by M A Comley
“I did. I must admit I was angry at first that he’d run the story, I became worried about his safety. These boys—men—are dangerous. People tend to forget that fact. Hitting out publicly at them will achieve nothing come the end. I wish people would leave us to get on with our job—”
“With respect, Inspector, you’ve spent the past ten minutes telling me how difficult your job is without the CPS backup. Dave ran that story as a favour to me. Our friendship obviously means more to him than living under a threat that these men will come after him. I, for one, am grateful for his input.” Hartley finished his coffee and set the cup back down in its saucer.
“I can understand your anger, Rupert. At the end of the day, it’ll be the police work that will be the downfall of these gangs. This gang, in particular, will have the might of my team after them until they’re apprehended. You have my word on that.”
Hartley appeared to drift off into a thoughtful haze again. “We’ll see, Inspector. Only time will tell, eh?”
“It’s all I can give you right now. To others, my word is usually good enough. I promised Wheeler that I would keep you informed about the investigation, and that’s been my intention today. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. I’ll keep in touch, as promised.”
Rupert stood up, and Hero extended his hand for him to shake. The grieving man shook it grudgingly. They walked back up the long hallway to the front door.
“I’ll be in touch shortly.”
“I hope with news that the scum are behind bars before they rip another family apart,” Hartley said sullenly.
“I hope so, too. Ring me anytime, day or night, if you need to talk to me.”
Hartley nodded and closed the door behind him.
On his way to the car, Hero rang Fay at home. “Hi, sweetheart.”
“Hi. Well this is unusual. What’s up?”
“Bad news, I’m afraid. I’ve got to go and see some possible witnesses to a murder this evening. I won’t be home until about nine.”
“Well that’s a first.” Hero heard the smile in his wife’s voice.
“What is?”
“You ringing me to say you’re going to be late rather than turning up at gone eleven. Are you feeling all right?”
“Fine thanks. The hangover took a while to clear this morning. Thought I’d give the pub a miss tonight and come home to see my lovely wife instead.”
“Why?”
“We’ll chat later, love. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, that’s all. I’ll see you around eight thirty to nine.”
“Okay, see you later, darling. Oh, and Hero?”
“Yes, sweetheart.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He pressed the button to disconnect the call and leaned against his car door, thinking what a prize jerk he’d been. Never before had one case called into question his own life and how he lived it the way this one had. Things had to change, or he feared he would lose Fay and Louie for good. It was time he grew up and took his responsibilities seriously for a change.
Chapter 10
Dusk was drawing in, along with an evening chill, when Hero and Julie arrived at the scene. “Let’s hope we get some results from this,” Hero said as they got out of the car and crossed the road to a redhead standing on the corner of Silcott Way.
The redhead made out she was sniffing the air. She smiled a hateful smile at the two detectives. “I smell filth.”
Hero held up his warrant card. “DI Nelson, and this is DS Shaw. Mind if we ask you a few questions?”
“Have I got a choice?” She dipped her hand into her handbag and pulled out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. She lit a cigarette, placed it between her blood-red-painted lips and inhaled deeply.
“Were you working here last night?”
“Last night, the night before that, and the one before that. Hey, man, I work every damn night. I have to. Why?”
Hero frowned. “You heard about the murder last night, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Goes with the territory. Like I said to that newbie yesterday, ‘Get out while you can before it’s too late.’”
“Newbie?”
“Yeah, the girl who was asking all the questions last night. She said it was her first night on the game. She looked pretty green, too, if you get my meaning.”
“Did you catch her name?” Hero motioned for Julie to hand him the file she had tucked under her arm. Taking the file, he withdrew the pictures from the CCTV footage. “Can you point the newbie out for me?”
Reluctantly the redhead flicked through the pictures and stopped at the penultimate one. “That’s her. Not the best picture in the world of her, but I recognise the naff clothes she’s wearing. Quality threads don’t belong on prossies.”
Hero raised a questioning eyebrow at Julie as if asking her why she hadn’t spotted that clue back at the station. It’s not down to me to spot clues about fashion, is it? He knew he was being unfair to his partner. It wasn’t her responsibility to spot designer clothes. Could people even tell nowadays, anyway?
“What happened? Did the woman leave after you tried to dissuade her she wasn’t cut out for the job?”
“Yeah, she surprised me by leaving. Didn’t look put out or nothing. She obviously don’t know how much a girl can make out here. Not that we keep much of it.”
“Who’s your pimp?” Julie was quick to ask.
The redhead glared and looked her up and down. “Why, you after a part-time job?” She laughed at her own joke, and Hero had to stifle a grin as he watched the revulsion radiate from Julie in waves.
He cleared his throat and repeated his partner’s question. “Who’s your pimp?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Do you want to take this down the station?” Hero asked, not in the least bit amused by her attitude.
“Are you mad? If I leave this spot now, I might as well not bother working tonight. This is the prime location around here.”
“Then answer the question,” Hero insisted.
“It’s the Krull Gang,” the redhead mumbled almost incoherently.
“The Krull Gang, was that?”
“Yes,” the redhead snapped back. She glanced around her nervously as though the mere mention of the gang’s name would invite trouble to descend upon her.
“Are they due here this evening?” Hero asked, feeling a little on edge himself at the thought of coming up against the violent gang out in the open.
“Nah, they called for their money last night, early.”
“Getting back to the murder, do you get much trouble from punters in this neck of the woods?”
“Depends. Some punters like to rough the girls up a bit, but we’ve never had a girl killed around here before.” The girl’s hardened features softened slightly as she spoke.
“Was Sara Brown a friend of yours?”
Her shoulders straightened, and she sniffed noisily. “We all look out for each other. She shared a room with me back at the squat. I’ll miss her bothering me about wanting to wear my blusher, but thems the breaks, huh?”
“Did she have any bother from the Krull Gang? Could one of them have killed her?”
“Why the fuck would they do that? They’d be cutting off their own noses, wouldn’t they? Like all of us, she supplied them with money, so they can sit around on their arses all day instead of working.”
“How long have you been working for them?” Hero asked.
“About a year. They took over the area from another pimp.”
“What happened to the other pimp? Do you know?”
The redhead sighed, clearly bored by all the questions. “I can only tell you what I heard on the grapevine. I have no idea if it’s true or not.”
“Go on,” Hero prompted, intrigued.
The redhead leaned in and lowered her voice. “The last pimp, Ronnie, didn’t stand a chance. He used to mouth off down at the White Horse how much money he was raking
in every week. It wasn’t long before the Krull Gang got to hear about it. The next week, it was the Krulls who came to collect our money instead of Ronnie.”
“What happened to Ronnie? Any idea?”
She straightened up again and took a hard drag on her cigarette. “Don’t think your lot have found him yet. Again, it’s only hearsay. I heard they chopped him into little pieces and distributed his body around a five-mile area. Dropped the bags in rubbish bins, I think.”
Hero turned to look at Julie, whose face had turned a greenish colour. “You all right?”
“Fine,” his partner bit back at him.
“Did Sara have any enemies?”
The redhead thought about the question for a moment. “Not that I know of. She was just an ordinary girl, trying to earn money to feed her habit, like all of us.”
“Who do you think killed her?” Hero knew by the smile that crept onto her face that he was about to regret asking that particular question.
“Oh, hang on a minute, I’ll look into my crystal ball and take a peek, shall I?” She laughed loudly.
“All right, I suppose it was a dumb question. Let me put it this way, do you think this newbie had anything to do with Sara’s death?”
She shrugged, threw her cigarette on the pavement, and stamped it out. “The newbie or a bad-tempered punter is my guess, for what it’s worth.”
Hero dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a card. “If you hear anything, will you give me a call?”
The redhead took the card and shoved it in her handbag. “Might do,” she said as they walked away.
When they were out of earshot, Hero said to Julie, “Not sure it’s worth hanging around here to ask the other girls any questions. I think we’ll move on to the next area. Turpin Road, isn’t it?”
Julie took the map out of the folder and traced the roads with her finger. She nodded and put the map away again. “I think we’re going to get the same results there, sir, if you don’t mind me saying.”
“I have the same feeling. I want to show all the girls in this area that picture of the newbie. I know it’s not up to much, but one of them might recognise her. It’s worth a try.” He wasn’t prepared to voice his suspicions at that moment in time. However, his thoughts were ultimately leaning in the newbie’s direction as the suspect who’d carried out the crime. Again, without evidence, his suspicions counted for nothing.
On Turpin Road, Hero parked close to the few shops in the vicinity. Three girls, two blondes and a black girl, stood on the corner opposite the shops. As Hero and Julie crossed the road towards them, the girls started to look agitated. Hero smiled, trying to alleviate their fears. Hero introduced himself and Julie then asked his partner to show the girls the photos in the folder.
The black girl asked, “Is this about the girl who was murdered?”
Hero nodded. “Do you know anything about it? Like who did it?”
“How the fuck would we know that? We never go to that side of town,” one of the other girls shouted at him.
“Look at the photos. Do you recognise anyone? Have any new girls been in the area lately, looking for work?”
The black girl studied the photos, looked up at Hero and shook her head. “No new girls around here. They know better than to come here, mind. Don’t they girls?” She elbowed both the girls, and they all laughed like a pack of hyenas.
One of the other girls, a petite blonde, whose roots needed a fresh dye, was wearing the smallest skirt Hero had ever seen. “Hey, we’ve got rights to these spots, gov’nor. No one messes on our doorstep. If they try… well, you get my drift.”
Hero showed the photos to the other two girls. “Any of you seen her?”
All three shook their heads.
Hero knew they were wasting their time and decided to move on to the next prostitute hang out. It proved to be another waste of time, as did the final stop they made. At eight thirty Hero called it a day and decided they should go home.
He dropped Julie back at the station and drove home to his wife. He gulped nervously several times on the journey home as he practised the conversation he was about to have with Fay. It could go one of two ways, and he couldn’t decide which side of the coin would drop. Only time would tell.
Chapter 11
Sammy the dog greeted Hero enthusiastically when he walked through the front door of his semi-detached home in Pendlebury.
“Hello, boy. Where’s your chew?” He smiled as the Rottweiler rushed into the lounge to fetch it. His tail wagged like a metronome as he ran up the tired-looking hallway. Hero eyed the flock wallpaper in disgust. How many times have I promised Fay I would rip it down and redecorate? Too many to mention, that’s how many. However, Fay never went on at him because she realised he was up to his neck in work or on duty with the TA at the weekends, when the home improvements should be carried out. Or he was getting home late from work, drunk, after downing numerous pints at the pub. It was time things changed. Seeing the way grief had affected Hartley had reinforced Hero’s need to alter his family life and to treasure the family he loved, because one day, they might be taken away from him. Then how would I feel?
He cleared the sudden lump that had developed in his throat and followed Sammy into the lounge. Louie the cheeky chappy, as Hero had nicknamed him, was sitting quietly alongside his mother as she tapped at the keys on her laptop.
“Daddy.”
Every time he heard the word, his heart missed a beat. Even though Louie wasn’t his biological son, Hero loved him as his own.
Hero bent down to kiss Fay on the forehead, then ruffled Louie’s hair and sat down beside him on the sofa.
“I won’t be long. Just typing up an instruction leaflet for a new recruit. I wasn’t expecting you back quite so soon.”
“There’s no rush.” Hero pointed at Louie and raised a questioning eyebrow.
Fay’s mouth twisted, and her eyes rose to the ceiling. She mouthed, “He couldn’t sleep.”
Hero pulled the child onto his lap and wrapped his arms around him. “What’s up, cheeky chappy?”
Louie rested his head against Hero’s shoulder and whispered, “There’s a monster under my bed. I saw him crawl under there in the dark.”
“Really? You want me to go and sort him out for you?”
Louie pushed himself upright, nodded sleepily and blinked his tired eyes a few times. “Would you? I asked Sammy to go up and sort the monster out, but all he wants to do is chew his rawhide.”
“I won’t be long,” Hero told his wife as he cradled the boy in his arms and headed out of the room and up the stairs. “Sshhh… we need to be nice and quiet.”
Louie pulled in a large gulp of air and held it, scared to breathe in case it would disturb the imaginary monster. Hero set the boy down on his feet and pushed the door to Louie’s bedroom wide open. He crept into the carpeted room towards the bed. Halfway across the room, he looked back over his shoulder to see what Louie was doing. His eyes wide with fear, the four-year-old was clinging to the doorframe as if his dear little life depended on it.
Hero lowered himself on all fours and crawled over to the bed. He eased the edge of the quilt up so that he could see under the bed. He had to fight the temptation to pretend that something had grabbed him, fearing it would scare the crap out of the child. Then Louie would end up sharing the bed with him and Fay. Instead, he sat back on his heels with his arms opened wide. “No monsters there, matey. You must have scared him off.”
He rose to his feet, pulled back the quilt, and patted the bed. Louie let out the breath he’d been holding in and tentatively stepped around the doorframe and into the room. “Are you sure? Where did he go, Daddy?”
“I’m not sure. Sometimes, these monsters just like scaring little people. Once they’ve succeeded in doing that, they disappear.” He clicked his fingers. “I think you scared him as much as he scared you. Go on, get in. I’ll tuck you up and read you a story.”
Louie’s face lit up. He loved being r
ead to. Hero picked up his favourite bedtime book, Peter and the Purple Dragon, and started to read it. Within five minutes, Louie was asleep, all fraught thoughts of a monster being stowed away under his bed forgotten about, for the night, at least.
When Hero wandered back downstairs, he heard Fay in the kitchen and went to find her. She was at the stove, stirring a pot with a wooden spoon. He stood behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and nuzzled her neck. “Mmmm… something smells good.”
She twisted her head and kissed his cheek. “Chilli con carne.”
He turned her to face him and draped his arms across her shoulders. “I wasn’t talking about the dinner.” His mouth closed over hers, and they shared a deep sensuous kiss that took both their breaths away.
“Wow! What did I do to deserve that?”
“You deserve a lot more than that for putting up with me.”
She kissed him firmly and pinched his cheek. “You’re worth it. You may have your faults, but I know your heart is good. Louie and I would be lost without you. Is all this because of the case you’re working on?”
“Yes and no. Seeing the grief this bloke is going through has made me appreciate how much you guys mean to me and how despicable I’ve been treating you both. I don’t want to lose you, Fay.”
Tears glistened in her eyes. “Hero, you won’t lose us, ever. Do you hear me?”
“You say that now, but I know I’m guilty of pushing you both away at times. I hate it when I do it. The trouble is, I get so damned involved in these cases.”
“So learn to switch off.”
“I’m trying. Honestly, I am. Hey, I’ve been thinking, what about a holiday?”
“That’d be wonderful. We’ve never been away together. Where did you have in mind?”
“The Norfolk Broads. I thought we could take Louie on a boating holiday. I used to love going on the river when I was a kid.”
His wife appeared floored by the suggestion. “Couldn’t we go on another holiday? I don’t like water. I get seasick even when I step in a puddle.”
