by Chris Ould
“Rape?” Colin Booth said. He sounded genuinely shocked, but Holly was watching Lauren – and when her father repeated the word Lauren seemed to cringe.
“Lauren, what do you know about Drew Alford?” Holly said. “You need to tell us.”
Lauren was still for a moment, then when she spoke her voice was hushed and scared. “He was mad with Ash. He was saying stuff— He said…he said if she was going round spreading stuff about him she’d be sorry.”
“What sort of stuff?” Holly asked. “You mean stories, or gossip?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t know what he meant.” Lauren looked up. “He was really angry. Not shouting but just – just really wound up, kind of jabbing his finger. Do you know what I mean?”
“You mean he was threatening towards Ashleigh?” Woods asked.
Lauren nodded.
“Did he threaten you as well?”
“No.” Lauren shook her head. “He didn’t even look at me. It was Ash he was looking at, all the time.”
“Where was this?”
“On the estate. Me and Ash were coming back here and he just came out of nowhere. It was like he’d been waiting or something. He comes up and he asks Ash if it’s true what he’s heard, that she’s been saying things about him, and Ash just says she doesn’t know what he’s heard so she doesn’t know if it’s true.”
“How did he react to that?”
“He didn’t like it. He said something about how she shouldn’t try and be clever with him. And then Ash said why, was he afraid he couldn’t keep up? – That was when he really started to get mad. He called her a snotty bitch. He said she knew what he meant and if she wasn’t careful she’d find out he wasn’t so stupid.”
“What did Ashleigh say to that?”
“Nothing. I mean, she just sort of gave him a look, then said ‘Come on’ to me and we walked away.”
Woods looked up from his notebook. “So was that the end of it?”
Lauren nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell us this before?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was it because you’re afraid of Drew Alford?”
Lauren didn’t say anything.
“Lauren? Tell them,” her father insisted.
But as soon as he’d said it Lauren rounded on him. “Why? What do you know? If you’d taken her home like I asked you, instead of going out… But you couldn’t be bothered, could you? You didn’t care. Just cos she lives on the estate, just cos you think she’s common.”
“I don’t!” her father said. “I never said that.”
“Yes you did. You’ve said it dozens of times. You’re always making comments about her. You probably think she deserved it!”
“Lauren, stop it!” her mother cut in. “I know you’re upset but—”
“You don’t know anything!” Lauren said, turning on her now. “You’re just as bad as him. You’re always on his side. Nobody listens! Nobody ever listens to what – to what I say.”
She pushed her mother’s restraining hand aside and forced herself off the sofa, running from the room with a door slam behind her.
Her parents looked at each other for a moment.
“I’m sorry,” Mrs Booth said then, turning to Woods. “I don’t know what’s the matter with her.”
“I’ll get her back,” Mr Booth said, determined. “I’m not having her behaving like that, doesn’t matter what’s caused it.”
He started towards the door, but Woods cut him off. “That’s all right,” he said. “She’s obviously upset so maybe we should leave it for now. I’d still like to get a formal statement if she’s willing to make one, but it can wait till she feels up to it. Maybe you could give me a call?”
Holly left the sitting room first, hoping that she’d find Lauren just outside. She wasn’t there, but as Holly made her way to the hall she saw the girl sitting on the stairs.
“You all right?” Holly asked.
Lauren nodded but it was a small thing.
“Is there anything else you can tell me about yesterday?”
This time Lauren shook her head. “No,” she said dully.
For a second Holly debated, then she said: “When Ashleigh left here yesterday she didn’t go straight home. Do you know anywhere she might have gone, anyone she might have met? A boyfriend maybe?”
“No,” Lauren said again. “I told you, she isn’t like that. I mean, she’s not into boys yet – not serious; not more than fancying someone in a band or whatever, you know?”
“So there’s no one at school?”
“No.”
“And not Drew Alford?”
“No. I told you. She thinks he’s a moron.”
Behind her Holly heard DS Woods and Lauren’s father leaving the sitting room. When Lauren registered it too, she stood up. “Will you find out who did it?”
“We’ll try,” Holly said, knowing it didn’t sound as positive as she’d have liked.
Lauren seemed about to say something more, but as she saw DS Woods coming along the hall she abandoned it and turned quickly to go up the stairs.
“Lauren…” her father called after her, but Lauren took no notice and a moment later they heard her bedroom door close with a dull thud.
17.
INCIDENT ROOM
MORNINGSTAR RD STATION
14:02 HRS
The afternoon quiet of the Incident Room made the place seem larger than it had that morning, when the activity had been concentrated and driven. Instead of uniform and CID officers coming and going, it was just the four of them now and Holly knew she was to blame for keeping the others away from whatever it was they’d rather have been doing on a Saturday afternoon.
Danny Simmons was already in the Incident Room when Holly and DS Woods entered. Then, about ten minutes later, DI Jackie Connors had arrived. She was about thirty-five, dressed down but still smart in a silk blouse and knee-length wool skirt. She noticed Holly as soon as she entered, but chose not to make any comment. Instead she had a short conversation with Ray Woods at the far end of the room, before returning to the whiteboards and examining the photograph of Drew Alford, which was now at the centre of the case details.
“Go on then,” she said to Woods. “How’s he fit?”
She moved to lean against a desk as Woods picked up a marker pen and drew on the board.
“Tamsin Powell – known as Taz – says she saw Drew Alford threatening Ashleigh and Lauren Booth at about 16:00 hours yesterday on the Cadogan Estate. According to Tamsin, Alford might have thought that Ashleigh had been ‘disrespecting’ him.”
“Can we confirm that?” DI Connors asked. “If we’re going to prove motive…”
Woods nodded. “Lauren Booth confirmed that Alford was angry because of things Ashleigh was supposed to have said about him. From the sound of it, Ashleigh might have made things worse when Alford confronted her. It sounds as if she gave him some lip and in return he called her a ‘snotty bitch’, amongst other things.”
Connors assessed that. “So you think it was a punishment rape then? Ashleigh insulted Alford so he decided to teach her a lesson.”
“I reckon it could be. It’s possible that Alford might have fancied Ashleigh as well, but if she’d given him the brush off… Raping her would have been two birds with one stone, so to speak.”
Connors gave him a pained expression. “So to speak – where are we with the DNA?”
Danny Simmons shifted. “Boss? I’ve been on to the lab again. They’ve bumped it up the line but it’s still going to be a while. I’ve asked them to run a comparison with the sample we took from Alford at his first arrest as soon as poss.”
“Have we got anything else from Forensics?”
“They think they’ve got fibre evidence from Ashleigh’s clothes, but we’d have to give them something for comparison. Nothing from prints.”
“So what do you want to do?” the DI asked Woods as she looked at the board. Holly didn’t think she seemed particularly
convinced by any of it.
“Like I said,” Woods told her, “I think we’ve got enough to give Alford a tug on suspicion of Ashleigh’s rape.”
“You know a decent brief’s going to say we can’t even be sure there was a rape – not without an allegation – I’m assuming Ashleigh hasn’t come round and you’ve just forgotten to tell me.”
“No. There’s no change.”
“So we could just wait for the DNA.”
“We could,” Woods said. “But then that could take us into tomorrow and it gives Alford more time to concoct an alibi, maybe get rid of any clothing he was wearing.”
“If it was him.”
Connors considered for a moment longer, then she said: “Okay, see if he’s at home. If he is, try and get him to come in voluntarily. If not…”
“Right,” Woods said.
Connors nodded, then straightened up from the desk she’d been leaning on and looked at her watch. “I need to get to Tesco before they run out of everything decent.”
“Spaghetti bolognese or risotto?”
“Risotto.” She gave him a frown. “How did you know?”
“Cos it’s always one or the other.”
“No it’s not.”
Woods gave her a look.
“Well excuse me for not being Delia Smith,” Connors said, heavy on the sarcasm. “Let me know when you’ve talked to Alford, okay?”
“It won’t interrupt the risotto?”
Connors gave him a narrow-eyed look, then turned and moved towards the door. Instead of heading out though, she stopped in front of Holly.
“TPO Blades, right?” she said. The easy banter she’d shared with Woods was gone and instead the DI seemed steely and stiffly formal.
“Yes, ma’am,” Holly said and stood straight.
“Looks like you’ve buggered up everyone’s Saturday.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Holly repeated, not sure what else to say.
“Right.” And with a nod she continued on, out of the room, trailing perfume in her wake.
There was a moment of silence and then DS Woods said: “Danny, you up for the tug? I’m going to check through the statements from the door-to-door to see if there’s any mention of Alford. Holly, you too.”
“Sarge?” Holly wasn’t sure what she was being told to do.
“Go with Danny,” Woods said. “It’s your info so you can put in the legwork to check it out.” And with a last glance at the boards he started away.
“Come on then,” Danny Simmons said to Holly. “Let’s see how hard it is to find Mr Alford.”
And as he gestured her towards the door, Holly felt the weight of responsibility for all this settling on her shoulders.
18.
PENRICE HOUSE
CADOGAN ESTATE
14:31 HRS
They rode up in the lift accompanied by the stench of a dirty nappy, despite the fact that Danny Simmons had kicked the offending article out into the lobby before the doors closed.
On the fifth floor they made their way along the walkway, passing one or two people who didn’t bother to conceal their interest in the two coppers. A couple of men in their twenties saw them coming and immediately left their position at the railing to dodge back inside a flat and close the door. As he passed the same door a moment later Danny Simmons gave it a kick and said loudly, “Not today, Ricky. You got lucky – for once.”
There was no response from the flat.
A few metres further on the door of flat 516 was also closed, its paint shabby and in need of attention. Danny Simmons waited until Holly was behind him, then banged on the door with the side of his fist.
For a moment there was nothing, then an unintelligible voice was raised inside. Simmons thumped the door again. “Police! Open up please.”
Finally, after a full thirty seconds, the door was opened by a woman in her thirties. She had a washed-out complexion and blonde hair whose roots were several weeks overdue for retouching. She wore jeans and a sweater and had a tea towel in her hand.
“Mrs Alford?” Danny Simmons asked.
“Yeah.”
“I’m DC Simmons from Morningstar Road station, this is TPO Blades. We’re looking for Drew. Is he in?”
“Why?” the woman said. She shifted her gaze to Holly, as if the only unusual thing about all this was her presence. Holly was glad she was back in full uniform again.
“I’d like to ask him a couple of questions,” Simmons said. “If he’s here.”
“Only two of you? Last time it was half a dozen.”
“We were hoping he might be a bit more cooperative this time,” Simmons said without missing a beat. “Can we come in?”
The woman gave him a look, then said, “He’s in his room.”
She led them into the flat and Holly closed the door behind them. At the hallway leading to the bedrooms Mrs Alford stood aside and gestured. “Second on the left,” she said. “And if you’re gonna arrest him again don’t ask me to come with him. I had enough of that last time.”
“Is his dad here?” Simmons asked.
Mrs Alford shook her head. “Football, pub, more pub, chippy, home. He’ll probably talk to you lunchtime tomorrow.”
“Right.”
Mrs Alford didn’t bother to reply but went back to the kitchen, as if she wanted nothing to do with the consequences of disturbing her son.
When she’d gone Danny Simmons moved along the hall to Drew Alford’s room. He knocked on the door, then tried the handle. It was locked.
“Drew? I’m DC Simmons from Morningstar Road station. I need to talk to you.”
There was a moment of silence and then the sound of movement and urgent, hissed voices. Simmons knocked again, harder. “Now please.”
“All right, all right, keep your hair on,” Drew Alford’s irritated voice called from inside the room. There was another muffled exchange inside the room and Holly thought the second voice sounded female. Then the door was unlocked and Drew Alford opened it.
He was tall, well muscled, with an unruly thatch of brown hair and an angular face beneath it. He was fastening a pair of jeans over boxer shorts and had a shirt in his hand. In the bed behind him a girl with dark hair and a heart-shaped face was rapidly pulling a black T-shirt down over her pink bra.
“Your mum didn’t say you’d got company,” Simmons said, looking from Alford to the girl. “Hope we’re not interrupting.”
“Not now, you’re not,” Alford said.
“Like to introduce us?”
Alford shrugged and looked over his shoulder to the girl. “What’s your name again?”
The girl, already uncomfortable at the intrusion, made a face. “Fuck off, Drew,” she said.
“I thought I already did,” Alford said with a grin.
“What’s your name, love?” Simmons said, cutting through the banter.
“Bex.”
“Bex? Okay, you don’t need to come. This is TPO Blades. She’ll stay with you, okay? – Come on, Drew, do yourself up through there.”
With a sour look, Drew Alford zipped up his jeans and went along the hall towards the sitting room. As he did so Simmons leaned in towards Holly, dropping his voice.
“Bex?” he said significantly. “Have a chat, yeah?”
Holly knew what he meant and as Simmons moved off along the hall Holly went into the bedroom. Bex was pushing her hair back from her face.
“Can you shut the door?” she asked.
Holly did that and then Bex swung her legs out of bed and started hunting on the floor for the rest of her clothes. She was only dressed from the waist up.
Holly looked round the room to give the girl some privacy and also to give herself some time to think about what to say next. The room smelled of stale cigarette smoke and there was an ashtray on the floor with what might have been the remains of two or three spliffs in amongst the other dog-ends. On the walls there were several posters of topless models and some football stuff but nothing to indicate that Drew A
lford knew the meaning of tidy.
By now Bex had found her knickers and a pair of jeans. As she pulled the jeans on she glanced at Holly and said, “Is he in trouble again – Drew?”
“I don’t know,” Holly said, adopting a slightly fed-up air. “They never tell me anything. I mean, they tell me what to do, but not why.”
This didn’t seem to surprise or interest Bex.
“Is his mum out there?” she said, with a nod at the door.
“Yeah. She let us in.”
“Shit.”
“What’s up? Don’t you like her?”
“She don’t like me,” Bex said, looking for a sock to match the one in her hand. “Drew said she wouldn’t be back till later or I wouldn’t’ve come. She’s a real cow – you seen a sock like this?”
Holly moved round the bed to look. “Have you been going out with him long?” she asked casually.
“Three months nearly.”
“Long time,” Holly said. “Do you live near here?”
“Yeah, Cranham House. It’s a dump.”
“I don’t suppose you saw anything around the flats last night did you, about half past six? We’re supposed to ask anyone we meet today if they were in the area.”
“Nah, I was down the High Street till eight,” Bex said, a note of resentment coming into her voice. She gestured towards the sitting room. “He was supposed to meet me at seven but he wouldn’t answer his phone, just leaves me standing out in the cold like a numpty. Dickhead.”
“Right,” Holly said, keeping her tone light. “So he stood you up?”
Bex nodded. “He can be a real tosser sometimes.”
“They all can,” Holly said. “Oh, here you go.”
She picked up the missing sock and held it out to the other girl.
“Ta.”
Bex sat on the bed to pull on the sock and looked at Holly. “So how long’s he gonna be? I’m not sitting round waiting if it’s gonna be ages.”
“Hold on,” Holly said. “I’ll see if I can find out.”
“See if his mum’s there an’ all, yeah?”
“Okay, stay here,” Holly said and moved to the door.
