Fireflies

by Menon, David

  Jeff Barton and Rebecca Stockton were interviewing James Clifton’s fiancée Sophie Cooper in her West Didsbury flat. It was on the first floor of a three storey grand old Victorian villa that characterized much of the houses in the immediate district. They were all set back from the road and trees lined the pavements beyond the front yards that were nearly all given over to residents’ parking. Jeff parked the car down the side of the house so that he and Rebecca could take a view of the whole property before going in.

  They hadn’t said much to each other on the drive down from the station. There was a tense, heavy atmosphere between them. Rebecca was convinced that Jeff would know about her feelings for him from what Jonathan had said was going round the squad. It must’ve got back to him. It stood to reason. And now that she’d slept with Jonathan it mattered to Rebecca more than ever that Jeff didn’t know that little piece of the story. But she was going to say her piece when she caught up with Ollie Wright. Oh yes, he wouldn’t know what had hit him.

  Sophie Cooper’s flat was furnished rather traditionally which surprised both Jeff and Rebecca. A lot of dark greens, dark browns, with flashes of ivory and cream to lighten the mood here and there.

  ‘How long have you had this place, Sophie?’ Jeff asked. There was something about her he recognized and he was trying his damndest to recall what it was.

  Sophie cleared her throat. She was perched on the edge of the sofa playing constantly with a paper tissue in her hand. She wasn’t wearing any make-up and her hair hung lifelessly just on the top of her shoulders which were hunched forward.

  ‘James and I bought it last year’ she answered in a quiet voice.

  ‘And were you happy here?’

  ‘Yes’ she said, without hesitation. ‘It’s convenient for town and for my work at the airport. James also had a more or less straight run to the BBC studios at Salford Quays. It only took him ten minutes to get to work’.

  ‘It must be hard for you, Sophie’ said Rebecca who could see the darkness in Sophie’s eyes. ‘Haven’t you got anybody who can come and be with you?’

  ‘I prefer to be on my own to be honest’ she revealed. ‘There’s only me and my brother and he’s great but I’m better off coming to terms with things on my own. I’ve got my friends too of course who’ve all rallied round. Anyway, I hear you got the bitch who murdered my James?’

  ‘We’ve cautioned Tina Webb, Sophie, pending further enquiries’ said Jeff. ’Do you know her?’

  ‘No, of course I don’t. Why would I?’

  ‘I’m just asking, Sophie. The investigation is still ongoing’.

  ‘Why is it? I know she did it for a fact’.

  ‘But you don’t know that, Sophie’ said Jeff. ‘How could you know?’

  ‘I just know’ she said, tearfully. ‘I just know’.

  ‘Sophie, there has to be hard evidence to secure a conviction’.

  ‘I don’t understand? If you think she did it then why the hesitation?’

  ‘We need to build a strong enough case that will have a chance of succeeding’ said Jeff. ‘That’s why’.

  ‘How would you describe your relationship with James, Sophie?’ asked Rebecca.

  ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘Well were you happy? Were there any problems of any kind?’

  ‘How dare you! No, we didn’t have any problems. We were engaged and we were going to get married. Oh I suppose you’ve been talking to his so-called mates? Like Alan Travers and his witch of a girlfriend Lucy? They all hated me. And do you know why? Because I was better than any of them’.

  Jeff and Rebecca exchanged a look.

  ‘So you didn’t get on with any of his friends?’ asked Jeff.

  ‘No, they didn’t get on with me’ Sophie insisted. ‘I was letting them into my world with James. They were visitors. They should’ve behaved appropriately’.

  ‘How do you mean?’

  ‘Well they were always talking about things they’d done in the past before I met James’ said Sophie. ‘I hated it. I wanted the day we met to be his year zero and for him to believe that nothing else mattered before I came along. But he couldn’t go along with my wishes. He couldn’t break those ties with that lot for me’.

  ‘But why would you want him to?’

  ‘I was his fiancée. I shouldn’t have had to give a reason. He should’ve just done whatever I wanted him to do’.

  ‘Even if he felt it was unreasonable?’

  ‘Whatever he felt about it’ said Sophie. ‘The expression of my wishes should’ve been enough’.

  Fuck’s sake, thought Rebecca. If she’d been a man she’d have run a million miles from Sophie at the earliest opportunity. Talk about psycho.

  ‘Sophie’ said Rebecca. ‘Tina Webb claims that James wanted her to perform certain sexual acts and she refused. That’s when he lost his temper and hit her’.

  ‘Did he ever hit you, Sophie?’ asked Jeff.

  ‘Look, James was highly sexed’ Sophie admitted, her eyes darting all around her as if revealing the secret would somehow bring James back to life. ‘He needed it all the time’.

  ‘And if you refused or didn’t want to?’

  Sophie tucked her hair behind her ears. ‘Then sometimes he’d lose it a bit. Okay? Is that what you wanted to here?’

  ‘So he did hit you?’ Jeff pursued.

  Sophie nodded her head in reply. ‘It was never hard. Just a slap’.

  ‘How often?’ asked Rebecca.

  ‘Once a month’ said Sophie. ‘Sometimes it was more than that. And you see, I don’t always do there and back flights. I go away for two or three days night stopping and I knew he’d find sex elsewhere whilst I was gone’.

  ‘And that didn’t bother you?’

  ‘I knew what he needed’.

  ‘That doesn’t make it right, Sophie’.

  ‘Look, the man is dead! And even if he slapped me a few times he didn’t deserve to die the way he did. So don’t give me that sanctimonious look of pity and scorn. You’re not me and I’m glad I’m not you’.

  ‘Sophie … ‘

  ‘ … oh and how do you keep a man? You should be able to tell me seeing as you sit there looking like you wrote the fucking book on it!’

  ‘Sophie, DS Stockton was only concerned for you’ said Jeff. ‘There’s no need for you to speak to her like that’.

  ‘Yeah, well it’s how I feel so she should take responsibility for it because it’s her fault’.

  ‘Sophie, how long had you known about James cheating on you?’ Jeff asked.

  ‘He blurted it out in a row we had one night after I’d been away’ Sophie revealed. ‘We’d only been together a couple of months’.

  ‘But what did you feel about the loss of trust?’

  ‘Look, I get that men can have sex and it means nothing more than that. I also knew how seductive the James Clifton charm could be and how he loved to flirt. God knows he was a bloody attractive man but that’s not to say I was never tempted to stray myself’.

  ‘And did you ever?’

  ‘No, I didn’t’ said Sophie. ‘But I was tempted on a couple of occasions when someone took a shine to me and sex with an attractive man in some hotel room in Newcastle or wherever seemed like something I could enjoy and get away with. But I never gave in. It wasn’t for any moral reasons. I just didn’t because I would’ve known and I would’ve had to live with it. But as far as James was concerned I was glad that somebody else took the strain sometimes if I’m honest. He was very particular about what he wanted. He and I had a good and a varied sex life but when we experimented with different things it was always at his instigation and he didn’t like it if I was reluctant to try something new. So yes, I could see that if he did go to the effort of picking someone up who didn’t go along with his sexual intentions then it would be a problem for him’.

  ‘Are you sure he never got more violent than the occasional slap, Sophie?’

  ‘Yes, of course I’m sure’ said Sophie, her heart harde
ning to the two officers. ‘Look, are you trying to paint my fiancé as someone who was fond of using his fists for a reason? Are you trying to get this Tina Webb off on some self-defence shit?’

  ‘No, not at all, Sophie’ said Jeff who was beginning to feel like Sophie Cooper was lying through her perfectly whitened teeth. He was also bothered by the notion that he probably knew more about Sophie Cooper than his memory would first let on. There was something vaguely familiar about her and the more she talked the more he felt it. ‘Like we said before, we just need to draw an accurate overall picture’.

  ‘So Sophie Cooper was in an abusive relationship with our murder victim’ said Rebecca in the car on the way back to the station. ‘And she was too stupid to tell him to fuck off’.

  ‘That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it Becky?’

  ‘Well I just don’t get it with women like that, sir’ said Rebecca. ‘I’m sorry but I just don’t understand why an attractive young woman like Sophie Cooper would even contemplate marrying a man who slapped her when she didn’t want to have sex, or worse, the kind of sex he wanted. I mean, is this not the twenty-first century? Have we not arrived at a time when women don’t have to do what their men try to insist upon?’

  ‘Well like you I hope we have arrived at that place and we as police officers are there to enforce it’ said Jeff. ‘But domestic violence is one of the hardest things to understand in our line of work. The act itself is wrong and I could no more hit a woman than I could hit Toby’.

  ‘You think that smacking a child is wrong?’

  ‘Yes I do’ said Jeff. ‘A smack is a physical assault and because you’re perpetrating it against a defenceless child is even worse than if you were doing it against an adult. They say it’s something boys get from their fathers but I know that my Dad hit my Mum and me and my brother and sister on occasions and yet I haven’t turned into the same kind of man. I made a decision that I wouldn’t do. So where I have a problem is when people, men and women, claim it’s because they grew up with domestic violence. Surely they should take responsibility for their own lives and know that it’s wrong’.

  ‘I agree’ said Rebecca. ‘But that’s because you’re strong and those others are weak’.

  ‘I suppose I must be strong to have got through the last few months’.

  ‘That’s rare for you’.

  ‘What is?’

  ‘You giving yourself some credit’ said Rebecca. She blushed. She wished it was Jeff she was slipping under the duvet with. Jonathan knew how to make a girl happy alright but it was Jeff who her soul was crying out for.

  ‘Well’ said Jeff. He was getting self-conscious now. ‘Let’s get back to the case’.

  ‘I do kind of see now though that Sophie Cooper seems like she’d have been an absolute nightmare to have a relationship with’.

  ‘She most certainly does’ said Jeff. ‘Intense isn’t strong enough a word’.

  ‘But that doesn’t give James Clifton the right to hit her’.

  ‘I want a complete picture of Sophie Cooper’s life. I want to know if she’s been involved in any abusive relationships before. In fact I want to know about all her previous relationships’.

  ‘She did seem to be a little bit too insistent about how happy she and Clifton were’ said Rebecca.

  ‘I know her from somewhere’ said Jeff.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘It’s been bugging me since her name was first mentioned’ said Jeff. ‘Damn it, I wish I could remember’.

  FIREFLIES ELEVEN

  ‘So why are Lancashire CID letting us do this?’ asked Rebecca as Jeff drove them up the M61 towards Preston.

  ‘Short of manpower, they want to make a point of some kind. It could be anybody’s guess’.

  ‘And meanwhile we’re going way out of our jurisdiction’.

  ‘Sit back and enjoy the scenery, DS Stockton’ said Jeff. ‘We don’t get a ride out like this very often’.

  ‘Did you remember what you thought you recognized about Sophie Cooper?’

  ‘No’ said Jeff ‘And it’s really starting to annoy me now because I know there’s something’.

  ‘Changing the subject completely, have you thought about hiring that guy Brendan as your nanny?’

  ‘Well as a matter of fact, yes’ said Jeff. ‘I’ve got his number off our Lewis and I’m going to call him. If his references check out and Toby likes him then I’ll give him a trial’.

  ‘I think that’s a good idea’.

  ‘Well we’ll see’.

  ‘Jeff?’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘I’ve heard that … well I’ve heard that someone is spreading talk back at the station’.

  ‘Who and about what exactly?’

  Rebecca took a deep breath before continuing. ‘Ollie Wright has been spreading stuff about you and me’.

  ‘What? Ollie? What’s he been saying?’

  ‘That we’ve got the eye for each other but we’re repressing it’.

  ‘And who told you this?’

  ‘Jonathan’.

  ‘Oh’ said Jeff. ‘Classic’.

  ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘Well Jonathan is stirring things because he’s jealous of our friendship’ said Jeff. ‘And for some reason he’s using Ollie to drive his wedge. And there was me thinking we always worked with grown- ups’.

  ‘But what about Ollie? Isn’t he really the villain here?’

  ‘Becky, were you listening just then? I believe that Jonathan is lying because he’s jealous of our friendship and he’s using Ollie for some unfathomable reason to make himself look good. I mean, come on Becky, do you really think that Ollie Wright would spread gossip about his two senior officers especially when we’re on such good terms with each other?’

  ‘Well I agree it’s uncharacteristic’ said Rebecca. ‘And I was surprised. But Jonathan insists it’s him’.

  ‘No, I just don’t buy it’ said Jeff. ‘Although I’m not surprised there may be talk about us. I mean, even in this day and age a man and woman can’t be colleagues and friends without small minds reading something sordid into it’.

  ‘Wait a minute? Are you saying that if something was going on between us it would be sordid?’

  ‘No, Rebecca, I’m not saying that at all’ said Jeff, wearily. ‘I’m just making a general comment about people and the way they behave. I get the feeling that whatever I say in this conversation is going to land me in it one way or another’.

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

  ‘Look, will you just lighten up?’

  ‘You meant something by it, Jeff’.

  ‘It’s just words I threw out’.

  ‘Oh give me strength’.

  ‘What did you say?’

  ‘Nothing. Well are you going to speak to Ollie Wright about it?’

  ‘No, because I don’t believe he’s guilty of anything and I do believe that the more you protest that something isn’t true the more people will believe that it is’.

  ‘Jonathan told me that Ollie is gay too’.

  ‘Well hold the front page! Some of the officers of the Greater Manchester police force are gay? Now that will be news. I must tell my brother Lewis. He’s gay, you know? He’ll be thrilled to hear that’.

  Despite herself Rebecca couldn’t help laughing.

  ‘There you are’ said Jeff. ‘The old Rebecca who laughs with me is back. I’d missed her. I’d beware of that jealous new boyfriend of yours though’.

  ‘He’s not my boyfriend, Jeff’.

  ‘Ah, so it’s just about sex’.

  ‘Do you mind?’ Rebecca exclaimed.

  ‘No’ said Jeff. ‘What you do in your personal life is none of my business, Rebecca’.

  Fred and Sue Clifton sat on their sofa in the living room of their three-storey Victorian house just off the main A6 north of Preston city centre. It was a relatively quiet street considering its proximity to the main road, thought Jeff. The couple were holding hands. They both looked rocked by gr
ief. Their eyes were moist and there was a grey pallor all around them.

  ‘James was our eldest son’ said Sue Clifton. ‘We have a younger son and two daughters. It’s not just that he’s dead but it was the way … I’m sorry’.

  Jeff leaned forward in the chair he was sitting in beside Sue Clifton. ‘It’s okay. We understand. We’re very sorry for your loss, Mr and Mrs. Clifton, and we’re doing everything we can to catch whoever was responsible’.

  ‘Mr. and Mrs. Clifton, we have to ask’ said Rebecca.

  ‘If our son had any enemies who hated him enough to kill him?’ asked Fred Clifton.

  ‘Yes, sir’ said Rebecca.

  ‘No’ he said as emphatically as he could give considering how he was feeling. ‘James was a good, hard working lad. We were proud that he was our son. We were proud of the way he’d turned out. Every time we watched North West tonight on the BBC we knew he was behind the scenes somewhere looking after things. He was a credit to us’.

  ‘He was living the dream as they say nowadays’ said Sue Clifton. ‘He’d always wanted to work in television but behind the scenes. He’d never wanted to present or act or do anything in front of the cameras. We’re just working class folk but our James took us into a whole different world with some of his stories’.

  ‘So nobody had a grudge against him as far as you knew’ said Rebecca.

  ‘No’ said Fred. ‘And we were close to James like we are to all our children. We speak to them all at some point every day’.

  ‘Now we’re going to miss those calls from James’ said Sue. ‘It just isn’t fair and I tell you this. I think you should look close to home for answers’.

  ‘How do you mean, Mrs. Clifton?’ asked Jeff.

  ‘His fiancée Sophie set herself against our family as soon as she got together with James. She decided that she didn’t like us even before we’d met’.

  ‘We tried ringing Sophie to see if she was okay after we’d been told what had happened to James’ Fred went on. ‘So did our daughter Carol. We just wanted to see if she was okay and if she needed company. But Sophie was so abrupt and downright rude that we haven’t rung again because in the circumstances we just don’t need it. Now she’s causing bother over the funeral. We want him buried up here naturally where we can tend the grave and take care of it. But she’s tried to get him buried near to her and we’ve once again had to put our foot down’.