by J. E. Mayhew
Kathy pursed her lips. “Okay,” she muttered. “I’ll get onto it.”
“Okay, Kathy. I’ll come along. I want to have a chat with her myself. See if you can phone both of them up and we can pop round.”
Chapter 34
The years hadn’t been kind to Tanya Ellman. Or maybe it was just the last couple of days, Blake thought. She had a round, doughy face that was frozen in a look of constant disapproval and was framed by lank brown hair. She constantly pulled a huge, pale blue cardigan around her large frame. She worked in one of the department stores in Liverpool and had agreed, reluctantly, to come in and chat rather than have police officers coming to her place of work.
“I don’t know how I can help you. It was all a long time ago,” she said, as they sat in an interview room.
Blake nodded. “I know, but the Florence Percival case seems tangled up with it, Ms Ellman…”
“Leonard Hill was the prime suspect,” Kath chipped in.
Blake glared at her but carried on. “We just want to get a bit of an idea about the Undine case as obviously, the same personalities are involved with our search for Florence Percival.”
“I mean, if he’s done it once, he might well have killed again,” Kath said, fixing Tanya with a steely gaze, “and nobody would want that on their conscience, would they?”
“Thanks Kath,” Blake said, giving her another look. She was a blabber mouth sometimes but right now, she seemed to be dead set on steering the interview, even if it was an informal one. Blake turned to Tanya. “So, if it’s okay, could you, in your own time and your own words just run through the events of the night Undine Percival died?”
Tanya Ellman blinked and tangled her fingers around each other. Blake noticed that her nails were bitten to the quick. “It was a long time ago. I don’t like thinking about it,” she said. Her eyes glistened with tears. “Do you really think he’s done it again?”
Blake held up a hand and silenced Kath before she could talk. “It’s a possibility but we’re exploring all avenues. We just want to find out the truth, Tanya, that’s all.”
“Okay, but I was just a kid. Only sixteen. It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t think much of myself then,” she took a breath and gave a tearful laugh. “I don’t suppose I do, now. I wasn’t what you’d call ‘a looker.’ ‘A bit of a plain Jane,’ that’s what dad always called me.” She pulled the cardigan around herself even tighter. “So, when Paul Percival showed an interest in me, I was bowled over.”
“How long before Undine’s death was this?”
“A few months. He was such a gentleman, even at that age. It’s amazing how easily you can be taken in.”
“How d’you mean?” Kath said.
“That night…” Tanya started and then she held her breath as though trying to muster her courage. “What you have to understand is that up until then, he’d been lovely. I was so young and inexperienced. I’d never been out with a boy let alone done anything else. It wasn’t my fault.”
“If you want to take a break, Tanya, we’d quite understand. I know this must be difficult. I know you’ve suffered because of that night and your part in the case.”
She looked up at him. “You do?”
“The graffiti in the classrooms claiming you’d lied? Having to move school. None of that was your fault, was it?”
Tanya Ellman looked down at her hands. “Maybe it was,” she said. “Maybe I deserved it for what I did. Maybe it was true.”
“What?” Kath said.
“The night Undine Percival died, I was expecting Paul to take me out. He’d promised we’d go into town and see the Christmas lights. I was just a kid, really. So excited. And then he didn’t turn up until later. Much later. He said that Leonard Hill had done something terrible. He was really upset, crying and trembling. He told me that Leonard had hurt his sister, maybe even killed her and that Leonard was going to blame it on him. I worshipped the ground he walked on. I’d have done anything for him then. And Leonard was so creepy, I believed him. So… I… I lied in court.”
“You said in court that Paul Percival had been with you all evening when in reality, he’d only been with you for less than an hour. Which begs the question, what was Paul doing before he came to you?”
“I know what he was doing, Inspector, he was murdering his sister and framing Leonard Hill for it. When I sat in court and heard the evidence, I began to realise that it was Paul who had got Leonard drunk, Paul who led them both down to the lake in the dark, Paul who pushed Undine into the water.”
“And how did you know that?” Kath said, making Blake wince.
“I just knew. You know that expression, ‘the scales fell from my eyes?’ It was like that. I sat in the court and watched Paul’s face as he followed the proceedings, and I just knew he had engineered the whole thing and his father helped cover it up.”
“Really?” Blake said. “Would you care to explain?”
“Before I was interviewed by the police, Paul’s dad came to see me. Roland Percival. He got me to learn my times off by heart. The time Paul arrived, the time of a favourite TV programme I was watching before he called. The time Paul left. Everything. It was like learning a script for a play. I’m not sure Roland knew what his son had done, just that Leonard Hill was trying to implicate him, so he made sure his son had a cast-iron alibi.”
Blake glanced at Kath. “And did you see Paul again after the case had closed and Hill had been found not-guilty?”
Tanya heaved a huge sigh. “I did a couple of times. Each time, he would hug me and kiss me and beg me not to tell anyone that I’d lied. The last time I saw him was different, though.”
“In what way?”
“He was colder towards me. He said he was finishing with me because I reminded him of that terrible night too much. I-I accused him of setting me up and said I’d go to the police. That was when he became threatening. He said they wouldn’t believe me and even if they did, I’d be an accessory to murder. He said he’d creep into my bedroom and kill me, make it look like suicide. By the time he left me, I was a wreck. I couldn’t breath for the anxiety. I’ve never recovered, really.”
“So, why tell us this, now?” Kath said, leaning forward so fast that Tanya flinched back in her chair. Blake scowled at Cryer but she ignored him.
“Because of what you said, that he may have struck again. I wasn’t going to say anything. Just bottle it all up, like I do every day. But you’re right. If Paul Percival has killed his poor little daughter, then he needs bringing to justice. I’m not important. He’s got away with murder for too long!”
“But- but I meant Leonard Hill,” Kath said, blinking at Tanya.
Tanya Ellman gave a short, slightly hysterical laugh. “Oh, I see. Leonard Hill is a creepy pervert but he’s not a murderer. No, when he threatened me, Paul Percival said that killing came easily to him. And I believe that it does.”
*****
The silence in the car was almost total apart from the swish of traffic and the regular thump of the windscreen wipers. A steady drizzle had set in and it barely looked like daylight outside. Kath made a pantomime of keeping her eyes on the road while Blake flicked through his phone, hoping for a text or a call from Laura or about Laura; anything that would tell him she was safe. At last he put his phone in his pocket and looked out at the cars in the other lanes.
“So do you want to tell me what’s going on, Kath?”
“I dunno what you mean, sir,” Kath said, craning her neck to look in her wing mirror. A car beeped somewhere behind them.
“Ever since we started this case, you seem to have been on a mission to prove that Leonard Hill is guilty.”
“That’s the job, isn’t it, sir?”
“No,” Blake said. “The job is to get to the truth of what happened. It’s up to the courts to establish guilt or innocence. We just find out what is going on.”
“But he’s such a creep and I bet when his computer comes back, it’ll be full of horrific child porn. Yo
u just know it will…”
“And if that’s the case, then he will face charges for it, but it doesn’t mean he murdered Undine Percival or abducted Florence.”
Kath honked her horn at the car in front that had stalled at the lights. “Come on, numb nuts!” she yelled.
“Steady, Kath,” Blake said.
“It’s not right, sir. Not fair. People like Hill wandering around free to abuse and groom kiddies while the victims just… just… “
“What’s going on, Kath? Is this case close to home or something?”
“I’m not a victim of child abuse, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Kath said, swerving around the car in front and putting her foot down. “Not directly, anyway.”
“What do you mean?”
“Mr Freeman,” she said. “He was a youth worker when I was a kid. He ran a club for teenagers at Bebington Memorial Hall near where I lived. He seemed like a lovely man. Had a family, cute, groovy wife who used to come along sometimes and help. Me and my sister, Isabelle used to go along and it was fun. To begin with.”
“So what happened?”
“I got bored or got a boyfriend who thought it wasn’t cool to go to the Youthie, as we called it. So I stopped going but Isabelle went on her own. She’d come back later and later from the place. She went off her food, wouldn’t talk about what she’d done there. She wasn’t sleeping very well, either. Then she stopped going to the Youthie. And Mr Freeman started visiting our house.”
“Jeez, Kath, I’m sorry…”
“Looking back, we were all so naïve; my mum and dad, me, we never suspected a thing. It just seemed like he was concerned for her. ‘One of her regulars,’ he called her. God how stupid were we?”
“Nobody expects that to happen to a member of their family, though, do they Kath? You can’t blame yourself or your parents.”
“I know, Will, but you do blame yourself. My sister was never the same again. She can’t keep a relationship together, she can’t hold a job down. She has constant flashbacks and nightmares. And then she uses anything she can get her hands on to dull the pain. When she finally plucked up the courage to tell us what had been going on, Mr Freeman had fled, leaving his groovy wife and kids to pick up the pieces.”
“Did they ever catch him?”
“No. When I joined up, I searched for him but he’d gone abroad. So an evil fucker like that wrecked God knows how many people’s lives and then just vanished. It’s not right. And I’ll be honest, I look at Leonard Hill and see Mr Freeman. I’d hang ‘em all.”
“That’s awful, Kath. I never knew. I wish I could say something that would change your mind, but I don’t think I could, or should. I would ask you though, what if Freeman had done that and someone else got the blame? Someone is still escaping justice aren’t they?”
“As far as I’m concerned, Freeman did murder my happy, bright, confident sister but, yeah, I take your point. Having said that, if I can send Hill down for something, then I’ll be a happy girl.”
“If he’s committed a crime, Kath, we will. But not at the expense of someone else’s justice. Let’s see what Geri Sharpe has to say.”
Chapter 35
Chaos ruled in the Sharpe household when Blake and Kath arrived at her house in Noctorum. They could hear the shrieking from inside the car. At first, Blake jumped out of the car, thinking an assault was in progress but then he heard Geri’s voice bellowing, “put that bloody Lego away and get back upstairs. If you’re not well enough to go to school, you can’t play Lego!”
Blake turned and was relieved to see Kath grin at him. “Looks like we came at a bad time, Will.”
“Or a good one, if you want to catch someone off their guard,” Will said.
“Are you the Truancy Man?” A voice said behind them.
Blake turned and saw an old man in slippers and wearing a fawn cardigan with leather buttons standing at the end of his drive. “No,” Blake said. “Why do you ask?”
“Them kids, they hardly ever go to school, do they? I just thought you might be from the education or something. If you’re not that, you must be bizzies. You look like bizzies to me.”
Blake smiled. “Well, nice talking to you.”
“About time you lot came. All the comings and goings at that house. Blokes from all over. Bloomin’ disgusting. Even couples, sometimes. All ages. She’ll have ‘em all, you know. Saw an old couple just the other week. That’s got to be illegal.”
“Last time I looked it wasn’t,” Blake said. “I guess it depends what’s going on in there. Anyway, have a good day.”
“I’ve got CCTV if you need it,” the old man said as Blake turned away. “All the comings and goings. I’m sure it’s a knocking shop. Imagine those kids being in there, too.”
“Thank you, Mr…?”
“Ormand,” the man said. “Vic Ormand. Just give me a shout if you need any CCTV, my camera doesn’t reach into the house, but it picks up people parking in the front. Bloody disgusting.”
Blake returned to the matter of Geri Sharpe. The screaming had stopped. “Do you think it’s safe to go in?”
“We could give it a go,” Kath said.
Geri Sharpe was in a sour mood. The house was littered with toys and building bricks and a nursery rhyme blared away in the background. “This really isn’t a great time, to be honest, my son isn’t well and had to stay at home. Could we do it tomorrow or something?”
“It really won’t take long,” Blake said. “We’re searching for a missing little girl and time isn’t on our side.”
Feet thundered through the ceiling above them and Geri leaned over to the bottom of the stairs. “If you aren’t in that bed in three seconds, Dominic, I’m phoning a taxi to take you to school! One, two…” The thundering stopped. She turned back to them. “Sorry. He’s got ADHD, they don’t always get it right at that school. Puts him off going for weeks, sometimes. Come in.”
They picked their way through the toys and sat down on a sofa. Blake glanced around. “Nice place you have,” he said, and genuinely meant it. The house felt homely and lived in. he contrasted it with Leonard Hill’s oatmeal bland décor.
“Thanks but I don’t suppose you came round to critique my soft furnishings,” Geri said and then giggled. “That sounds a bit naughty doesn’t it?”
Blake gave the briefest of smiles. “Kath has already talked to you about your involvement with Leonard Hill, but I just wanted to get a little more background. How did you meet him?”
“Oh, you know, one of them apps, swipe right, swipe left,” Geri said. “To be honest, he was no looker, but I thought, you know, he might have a nice personality. Or a bit of money to spend.” She winked.
Kath glanced at Blake.
“Are you alright Kath?” Blake said.
“Yeah, sorry, carry on,” she said, not taking her eyes off Geri.
“So, were you aware of his background history when you met him?”
“Background history? What d’you mean?”
“His convictions for having images of children and his involvement in a murder case when he was younger?”
“God, no! I don’t do personality checks on all my gentlemen, that’d be mental but if I’d known, I’d have steered clear.”
“Would you?”
“Too right. Don’t want nonces like that coming near me.”
“So, you’d say you’d avoid anyone with a record like that?”
“Yeah, deffo. Why are you asking me all these weird questions?”
“It’s just that I was doing a bit of background research before coming to talk to you, Geri, and I stumbled across your Facebook page.”
Geri shrugged. “Yeah, so I go to a few parties, enjoy a bevvy every now and then. That’s no crime, is it?”
“No. Do you know a man called Ian Vale?”
“Never heard of him, should I?”
“Yeah, he runs the Tor-paedo Facebook group. There are photographs of you confronting a number of men about them trying to groom
you online when they thought you were a fourteen-year-old girl…”
Geri’s mouth clammed shut.
“So, it isn’t the case that you don’t go near people like Leonard Hill, is it? You actively ‘seek and destroy’ I think the term was on the Facebook page. Feel free to correct me, any time.”
“Okay. I have helped Ian out sometimes. We use a fuzzy web-cam and lots of makeup to disguise me but, yeah, I don’t mind catching perverts out. If you lot did your job properly, maybe we wouldn’t have to.”
“So was Leonard Hill just another target? Is that it?”
Geri shifted in her seat. “No,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about him. He was just a punter.”
“You just told me you didn’t know anything about Ian Vale and it turns out you did, Geri. Are you lying now, or telling the truth? Only it’s getting hard to tell.”
“I’m telling you, I hardly knew him.”
“So, how did you meet him again?” Kath said, suddenly. Blake looked over at her, trying to get her not to interrupt.
“I told you, one of them apps, swipe right, swipe left,” Geri said. “To be honest, he was no looker, but I thought, you know, he might have a nice personality. Or a bit of money to spend.”
“Word for word,” Kath said.
Geri held up her hands. “What?”
“That’s the third time you’ve answered that question with exactly the same words. It’s like you’ve learnt them from a script.”
“I dunno what you’re going on about,” Geri said.
“Did someone put you up to framing Leonard Hill?”
“No,” Geri said, standing up. “This is stupid. I haven’t done nothing wrong. You’ve got that paedo in jail where he belongs. All you have to do is throw away the key. Now, if you don’t mind, my son’s up there and he’s too quiet to not be up to something. I want you to leave.”
Blake held up his hands. “As you wish, Geri but if it turns out you’ve been obstructing our enquiries in any way, then we’ll be straight back with a search warrant. You attend to your son. We’ll see ourselves out.”
Back on the pavement, Kath looked troubled. “She’s not telling us something. That answer was memorised. Like from a script.”