by G R Jordan
Chapter 14
Hope spun the wheel and let the car slide around the corner and down the narrow road to the set of grey council housing situated in a cul-de-sac. In its day, the little enclave might have been a catch, a smart home for those who did not have much in the way of money but a lot of ambition. Now, the lustre of fresh exterior pebble dash was gone, the metal railings to the door faded, and the rooves were green with algae.
Number sixty-two was indicated with an upside down six, but Hope could tell it was the house of Alice Degg, a wicket logo stuck above the letterbox. Trying the bell, she resorted to a loud knock with her fist when the ringer did not sound. But no one answered. Hope looked around before seeing the figure arriving along the road, legs pumping hard as the young woman sprinted.
Alice popped an earphone from her left globe and said, ‘Hi,’ before thrusting a key into the front door. She was breathless and simply waved at Hope to follow her. Inside, Hope heard a tap running and water being taken on. Unsure what to do, she remained in the hall and stared into the small living room where she saw pictures of men in cricket gear from around the world. And then above the mantel piece she saw a woman, blonde-haired, holding a helmet complete with grill. It was dark blue and had three lions as a logo.
‘Sorry,’ said Alice, ‘go in, find a seat. I was just keeping the exercise going. It’s not easy to know what to do but I thought a little run would help. I hear there’s to be a memorial service tomorrow night. Did anyone tell you? I don’t know if you guys go to that sort of thing or not. Happens in the movies, doesn’t it? You stand there looking to see who flinches.’
Hope smiled, realising that the girl had got to the end of her ramble. She was also standing, sweating, in the middle of the room like she did not know what was expected next. The room itself was tidy, everything in its place, from the iPod dock to the smart television in the corner. There was a two-seater sofa which Hope occupied and felt she was possibly the first to try it, and a single armchair, aimed at the screen.
‘We sometimes attend,’ said Hope, ‘but it’s not usually that dramatic. In this case we probably will because tensions are high, and a memorial service is no place for trouble. I take it you live alone.’
‘I live with Brian Lara and all the other cricketers. Who needs more?’
‘I’m afraid I have some distressing news,’ said Hope, ‘maybe you should take a seat.’
‘Why, what’s happened?’
Hope stood up and gently pushed the girl into the armchair. Once she was seated, Hope knelt in front of her, fixing her eye. ‘Jackie is dead.’
‘What?’
‘Jackie is dead. He was murdered today.’
‘No!’ The quiet demeanour was broken by her hands shaking and then she stood, looking around her frantically as if she were on a gameshow and had been tricked. ‘No! He can’t be. He was here last night, right here. On that sofa. NO!’ The last word was screamed, and Hope grabbed her, holding the girl tight as she started to sob. ‘Not Jackie, not my brother.’
Alice held onto Hope for several minutes crying loudly and shaking violently. As detached as she wanted to be, Hope did not flinch from the situation and let herself be that pillar holding up what little of the girl was left after the news. Gently, she suggested that a cup of tea was in order and left Alice weeping in her chair while she sought out the kitchen to make the beverages. On return, she saw Alice holding a photograph of Jackie and her.
‘Everyone thought he was some sort of an arsehole wanting to get inside my knickers,’ Alice started as Hope passed her a cup of tea. ‘But Jackie was more like my big brother. He looked out for me, kept an eye on others who were trying to exploit me, especially with the cricket. He even had words with Bubba when Bubba was pushing me too hard at training. I just mentioned things to Jackie, and he sorted them.’
‘So, it was just platonic, then?’ Alice looked at Hope questioning what she had said. ‘It was just a friendship, nothing sexual?’
‘No, we were a bit more than friends. He wanted me as a girlfriend, with all the benefits, as he put it. Well, he never got full benefits, but he got some small down payments, shall we say. He was lousy in that department. A fantastically generous soul but no lover, no stud to warm the bed, not that he got that far. Compared to others, he was a better friend.’
‘Did he know you had others?’ asked Hope.
‘No, and it’s not like I had a queue out the door. Bubba made a pass at me, but he was easily put off. I’m not sure he was even that bothered. There’s a guy called David MacIver in town who was my first, and pretty poor. It was when I used to drink before sport became serious. And then there was . . . well, I really shouldn’t say, should I?’
‘Why?’
‘He’s still about.’
‘Then it could influence the case.’
‘But Jackie didn’t know,’ said Alice.
‘At least as far as you know.’
‘The man’s a bit older, actually a lot older.’
Hope smiled. If I were that age, she thought, and he came on with all the charms then I’d probably have fallen too. Macleod would call him a dirty bugger, but he doesn’t understand how we like to be charmed.
‘Dickie Smith? It is, isn’t it?’
‘How did you know?’ asked Alice, wiping the tears from her face.
‘Very charming, particularly good at understanding how we work. Smooth, not slimy. I think my age and experience saved me. And I have a boyfriend.’ I do, don’t I, she thought, and I just claimed him.
‘He was a good teacher, but he would never be satisfied with one woman. He told me that, was very upfront. It made a change rather than all the ducking and diving boys usually do.’
‘When did you see Jackie last?’ asked Hope.
‘Last night; he was over here. A little pissed too. He never used to drink so much but lately he’s been getting more and more pissed. And more infatuated with Katie. I think it had dawned on Jackie that he was not going to get any further with me. Even at the club that night he reckoned I was going with Gordy, just because I was sitting beside him. I mean, give me some credit. Nice enough guy but I have some standards.’
‘So, what was Jackie saying last night?’ asked Hope.
‘He was talking a lot about Bubba and how he should have stopped it, how he was under the table while his friend was dying. Said how he could see them being beaten in his dreams, how he wanted to punish the people who had done it. Kept going on about it wasn’t far from where he was.’
‘Was it dreams he was talking about? Was he having nightmares or was it something else?’
‘Must have been dreams; after all he was totally wiped that night asleep under the table. And then he started on about Declan again. He’s been on about Declan since I’ve known him, because of Katie, so there was nothing new there.’
‘What was the deal with Katie and Jackie?’ asked Hope, wanting to see Alice’s take on it.
‘She was the love of his life at school. They were at the top when I had just started the Niccy.’
‘The Niccy?’
‘Nicolson Institute; everyone up here goes to it for their secondary school. The building beside the council and the sports centre. Well, Jackie was totally in love with Katie, he told me that—would even talk about her sometimes when he was with me this last year. It’s partly why I knew he needed to be a brother to me and not something else. When they left school, Declan came along and snatched her, according to Jackie. I reckon Declan was just a little less intense and a lot more mature for Katie.’
‘What was Katie like back then?’
‘I really shouldn’t say this,’ started Alice, ‘it’s a bit unfair. She was one of those girls who the boys liked because of her reputation. When she was with Jackie there was lots of talk about her with other boys, not as a relationship but one-night things, quick jobs for cash, you know what I mean, sexual stuff. That might have been a rumour, but she was certainly with a lot of other boys when she was dating
Jackie. Everyone knew that. And then she got Declan and she claimed she got God, which no one believed. Started going to Irvine’s church.’
‘And was there a change in her behaviour?’
‘Oh yes, she wasn’t half as bad. But there were still rumours. Drove Jackie crazy. But when you think about it, she was a slut back then and I reckon she liked the attention. She was always sliding about between the guys at the club. Poor Jackie,’ she sobbed, ‘he was such a daft sod. Chasing her. I would have loved him if he’d been a bit more of a man.’
Hope waited for a few sobs to subside. ‘Who did Katie slide around at the club? And how, exactly?’
‘All of them. Gordy, Dickie, Big Jim though he saw her coming a mile off and kept ducking out. It was like she had to be amongst the men even though she was meant to be on the anti-cricket side, one of Irvine’s mob.’
‘But did she actually go with any of them, if you understand me, did she do anything with any of them?’ asked Hope.
Alice took a drink of her tea and then stood up and walked over to a photograph on the wall. Bringing it over to Hope, Alice looked at it with her. There were two lines of blue and yellow clothed cricketers, splendid in sunshine. At the middle of the front row was Bubba, and beside him was Dickie Smith. But beside Dickie was a woman in jeans and one of the cricket tops. She seemed to be sitting close to Dickie, closer than the others were to each other. Hope saw Alice at the end of the rear line of faces who were standing behind the seated front row.
‘Bubba wanted me to sit beside him, but I wasn’t having that. There was nothing in Bubba’s wish except to have his golden girl front and centre in a team photo, but I don’t like that kind of thing. I’m a team player, Detective, always will be. But Katie says to Bubba, I’ll give the front some colour, takes Declan’s top and then plonks herself right there, and Dickie Smith snuck an arm around her waist, can you see?’
‘And that was a normal sort of thing for her?’
‘It was,’ said Alice, ‘when she had set her eyes on Bubba. I’m not sure the men saw it, but I could. I have my own changing room, built for me especially because I told Bubba I was not sharing a shower with the guys, or changing with them even if it was only the kit change. So, I have a shower and room. Until the party after the win when everyone was in the main changing room, I haven’t been in there until the boys are all changed, and then only for the team talk. But I know Katie went in after practices, would happily walk in with the men getting changed, some popping to the shower. Gordy told me; little tart was his words.’
‘Did Bubba not kick her out?’
‘She’s not unattractive, Katie. Knows how to build up a man, how to play him. She was right where she wanted to be.’
Alice took the photograph away and returned it to its place on the wall before taking another. Showing it to Hope, she handed it over, and stepped to the window gazing out at the moor beyond. The photograph had a younger Alice with Jackie, Alice in a dark blue and dull yellow kit, not unlike the kit in the previous picture but more subdued.
‘When was that?’ asked Hope.
‘Three years ago, before Bubba. I was fifteen and Jackie really was a big brother then. He only became more romantically interested when I was seventeen, and had developed a bit. Even then, he was still a mate first and foremost. But Jackie bought me that top. It’s the Sri Lankan cricket team, but it’s blue and yellow, our colours. He sold me the dream of a cricket club here, and then Bubba arrived. The last few years has been a whirlwind, popping to the mainland as well for national teams, and every bit of quality gear coming from Bubba.’
‘Tell me again about Jackie’s dreams, the nightmares he was talking about. When he saw Bubba, did he say what he had seen exactly?’
‘A flash in the dark. Cries. People shouting out. It’s all very made up; Jackie had a properly overactive imagination. He kept asking me why he hadn’t stopped it and I told him because he wasn’t there. And all he went on about was the light, the metal in the night. Hoods and metal, and the people being beaten, that’s how I knew it was a dream.’
‘How do you mean?’ asked Hope, confused.
‘He said he saw two people being beaten. One he couldn’t see and Summer. Well she wasn’t there, was she? You found her in her house, that’s what everyone said. Bubba was in the clubhouse, but Summer was in her house. So, you see he couldn’t have seen it, it was all a dream. A fantasy of some sort. She was being humiliated, you see, a bare back was what he saw being beaten by the metal. Poor Jackie, I asked him who the people were doing the beating but all he said was, I wouldn’t have put them together. I know what he meant, Bubba and Summer were not ideal together. Must have been horrible dreaming them dying together.’
‘Keep this to yourself,’ said Hope. ‘Any wild talk like this is unsettling, especially with a memorial service coming up and everyone on edge. Have you anyone you can have here? I don’t like leaving you alone in this state.’
‘Jim will come over, maybe Gordy. I’ll be okay.’
‘Sure, but get company.’
Hope left the young girl looking at photographs and picked up her mobile once inside the car. Her fingers drummed the wheel while the call went through.
‘Macleod.’
‘Seoras, Hope. I know why they killed Jackie. He wasn’t unconscious all night. He saw the beating, he saw the Carsons being beaten and he saw who was involved, but he was in a stupor.’
She heard the merest raise in his tone as Macleod said, ‘Who did he see?’
‘That’s the problem, he wasn’t saying, just that he wouldn’t have put them together.’
Chapter 15
‘Stewart,’ said Macleod, ‘have you seen Mackintosh?’
‘Still out at the body, sir’
‘Okay, when Hope gets here, tell her I’ll be back shortly. I need to speak to Mackintosh.’
The glasses were pushed back onto the nose with an ‘Aye, sir’. Grabbing his jacket, Macleod drove the short distance out to the turnoff where Jackie’s body still lay. Through the crowd of white coverall suits, Macleod spotted the diminutive but commanding figure of Hazel Mackintosh. As he approached, she clocked him from the corner of her eye, and he saw a smile form. This new feeling towards him was disconcerting and he forced a stern look.
‘Inspector, how can I help you?’ she asked as he stood in front of her.
‘I need to know if the implements used to attack the Carsons could have been metal.’
Mackintosh rubbed her chin and stared at the ground before turning to a colleague. ‘Get my tablet.’
Looking up at Macleod, she continued, ‘We reckoned it was a baseball bat due to the impact markings and the small bits of wood we found. But we never found the bats. I believe they come in metal too, probably aluminium but I’d have to check that. I didn’t see any residue of metal on the bodies but then it is a more substantial bat, less likely to yield. It’s possible.’
The young man she had previously tasked returned and handed over the tablet. ‘Don’t lift the body until I’m back,’ she instructed and then pointed Macleod towards his car. ‘What’s the sudden interest?’ she asked as they walked to the vehicle.
‘Your body in the ditch was at his girlfriend’s last night and was rabbiting on about what she thought were nightmares he had been having about the Carson murders. He mentioned a light, a shining piece of metal or that and people being beaten, specifically a bare back Summer Carson being attacked. She thought it was just some sort of man thing in his dream, but we never told anyone Summer was beaten at the ground—we only said where we found her.’
‘So, he witnessed it,’ said Mackintosh, ‘but they can’t have known. Did she tell anyone else?’
‘No. But he might have, in fact he must have, otherwise why rock the boat.’ Opening the passenger door, he offered a seat to Mackintosh. After climbing into the driver’s seat, he watched her place the tablet between them.
‘Pictures from the house. We photograph everything. I remember ther
e were photographs of Bubba Carson on the island with bats. We focused on the wooden ones because that’s the fragments we had but I’m sure he had metal ones.’
Mackintosh swiped through photographs, one after another, until she stopped on one of Summer holding a baseball bat. The woman was dressed in a pair of shorts and a crop top and was swinging at a white baseball, her blonde hair splayed out as she wound into the ball.
‘Beautiful woman,’ said Mackintosh, ‘terrible waste.’
‘Would that metal come off in contact with someone?’ asked Macleod.
‘You could just agree with me. I won’t take offence that you think she’s beautiful, too.’
Macleod rolled his eyes at her, but she had judged him right. If a male colleague had said that he would have simply agreed but there was something about Hazel that made him not want to mention any other woman in that way before her. And I just called her Hazel.
‘Would it come off?’
‘Doubt it, and it would be traces, exceedingly small and difficult to spot. But we’ll take another look.’
‘Thank you,’ Macleod replied and then waited for her to leave the car.
‘It’s going to be a late one,’ she said. ‘Have you eaten dinner?’
‘No, but I’m going to be at the hall most of the night.’
‘And I’ll be at the hospital once we’re cleared up here. Fancy a takeaway. What do you like, curry, Chinese?’
‘I hardly think—’
‘Look Seoras, I’m asking if you want something to eat, nothing more. Just say yes and old Hazel here will get enough for everyone. We can have a spot of dinner for half an hour and you can tell me about this wonderful woman who stops you opening up to me at all. Does that work for you? Have McGrath there if you want, young Stewart too. I could do with a bit of chat from someone, older, like me. I’m sick of the young bucks around me, I have nothing common with them.’
‘Curry then. But not just us, Hazel; we don’t want people talking.’