by M A Comley
“My dad always had a secret side to him.”
“Sammy! You can’t say that. What on earth will the officers think?”
“It’s okay, Mrs Davis, we need to hear the facts. Secretive? In what way? By that I mean regarding a specific topic or just all round secretive?”
Sammy lowered her head a little and sighed. “You might as well know the truth. Mum and Dad didn’t get along.”
“Sammy! We did so… occasionally. Although I must admit… recently, his foul moods have made all our lives intolerable. I still loved him, no matter what anger he showed within these walls.”
Katy tilted her head. “Are you telling us that his moods developed into something more? Did he abuse you?”
Sammy’s head lowered a farther few inches and her mother turned to her and patted her on the hand. “I think we should tell them the truth, sweetie, don’t you?”
Katy sensed the women were about to share some interesting news. “Anything you can tell us at this point could prove crucial in our investigation.”
“I can’t, Mum. Not yet. I need to know how he died first.”
Katy nodded. “If you feel you’re strong enough to take it. Your father was tied up in his vehicle and someone set fire to the car.”
“Oh shit! Was he… burnt alive?” Sammy demanded, her eyes blazing with fear.
“We won’t know the true extent of what really happened until the pathologist has completed the post-mortem.”
“Why did you have to ask that, Sammy?” her mother asked, horrified.
“It’s my warped mind, Mum, I need to know the ins and outs.”
“What good will it do to know how he died?” Jane held up a hand when Sammy went to answer. “No, I don’t want to hear what goes on in that head of yours. It’s full of secrets just like your father’s, I’m sure of that.”
“That’s a bit harsh, Mum, and totally unfounded. Jesus, I’ll go and leave you to deal with the police then, I know when I’m not wanted.”
Jane clenched her daughter’s hand with both of hers. “No, I didn’t mean anything by that, I promise. Stay here, I need you to be with me, not upstairs by yourself.”
“Okay, it doesn’t alter the fact you’ve lashed out and hurt me though.”
“I’m sorry, that wasn’t my intention, Sammy. Please forgive me, I’m not thinking straight, not with your father’s death.”
“All right, but stop having a go at me because of his failings, you’ve been guilty of doing that a lot lately and I hate it. I’m not him. He was a one-off.”
Her mother touched her daughter’s cheek. “Again, I apologise if I’ve said anything harsh lately. We’ve all been under a huge amount of stress, 2020 was a devastating year for everyone, especially those who are self-employed.”
Katy watched the interaction between mother and daughter with interest.
Sammy gave a short, abrupt laugh. “Ha, right, it didn’t stop him going out four or five nights a week to piss it up the wall though, as soon as the pubs were open again, did it?”
“Sammy, don’t speak like that about your father. Go, leave us alone, don’t you think I’m going through enough stress as it is right now without you being intent on slagging your father off?”
“Sorry, it’s the truth, whether you want to admit it or not, Mum.”
Jane jumped to her feet and pointed at the door. “Get out. Now!” she shouted, shocking everyone in the room, especially her daughter.
Sammy’s tough exterior crumbled in front of their eyes. She burst into tears and dashed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.
Jane buried her head in her hands and sobbed. “Jesus, why does she always have to test the boundaries? Now look what she’s done. She’s forced a wedge between us, just when I need her support.”
“Would you like me to have a word with her before we leave?” Katy asked tentatively.
“Would you? No, you have enough on your plate without being a mediator as well.”
“It’s hardly that. Once we’re done here, I’ll go up and see her. We’ll get you two talking again, I promise.”
“I hope so. I’m going to be relying on her for support… once I begin making the funeral arrangements.”
“You will. It’s never an easy task to handle.”
Jane fell quiet for a moment or two. “I didn’t have the courage to ask him for a divorce. We should have parted years ago. Yes, I loved him, but I hated him at the same time. Does that sound contradictory?”
“Not in the slightest. The experts will tell you there’s a fine line between love and hate. Can you cast your mind back over the last few months, maybe Jason confided in you about feeling fearful of something?”
She shook her head. “No, not that I can recollect. But that doesn’t mean to say there wasn’t something going on that he felt he needed to keep secret.”
“What about his friends? Are they likely to know him any better? Sorry, I didn’t mean it to come out that way. Maybe his friends were more aware of what was going on in his life than his family.”
“Possibly. He only had one good friend, Nigel Granger. I can get his phone number for you, if you like?”
“That would be extremely helpful. Did your husband go to the pub with Nigel?”
“Now and again. Nigel was more of a homebird, unlike Jason. My husband used to get irate with Nigel at times. Taunted him for being under the thumb, bloody idiot. Just because a man prefers his wife’s company to that of his best friend, it doesn’t mean he’s under the thumb. We had more arguments about that than anything.” She left her seat and went in search of her address book. She reeled off the number and Charlie jotted it down.
“So true. Can you think of anyone else who might have likely fallen out with your husband lately? A customer perhaps?”
“No, nothing along those lines. All his customers relied on him to do a good job, he never let them down either. I can’t think of anything. I swear, I would tell you if I could. I want this person caught. Wait, what if they come after me or my daughter?”
“Maybe you can both stay with relatives for a few days, just in case. Although I have to say that’s probably unlikely to happen.”
“But can you guarantee it?”
“No, which is why I made the suggestion to stay elsewhere.”
“I’ll see if we can arrange that today. I bet that’s going to cause another rift between my daughter and myself. She loves the comfort of her home as much as I do, rarely steps foot out of the house except to go to university or to pop round and see her grandparents.”
“Maybe you can both stay there, if you’re close to them.”
“Possibly, can I give them a call, you know, while you’re here?”
“Go for it. Why don’t I go upstairs and have a chat with Sammy while you make the call?”
“Sounds good to me. Tell her I’m sorry, will you?”
Katy smiled. “Leave it to me.”
She left the room and walked up the stairs. At the top, she surveyed the landing and then moved towards the door at the end of the hall when she heard the faint sound of music coming from the room. She knocked on the door and eased it open.
Sammy was sitting on her bed, her legs crossed, listening to her iPod. Katy entered the room and sat on the end of the bed. Sammy’s eyes shot open and her hand covered her heart. “Damn, you scared the shit out of me.”
Katy smiled. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I knocked, but you couldn’t hear me. I hope I’m not intruding, Sammy.”
“You are. I don’t want to speak to you, or to Mum. I just want today to be over.”
“I can understand that. Please, don’t shut your Mum out, she’s going to be counting on you for support now that your father is no longer with us.”
“You reckon? She’s always been a hard cow.”
Katy tilted her head. “Really? She doesn’t come across as uncaring to me.”
“I didn’t say she didn’t care, I said she was hard, emotionally lacking
at times. Fails to react like other mothers do when the chips are down.”
Katy didn’t have a clue what Sammy was going on about. From what she could tell, Jane had reacted normally, if there was such a thing when a family member hears of a loved one’s death. “Do you fall out a lot?”
“As she’s always reminding me, I’m my father’s daughter. We were close, as most fathers and daughters are.”
Katy nodded her agreement. The truth was that she and her father had been ultra-close over the years. “I get that. My dad is pretty special to me as well.”
“Now he’s gone. Our family dynamics are going to alter significantly. I’m not sure I’m going to be able to cope with Mum on my own.”
Katy frowned. “Care to tell me more?”
“She’s under the doctor for mental illness. Dad abused me when I was ten and she hasn’t forgiven herself for letting me down, for not being able to protect me.”
“I see. I’m sorry to hear that and yet, you’re telling me you were really close to your father.”
Sammy shrugged. “Don’t ask. It was just the once. He swore he wouldn’t do it again. Told me it was a one-off, and I believed him. It was.”
“Did your father say why he abused you?”
Her chin hit her chest, and she mumbled, “Because he loved me. I know, I’ve tried to tell myself that he was wrong, but he was my father, someone I looked up to. I idolised him. Whether he abused me or not, I had his genes running through me. I couldn’t cut him out of my life. Mum refused to leave him because of finances, so we had to settle on making the best of a bad job. That’s why Dad used to go to the pub all the time.”
“That’s heartbreaking. How do you think you would have reacted towards your father if your mother had walked out on him?”
“I don’t know. I don’t suppose I’ll ever know, now he’s no longer with us.”
“Your mother is going to need you now, more than ever.”
“I know. I’m too angry right now to be with her. It’s not because of what she said, it’s in here.” She clutched a clenched hand to her breast. “I need to spend the day working through my feelings. I’m struggling to make sense of his death. Strange things keep circulating my mind.”
“Such as?”
“What if he was one of those sex pests? What then? What if he touched other little girls up and one of their fathers finally took revenge?”
“It’s something that we’re going to need to delve into. Did your father ever hint that he may have assaulted another child?” Katy asked compassionately, trying to put herself in Sammy’s position, to understand how confused she must be right now.
“No, never. But it’s the only thing I can think of as to why someone would want to hurt him… to kill him. He wasn’t a saint by any means, is any man? But he didn’t deserve to die at the hands of a stranger.”
“A stranger or someone he knew, we’ve yet to figure that out. I promise you I’ll get to the bottom of who it was and why they chose to kill your father. Until then, I need you to take care of your mother for me, will you do that?”
“Of course. She knows I’ll calm down after a while and forgive everything that was said downstairs. It’s what families do, isn’t it?”
“Usually, yes. You might want to start packing an overnight bag. Your mother is in the process of ringing your grandparents to ask them if you can stay there for a few days.”
“She is? Why?”
“Your mum’s worried that whoever killed your father might have plans to stop by and hurt both of you.”
Sammy’s eyes widened in shock. “No! That can’t be right, surely?”
Katy smiled. “Why don’t we err on the side of caution and get you shipped out to your grandparents, just in case?”
Sammy shot out of the bed and ran to her wardrobe. She dragged a large holdall off the high shelf and started throwing in some underwear, jumpers and jeans. Her packing was complete within less than five minutes. “Should I pack for Mum as well?”
“Why not? I’ll go back downstairs and let her know.”
“Thank you for the chat.”
“You’re welcome.” Katy patted her on the forearm and left the room.
Charlie and Jane were chatting quietly in the lounge, and Katy stopped for a brief moment to listen to what was being said. Charlie was consoling Jane and doing a good job of it too. Katy entered the room. Charlie looked up and smiled.
“Everything okay?” Katy asked, her gaze shifting between the two women.
“Yes, I think so. You’re going to be fine now, aren’t you, Jane?” her partner said.
Jane sniffled and wiped her eyes with a tissue. “I think so. We have to accept he’s no longer with us and get on with our lives.”
“That’s a start. Sammy should be down in a moment.”
“Is she all right?”
“I would say she’s probably confused about her emotions right now, so give her time to adapt.”
“I will. As long as we have each other, I think we’ll survive and thrive, now he’s no longer around. Over the years I’ve felt stifled in my own home, does that make sense?”
“You’re not the first abused woman to have said that, and I doubt you’ll be the last either. My advice would be not to dwell on the past too much, but to look forward. You have a close relationship with your daughter, I can tell that, even though it might seem a little strained at the moment. Give her time to adjust to what’s happened. You’ll both come through this trauma in the end, I have every confidence in you.”
Jane nodded and sniffled again. “Thank you. I believe we’re both strong and yes, we will survive. What happens now?”
“The pathologist will be in touch with you soon. Whether she’ll give you the go-ahead to view your husband or not is another matter. If she believes his body isn’t in a fit state for you to see, then you’ll have to accept that’s the case, okay?”
“I’m not sure I’d want to see him to be honest, not if he lost his life in a fire.”
“When Patti calls you, tell her how you feel. No one is going to force you to do something you don’t want to do. There are other ways we can identify him, if necessary.”
Jane ran a shaking hand over her face. “Is he really that bad?”
Katy nodded. “Maybe it’s for the best if you and Sammy remembered him as he was.”
Sammy entered the room behind her and ran into her mother’s outstretched arms and hugged her. The two women sobbed and kept apologising to each other. Time to go, there’s nothing left for me to say. Katy gestured to Charlie that it was time for them to leave.
Jane glanced up and nodded.
Katy waved and placed a card on the nearby table. “Ring me if you need anything.”
“We will and thank you,” Jane replied.
Katy and Charlie left the house. On the way back to the car, Katy blew out a breath. “God, that was a chore and a half. Mixed emotions flying around. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes over the next few weeks, coming to terms with their wayward thoughts and feelings.”
“I’m with you there. It begs the question about what we’re up against though, doesn’t it?”
“Yep, several possibilities are coming to mind, there’s no doubt about that, Charlie. Let’s see what the pub’s landlord has to say.”
2
The Fallow Deer Inn was a newish pub in the middle of a recently erected housing estate. It had an outdoor seating area to the right, and Katy could imagine whiling away a pleasant evening here in the summer with AJ and Georgie. Back to the grim task in hand, she and Charlie entered the public bar to find a man in his fifties with a bit of a paunch on him, standing behind the bar in a conversation with another man of a similar age who was on the other side, drinking a pint of lager.
“Hello, there. What can I get you?” he asked jovially as he walked the length of the bar towards them.
Katy produced her warrant card. “DI Katy Foster and DS Charlie Simpkins, are you the owner or manager?�
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“I own this place. What’s up? We haven’t broken any rules, not that I’m aware of.”
“No, it’s nothing like that, sir. We’re investigating an incident that happened not far from here.”
He frowned and scratched his temple. “You’ll need to give me more than that. What type of incident?”
“We believe it involves one of your customers,” Katy said, evasively.
“Who?”
“Jason Davis, do you know him?”
“Of course I bloody know him, he’s more than a regular, he’s a close friend of mine.”
“Ah, okay. Perhaps you can tell us if he came in here last night?”
“He did. Left pretty early from what I can gather too.”
Katy inclined her head. “Sorry?”
“I was off duty, but Tracey said he had his eye on a woman in here last night.”
“Is Tracey around?”
“She should be reporting for duty soon. Why? What’s Jason been up to now? Apart from the obvious. Always had an eye for the ladies, that one.”
Katy sighed. “Sorry to have to share this news with you, but last night, Jason died in an incident.”
His head craned forward and his eyes bulged. “What? No way.” He gripped the bar with both hands as if to steady himself. “No bloody way. I can’t believe I’m hearing this. An incident or an accident, did you say?”
“An incident. We can’t really say more at present.”
“Why’s that?”
“We need to keep the facts about the inquiry confidential in case the press get their hands on anything and scupper our investigation.”
His frown deepened. “I’m not with you. Wait a minute! You’re not telling me there was foul play to this incident, was there?”
Katy issued a tight smile. “I can’t give you more than that, not yet, sir.”
“Bloody hell. I know what you’re getting at. You’re telling me he’s been murdered, aren’t you?”
Katy shrugged. “I need to ask if you have any cameras in the bar.”
He pointed at a few spots in the immediate area. “Take your pick, the place is riddled with them. Want me to search for something for you?”
