Dead Secret

by Noelle Holten

  Fuck.

  The discussion with Maggie had seeped its way into her head. Craig Nolan had always expressed anger towards his conviction, so what evidence did she have that anything had changed now? None – that’s what. No grounds for recall. There’s no way she could discuss this with her manager, as he’d just go through everything she had and tell her to come back when the police had charged him.

  Yet – something still niggled at her. She picked up the phone and dialled.

  ‘DC Maggie Jamieson. How can I help?’

  ‘It’s Sarah. I need to speak with you,’ she whispered down the phone.

  ‘Hello? Sorry can you speak up? I can’t hear you.’

  ‘It’s Sarah. I need to speak to you about …’ She looked around the office, but no one was paying attention to her. ‘Craig Nolan. Do you have time today?’

  The line went quiet. Sarah figured Maggie was checking her diary for the day.

  ‘Yeah, I was going to call you anyway. I’ve shifted a few things around and can meet you in about an hour. Should I come down to Markston?’

  ‘No!’ She said that louder than she had wanted to. ‘Sorry, uh no. I have a home visit to do this afternoon, so I’ll figure something out and come to you.’

  Sarah hung up the phone before she changed her mind. She rubbed her eyes. If she was wrong, she could risk a disciplinary or worse. But what if she was right and did nothing?

  Sarah logged into her computer and printed off the home visit paperwork she had prepared for this afternoon’s visit. The offender was a drug user, so Sarah would say she was dropping by the Drug and Alcohol services first to speak to her keyworker. The Home Visit Risk Assessment was already signed off by her manager, so she just needed to cover the other bases.

  Sarah shrugged on her jacket, put her notebook in her bag, and let reception know her whereabouts.

  ‘I’ll ring when I arrive.’

  The receptionist barely glanced up as Sarah left the paperwork on the desk.

  She got into her car and prayed she was making the right decision.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Maggie had a knot in the pit of her stomach after that earlier phone call from Sarah. She had spent the last hour gathering the information she would need. This could be a major break in the case and move suspicion away from DCI Hastings. Before they could even think about bringing Craig Nolan in for questioning, she needed as much information as possible.

  Her desk phone rang.

  ‘We have a Sarah Hardy from Probation here to see you.’

  ‘Thanks, I’m on my way.’

  Kat looked up from her keyboard. ‘Do you need me to come with?’ Maggie smiled at Kat’s eagerness to be involved.

  ‘Nah. Just Probation. Won’t be long.’ Maggie hoped that her hunch was right so that Nathan would have no reason to tear her a new one.

  ‘Okay.’ Kat returned to whatever she was working on, while Maggie rustled through a filing cabinet and took out a file before she went down to meet Sarah. She made her way down to the reception area and opened the door.

  ‘Come through. We’ll use this interview room. I grabbed the information we have on Mr Nolan, hence the file.’ She held it up before placing it on the table. ‘Are you okay? You look a little pale.’

  Sarah followed Maggie into the room and sat before speaking. ‘Nothing feels right about any of this. I was going through things on the drive over and really don’t want to get mixed up in a witch hunt. This could be my job on the line you know.’

  Maggie nodded. ‘I know and I’m sorry I placed doubts in your head, but I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t think it was important. I don’t want to keep you any longer than necessary, so what have you got?’

  Sarah ran through her notes from her supervision session with Craig. ‘He was really angry about Hastings, as you suspected – but like I told you before, he’s never made a secret of that. What did concern me was the karma bit at the end. It wasn’t a threat, but I got a bad vibe as he said it.’

  ‘If that’s the feeling you got, you’re probably not wrong. It doesn’t bode well. Do you think he has it in him to commit a murder in order to frame Hastings? Leaving aside any personal feelings and just looking at everything objectively, like a colleague came to you and asked your advice once they presented everything we have discussed, what does your gut tell you?’

  ‘He’s adamant that he never committed the murder in the first place. Has anyone investigated his complaint about being set up? Maybe that’s what you need to do first – then if that fits, you might be able to add him to your persons of interest list or cross him off completely. I don’t think I want to be involved in this any more until something solid comes up.’

  Maggie looked at Sarah and couldn’t believe her unwillingness to share further details. ‘Is something else going on? I can’t help but think you are avoiding the possibility because it calls into question your own work with him, but I can assure you we’re not here to blame any person or agency. This is a murder inquiry, and we don’t want to waste any time pursuing false leads.’

  ‘Back off, Maggie. If you had anything on Craig, you would have arrested him by now. I can’t recall him on a hunch – you know that.’ Sarah’s hands shook. ‘Sorry. I don’t mean to snap but the implications if Craig is involved … I guess I am a little off lately. Just some crap at home, nothing I can’t work out, but that doesn’t change what I said.’

  ‘Fair enough. Can I ask just one more thing before you go?’ Maggie took out her notebook and found the page she needed. She turned the notebook towards Sarah and showed her the pictures of the dot arrangements which had been found on both their victims. ‘Do these mean anything to you?’

  Sarah pulled the notebook towards her to get a better look. ‘Yeah. I know what that one is.’ She pointed to the image of the five dots – the one that had been rammed down Sophia Hastings’s throat.

  ‘What is it?’ Maggie hoped she wasn’t going to say something obvious, like dice.

  ‘A prison tattoo. Quite a few gang members have them. See, the outer four dots represent the prison walls and the inner dot, the prisoner. Usually found on the hand or the neck. Why?’

  ‘Do you know anyone on your books who has one?’ Maggie had thought of the gang culture when she had first seen the images and this confirmed it.

  ‘Well, yeah. Craig Nolan has one on his neck. Is that significant?’

  Maggie gathered up her file and stood. She needed to speak to Nathan and DI Rutherford. ‘It might be very significant. Don’t say anything to alert Craig Nolan that we were asking about him.’ Maggie held the door open for Sarah. ‘And thank you. This has been very helpful.’

  After letting Sarah out, Maggie raced up the stairs. They may have just found their primary suspect and she wanted to let the team know so they could arrange to bring him in for questioning.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Without stopping to catch her breath, Maggie barged into Nathan’s office. ‘I know what the dots mean!’

  Maggie walked around the room, burning off the excited energy the new information brought to the case.

  ‘What are you on about? What dots?’ Nathan’s brow furrowed.

  She stopped. ‘The ones found on the piece of paper rammed into Sophia Hastings’s throat. They’re from a fairly common prison tattoo – often associated with gang members but not exclusive to them. What I don’t know is what the one on Tim means. Unless the killer is removing a dot for each victim? In which case they have already murdered two people, Sophia being the first and that leaves three more victims: Hastings, his daughter and … who?’

  ‘Whoa. You’re rambling now. Take a moment and then explain to me how you found this out?’ Nathan leaned forwards.

  ‘I was speaking to Probation … Sarah, she supervises Craig Nolan. He has the tattoo, Nathan! We need to bring him in now and search his property. He might be holding DCI Hastings, his daughter, and potentially someone else … we need to action this before it’
s too late.’

  Maggie could see Nathan was going over everything she had just said. His eyes were searching the walls the way they always did when his mind was racing through details. ‘Do we know of anyone else who may be acting with Nolan?’

  ‘We can figure that out later, if we need to. He might not have got that far ahead yet. Can I go and bring him in for questioning?’ Maggie was already halfway out the door.

  ‘Take Kat with you. I’ll get a warrant arranged so we can search his property.’

  Maggie gave him the thumbs-up and called out to Kat. ‘I need you to come with. We finally may be on to something!’

  After finding Craig Nolan at his property, he’d been cautioned and brought into Stafford Police Station for questioning. This would allow for his property to be searched without any aggro from him. Everyone now knew how he felt about the police.

  Kat turned on the recording device and explained the purpose for the interview. A duty solicitor sat quietly beside her client, pen in hand; she looked ready to pounce and Maggie suspected that Mr Nolan had told her all about his theory of being framed.

  ‘I’ve been interviewed by the police before; I know the score.’ He stretched his hands behind his head. ‘What’s this all about?’

  Maggie had to be careful. She didn’t want to alert him to the fact that DCI Hastings and his family had been abducted, in case he wasn’t involved, so she started talking about Tim Griffiths’s murder.

  ‘Do you watch the news, Mr Nolan?’

  ‘Sometimes.’

  ‘Have you seen that a young man was murdered on Castle Bank Industrial Estate? We’re looking for any leads in that case that might help us find his killer.’

  ‘I saw that. What’s it got to do with me?’ He looked at his solicitor.

  ‘Did you know Tim Griffiths?’

  ‘No. Should I?’

  Maggie could see she was going to struggle to get more than a few words out of him, so she tried a different angle. ‘That’s an interesting tattoo you have on your neck. Can you tell me about it?’

  ‘Which one, detective?’ He pointed to an angel. ‘This one is for my mother; God rest her soul.’ Then he pointed to the five dots. ‘This one I got when I went into prison for the first time. I must have been about fifteen, maybe sixteen. Prison walls. The dot in the middle is supposed to be me.’

  ‘Were you part of any gangs back then?’

  ‘I guess I was – though I didn’t really think of it as being in a gang. I was a lackey really – ran some drugs. Beat up a few people. Small-time stuff but worked my way up until I branched out on my own. Why split my earnings, right? Why are you asking me all these questions about my tattoos?’

  Maggie ignored him when Kat passed her a note. She read it and then looked at Craig Nolan. ‘Do you still have any contact with your old associates? Maybe have some grudges that need to be resolved?’

  ‘If I had any grudges, I wouldn’t rely on those dipshits to sort it for me.’ Craig’s solicitor leaned in and whispered in his ear. She must have warned him about being careful what he said, as he turned to Maggie and carried on. ‘I don’t know what you think you have on me, but whatever it is, you’re wrong. I’m on a life licence now – I’m not going to risk my freedom for some stupid grudge. I’m getting too old for that shit.’

  Maggie rubbed her chin. ‘Can you tell us your whereabouts for last Thursday and Friday?’

  ‘Probably the same as I do every single day since getting released – Probation have had me on useless courses which take up most of my bleeding days and has done for weeks now – ask my PO, she’ll tell you. Supposed to help me get a legit job … and chilling at home in the evenings.’

  ‘Can anyone vouch for your whereabouts in the evenings?’

  A sly smile crept upon his face and Maggie had a feeling she wasn’t going to like what she heard.

  ‘Yeah. REMS can confirm I was home all night.’

  Maggie looked at Kat who shrugged her shoulders. ‘Who’s Rems?’

  He moved his leg out from under the table and pulled his trousers up. Maggie saw the electronic tag – REMS – Ratcliffe Electronic Monitoring Services. ‘I’m on curfew. Can’t go out between 7pm and 7am every night for another two months. Whatever you think you have me for … I’m telling you, you’re wrong.’

  Maggie tried to hide the sarcasm in her voice. ‘This was always just a friendly conversation, Mr Nolan. We’ll have to check with your Probation Officer that there were no curfew violations, of course.’

  He stood. ‘Of course. Am I free to go now?’

  ‘Yes. We may be in touch again.’ Maggie slumped in the chair as she waited for Craig and the duty solicitor to leave the room.

  ‘Fuckity fuck. I thought we might have had him there for a minute.’ Kat started to gather her things.

  ‘Me too.’ She smacked her hands on the table. ‘How did I miss the curfew?’

  ‘Didn’t Sarah mention it to you at all?’

  ‘No. But I never asked about his licence conditions or the timings and I wasn’t specific about why we needed to speak to Craig. I fucked up.’

  ‘Well, we don’t know that for sure. He could have been outside the curfew boundary, and he’d have to sign in for any courses. Get Sarah to send you over any violations he’s had.’

  ‘Yeah, I will do. Right, guess I’d better fill Nathan in – I’ll leave it to him to tell the guv.’

  Kat’s face scrunched. ‘That won’t be a fun conversation.’

  ‘That’s why I am glad he’s DS and I’m not. I’ll catch up with you when I know more.’

  Maggie took her time returning to the office, trying to think of the best way to let Nathan know that they were back to where they had started.

  But even if Craig was on curfew, it didn’t mean he wasn’t involved.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Maggie walked into Nathan’s office with her tail between her legs. She had been too sure that Craig Nolan was someone they should focus on, mainly because she hated the idea that one of her colleagues could be a cold-blooded murderer.

  Nathan looked up from what he had been reading on his desk. ‘Shit. I take it you didn’t get the answers you wanted. Tell me what happened.’ He gestured for her to sit and Maggie obliged.

  She put on her best poker face and explained the information she did have before trying to change the topic. ‘I still have to do some further checks with Sarah, so it doesn’t mean he’s in the clear, but then another thought came to mind. Do we know anything more about Olivia Hastings’s birth parents?’ Maggie braced herself, hoping Nathan didn’t see through her and get pissed off.

  Nathan clasped his hands in front of himself before responding. ‘Have you been able to speak with Social Care? There was nothing in Hastings’s paperwork that we stumbled across, but Social Care should be able to give us more about Olivia’s background. Might be an idea to see if her birth parents had been in contact recently.’

  ‘I’ll get onto that now.’ The sooner she left his office the better. Even if she believed she was good at hiding some things, Nathan was also good at reading her.

  Maggie returned to her desk, dialled Social Care, and asked for Claire Knight.

  While she was on hold, Maggie typed out a quick email to Sarah to find out about any breach relating to attendance on the course and curfew violations. She was pretty sure that Probation could share that information if there were ongoing concerns, but she’d be ready to get Nathan or DI Rutherford involved should it be required. The Senior Probation Officer, Andrew Bourne, at Markston Probation was usually agreeable, so she didn’t foresee any problems. Her next step would be to get Craig Nolan’s alibi verified. She had known cases where violations had been recorded and no action from Probation or the Electronic Monitoring Services (EMS) had been taken, so the sooner they had those details, the quicker they could decide on their next move.

  ‘Claire Knight speaking. How can I help you?’

  ‘Hey, Claire, it’s Maggie from St
afford Police here. Do you have a few minutes to talk?’

  ‘Sure. What can I do for you?’

  ‘We have a highly sensitive case here at the moment and what I need to find out is whether you have any information on the birth parents of an Olivia Hastings. She was adopted at the age of five and we have reason to believe that she had a pretty bad childhood – so is likely known to your agency.’ Maggie gave Claire the date of birth for Olivia.

  ‘Well, she could have been known to us, but if there were no ongoing concerns, her case would have been closed and the records destroyed six years after her last contact with us. She’ll be what, nineteen or so now?’

  ‘Dammit. Yeah, nineteen. If I email you over what I have, would you be able to look into it? Even if you could find out who her birth parents are. Is that possible?’

  ‘It might be a longshot but if I do find out who her birth parents are, Data Protection would prevent me from sharing that information without consent, as Olivia would be an adult now. However, if she is potentially at risk of harm from her birth parents …’ Claire paused. ‘Leave it with me. We may have to get a bit creative but if you can assure me that someone may be at risk of serious harm, I can see what I can find out for you.’

  ‘Olivia and her adoptive father may be at risk. That I can assure you of. Anything you can find out would be fantastic. If you need anything from me, just let me know. Thanks, Claire.’ Maggie terminated the call. She hoped that the social worker would be able to find the information they needed. If the records had already been destroyed though, they’d be back to square one.

  While Maggie was updating the system, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see Nathan standing behind her.

  ‘Do you have a minute?’ He pointed towards his office. ‘I just want to have a quick word. Finish what you’re doing and pop in.’

  She watched him walk away and scratched her head. All sorts of things ran through her mind: maybe he already knew about the curfew? She looked over at Kat but shook the thought out of her head. Kat wouldn’t say anything when she knew Maggie was going to already. Maggie was aware that she could piss people off at times, but she couldn’t think of anything recently that would warrant a conversation with the boss.