Case One (12 page)

“I reckon it could be. It's possible that Alford might have fancied Ashleigh as well, but if she'd given him the brush off… Raping her would have been two birds with one stone, so to speak.”

Connors gave him a pained expression. “So to speak – where are we with the DNA?”

Danny Simmons shifted. “Boss? I've been on to the lab again. They've bumped it up the line but it's still going to be a while. I've asked them to run a comparison with the sample we took from Alford at his first arrest as soon as poss.”

“Have we got anything else from Forensics?”

“They think they've got fibre evidence from Ashleigh's clothes, but we'd have to give them something for comparison. Nothing from prints.”

“So what do you want to do?” the DI asked Woods as she looked at the board. Holly didn't think she seemed particularly convinced by any of it.

“Like I said,” Woods told her, “I think we've got enough to give Alford a tug on suspicion of Ashleigh's rape.”

“You know a decent brief's going to say we can't even be sure there
was
a rape – not without an allegation – I'm assuming Ashleigh hasn't come round and you've just forgotten to tell me.”

“No. There's no change.”

“So we
could
just wait for the DNA.”

“We could,” Woods said. “But then that could take us into tomorrow and it gives Alford more time to concoct an alibi, maybe get rid of any clothing he was wearing.”

“If it
was
him.”

Connors considered for a moment longer, then she said: “Okay, see if he's at home. If he is, try and get him to come in voluntarily. If not…”

“Right,” Woods said.

Connors nodded, then straightened up from the desk she'd been leaning on and looked at her watch. “I need to get to Tesco before they run out of everything decent.”

“Spaghetti bolognese or risotto?”

“Risotto.” She gave him a frown. “How did you know?”

“Cos it's always one or the other.”

“No it's not.”

Woods gave her a look.

“Well excuse
me
for not being Delia Smith,” Connors said, heavy on the sarcasm. “Let me know when you've talked to Alford, okay?”

“It won't interrupt the risotto?”

Connors gave him a narrow-eyed look, then turned and moved towards the door. Instead of heading out though, she stopped in front of Holly.

“TPO Blades, right?” she said. The easy banter she'd shared with Woods was gone and instead the DI seemed steely and stiffly formal.

“Yes, ma'am,” Holly said and stood straight.

“Looks like you've buggered up everyone's Saturday.”

“Yes, ma'am,” Holly repeated, not sure what else to say.

“Right.” And with a nod she continued on, out of the room, trailing perfume in her wake.

There was a moment of silence and then DS Woods said: “Danny, you up for the tug? I'm going to check through the statements from the door-to-door to see if there's any mention of Alford. Holly, you too.”

“Sarge?” Holly wasn't sure what she was being told to do.

“Go with Danny,” Woods said. “It's your info so you can put in the legwork to check it out.” And with a last glance at the boards he started away.

“Come on then,” Danny Simmons said to Holly. “Let's see how hard it is to find Mr Alford.”

And as he gestured her towards the door, Holly felt the weight of responsibility for all this settling on her shoulders.

18.

PENRICE HOUSE
CADOGAN ESTATE
14:31 HRS

They rode up in the lift accompanied by the stench of a dirty nappy, despite the fact that Danny Simmons had kicked the offending article out into the lobby before the doors closed.

On the fifth floor they made their way along the walkway, passing one or two people who didn't bother to conceal their interest in the two coppers. A couple of men in their twenties saw them coming and immediately left their position at the railing to dodge back inside a flat and close the door. As he passed the same door a moment later Danny Simmons gave it a kick and said loudly, “Not today, Ricky. You got lucky – for once.”

There was no response from the flat.

A few metres further on the door of flat 516 was also closed, its paint shabby and in need of attention. Danny Simmons waited until Holly was behind him, then banged on the door with the side of his fist.

For a moment there was nothing, then an unintelligible voice was raised inside. Simmons thumped the door again. “Police! Open up please.”

Finally, after a full thirty seconds, the door was opened by a woman in her thirties. She had a washed-out complexion and blonde hair whose roots were several weeks overdue for retouching. She wore jeans and a sweater and had a tea towel in her hand.

“Mrs Alford?” Danny Simmons asked.

“Yeah.”

“I'm DC Simmons from Morningstar Road station, this is TPO Blades. We're looking for Drew. Is he in?”

“Why?” the woman said. She shifted her gaze to Holly, as if the only unusual thing about all this was her presence. Holly was glad she was back in full uniform again.

“I'd like to ask him a couple of questions,” Simmons said. “If he's here.”

“Only two of you? Last time it was half a dozen.”

“We were hoping he might be a bit more cooperative this time,” Simmons said without missing a beat. “Can we come in?”

The woman gave him a look, then said, “He's in his room.”

She led them into the flat and Holly closed the door behind them. At the hallway leading to the bedrooms Mrs Alford stood aside and gestured. “Second on the left,” she said. “And if you're gonna arrest him again don't ask me to come with him. I had enough of that last time.”

“Is his dad here?” Simmons asked.

Mrs Alford shook her head. “Football, pub, more pub, chippy, home. He'll probably talk to you lunchtime tomorrow.”

“Right.”

Mrs Alford didn't bother to reply but went back to the kitchen, as if she wanted nothing to do with the consequences of disturbing her son.

When she'd gone Danny Simmons moved along the hall to Drew Alford's room. He knocked on the door, then tried the handle. It was locked.

“Drew? I'm DC Simmons from Morningstar Road station. I need to talk to you.”

There was a moment of silence and then the sound of movement and urgent, hissed voices. Simmons knocked again, harder. “Now please.”

“All right, all right, keep your hair on,” Drew Alford's irritated voice called from inside the room. There was another muffled exchange inside the room and Holly thought the second voice sounded female. Then the door was unlocked and Drew Alford opened it.

He was tall, well muscled, with an unruly thatch of brown hair and an angular face beneath it. He was fastening a pair of jeans over boxer shorts and had a shirt in his hand. In the bed behind him a girl with dark hair and a heart-shaped face was rapidly pulling a black T-shirt down over her pink bra.

“Your mum didn't say you'd got company,” Simmons said, looking from Alford to the girl. “Hope we're not interrupting.”

“Not now, you're not,” Alford said.

“Like to introduce us?”

Alford shrugged and looked over his shoulder to the girl. “What's your name again?”

The girl, already uncomfortable at the intrusion, made a face. “Fuck off, Drew,” she said.

“I thought I already did,” Alford said with a grin.

“What's your name, love?” Simmons said, cutting through the banter.

“Bex.”

“Bex? Okay, you don't need to come. This is TPO Blades. She'll stay with you, okay? – Come on, Drew, do yourself up through there.”

With a sour look, Drew Alford zipped up his jeans and went along the hall towards the sitting room. As he did so Simmons leaned in towards Holly, dropping his voice.

“Bex?” he said significantly. “Have a chat, yeah?”

Holly knew what he meant and as Simmons moved off along the hall Holly went into the bedroom. Bex was pushing her hair back from her face.

“Can you shut the door?” she asked.

Holly did that and then Bex swung her legs out of bed and started hunting on the floor for the rest of her clothes. She was only dressed from the waist up.

Holly looked round the room to give the girl some privacy and also to give herself some time to think about what to say next. The room smelled of stale cigarette smoke and there was an ashtray on the floor with what might have been the remains of two or three spliffs in amongst the other dog-ends. On the walls there were several posters of topless models and some football stuff but nothing to indicate that Drew Alford knew the meaning of tidy.

By now Bex had found her knickers and a pair of jeans. As she pulled the jeans on she glanced at Holly and said, “Is he in trouble again – Drew?”

“I don't know,” Holly said, adopting a slightly fed-up air. “They never tell me anything. I mean, they tell me what to do, but not why.”

This didn't seem to surprise or interest Bex.

“Is his mum out there?” she said, with a nod at the door.

“Yeah. She let us in.”

“Shit.”

“What's up? Don't you like her?”

“She don't like me,” Bex said, looking for a sock to match the one in her hand. “Drew said she wouldn't be back till later or I wouldn't've come. She's a real cow – you seen a sock like this?”

Holly moved round the bed to look. “Have you been going out with him long?” she asked casually.

“Three months nearly.”

“Long time,” Holly said. “Do you live near here?”

“Yeah, Cranham House. It's a dump.”

“I don't suppose you saw anything around the flats last night did you, about half past six? We're supposed to ask anyone we meet today if they were in the area.”

“Nah, I was down the High Street till eight,” Bex said, a note of resentment coming into her voice. She gestured towards the sitting room. “
He
was supposed to meet me at seven but he wouldn't answer his phone, just leaves me standing out in the cold like a numpty. Dickhead.”

“Right,” Holly said, keeping her tone light. “So he stood you up?”

Bex nodded. “He can be a real tosser sometimes.”

“They all can,” Holly said. “Oh, here you go.”

She picked up the missing sock and held it out to the other girl.

“Ta.”

Bex sat on the bed to pull on the sock and looked at Holly. “So how long's he gonna be? I'm not sitting round waiting if it's gonna be ages.”

“Hold on,” Holly said. “I'll see if I can find out.”

“See if his mum's there an' all, yeah?”

“Okay, stay here,” Holly said and moved to the door.

In the corridor there was no sign of Mrs Alford, but as Holly went along to the sitting room she could hear the conversation between Drew Alford and Danny Simmons. She stopped in the doorway, not wanting to interrupt. Alford had his back to her, perched on an armchair, and although she knew Danny Simmons could see her, he didn't look her way.

“Listen, I don't even know what's supposed to have happened, right?” Alford was saying. “So how can I have had something to do with it?”

“I didn't say you did,” Simmons said. “But someone gave us your name and said they'd seen you on the estate at the right time.”

Holly knew this wasn't entirely accurate, but even she couldn't tell that Danny Simmons was stretching the truth.

“Yeah, well, I live here don't I?” Drew Alford said. “I'm always around.”

“That must be why we get so many complaints,” Simmons said, and without waiting for a response he glanced towards Holly.

Drew Alford twisted his neck to look, then made to stand up.

“Stay put,” Simmons told him.

He crossed to Holly and they retreated to the hall.

“Bex says she was supposed to be meeting him last night at about seven,” she told Simmons in a low voice. “He didn't show up though, and he wasn't answering his phone.”

“That's useful. Okay, let's see if he'll come nicely.”

Holly followed Danny back to the sitting room and when Alford saw her again he made no attempt to disguise the fact that he was looking her over. It felt like he was appraising her – as if he had every right to look at her that way if he pleased.

He's always saying stuff like “She's a three, she's an eight”.
That was what Taz had said, and now Holly knew it must be true. She had to make a determined effort not to react.

“Okay, Drew,” Danny Simmons said. “I'd like you to come to the station so we can talk about this on the record.”

“What if I don't want to?” Alford said, finally looking away from Holly. “I told you, I ain't done nothing.”

“So you shouldn't object to helping us eliminate you from the investigation. But if you do…” He let the alternative hang in the air, unspoken but clear.

Alford took a second or two, then gave an exaggerated sigh. “All right,” he said. “If you want to waste your time.”

“Right, you'd better find some shoes and a coat then. I'll tell your mum what's happening.”

“Don't bother,” Alford said. “She couldn't care less.”

19.

INTERVIEW ROOM 2
MORNINGSTAR RD STATION
15:18 HRS

In the Observation Room Danny Simmons was trying to find a working biro amongst the half-dozen scattered across the desk. He tried them on a pad, one by one, and when they failed to work he tossed them into the bin. After he'd done this six times Holly couldn't stand it any more and handed him one from her pocket.

“Here,” she said, then added: “I've got a clean hankie too, if you need it.”

“Thanks, Mum.”

Holly chuckled. “I thought you'd be in there,” she said then, gesturing to the interview room on the TV monitor.