still. Save your strength, they’ll be here soon.’

  ‘Paul? Would you do something for me?’ Bill said, in between breaths, his eyes squeezed shut.

  ‘Oh no, old man. No last requests,’ Paul said his tone a mixture of admonishment and humour.

  ‘Don’t worry; I’m not ready to join Suki and Arthur yet. I’ve got to make sure your Charlie’s safe first. No, Paul, I need you to get something.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’m not ready to join Suki, but I need her with me. Can you get her photo from the bedside cabinet?’

  ‘Of course. Don’t go anywhere,’ Paul said with a wink and disappeared upstairs.

  Paul walked into the bedroom, found what he was looking for and returned downstairs just as the ambulance crew arrived. He waited in the corner and watched as they checked Bill and made him comfortable before taking him out to the ambulance. Paul stood at the back of the vehicle and raised his hand up to wish his neighbour good luck.

  ‘Go and make sure Charlie’s all r
ight,’ Bill called as the doors were closed, sealing him in.

  The ambulance moved off, and Paul walked behind it for a while before he stopped and watched it disappear around the corner at the end of the road. He waited two more heartbeats, turned and jumped into his car.

  Paul drove over to Daybrook, parked up outside Mrs Goodhand’s house and hammered on the door. There wasn’t an answer. He knew that they didn’t own a dog, or at least they hadn’t the last time he had been there, so he knew it was safe to go around the back. Pressing his face to the kitchen window he found it was empty inside. He moved into the dining room, and then back round to the front. He hammered on the door again. No one was home.

  Paul climbed back into his car. No one was there, so maybe Jackie and Charlie were out together. And Jackie’s mum would either be at work or out with them. Paul decided to wait.

  After a while, he sent Charlie a text. Hi Princess. See you at tea time? He should have done it earlier he realized, and that Alex was right, he should call the police. He’d wait a little while longer, however. Charlie was probably safe with Jackie. Paul began to wish he’d brought his Atlantis book with him. He lowered the back of his chair and closed his eyes. He might as well get something out of just hanging around.

  There was a knock on the car window, and Paul awoke with a jerk. He looked out and saw Jackie and her mum. He quickly looked around trying to spot Charlie.

  ‘Hello, Paul. What brings you here? Would you like a cup of tea?’

  ‘Is Charlie not with you?’ Paul asked, his eyes darting around in the hope that maybe she was somewhere further up the road.

  ‘No, Paul. She went home last night,’ Mrs Goodhand replied.

  ‘Shit!’ Paul hissed, distressed at the news and angry at himself.

  Jackie’s face appeared in the window next to her mother’s. ‘My boyfriend took Charlie home last night. We were all here playing Just Dance and lost track of time. Charlie missed the last bus, so he offered to take her home.’