by Liz Mistry
Gus clipped the tape off. ‘We’ll leave it there for now, Adnan, but we’re going to have to keep you in.’
Walking back to the investigation room, Alice glanced at Gus. ‘I’m not sure I want the answer to this, what exactly was on that tissue you showed Adnan?’
Gus laughed. ‘Ah well, Compo has many uses. I snatched the only non-chocolate smeared hankie from his bin before we left.’
‘Gross, but good idea, tripped him up nicely.’
Gus looked at her. ‘What do you think?’
Alice gave a half-hearted laugh. ‘I think that poor lad will never have sex again.’
‘You believe him, then?’
She sighed. ‘Yeah. Do you?’
‘Yeah, I think I do, which means someone went into that room after he left and took a knife to her – maybe the real father of the baby?’
‘I’ll see if we can get any more from her friends on that issue.’
48
13:05 The Fort
Gus, with Alice and Taffy, watched and listened to Jake and his father through the one-way mirror. Despite his obvious attempt at nonchalance by sprawling in the plastic chair and folding his arms across his chest, Jake’s right leg bobbed up and down under the table.
His father sat next to him, a small frown between his brows, as he spoke quietly to his son. ‘Look Jake, why have they brought you back in? They must think you have some more information.’
Jake refused to meet his dad’s eye. ‘Well, I don’t.’ His voice was high with indignation and he quickly cleared his throat and repeated in a lower tone. ‘I don’t, okay? I don’t.’
Mr Carpenter looked round the room and sighed. ‘Well, they obviously think you do, Jake, so, if I were you, I’d start racking your bloody brains to come up with something. God, Simon’s parents are in a right old state, so if you know something you’re not saying out of some misguided loyalty, let me tell you lad: This. Is. Not. The. Time. Okay?’
Jake frowned and lowered his head.
‘I said, okay?’
Jake gave an exaggerated sigh.
‘Okay, Okay. Stop going on at me, alright.’
‘No, Jake. It’s not bloody alright. Your best mate’s gone missing and two young girls have been murdered at a party that you were at without your mum and me knowing. It’s far from bloody alright.’ He ran a hand through greying hair.
Gus grinned and jerked his head towards the door. Mr Carpenter seemed a bit more on edge than he had earlier. Perhaps the seriousness of the situation had sunk in now. ‘I think that’s our cue, Alice.’ Then he turned to Taffy. ‘Watch and learn. Take notes. Think if you’d do something differently from us. There’s no set code for this. You need to develop your own technique – work out what works best for you. Oh, and look for tells that Alice and I might miss in there, like that leg of his bobbing up and down like a duck in a mud puddle. That’s a sure tell that we’ve got him on edge. It might get faster if we hit a raw note – and be ready to report back when we come out.’
Taffy sat down with a pad of paper in front of the mirror, looking determined to miss nothing that would come in handy.
Gus marched briskly through the door, his dreads bouncing as much as the lad’s leg. Frowning at Jake, he marched over to the table and with a sigh, pulled the chair out and sat down. Alice bustled in behind him and at Gus’ gesture she silently set up the recorder, then dragged a chair to the table and sat down with her arms folded, mirroring Jake.
‘Nice of you to come back down again, Mr Carpenter. I know you’re a busy man and this is a bloody waste of your time. If Jake here had told us everything last time, we wouldn’t have needed to pull you in again.’
Mr Carpenter frowned at Jake and then looked at Gus, all trace of resentment gone from his face. Instead, he resembled every other worried father Gus had encountered within these four walls; pinch lipped, and anxious. ‘I’m sure Jake will tell you all you need to know this time. Won’t you, Jake?’
Jake’s head fell further to his chest. His dad prodded him with his finger. ‘Did you hear me, Jake?’ His tone was threatening. ‘Sit up and at least look like you’re a bloody thinking being.’
Glowering, Jake reluctantly pulled himself upright in his chair and laid his arms on the table.
Gus narrowed his eyes and glared. ‘This is a murder enquiry as well as a missing person enquiry. Do you think I’ve got time for idiots like you withholding evidence?’
Jake bit his lip and stared at him.
Raising an eyebrow, Gus leaned forward with his hands linked on the table nearly touching Jake’s. His tone was quiet but his anger was clear in his flashing eyes. ‘Well?’
Jake shook his head and leaned back in his chair.
‘Right then, now we’ve got that clear, perhaps you’ll tell me about the drugs – and I’m not talking weed, okay?’
Jake’s dad turned abruptly in his chair, his lips tightened and his face was red. ‘For fuck’s sake, Jake!’
Jake glanced at Gus, then at his dad, then back to Gus again. ‘I don’t take owt, Dad. Honest, I don’t.’
Gus raised an eyebrow again and pursed his lips. He pushed some stapled sheets of paper across to Mr Carpenter. ‘Have a read of that, sir. Jake, can you just tell us what you know.’
Jake leaned over as his dad lifted the paper, trying to read the typing. His dad glowered at him and leaned back. ‘Answer the DCI, Jake. NOW!’
Jake swallowed and looked back at Gus. ‘Honest, I didn’t have owt to do with it. It was Si.’ He shook his head in emphasis. Gus merely returned his gaze.
Jake looked away. ‘Si wanted me to buy some blues with him. I said no. I didn’t want to get involved in that stuff. I’m off to uni next year, don’t want a criminal record and that.’ He risked a glance at Gus who remained expressionless. ‘I think Si bought some anyway. He had a few at the party but I think he got those that night. Sometimes though, he pissed off at gigs – dunno where he went, like, or what he done. Recently, though, he had a bit more money than usual. Maybe he was selling them at Tequilas.’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t know for sure. When I got really angry at him for pestering me to buy them, he stopped talking about them.’
Gus frowned. ‘And you never asked?’
Jake shook his head.
‘For the tape.’
Jake glanced at the tape. ‘No, I never asked about them. I didn’t want to know.’
‘You must have asked him who his source was?’
Again, Jake looked at the tape. ‘No, I never asked. It was bound to be some dodgy cunt.’
Mr Carpenter broke off from reading the transcripts. ‘Jake!’
‘Sorry. Some dodgy guy.’
‘He must have given you a clue?’
‘Nah – maybe somebody off the internet. Si was a bit of an idiot at times. Wanted to be a big shot.’
‘Look, this drug thing is serious. It may be that they’ve got something to do with his disappearance. If you know or even suspect anything at all – you better let us know. It’s seventeen years for dealing blues you know.’
‘I didn’t deal any blues. It was Si.’
‘You knew about it, didn’t you?’
Jake took a deep breath. ‘Maybe those biker guys. Si didn’t seem too bothered that they were at the party, but me and Matty were scared shitless. They looked like right mean fuckers.’
‘Would you recognise them again?’
Jake bit his lip and thought for a minute. ‘Yeah, I reckon I might.’
‘Okay then, after this interview you can go through some of our biker photos and see if you can ID them.’
Jake stood up.
Gus scraped his chair back with unnecessary noise and leaned towards Jake. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’
Glancing at his dad, Jake slumped back into his seat. ‘I thought I had to look at photos?’
‘Yes. When the interviews over… It’s not over yet. So, sit yourself back down and get comfy.’ Gus opened his file and slipped another copy
of transcripts over to Jake’s dad, who took them with a heavy sigh. Jake didn’t even attempt to sneak a peek this time. Instead he looked pale-faced at Gus, waiting for the inevitable.
Gus rubbed his hands together. ‘What do you think is in there, then, Jake?’ He gestured towards the papers in his dad’s hands.
Jake shrugged and sniffed, his eyes filling up with tears. ‘I don’t know.’
It’s more transcripts of your FB convos with Simon.’ Gus scratched his chin. ‘Any ideas what’s on them?’
A single tear rolled down Jakes cheek and his voice wobbled when he spoke.
‘No.’
Gus grinned. ‘I’ll give you a clue: MILF.’
Jake’s dad broke off from his reading and glared at Gus. ‘What does that mean?’
Gus smiled at Jake. ‘I think Jake can tell us, can’t you?’
Jake glanced at Alice as if looking for a way out, before lowered his chin to his chest again. When he spoke it was in an almost indiscernible mumble. ‘Mothers I’d like to fuck.’
‘What?’ His dad looked puzzled.
‘It’s like a code or something some of the lads use when they see one of their mate’s mums that’s good looking. Don’t worry, none of them say that about mum.’
Mr Carpenter raised his eyebrows and with a slight smile looked at Gus. Despite the severity of the situation, Gus’ lips twitched as his eyes met Mr Carpenter’s.
‘Not sure quite how to take that… Best we don’t tell your mum in case she takes it the wrong way,’ said Mr Carpenter. Then, smile gone, he turned back to his son. ‘You telling me that you boys use those sorts of terms about women? I thought we’d brought you up better than that?’
Jake ran his hand over his cheek to brush away the tear. ‘It’s not just us, Dad. The girls use it too, except they say DILF.’
Slowly, his dad shook his head and raised his eyes to the ceiling. ‘Don’t tell me, the D stands for “dad”?’
Jake opened his mouth. Mr Carpenter held up his hand. ‘No, don’t say it. I already know it’s not used about me!’
Jake threw a quick glance between his dad and Gus, his brows pulled together. Then he shrugged as if to say ‘what the hell’.
Gus, despite enjoying the conversation between father and son, intervened.
‘Let’s keep this simple, Jake. We know all about Simon and the bet, okay? The only thing we don’t know is the identity of the mother and daughter involved – who was it?’
Jake shrugged ‘I’m not sure. The photo was a bit indistinct with her.’ He glanced at his dad. ‘Well, what I mean is, you couldn’t really see her face.’
‘So, Simon did have photographic evidence that oral sex took place between him and somebody’s mother.’
Jake frowned and thought. ‘Well, now you mention it, it was definitely Si, but, well, it could have been anybody doing it, I suppose. That’s what Matty and I thought afterwards. We tried to get our money back, but he wouldn’t give it.’
‘How did you know it was Simon and not something he’d got off the internet?’
‘Well, it was his boxer shorts. I can’t, like, ID his – well, you know what.’
Alice coughed and Gus glared at her. ‘Sorry, tickle in my throat.’ Her choice of words sunk in and she bit her lip as Gus mumbled, ‘Nice turn of phrase.’ He turned back to Jake, ‘Of course not.’
‘And it was his mum’s cushions.’
Gus glanced at Alice. ‘You mean it happened at Simon’s house.’
Jake nodded. ‘Yeah, in the front room. I recognised the couch and cushions.’
‘Was there a recorded version of them having sex?’
‘Yes,’ Jake said, ‘It happened in the woman’s house and it was pretty steamy, I can tell you.’ He looked at his dad and winced. Ducking his head, he mumbled, ‘Sorry.’
‘Right. Did he use a name for the woman?’
‘No, but she kept using his name, you know, when he was like, em… you know…’ He glanced at his dad again. ‘Pussy petting.’
Mr Carpenter exhaled. ‘For Christ’s sake.’
Gus ignored him and continued questioning Jake. ‘You mean you could hear the woman calling his name as he performed oral sex on her.’
Jake exhaled and his shoulders relaxed. He was evidently relieved not to have to spell it out in front of his dad. ‘Yeah, that’s it.’
‘Did the recording demonstrate whether full intercourse took place?’
‘Yes, yes it did. I heard – well, em… Yes, it did.’
Gus took pity on him. ‘Perhaps you can give a full transcript of what you can remember from the tape, at the end of the interview, without your dad present.’
Jake heaved a sigh of relief. ‘Yeah, thanks.’
Gus tapped his finger on the table and frowned. ‘Jake, what doesn’t add up to me is that you don’t know who either the mum or daughter are. The daughter was referred to as A in your conversations via FB, I can’t believe you don’t know who it is.’
‘Si wouldn’t say. He could be really secretive. All I know is she’s in Year Ten ’cause it was Year Ten parents’ evening when he saw her. We were doing the refreshments.’
‘If he established a relationship with the daughter in order to get to the mother, surely you knew who it was? You must have seen him with her. According to our computer expert he only has male friends listed under A in his Facebook account and on his phone.’
‘Don’t know. Honest, Si was really secretive about stuff. Got the impression she was a bit of a geek, though. He said he joined some club with her but he wouldn’t say which one, just that it was weird. Maybe he told Matty, though I doubt it.’
‘Hmm. Don’t suppose there’s any copies of either the photo or the video?’
Jake fidgeted on his chair. ‘Well, Si, like, sent it to my phone.’
‘So, it’s on your phone now?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Will you give permission for us to access the photo from your phone and save it?’
Jake fumbled in his pocket and handed his phone to Gus.’
‘The recording?’
Jake sighed. ‘It’s on there, too.’
‘We’ll delete both from your phone after we’ve copied them. Now, you stay here with DS Cooper and give your version of the transcript for the tape.’
He turned to Jake’s dad. ‘If you’ll come this way there’s a chair in the corridor where you can wait, or if you’re happy to leave him here till he’s looked at the photos, you can get back to work and I’ll have someone drop him home later.’
After saying goodbye to Mr Carpenter, Gus went back to Taffy. ‘Right, Taff, drop his phone with Compo and tell him to go through the lot whilst he’s got the chance and have him see what he can do with the photo to enhance it. When you’ve done that, I want you to sit in with Alice to interview Matty. You will take the lead on that, okay?’
Taffy looked startled. ‘Me?’
Gus slapped him on the back. ‘Yeah you. Use what you’ve just seen as a template and improvise to find your own techniques. You need to practise to get it right. Alice will make sure you’ve covered everything.’
‘Great! Thanks boss, appreciate the chance.’
‘Right, I’m off to interview a head teacher.’
49
13:45 Unknown Location
Can’t stand much more of this. Freezing and hungry, but what’s worse is the not knowing. Anything could be happening out there and I just don’t frigging know.
I pace the room – six giant steps this way and eight giant steps that way. How many baby steps? Fucked if I know. I’m not playing What’s The Time, Mr Wolf? on my own. No chance. Bad enough when we used to do it at primary school. Me? I preferred Kiss, Cuddle or Torture? Wonder what psycho thought that one up? I loved it though. Loved the torture… until the teacher told me off for being too rough with the girls. They asked for it, though. They chose torture… I just carried it out. Remember Jessie Graham? Little fucking bitch said torture, so I pinched her
nipples. That’s torture, right? You’d think I’d done summat wrong the way her mum moaned on and on – fuck’s sake it was only a game. Waved bye-bye to another fucking foster family with that one, didn’t I?
That’s the thing. They give you a label and then you’re stuck with it. I was the kid nobody wanted. The kid who picked on girls. The smelly weirdo with no mum. Soon as they make you a non-child – a monster – then it’s easy for them to do what they like with you. Too fucking easy. Well, some of them found out the hard way, didn’t they?
Wish I was at home though, in my own bed. Should’ve brought my duvet – wasn’t the plan though. Could’ve brought something else. Feel like I’ve got scabies again. Scratch, scratch, scratch, every two seconds. Got them once when I was little – itchy as fuck!
Shut up, Simon!
It had to be the blanket. Had to make sure. Had to stick to the plan. Wouldn’t even moan about that girly damn fabric conditioner smell on my duvet. Fuck, it’s cold! Blanket’s useless and I think it’s got fleas. Nicked it from the bitch’s garage, so it might have. Maybe her old man used it for the horses or something. Just my luck.
Now, I’ve thought about it, it’s worse than when I had a pot on my ankle. Nearly got caught that time. Shouldn’t have jumped off the roof. Only just got away before they arrived, I could hear the sirens getting louder as I skirted round the back and down towards the viaduct where I’d left the van. Surprised the parents didn’t smell it on me when I got home. The pair of them are stupid though. Unless it’s about them, they don’t notice owt – too busy shagging and pawing each other. You’d think by their age they’d have got over that shit, wouldn’t you? What a fucking adrenalin rush it was, though. Perfect timing, perfect execution… until I fell, that is. Ha ha! It was great.
I bang my fist to my forehead. What a plonker! What am I thinking. Didn’t I pack some clothes in my rucksack? Where is it? Under the bed. I pull it out and unzip it, shoving my hands down to the plastic bag at the bottom. Like it’s a huge Christmas present
