by Mel Sherratt
‘My daughter. She’s with our neighbour, Norma. She took her in so that she wouldn’t have to see … He needs to ask if she can stay there while we go to the hospital.’
The ambulance doors closed, the sirens switched on and Tyler Douglas was swept away in a flood of blue lights.
Grace hoped that the little boy had luck on his side.
Grace entered the communal hallway with its smell of bleach and fake flowers. There were several rows of mailboxes, three bicycles chained in a line and concrete steps leading to the first floor.
At the top, she turned and marched along the walkway. A woman with a baby in her arms stood on her doorstep. She wore a look of genuine concern.
‘Is everything okay?’ she asked as Grace passed by.
‘Everything is fine,’ she told her, cursing herself for being so self-assured. But she didn’t want anyone to relay anything until she had got the gist of what had happened.
The door to Ruby and Luke’s home was wide open. Grace snapped on latex gloves and rapped her knuckles on the glass before stepping inside.
Luke appeared in the living room doorway.
‘I need you to step outside for a moment while I take a look around,’ she told him.
‘Right.’ Luke went out onto the walkway. He stood with his back to where the incident had happened, preferring to look at her, she assumed, rather than see what was going on below.
From her work at Harrison House so far, Grace knew that each flat was identical in layout; a small hallway with a kitchen and bathroom to the right, two bedrooms to the left and a door leading to a living room at the far end.
The living room was decorated in floral paper with a navy-blue settee, a large TV and a cheap flat-pack sideboard. A faint smell of cheese lingered in the air and there were two mugs on a coffee table. Curtains hid a picture window covering most of the back wall.
‘You can come in now,’ Grace shouted.
‘We always told him it was dangerous to go out alone,’ Luke said as he rejoined her. ‘He – he’s not going to die, is he?’
‘He’s in the best place possible at the moment,’ Grace answered. ‘I need you to gather together some things for Tyler – pyjamas, underwear and a change of clothes. Ruby mentioned your daughter was with your neighbour, Norma?’
Luke nodded. ‘Next door, 115. She came out as soon as she heard the commotion and took Lily for us.’
Grace pointed to the hall. ‘Do the children share a bedroom?’
‘The first one behind you, on the left.’
Grace pushed open the door. She looked around. It seemed a typical children’s room, albeit a very basic one. There were bunkbeds, a safety rail on the top bunk and an array of toys in a pile on the floor. A small bookcase held numerous well-read children’s board books, two red storage boxes crammed with toys next to it. The walls were painted white, a few crayon marks here and there. The curtains hanging either side of the window were thin but adequate.
Luke was behind her, holding a black sports bag.
‘Make sure you bring along Tyler’s favourite toy.’ Her tone was gentle.
Luke nodded as he held in his tears, his bottom lip quivering. She knew that picking up whatever it was would bring it home to him just how serious the situation was.
‘Right, a quick visit next door to see Lily and then we can head off to the hospital,’ she told him.
THREE
Grace let Luke knock on the door of flat 115. A lady in a pale pink jogging suit answered it. She looked to be in her sixties, with lilac curly hair and frame-free glasses.
‘Luke!’ She opened the door wide. ‘Come on in. How is he?’
‘He’s gone to the hospital.’ Luke stepped inside.
Grace flashed her warrant card as she followed him. ‘DS Allendale.’
‘Norma Farrington. Lily is in the living room. I’ve put her in front of the television. Hopefully it will take her mind off things. Such a terrible thing to happen, isn’t it?’
‘Luke!’ Lily ran into his arms.
Norma pressed a hand to Grace’s wrist. ‘They’re good parents,’ she spoke quietly. ‘I can tell you that for nothing.’
Grace didn’t reply. Good parents or not, something had happened to Tyler Douglas.
As she went through to the living room, the heat hit her like stepping into a sauna. Her cheeks flushed even before she’d unravelled her scarf and removed her gloves.
The flat was the same layout as the one she’d just been in but you’d be hard pressed to tell, Grace thought. It was cluttered with old furniture – two dark wooden bookcases, a sideboard and a dresser – and filled to the brim with knickknacks and photos in frames. The darkness contrasted with such a colourfully dressed woman.
The child who was now sitting on the settee was the image of her mother with long blonde hair, pale skin and the bluest, widest of eyes. Grace noticed the tear-stained face now that she was closer.
‘Hi Lily. My name is Grace.’ She smiled. ‘Can I sit down with you?’
Lily nodded slightly, pulling her knees up to her chest. Luke sat down on the other side of her.
‘I’d like to ask you a few questions about your brother, Tyler.’
‘Do we have to do this right now?’ Luke protested. ‘I really want to go and see how Tyler is.’
‘He’s dead, isn’t he?’ Tears pricked Lily’s eyes.
‘No, no,’ he replied, shooting Grace a cold look. ‘He’s gone to the hospital.’
Grace grimaced. She couldn’t question the girl now. It was plain to see she was traumatised by what had happened. It could wait until they had more details about Tyler’s condition.
‘Will he be okay?’ Lily’s voice was low and trembling.
‘We’ll know more soon,’ Luke replied. ‘But for now, I need you to be a big girl and stay here with Norma.’
Norma sat down beside Lily and smiled. ‘You can stay over-night, if you like? We can have hot chocolate and marshmallows.’
‘I want to go home, really,’ Lily whispered.
‘I’m sure you do and you’ll be able to soon,’ Luke said, ‘but I expect we’ll be at the hospital for a long time.’
‘Can I see him?’
Norma’s smile dropped from her lips momentarily before appearing again.
‘Once the doctors have examined him and fixed him up, he’ll be under everyone’s feet again in no time,’ Luke soothed. ‘You’ll see.’ He gave her a hug and said his goodbyes.
Grace went onto the walkway ahead of Luke and waited for him there. Once in the fresh air again, she let out a huge sigh. It was heartbreaking to see Lily’s face. But she would always keep an open mind. For all she knew she might have something to do with what happened and her parents may be covering for her. It could even be one of them.
Luke came out moments later and they walked downstairs. There was something she wanted to know.
‘I heard Lily call you by your first name back there,’ she said.
‘I’m not her father, although I treat her like my own daughter. I’ve known her since she was four. She’s a great kid.’
Grace had felt a pang of agony for the child. Lily reminded her of herself as a fragile eight-year-old when she’d been living with her late father, afraid to do anything for fear of retaliation; trying to protect her mum without getting into trouble herself. Always unsure if she was saying the right thing or digging a deeper hole.
As they got to the car park, Luke took out a set of keys.
‘I can give you a lift, if you like,’ she offered.
‘Thanks, but I’ll need to get back so I’ll take my car.’
She looked at her watch: quarter to eight. ‘I’ll follow you shortly.’
As she observed Luke driving off, she got out her phone to ring Simon. It was going to be a late one.
‘I had a call from work about it,’ he said once she’d told him about the accident.
‘I was there by chance when it happened.’ She gulped, closing her eyes an
d pinching the bridge of her nose to stop her tears from falling.
‘Christ, Grace – are you okay?’
‘Not really.’ She appreciated that he was upset for her. ‘I didn’t see it but I was there straight afterwards. He was so quiet.’
‘How is he now?’
‘He was taken in an ambulance about half an hour ago. I’m heading to the Royal Stoke now.’
‘Do you want me to come to you?’
She shook her head, even though he couldn’t see her.
‘It’s news for me regardless,’ he added.
Simon was the senior crime reporter for the local newspaper, Stoke News. Sometimes Grace resented that fact, like now when his journalistic nose was twitching for a story. Other times it had come in useful. It was such a hard line to toe, keeping the balance of professional and personal between them, but so far they had managed it well.
‘I’ll let you know more when I get home,’ she said. ‘Although I’m not sure how late I’ll be.’
They spoke a bit longer and then she disconnected the call. Stomping her feet again as she could barely feel her toes, she rammed her hands in her pockets. Her gloves were useless in this weather.
While she waited to warm up, she looked around. Crime scene tape flapped around the site where Tyler Douglas had lain. More officers were arriving to investigate the fall and she’d been briefing them as and when required. An hour ago, there were lots of people around, probably coming to have a nose. All she could see now were closed doors, no one talking to the police. And what had all that noise in the car park been about earlier? Whatever it was had gone quiet when Tyler Douglas had fallen.
As Frankie came over to her, Grace pointed across towards the scene of the incident.
‘Luke Douglas. Have you seen him before?’
‘I haven’t met either of them. I don’t know what to make of it.’
‘Me neither. I’ll get more of a sense of them when I go to the hospital, I expect. Hard to tell anything when they’re both in shock.’ Her phone rang. She wrestled it out of her pocket and removed a glove. Before answering it, she checked her watch and then looked at Frankie.
‘This is Allie. Why don’t you finish for the evening? I’ll take it from here. I’m going to the hospital to see both parents and put my mind at rest.’
‘If you’re sure.’
Grace waved him away and answered the call. It would be her DI’s shout whether it was a police incident and worth them pursuing more, but the case would be referred to Children’s Services to see if the children needed to be assigned a social worker, or even added to the at-risk register, regardless.
It was good to have Allie as her line manager now. After the last case she’d worked on had become personal, she’d had a chat with her previous DI, Nick. It had been suggested that she join the Community Intelligence Team to work with Allie for a twelve-month period. Grace had been pleased at this outcome. She had enjoyed getting to know Allie. The woman had a vast knowledge of Stoke-on-Trent and its occupants.
Grace still worked alongside her old team and when they needed any kind of involvement with the public, she headed up the meetings and house-to-house enquiries. Not being directly involved in the murder cases had been good for the past ten months and if truth be known, she hadn’t been looking forward to getting back to the team. She’d enjoyed talking to people, forming relationships, and it had made her realise her skills were more suited in the community at large. She liked wheedling information out of people, coaxing out secrets and lies. Sometimes it was easy to get intel, sometimes not. It was these latter times she enjoyed the most.
PC Michael Higgins, also known as Frankie, had moved to join Grace as a trainee DC two weeks earlier. It was change everywhere.
Since last summer, her time had been busy but more relaxed. So far, she had cleared up a sexual assault, two muggings and helped put numerous domestic violence and neighbourhood nuisance incidences to bed. She’d even visited a number of schools and chaired many Neighbourhood Watch meetings. People needed to feel safe on the streets. Here was no exception.
The previous eighteen months as Detective Sergeant on the team had certainly given her food for thought and she’d been ready for a different challenge. It had made things easier for her too, knowing she might not have to work alongside her estranged family, the Steeles. That had been awkward to say the least during her first murder investigation, and even the second case had put someone she dearly loved in danger. So it hadn’t come as a surprise to anyone when she’d asked to stay on to head the Community Intelligence Team when Allie had been successful in getting Nick’s job after he’d taken early retirement from the force.
Grace knew some of her colleagues would see her move as a side-step. Allie had been an acting DI doing the role, with several PCs covering the six towns. Now the positions had been changed to a DS and one DC but Grace didn’t mind. She was much more comfortable with the hands-on aspects of the role, and she would still be on call to work with the Major Crimes Team when necessary.
It was a clean resolve, and Nick was happy too. His wife had been badgering him to take early retirement for a while. Now Sharon would have him all day. Grace smirked to herself, wondering how long it would be before she was moaning that she’d preferred it when he was at work. Not that Nick was one to finish completely; Grace knew that he was taking some part-time work at first.
The move had given her more time for a home life. Before, when she’d been Detective Sergeant, she’d blamed the long hours on a need to do the job, rather than a necessity to be with people because she was lonely after the death of her husband. But now she had Simon, things were working out well and it was nice to work more regular hours. He had moved in with her a few months ago, and so far, so good. Grace had even got to know his daughter, Teagan, who at seventeen knew her mind and had accepted Grace in her life. It was good.
After the call had finished, she walked towards her car. Time to visit her least favourite place.
2010
Ruby Brassington was a ball of excitement as she sat on her bed doing her make-up. Most of what she would be wearing that night was in her bag as her dad would go nuts if he saw anything more than a lick of mascara and pale lipstick.
Underneath her sweatshirt, she wore a slinky halter-neck top that showed off her cleavage in her new Wonderbra. She would change when she got to her best friend Naomi’s house, and she was borrowing her shoes too – red heels that she could hardly walk in, but were well worth the pain.
It was Naomi’s sixteenth birthday. She was having a party at her home. Her parents were going out and she had the run of the house until midnight.
Their friendship had always been something Ruby had treasured, especially after her mum died when she was just starting high school. It was hard on her own with her dad. She had lost her mum to talk to and the girls at school couldn’t take her place. Slowly she closed herself off from them all, except Naomi – the one person who had always been there for her.
Ruby’s mum had had breast cancer. She’d been diagnosed only six months before her death but it had left mental scars on Ruby, seeing her suffer so much. Since then it had been just the two of them – her and her dad. Before, when Mum was around, her dad was always there and did a very good job of looking after her. But trying to be both parents had broken him. He couldn’t do either very well, choosing to spend long hours at work instead of trying. Her mum had only had a part-time job, fitted around school hours, so was always there for her. At twelve, Ruby was neither a child nor a grown-up, and she’d required supervision and guidance. Consumed by grief, her dad had shut himself off from her when she’d needed him the most.
Now she was older and more independent they got on better, but the closeness they’d had when she was a child had been lost forever. Ruby didn’t mind so much. There was always food on the table, and they kept the house clean between them.
‘Are you ready yet, Ruby?’ A voice came up the stairs.
‘Just
a minute.’ Her stomach flipped over as she glanced at her watch. It was nearly seven thirty. Dad was giving her a lift and even though he insisted on picking her up earlyish, if it meant she could go, then she was fine with that. She was up for a good time, no matter what.
She picked up her phone and sent a message to Naomi to say she was on her way. The handset she had was embarrassing; it didn’t even have a camera on it. She couldn’t wait to have a newer model for her sixteenth birthday, just three weeks away.
Naomi’s house was set in its own grounds off a main road. A dilapidated Victorian detached house had been knocked down and her father had built a modern rectangular family home in its place. Most of its frontage was glass with chrome panelling. Ruby had never seen anything like it before. It was definitely a one-off.
A sweeping gravel driveway led to an area at the front where her dad swung his car around in a circle easily. She never felt envious when she visited – it was like her second home, given the amount of time she spent there – but she often wondered what it would be like to have so much money. The house had five bedrooms and four bathrooms. The garage housed several cars and there was a stable block out the back, though they had no horses now.
Her dad turned to her in the passenger seat. ‘Make sure you’re out front here at eleven.’
She grimaced as she had already opened the door and people might hear.
‘I promise!’
He was so annoying at times. Sometimes he’d only allow her to have certain friends, people he was happy with her seeing, even though she had the house to herself a lot. She could easily slip them in and out without him knowing, yet she hardly ever did. He went through phases of being overprotective one moment to leaving her to her own devices the next. She often wished she hadn’t been an only child. If she had brothers like Naomi then maybe her dad wouldn’t be like that.
The music from the house became louder as she walked towards it; lights on in every room downstairs. In the hallway, which was as large as two rooms in her own home, she smiled at a few people as she made her way through the crowd.
