No Questions Asked (7 page)

     ‘But they might’ve known of your affair with Lucy and decided to get to you though her’ Jeff countered.

     ‘Oh for God’s sake no!’

     ‘You were having a lot of trouble with the animal rights people a while ago. You were a butcher and surprise, surprise you were selling meat’.

     ‘Meat that carries some stupid sentimental value for some Brits’ said Gary. ‘You know what it’s like, Jeff. We’ve talked about it many times’.

     ‘They might’ve turned nasty enough to do something like this’.

     ‘Really?’ asked Gary, incredulously.

     ‘It’s been known, Gary’.

     ‘What, that bunch of public school dropouts who wouldn’t know a real principle if it leapt up and smacked them across the face?’

     ‘A little simplistic but I get your drift’.

     ‘Well there’s nobody else, Jeff. Not to my knowledge’.

     ‘How many other affairs have you had, Gary?’

     Gary went bright red. ‘A few’.

     ‘How many?’

     ‘Well if you include one-night stands as well as full blown affairs then about twenty’.

     ‘Well then I’ll need the names and addresses of all of them’ said Jeff, trying to work out if he was appalled or jealous. ‘You may have twisted the mind of some psycho husband or boyfriend of one of them’.

     ‘Aw, Jesus, if this all comes down to me not being able to keep it in my fucking trousers I swear I won’t know how to live with myself’.

     ‘Well don’t jump to those conclusions yet’ said Jeff. ‘But I will need those details and you will need to come down to the station so we can take that DNA sample’.

     ‘Suppose I could come now’ said Gary sounding a little reluctant which irked Jeff a little. He’d been trying to keep it level and as much as he could forget that Gary was his friend with an outside chance as a possible murder suspect.

     ‘Look, I’m not out to get you or pin anything on you, Gary’.

     ‘No, I know that, mate’.

     ‘But I do need you to co-operate with me’.

     ‘I know that too, Jeff’ said Gary. ‘You know all I can see in my head is Bradley’s face the last time I saw him. If I’m responsible for this then I’ll never be able to forgive myself’.

     ‘Well let’s see what we can conclude before you start going down that road’ said Jeff. ‘By the way, what are the approximate times you were at Lucy’s place on Sunday morning?’

     ‘I went over at ten just after Debbie drove to her brother’s place’ Gary explained. ‘I had a shower at Lucy’s before going back home around midday’.

     ‘Then we’ll also need to take a detailed statement from you at the station’ said Jeff.

     ‘Why?’

     ‘Because the timeframe you’ve just given me places you within the realms of possibility for being the killer, Gary. That’s why’.   

     It was gone three o’clock in the afternoon by the time Jeff was able to convene a meeting of all the members of the squad, including the two new ones, Adrian and Joe. He welcomed them both, flattered their egos by saying that they’d come with impeccable references from his old friend, DCI Sara Hoyland, even though that was perfectly true, and then told them that they’d be expected to hit the ground running on an investigation that was growing with seriousness and intensity the longer it remained unsolved. He then turned to DS Oliver ‘Ollie’ Wright, the member of his team he trusted most after Rebecca, to give an overview of where they were at in terms of catching Bradley Thompson’s killer.

     ‘As yet we have no leads on the lost rucksack that Bradley Thompson was carrying at the time of his murder or that we believe he was carrying’ said Ollie as he addressed the room. ‘Of course he may have dropped it after getting off the bus but why would he unless he was in some kind of distress and running away from someone’.

     ‘Could he have known his killer?’ Joe asked. ‘Is that what we’re thinking?’

     ‘We’re not thinking anything at this stage, DS Alexander’ Ollie replied. ‘But it’s more than probable that Bradley did know his killer. As we know random acts of murder, especially of children this age, are still thank God extremely rare in our country. All the neighbours have given statements and we’ve gone through them all. There’s nothing in any of them that would give us cause for any kind of follow up but we’re now widening the net to his classmates and teachers at school. We’re also waiting for the DNA test results on Gary Mitchell to see whether or not he was Bradley’s father’.

     ‘I don’t know which would be worse’ said Jeff. ‘Finding out that Gary is Bradley’s father or finding out that he wasn’t’.

     ‘There is a possibility that it could be Bernie Connelly?’ asked Rebecca.

      Just the mention of Bernie Connelly’s name was enough to wind Jeff up and he’d been thinking that if he was involved in anything to do with this then it would prove a game changer. Jeff wouldn’t be able to resist using the situation to get to Connelly who he’d been waiting a very long time to bring down. Lucy Thompson had been involved with him as his lover and his employee. That suggested to Jeff that there would be more to find out about Connelly and his connection to this murder. 

      ‘Well we do know that Lucy Thompson did have a sexual relationship with both Gary Mitchell and Bernie Connelly at the time that Bradley would’ve been conceived’ Ollie went on. ‘But until we get those DNA results we won’t know’.

     ‘And Lucy Thompson is adamant that Gary Mitchell is the father?’ asked Adrian.

     ‘Oh yes’ said Jeff. ‘She’s told me, she’s told my sister and she’s told the FLO’.

     ‘It could be that she’s trying to convince herself as well as us’ said Joe. ‘You can tell yourself something over and over again but it doesn’t alter the fact that it isn’t true’.

      ‘But until we can prove otherwise then Gary Mitchell is our only suspect so far’ said Rebecca. ‘He would’ve had the time to do it and he did have the motive. If he thought that Bradley was his son and knowing how desperate his wife Debbie is to get pregnant it might’ve sent him over the edge to protect her feelings?’

     ‘I’d have said that about a lot of people but not Gary’ said Jeff.

     ‘Don’t forget how close you are to this, Jeff’ said superintendent Chambers.

     ‘I do understand that, ma’am’ Jeff replied who wasn’t sure whether Chambers was referring to the fact that Gary Mitchell was his friend or the feelings that she knew would’ve been inspired by the spectre of Bernie Connelly. ‘Look, I know where you’re going with this DI Stockton and I don’t like it but that’s not to say that it might not be true. It’s time to get Gary Mitchell back in and when he is I want you, DI Stockton and you, DI Wright, to handle him. I also want his house searched and his butcher’s shop on Craven Road. Our new boys, DC’s Bradshaw and Alexander, I want you both to go down to the Paradise club. Find out what you can about Lucy Thompson’s time working there. Do we know what the opening times are for the club, Ollie?’

     ‘Well it just so happens that it opens at three in the afternoon, sir’ Ollie replied, looking at his watch. ‘Just about now’.

     ‘Good’ said Jeff. ‘So get down there now please gentlemen and don’t even think of sampling the goods on offer’.

     After the briefing Adrian followed Ollie into the gents where Ollie was drying his hands under a machine that was fixed to the wall.

     ‘Thanks’ said Adrian.

     ‘Thanks? What for?’

     ‘Ollie, you know damn well what for so stop messing about’.

     ‘Adrian, I promised you when we had our little fling that I would never kiss and tell and I meant it’.

     ‘So you’ll keep it that way?’

     ‘Yes Adrian’ said Ollie, smiling. He’d been surprised to see Adrian walk into the squad room with such a confident swagger. They’d had a fling three months previously that had nevertheless been exciting and good with snatched afternoons in Manchester hotels. ‘Nobody will ever find out from me what a great kisser you are’.

     Adrian blushed. ‘Thank you’.

     ‘Credit where it’s due’ said Ollie. ‘But we do have to work together. So I hope it’s not going to be a problem?’

     ‘Not as far as I’m concerned’

     ‘Good’ said Ollie who was relieved that there wouldn’t be a difficult work situation to deal with. ‘And that goes for me too. So how are you anyway? Dare I ask if you’re seeing anyone?’

     ‘I’m seeing ... well I’m seeing a woman now called Kate. She’s a teacher at my kids’ school’.

     Ollie couldn’t help but smirk. ‘Now why doesn’t that surprise me’

     ‘Look, Ollie, don’t be like that. You know I wouldn’t have missed what happened between us for the world but I just can’t see myself settling down with another man. It just wouldn’t work for me. Having sex with men is one thing and I love that ...’

     ‘ ... yes, I remember’.

     ‘But Ollie, settling down with another man and living as a couple is something else entirely and something I just couldn’t handle’.

     ‘Adrian, I understand and it’s not as if I was ever offering you the chance to settle down with me. My body may not be spoken for but my heart very much is and I’ll be with my partner for life. But I got to know you well enough over those few weeks we were seeing each other to know that you can’t hide that part of you away forever. I hope it works out for you and this Kate, I really do. But sooner or later you’ll feel that need again. I know it and so do you, and then you’ll be living a secret life behind her back. If that’s what you want then fine go for it. But I can’t help thinking that one day it’s all going to explode in your face’.

     ‘Not if I’m careful’.

     ‘Oh get real, Adrian. Think hard about your life and where it’s going and get real’.

      .

FIVE

On the way to the Paradise club Joe and Adrian hit the early rush hour traffic that became particularly bad in the approach to Stockport where they came off the M60 next to the Co-op Bank call centre pyramid. Joe was driving.

‘Well this is like it always is’ said Joe. ‘You and me off to nail down the clues in some seedy club. It’s like a seamless transfer from one squad to the next’.

Adrian wasn’t listening. He was still thinking about what Ollie Wright said before they’d left the station. Ollie’s words had gone deeper than he’d wanted them to. In fact they’d quite knocked him off balance inside.

‘Adrian?’

‘What?’

‘Where the hell have you gone? Since we left the station I feel like I’ve been on my own’.

Adrian snapped out of it. ‘Sorry, mate’ he said.

‘What’s the matter? Didn’t you feel comfortable with DSI Barton?’

‘No it’s not that’ said Adrian. ‘I was just … well you know I said I’d started seeing Kate?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Well it’s our Jessica’ Adrian explained. He had to tell Joe something to explain why he’d been sitting there like an ignorant bastard for the last half an hour. And it wasn’t like he was going to be telling Joe a lie. He just wasn’t going to tell him the whole truth about how highly sexed he was and how he liked to get it from both women and men.

‘What about her?’

‘Well Kate is one of Jessica’s teachers. And she clearly can’t stand Kate’.

‘I never liked any of my teachers at Jessica’s age’.

‘Yes but your father presumably wasn’t a widower trying to build a relationship with one of them’.

‘No, that’s true’ said Joe. He thought about his parents who were as blissfully happy now as they always had been. They were the constant in his life and yet they weren’t getting any younger. One day he’d have to do without them and he wasn’t relishing the prospect. His brother and sister both had partners and children who would form the backbone of their family once the parents had passed on. The way things were working out for Joe, or not depending on the way he looked at it, he’d have nobody but himself to get him through. It was different for Adrian. He’d got three kids who’d get married and have kids of their own. He’d do alright whether he did settle down with Kate or someone else or nobody at all. He’d have folks there to see him through his old age.

‘I’m going to have to sit our Jess down and talk to her’ said Adrian. ‘I don’t want to fall out with her and I certainly don’t want to upset her. But don’t I deserve a chance to be happy, Joe? I thought it was the end of the world when Penny died and it still is to an extent because no matter who I meet they’ll never be the same as Penny was to me. But if I can be happy with someone then isn’t that something? Jess isn’t a kid. She’s fourteen. Surely she’ll be able to see all of that?’

‘Mate, from my limited knowledge of watching my siblings being parents to their kids I know that at fourteen some kids can think they’re all grown up and mature enough for what’s waiting for them along the journey of life but emotionally they still haven’t got all the money they need to buy the ticket to make that journey’.