The Binford Mysteries: A Collection of Gritty Urban Mystery Novels (3 - BOOK BOX SET)

by Rashad Salim

He spotted one of Atif’s friends, Saqib, playing cards with some other boys and approached him.

  Saqib saw him coming and froze. As did the others. Tom remembered they weren’t permitted to play cards outside of break time and lunchtime. He guessed their alarmed expressions were in anticipation of a telling off from him and moved quickly to dispel that notion.

  “Relax boys,” he said and smiled. “Don’t stop on account of me.”

  The boys smiled and the tension vanished.

  “Have you seen Atif around?” Tom asked Saqib.

  Saqib frowned. “I thought he was in your class right now. Is that why you’re looking for him?”

  Tom looked him dumbfounded. Then it dawned on him that he would’ve been teaching Atif if he was still at work. He felt stupid for not knowing such an obvious thing and couldn’t believe he had lost track of his schedule so easily. He hadn’t realised how distracted he’d become and tried to cover it up.

  “Yeah, I was just checking on him. I’ve been busy with some stuff.”

  “About Mr Jones?” Saqib asked.

  Tom felt the other boys staring at him for an answer to the question as well.

  “Just a bit of work. Thanks, anyway. Play on.”

  Tom walked away, hoping his sharp exit wasn’t too obviously an effort to avoid the topic of Chris Jones’ murder.

  He made his way as quickly and discreetly as possible to the other side of the sixth form and hoped no other teachers saw him or stopped him on his way.

  When he reached the classroom Atif was attending he peeked through the window and saw the cover teacher – a man in his thirties he didn’t recognise – teaching Tom’s students.

  He spotted Atif near the front and checked his watch. There was still fifteen minutes remaining before the class ended. Tom couldn’t wait around that long, he felt more impatient with every minute that had passed since he had arrived at the sixth form. But he had no choice.

  Hanging around in the corridors would seem suspicious, he thought. Not walking purposefully around the school premises was a sure-fire way to garner unwanted attention. He looked into the classroom directly opposite Atif’s and saw it was empty. He checked the doorknob. It was unlocked. He opened the door and entered the classroom.

  He took a seat where he could see through the door window into the other class. The minute the students stepped out he would seize the opportunity to pump Atif for more information.

  With less than three minutes before the end of lesson, the door opened and Tom looked up caught by surprise.

  It was Nigel Holmes. He was stunned to see Tom. His mouth fell open and his eyes widened.

  Tom held his breath and his mind went blank.

  Holmes looked at him and frowned. “Tom? What you doing here? I thought you were on leave.”

  “I am. Just had to see someone, that’s all.”

  “Kate?”

  Tom didn’t like the tone Holmes used when he mentioned her name. He looked at Nigel and wondered what his problem was with Kate.

  When Tom first started working at the school, Holmes had been a lot more easygoing and even bantered with Tom during that first month. Tom had thought he’d be friends with Holmes as well as with Chris. But when Holmes saw how Tom was getting chummy with Kate, he started to back off Tom and the banter ended.

  A few times Tom had heard Holmes make snide remarks about Kate but he never said anything because Holmes was the Head of the department and Tom was the newbie. That was before Tom and Kate got together. After that, Tom felt Holmes was always wary around him.

  “Thought I’d just pop in and see how everyone was,” Tom said.

  Holmes scowled and started laying some of the books he was carrying down on the teacher’s desk. “You could’ve just taught your classes then.”

  “I had to go to the police station,” Tom said, to counter Holmes’ remark.

  Nigel froze and looked at him. “Oh, yeah? The cops find out who done it yet?”

  “They’re working on it.”

  Holmes stared out into the middle distance. “This school’s getting rougher and rougher. The police don’t think this might just be the first attack, do they?” He licked his lips and scratched his balding head.” Something like a trend?”

  “Why? You worried they might come after you next?”

  The comment stunned Nigel.

  The pleasure Tom got from that didn’t make him feel guilty at all.

  Holmes was such a weasel. He hadn’t been very sympathetic towards Tom and while he had always been a self absorbed shithead, worrying about himself took his self-important attitude to a whole new level of annoying.

  “Relax, Nigel. No one is coming after you.”

  “You don’t know that.” There was genuine terror in Holmes’ eyes.

  “Whoever attacked us is probably long gone now. They aren’t coming back for seconds.”

  Holmes adjusted his glasses and Tom thought he saw a thin smile form. “Well, do let us know what the police find out. You can never be too safe, ya know,” he said and starting poring over the textbooks lying open on the desk.

  Tom nodded and stood up. He walked out without saying bye.

  16

  Atif’s class was ending and the students were gathering their things when Tom got to the classroom door.

  The door opened and students started filling out into the corridor, passing him with a quick hello.

  Atif looked surprised to see Tom standing there.

  Tom gestured for the boy to join him. When he turned to walk away, he saw Holmes watching them through the door window. Tom ignored him.

  “How was the class without me?” Tom asked.

  “This guy’s more square than you,” Atif said with a smile.

  Tom smiled back and patted Atif on the back. He looked around to check if anyone was in earshot.

  “I spoke to Heena yesterday,” Tom said. “About her brother.”

  Atif stopped walking and looked at him. “What did you say? You didn’t tell her I thought he might have attacked us, did you?”

  “Of course not. What do you take me for? But she did tell me about him.”

  Atif narrowed his eyes. “What did she say?”

  “She said he flew out to Pakistan on Monday night right after we were attacked.”

  Atif threw his head back in frustration. “Fuck’s sake.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I don’t wanna say anything,” Atif said. “But my alarm bells are ringing. I’m gonna need to talk to her about that. She’s gonna meet me in the common room now. I’ll ask her when I see her.”

  Tom joined Atif on his walk to the common room.

  “One thing though – he wouldn’t have flown out on a whim. Just like that.” Atif clicked his fingers. “A trip to Pakistan would take a lot of planning over a long time. Makes me wonder how he would’ve pulled it off, if he was involved.”

  “Does this mean you’re having second thoughts about him?” Tom asked.

  Atif shook his head.

  “What if he had been biding his time and saw this as a last minute thing, ya know?” Tom asked. “Like he was set to go on holiday and thought he could do this right before he left. Do you know what I mean?”

  “Like taking care of business before going on a holiday?”

  “Yeah,” Tom said. “Pakistan as somewhere to hide until the dust settles and the coast is clear and his nerves are no longer edgy.”

  “If he had been planning it for a long time, then he would’ve been watching me for a while, to get used to my patterns and guess my movements accurately enough to know when I would’ve been at the car park entrance.”

  “Then we might have to see if we can find out if he was lurking around this area recently,” Tom said.

  “I doubt it. Would be too obvious. He’d stick out. Anyway, if he wanted all that information about me he might have just had someone else at this sixth form feed him it.”

  The thought of other students spying on beh
alf of his suspected attacker made Tom feel uneasy as the two of them passed other students. “If he’s had others spy for him do you think he might have had others attack us too?”

  “Nah,” Atif said. “I do think he might’ve been there but I doubt he’d have other lowlife boys do it for him. He wouldn’t have the money or influence for that.”

  “Alright,” Tom said. “What we’ll focus on for now is finding out where Shazad was at the time of the ambush.”

  “Heena probably knows of his whereabouts at that time. He might’ve just been at home,” Atif said.

  “He doesn’t live with her,” Tom said. “Didn’t she tell you that?”

  Atif shrugged. “Obviously, not since she doesn’t like talking about him. That’s why I can’t just come out with it, ask her straight out if he could’ve been involved. She’d flip out.”

  When they reached the sixth form common room, Heena was already waiting for Atif. She looked surprised to see Tom with him.

  “Didn’t expect to see you today, sir,” she said.

  “You know I just couldn’t stay away.” Tom smiled at her. “Maybe I’ll go on a little holiday soon.”

  She looked at him in shock. “Really? That’s not fair! We’re stuck here and you’ll be on some sunny beach.”

  “Ah, don’t you worry,” he said. “Maybe you’ll go on holiday too. Like your brother.”

  Heena rolled her eyes and Atif glared at him in disbelief.

  Tom ignored the boy’s agitated state and continued. “He didn’t rub it in when he left, did he?” he asked Heena. And then as if suddenly remembering, “Oh, yeah, that’s right – he doesn’t live with you, does he?”

  She laughed. “He lives in Birmingham, thank god.”

  “Wow!” Tom couldn’t contain his surprise.

  “Yeah, so no chance of him rubbing it in about his holiday. He flew out to Pakistan from there. My uncle went too.”

  “What to keep an eye on him?” Atif asked her.

  “He’s gone to get engaged,” she said.

  “He’s getting married?” The news had come to quite a shock to Atif.

  “Eventually, yeah. Best thing for him,” she said.

  “Ah,” Tom said. “Well, congratulations to him then. Who knows? Maybe you two will be next.”

  Atif and Heena exchanged looks and blushed.

  “Someday,” she said.

  Tom decided to make a sharp exit again now that he got the information he had been looking for. “I best be off now. You lot keep studying while I’m away, okay?”

  Heena and Atif told him they would and Tom walked away.

  He thought it over about Shazad living in Birmingham and flying out from there just a few hours after Chris’ murder. There wasn’t much of a window of opportunity for Shazad. In fact it was impossible that he had been in London at the time of the attack. And the fact that he would’ve been busy with his own travel arrangements and engagement plans made Tom reconsider whether Shazad would’ve somehow plotted the attack.

  Tom felt his list of suspects had been mostly implausible. The only way John Thompson or Gilbert Waters could’ve been involved in the attack would’ve been by proxy – getting some youths to do their dirty work for them and that theory had too many flaws to be possible. There was no way the caretaker or his neighbour would’ve known the kind of people the attackers were.

  In his mind, he had disqualified them both and now Heena’s brother Shazad too.

  He thought about Zafar Khan, Atif’s love rival, and remembered what Barker had told him. The youngster had an alibi for his whereabouts. He wondered if the proxy strategy could’ve applied to Zafar too but dismissed it – if Zafar wanted Atif attacked, he’d want the satisfaction of having done it himself. Zafar’s vendetta was personal.

  With John Thompson, Gilbert Waters, Shazad Latif and Zafar Khan eliminated, that only left Mobeen and Marcus still unaccounted for since neither of them could be found.

  Part II

  17

  When Tom exited the sixth form he had decided he needed to do whatever he could to find Mobeen and Marcus.

  He was aware the police were looking for them but he wasn’t happy with how long it was taking the police to find them. He wondered what he should do.

  A part of him thought the sensible thing to do was go back to Nottingham for a week or so and return to work when his leave had expired.

  Another part of him thought if he was to stay in Binford during the next ten days then it was best to just spend as much time with Kate since it would stop him from dwelling so much on the attack.

  But what he felt mostly was a niggling feeling that he couldn’t even begin to think about anything else until Chris’ killer was caught. And even though it wasn’t his job, he felt compelled to do what he could to get some answers from Mobeen and Marcus.

  It was his duty.

  Chris had died for him and this was the least he could do.

  The problem was he had no clue where to begin looking for either of the suspects. But he thought Atif might.

  Tom walked back into the sixth form and saw Atif was still with Heena in the sixth form. The young couple where talking to some of their friends.

  Tom stood near the doorway into the common room but was careful to not catch Heena’s attention. He fixed his gaze on Atif until the boy spotted him. When he got Atif’s attention he gestured for him to join Tom outside in the corridor.

  Atif excused himself and left the crowd. He walked out into the corridor and joined Tom. “Wassup, sir?”

  Tom looked around to check if anyone was watching them, the possibility of spies nearby not far from his thoughts.

  It crossed his mind that he had probably been seen spending a little more time with the boy than usual and that was the last thing he wanted. Attracting the suspicion of other staff members would only increase the risk of them finding out what the two of them had been discussing and Tom couldn’t let that happen.

  “There’s something else,” he said. “Let’s go to my office.”

  The two of them walked up the nearby staircase to the first floor of the sixth form where Tom’s office was located. Once inside, Tom sat behind his desk and gestured for Atif to take a seat on the other side.

  “I went to the police station today.”

  That stunned Atif. “Why didn’t you mention that earlier? You didn’t tell them about Zafar, did you?”

  Tom raised his hand. “Relax. You got nothing to worry about. I never said a word about him to the cops. You think Heena’s getting suspicious about all the questions about her brother?”

  “I dunno. I don’t think so. She would if they came from me but coming from you, they probably seem innocent to her.”

  Tom nodded. He was glad he had done all the questioning with her. Atif would’ve given the game away.

  “I think we can safely say that Zafar wasn’t one of the attackers nor was he behind the attack, right?”

  “Yeah, he’d have been making his way to the airport at the time. And you don’t think he got some of his rude boy mates to come at me?”

  Tom shook his head. “Seems very doubtful – for reasons you mentioned before. I wouldn’t even worry about him anymore if I were you.”

  That seemed to ease Atif and he appeared a little relieved to hear it. “Did the police tell you anything?”

  Tom told him Zafar had an alibi for his whereabouts at the time of the crime. He also told him about Marcus and Mobeen and how the police had no idea where the two juveniles were. He didn’t mention the caretaker or his neighbour.

  “Since Zafar and Shazad don’t fit the crime, you can forget about it and move on now,” Tom said. “It looks like you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He sighed. “...And with the wrong person.”

  The regret in his voice was obvious to Atif, Tom knew that. He couldn’t hide his guilt for putting the boy and Chris at risk even if it had been beyond his control.

  “You really think they were after you a
nd not me?”

  “Yeah.” Tom thought it was the most reassuring answer he could give Atif before he said it but on second thoughts he realised it made himself seem fearful in the boy’s presence and that wasn’t an outcome he had hoped for. “Don’t worry, though. I’ll be okay.”

  “You sure?” Atif asked. “You don’t sound it.”

  Tom laughed. “Don’t worry about me. Whoever attacked us isn’t going to try it again. It would increase their chance of getting caught. Almost guarantee it, in fact.”

  Atif seemed to accept that answer and Tom wondered how much of it he believed himself.

  “But listen, I need to ask you something about Mobeen.” Tom paused to check Atif was listening carefully. “You haven’t seen him around anywhere lately, have you?”

  Tom would’ve asked about Marcus too but he doubted Atif had even heard of the former schoolboy. Marcus had been a 16-year old Year 11 student when he was expelled. Atif was in the year above and a sixth form student. It seemed unlikely Atif would’ve been aware of him.

  “Nah, I haven’t seen him in ages. I used to see him hanging around on Binford Lane a while back. Then after he got kicked out I hardly ever saw him. You seriously telling me the cops can’t find him?”

  “That’s what they said. His parents say they haven’t seen or heard from him in a few months now. They didn’t even seem bothered.” Tom thought about Marcus and how his mother hadn’t expressed much concern for her son either.

  “They’re probably lying. Covering up for him,” Atif said. “I reckon he’s holed up at one of his many cousins’ bedroom’s somewhere. Shit... I reckon if someone wanted to go on the run all he’d have to do was hideout here in Binford and no one would ever find him.”

  Tom snorted. “You make this town sound like a jungle.”

  “It is.” There was no exaggeration in Atif’s tone.

  “Whereabouts on Binford Lane did you see him hanging about?”

  “Outside a couple of the fried chicken shops mostly – remember this was a good few months ago – and one or two of the shisha bars. I think one of his cousins even owns one of them.”