by Chris Ould
“Or I could just go home,” Danny said flatly.
12
“Who did the car?” Alford demanded. They were standing at the bottom of the steps to the walkway outside Penrice House.
“What car?” Tyler Smith said, but as soon as he saw the look that crossed Alford’s face he knew that he wasn’t going to get away with it – and that he’d probably made it worse by faking ignorance.
“You know what fucking car, you arsehole,” Alford said. There was a tautness about him that even Tyler was wary of.
It wasn’t that he was afraid of Drew, but even though he was heavier and stronger, it was no guarantee of anything if they really got down to it. All the Kaddy Boys knew that when Drew was wound up like this he was as unpredictable as he was vicious.
“Okay, so what?” Tyler said, unwilling to completely ignore the insult.
“Fucking idiot,” Alford said. “If I wanted that doing I’d’ve told you – shit.” He glanced away and made a noise of annoyance, then looked back. “Was it just you?”
“Yeah,” Tyler said.
“Why, what you got against Ry Atkins?”
“Nothing.”
“So what the fuck did you do it for then?”
Tyler hesitated for a moment but he knew there was no way to avoid this admission now.
“It’s his brother, Choirboy. He was at the minimart Friday night.”
“What, inside?”
Tyler shook his head. “Outside, when I did the windows.”
“And he saw you.” It wasn’t a question, because Alford had the whole picture now. “You twat.”
“Listen—” Tyler said, and he straightened his shoulders to show he’d taken enough.
Alford took no notice of the gesture though. Instead he took a step away, thought for a second, then turned back. “Stay away from him from now on,” he said. “If he hasn’t told the cops already he probably won’t – not unless you push him again. So just leave it, all right?”
“Listen,” Tyler started again. “If—”
“Leave it,” Alford repeated harshly. “I’ll sort it.”
Then he caught a glimpse of two figures approaching along the walkway. “Oh fuck, what now?” he said.
Even as they reached the top of the damp concrete steps Taz knew this wasn’t a good idea. She’d tried to persuade Bex not to go looking for Drew, but Bex wouldn’t listen. She wanted to have it out with him and there was no dissuading her.
Now Taz saw Drew standing with Tyler and she could sense that this wasn’t going to be good: Drew just had that look about him. But if Bex saw it she took no notice. Instead she quickened her pace, descending the steps fast, as if she suspected that Drew would walk away before she could reach him. But it was Tyler who moved off and Drew who stood watching the two girls come down to his level.
“You weren’t gonna call me then?” Bex demanded as soon as she was close enough to be sure she had Drew’s full attention.
“I was gonna call you when I was ready,” Alford said. “I had things to do.”
“What, like being arrested?”
“I wasn’t nicked,” he said. “And if you know what was happening you know why I didn’t call you.”
“Yeah? That was yesterday though, wasn’t it? What about today? What about till now?” Bex demanded. “Or didn’t you want to see me cos of why they nicked you?”
Taz could see that this didn’t go down well with Drew. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he said coldly.
“You know what it means. You know what they’re saying? That you got nicked for raping Ash Jarvis.”
“Yeah, well they don’t know fuck all. And if they say any more they’ll get a smack. If I’d done it you think I’d be here now? Even the cops know I didn’t.”
“So why’d they nick you at all? They must’ve had a reason.”
“Listen, I don’t need this,” Drew said. “I’ve got things to do.”
He made to move away, dismissing her, but Bex was too angry. She stepped forward and grabbed his arm.
“You fancied her, didn’t you?” she insisted. “I know you did. So had you been with her? Had you?”
“Get off me, bitch.” Drew shook his arm, hard, to throw off her grasp.
“Tell me!” Bex shouted at him.
“Okay, so what?” he snapped at her. “So I’d seen her – earlier. Happy now?”
Taz saw Bex flinch as if Drew had slapped her. Without looking at him she moved in to try and draw Bex away. “Come on, let’s go,” Taz said.
But Bex was rooted to the spot. “What did you do?” she said, her voice suddenly quiet.
“What do you think?” Drew Alford’s look was scornful. “And don’t think it was cos of me. She was the one who wanted it, just so you know.”
“Come on,” Taz said again. All she wanted to do was get out of there now. She put her arm through Bex’s. “Let’s just go, yeah?”
She managed to get Bex to move, stiff like a robot, and they took a couple of steps before Bex turned back abruptly. “You arsehole!” she shouted. “You bastard. I wish they had locked you up. You should be!”
Taz saw Drew’s face darken and he took a step towards them, threatening. She pulled Bex’s arm, urging her to move again, and finally she did.
Behind them Alford watched the two girls hurry away for a couple of seconds, then he took out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket, lighting up before he moved off.
13.
IBO
MORNINGSTAR RD STATION
12:07 HRS
Holly knew this was make-or-break. She could also sense that with each additional minute that passed, Danny Simmons’s doubts were getting stronger. Since they’d come up to Integrated Borough Operations he’d had two calls – one about a burglary artifice, the other over an alleged credit card fraud – and by rights he should probably have started to look into them.
Instead though, he was standing with Holly in the large, open-plan office, looking at a monitor as a civvie operator called Clare tried to find a camera with a view of Romsey Road and footage from Thursday evening. The longer it went on without a result, the more uncomfortable Holly became.
Finally the woman called Clare said, “There you go. It’s the west end of the road, but that’s all there is.”
On the screen Holly could see the frozen, grainy image of a road junction. The lights of the passing cars tended to burn out the detail in places and the height of the camera angle made it difficult to see the faces of pedestrians. Even so, she examined the scene carefully, looking for anyone who could have been Ashleigh Jarvis.
“This is 18:00?” Danny asked.
“18:01.”
“Can you run it back ten minutes?”
The images went into reverse and the time code ran back to 17:50. Then it started forward, but the effect wasn’t smooth because the camera only recorded one second out of every three, giving the whole thing a disjointed, jerky feel.
Despite this, Holly scanned all the people she could tell were female, walking along the pavements, going into or coming out of buildings, sometimes obscured by passing vehicles. None of them looked like Ashleigh.
Then Danny Simmons’s phone rang again. He answered it, taking a couple of steps off to the side. Holly stayed focused on the monitor, but she knew that Romsey Road was long and there was nothing to say that Ashleigh had met Bic within sight of the camera.
Danny ended his call. “I need to go back to the office,” he said. “If you want to keep looking for a bit…”
“Okay,” Holly nodded, not wanting to look away in case he changed his mind. “I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
She sensed his hesitation about leaving her, but in the end he moved off.
Then: “Danny?”
Holly looked to the operator. “Can you pause it?”
As Danny came back Holly pointed at the screen. “There. At the bus shelter. That’s her.”
The figure – a girl for sure – had long da
rk hair and a dark coat, short skirt. She was half under the shelter of a bus stop, looking off down the road.
“You think?” Danny said. Then to Clare: “Let it run.”
The footage went forward again, still jumpy, but because the girl was standing still she became a fixed point. A slight turn of her head between one frame and the next and Holly was certain. “That’s Ashleigh,” she said.
Then an estate car came into view, silverish in colour, its indicator light on as it pulled in at the bus stop. At the same time Ashleigh Jarvis had moved out of the bus shelter and across to the kerb. The car door opened. She got in. The car was still for a few moments, then indicated and pulled away again.
“Can you see an index?”
Clare the operator shook her head. “Burned out. It’s the lights. The old cameras can’t deal with the contrast.”
“Can we get a copy of this,” Danny said, “and a couple of prints?”
By the time they were back in CID the phone was ringing again.
“Bloody hell,” Danny said impatiently. “Sunday’s supposed to be a day of rest.” He picked up the phone. “CID, DC Simmons – Yes, that’s right – When? – Okay, thanks for letting us know – Yes. Thanks.”
He hung up.
“The Vic,” he said. “Ashleigh came round half an hour ago.”
14.
HUCKNALL WARD
QUEEN VICTORIA HOSPITAL
13:26 HRS
“Hello, Ashleigh,” Danny Simmons said. “My name’s Danny. This is Holly. We’re from Morningstar Road station.”
Ashleigh Jarvis still looked pale. Her lips were dry and the side of her face was bruised – green and yellow.
“Holly’s the one who came with you in the ambulance,” Dee Jarvis said. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, stroking her daughter’s arm.
“Thank you,” Ashleigh said, managing a wan smile.
“It’s just my job,” Holly said. “Would it be all right if we asked you some questions about the accident?”
Ashleigh nodded. “I don’t remember very much though,” she said.
Danny Simmons moved a green plastic chair next to the bed and sat down.
“You might find it gets clearer as time goes on,” he said. “But for the moment we’d just like to find out what you remember from before the accident. Do you remember being at Lauren’s house for example?”
Ashleigh nodded again. “Yeah,” she said. “We watched telly.”
“Do you remember leaving or calling your mum to say you were on your way home?”
“I think so.”
“Okay. Anything else? – Anything from just before the accident?”
Ashleigh frowned, concentrating, but Holly was looking at Dee Jarvis. When Danny had asked the question Dee had stopped stroking her daughter’s arm and tensed, as if bracing herself for the reply.
“I don’t know,” Ashleigh said then. “It’s all sort of fuzzy. I can’t describe it. It’s like…It’s like there should be something there but there isn’t. It just sort of goes grey. Do you know what I mean?”
Danny nodded. “That’s okay. Like I said, you might remember more later, or you might not. Don’t worry about it.”
Dee Jarvis shifted. “Maybe we should all let you get some rest,” she said to Ashleigh.
“I’ve been in a coma, Mum. How much more rest can you get? I’m fine.”
Danny Simmons glanced at Holly – her cue.
“Ashleigh, you know you said you remembered ringing your mum to say you were coming home? Can you remember where you were when you called her?”
For the first time Ashleigh hesitated, but only for a second. “I dunno. Leaving Lauren’s, I suppose.”
“Right. Only the thing is, Lauren told us you left hers at six and you didn’t call your mum till twenty to seven. We know that from your phone.”
“I don’t know,” Ashleigh repeated. “Lauren must’ve got it wrong.”
“You didn’t go somewhere else after Lauren’s?”
“No, I just walked home.”
“Did you meet anyone?”
“No. Why?”
“It’s just to make sure we’ve covered all the details,” Danny Simmons said, playing it down.
“What about Bic?” Holly asked.
“What?” Ashleigh made a small start at the name. “Who?”
“Bic?” Holly asked again, leaving it open.
“No, I don’t know— Oh, you mean Bec – Bex. No. I didn’t see her.”
Holly frowned. “I thought it was Bic,” she said. “Never mind. What about Drew Alford? Did you see him?”
“No,” Ashleigh said. “I don’t think so.” Then she raised a hand to her head and made a pained expression.
“Are you sure you’re all right,” her mum asked, looking concerned.
“I think I’m getting a headache,” Ashleigh said. “Maybe I should have a rest.”
Dee Jarvis looked at Danny, who took the hint and stood up. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I think we’ve got everything we need. Thanks for your help, Ashleigh. Just concentrate on getting better, okay?”
“I will. Thanks.”
They left the room and, after a moment with Ashleigh, Dee followed them into the corridor.
“I don’t understand what’s going on,” she said, keeping her voice down but clearly confused. “Yesterday your DS Woods said you didn’t think it was a— That she hadn’t been…”
“No, we don’t now,” Danny said, coming in quickly enough to save her from saying the word she was trying to avoid. “Like I said, we just needed to make sure we’d covered everything.”
Dee Jarvis seemed relieved by that. “I know you’ve got to do your job,” she said. “It’s just… You know.”
“I know,” Danny said. “Hopefully we won’t have to bother her any more.”
“We will though, won’t we?” Holly said, once they’d moved out of earshot along the corridor. “We know Ashleigh was lying – about Bic and about Alford.”
“Yeah,” Danny said. “But I can’t do any more, not without getting the DS to okay it.”
He looked at her. “You ready for that? Is that what you want to do?”
Holly took a beat, then nodded. “We’ve got to, haven’t we?”
15
“He’s just such a bastard,” Bex said, sniffling and dragging her sleeve across her face to wipe away her tears. “Going with her after we’ve been together for three months. And it wasn’t like…it wasn’t like I wouldn’t – you know – wouldn’t let him.”
“I know,” Taz said as sympathetically as she could. This was about the third time Bex had gone over it all in the last half-hour and Taz was starting to think she was just using the situation as an excuse to be dramatic.
“And everyone knows,” Bex went on. “Or they will by tomorrow at school. I can’t stand it.”
“Just ignore them,” Taz said. “Anyway, if he’s going to do stuff like that…” She let the sentence trail off in the hope that it wouldn’t give Bex anything more to get upset about.
“I should’ve chucked him at Christmas. I knew I should,” Bex said. “Everyone said so.”
“I know,” Taz said again. “But you know what he’s like now. No one’s going to think it’s your fault.”
“I should’ve known he fancied her. You could tell. I just— I just didn’t want to believe it.”
She pulled a crumpled tissue from her jacket pocket and blotted her eyes. “Has my mascara run?”
“Only a bit. It’s okay.”
Bex sniffed. “He’s a bastard,” she said again.
“You want to go home?” Taz said. She was cold from sitting on the edge of the empty flower bed in the precinct and if Bex had had enough of crying for a while it was a good time to suggest moving.
Bex shook her head. “I want a drink,” she said, casting a look towards the precinct off-licence, its lights on and door open. “I want to get shit-faced.”
“They won’t serve you
,” Taz said.
“Yeah they will. It’s Tariq on the till. He always serves me, long as there’s no one else there. He doesn’t want Drew coming in.”
Bex was searching her purse in a determined way now, coming up with a collection of loose change. “How much money you got?”
“I dunno. Not a lot,” Taz said. “Anyway, I don’t want any.”
“Why not?” Bex gave her a pleading look. “Come on. I hate feeling like this. I hate being in love with him. I just want to feel better.”
Taz knew if she didn’t go along with this Bex would take it as another personal injury, so – reluctantly – she took a two pound coin from her jeans and handed it over.
“That’ll get us a bit,” Bex said, straightening up. “Cider, yeah?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Taz said.
16.
INCIDENT ROOM
MORNINGSTAR RD STATION
14:03 HRS
Holly was alone in the Incident Room with DS Ray Woods. He was sitting in a swivel chair, wearing a polo shirt and jeans under his open fleece. The clothes didn’t give a clue as to what he’d been doing on his Sunday afternoon off before Danny Simmons had called him in.
Woods was looking at the prints from the CCTV camera footage.
“No index so we can’t trace it – well, we might if we can pick it up on another camera either before or after this one, but that’s a lot of hours to put in.” He lowered the photographs. “Why should we?”
“If he’s driving a car—” Holly started.
“You don’t know who’s driving. You can’t see. Could be anyone. What if Bic got his mum to drive him there to meet Ashleigh, then they all went to the pictures together?”
“Sarge—”
“Listen, even if you’re right, even if this Bic is an adult and he knows Ashleigh’s underage, even if he is having sex with her—”
“He is. He must be.”
For a moment Holly thought she’d gone too far. Woods was still, then he frowned.
“Okay, just for the moment let’s assume Ashleigh is in a sexual relationship with an adult male, and let’s assume they both know he’d be in trouble if anyone found out. Do you think Ashleigh’s going to admit it and tell us who he is?”
