Savage Moon

by Chris Simms

  As soon as they stepped out into the corridor of the sixteenth floor the smell hit him. There it is, Jon said to himself. The unmistakeable aroma of rotting human. They paused at the door to flat while Rick took out a couple of white face masks from the scene of crime bag kindly left at the door by forensics.

  Jon was looking at the splintered wood a third of the way up the door frame. 'What went on here?'

  'The housing inspectors kicked it open, reckoned the smell was dead pigeons.'

  'They didn't have keys?' Jon asked, mask held to his face.

  'Not for the lower lock. Looks like Danny Gordon had fitted that one himself.'

  Jon stepped through the door and turned around. At the top of the door was a bolt. 'That wasn't drawn?'

  'Suppose not,' Rick replied. 'Is that significant?'

  Jon shrugged. 'If he took the trouble to lock himself in, why not draw the bolt across too?'

  'You're thinking someone else locked him in, from the outside?'

  'Maybe. No doubt it's suicide?'

  'It looks more or less certain, though there is something odd on the suicide note.'

  Rick walked down the bare concrete corridor and into the front room. In an attempt to reduce the draught that must have blown in, Gordon had tacked plastic sheeting over the window frame, reducing the light from the outside. A few packing crates stood in one corner, clothes piled untidily on top. In the middle of the room a fold-out table was covered in empty tins. Soup, baked beans, ravioli.

  In the other corner Danny Gordon's corpse lay on a bare mattress. Decomposition was well under way, but even the patches of black blossoming under the waxy skin couldn't mask the obvious injuries to his face. He was wearing a T-shirt and shell-suit trousers. The trainer and sock on his left foot were missing and sticking out from between his bare toes was a tarnished syringe.

  'Look at his forearms, completely fucked,' Rick said from behind his mask as the white-suited forensics investigator moved to the side.

  Jon examined the thick peppering of punctures that ran along them. 'So you think he's been here a good five days?'

  'Yes, that's a good estimate,' the woman replied.

  'Which means, though it's possible he killed Rose Sutton, he couldn't have been responsible for Peterson and Kerrigan,' murmured Jon.

  'Looking at those skinny arms, I doubt he could have inflicted much damage on anyone, male or female,' Rick added.

  'Where's the note?' Jon said, turning away from the pathetic sight.

  'Here,' Rick nodded to the table. 'He points the finger squarely at Peterson, describing the abuse that went on in the Silverdale. Says that Peterson destroyed him and he can't go on any more.'

  Jon skimmed over the childish writing with its embarrassing amount of spelling mistakes. What a life, he thought. That it ended like this, in a squalid tower block flat on a mattress probably dragged from some skip, seemed depressingly inevitable.

  Jon reached the end of the note. Below Danny Gordon's signature was a single word. Kuririkana. The writing shifted out of focus as Jon looked inwards, searching his memory. Where have I seen that before? He tried to replay his movements over the last few days. Bollocks, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack. 'Have you seen that word somewhere else? It looks familiar somehow.'

  Rick shook his head. 'I thought you might know. What's that song the All Blacks do before rugby matches?'

  'The Haka.'

  'That's it. Could it be Maori? Looks like it might be to me.'

  'You know, I've seen it performed so often, but I've no idea what the lyrics are.'

  'DC Adlon has gone to the University, maybe they can help. Thing is, it doesn't appear to be Gordon's handwriting.'

  Jon looked more closely. Rick was right. Though written with the same pen, the letters were regularly spaced and less spiky. 'Any sign of the pen?'

  'No,' the woman in the white suit replied. 'Not so far anyway.'

  Jon looked towards the corridor. 'Let's assume someone locked Danny Gordon into this flat on their way out. Could it be the same person who wrote that word?'

  'You're saying someone helped him kill himself ?' Rick replied.

  'Not necessarily. They could have sat with him while he did it. Or maybe just found him after the event.'

  'You mean a mate of some kind?'

  'It's the sort of thing a mate might do.'

  'The only mate he seemed to have was this Jammer.'

  'Exactly. Any black guys with dreadlocks downstairs?'

  'Let's take a look.'

  The screens covering the main doors had been removed and the doors themselves opened. Despite this, the smell of unwashed bodies and musty clothes filled the air. All the squatters had retreated from the patch of daylight shining in, preferring to sit or lie in the shadows beyond. There were about twenty of them, all waiting in silence as several clipboard-wielding officers worked their way around.

  Jon started at the right-hand corner. His eyes had only passed over three faces before they connected with his younger brother's. He was staring back at him through a haze of cigarette smoke. Jon's immediate reaction was to move his gaze on, but his mind was suddenly racing. Jesus Christ, that was our kid. What's he doing here? Please God, don't let him be connected to this mess. His eyes slowly moved back. Dave's hair was longer, and though the face was thinner it only seemed to emphasise the square features of the Spicer family.

  'No black guys,' Rick said at his side.

  Without replying, Jon walked across the foyer. 'Has this man been statemented?'

  The nearest officer glanced back. 'Yeah. Andrew Adams, no fixed abode. Fake name if I ever heard one.'

  Jon motioned with his fingers. 'A word outside please.' With a lazy grin, his younger brother got to his feet. As they headed for the doors, Rick started uncertainly over. Jon warded him off with a raised palm.

  Once outside, Jon moved a good ten metres from the doors before turning round. His younger brother was dragging on a roll up, the smirk still on his face. Jon looked him up and down. Dirty jeans and battered trainers. Beneath a shapeless top the bones of his shoulders stuck out too sharply. He seemed to have regressed back to his teenage weight. 'What are you doing here?'

  'Sorry officer?'

  Jon realised he'd snapped the question out. He started again.

  'All right, Dave?'

  'Yeah, Jon. Fine. Just been rudely awoken by your colleagues, but other than that, I'm good. You?'

  Jon nodded. 'You living here?'

  His brother turned to the building, took a last drag on his roll up and dropped it into the grass. 'Only recently. I've been up in the Lakes over the summer. Enjoying the country life.'

  Enjoying some poor bastard's empty holiday house, Jon thought. 'Why haven't you rung Mum? She's worried sick about you.'

  Dave shrugged. 'The old man still alive?'

  'Course he is.'

  'There you go then.'

  'Why punish Mum because you fell out with Dad?'

  'Fell out? He threw me out.'

  'You—' Jon stopped. This was heading in the usual direction. Who said that, who did what. He took out his pack of cigarettes, flipped the top open and held it out.

  'Naughty, naughty,' Dave smirked, taking one. 'You never kicked the habit?'

  Jon slid one out for himself and lit both up. 'I did for a bit. Listen, just call her will you? Tell her you're OK.'

  'You've seen me, you can let her know.'

  'But that's not the same. You know that.'

  'And you know she won't let me leave it at that.' He adopted a whining voice. 'What are you doing? Where are you living? Why don't you come home?'

  Jon felt his shoulders tensing up. You're close to a fucking slap. 'What are you doing?'

  Dave paused to drag on his cigarette. 'Meaning?'

  Jon held a hand towards the tower block. 'This, for fuck's sake. Kipping in derelict buildings with a load of addicts. I don't suppose you're working.'

  His brother laughed scornfully
and Jon felt his resentment of him increase. 'Nice going, our kid. Some fucking life you've got here.'

  His brother's lips curled, the prelude to countless childhood fights. 'Unlike yours? Look at you, the system's sucking you dry, pal. You look fifty, slaving to pay off your mortgage, putting aside a few hundred each year for your tedious week in Spain. No fucking thanks.'

  Jon drew the fingers of one hand along his jaw and imagined how exhausted he must look. 'We've got a kid.'

  His brother blinked. 'No shit! You're a dad?'

  Jon nodded. 'Holly. She's three months old.' He saw the half smile appear on his brother's face. So family did matter, at least a little. Jon seized the opportunity. 'Will you call Mum?'

  'OK, I'll try. Holly? That's cool. What does she look like?' Jon smiled back. 'Babies all look the same to me. Most people reckon she's got Alice's eyes in a Spicer face.' Dave laughed. 'Poor bitch.'

  They remained silent for a few seconds. Jon glanced again at the empty building. 'Did you know the guy who died, Danny Gordon?'

  Dave crossed his arms. 'Only to chat to. He was pretty fucked up.'

  'Did he ever show up with a black guy?'

  'Jammer? Yeah, they were good mates.'

  'Who is this Jammer? What's his real name?'

  'Just know him as Jammer. He'd look out for Danny when he got aggressive. Saved him from getting a kicking.'

  'Why'd he get aggressive?'

  'Who knows. The guy was a head case. He'd flip out sometimes, especially after drinking.'

  'When did you last see Jammer?'

  'A few days back. Maybe five. He was looking for Danny.'

  'Where was Danny?'

  'I don't know. No one had seen him for a bit. How long has he been dead up in that flat?'

  'Around five days.'

  'That explains why no one had seen him.'

  'Where'll you go now?'

  'There are other places near here.'

  'So you'll call Mum?'

  His brother put his hands in his pockets and hunched his shoulders. 'Can you lend me some cash?'

  I understand, thought Jon. You'll call Mum if I pay you to. He felt dismay at how cheaply his younger brother must value their family. Jon reached for his wallet, glancing at his brother's sleeves as if he could see through them for signs of drug use. How far was Dave from Danny Gordon's fate? He had a glimpse of being called out to some boarded-up house to identify his brother's body, lying in a back room surrounded by a puddle of its own fluids. Reluctantly he removed two twenties and held them out. Dave's hands stayed in his pockets, eyes still on the wallet. Jon slid out the final twenty and extended the notes at waist level as if paying for something illicit.

  The money disappeared into Dave's pocket. 'Cheers bro.'

  A minute ago it was pal, Jon thought bitterly. Wallet still out, he removed a business card and held it up. 'My mobile's on this. Keep in touch, yeah?'

  Dave winked in reply, turned on his heel and slunk off towards the gap in the hoardings. The uniformed officer blocked his exit and Jon was forced to call over that it was OK. Dave held up a thumb and then was gone.

  Jon took a last drag of his cigarette and let it fall from his fingers. As he crushed it angrily underfoot he heard Rick's voice.

  'Who was that scuzz-bucket? A snitch or something?'

  'Yeah, something like that,' Jon sighed.

  'Well, no one in there has seen Jammer for a few days. We'd better head back to Longsight I suppose. Summerby's called a briefing for five-thirty.'

  They were crossing the road when Rick's mobile rang. 'DS Saville. Ah, excellent. Really? OK, thanks for letting me know. See you back at the station.' He rung off and looked at Jon.

  'That was Joe Adlon. The word at the bottom of the suicide note means, “remember”.'

  'Remember?' Jon mused. 'Why write the word remember?'

  'You remember something that's been done in the past. Peterson's abuse of Danny Gordon?'

  'But if someone else wrote that, what were they saying? I remember what he did to you. Some sort of a tribute or acknowledgement?'

  'Or it's an instruction. To whoever finds the body.'

  Jon pulled his car keys out. 'Summerby will need to get Dr Heath's opinion on this. Too psychological for me. Anyway, did he say what language it was in?'

  'Yeah. A tribal dialect from Kenya. Kikuyu.'

  'Kenya?' Jon said, immediately conducting a mental check of any previous time the country had cropped up in the investiga- tion. His mind halted at an image of Jeremy Hobson describing how he'd seen a leopard dragging the carcass of a young giraffe up a tree in Kenya. He removed the panther hairs from his pocket. 'We need to get a DNA test done, and fast.'

  Thirty

  As they walked into the incident room Jon scanned the faces inside. From the way most officers avoided his eyes, he knew news had leaked out that Summerby had taken charge of the investigation. Keeping his chin up, he went over to his desk and picked up the phone. 'Hi, Nikki, it's Jon here.'

  'What's making me think you need a really urgent favour?'

  'You've got me sussed. That DNA test kit you mentioned. Will it work on a few more hairs I've got?'

  'Only if there are follicles attached. I haven't got the facilities to test off keratin alone.'

  Jon examined the bag. 'There are. On most of them anyway.'

  'I'll try then. Send them over to my office.'

  'Don't you want to know what it's about?'

  'Jon, I'm sitting outside a courtroom and they're calling me in at any moment to give evidence. Just send the things over and I can ring you back. It'll be early evening though.'

  'Cheers Nikki, they're on their way.'

  He checked his message inbox yet again. Still nothing from Alice. This was getting ridiculous. He tried her number again. Bastard answerphone. 'Ali, it's me at three twenty-five. Call me when you pick this up, I don't know where you are.' He pressed red, then immediately called home. When the phone was answered it was Alice's voice that came down the line.

  'Alice!' He sat back. 'Thank God for that. Where've you been?'

  'The library.'

  'All day?'

  'Yes, I've just walked in.'

  'I've been trying to call you on your mobile... ' He stopped, realising why it had been turned off.

  'Oh, I must have forgotten to turn it back on when I came out. You've been leaving messages?'

  She sounds really upbeat, Jon thought, finding her shift in mood confusing. 'A couple. I didn't know where you were.'

  'But I couldn't have it switched on in there.'

  'I realise. What were you doing anyway?'

  'Researching the Iraqi civilian death count.' Oh no.

  'There was an article I needed in a back issue of the New Statesman. Honestly, the whole thing is... scandal isn't strong enough. It's an—'

  'What did you do with Holly?'

  'What?'

  'Holly. Where has she been all day?'

  'With me of course. I took everything I needed down to the basement cafe´. No one minded me breast feeding down there.' She dropped her voice to a whisper. 'You realise your mum's here? She's fussing around in the kitchen.'

  'I know. I asked her. Alice, I didn't know where the hell you were. I was really worried, to be honest. You just disappeared.'

  'Oh, so you sent her round?' Irritation had crept into her voice.

  'Not to check up,' Jon protested. 'Just see if you were OK. Anything could have happened. You might have slipped in the shower.'

  'But you couldn't find the time to check yourself ?'

  'Not this morning. There was another body found—'

  'You're still on that case.'

  'In a supporting role, yes.' Silence.

  'Ali, I couldn't just pack it in completely. Listen, I'll be back soon. I'm waiting for the results of a couple of tests.'

  'Fine. That's fine. Is your mother staying here until then or am I safe enough to be left alone with my baby?'

  'She's only trying
to help.'

  'Holly's ready for a feed. I'd better go.'

  'Can you put Mum on then?'

  He heard Alice walking away. 'Mary, Jon wants a word.' Her voice grew fainter with each step.

  A few seconds later his mum came on the line. 'Hello, Jon.' Do I mention seeing Dave? Or would it be better if he rings. Unsure of the best option, he decided not to mention it.

  'Thanks for sticking around, Mum.'

  'No problem. I've done some cleaning up.'

  'Is Alice in the front room?'

  'She is.'

  'How does she seem to you?'

  'Grand. A bit confused to find me here though.'

  'And Holly?'

  'The little poppet's fine.'

  'Are you staying? I should be home soon.'

  'Well.' She sounded uncomfortable. 'Your dad's expecting me back. I've put on another casserole for you two. I don't want to get in the way.'

  'I know, Mum. But I'm worried about Alice. Does she really seem fine?'

  'Absolutely. Jon... this is very awkward.'

  He nodded, suddenly aware of the position he was putting her in. 'Sorry. You head off then. I shouldn't be long.'

  He kept the receiver to his ear despite the fact his mum had hung up. Could Alice have turned a corner? OK, the object of her enthusiasm wasn't exactly healthy, but at least she was sounding happier in herself. Yes. Perhaps she just needed something to occupy her mind. He replaced the phone, trying to ignore the part of him that was totally unconvinced.

  'Everything OK?' Rick asked from the next desk.

  'That was Alice. She sounds like her old self. Well, not totally. But miles better.'

  'Really?'