Guts for Garters

by Linda Regan

  ‘I need a few minutes, alone, with my client,’ Simon Prezzioni told her.

  ‘Wait there,’ she said flicking her hand, not looking in his direction as she spoke. Alysha’s name was on her phone screen. She walked through the pass door and took the call.

  ‘Tell me it’s good news.’

  ‘I’ve got the number for you,’ Alysha told Georgia, reeling off the same mobile phone number that Georgia had just taken from Harisha’s phone.

  Georgia thanked her, and was about to click off when Alysha shouted that thanking wasn’t enough. She wanted to be paid for the information, she told Georgia. Getting the number had taken a lot of favour-pulling, so she expected either a very big wad of paper in return, or a firm promise from Georgia to lean on the council to get the play area cleaned up.

  ‘I know you can do it, yeah?’

  Georgia told her she’d get back to her. She walked back to reception and dropped Celik’s phone back to Sergeant Gayle to put back in Celik’s envelope, then hurried down to the interviewing suite, where she called Banham out.

  Once outside, she told him her informant had given her a number for Melek Yismaz’s, she had also found the same number on Celik’s mobile. She told him she was handing the number over to TIU to put on immediate trace, if Alison was with Melek, she added, then problem solved. ‘However, she felt they needed to step up the search now for Wajdi, as no one could find a mobile contact for him. He was a strong suspect and Alison’s last known location was at his shop before Barry arrived.

  ‘Have all area units been alerted with descriptions?’ he said.

  ‘Yes, sir.’ She quickly added, ‘I’m confident Alison knows what she is doing, sir. And I’m sure she’ll be in touch with one of us any moment.’ She was embarrassed and wasn’t good at sympathy. ‘Celik’s solicitor’s arrived, wants a few words alone with his client, shall I bring him through? It’s Simon Prezzioni again, so expect a load of bullshit.’

  She noticed that the pretty PC, who earlier had been standing outside the interviewing room, was back, and smiling in Banham’s direction. Georgia bit her tongue, she felt like reminding her that this was the serious crimes department not a dating agency. Instead she told her to show Mr Prezzioni through to Interview Room C.

  ‘I’m giving it another thirty minutes and then I’m calling Indie 999,’ Banham said to Georgia as they waited for Prezzioni to have his few moments with Harisha. ‘It isn’t like Alison not to be completely professional.’

  Georgia nodded. She was irritated by Alison. The woman had been nothing but trouble since she came back. She had ignored the advice to stay clear of the charred cadaver, and messed up a crime-scene by being pig-headed, then she had ignored Banham and gone to the post-mortem, and now she was ignoring all of them, seemingly thinking she could work alone. She should know by now this was about team-work. The woman was sapping the DCI’s energy. Girlfriend or no girlfriend, Georgia would be letting her feelings be known when she wrote up her report on the case.

  Simon Prezzioni scowled at Georgia as she followed Banham into the interviewing room. He had told her on many occasions in the past that he didn’t like her and he didn’t think women should be in the force. Well, Georgia liked him even less, and at this moment in time she wasn’t in the mood to take any of his shit.

  Banham pulled out the chair for Georgia to sit on. ‘This is DI Johnson,’ Banham told Prezzioni, knowing full well the man knew who she was. He paused, held Prezzioni’s gaze, and then added, ‘She’s heading this investigation.’

  Prezzioni and Georgia locked eyes. Prezzioni reeked of Turkish cigarettes, his yellowing fingers further confirmation of his habit. He also had ill-fitting false teeth which rattled when he was irritated, making it impossible for him to control his spittle. Georgia rolled a tissue into a ball in her hand, ready for the onslaught as she turned the CD to ‘on’.

  ‘When did you last see Melek Yismaz?’ Banham asked Harisha immediately.

  Harisha threw his eyes to heaven. ‘Already told you, yesterday.’

  ‘When, yesterday?’ This was Georgia.

  ‘After I left here?’

  ‘Did you have sex with her?’

  ‘Yes. She was gagging for it.’

  Georgia glared at him, but managed to refrain from commenting.

  ‘Do you have a written allegation that my client raped her?’ Prezzioni interrupted.

  ‘We have an allegation, yes,’ Georgia answered.

  ‘A written one?’ Prezzioni pressed.

  Georgia hesitated. ‘We will have.’

  ‘She don’t seem too keen to make one,’ Celik said to Prezzioni, then indicating Banham with his head and smiling widely, he added, ‘He told me they can’t find ’er.’

  ‘There are witnesses to the rape,’ Georgia said quickly.

  ‘Oh, that’ll be them toms then, them big fucking liars that call themselves Alley Cats,’ Celik told Prezzioni. ‘Trying to frame me, see.’ He leaned towards Georgia. ‘They’ve already wasted your time, and mine, with accusations about me having machetes in lock-up garages. You didn’t find no weapons though, did you?’ When neither Georgia nor Banham answered, he continued. ‘No, cos there ain’t any. And you turned my flat upside down looking. Thought you’d have got the message, them Alley Cat liars are the ones should be sitting here, not me.’ He indicated to his head with his finger. ‘You’ve got this all wrong, as fucking usual.’

  ‘Clean as a whistle, are you?’ Georgia said.

  ‘You have nothing that says different,’ Prezzioni argued, staring with his cold black eyes.

  ‘Three previous convictions for carrying, a custodial for GBH, and another for dealing,’ Georgia answered, staring into his condescending face and squeezing the tissue in her fist.

  ‘He’s paid his dues for those,’ Prezzioni retorted.

  Georgia looked at Celik. ‘Where were you this morning before we came round?’ she asked him.

  ‘In bed.’

  ‘How do you know Mr and Mrs Wilkins from the Aviary Estate?’ she pushed.

  ‘Never heard of them.’

  ‘I think you have,’ she argued. ‘They own the garage, the garage that you told me is being used for illegal weapons that this so-called Alley Cat gang are apparently bringing into the country.’

  Prezzioni turned to look at Celik. That was obviously the first he had heard of this.

  ‘I told you what I knew,’ Harisha said, raising his voice. ‘Them Alley Cat girls had a lock-up on the Aviary.’ He turned to Prezzioni. ‘I don’t know nothing about who the lock-up belongs to, except I do know that it ain’t me.’

  Georgia took out the evidence bag containing the letter S that she was sending to Forensics, and placed it on the table in front of them. Harisha’s reaction told her that he recognised it.

  ‘Recognise it?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘An S, very much like the S tattooed on Burak’s arm. For South London Rulers, is it? It may even be yours. It was found in the same lock-up.’

  Harisha shook his head. ‘I’ve never seen it before. You’re jumping to conclusions.’

  ‘But you also have a tattoo like this on your arm,’ she pushed. ‘An S with an L and an R. For South London Rulers, that’s the name of your gang, isn’t it?’

  ‘No. It’s the initials of this tart I used to hang out with.’

  Georgia blew out air. ‘Oh please. And I suppose Burak used to hang out with the same tart, did he?’

  ‘That charm doesn’t prove anything,’ Prezzioni said coldly. ‘Except you’ve found a charm in the shape of a letter S. It could belong to anyone. What that has to do with a fabricated rape charge?’

  ‘We’ll see what Forensics tells us,’ she said, realising she wasn’t getting very far.

  ‘You have nothing to hold my client on,’ Prezzioni said, pinning his cold gaze on her.

  ‘We have an allegation of rape which we are taking seriously,’ she argued. ‘Your client’s clothes are with Forensics, and until those repo
rts come back, I’m afraid we will be holding him.’

  ‘How can she allege anything if you can’t find her?’ Harisha argued.

  ‘Do you know a Wajdi Ghaziani?’ Banham interrupted.

  Georgia noticed Harisha pause before he answered, ‘No, should I?’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  Prezzioni raised his voice. ‘My client has just said he doesn’t know him.’

  ‘And I asked him if he was sure,’ Banham argued.

  Georgia squeezed the tissue, she was expecting the spittle any minute now.

  ‘But you knew Zana Ghaziani?’ Banham asked.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Burak Kaya was your cousin. Zana Ghaziani was his girlfriend.’

  Harisha shrugged irritably. ‘He had lots of girls. I don’t know one from another.’

  Georgia put her elbows on the table and interlocked her fingers. The urge to slap him was getting stronger.

  ‘This is bordering on ridiculous,’ Prezzioni said. ‘My client is arrested because a jealous girl accuses him of raping her and then doesn’t come in to make a statement.’

  ‘That allegation was made to a senior officer, and we will be detaining your client until we have our DNA test results,’ Georgia said raising her voice and speaking a little more heatedly than she wanted.

  Harisha raised his voice. ‘Why would I rape her? She gives it freely, not only to me but to everyone.’

  Georgia so wanted to slap him.

  Celik noticed her steely, angry, glare and carried on. ‘OK. She’s pregnant, or so she says. I’m not that interested, because she’s a slag and a liar. An’ I’ve told her that. If she has told you I raped her, then it’s because she’s mad at me. I haven’t raped nobody.’

  Banham sat up ‘When did she tell you she was pregnant?’

  He shrugged. ‘I don’t remember. I was hardly listening. Could be anyone’s, but it ain’t mine. You want me to give you names of some guys who I know have had her recently?’

  ‘No.’ Georgia shook her head and told the recorder that the interview was terminated.

  ‘I’ll tell you something off the record,’ Celik said, ignoring the fact that Prezzioni was shaking his head fervently for him to keep quiet. ‘She texted me earlier.’ He put his hand up. ‘I have deleted it, before you ask, so no, I don’t have her number. She said she’s going to kill herself if I don’t accept the fact she’s pregnant with my child.’

  Banham stood up. ‘Why didn’t you say any of this before?’

  ‘Because she won’t. She is a pathological liar. She’s probably not up the fucking duff, either. And … I didn’t rape her.’

  As soon as they left the interview suite, Banham told Georgia to ring TIU to see if there was any news on Alison’s phone being back on.

  As she dialled the number Banham walked on ahead and asked Sergeant Gayle if anything had turned up on the CCTV that they had taken from the area around the Ghazianis’ shop. It hadn’t.

  ‘As soon as anything shows, we’ll be onto you, sir,’ Stan told him.

  Georgia meanwhile was smiling. She lifted her thumb high in the air to let Banham know they had something. Banham hurried back to her.

  ‘They’ve got a lead on Melek’s phone. She’s is in the vicinity of Celik’s flat.

  ‘Alison’s phone?’ he asked almost pathetically.

  ‘Is still switched off,’ she said gently. ‘Maybe Melek is suicidal, and Alison is talking her down. Makes sense why she turned her phone off,’ she added.

  ‘She should have called it in for backup if that’s the case.’ He shook his head. ‘That’s not like her. But if she’s with Melek at Celik’s flat, then she might be in danger.’ He was back with Stan at the desk within seconds, instructing all free patrol cars to get over to the area of Celik’s flat and trace Melek and Alison’s whereabouts. He then rang Indie 999 and put a helicopter on standby, telling them one of his officers was missing, and she was pregnant.

  Georgia went to Harisha’s cell and asked permission to take the keys to his flat from his personals. She told him they had traced Melek to that area.

  He told her to take the keys, better than having the feds break down the door, he said. But if Melek was in his flat then she had broken and entered, because he hadn’t invited her and she hadn’t been there for ages.

  When Georgia reminded him that he had admitted having sex with her yesterday, he told her he did it in his car. ‘If she hadn’t wanted it,’ he added with a wide grin, ‘then she wouldn’t have got in the motor in the first place.’ His grinned widened yet again. ‘Truth is, Melek finds me irresistible. Most women do.’

  ‘Shame castration has gone out of fashion,’ Georgia said as she turned to leave the room.

  Georgia and Banham followed the police sirens and were inside Celik’s flat, looking for Melek and Alison, within the half hour.

  Georgia kept her own phone to her ear, talking to Ralph in the Technical Investigation Unit all the while. All he could tell her now was that the phone was near a signal box.

  ‘Melek’s not in the flat?’ Banham confirmed.

  ‘But she’s not far away,’ Georgia said. Then she looked at Banham. Both were thinking the same thing.

  ‘Unless Harisha has had her taken hostage,’ Banham said.

  ‘So she could be nowhere near here, but her phone might.’

  It was only a few more minutes before one of the PCs searching outside in the area around the flat called out. He had found the phone. It was in the black dustbin marked ‘number eighteen’ in large letters. Number eighteen was the flat where Harisha Celik lived with his brother.

  Georgia looked at Banham. ‘She had her phone with her this morning,’ she said as she flicked through the recent call history. ‘She used this phone to arrange to meet Alison this morning.’

  She noticed the colour had completely gone from Banham’s face.

  ‘Where is Alison?’ he said. ‘Her last contact was with Stephanie, when she was leaving McDonalds and on her way to pick up Wajdi Ghaziani.’

  ‘And no one can find Wajdi Ghaziani either,’ Georgia said.

  Fifteen

  Georgia knew Banham was thinking the worst.

  ‘If the SLR gang have taken Melek hostage,’ she said in an assuring tone, ‘and were stupid enough to take Alison with them, then as soon as Alison showed her ID they’d let her go.’ She shook her head. ‘They wouldn’t dare. They know the consequences for kidnapping an officer.’

  ‘It isn’t like Alison not to phone in. This doesn’t feel right,’ he said. ‘Jesus, I hope Wajdi Ghaziani hasn’t done anything to her. If he’s murdered four people he wouldn’t have anything to lose.’

  Georgia thought about telling him that it was only a couple of hours since Alison had phoned in and spoken to Stephanie, but she didn’t feel she should suggest that he was overreacting. Wajdi Ghaziani was missing, and even Georgia now felt nervous for Alison’s safety. She pulled her phone from her pocket. ‘I’m ringing my snout,’ she said to him. ‘She knows everyone and everywhere around these parts.’

  Banham nodded his approval. ‘I’ll go back to the station …’ he started to say but before he could finish the sentence, his phone rang. He checked the caller ID and pressed the speaker button so Georgia could hear. ‘Yes, Sergeant Green,’ he said pointing his finger to the phone and looking at Georgia to get her attention as Stephanie spoke.

  ‘Sir, Barry and Eric have been back to the Ghazianis’ and …’ Stephanie cleared her throat. ‘They, accidentally on purpose, broke the back door so it opened. The lock was loose, or something.’

  ‘Fine,’ Banham said ignoring the fact that Stephanie was admitting to entering a property without a warrant. ‘And?’

  ‘They’ve found a screwdriver behind the counter, with blood on it.’

  Banham looked at Georgia. ‘Were both the old couple definitely killed with screwdrivers?’

  Georgia shrugged, unsure how to keep him calm. ‘We’ll have to run that by Max Pettifer, sir. But
it looks that way.’

  ‘Any signs of Alison having been at the shop?’ he asked Stephanie, the anguish on his face returning.

  ‘No, sorry, sir, absolutely none,’ Stephanie told him. ‘All patrol cars have been put on high alert. I’ve every possible unit on it, now. And there’s a patrol car waiting at the Ghazianis’ house. He’ll have to go home some time.’

  ‘Check the hospitals, too,’ he told her.

  He clicked his phone and looked at Georgia. ‘Take backup with you if you’re going to talk to your informant,’ he said to her. ‘I don’t want you on the Aviary alone. I’m going back to the station to re-interview Harisha Celik, and then Mr and Mrs Ghaziani. Keep in close touch, but don’t be on your own.’ He turned and hurried towards his car.

  Tink wiped a tissue across Panther’s long brown toes to remove the hard skin cream she’d been rubbing around her friend’s feet. She looked up and listened as Alysha picked up the call from Georgia.

  Alysha clicked off. ‘All going to plan,’ she told her lieutenants. ‘They’ve found Melek’s phone. Now the black fed’s on her way over here, and needs us to ask around if anyone has seen that Alison Grainger and Melek in the last hour. And she wants to know where Wajdi Ghaziani might be hanging out.’

  ‘Cool,’ Tink said, lifting a bottle of green nail varnish from her manicure box. ‘We’re on course then. What we telling her?’

  ‘I don’t want that colour,’ Panther interrupted, pointing at the green nail polish and shaking her head. ‘It makes me think of dead people.’

  ‘Whass up wiv you?’ Lox said to Panther, ‘You keep talking like that. You’ve seen dead people before.’

  ‘I got the willies over them Wilkinses,’ Panther said swallowing down and pulling a pained expression. D’you think they’ve gone green yet?’

  ‘Nah,’ Tink shook her head quickly, and then smiled. ‘Takes weeks for that to ’appen.’ She flicked a look of concern to the other girls as she wiggled a purple nail polish bottle in front of Panther’s face. ‘This one, then.’