Nothing To Lose

by Steven Suttie

  “So, as trivial as it might sound, this man’s gait is extremely important to this investigation. I need some undercover footage of him walking normally, just as he does in day to day life. If we bring him in, he’ll probably start putting on a different walk, you know what these types of reprobates behave like once we bring them into custody. I strongly suspect that this one will start doing some exaggerated limping on both legs as soon as we meet him, or he might even pretend he can’t walk at all. So, I need some video footage of him to see if we can match it to the individual on the CCTV.”

  Everybody looked as though they understood the requirements of this peculiar operation. “Who is volunteering to sit in the back of an undercover van outside his home or workplace for a few hours, filming Barry Hughes? The mission is simple but incredibly important. I need one of you to bring back some footage that absolutely nails Hughes to this CCTV clip.”

  Several hands went up. “Good, well I think I’ll choose Bill and Mike for covering the home address, Helen and Pete, you can cover the work address. Okay?”

  “Sir!”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “In theory, this little hop of Hughes could be the strongest piece of evidence we have if used in combination with the McDonald’s CCTV showing them all together. It will be enough to charge these horrible bastards, and once we’ve brought charges, they’ll all be remanded and we’ll be able to relax a bit as we gather the rest of the evidence for trial. Understood?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Brilliant. Well you lot go and see surveillance, I’ve booked two vans out, a United Utilities and a Manchester City Council one. You’ll be given some uniform to wear as well. As soon as you’ve got the footage, and you’ve checked it looks good enough to prove that Hughes is the man walking on that clip, phone me and I’ll organise his arrest. Good luck.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Whilst Chapman, Worthington, Grant and Kenyon were out of the way, doing their crucial under-cover work on Barry Hughes, Miller, Saunders and Rudovsky were trying to work out the best way to arrest Terence Bright and Callum Dewhurst.

  “We know that Callum doesn’t work, at least not officially. Terence, despite his surname, isn’t bright enough to hold down a job. So, this looks like it should be a case of carrying out a straight-forward raid on their houses. I’ve got every suspicion that they’ll be sat there waiting for us. After-all, it’s no secret that Wilson is in custody. They will be sat there chewing their nails, waiting for their doors to go in.”

  “Why don’t we just get on with it?” asked Rudovsky. The DS was always more interested in getting stuck in, as opposed to sitting around doing arrest plans.

  “Well, the simple answer to that is we will, just as soon as we’ve got video evidence of Barry Hughes’ funky walk. The footage from McDonalds doesn’t show much as he’s obscured most of the time and he sat down right near the door. Once I’ve got some footage of that to compare to the CCTV, we can get every available officer in Greater Manchester involved in the arrests if we want. But until then, we’re in no man’s land.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “I know what you mean though, Jo. I’m keen to get them in as soon as and start the examinations of their communications devices.” Saunders was just as eager to get on with the job.

  “Patience is a virtue.” Said Miller.

  “Why isn’t ‘hurry the fuck up’ a virtue?” Asked Rudovsky, smiling.

  “Tell you what, the minute I know we’ve got that video, you can go in and eat these silly bastards for breakfast. I want us to pull off the biggest con-trick in this department’s history. I want to blag each of these scrote-bags that we are blaming it all on Barry limpy-legs, and the only piece of evidence I need is a name for the man in the video, which our technical colleagues are currently trying to make of Hughes limping up the street. They are attempting to airbrush the others out of the shot.”

  “Can they do that?”

  “They think its possible, as the CCTV footage is so shit. If they manage it and then we get the other suspects to agree that it’s Barry Hughes on the video, then we’ve got enough to press charges. These dumb twats won’t know that they’ve just embroiled themselves into the scenes from the Hat Factory and the McDonalds CCTV.”

  “It’s a great plan boss,” said Rudovsky. “But there is a lot resting on whether they’ll grass on Hughes.”

  “There’s also a lot resting on whether they fancy spending the next twenty-years in Strangeways, though.” Countered Saunders. “We need to present it nice and cosy, act like we really give a shit about them. You’ll be the secret weapon in this tactic, Jo.”

  Miller looked across at his DI and DS and nodded slowly, he looked as though he was deep in thought. “Okay, I think we need to hold a vote. All those who feel completely satisfied that these four men killed Andris, Juris and Inga Ozols, raise your hand in the air.”

  All three raised their hands. “All those who don’t think… oh wait, there’s not going to be much point in doing that.” Rudovsky and Saunders smiled politely at Miller’s attempt to lighten the mood, as he continued. “Listen, we all know they did it, the only obstacle in front of us is the CPS agreeing with the evidence we have, which they could argue is tenuous in its current format. We all know how awkward the CPS can be if there’s nothing concrete. I’m not that concerned about building the entire package today, we just need enough to guarantee charges for all four of them…”

  Miller stopped talking suddenly as his phone began vibrating on the desk. It was DCI Katy Green at Tameside.

  “Aw, for… what does she want? Thought I’d seen the back of her for now,” said Miller under his breath as he lifted the phone.

  “Hello Katy, what a nice surprise, how can I help?”

  “Hi Sir. Just had a very interesting call from the duty desk here at Ashton.”

  “Go on.”

  “A man has just wandered in, says he wants to speak to you. He’s under the impression that you’re based here, I think.”

  “What does he want to talk to me about?”

  “He’s not saying much, but he is insisting that he’ll only talk to you.”

  “Have you got a name?”

  “Yes. Well, he’s quite well known to us actually. Callum Dewhurst.”

  The line went silent, as Miller’s mind tried to process the enormity of DCI Green’s statement.

  “Are you there?”

  There was a further pause before Miller spoke. “Yes, yes, I’m here. That’s a shock. So, what, he’s there now?”

  “Yes, he’s sat in reception, he seems quite agitated.”

  “This is weird. I’m sat in a meeting with Keith and Jo, planning Callum’s arrest, right now.”

  Saunders and Rudovsky’s mouths opened as they read between the lines of the conversation Miller was having.

  “Oh, well, saved you a job!”

  “Yes, absolutely! Can you get him inside the nick, in case he has a change of heart? If he does have a change of heart, arrest him on suspicion of murder. I’ll be over in fifteen minutes.”

  “Sure, I’ll stick him in an interview room.”

  “Please, just, whatever you do, don’t give him any clue that I even know about his existence. See you in a bit.”

  “Understood. No problem, Sir. Speak later.”

  Miller ended the call and looked across the desk at his colleagues. “Callum’s just walked into Ashton nick, he wants a word. Come on.”

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Miller stepped into the interview room where DCI Green had left Callum Dewhurst, followed by Saunders and Rudovsky.

  “Hello Callum.”

  “Alright?”

  “Yeah, not bad mate, what’s all this about wanting a word?”

  Callum Dewhurst looked like any other generic scrote that the Manchester police had endless dealings with. His dirty fingernails and the shit tattoo on his neck were the first things that the detectives noticed after his hideously disfigured nose
. He had a very sad, scruffy looking face with lots of long wispy hairs dotted around. Whether this was a conscious decision to grow a beard, or the result of not having any razor-blades was impossible to guess. His trainers looked worn out and his clothes were filthy. The urban scum-bag look was completed with a faded La Coste baseball cap and a ripped Adidas tracksuit top.

  “What’s all this, who are these? I just wanted a quick word with you. That’s all.”

  “Oh, right. Sorry, I had no idea. These are my colleagues, DI Saunders and DS Rudovsky from Serious Crimes. They’re working with me on the investigation into the fire the other night. Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?”

  “Well, like… I just wanted… do they need to be here?”

  Miller turned around and looked at his colleagues, flicking his eyes at the camera in the corner of the interview room. “Can I ask you guys to give me a minute while I find out why Callum wants to speak to me please?”

  “Yes, no problem. I need to make a phone call anyway.” Said Saunders.

  “To the wife?” said Miller, smiling. Saunders laughed. “You spend so long on the phone to her, I don’t know why you don’t just bring her to work with you and save on your phone bill!”

  “Well, if I did that I’d have to buy her dinner!”

  Miller laughed loudly at Saunders’ joke and Rudovsky joined in. The job of telling Callum Dewhurst that they knew nothing about him, or what he’d done had been completed with this rather shite office banter bravado.

  “It’s nowt against yous.” Said Callum charitably, as Miller’s colleagues turned to leave the interview room.

  Rudovsky closed the door behind them and Saunders ran along the corridor to the custody desk. “Can you take us somewhere we can watch the live-feed from interview room three, please? We need to monitor the conversation. Now!”

  Saunders and Rudovsky were quickly led along to a small room adjacent to interview room three, where Miller had arranged the discreet recording of Callum’s chat with him.

  “Cheers!” said Rudovsky as they sat down hastily and trained their eyes on the monitor screen before them. They were pleased to learn that they’d not missed much, as Miller had engaged Callum in a conversation about something completely irrelevant in order to compound the impression that the SCIU staff were unaware of this child-killing arsonist’s existence.

  “So, anyway, forgive me waffling on. DCI Green said that you wanted a word, off the record.”

  Callum leaned back in his chair, his nervousness was abundantly clear, but he looked as though he was determined to try and blag his way through it.

  “Yeah, well, you’re the main guy about the arson attack aren’t you?”

  “Yes, that’s right. Why, do you know something about it?”

  “Well, not exactly. But I’ve heard summat. About that Ady Wilson.”

  “Adrian Wilson?”

  “Yes.”

  “What do you know?”

  “Well, first of all, is he the guy you arrested yesterday?”

  “Where have you heard that?”

  “It’s all over Facebook and that.”

  “So, you’ve answered your own question.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know but people are chatting shit and I just wanted it straight.”

  “Well, forgive me Callum, but that kind of information is strictly confidential. We don’t release names of suspects until charges have been brought.” Miller was playing with Callum, trying to see how well he understood the law.

  “So he’s not been charged?”

  “Listen mate, I’m not being funny, but you can get all this on Facebook. Why have you asked to see me?”

  “Listen, yeah, what it is, cards on the table yeah, I can tell you what you need to know about that fire.”

  “How do you know anything about it?”

  “We’ll get to that in a minute, yeah. But all I’m saying, is I know what’s gone on, and I’ll tell you. But I need some fucking what’s it called? Like animosity.”

  “Anonymity?”

  “Yeah, that’s it. So, I’ll do a deal with you, yeah. You tell me what you know and I’ll tell you if its right or not. That way, there’s no way of me being accused of grassing, innit?”

  Miller acted dumb and kept a straight-face as he laid his first trap. “Callum, listen mate. I really appreciate you coming down here and everything, but I need strong information about this guy. He’s a complete mystery to us, he won’t talk about the fire which has destroyed his building. We don’t think for a second that he was involved on the night, there’s no evidence of that and he doesn’t fit the bill anyway. But since he’s not giving us any answers, we’re starting to think that he might know who was involved. And we need to know.”

  “Yeah?” Callum was trying to play it cool. He’d come here for information, trying to figure out what the police knew. This version of what the police knew, the one which Miller was presenting was music to his ears. At least that’s the way Miller read it, as did Saunders and Rudovsky who were eavesdropping in the booth next door.

  “Yes. Our theory is, wait… You’re not going to breathe a word about this out there are you?”

  “No, course not man.” Callum was physically relaxing before Miller’s eyes, his stiff body language was softening and that shaky nervousness that he’d started with was becoming less pronounced with each passing minute. The comment about going “out there” had completely reassured this repugnant man that he was in the clear, safe in the knowledge that Wilson was staying silent.

  “Okay, well, we’re working on the idea that Adrian Wilson has upset somebody, you know, pretty bad. And they’ve got their own back by torching his flat. Would you know of any arguments or disagreements that he may have had with anybody recently?”

  Callum’s face began heating up. It was as obvious as the nose on his face that he was excited at hearing some incredible information here. Information that showed what a set of useless twats the police were.

  “Listen right, Ady has pissed everyone off. I’m telling you, he’s got more enemies than friends. So yeah, that’s quite a good theory that you’ve got.”

  “And is that what you wanted to speak to me about?”

  For the first time since this conversation had started, Callum had to try and think quickly and the stress of this sudden question manifested itself in the form of Callum’s upper-body suddenly stiffening up again.

  “No, well, like I say…”

  “You said that you’d heard something.”

  “Well, it might be bollocks, do you know what I mean?”

  “Try me. You can’t have thought it was that much of a load of bollocks if you’ve come all the way down here and insisted that you speak to me about it.”

  Callum looked down at the floor. He was suddenly on the ropes. He’d only come here to see if these detectives were looking for him, his morbid curiosity had gotten the better of him. Now, he was feeling satisfied with what he had heard from the main plod and he didn’t really feel the need to say what he’d originally intended.

  “Come on Callum, help us out mate.”

  “No… it’s not that, I just… I think you’re right what you said. It’s probably spot on.”

  “Just tell me what you’ve heard. It’ll never come back on you, I swear down.”

  Callum looked down at the floor again, his hands were trembling. He was beginning to realise that he needed to say something or he would look extremely suspicious. He opened his mouth and started speaking.

  “It’s just, what I heard yeah was that Ady’s flat had come empty and it was fucked inside and he couldn’t afford to do it up. That’s all. Then someone else said that it was burnt down for an insurance job, right, but whoever it was that done it didn’t know that anyone was inside it. They were supposed to have moved out a few days before.”

  Miller was staring at Callum, waiting for more, but that was it.

  “Where did you hear this Callum?”

  “No names.”<
br />
  “Yes, I know. But where did you hear it?”

  “I overheard some mates of Ady’s in the pub.”

  “Which pub?”

  “Which pub? The, er, the Corporation Arms.”

  “When was this?”

  “The other day.”

  “Can you remember which day?”

  “Dunno, Wednesday I think.”

  “But you’ve only decided to come and speak about it today?”

  “Yeah, well, like I said. It’s all this shit on Facebook about Ady being arrested. It’s got me thinking.”

  “Do you know who was supposed to have done it?”

  “Nah, nah, nothing like that. It’s just, Ady’s a cunt and that, everybody knows. But I believe the story I heard. I don’t think he’s capable of killing a family. Not kids. So, if he is under arrest for murder, that’s probably why he’s saying fuck all.”

  Callum’s confidence was beginning to build back up, Miller got the distinct impression that the little scrote felt that he had done enough to blag his way in and out of this police station. Miller was about to give this Callum Dewhurst a little surprise.

  “Well, I’m grateful to you for coming in and talking to us. It’s really appreciated, as you know this is a very serious crime. They don’t get much more serious than this one.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean.”

  “Do you know what I was doing when you asked to speak to me?”

  Callum shrugged.

  “I was planning your arrest!” Miller smiled widely, but his eyes contained no warmth.

  Callum’s face changed instantly, that rosy-glow he’d been developing was suddenly turning a shade darker. The cocky-glint in his eyes was replaced with an unmistakable expression of shock.

  “What… my arrest?”

  “Damn right! Your arrest, Barry Hughes’ arrest and Terence Bright’s arrest. Your mate Ady has told us everything about yous! He’s been singing like a demented canary!”

  “What, that’s fu…”

  Miller’s jovial and pleasant demeanour suddenly disappeared. He locked eyes with Dewhurst and stared at the man, there was no longer a tactical requirement for hiding his utter contempt and hatred for this evil, pathetic man. “It was you four. You killed them two gorgeous little kids and their dad. You left their mum fighting for her life in the hospital, even though she’s got nothing left to live for.”