by Menon, David
Monica Parkinson was apprehended when she tried to get back into her house. She was brought down to the station and interviewed by Jeff and Ollie. She made a full and tearful confession to the murder of Ralph Johnson. She said she liked Ralph and felt sorry for him because his family seemed to have abandoned him but when she knew he’d given details of the van registration number to the police something inside her just snapped because she wanted to protect her partner Joe. Even though she knew what he’d done she couldn’t let some interfering old man drop Joe right in it.
‘How did Joe get hold of a van that was registered to Tim Ryder’s brother?’ Jeff asked.
‘John Squires has a carpet shop in Cheadle’ Monica explained, still wiping away the tears. ‘He’s a very proud man and would never admit this to you but trade was bad and he was having severe difficulties with his cash flow. So he came to his brother Tim to see if he’d help him out financially. As part of the deal Tim bought that van off John and asked my Joe to change all the registration details. But I think Joe saw it as an opportunity to use the van to carry out his plans and if it was registered to someone else then it would take the police off the scent’.
‘And you knew all of this?’ Jeff pursued.
‘Yes. Tim Ryder confides in Joe about everything. Joe even knew about the affairs Tim had with teenage boys. Well if you can call them affairs, that is. It was Joe who delivered the pay offs to all the parents involved so that they wouldn’t go the police. Those parents were equally as guilty as Tim in my opinion for letting it happen and taking the money’.
‘And Joe wasn’t complicit in the cover ups by delivering the cash?’ Rebecca scoffed. She couldn’t stand people who were so much in the wrong like Monica try to claim some moral high ground somewhere. It made her want to slap her.
‘Yes, I know’ said Monica. ‘But I was in love with Joe and I’d have done anything for him’.
‘Did you know that Tim Ryder encouraged a flirtation to take place between Joe and a woman called Annabel Matheson?’
‘Oh he was always doing that’ said Monica, dismissively. ‘It was all part of the games they used to play. Joe is a very good-looking man and he likes to flirt. I don’t mind as long as it stays there and doesn’t develop into anything else’.
‘But why didn’t Joe go the police about Tim Ryder’s affairs with teenage boys when he knew it was all so wrong?’
‘Because Tim was paying him a lot of money’.
‘It’s that easy’ said Rebecca.
‘Yes, it is’ said Monica. ‘Look, Joe has been through a really hard time over the years with his ex-wife and the constant battle for access to his daughter Charlotte’.
‘But why didn’t you try and stop him from doing what he did?’
‘Do you really think I could’ve?’ Monica pleaded. ‘Joe was determined. He said he had to speak up for the rights of fathers to protect their children from scum like the Gorton boys’..
‘Where is Joe now?’
‘All I know is that he was going after Melanie Patterson. He couldn’t believe that she’d got bail but saw it as a golden opportunity to go after her’.
Jeff went back upstairs to where several members of his squad were gathered. He was about to check on the progress in the search for the whereabouts and arrest of Joe Briers that was now several hours old when Ollie called him over to his computer.
‘Take a look at this, sir’ said Ollie.
‘Shit’ said Jeff. ‘Direct it to the main screen please, Ollie’.
The large main screen in the squad room was seconds later filled with the image of Melanie Patterson awaiting her execution on the stake that Joe Briers had built.
‘Where the fuck is that?’ said Jeff.
‘I’m checking the IP address of the signal now, sir’ said Ollie and moments later he was able to confirm that it was coming from somewhere on the Gorton estate.
‘It looks like some kind of warehouse’ said Rebecca.
‘Well there’s only one of those on the Gorton’ said Jeff. ‘It’s disused and right in the middle. Get the team down there now! Rebecca, you go with them and report back to me as soon as you can with anything. I want the fire fighters and an ambulance down there too and impress upon them the need for urgency. Ollie, has he set the link up for sound?’
Chief Superintendent Chambers walked into the room just in time to hear Joe Briers answer Jeff’s question to Ollie.
‘Yes, I can hear you policeman’ said Joe. He was looking into the camera from three or four meters back and in his hand was a gas cylinder burner with the flame looking clear and strong. ‘Can you hear me?’
‘Briers, there’s a team of officers on their way to you as I speak’ said Jeff. ‘You won’t be able to get away with this so why don’t you give up now? It’s over, Briers. It’s over and done with’.
‘Not quite, policeman. You see, I’ve got a few things to say. The police have never been my friend. All the years I spent fighting my ex-wife through the courts just because I wanted to be as father to my daughter and none of you lot helped me. All you ever told me to do was to keep calm Mr. Briers, don’t lose your temper Mr. Briers, it’ll only harm your case if you do, Mr. Briers. My ex-wife could throw all manner of emotional shit around and yet if I so much as raised my voice with sheer exasperation I was told it would harm my case. Do you know how that feels? Do you know how it feels to spend years fighting somebody who’s taken your relationship with your daughter away from you? Something so basic in life as that? And I wouldn’t mind if my ex-wife was such a good mother. But she isn’t. She’s a lousy mother. So bad she lets my daughter fall in with the Gorton boys. I’m Charlotte’s father. I should’ve been there to protect her. But it was taken away from me. They raped my daughter, policeman. They raped my daughter and I only found out because I went looking for her. I found her. But she told me to go away and leave her alone. She told me I was out of my depths and that I couldn’t help her. I told her I’d get them. I told her I’d get them for her and they’d all pay’.
‘Look, Joe’ said Jeff. If he could keep him talking until Rebecca and the major incident team arrive there might be a chance. But the local uniformed officers should be there by now. He’d be checking the local station’s response times after this. ‘I’m a father. If someone took my relationship with my son away from me I’d want to kill them. I’d be in a mess, Joe just like you were. I’d probably lose it … ‘
At that moment there was a commotion to the left of the picture. Jeff heard the familiar bellowing of officers making their presence felt ‘Police!’ He then watched in horror as Joe Briers lit the straw with the gas burner. Within seconds it was all the way round the edges of the mass of straw that was circled round Melanie Patterson’s feet. One of the uniformed officers grabbed Briers who lifted the burner and aimed it in the officers face. The officer screamed with pain and stumbled as he covered his face with his hands. The other officer who’d been frantically looking for something to put the fire around Melanie Patterson out then went for Briers and this time he managed to wrestle the burner out of his hands and get him face down on the floor. He then got the cuffs on him and left him lying on the floor before turning his attention to the fire which was now raging.
‘See to your fellow officer first!’ Jeff shouted.
And then the screen went black.
‘Ollie! What’s happening?’
‘We’ve lost the connection, sir’.
‘Well get it back!’
‘It’s no good, sir. Something must’ve happened at that end’
‘It was one of the biggest fires ever attended by the Greater Manchester fire brigade’ said Chief Superintendent Chambers in her office. Jeff was with her.
‘There were all kinds of inflammatory materials in that warehouse’ said Jeff. ‘And fire seems to move quicker than water. The sad thing is that four people lost their lives including two uniformed officers at the start of their careers. I don’t break my heart over Joe Briers or even Mela
nie Patterson though. They got what was coming to them’.
‘I don’t think anybody would argue with you about Briers or Patterson’ said Geraldine. ‘A case of natural justice taking its course with regard to those two’.
‘Although Briers was an embittered man’ said Jeff. ‘I don’t condone what he did but I could understand him. With some people if they don’t feel they’re getting the justice they deserve they let it ride for years and then they explode with frustration. The criminality of Melanie Patterson is one thing but with Briers it goes back to one woman thinking she has the right to stop a father from seeing his daughter just because she can and him losing his head because of it. It’s wrong, ma’am. It’s so very wrong’.
‘Okay but getting back to the basics of the case’ said Geraldine. ‘I take it that Briers was able to use the white van without Tim Ryder knowing because Ryder was busy being an anonymous employee at the Blackpool hotel and not actually living at home full-time?’
‘Yes, ma’am’ said Jeff. ‘I do believe Ryder when he says he was completely unaware of what Briers was up to. The news has devastated him as much as it has everybody else. Briers’ daughter is in pieces which is not a good condition considering she’s about to give birth’.
‘To a child that was conceived in a rape’.
‘A gang rape, ma’am’ said Jeff. ‘That poor kid has already been through so much. It’s going to take a lot for her to move on from all this’.
‘Is she going to keep the child?’
‘She says she is’ said Jeff. ‘I don’t know if that’s such a good idea but she seems fairly determined’.
‘She’ll get a lot of help, Jeff’.
‘I know but … well I’d advise her to give the baby up for adoption and then take some time to work out what she wants to do with her life. But I’m just a police officer. I’m not a social worker or a therapist and there’s a lot about race relations in this city that we have to seriously think about, including that racism goes both ways and it isn’t racist of me as a white man to say that’.
‘You’re a very thoughtful officer who thinks way beyond the crime, Jeff and I value that although you do realise it wasn’t a good idea for you to go chasing up to Blackpool in pursuit of Tim Ryder when your sister was making a complaint against him involving your nephew?’
‘I do, ma’am, yes, but Annabel and Kyle are family and I needed to do it that way’.
‘Just so that you remember, and I’m sure you do, that a good enough lawyer might make something out of it when it comes to court?’
‘I do realise that, ma’am, but I stick by my decision’ said Jeff.
‘Okay’ said Geraldine. ‘But look Jeff, I’d like to change the subject completely and talk to you about something else’.
‘Of course. Is it something personal?’
‘How did you guess that?’ asked Geraldine who’d decided to tell Jeff about her home situation.
‘I think you’ve got some serious troubles at home. Am I right?’
Before Geraldine could answer they were interrupted by Ollie Wright knocking and then putting his head round the door.
‘Excuse me, ma’am, sir but something’s happened that I thought you’d want to know about straight away’.
‘What is it, Ollie?’ Jeff asked.
‘It’s Tim Ryder, sir. He’s been found hanged in his cell’.
STORMS FIFTEEN
‘This is lovely’ said Annabel who was sitting with Jeff in his back garden. They were sharing a bottle of Australian chardonnay.
‘It’s a shame we haven’t done more of it’ said Jeff. ‘But we’ll have to make up for lost time’.
‘We will’ said Annabel. ‘It’s also a shame of course that it took what happened to Kyle to bring us back together’.
‘Well we were never really apart, Annabel’.
‘No, but you know what I mean. I mean it can’t have been easy for any of you to accept me as your sister when I was the result of an affair your father had whilst married to your mother’.
‘I don’t judge that way, Annabel’ said Jeff. ‘Neither does our Lewis. My sister is another matter but then she’s so much like my Mum and our Dad’.
‘I guess the boys will be back soon’ said Annabel.
‘Well I told Lewis I’d be firing up the barbecue about three so I expect them any time soon’ said Jeff. His brother Lewis with his partner Seamus had taken Jeff’s son Toby and Annabel’s son Kyle to play football in the park down the road. Jeff’s live-in Nanny and housekeeper Brendan was on a day off and had gone to see his parents.
‘Lewis and Seamus seen very happy’ said Annabel.
‘Oh they are’ Jeff confirmed. ‘Seamus transferred a few months ago to being a pilot on long-haul flights from Heathrow so he spends a bit more time away now than he used to. But it seems to have made their hearts grow fonder for each other’.
‘I think they’re one of the few stable couples in the family’.
Jeff laughed. ‘Yes, I think you’re right. How’s Kyle coming on by the way?’
‘Well his therapist is pleased with his progress so far’ said Annabel. ‘He seems to be doing well but you never know’.
‘You know you could consider suing the estate of Tim Ryder for compensation just like the families of all those other boys are’ said Jeff.
‘No I’m not going to go down that road, Jeff’ said Annabel who had thought about what Jeff had suggested but felt that she and Kyle had had enough. ‘He paid all Clive’s debts off for me. I’ll take that as compensation’.
‘Fair enough’ said Jeff.
‘But Jeff how could he have come to hang himself? Wasn’t he being watched in case he tried to do that very thing?’
‘Yes he was and there’s going to be an enquiry’ said Jeff. ‘But it’s not unusual in cases like this. I’m not saying that the prison was complicit but we’ll see what the conclusion of the enquiry says’.
‘I wanted to have my day in court for Kyle’s sake’ said Annabel. ‘I think he needed to see just how wrong Tim had been towards him’.
‘I know and it frustrates me too’ said Jeff. ‘But look, Annabel, I’ve been thinking. The case I’ve just wrapped with had family bitterness right at its heart. Tim Ryder and John Squires were kept apart by family feud and if that had not been the case then perhaps Tim Ryder might have been able to get the kind of professional help that would’ve stopped him doing what he did. I don’t want our family ever to be estranged again, Annabel so I’ve got an idea to put to you’.
Annabel was intrigued. ‘Go on?’
‘You don’t want to go back to that job at the hotel so why don’t you and Kyle move in here with us for a while until you sort yourselves out with your own place?’
‘Wow’ said Annabel who was delighted at the invitation. ‘But have you really thought about this? I mean you’ve got a tight little unit here. Do you really want us to walk in on it?’
‘I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t’ said Jeff. ‘I just think it would be good for us all to live within a larger family unit for a while and really get to know each other’.
‘Kyle is about to start his final year before his exams though, Jeff’.
‘I know but he could transfer to a school round here and still complete them I’m sure. So what do you say?’
‘Well I’ll have to put it to Kyle first but if you’re sure and he says its’ okay then yes, why not? We’ll make a fresh start after all that’s happened and leave recent events behind us. Clive won’t mind. He doesn’t care enough to mind’.
‘Well I’ve already spoken to Brendan and he says its fine by him and I know Toby will be cool so speak to Kyle when they get back from football and we’ll move ahead with it’.
They clinked their glasses to celebrate. ‘Cheers, brother’ said Annabel.
‘Cheers, little sis’.
There was a ring of the doorbell and when Jeff went to answer it he was pleasantly surprised to see Rebecca Stockton standing th
ere. He greeted her warmly and asked if she’d like to join him and Annabel in the back garden for a glass of wine and then stay for the barbecue.
‘I’ll see’ said Rebecca who hadn’t slept all night because of what she’d been planning to do. ‘But could we talk first?’
‘Sure’ said Jeff who led her into the living room. They sat down close to each other on the sofa. Jeff was sure he knew what Rebecca had come to talk to him about and perhaps it had been long overdue. ‘What’s on your mind?’
‘Jeff, I want to change my mind over the whole transfer request’ Rebecca began.
‘Okay’ said Jeff. ‘I never wanted it to happen anyway’.
‘I know. You, me and Ollie Wright are a good team’.
‘Well I think so and I certainly don’t want to break it up’.
‘But it’s more than that for me, Jeff. Look, I have feelings for you. I have done for a long time and I didn’t want to make it too obvious before because of respect for Lillie Mae and the grieving process you’ve been going through. I get that you never wanted to even consider a relationship with another woman until you’d worked it all out inside. I do get that, Jeff. But I felt that now was the time to tell you and that if I didn’t tell you I’d regret it’.
Jeff stood up and walked over to the window. ‘It’s not that I’ve never thought about us being more than friends, Becky. But that’s just it, I’ve never thought about it with any seriousness until recently’
‘And what conclusion have you drawn, Jeff? I mean, could you ever love me the way I love you? It’s taken a lot for me to come here with this and I need to know how you feel about me’.
THE END
But Detective superintendent Jeff Barton and his team will be back in ‘No Questions Asked’ early in 2015.
Meanwhile, David Menon has also begun a series of mystery novels featuring the private investigator Stephanie Marshall and set in Sydney, Australia. The first novel in the series called ‘What Happened to Liam?’ is available now through all the usual retailers, including amazon, kobo, google etc. Here’s chapter one to give you a taster.
