by Mistry, Liz
Anyway, the heater had made absolutely no difference whatsoever to the temperature. Initially, she’d been happy with the items. She didn’t like the dark and it was freezing, even with the extra blanket. However, after he’d gone, she’d realised that the addition of a heater and lamp probably meant she wasn’t getting out anytime soon. She’d flung herself down on her bed and cried for a long time, until she fell into an exhausted sleep. Finally, she woke up with a cold nose and the new day well underway. Her eyes rested on the lamp. It was switched off. She’d left it on when she went to sleep. Quickly, she scooted across the mattress and pressed the switch. A faint yellow glow immediately came on. That meant he must have been in here when she was asleep. Molly shuddered at the thought of that creepy man watching her and suddenly her small body was infused with a desire to do something… anything, to get out of this horrid room. She’d peed in the bucket, noticing it was empty. Another sign that he’d been here. Stuffing yet another Snickers bar in her mouth, the thick chocolate clogging her throat, she vowed never to eat another one for the rest of her life. Then she began to plan.
Panting slightly after her exertions, Molly craned her neck to see out the window. Snow had fallen heavily overnight and the fields were blanketed in soft white. In the distance troops of miniature people in bobble hats and winter coats with scarves swinging from their necks frolicked in the snow. She sighed, imagining their whoops of glee as they slid down the gentle undulations that led to the valley. She wrapped her arms round her skinny frame and watched as snowmen appeared on the distant fields and the unblemished snow became a maze of footprints and sledge trails.
Molly saw a girl that looked about the same age as her, wearing a similar red coat and blue bobble hat. She was with another girl; probably her sister and they were taking it in turns to slide down the slope. Molly got on her knees and stretched her neck to see if she could see where they finally stopped.
It was then that she noticed the viaduct thrusting out of the valley like a huge snake on legs. She held her breath, hands on either side of her head and peered at the structure. She recognised it. She’d seen it before with her mum. Now, she knew where she was. She knew exactly where she was. Now all she had to do was get out.
Chapter 84
Friday 2:00pm
The earlier snowfall had increased to a blizzard and Gus was glad to be back at The Fort. The business with Alex Graves made him feel slightly dirty. He hadn’t really considered the man a suspect, partly because he knew he’d been strenuously vetted by the WP programme. The Incident Room was buzzing. The new information had taken the investigation forward and everyone was on a high. Even Sadia had gone to get everyone’s sandwiches with good grace. The only downside was that the journos had picked up on their quick return to The Graves’ house and some had followed them back to The Fort. Fortunately, Alex had been content to sprawl along the back seat to avoid being seen by them.
‘Right, while we’re waiting for Alex Graves’ lawyer to turn up, is there anything else going on I need to know about?’
Alice, who’d just walked into the room, spoke up. ‘I’ve just taken a statement from Frankie Robb, Jamal’s friend. He said Jamal admitted that he had, and I quote, ‘fuckin’ battered the old cunt to death in Heaton graveyard’. Thing is, he seems quite convincing. It only came out because he had a row with his own mum and said, and again I quote, ‘Maybe I should do what Jamal did to his old mum and crack you over the head with a stone.’ His mum, understandably, was shocked and quizzed him some more about it. Eventually he admitted that Jamal turned up with a bottle of vodka swiped from the One Stop shop to celebrate killing Sharon Asif.’
Gus puffed out his cheeks. ‘Okay. That’s a development I didn’t see coming, Al. Bring him in with his social worker, not the brother. I want him on his own, don’t want him feeding off his brother’s bravado.’ He sighed, ‘It all adds up though, doesn’t it? The stories from his neighbours saying he was playing up over the last few months, throwing shit-filled nappies and empty bottles into their gardens. Poor bugger was crying out for help. We’ll play that line with him when we bring him in and, if he admits it, we’ll have a word with the CPO, see if we can get him a good deal. He’s only a kid and no kid should have had to put up with the shit he did.’
Alice nodded, ‘I’ll go get him myself, Gus. You gonna interview him?’
‘We’ll do it together, ok? After I’ve interviewed Alex Graves. Wait an hour before you go get Jamal. Get the social worker briefed and a duty solicitor who has experience with kid’s law in place first. I want to be up-front with them from the start.’
He walked over to Compo, who was nodding his head to some heavy bass beat that thrummed through the floor despite him having earphones in. Gus placed a hand on his arm. Compo jumped spilling Tango from the can he was holding over Gus’s hand. Chewing the lump of Mars Bar that was in his mouth and swallowing it quickly with a quick swig of Tango to ease its passage he jumped from his chair and tried to wipe Gus’s hand with a scrap of ketchup-covered tissue he found on his desk. Gus waved him away with a grin and grabbed a tissue to wipe off the sticky mess. ‘Calm down, Compo. Look, just wondered if you’d got any more information on those files you found on Graves’s laptop.’
‘Just working on that. They’ve been well encrypted. Almost missed them. And I’m having a hard time working out where they originated. They’ve been bounced all over the place. They’re weird. I sent them off to the sex crimes unit to see if they rang any bells with them, but I’ve got nowt back yet. I’m gonna keep on with this.’
After checking carefully for stray food debris, Gus sat on the edge of his table and lowered his voice. ‘Compo, is there a chance those files could’ve been planted on the laptop?’
Compo pushed his chair back and looked up at Gus his eyes sparking with interest. ‘What are you thinking, boss man?’
Gus carefully moved the remains of a sausage roll to the back of Compo’s desk and leaned in closer. ‘Look, this is probably just me over-reacting but I just wondered what the chances are of the same woman managing to marry two separate paedophiles?’
Compo’s eyes widened and he snapped his fingers to show he was on Gus’s wavelength. Gus smiled and continued, ‘Then, I thought about something Beth said this morning after Jessie was shot. She said this was all about getting revenge on her.’
Compo snapped his fingers again. ‘Of course, first he captures Molly, then he cuts off her hair then he kills Jessie. So, maybe, just maybe, he planted incriminating images on Alex Graves’ laptop, knowing we’d find them. The bastard’s slowly but surely isolating Beth. He’s taking his revenge one bit at a time.’
Gus glanced round the room, ‘Look Compo, we don’t know this yet. We’ve got no evidence, so I want you to look forensically at everything to prove it one way or the other, ok? If he is a paedophile, I’ll have the bastard. But if he’s not I want you on the case, because you’re the best there is.’ He patted the other man’s arm. ‘But this stays between you and me for now, ok? Till we know one way or the other. When I interview him, I’m going to go in hard, as if we’ve got no doubt of his guilt. Got to keep things above board in case he’s guilty.’
Compo winked, ‘You can count on me.’ and he put his earphones back in and pumped up the volume. Gus stood and stretched. Grimacing, he limped over and got out his elastic physio band and, ignoring the bustle around the incident room, he began to methodically do his exercises, allowing his mind to drift as he worked.
By the time he’d finished an idea had occurred to him. He jumped to his feet groaned at the pain and yelled over to Sampson. ‘Hey Sampson, get on to Customs North and South and check if they’ve eyeballed that Cosy Night van. Also spread that around patrol and motorway police. If the business doesn’t exist, the only van with that logo will be the one belonging to our gang and considering we’ve just relieved them of most of the kids they may be urgently acquiring more. Get on the phone to Jankowski and tell them to monitor clusters of mi
ssing children, boys or girls.’
Gus turned to the room at large. ‘Any ideas how they get the kids past Customs?’
Chapter 85
Friday 2:15pm
Gus, a brown folder under one arm, walked into Interview Room 2 followed by Sadia. Hunched over the table, Graves restlessly peeled the label off a half-empty water bottle. Eyes completely focussed on his task, he didn’t react when Gus pulled a chair out, flung the folder down and sat down opposite. With raised eyebrows Sadia sat next to Gus. Gus took his time, letting the tension build, then, banged his hand on the table. Graves jumped and his gaze flew to Gus’s face.
‘Look, you’ve been caught fair and square,’ said Gus, his face stony cold. ‘The evidence is on your laptop. You’ve not got a leg to stand on, so you might as well just admit it,’
Graves’ lawyer, Jacob Foreman, a tall stern man in a funereal suit with an incongruously bright pink polka dot tie, looked down his nose. ‘My client declines to comment, other than to maintain his innocence in this matter.’
Gus’ blue eyes sparked angrily at the lawyer then turned to laser straight into Alex’s. Each word he spoke was incisive. ‘This is no time to remain passive. The evidence is here on the files taken from your laptop.’ He tapped the folder that sat between them on the table. Shall I show you the images? The filth that you stored on there. The things you did to those children?’
Alex dropped the bottle and let it bounce onto the table with a slight bang. Rubbing the palms of his hands over his face, he shook his head quickly from side to side. Then with a sigh he took his hands away and looked at Gus, his hand plucking nervously at his ear lobe. Gus scraped his chair back from the table and began pacing the room.
‘Speak to me! Tell me all about it. Your nasty little perverted fantasies. The disgusting things you did to those kids and shared with the other nonces. How it felt when you abducted your own stepdaughter and murdered Jessie.’
Alex dropped his head into his hands and moaned.
‘You have not arrested my client in relation to either the abduction of his stepdaughter or the murder of Jessie Graham, so restrict your questioning to the data found on his laptop.’
Gus glared at the lawyer. ‘Would you like to see the images your client had on his laptop?’
Mr Foreman shrugged nonchalantly. ‘Not my thing.’
Gus jumped to his feet fists clenched by his side, eyes narrowed. Sadia who had sat quietly till now turned to the lawyer and before Gus could speak said, ‘No, your thing seems to be specialising in getting the bastards who sodomise and rape kiddies off, isn’t it?’
Mr Foreman turned a steely gaze on her and, raising an eyebrow said, ‘If you can’t control yourself, officer, I will terminate this interview.’
Gus turned to Sadia and frowned a warning. She shrugged and lowering her eyes issued a mumbled apology.
Alex’s sobs broke the tension in the room. ‘I didn’t do this. I didn’t upload or download any images and, to be frank, if I had, do you really think I’d have let you have access to my laptop? I’m a security expert. I could hide anything I didn’t want you to see so deep you’d need to tunnel to Australia to find it.’
As he spoke snot dripped down his nose to the edge of his chin. Foreman surreptitiously moved his chair further away from his client’s. Mouth screwed up in distaste, he dropped a tissue onto the table near Alex.
Gus sat down and taking a deep breath, lowered his tone. ‘All I’m telling you is this; if you come clean with us about this stuff on your computer and help us find Molly it’ll be better for you.’
Face wiped clean his head jerked up. ‘If I knew anything that would help you find Molly I’d tell you. I love that girl like my own, ok? Now I’ve nothing more to say.’
Gus pushed his chair away from the table and nodded to the PC who waited by the door. ‘Take him back to his cell for now.’
Chapter 86
Friday 3:15pm
Alice and PC Singh walked Jamal from the lifts through the fourth floor corridor to the interview room. Despite her diminutive figure, Jamal felt shrunken beside Alice. He was tense and, despite being aware that he was clenching and unclenching his fists, he couldn’t stop himself. He tried to walk with a swagger, but his heart wasn’t in it. He was scared and all he wanted was to see Ishaq. Ishaq would sort everything out. He’d explain how bad it was for him and the kids. He’d make them understand that he hadn’t meant to kill his mum.
He’d just been so angry. She’d laughed at him and said she wasn’t giving him any money. He’d flipped then and just grabbed the stone. He hadn’t meant to do it, it had just happened and then it was too late.
Alice pushed open the door of the interview room and smiled at the two women who waited inside. ‘This is Amy Winters, Jamal. She’s a lawyer who specialise in children’s law. You’ve already met your social worker, Naila Siddique. I’ll leave you for half an hour or so.’ She turned to the lawyer. ‘We’ve already read him his rights. Let me know when you’re ready. I’ll bring some drinks when we come back.’ She squeezed Jamal’s shoulder as she left.
Naila, a small slender woman wearing a salwar kameez but no head scarf, jumped to her feet and walked over to Jamal. Gently she took his arm and led him over to the table. ‘Sit down Jamal. Both of us are here to help you, ok? But you need to tell us what happened.’
Biting his lip, Jamal sat down on the edge of the chair between the two women and risked a glance at his lawyer. She was tall and, although she didn’t smile, Jamal thought her eyes looked kind. She smelled nice too, like strawberries.
With her black ringlets bobbing, Amy nodded at him. ‘I’m here to get the best outcome for you, ok?’ She waited for his nod before continuing. ‘Well, you need to tell me the truth. Did you do it? Did you kill your mum?’
Jamal nodded once then began to sob. Naila handed him a tissue and both women waited. When he was calm enough to speak, Jamal looked at Amy through reddened eyes. ‘What’s going to happen to the kids if I go to jail?’
Amy frowned and said, ‘Your siblings will be taken very good care of Jamal. You mustn’t worry about that.’ She smiled. Jamal thought her dimples were very pretty and he immediately felt a little better.
Looking straight into his eyes Amy continued, ‘It’s time for you to tell your story Jamal. You’re only fourteen and your school and your neighbours and your big brother all say you’re not a bad lad, and we want the best possible outcome for you. In order to do that you need to tell us everything. The fact that you co-operated with the police earlier is a good thing and that you helped them with their investigation into the children they found in your attic.’
She paused and adjusted the papers that were strewn over the table before continuing. ‘You need to start at the beginning and tell us everything about that night and then when I have everything I need we’ll bring the police back in and they will conduct a formal interview. I’d like us to co-operate with them again. But, for your sake Jamal, you must tell me everything. No secrets, huh?’
When Jamal nodded, she crossed her legs and opened an A4 pad of paper and they began.
Chapter 87
Friday 3:30pm
‘Forensics have come through on the gun used to kill Jessie Graham. The bullets match the ones retrieved from the shooting at Jamal’s brother’s house in Great Horton,’ said Sadia
Gus smiled. ‘Great, it’s all coming together now. Let’s keep on it. When Naila and the lawyer are finished with Jamal we’ll get on with the interview. Don’t want to hang about on this one.’ He grabbed his elastic physio band and began his exercises, barking out orders at the same time to distract him from the monotony.
The door opened and almost immediately the room fell silent. Gus, still on the floor beside his desk mid-stretch, paused when he heard a voice cutting through the room like a laser. ‘I’m here to speak to DI McGuire, Sadia. Where is he?’
From his position on the floor, Gus saw Sadia shuffle her feet under her desk. From his vanta
ge point, he smiled, noting that even her smooth calf muscles tensed in reaction to her father’s voice. Deciding to put her out of her discomfort, Gus raised his voice. ‘I’m here, DCI Hussain.’
The man took two steps towards Gus’s desk and stopped abruptly. His mouth became pinched, as he looked down his patrician nose, his head swivelling from Gus’s smiling face to the elastic band round the desk leg. His voice when he spoke came out like a stuttering firework. ‘What exactly do you think you’re doing, McGuire?’
Gus continued to smile amiably. ‘Physio exercises, sir.’ And he demonstrated with a diagonal stretch that pulled his thigh muscles taut and deliberately held the stretch for the count of ten.
A muscle played on Hussain’s cheek. ‘Do you really think the investigation room is the place for this sort of nonsense?’
Gus thankfully was saved from answering by DCI Chalmers’ arrival. She bustled over and stood between the two men, gesturing to Gus to continue his exercises. When she spoke her tone was brisk. ‘What brings you here, Imran?’
Turning to face Nancy, Imran looked her up and down, his disapproval of her colourful floral dress demonstrated by the sneer in his eyes as they slid up her frame. ‘I wanted to bring McGuire’s attention to the behaviour – in his absence yesterday – of two of his officers.’ Gus who’d used Nancy’s arrival as a distraction to get to his feet glanced over at Compo and Sampson, both of whom had tensed on Hussain’s arrival. Their wary glances swung between Hussain and Gus. Gus winked at them and stepped forward to stand beside Nancy. Nancy continued to smile and raised one eyebrow in a questioning manner indicating Hussain should continue.
