Broken Dreams (25 page)

‘Are you going to tell me what’s going on, Joe?’

‘I tried to talk to Salford.’ I told her the reason I’d tried to speak to him. Saying it aloud meant I couldn’t hold the tears back. Sarah sat next to me and held me until I’d finished.

‘I’m so fucking angry’ I said.

‘Don’t swear, please.’ She passed me a tissue.

I smiled and apologised. ‘What should I do?’

  ‘Have you spoken to Coleman?’

I shook my head. ‘I’d tried his mobile from the pub but it was switched off. ‘He did nothing for me at the time. He won’t do anything now.’

‘You can’t think like that. If you’ve got new evidence, he’ll have to re-open it.’

‘I don’t have any new evidence.’

Sarah took my empty mug out of my hand. ‘He’ll have to listen to you. He has to.’

I shook my head. ‘He had the nerve to question me over the fire. Tried to imply I’d started it.’ I thought back to the investigation. The inquiry had been quietly scaled back until it was classified as inactive. I was put under considerable pressure at the start, as most crimes are committed by individuals known to the victim, but after some heated exchanges between us, he’d backed away, seemingly accepting I hadn’t been involved.

‘I’m sure he was only doing his job.’

‘Not very thoroughly. He eventually decided it was kids messing around. Messing around? My wife died. That’s not messing around, is it?’

Sarah held my hand and told me to calm down.

‘I need a drink.’

‘You’ve just had one.’

‘A proper drink.’

‘It’s the last thing you need.’

‘My wife died. Two kids nearly died, and yet the police did nothing.’

‘It’s not always that easy.’

‘They backed away because they knew the truth. Coleman knew what was going on in that area. He knew Salford was behind it, but chose to turn a blind-eye.’

‘You don’t know that.’

‘I do.’

‘Joe.’

I turned away from Sarah. She was probably right, but I couldn’t think straight.

‘Do you want to stay here tonight?’ she asked.

I wiped my face and nodded. ‘If you don’t mind.’

‘Not at all.’

She walked out of the room and came back with a duvet and pillow and made me a bed up.

‘Goodnight, Joe.’

I smiled at her. ‘Thanks.’

And then the brick came through the window.

I’d cleaned most of the glass up within ten minutes. Sarah had sat with Lauren until they’d both calmed down. I didn’t want to, but I’d called Don to tell him what had happened. We sat there and waited for him to arrive. The cat was intrigued by the cold air blowing in, so I passed the time trying to push her back into the kitchen, well away from the open window.

Don walked in, looked at the smashed window and then at me. I said nothing.

‘Uncle Joe said some silly people did it.’

I smiled at Lauren. ‘That’s right.’

Sarah made her give Don a kiss and took her back to bed, closing the living room door behind her. ‘Well?’ Don said.

‘What?’

‘What’s going on?’

‘I’m not sure.’

Don was in my face. ‘We’re talking about my daughter and her kid. If anybody hurts them, I’m holding you responsible.’

I sat down and nodded. I didn’t like being threatened, but his anger was understandable. I’d brought trouble to his door. ‘I’m sorry.’

He sat down next to me. ‘Who did this?’

It could have been kids, or even students; just bad luck. The odds on it were probably incalculable. ‘I tried to speak to Salford earlier tonight.’

Don sighed and rubbed his face. ‘This has to stop. We’ll have to go to the police.’

‘I can’t.’

‘Can’t?’

‘He’s involved in Jennifer Murdoch’s death and I know why now. I spoke to Steve Taylor earlier. He’s involved in the valuations of the compulsory purchases and he’s had enough. He told Salford he wants out and he ended up taking a hiding. We’re talking about a lot of money.’ I looked at Don. ‘It’s enough to kill over.’

‘You need to let the police deal with it.’

‘I can’t’ I repeated.

Don raised his voice. ‘So my family have to put up with this?’

I told him to be quiet. ‘You’ll scare Lauren.’

‘You don’t think you’ve done a good enough job of it?’

‘Salford killed my wife.’

That stopped Don in his tracks. He stared at me, unable to say anything. He stood up and walked across to the broken window before turning back. ‘Salford killed Debbie?’

‘That’s right.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Salford wanted Debbie’s sister’s house so he could sell it on as a compulsory purchase. He’d already tried to force them out. Starting a fire was the next step.’

‘That’s some accusation to make, Joe.’

I shrugged. ‘It makes sense.’ Whether or not he meant to kill her was irrelevant. It’d happened.

Don sat down. ‘Have you got any proof?’

‘Murdoch told me.’

Don laughed and shook his head. ‘And you believe him?’

‘Why would he lie?’

‘Because his back is against the wall. Because he’s the main suspect in his wife’s death. Because he thinks you can help him in some way. Any number of reasons, Joe.’

I couldn’t see it. I’d looked into Murdoch’s eyes and saw a man who’d also lost his wife. The pain he was feeling wasn’t false.  I recognised it.

‘Have you spoken to the police about it?’ he eventually asked me.

‘No.’ I was getting a bit sick of Don’s stock answer to all our problems. We were investigators. We could conduct our own investigation. The police weren’t going to be any help to us.

‘You should speak to Coleman’ he said.

‘No point.’

Don stood up. ‘You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, right?’

I nodded.

‘You’d best do it quickly and not drag my family into it, then.’

He turned towards Sarah, who had walked back into the room. ‘Pack yourself a bag. You and Lauren can come and stay with me. Joe can wait here until they come to fix the repair.’

Don was right. They shouldn’t stay here. Not if Salford was gunning for me.

Sarah packed quickly and five minutes later they were ready to go. She gave me a key and they headed out to Don’s car. He waited for them to leave the house before returning to speak to me. ‘Think about what I said.’

I said I would.

‘We’ll speak tomorrow.’

The
light shone in through my curtains, hurting my eyes. I shuffled up the bed, feeling terrible. Looking at my alarm clock, I knew I was going to have to get up and face Don and Sarah. A hot shower and pot of coffee later and I was feeling ready to face the world. The anger I’d felt the previous day was turning into resolve. Anger was no good; it wouldn’t help me. I wanted justice for my wife and I needed to press on and get the answers. Grief would have to wait for now.

Sitting down in my front room with my breakfast, I opened my wedding photos album. Neither of us were religious, so we’d married at Hull Registry Office; Debbie wearing a new dress, me wearing my only suit. It had been the best day of my life. The ceremony was quick, simple and just right. Leaving the building as man and wife, we’d headed to the pub for a low-key celebration before heading off on honeymoon. My mobile rang and I put the album to one side.

‘Are you coming in this morning?’ Sarah asked me.

I mumbled something about running late and asked how she was doing.

‘Fine.’

‘Really?’

‘Really. We’re going to stay with Dad for a few days. It’s not a problem, really.’

‘How’s Lauren?’’

‘At school.’

I smiled. They were tough cookies. ‘How’s Don?’

‘Mad at you.’

‘Thought so.’

‘Is he there?’

‘He’s out and about today, so it’s safe for you to come in.’

I laughed. ‘Good.’

‘Besides, I’ve got someone here asking for you. You need to come in now.’

‘Who is it?’

‘Says she’s called Anastazja.’

I made it to the office in less than thirty minutes. Anastazja was sat at my desk, drinking from my mug.

She smiled at me. ‘Hello, Joe.’

She looked terrible. Her clothes were dirty and her face bruised. I sat down opposite her and pointed to the damage. ‘Who did this to you?’

‘It does not matter.’

‘It does. Who did it?’

‘Mr Johnson.’

I sighed and nodded. Of course he did. I explained how I’d been looking for her, but I’d gotten nowhere with it. Sarah stood up and left the room.

‘Why would you look for me?’ Anastazja asked me.

‘I wanted to make sure you were alright.’ I didn’t add that I felt responsible for her situation. I was also relieved to learn she hadn’t been sent to London.

‘Thank you, Joe.’

I smiled. ‘What happened to you?’

‘Mr Johnson did not like me talking to you and told me it had to stop. I said to him, why does it have to stop? We are not doing anything wrong, we are friends. Then he hit me and told me it had to stop. I was not to speak to you again. I was kept in my house and he said I was not to leave. He took my keys off me and sent people around to check on me. He said if I left, he would find me and hurt me.’

I nodded. ‘He’s not going to hurt you. Not now.’

‘I hope not.’

‘How did you find me?’

‘You gave me a business card when we first met. I put it in a safe place in my room. They did not think to look for such a thing. The door of the house was left open this morning, so I left. Nobody was watching, so nobody stopped me. I walked into the city centre and found a street map. Then I found you.’

‘I should give you a job.’

‘Maybe you should.’

I made more coffee and sat back down. ‘Did I tell you my wife died?’

She shook her head. ‘You did not.’

‘In a fire. She was looking after her sister’s children and the house burnt down. She saved the kids but didn’t get out of the house fast enough herself.’

‘I am sorry, Joe.’

‘The fire was started deliberately.’

Anastazja looked shocked and touched my arm. ‘I do not know what to say.’

‘There’s nothing you can say.’ Talking about it and finding some purpose was renewing me. ‘I can’t bring her back but I know who started the fire.’

‘Who?’

‘Frank Salford.’

She was shocked. ‘Why would he do that? I do not understand.’

I explained it the best I could.

‘Money’ she said, summing it up in a single word. ‘How do you know Mr Salford did it?’

‘Christopher Murdoch told me.’

‘You believe him? He is not a nice man.’

I nodded, taking her point. ‘He’s not a bad man, though; at least I don’t think so. He got involved in something he didn’t understand and couldn’t control. It got his wife killed and now he’s alone like me. I believe him, Anastazja.’

‘I think I understand.’

‘Did you ever hear any talk of the fire when you were working?’

She shook her head. ‘It was mainly Mr Johnson who visited me. Mr Salford stopped coming as much about one year ago.’

‘But he never spoke about the fire?’

‘Neither of them did.’

‘Did any of the other girls talk about it?’

‘No.’

I tried not to show my frustration. It wasn’t Anastazja’s fault. I knew my anger should be directed at Salford and Coleman.

‘If I knew, I would tell you’ she said. ‘Mr Salford and Mr Johnson are not nice men. I would like them to be punished. You have been very kind to me, Joe. If I could repay you by helping you, I would do it.’

I smiled. ‘I’m sorry. I know you would.’

Sarah walked into the room and I introduced her properly to Anastazja, and explained how she’d helped me. Anastazja excused herself.

‘You can’t save her’ Sarah said to me.

‘I’m not trying to.’

‘You are.’

I put my mug down and said nothing.

‘If she can’t go back to her house because of Salford and Johnson, where’s she staying?’

I watched Anastazja walk back into the room. ‘She can stay at my flat.’ I owed her that much. I gave Anastazja the keys to my flat and put her in a taxi with instructions to lock herself in. I couldn’t be sure whether Johnson knew where I lived, but I was working on the principle that he wouldn’t look in the most obvious places. Besides, there were no other options. If Sarah wasn’t staying with Don, I’d have asked her for the favour, but she’d made her objection to Anastazja’s appearance loud and clear. I didn’t have the time or inclination to discuss it, or try to figure out what she was thinking, so I left the office and headed to see Coleman.

The same officer from my previous visit was manning the duty desk and didn’t look pleased to see me again.

‘DC Coleman, please’ I said, smiling at him.

‘He’s in a meeting.’

I laughed. ‘You’ve not even tried him.’

‘He’s on my list.’

‘He’ll want to talk to me.’

‘I doubt it.’ He turned away from me. ‘Pleasure speaking to you, though.’

‘It’s about my wife.’ We were the only two people in the reception area. ‘I’m not messing’ I explained. ‘If he won’t talk to me, I know people who will.’

‘Sit down.’ He pointed to the seats behind me and picked up his phone.

‘I thought we understood each other?’

 I stood up and walked over to Coleman, who was leant on the frame of the reception door. I didn’t care how pissed off he was. ‘I want to talk to you.’

‘It’s not a good time, Joe. Can’t it wait?’

‘No.’

‘It’ll have to.’

‘Fine.’ I started to back away. He looked like he hadn’t slept properly for days. ‘I’ll have to speak to the press, then. I’m sure they’ll be interested.’

Coleman looked at me like he really didn’t need the hassle. I wasn’t letting him off the hook so easily. He relented and we went into an interview room.

‘Why did you drop the investigation?’ I took a deep breath and calmed down. I was shouting.

‘It’s not like that’ Coleman replied.

I wondered if we were being recorded, but I didn’t care. ‘It was exactly like that.’