by S G Read
‘Yes that’s Lippy.’ James declared after looking at the photograph.
‘I assume Lippy is a nickname, James, do you know his real name?’ Clayton asked.
‘Yes it’s Dung Lee but the Dung is spelt Deng. To us it’s Deng Lee but he told us that in China it’s pronounced Dung Lee, something to do with his language.’ James answered.
‘And how do you come to know Deng Lee, James?’ Clayton asked.
‘Can I plead the fifth on that one?’ James asked.
‘Worse than vandalism, is it?’ Clayton asked.
‘I just don’t want to get anyone into trouble.’ James answered.
‘Interview suspended at ten twenty one AM.’ He announced and turned the recorder off. ‘Now tell us and we will decide if it needs to stay off the tape.’
James smiled, it was not often he liked a policeman but he was beginning to like this one.
‘We bought ecstasy of him and other drugs.’ He explained.
‘So he was a pusher?’ Clayton asked.
He was surprised that he had not heard of this man before. He always liked to know about drug dealers in his patch, as he called it.
‘Yes, he was always around, selling whatever he had, he even sold drugs at my school!’ James answered. ‘It made some of the parents angry when they found out.’
‘Do you know where he lived?’ Clayton asked.
‘No, he just appeared by the school or at the other places he sold his pills.’ James answered. ‘He was always flashing a large wad of money when we met him and he had a Rolex, well he said it was a Rolex, it could have been a fake for all I know. He also had a real diamond in his earring, according to him.’
‘That changes things a bit, there was nothing like that found with him. Thank you James, you have been very helpful and now I will get a car to take you home when you have done just one more thing for me. As you know, you have all been photographed. Well I have photographs here of all your friends, I want to know their names, tell me as I show them to you and I will write it on the back of the photograph.’
‘You won’t tell them, will you?’ James asked nervously.
‘No, I won’t tell them, James but it might save us some time when we interview them, or we might be at it all day, stuck in this little room.’ Clayton answered.
James looked at each picture and told Clayton who it was and Rebecca wrote their names on the back of the picture. When James had told them the name of the person in each photograph, he left with Marion.
‘Well that changes things!’ Clayton declared, while they waited for the next person to be brought in. ‘For the worse.’
‘Yes, it changes it from a possible racial attack to a drug related killing.’ Rebecca replied. ‘I wonder how long it will be before the CI decides that this is not such a hot potato of a case, after all.’
‘Not long when he finds out that he was a drug pusher, I’ll be bound.’ Clayton answered. ‘Do we have time for coffee before the next one comes in?’
Chapter 3
The door opened and another boy was led in and directed toward the chair James had just vacated.
‘No, I think not!’ Rebecca answered.
Clayton looked through the photographs in his file and selected the photograph of the boy concerned.
‘Good morning, take a seat please.’ Clayton greeted and pointed to the chair.
The boy sat down.
‘For the record, what is your name?’ Clayton asked, not expecting an answer.
The boy did not answer.
‘And how old are you?’
The boy did not answer.
‘Will you ask Mrs. Wilson to step in here please, Rebecca,’ Clayton asked, ‘I think the young man is below the age of eighteen and he should have a responsible adult present, when he is questioned concerning the two murders we are investigating.’
The boy’s eyes opened wide when he heard the word murder and just like James, he was soon singing like a canary. He was another one who did not want his parents anywhere near the police station but then Mrs. Wilson was sitting there with him and she did not let his rights be infringed, although she was no solicitor. The boy went into more detail of the vandalism in Mrs. Finnegan’s garden and knew exactly how long it took.
The other boys were the same except the leader, Rufus. He refused to talk at all for a long time but in the end he too decided that Vandalism was a better charge than complicity to murder. He was eighteen and Mrs. Wilson left them to it as she had no role to play.
‘So how did this gang come about?’ Clayton asked, not really interested in the rest of the questions as he knew where they had been and what they had been doing by now.
‘It just sort of happened, inspector. At first there were three of us and we liked to hang out where we did when you saw us. Two younger boys started coming and at first we tried to discourage them but their home life was worse than anything we could do to them.’
Rufus stopped talking and looked at the recorder.
‘This is of no importance to the case, is it?’ He asked.
Clayton smiled, this young man was no fool and this bit was obviously above the law.
‘No, it isn’t. Interview terminated at thirteen twelve.’
He turned the recorder off.
‘One of them was just a punch bag for his father, so we thought, if we sorted his dad out he would stay home at nights. We laid wait for his dad and taught him some manners.’ Rufus continued.
‘Did it work?’ Clayton asked with more than a passing interest.
‘Not at first. When we saw the boy again he had been beaten up by his dad again. We did the same again but worse than the first time and this time we told him that every time he hit his son it would be returned threefold. The idiot didn’t know what threefold meant, so I had to explain it to him.’
‘And?’ Rebecca asked wanting to know what happened afterwards.
‘What can I say, he was thick and we nearly had to kill him before he got the idea but after that the boy was part of the gang, as he thought that was the only way to keep his dad from beating him up. Others came and finally the other two older boys moved away and I was the oldest, so now they look to me to make decisions. And I have been telling them what to do ever since.’
‘Did you have to see the boy’s dad again, Rufus?’ Rebecca asked.
‘No but we did have to punish a few other parents until they left their kids alone.’ Rufus answered.
‘Did you do it on your own?’ Clayton asked.
‘Oh no, we were all there, including the one they were ill-treating, the smaller ones had baseball bats, or cricket bats and they only needed telling once after that. If all the children had a hand in the beatings then they could hardly peach on us, could they?’
‘Well done!’ Rebecca exclaimed.
‘It’s a good job the tape is off sergeant!’ Clayton exclaimed.
‘Well they deserved all they got!’ Rebecca replied.
‘True but it was against the law and we are police officers, Rebecca.’ Clayton explained.
‘If the boy came to us and complained he would probably be dead or in hospital now!’ Rebecca declared. ‘I have seen it all before, so I say again, well done, Rufus!’
‘Oh I agree with you Rebecca but not out loud.’ Clayton answered. ‘So you look after these younger boys and keep them on the straight and narrow by getting them to vandalise a garden?’
‘Not just anyone’s garden, Mrs. Finnegan’s garden. She doesn’t have a good word to say about us, so we were just paying her back for not giving us the benefit of the doubt!’ Rufus answered.
‘I will go and see Mrs. Finnegan and tell her that.’ Clayton replied. ‘The best thing you could do to help your group out of the hole they find themselves in, is to go along to Mrs. Finnegan and offer to right the wrongs you did to her, all of them. That way, if she drops the charges, there will be no case to answer and I won’t have to arrest you lot again.’
‘Do you think it will w
ork?’ He asked.
‘It is your best hope, Rufus. I will put your case for you with Mrs. Finnegan and whether it does any good I have no idea but it is the best I can do for you.’ Clayton answered. ‘I will sit on this until I have cleared up the murders but then I will have to act on it, if the charge is still filed.’
Rufus stood up to leave.
‘Oh and next time there is a drug runner on my patch, you tell me!’ Clayton ordered.
‘I will inspector and thank you for your help.’ Rufus assured him.
‘It is only help if you can persuade Mrs. Finnegan to drop the charges which she could file.’ Clayton replied.
Rufus left with an escort, his interview had taken the longest and Clayton decided he liked him. He and Rebecca stayed in the interview room talking after Rufus had left, they discussed the gang.
‘They certainly look after their own!’ Rebecca declared. It has the makings of a good gang and heaven knows there are enough bad gangs about.’
‘As you say, worth putting some effort in to help them, do you think?’
‘I do sir.’
‘Then I will go to Mrs. Finnegan’s with my cap in hand and try to tilt her in favour of letting them make amends. I am sure they can repair the garden just as well as they destroyed it.’
‘I think that is the best idea you have ever had, sir. Now, if you want to race the lift up to our office, I will go back and make some coffee.’
‘Now they sound like good ideas as well.’ Clayton declared and they started for the lift.
‘I wonder if they will run away next time we approach them, sir.’ Rebecca mused, as they walked to the lift.
‘We will find out, sergeant, we will find out.’
‘So it was a robbery then?’ Rebecca concluded.
‘Sounds like it but we only have the boy’s testimony to tell us about the Rolex, I hope, when we find out where he lives, that there is paperwork there to lead us to the Rolex.’
‘If it is a genuine Rolex!’
‘As you say, if it is indeed a genuine Rolex. I wonder why Chastity did not mention the missing earring.’
‘Or the watch.’ Rebecca added.
‘That’s the trouble with the darker skin, doesn’t leave such a mark as it does on a white skin but we should go and talk to her about it. ’
They arrived at the lift, Clayton took the stairs and Rebecca chose the lift but instead of going to their office, they went down to the mortuary. Chastity was in the middle of a post mortem when they arrived, they waited in her little kitchen until she had completed it.
‘So what do I owe the honour of your visit?’ She asked as she made herself a drink.
‘We have heard rumours of a Rolex and an earring that our oriental victim usually sported. We wondered if there were any signs that he wore either of them.’ Clayton answered.
‘He did have a damaged ear but I didn’t link it to an earring.’ Chastity admitted. ‘Hang on, I’ll pull him out and have another look.’
She pulled out the body and they all peered at the damaged ear. They even used a light to hold behind it until the hole could be seen.
‘I am sorry, as you can see there is a hole there, hard to see after it was torn out but I should have seen it. There is no sign of the watch mark though but it might have been a new purchase, you could try the manufacturers if it was a Rolex, they keep records.’
‘What about testing for gold residue on his wrist?’ Rebecca asked.
‘He would have had to wear it, day and night for a very long time before anything would show up.’ Chastity answered.
‘So that’s a no then.’ Rebecca declared. ‘I just thought with all the modern equipment Bill has, he might have been able to find out.’
‘You can label him now, his name is Deng Lee, D e n g L e e.’ He spelt it out for her.
‘Surely that is Deng Lee?’ Chastity asked. ‘Dung Lee would have a ‘u’ in it!’
‘Not in China.’ Clayton answered.
‘If you say so, where did he live?’ Chastity asked.
‘One thing at a time please, Chastity.’ Clayton answered. ‘We have a name, now we will try to find out where he lives, I hope.’
‘I can tell you his last meal was at a posh restaurant by the contents of his stomach but I cannot tell you which one, that is Bill’s job.’ Chastity added.
‘That might help but I bet he paid in cash!’ Rebecca declared.
‘Still it might give us some more corroboration about his money and the two missing items from our victim, we will go to the restaurant when Bill finds out which one it was.’ Clayton replied. ‘In fact we should pop in and see him.’
Instead of returning to their desks, for a second time they diverted and went to see Bill instead. Bill looked up when they walked in.
‘To what do I owe this pleasure?’ He asked.
‘I just wondered if there was any news about his last meal.’ Clayton answered.
‘I put it on your desk while you were interviewing those kids.’ Bill answered.
‘Thank you for your sterling work, once again Bill. We will go up and read it with interest.’ Clayton replied.
They returned to their desks to read the file.
‘So he ate at the Shangri-La restaurant.’ Clayton announced. ‘We will go and see them.’
‘I will phone ahead so that they are expecting us, sir, or the door will be locked.’
‘A good idea, it will also make sure someone is there.’ Clayton agreed. ‘I hate going places and finding no one at home.’
‘Oh they live on the premises.’ Rebecca declared.
‘Do you eat there then?’
‘On occasion, sir, it is a very good restaurant, very clean as well!’
Twenty minutes later they were walking into the restaurant.
‘Hello Pierre.’ Rebecca greeted.
‘Hello Miss Stone, so nice to see you again.’ Pierre replied. ‘So how can I help you?’
‘We are trying to trace a man who ate in your restaurant on the fourteenth of June, it was a Thursday.’ Rebecca answered.
‘At what time was he in?’ Pierre asked.
‘We have no idea but he did have the smothered chicken.’ Rebecca answered.
Pierre sighed.
‘Do we have a description of the man?’ He asked.
‘Of oriental appearance, approximately five foot eight inches in height, possibly with an earring in the right ear, a Rolex watch on his wrist and probably paid cash.’ Rebecca answered.
‘Oh yes, I heard about him. He had a large wad of money with him as I recall, one of the waiters saw it. I did see him. He had a diamond earring in his right ear and he was wearing a Rolex but it could have been a fake.’ Pierre said corroborating James story.
Rebecca wrote it all down and then left Pierre to go back to bed, to build up his energy for the evening. Rebecca drove back to the office and they returned to their desks.
‘So we have no idea where the oriental victim lived, but we are looking for a diamond earring and a Rolex. They might both be fakes and just for show though. But we do know that we are missing the wad of money he had with him as well.’ Clayton declared.
‘Shall I phone Rolex, sir?’ Rebecca asked.
‘Yes, it is worth a try but people of his genre will have paid cash for it, a bit like the restaurant.’ Clayton answered. ‘He might have used a different name as well, if they asked him for a name.’
‘Shall I send someone to the pawn shops?’ Rebecca asked. ‘To see if anyone has pawned them yet?’
‘Yes but you will have to contact any jewelers who buy gold as well, just in case.’ Clayton answered.
Rebecca spent the next hour on the phone and organized some officers to visit the local pawn shops. While she was on the phone she received a list of recent purchases from the watch manufacturer, with serial numbers but with nothing to match it to, it was of little use. She put it in the file to be looked at again when they had more information and with nothing to do all s
he could do was to wait for news from the pawn shops. Waiting was not her strong point.
‘What now, sir?’ She asked after ten minutes.
Clayton could see she wanted to be doing something.
‘Now we go and see Mrs. Finnegan.’ He answered. We will warn her that the vandals who caused the damage might turn up in an attempt to make amends, or if they turn up unannounced she might just send them off with a flea in their collective ears.’
‘She still might,’ Rebecca replied, ‘although I haven’t seen the damage they did.’
‘It will have to be her choice, sergeant.’ Clayton answered. ‘We can see what they did to the garden while we are there.’
They drove out to Mrs. Finnegan’s large house, parked and walked up to the front door. The bell rang loud enough for them to hear it and they soon heard footsteps approaching the door.
‘Hello Inspector Moore.’ Mrs. Finnegan announced when she saw them. ‘Do come in. Have you come to see the damage for yourself?’
‘Yes Mrs. Finnegan, we thought we should see the damage, first hand. I did read the report on it from the constable who came to see it.’ Clayton answered.
They were ushered through into the back garden to see what the boys had done and walked round to assess the damage.
‘We do have suspects for the crime.’ Clayton announced carefully.
‘You say you know who did it?’ She asked.
‘Yes but we have no real proof, so I told them to hot foot it round here and fix it. I hope that was alright, they actually seem a nice bunch of lads and deserve a chance to make good.’
There was a pause while Mrs. Finnegan looked at him and he wondered what she was going to say. She was thinking that she had found someone to look into her case and who had found the culprits, just to have them return and do what?
‘Well, if you think I should give them a chance, then I will give them a chance to make amends, inspector.’ She replied evenly. ‘Me dropping the charges however will depend on how good a job they do on it.’
‘I will await your report with interest, Mrs. Finnegan.’ He answered and they walked back to the car, using the garden’s side gate to save walking back through the house.
