by Salkeld, J J
When Terry came to the door Nobby pushed past him with little more than a nod. He was seriously worried now.
‘I need to get in to Eleanor’s garden’ he said, as he pushed past. When he was outside Nobby didn’t even need to climb over the fence, because one panel was so damaged that he was just able to push it to one side and walk through the gap.
‘Oi, I hope you’re going to pay for that fence, Nobby.’
Nobby turned round and faced Terry Walker. He wasn’t smiling. ‘Go inside, Terry.’
As he walked towards the house Nobby saw immediately that Eleanor’s dining room curtains were drawn, and when he tried it he found that the kitchen door was locked. Nobby knocked on the door, hard. He thought about kicking it in, but instead he radioed in.
‘Can you phone Eleanor Barrow’s GP and find out if young Gemma is in hospital? Maybe call the Royal Lancaster Infirmary direct too, while you’re at it’ he said to the dispatcher.
‘Stand by.’
He sat on the back step in the sun, and felt in his pocket for his mobile phone. He pulled it out, looked at it for a moment, and then called Ian Mann.
‘Ian, can you pop round at meet me at Eleanor’s place? Now would be good.’
Then he went back to the fence, crossed over, and walked back in to the Walker’s house. Kylie was in the kitchen.
‘Have you seen or heard anything of Eleanor in the last day or two?’
‘No, but we had a bit of a do, so we wouldn’t have heard much.’
‘When was this?’
‘Started Sunday lunchtime, finished last night. For the Bank Holiday, and with all this lovely weather. You know how it is.’
‘And you haven’t seen an ambulance come round for Gemma, nothing like that?’
‘No. Why, is something wrong?’ Nobby liked young Kylie. Because despite years of living with the Walkers she still looked genuinely concerned.
‘It’s probably nothing. Just stay here and keep Terry under control. I’m going to go round the side of Eleanor’s house and back to the front, but I’ll see you in a bit.’
Nobby Styles walked back through the garden, along the side of Eleanor’s house, and unbolted the gate. Then he tried knocking at the front door of Eleanor’s house again, and waited for word from the hospital. When he heard his number over the radio he acknowledged immediately.
‘Nobby, negative on the RLI, and Eleanor Barrow’s GP hasn’t seen them in weeks.’
‘Understood. Is Inspector Coward on duty now?’
‘Affirmative.’
‘Can you tell him that I’m going to force entry?’
‘Roger. Do you require assistance?’
‘Hold on.’ He looked at the front door. It was a heavy duty, plastic one. It looked like a real shoulder breaker. But just as he was about to reply he saw Ian Mann’s car pull up.
‘Negative, I’ll be fine.’
‘What is it, Nobby?’ called out Mann.
Styles explained, and they walked round to the back of the house together. Mann kicked the back door clean off its hinges, and stood aside for Nobby to go in first. The smell wasn’t strong yet, but as soon as they were inside they both knew what they’d find.
‘Stay outside, Ian. I’m going upstairs.’
Ian Mann did what he was told, until he heard Nobby shout his name. When he got in to the room he took it all in, and the thing that shocked him most of all was Nobby. The tears were pouring down his cheeks, and he was cradling Gemma in his arms.
‘She’s alive’ he said, ‘I think she sicked up whatever Eleanor gave her.’
For a second Ian glanced at Gemma’s face, and he had never seen such pain in anyone’s eyes.
By the time that the ambulance had left with Gemma the SOCO team and DC Jane Francis had arrived. Ian Mann and Nobby Styles stood together in the back garden. They had their back to the door. Jane came out and called out to them but when Nobby half turned towards her she took one look at him and went back inside. There wasn’t any doubt as to what had happened, and she wanted to give him a bit more time. It couldn’t do any more harm, that was for sure.
‘This is the last fucking thing she would have wanted’ said Nobby quietly, before he caught sight of Terry Walker looking over the fence. ‘Fuck off, Walker, we’ll be seeing you in a bit.’
Walker looked as if he was going to say something, then changed his mind and did as he was told.
‘I know what you mean’ said Mann, when Walker was gone. ‘It would have been better for Gemma, well, you know.’
‘I failed her, Ian, both of them in fact. It was me. This is all my fault.’
‘Don’t talk crap, Nobby. You did all you could, I know that. I should have done more the other day, mate, I could have given Walker a lesson that he would never have forgotten. But I was too bloody frightened, and that’s the truth.’
‘Frightened, you? Of Terry Walker? Bollocks you were.’
‘I should have sorted Terry fucking Walker out, and those two little bastard sons of his, while I had the chance. But I was trying so hard to keep my nose clean. That’s why I held back. It wasn’t some new-found self-control, I know that.’
‘We don’t even know this is down to them yet, Ian.’
‘Come on, Nobby. You weren’t born yesterday. Did you flag Eleanor as vulnerable on the system?’
‘Yeah, ages ago. A year, probably. I’ve nicked Walker twice at least since then. We only ended up cautioning him though, mind.’
‘That’s it then. You’re in the clear.’
‘It’s not about that though, though is it, mate? We both saw what we saw upstairs, and that’s what it’s about. We’ve both seen a few things that we wish we hadn’t over the years, but nothing, absolutely nothing, like that.
‘Mr. Mann’ said Robinson from the kitchen doorway. ‘Can I ask you to give your statement to this officer, and then leave the scene please?’ Robinson didn’t give Mann a chance to say anything, but vanished back into the house. Ray Dixon walked out in to the garden, and shook hands with both men. Then he and Ian Mann walked down to the end of the garden, where Dixon took the statement, leaning his pad against the wall of the shed. Mann looked in through the grimy old window at the neatly placed garden tools and child’s toys. He shook his head and closed his eyes. Ray Dixon suddenly took an interest in a yellow bush at the end of the garden, blooming for all it was worth. He tried to think what it was called.
Wednesday, 8th May
Terry Walker was trying to look confident, but Ray Dixon wasn’t buying that as his state of mind. Dixon thought Walker looked tired, maybe even shocked. Dixon was faintly surprised that anything got through to the bloke.
‘Where’s Nobby?’ said Walker, ‘I always talk to Nobby.’
‘You don’t get to choose. What do you think this is, Terry, a drop-in centre?’ said Dixon firmly. ‘This is a formal interview, under caution. You do understand that?’
‘Yeah, whatever.’
‘Are you aware of what happened at your neighbour’s house yesterday?’
‘Aye, Eleanor topped herself. It happens.’ Dixon thought that Walker shrugged, just very slightly.
‘How do you feel about that?’
The duty solicitor held her hand up, and Dixon nodded. ‘You don’t have to answer that, Terry.’
‘I don’t have to answer anything, do I?’
Walker’s solicitor smiled thinly.
‘So how did you get on with your neighbour, Mrs. Barrow?’
‘Not too bad. Well I say that, and I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but she was stuck up. Thought she was better than the likes of us.’
‘So did you have any disputes with her?’
‘She was always complaining about something or other, and then she was a bit too keen to call you lot. Me, I prefer to sort out my own problems.’
Dixon couldn’t help but smile. ‘Can you tell me about any recent occasions when you’ve had disputes with Mrs. Barrow?’
‘Matter of fact I can. Me a
nd a few mates were having a nice barbecue the other day, not doing any harm to no-one, and she started hassling us.’
‘Hassling you how?’
‘I don’t remember exactly. We’d had a few drinks, you know, like you do. But then she must have called Nobby, and told him that we were chucking lumps of coal off the barbie at her, and that daughter of hers too.’
‘And were you doing that?’
‘Of course not. What do you take me for? The kid was in a wheelchair for Christ’s sake.’
‘So how do you explain the fact that PC Styles found warm pieces of charcoal in Mrs. Barrow’s garden?’
‘I dunno. She must have done it herself, to get me in to trouble like.’
‘So you’re saying that Mrs. Barrow also had a barbecue of her own going, which she hid before PC Styles arrived, and that she threw lumps of charcoal at her daughter’s wheelchair.’
‘Dunno. Must have done, I suppose.’
‘Really? You really expect me to believe that, Terry? That Mrs. Barrow would throw lumps of coal at her own severely disabled daughter? How likely does that sound to you, really?’
Walker shrugged.
‘I think you did it, Terry. Or maybe it was one of your mates. Go on, you’ll feel better if you tell me the truth. Was it one of your mates?’
‘I didn’t do nothing. Nor did me mates. If I had, why didn’t Nobby arrest me there and then?’ Walker had a look of sly triumph on his face. ‘Him and that hobby-bobby he was with just fucked off. I didn’t even get a caution, nowt. You ask Nobby, he’ll tell you. So I can’t have done owt, can I?’
‘PC Styles was called away to another job, and I can assure you that otherwise you would have been arrested.’
‘Well it can’t have been that important then, can it?’
Dixon looked down at his notes. With almost thirty years in the job he’d found that he could always distance himself from a suspect, so that it was almost as if he was watching actors, one playing the part of Ray Dixon, while the other was the criminal. It helped him forget about it when he was off duty. But he was finding it hard today.
‘So if I were to say to you that we believe that you and your family caused Eleanor Barrow’s death, or rather caused her to take her own life and attempt to take that of her daughter, what would you say to that?’
‘Rubbish. That kid is a vegetable, no wonder she topped herself. It all got on top of her I expect. I’d have done the same, I’m sure of it. And she and Kylie were mates. She’ll tell you.’
‘So you don’t feel in any way responsible for what happened?’
‘That’s right mate, I don’t. And you can’t prove otherwise, now can you? So, if it’s all right with you I’ll be off. Me and my boys have got a day’s fishing planned. Can’t miss out on this lovely weather. Bit of dad and lads bonding time, you can’t beat it.’
‘Yes Terry, you can go. We’ll continue our enquiries, and we may need to talk to you again. So don’t head off to Mustique, will you? But if I were you I’d be more worried about the folk living down near you.’
‘How do you mean? They all know me. None of them would start anything.’
‘That’s not what we hear. The way we hear it there are plenty of people who are totally disgusted about what happened, and they’ve decided who’s to blame.’
‘Then you’ll have to protect us, won’t you?’
‘What are you thinking of, Terry? An officer outside the front of your house for a few days? Maybe someone in plain clothes to keep an eye out for you when you’re out and about in town? Reckon that’d do it, do you?’
‘Aye, for starters. People can be right animals down where we live.’
‘I’ll ask for you, Terry, but we call that the gold package. But maybe the bosses will be sympathetic.’
Dixon said that the interview was over, and turned off the tape.
‘Like I said, Terry, I’ll see what I can do. But I think you’ll find that while your safety is obviously our top priority, it really is, we just won’t have the resources to give you any protection at all. Absolutely sod all in fact. But that’s the economy. All those benefit scroungers dossing about all day, that where all the money goes I expect. So if, one night, you’re coming down a ginnel and a group of your neighbours decide to kick you into intensive care be sure to contact us just as soon you come out of the coma. We’d certainly do all we could to find out who it was afterwards. Now, I bet that makes you feel better.’
Andy Hall was in his office with Charlie Coward. The door was closed, and both their mugs of tea had gone cold.
‘I wonder how Ray Dixon is getting on with Terry Walker?’ said Coward.
‘I’ll give you three guesses. No, I’ll give you one guess.’
‘Nowhere?’
‘You’ve got it. If that twat’s brains were dynamite he couldn’t blow off his ears, but he’s been in trouble often enough to know exactly how to play it. Just deny, deny, deny, irrespective of the evidence.’
‘Will we get enough to charge him?’
‘Depends on the neighbours, Charlie. If they’ll talk then maybe, but don’t get your hopes up on that. They probably think much the same as we do about the bastard, but unfortunately they loathe us just that little bit more than they dislike him. So they’ll probably clam up on us, same as usual. But I still don’t see what you’re so worried about, really. Eleanor and her daughter were on the vulnerable register, weren’t they?’
‘Yes, but I think that makes it worse, not better. I pulled Nobby away when he wanted to nick him, Andy, even though that half-wit and his drunken mates were lobbing bits of burning coal at a kid in a wheelchair. What in God’s name was I thinking? I’ll probably get the sack, and I’ll deserve it. You know Robinson, he’ll stand behind me right up until we’re in the enquiry, but if his neck is on the block as well he’ll be gone faster than a box of doughnuts in the mess room.’
‘No, you’ve supported Nobby all the way, Charlie. He’ll back you up, and that’s what matters most. How is he anyway? I saw his statement. Pretty tough stuff to read.’
‘He’s off sick, first time I can remember that happening since he had his varicose veins done. I spoke to him earlier on the phone. He saw his GP and he’s signed off, and believe it or not he’s actually taking the happy pills the doc gave him. I was amazed. You know Nobby, he’s old school. His idea of a tranquilizer is six pints after work and exchanging a few war stories with the rest of the lads. It’s always worked for him up until this crock of shit, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up leaving over all this.’
‘Give him a chance, Charlie. It only just happened. It was finding Gemma alive that did it, I suppose?’
‘Aye. Nobby’s done his share of suicides down the years. Well, haven’t we all?’
Hall nodded, although he hadn’t. He hadn’t been in uniform long enough to attend a single one, and now he almost regretted it. He might have developed a thicker skin if he had.
‘The poor kid looked terrified. She’d watched her mum die in front of her and she couldn’t do a thing. No wonder she was in such a state. Like a nightmare, Nobby said it was. He broke down you know, out in the back garden, and that prat Robinson asked him if he was all right to carry on. I’m surprised Nobby didn’t deck him. We virtually had to cuff him to get him away from the place when we got him calmed down.’
‘I expect he wanted a word with Walker.’
‘You bet, and that’s what I was afraid of. Nobby would have ripped Walker’s head off, and then done the same to those feral kids of his as well, I expect. Personally I’d be willing to sell tickets, but as long as I wear the uniform I even have to protect the likes of Terry Walker. So maybe I’ll be best off out of it all. Some things about this job just turn my stomach. Anyway, I better go and see Robinson. I’m expecting to be suspended, but will you keep me in touch with what happens on this one, as a favour?’
‘You don’t have to ask. But he won’t suspend you. You know the Super as well as I do, he�
�ll want to know which way the wind is blowing first.’
‘Well, Kylie, you must be really upset about what happened’ said Ray Dixon, when he’d got the recorder started at the third attempt.
‘I am. I couldn’t believe that Eleanor would leave Gemma like that. She was such a loving mum.’
‘It wasn’t deliberate, Kylie. Gemma was lucky, or unlucky, to survive, depending on how you look at it.’
‘Unlucky then.’
‘You’re probably right. So how did you get on with Eleanor?’
For the first time since they’d sat down Kylie looked guarded.
‘All right, aye, we got on fine.’
‘And do you have any idea why she might have wanted to kill herself and her daughter?’
‘Not really. It all got too much for her I expect.’
‘Possibly’ said Dixon, ‘but I think that’s unlikely. You want to know why?’ Kylie didn’t look as if she did. ‘Why didn’t she do it years ago? How old is Gemma now, fourteen, fifteen? I think something happened to push her over the edge. Do you think that’s possible too, Kylie?’
‘You’re inviting my client to speculate, Detective Constable. I suggest you don’t answer. Kylie.’
Kylie looked down at the table, and Dixon left a long silence.
‘OK’ he said eventually. ‘Let’s talk about how your husband and his kids got on with Eleanor and her daughter, then.’
‘All right, I think.’
‘All right, you think? Really, is that what you’re telling me here? Kylie, love, I may look as thick as pig dribble, but I’m really not. The other day we were called out to your road because Eleanor said that your husband and his mates were pelting her disabled daughter with hot coals straight off the barbie.’
