by Carol Wyer
‘I’d like to remind you that a teenage girl was found dead at your property. We have no way of knowing how she died or how she got into your house. It’s imperative we establish those facts. We need your full cooperation.’
‘I’ve never clapped eyes on her and I’ve no fucking idea why she’d be in my house other than to torch it. Maybe she was some sort of crazed drug addict who broke in and accidentally set fire to it. I don’t know. It’s for you and the fire investigators to sort out, but let’s get something clear: I am not in any shape, way or form responsible for her death.’ He squared his shoulders, waiting for her retort, but she had none. Until they could prove that Roxy was known to the men, they couldn’t do a lot. She thanked him for his assistance and told him he could wait for his brother at reception.
‘Bollocks!’ Lucy, perched on the edge of her desk, scowled into the distance. ‘I don’t believe for one second that Roxy got her hands on a door key, disabled their alarm and strolled into their house with a can of petrol and set fire to it. Besides, according to the FI, the fire was started at the entrance and she was in the entertainment room to the rear. It makes no sense at all. Gavin and Kirk are hiding something. I’m bloody well sure of it.’
Murray flicked through his notes and gave them what he’d got. ‘Got to agree with you on that. While you were out, I interviewed Top to Bottom cleaning agency’s owner, Rachel Stevens. I showed her photos of our victim, and Rachel’s definitely never met or heard of Roxy. She cleans the house in Linnet Lane herself. It’s closer to her own home so it’s convenient for her to do it. She confirmed what she told you, Natalie, that Roxy isn’t related to or known by any of her staff, and when it isn’t being used, the house key is kept in a locked cupboard in her office. She’s only spoken to the brothers on a couple of occasions. They tend to be out when she’s cleaning. She didn’t have anything bad to say about them. Reckoned they were fine to work for, paid on time and was sorry she couldn’t help us any further.’
‘Fuck! Another dead end.’ Natalie dragged her fingers over her scalp. They were getting nowhere. ‘We’re running around in circles. We’ll have to try Roxy’s friends.’
‘Fat chance of any of them cooperating, even if they know something. Clearview kids are a tough bunch. Remember that drugs case we had last year when five kids on the Denton Estate were beaten senseless?’ Murray mumbled.
Lucy groaned. ‘God, yes. They wouldn’t say a bloody word. Murray’s right, Natalie. They won’t be any use.’
‘I don’t see what other choice we have. We have to establish if she was involved with somebody who set fire to the house or if she actually knew the Lang brothers.’ Natalie rested her fingers against her temples and released a lengthy sigh. ‘Fucking hell. This is a nightmare.’
Murray picked up his notes again. ‘I spoke to Sarah Raleigh. She’s Paul Sadler’s ex-girlfriend. She agreed to come to the station to be interviewed. I’m expecting her soon.’
‘Paul’s got an alibi. He and Seth were at a motorcycle event all day and he wasn’t even at home when Roxy left. After eating, he spent the night playing games with Seth,’ said Lucy.
Natalie shook her head. ‘We’ll still find out what we can about Paul. It might take us in a new direction.’
‘I can’t see it myself. Seth confirmed what Charlie said. They were in the bedroom until midnight, and Cathy woke up when Paul went to bed. They all flatly denied knowing Gavin and Kirk, let alone where they lived. Besides, how would Paul even know Roxy was in the house?’ Lucy argued.
‘He could have been the arsonist,’ said Ian from his desk, where he was hunched over his screen.
Murray lifted and drained a plastic cup then asked, ‘You think he and Roxy planned to destroy the Langs’ house?’
Lucy let out a derisory snort.
‘Why not?’ Ian responded. ‘Weirder things have happened.’
Natalie shrugged and added, ‘People lie all the time. It’s possible. Maybe they’re all lying. Everything’s bloody possible at the moment. We need some facts. We’re shooting in the dark at the moment.’
Murray scraped back his chair. ‘I’m going for another coffee. Anyone want one?’ He was met with headshakes.
Just as he reached the door, Ian spoke loudly. ‘Natalie!’ He spun to face the trio, looking somewhat perkier than when he’d first arrived. ‘The financial reports for Gavin and Kirk Lang arrived a few minutes ago and they make interesting reading. The brothers took out a substantial bank loan to purchase the nightclub, and, get this… they used their house as collateral. If the nightclub goes under, they lose everything: their house, business and the two cars which were also bought on finance. They’re stretched to the limit.’
Natalie dropped her hands from her head and sat up. ‘What about that tea room and flat above it?’
‘Mortgaged. It’s written down here as a buy-to-let property and is solely in Gavin’s name. Does Daisy pay rent to him?’
Lucy joined in. ‘She told us she was paying him back every penny so maybe she is paying him some sort of rent each month. Those brothers were definitely holding back during their interviews. Something about this isn’t right. I bet what they said about the club being packed with people was just bullshit to throw us off the scent. Is there any CCTV so we can find out?’
Ian shook his head. ‘Only one camera overlooking the downstairs till. It doesn’t matter how busy a place is – it could still be haemorrhaging money. I’ve only received their personal finances so far. I’ll chase up the business accounts. If they are having financial difficulties, it opens up other possibilities.’
Murray agreed. ‘And if the nightclub is in trouble, it’d also help explain why that part-time bar person, Lindsay, couldn’t get any stand-in shifts. They might have been cutting back on staff. I’ll follow it up later when I go there, and find out what staff morale’s like. Could be one of them bore the brothers a grudge and this was payback.’
‘Or the shifty bastards set fire to the place themselves simply to get the insurance money to help pay their way out of the shit they’re in,’ said Lucy.
Natalie said, ‘I’m with Lucy on this. The fire could well be linked to insurance money. Gavin was very keen to get a report to the company so he could get a payout. They might well have set fire to their own property or even paid someone else to do it while they were out and had plenty of witnesses as to their whereabouts. That would be logical. However, none of this explains what Roxy was doing in that entertainment room at the time the house caught fire.’
Ian offered his thoughts. ‘She might have known the arsonist and went along with them to help burn the place down. It could still be Paul or her brothers.’
Natalie pressed the spot between her eyebrows as she often did when trying to concentrate. Why would Roxy agree to be Paul’s accomplice, and why would he torch their house anyway? ‘Okay, let’s look at that possibility. How might they know each other?’
‘Paul fits aerials. Could he have fitted one to their house or nearby?’ Ian offered.
Natalie agreed that was possible. ‘Follow up on that.’
Murray gave a grunt. ‘Maybe we’re trying too hard to link the Langs and Paul Sadler; maybe it’s simpler – Gavin and Kirk murdered Roxy, panicked and tried to dispose of her body by burning it beyond recognition, unaware she had metalwork inside that could help identify her.’
Natalie agreed that could be the case but added, ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What we need is solid evidence so we can charge somebody, and unless we find some, we’re stuffed.’
‘I’ll start on Roxy’s laptop and see what I can find. Do you want me to begin contacting her friends?’ Ian directed his question at Natalie, who rubbed her dry lips together as she pondered her answer. Talking to all of Roxy’s online and school friends and those from the youth centre would be a mammoth task.
‘Not yet. If Roxy didn’t tell her best friend Ellie what was going on, it’s unlikely she’d have shared secrets with any others,’ she re
plied.
‘One of those friends might be the arsonist,’ Murray suggested.
‘That’s possible but there has to be an easier way of doing this. By the way, has Roxy’s father been informed of her death yet?’
‘An officer was dispatched over an hour ago.’
‘Okay. I doubt he’s seen her recently, but we’ll ask the question anyway. We’ll wait for Nick Hart’s report on the fire and see if we can glean anything new from it, and tomorrow we’ll try Ellie again. In the meantime, check through Roxy’s laptop and trawl through footage from any CCTV cameras in the vicinity for any suspicious activity. I know it’s a ball-ache and a long shot but we don’t have many other options for the moment. Can somebody talk to Oliver Curtis? I’d like confirmation that he was at his barracks in Nottingham and nowhere near the house in Armston yesterday. Murray and Ian, why don’t you both go to Extravaganza when it opens later. Let’s chase the insurance fraud and unhappy employees angles for a while. They seem the most logical, although I still can’t work out why Roxanne was in their house.’
The desk phone lit up and Natalie answered it. It was the desk sergeant, who had Sarah Raleigh, Paul Sadler’s ex-girlfriend, in reception.
‘Murray, you want to come and interview Sarah with me?’
‘Sure.’
Sarah was nothing like Cathy. She was considerably younger to look at with a fresh complexion, fuller figure and short dark hair and chestnut-brown eyes. She sat with a large handbag on her lap but didn’t release the handles and kept her eyes on Natalie, who sat opposite her. Natalie gave her a warm smile.
‘Thank you for coming in. You’ve already spoken to DS Anderson on the phone.’
‘That’s right.’
‘We’re conducting an investigation into the death of Paul’s partner’s daughter, Roxanne Curtis. We’re talking to everyone who knew the family,’ Natalie explained.
‘Yes, Sergeant Anderson told me, but I haven’t seen Paul since we split up and I don’t know his new girlfriend.’ Her tone belied a bitterness.
‘But you lived with Paul for a while. What can you tell us about him?’
Sarah’s hands gripped the handles more tightly. ‘It was a long time ago now – nine years ago. It was great to start with. We met at a bar in town in January 2008. I was a barmaid in those days and I served him. Paul chatted me up and after a week, he asked me out. It was a proper whirlwind romance. Everything was perfect. Paul was great – attentive and fun. We saw each other every day and I moved in with him two months later. About six months after that, things changed.’
‘In what way?’
‘In the early days, whenever we had a day off, we’d spend it in bed together – all day – eat, watch telly, have sex. It was so romantic. We stopped doing that and then he started being picky. He’d criticise me – the way I speak, my hair, my clothes – and he didn’t care if he upset me. Then he started going out evenings on his own and wouldn’t tell me where he’d been. I’d complain and we’d argue. I didn’t want to give up on us though. We’d been so good together but he didn’t really want to make any effort. He used to deliberately start an argument so I’d snap back. The arguments became worse. He’d push me about and threaten to hit me if I didn’t shut up. He slapped me a few times. Eventually, I left him.’
‘I understand you called the police on a couple of occasions because you were frightened. Once in 2008 and the second in 2009.’
‘It seems stupid now when I look back on it. The first time, he’d been out without me and when he came home he was steaming drunk and in a shit mood. I had a go at him and he went mental. He slapped me really hard and then put his hand around my throat and squeezed. I thought he was going to kill me. I was petrified but he took his hand away and said he was sorry – that he’d had a terrible day at work and needed to be left alone not yelled at.’
‘You brought charges, didn’t you?’
‘I did but I dropped them.’
‘Why did you do that?’
‘Because he was in bits after it happened and told me he was truly sorry and it was a one-off and he would never ever hurt me. He said he hated himself for hitting me.’
‘And did he keep to his promise?’
‘Sort of, but a few months later, in early 2009, he grabbed me by the hair. In those days, I had really long hair. He wrapped it around his fist and said he was going to smash my face against the wall but I screamed really loudly and he let me go. He said he was sorry but I ran to the bathroom, locked myself in and rang the police. A few minutes after I called them, he banged on the door, crying and begging for forgiveness. When the police arrived, I told them it had been a mistake – that I’d overreacted. I didn’t press charges. Paul was completely different afterwards – so sad and genuinely sorry – that I wanted to forgive him and believe him when he said it wouldn’t happen again. I was confused and it was easier to drop charges and forget about the whole thing and go back to normal.’
Natalie kept her eyes on the woman and offered her another smile. ‘It’s usual in these circumstances. The abused feels guilty and backs down, but he hurt you, didn’t he?’
‘He bruised my face, that’s all.’
‘Did he threaten you again?’
‘No. I didn’t give him the chance to. My best friend, Annie, knew what was going on and she told me I really had to get out of what she called a toxic relationship, that he’d never change, and there’d be more times when he’d think it was okay to hurt me. She said I ought to get away while I was still strong-willed enough to and before he started to get properly violent. After we split up, I was so confused by it all, I went to therapy sessions. They helped me to understand what happened and that’s why I can speak more openly about it now and understand what went on. A year ago, I met somebody else, Leon, and I’m much happier – happier than I thought possible.’
‘I’m glad to hear it. Paul injured you on two separate occasions, is that correct?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did he threaten you on any others?’
‘No. We bickered a lot.’
‘And what led up to the episodes when he hit you? Did you argue about something specific?’
‘It was dumb really. He accused me of flirting with one of his mates and being disrespectful to him.’
‘Was there any truth in that?’ Natalie asked.
Sarah shrugged. ‘A little.’
‘So, he was jealous about other men paying you attention?’
‘When he was drunk, he’d get really possessive.’
‘He never threatened you for any other reason?’
‘No.’
‘Did he lose his temper a lot?’
She stared at her bag and sighed. ‘Only after drinking. He wasn’t a big drinker but if he had a few pints, he’d change – become loud and pushy.’
Natalie was fully aware of the effects of alcohol on people – it wasn’t unusual for anyone to exhibit aggressive behaviour after too much of it. ‘Was he aggressive towards others?’
‘No. He got on well with people. Look, it was only those couple of times and I suppose I wound him up a bit. My therapist and I talked about this. I was much younger then, only a kid myself. We were both a bit hot-tempered at times and I taunted him a little. I flirted with other guys to wind him up and make him pay me more attention, but if we’d drunk too much we’d argue and fight. I was to blame as much as him but that doesn’t make it right, does it? He should never have hit me. My therapist said that wasn’t acceptable.’
‘No, he shouldn’t, even if he felt he was provoked,’ Natalie replied. ‘You left him because you believed he’d hit you again and that the next time he might not be able to control himself. You had good reason to go.’
‘At the time, I thought I did. My friend painted such a bleak picture of what could happen but now I look back and think I could have handled things differently. It takes two, doesn’t it? Paul could be very sweet at times – a lot of the time. Maybe if I hadn’t been so quick to le
ave, things would have been different. I didn’t go because I thought he’d hit me – that was almost an excuse. I left because I wanted him to come after me and beg me to come home – to notice me again. I wanted things to go back to how they’d been before he lost interest in me.’ Tears sprang to her eyes.
‘Have you ever met his partner, Cathy Curtis, or her children?’
‘Never. I don’t know anything about them. I only found out because one lunchtime, a few months later, I bumped into Paul in the supermarket. He’d popped in to buy some lunch and was doing a job near where I worked. It was really awkward. He asked how I was and if I’d met anybody new. I hadn’t and I think part of me hoped he was going to invite me out but he didn’t. He said he was really sorry things hadn’t worked out between us and hoped I’d be happy. He told me he’d met a woman – that she had four kids but they were getting on well with him. I wished him luck and we parted. I haven’t seen him since, or his family. Seemed funny thinking of him as a dad. He always wanted a big family.’
‘Did you talk about having children?’
‘We did more than talk; we tried hard for a baby but it didn’t happen.’ She hesitated a moment before adding, ‘If you believe Paul had something to do with this girl’s death, I want to say, I think you’re wrong. He likes kids. He and I used to take my six-year-old nephew out regularly to help out my brother and his wife and give them some time together. We’d take him to the zoo or the park. Paul always looked forward to it and was really good with him. Maybe having a baby would have changed us both. I know he wouldn’t hurt a child.’
‘Sarah, can I ask about your movements Saturday evening? Where were you?’
‘At work. I’m a nurse at Burton Hospital. I was in A & E all night until seven this morning.’
‘And your boyfriend?’
‘Leon? He’s a hospital porter. We were on the same shift.’ There was nothing to indicate she wasn’t being open and honest. The only emotion Natalie could detect was regret.