Case One (19 page)

“So what do we do?” Sam asked.

“Go through the motions,” Oz said, then turned and called out: “Mr Atkins?”

Leyton Atkins looked over, then disengaged himself from the other men and crossed towards the two officers. Charlie followed him.

“Have you found anything?” Mr Atkins asked as he approached.

Oz shook his head regretfully. “At a guess I'd say it happened last night – probably late on when there was less chance of anyone seeing them.”

“What about catching them? Can you get fingerprints or anything like that?”

“There might be something on the paint can,” Oz said. “We'll take it in and see if Forensics can get something, but I wouldn't be too optimistic. The fact they dropped it here probably means they knew they hadn't left any prints.”

He shifted a little and indicated the bonnet of the car. “Do you know about this tag – KB?”

“No, I don't know what it means,” Mr Atkins said.

“Well, round here it usually stands for Kaddy Boys,” Oz said. “They're a local gang and the tag's their way of marking territory.”

“So if you know who they are…”

“You can't prove it from that, Dad,” Ryan Atkins said. He'd moved closer to hear what was being said. “Anyone can do a tag.”

Oz nodded. “Ryan's right,” he said. “But the thing is, to me it looks like they targeted your car in particular rather than any of the others. Do you know of any reason why they'd do that?”

“You mean why they'd pick on my car?” Mr Atkins asked. “No. There's no reason. I've always parked it here, for years.”

“There's no reason they'd have a grudge against you?” Oz looked at Charlie. “What about the incident yesterday? Do you think this might be connected?”

“I— I don't know,” Charlie said, glancing at Ryan.

“Ryan, what do you think? Do you know any of the Kaddy Boys?”

“Yeah, right,” Ryan said. “I know them from church.”

“Ryan…” his father started, but Ryan suddenly seemed to have had enough.

“Look, what's the point?” he said. “They're not gonna catch anyone. They're just going to fill in a few forms and forget it. It's a waste of time. The car was clapped-out anyway. I don't know why we've still got it.”

“Hey! You listen,” Mr Atkins said, his voice hardening. “Me and your mother saved for more than a year to buy that car, God rest her. You think I earn enough to just go out and buy another one? You think I don't have enough expenses already? Where's your sense, boy?”

“Where's
yours
?” Ryan snapped back, and he spun on his heel and strode back to his mates.

Behind him Mr Atkins looked stunned, as if Ryan had never spoken back to him quite so forcefully before. But it was Charlie's reaction that caught Sam's attention. The younger boy's face showed both upset and worry, as if everything that had just happened had simply added to a heavy load already on his shoulders.

Sam glanced at Oz and saw that he, too, was watching the boy and might have been thinking the same thing. The PC didn't comment on it though – just handed Sam the incident forms.

“Okay, Mr Atkins,” Oz said. “If you'll give TPO Marsden your details, then I'll give you an incident number so you can contact your insurers with a claim.”

11.

INCIDENT ROOM
MORNINGSTAR RD STATION
11:43 HRS

“Bic's phone is a pay-as-you-go, first registered on October 23rd last year,” Danny Simmons said, hanging up the phone. “No way to trace who bought it.”

He moved across to where Holly was studying the texts on Ashleigh's phone.

“Listen to these,” she said. “They're from him to Ashleigh:
U R beautiful
…
Babe, I love what we do. I want it to go on for ever
…
Can't wait to see you
…
I love you so much
.”

“He's a real poet,” Danny said dryly.

“They're all pretty short, but a lot of hers to him are longer. Some of them are a bit – you know – ­explicit.”

“Yeah? Well just don't read them out to me then.” He sipped his coffee, then he said: “It doesn't prove anything though. Bic could still be a spotty fourteen year old.”

“I don't think so,” Holly said. “They don't sound right for a teenager.
Babe, I love what we do. I want it to go on for ever
? Nah… There might be a way to find out for sure though.”

“If you mean tracking down his phone, it won't work – at least, not accurately enough – that's only in the movies.”

“No. Look, here.” She scrolled back through the texts. “This was from Thursday. Bic sends Ashleigh a text:
Romsey Road? 6 o'clock
. And she replies
Yes!
– So if that's where they met maybe there's something on CCTV. We could check, couldn't we?”

“Or I could just go home,” Danny said flatly.

12

“Who did the car?” Alford demanded. They were standing at the bottom of the steps to the walkway outside Penrice House.

“What car?” Tyler Smith said, but as soon as he saw the look that crossed Alford's face he knew that he wasn't going to get away with it – and that he'd probably made it worse by faking ignorance.

“You know what fucking car, you arsehole,” Alford said. There was a tautness about him that even Tyler was wary of.

It wasn't that he was afraid of Drew, but even though he was heavier and stronger, it was no guarantee of anything if they really got down to it. All the Kaddy Boys knew that when Drew was wound up like this he was as unpredictable as he was vicious.

“Okay, so what?” Tyler said, unwilling to completely ignore the insult.

“Fucking idiot,” Alford said. “If I wanted that doing I'd've told you – shit.” He glanced away and made a noise of annoyance, then looked back. “Was it just you?”

“Yeah,” Tyler said.

“Why, what you got against Ry Atkins?”

“Nothing.”

“So what the fuck did you do it for then?”

Tyler hesitated for a moment but he knew there was no way to avoid this admission now.

“It's his brother, Choirboy. He was at the minimart Friday night.”

“What, inside?”

Tyler shook his head. “Outside, when I did the windows.”

“And he saw you.” It wasn't a question, because Alford had the whole picture now. “You twat.”

“Listen—” Tyler said, and he straightened his shoulders to show he'd taken enough.

Alford took no notice of the gesture though. Instead he took a step away, thought for a second, then turned back. “Stay away from him from now on,” he said. “If he hasn't told the cops already he probably won't – not unless you push him again. So just leave it, all right?”

“Listen,” Tyler started again. “If—”

“Leave it,” Alford repeated harshly. “I'll sort it.”

Then he caught a glimpse of two figures approaching along the walkway. “Oh fuck, what now?” he said.

Even as they reached the top of the damp concrete steps Taz knew this wasn't a good idea. She'd tried to persuade Bex not to go looking for Drew, but Bex wouldn't listen. She wanted to have it out with him and there was no dissuading her.

Now Taz saw Drew standing with Tyler and she could sense that this wasn't going to be good: Drew just had that look about him. But if Bex saw it she took no notice. Instead she quickened her pace, descending the steps fast, as if she suspected that Drew would walk away before she could reach him. But it was Tyler who moved off and Drew who stood watching the two girls come down to his level.

“You weren't gonna call me then?” Bex demanded as soon as she was close enough to be sure she had Drew's full attention.

“I was gonna call you when I was ready,” Alford said. “I had things to do.”

“What, like being arrested?”

“I wasn't nicked,” he said. “And if you know what was happening you know why I didn't call you.”

“Yeah? That was yesterday though, wasn't it? What about today? What about till
now
?” Bex demanded. “Or didn't you want to see me cos of
why
they nicked you?”

Taz could see that this didn't go down well with Drew. “What's that supposed to mean?” he said coldly.

“You know what it means. You know what they're saying? That you got nicked for raping Ash Jarvis.”

“Yeah, well
they
don't know fuck all. And if they say any more they'll get a smack. If I'd done it you think I'd be here now? Even the cops know I didn't.”

“So why'd they nick you at all? They must've had a reason.”

“Listen, I don't need this,” Drew said. “I've got things to do.”

He made to move away, dismissing her, but Bex was too angry. She stepped forward and grabbed his arm.

“You fancied her, didn't you?” she insisted. “I know you did. So had you been with her? Had you?”

“Get off me, bitch.” Drew shook his arm, hard, to throw off her grasp.

“Tell me!” Bex shouted at him.

“Okay, so what?” he snapped at her. “So I'd seen her – earlier. Happy now?”

Taz saw Bex flinch as if Drew had slapped her. Without looking at him she moved in to try and draw Bex away. “Come on, let's go,” Taz said.

But Bex was rooted to the spot. “What did you do?” she said, her voice suddenly quiet.

“What do you think?” Drew Alford's look was scornful. “And don't think it was cos of me. She was the one who wanted it, just so you know.”

“Come on,” Taz said again. All she wanted to do was get out of there now. She put her arm through Bex's. “Let's just go, yeah?”

She managed to get Bex to move, stiff like a robot, and they took a couple of steps before Bex turned back abruptly. “You arsehole!” she shouted. “You bastard. I wish they had locked you up. You should be!”

Taz saw Drew's face darken and he took a step towards them, threatening. She pulled Bex's arm, urging her to move again, and finally she did.

Behind them Alford watched the two girls hurry away for a couple of seconds, then he took out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket, lighting up before he moved off.

13.

IBO
MORNINGSTAR RD STATION
12:07 HRS

Holly knew this was make-or-break. She could also sense that with each additional minute that passed, Danny Simmons's doubts were getting stronger. Since they'd come up to Integrated Borough Operations he'd had two calls – one about a burglary artifice, the other over an alleged credit card fraud – and by rights he should probably have started to look into them.

Instead though, he was standing with Holly in the large, open-plan office, looking at a monitor as a civvie operator called Clare tried to find a camera with a view of Romsey Road and footage from Thursday evening. The longer it went on without a result, the more uncomfortable Holly became.

Finally the woman called Clare said, “There you go. It's the west end of the road, but that's all there is.”

On the screen Holly could see the frozen, grainy image of a road junction. The lights of the passing cars tended to burn out the detail in places and the height of the camera angle made it difficult to see the faces of pedestrians. Even so, she examined the scene carefully, looking for anyone who could have been Ashleigh Jarvis.

“This is 18:00?” Danny asked.

“18:01.”

“Can you run it back ten minutes?”

The images went into reverse and the time code ran back to 17:50. Then it started forward, but the effect wasn't smooth because the camera only recorded one second out of every three, giving the whole thing a disjointed, jerky feel.

Despite this, Holly scanned all the people she could tell were female, walking along the pavements, going into or coming out of buildings, sometimes obscured by passing vehicles. None of them looked like Ashleigh.

Then Danny Simmons's phone rang again. He answered it, taking a couple of steps off to the side. Holly stayed focused on the monitor, but she knew that Romsey Road was long and there was nothing to say that Ashleigh had met Bic within sight of the camera.

Danny ended his call. “I need to go back to the office,” he said. “If you want to keep looking for a bit…”

“Okay,” Holly nodded, not wanting to look away in case he changed his mind. “I'll let you know if I find anything.”

She sensed his hesitation about leaving her, but in the end he moved off.

Then: “Danny?”

Holly looked to the operator. “Can you pause it?”

As Danny came back Holly pointed at the screen. “There. At the bus shelter. That's her.”

The figure – a girl for sure – had long dark hair and a dark coat, short skirt. She was half under the shelter of a bus stop, looking off down the road.

“You think?” Danny said. Then to Clare: “Let it run.”

The footage went forward again, still jumpy, but because the girl was standing still she became a fixed point. A slight turn of her head between one frame and the next and Holly was certain. “That's Ashleigh,” she said.

Then an estate car came into view, silverish in colour, its indicator light on as it pulled in at the bus stop. At the same time Ashleigh Jarvis had moved out of the bus shelter and across to the kerb. The car door opened. She got in. The car was still for a few moments, then indicated and pulled away again.

“Can you see an index?”

Clare the operator shook her head. “Burned out. It's the lights. The old cameras can't deal with the contrast.”

“Can we get a copy of this,” Danny said, “and a couple of prints?”

By the time they were back in CID the phone was ringing again.

“Bloody hell,” Danny said impatiently. “Sunday's
supposed
to be a day of rest.” He picked up the phone. “CID, DC Simmons – Yes, that's right – When? – Okay, thanks for letting us know – Yes. Thanks.”