Chapter 15
Emma watched Billy leave them, trying not to show any emotion at his going. She’d learned that when Billy went away on exercise, or on a case, she needed to be strong emotionally for him. The last thing he needed, or wanted for that matter, was a weeping, clingy idiot. He was looking for someone as strong as himself in a life-partner and Emma had been determined to be the person he needed her to be. As each going came around, it became easier to play the role assigned to her. She stood tall, proud of him and his achievements, returning his merry wave with one of her own, and flashing a big smile to send him on his way. It was only when she went back into the house and closed the door on the sound of his car driving away, could she let her tears have their way.
And so she stood rigidly next to Chief Robinson and DI Briggs as Billy disappeared into the throng of boys that surrounded him as soon as he entered the block.
‘Who’s this Aiden then?’ DI Briggs asked her.
Glad of the diversion, Emma turned to the policeman and said, ‘Aiden Hughes is in for attempted murder. But,’ she continued at the shocked look on Briggs’ face, ‘He was convicted under the umbrella justice rule. The gang of mates he ran with for a while attacked a vulnerable homeless man one night and nearly killed him.’
Briggs nodded his understanding, ‘And Aiden wasn’t there?’
‘No. But as he’d been part of the group of boys when they’d harassed the man before, Aiden was deemed to have been responsible as well.’
‘Where was he when the attack took place?’
‘At home, watching a film on the TV with his mum.’
‘Jesus,’ Briggs sighed.
‘I know. The law perceives that there's a certain amount of culpability that attaches to you as a member of the gang and that you shouldn't be allowed to avoid liability for what happens to the victim.’
‘Surely you’ve convicted people under that rule before?’ the chief asked Briggs.
‘I try not to, to be honest. But a lot of the time it’s above my pay grade. If the Superintendent says I have to, then I have to. But it doesn’t mean I like it. Is Aiden Hughes appealing?’
‘Yes, on the grounds that he was given bad advice by his solicitor, who told Aiden that he had no choice but to plead guilty. Aiden also came under a lot of pressure from the other boys involved, who had been told that if they all pleaded guilty as a group, then they would be dealt with more leniently. Basically, one solicitor represented them all and did a deal with the Crown Prosecution Service. Aiden never had a chance to put forward his own testimony. He’d tried to stop the gang harassing the man on previous occasions and had even called for help once to get them to stop. So not only did he know what they were doing was wrong, he’d actively tried to stop it and was nowhere near the crime scene that night.’
‘And you’re hoping that Aiden will do the right thing this time and help Billy track down the murderer.’
‘Yes, that’s about it.’
‘Good luck with that then,’ Chief Robinson said, his sarcastic tone conveying his scepticism.
Chapter 16
Geoff Fox was rung out. He sat as limp as a rag doll in the chair in his cubbyhole office. His hair was in disarray and as he reached up a hand to try to sort it out, the limb shook so violently that he gave up and replaced it on his desk. What the hell had he been thinking? He’d hoped that treating Titas with a modicum of human kindness and understanding would have encouraged the boy to reciprocate in kind. But he’d forgotten the first rule of working in a prison: be on your guard, as you never know what might happen and it would more than likely turnout to be what you least expect. Well that prediction had certainly come true for him.
The trouble was that he’d also made a fundamental mistake as a clinician. He’d forgotten about the volatility that comes with the mental illness that Titas was clearly suffering from. Thinking that perhaps Titas had been misdiagnosed, and wasn’t really suffering from personality disorder, or wasn’t bi-polar, he’d let his guard down. In the NHS, when he’d been a doctor in A&E, he’d only patched-up patients and shipped them out. Broken bones, cut foreheads, heart attacks (or more than likely indigestion) were the norm. If anyone displayed depression, or worse, then he simply referred them on to the Mental Health Team, where the patient was put on a waiting list many months long and sent back out into the community, where the care was non-existent.
As a result of his lack of experience, Geoff had blown it with Titas. Failed him. The man/boy was now languishing in an empty cell in solitary confinement. Three prison officers were suffering from concussion, Chief Robinson wasn’t talking to him and he was in for a severe lashing from the governor’s tongue: a lashing that would peel several layers off his already severely depleted self-confidence.
He looked around the hospital wing that now resembled a disaster zone. Trollies and trays were overturned, their contents strewn across the floor. Bedclothes had been ripped, pillows torn open and chairs lay drunkenly on their sides. Titas had rampaged through the wing for nearly 5 minutes before help had arrived. During that time all Geoff could do was to hide in his office, his nurse cowering beside him, and watch the bestial display of anger. At least the wing had been empty of patients. It seemed that was the only thing Geoff had done right was complying with an order to clear the hospital.
He put his head in his arms on his desk and closed his eyes. All he wanted to do was to go home and wallow in his self-pity. But he had to clear up the mess in the hospital. As his still visibly shaken nurse appeared with a coffee for him, Geoff hoped that the day wouldn’t get any worse. Surely he was firmly at the bottom of the proverbial barrel?
Chapter 17
Billy was in two minds as he walked into the education block. Did he do what Chief Robinson suggested and act all soldierly? Or did he try and win over the lads’ trust by being charming and disarming? As it turned out, he didn’t have to make that decision. It was made for him.
As Billy pushed through the throng that surrounded him at his entry, he came face to face with the man he presumed to be Memphis Colby. The ‘tell’ was in his stance and demeanour: arrogant, muscles on show in a tight tee-shirt, chin raised, hands in his pockets, slouching, but with attitude.
‘Mr Colby?’ enquired Billy, and he placed his forensic case on the floor beside him.
‘Who’s asking?’
Billy kept his face a mask, hiding his amusement at the role Colby was playing. He looked like he was a character in a B movie. Billy decided to give him the whole nine-yards.
‘Sgt Williams, Special Investigations Branch of the Military Police, based at Aldershot Garrison. I’ve been asked to come in here and help you find the man who murdered Mr Walker.’
‘Police?’ Colby raised an eyebrow.
‘Military, not civilian,’ was Billy’s clipped reply. ‘As I’m sure you’ve been told, I’ve no affiliation with the civilian police. I’m here to offer my forensic services in a purely advisory capacity. I have no authority over you and I can’t arrest you. So are you going to let me help you? Or shall I leave now and let Chief Robinson and DI Briggs handle things?’
Billy bent and picked up his case, turning slightly so Colby believed he was leaving.
‘Not so fast.’
Billy dropped the case.
‘Why should we trust you? You could have been sent in to plant evidence, get a quick collar and leave us at the mercy of the prison authorities.’
‘Because I’m a soldier. A member of the British Army.’ At Colby’s sneer Billy continued, ‘It might not mean much to you, but it means everything to me. I wouldn’t disrespect my rank as a Sergeant by failing to do my best at whatever task I’m called upon to do.’
‘Been to Afghanistan have you?’
The sneer had still not left Colby’s face nor his voice, and so Billy just couldn’t resist snapping, ‘Yes. I’ve served my country in a war zone. Have you?’ and he held Colby’s stare until the other man backed down, scrutinizing his followers instead
of Billy. Deciding to press home his advantage Billy said, ‘I’d like to examine the body now.’
Colby waited a couple of beats before nodding, turning on his heel and walking away, clearly expecting Billy to follow him.
The two of them entered the classroom, with the throng pressing behind them against the open door and peering in through the windows. Billy looked at the teacher lying on his back on the floor near his desk, surrounded by a pool of blood, head to one side. The blood pool had been disturbed, smeared by what could be hands and knees, and there were partial bloody footprints leading from the body.
‘Who disturbed the scene?’ he asked Colby.
‘Eh?’
‘It looks like someone tried to help Mr Walker. Look, there are bloody footprints and a rag covered in blood. Did someone try and help him?’
‘Oh, right,’ said Colby. ‘That would be one of the teachers, Mrs Greenwood I think some lad was with her as well.’
‘I’d like to speak to them. Can you send them in?’
‘Eh?’
‘Mr Colby, Memphis isn’t it? I need to talk to them about what they did and when they did it. Maybe Mr Walker said something to them before he died? Or maybe he was dead already?’
Colby said, ‘I thought you were going to do your forensic bit?’
‘I will, but I’ll also need to talk to people, find out who saw what, when and where they were at the time.’
‘Alright, but I’m going to stay with you, make sure you don’t do us over.’
Billy said, ‘I’ll tell you what, you can observe, but stay over there by the door, alright?’
‘Why? What are you trying to hide?’
‘Nothing. I just don’t want any further contamination of the body or the scene.’
‘Oh, right, I get you,’ Colby smiled. ‘Just like in those television programmes, CSI and all that.’
‘Just like that,’ Billy agreed. ‘So with you guarding the door and the scene, no one else will get in and you’ll be able to observe my movements.’
Colby nodded. ‘Gotcha,’ and he turned to bark an instruction, whereupon one of the young men turned and pushed his way through the crowd, back towards the entrance to the block. ‘They’ll be here in a minute,’ he said to Billy, and took up a doorman’s pose, legs apart, arms folded, chin up, waiting for Billy’s next move.
Unfortunately, Billy’s next move didn’t produce anything in the way of evidence or leads. Mrs Greenwood and Aiden Hughes were brought to him and they described their failed attempts to resuscitate Mr Walker. They also confirmed that neither of them had seen the incident and had no idea who had killed the unfortunate art teacher.
‘Thank you,’ said Billy as the two witnesses went to leave. ‘Oh, Aiden,’ he said and the boy stopped at his name. ‘Could you stay for a moment; I could do with some help with all this.’
‘Why do you want him?’ growled Colby from his position in the doorway.
‘Because I can’t do this on my own and Aiden here has proved that he’s willing to help and that he can keep a cool head under pressure. I’m impressed with him. What do you say, Aiden?’
After a glance at Colby, who nodded his assent, Aiden said, ‘Yeah, I guess,’ and looked at his feet.
‘What about the teachers?’ Everyone looked at Mrs Greenwood as she spoke.
‘What about them?’ Colby was still playing the big man with that annoying sneer in his voice. It was beginning to get on Billy’s nerves.
‘You don’t need us and no one saw anything, let us go,’ she said.
‘Dunno about that.’
But Billy wasn’t about to let a golden opportunity pass him by.
‘She’s right, Memphis,’ he said. ‘We don’t need them and if you let them leave the block, I’m sure the gesture of goodwill will go a long way towards helping your case.’
‘How come?’ Colby still hadn’t relinquished his tough man stance.
‘Because the Chief and the DI will read into it that you are prepared to be reasonable and want nothing more than to find the killer. Mrs Greenwood can even pass that on as a message from you. What do you say?’
Billy could see Mrs Greenwood struggling to keep control. Her face was poker straight, but her eyes were giving her away. Reflected in them were her fear of the volatile young man who now controlled the education block and everyone in it. She kept blinking and her hands plucked at her skirt as they waited for Colby’s answer.
‘Alright,’ he at last conceded. ‘Come on, quickly, before I change my mind,’ Memphis said and pushed out of the door with Mrs Greenwood in tow.
As Billy turned away, towards his forensic kit, he grinned to himself. That was one objective achieved. But how many more were there to go?
Chapter 18
The first thing Billy needed was a search of the block to try and find the murder weapon. He turned to Aiden and asked, ‘Any idea what the murder weapon could have been?’
‘Well…’ Aiden seemed reluctant to say any more.
‘Come on, Aiden,’ Billy cajoled. ‘Miss Harrison said I could trust you. She also said you wouldn’t want another unfair umbrella justice case dumped on you.’
Aiden’s head snapped up from the inspection of his trainers. ‘You know about that?’
Billy nodded. ‘But it’s alright,’ he said. ‘She only told me the barest facts. Said that you were appealing an unfair conviction and because you know what it’s like to be accused of something you didn’t do; she was sure you’d go out of your way to help me.’
Talking about Emma conjured up an image of her as he’d left her at the gate. Her face pinched and raw, trying hard not to show her worry for him. But he couldn’t afford to be sentimental, that might get him killed, so he had to forcibly push away all thoughts of Emma and concentrate on the job in hand.
For a moment it seemed that Aiden wasn’t going to answer, but then he said, ‘I saw a clay sculpting knife.’
‘Where?’
‘In the hand of Memphis Colby.’
‘When?’
‘Just before he… Mr Walker… was killed.’
‘Did you see Memphis use the knife?’
Billy held the silence, trying to use it to his advantage, hoping Aiden would speak out against the local gang boss, but it seemed not.
‘No, I didn’t see who killed him, or what with. There were too many of them. I couldn’t do anything, they all crowded around him, honest I couldn’t, and I would’ve if I could. Really I would.’
Billy placed what he hoped was a soothing hand on Aiden’s arm. He could feel the boy shaking and saw his eye lashes were glistening with tears.
‘I know you would, Aiden. You couldn’t have done anything to stop it. And if you’d tried to, well, you would have ended up hurt yourself, I expect. But you can help now. And don’t worry about Colby; I’ll keep him under control.’
‘Really? Even the screws can’t manage that.’
‘Ah, but they’re not trying to clear him of a murder charge and I am. Trust me, Aiden, it’ll be alright.’
The boy sniffed and pulled out the bottom of his tee-shirt. After wiping his face, he asked, ‘What do you want me to do?’
‘I could do with three others to help you. Then I need you, in teams of two, to go through the classrooms and search for the murder weapon.’
‘What about Memphis?’
‘I’m going to work with him, keep him occupied, make him feel important and part of the investigation. So what do you reckon? Can you go and get three other sensible lads to help you?’
Aiden nodded. ‘I guess so. I’ll be back in a minute.’
‘Okay. Send Memphis in here, would you?’
While Billy waited he squatted down and opened his case, pulling out four sets of gloves and putting them to one side. Then he put on a pair himself and remaining where he was he took a long look at Jack Walker’s body. He was interrupted by Memphis Colby who didn’t seem best pleased to be summoned.
‘The kid says you want me.�
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‘Yes,’ said Billy rising. ‘I need you to keep an eye on four lads who I’ve asked to help search the classrooms. Here they come now.’
Billy nodded to the three boys who had walked into the classroom with Aiden. He handed out latex gloves to them, saying, ‘Firstly, put these on, then I need you four to search the classrooms. You’re to work in pairs and are looking for a clay sculpting knife. Aiden, get one for me would you?’
Aiden walked over to Jack Walker’s table, going to a box on the wall behind his desk. From the lock hung a bunch of keys and the box swung open at Aiden’s touch. Inside were five wooden handled sculpting knives laid out in a row, held in place with clips. The sixth clip was empty. Aiden returned with one and handed it to Billy who looked at it in amazement. The wooden handle was smooth and rounded with a chisel shaped metal blade protruding from it. The blade was about six inches long and although the tip was a flat surface of about a centimetre, it was sharpened and would have punched through clothes and flesh and Billy had no doubt that it could easily have killed Jack Walker.
Swallowing his horror that such an implement could be in a prison environment, he said, ‘Right, this is what we’re looking for. Don’t take your gloves off and if you find the missing knife, drop it in this evidence bag and bring it straight to me. Memphis here is going with you to make sure everyone stays out of your way.’
Turning to Colby he said, ‘Can you make sure the classrooms and bathrooms are emptied of lads, and then put someone at the door to guard each room?’
‘Sure, but what you do want me to do after that?’
‘Watch over the four boys here. They are to search together, in teams of two, doing each room in turn.’ Turning to Aiden and his friends he said, ‘If you find something, bring it straight to me, don’t let anyone else touch it and don’t make a fuss. Nice and quiet, alright?’
Everyone nodded their agreement and as the boys went to leave, Billy said to Colby, ‘I’m relying on you to keep order here, Memphis. I can’t do this on my own and as you’re the natural leader here, I need you on my side. I know everyone looks up to you and will do what you say. So how about it?’
Joint Judgement (An Emma Harrison Mystery Book 3) Page 5