Flesh and Blood

by Emma Salisbury

  ‘He’s hardly a link,’ Liam told him, ‘he’s barely out of nappies let alone school.’

  Coupland felt something inside him quicken. ‘So you do know who drove the car?’

  Liam shook his head. ‘No but I know plenty like him. So desperate to impress they’ll steal a car to order and mow down a stranger.’ Liam paused, enjoying the attention. ‘Do you know how much Tunny paid him to kill McMahon?’

  Coupland shook his head.

  ‘£500,’ Liam replied. ‘500 quid to decimate a family. Life really is cheap, Mr Coupland, isn’t it?’

  Coupland let out a long slow breath. ‘Can you give me a description, Liam?’

  Liam shook his head.

  ‘Come on; help me get him off the street.’

  Liam shrugged. ‘Not sure I can. He’s nothing special, just a short arse wannabee with a daft grin. ’fraid that’s the best I can do—’

  Coupland was already on his feet, ignoring the worried glance from Cueball. ‘We’re done,’ he barked at him, picking up his folder before heading for the door. ‘I’ll leave you to thank our guests for coming.’

  *

  It was easy enough to track him down due to his previous arrest. Sean Bell lived with his parents in a mid-terraced house close to the crematorium. They were at work given the decibel level of the music blaring out of an upstairs window. Coupland stood at the garden gate while uniformed officers banged on the front door before using their big red key to open it. He was brought out in handcuffs, bare chested, manky joggers over top of the range trainers. ‘Glad to see you put your blood money to good use,’ Coupland said as the boy was taken to the cage at the rear of the police van.

  The boy stared at him, his coat hanger grin forming in recognition. ‘I fucked your mum…’

  ‘In terms of icebreakers I’ve heard better,’ Coupland replied, shaking his head. ‘Save it for when you get to Strangeways, see what your cell mate thinks. Might make for an interesting time come check-in.’

  *

  The custody sergeant regarded Coupland as he walked up to the desk. ‘You on commission?’ He asked, eyeing the gob-shite being escorted in behind him.

  ‘All in a day’s work,’ Coupland answered. ‘Has Alan Harkins been brought back down yet?’

  The sergeant checked his computer, scrolling and clicking on several buttons. ‘Still being interviewed by DC Ashcroft,’ he said, turning to greet his latest guest. ‘Back so soon..?’

  Leaving the uniforms who’d brought Sean Bell in to do the honours Coupland made his way to the bank of interview rooms in time to see DC Ashcroft coming out of the gents toilets.

  ‘How are you getting on with Harkins?’

  ‘His solicitor asked for a break to confer with his client. DS Moreton’s given him ten minutes.’

  ‘Making headway though?’

  ‘We’ve told him Bernie Whyte’s been charged with assaulting Colin Grantham, and that he’s admitted to sloping off when he should have been working. It means there’s only Harkins left in the frame for abusing the other patients. Just a matter of time I reckon.’

  ‘Where’s Alex?’

  ‘Said she wanted to check something in the EMU.’

  They turned at the sound of purposeful steps behind them. In her hand Alex held two evidence bags. ‘I’ve just taken these from Barbara Howe’s personal effects,’ she told them, holding one up to show them what was inside. A copy of Cedar Falls’ staff handbook. She turned it over so she could point something out on the back. ‘In the spirit of “Transparency,”’ she said this making quote marks with her fingers, ‘Harkins had the Care Commission’s contact details printed on the reverse. I noticed the other day that it had been circled in ink.’

  ‘You reckon Barbara could have been onto him?’

  ‘We can’t know for certain, but I remembered there was a note book beside it in the box of personal effects that we collected, in fact it was the notebook I wanted to check.’ She showed them a second evidence bag containing a slim jotter, similar to an exercise book a child would use at school. The book had been placed into the evidence bag in such a way that two pages that had been written on were on display.

  Coupland took it from her, held it so that the scrawled handwriting became easier to see. A series of random dates had been written down the left hand side of the page. ‘Any idea what they refer to?’ he asked, glancing at Alex as she shook her head.

  Ashcroft held out his hand to take a look. Took a photograph of the pages with his phone before handing the notebook back to Alex. Both Coupland and Alex frowned.

  ‘When I spoke to Shola’s contact at the Care Commission, I never asked where they got their information relating to the near miss incidents that had occurred at the home over the previous two years. What if they’d got their information from Barbara? I’ll phone them, see if these dates match…’ He was already backing away.

  Coupland felt a weight begin to lift from his shoulders. The look he gave Alex was hopeful. ‘Meanwhile, I’ll come in the interview with you…’

  ‘Kevin, if Ashcroft’s hunch is right then this gives Harkins one hell of a motive to kill your mother.’

  ‘I know, but I need to hear him say it.’

  Alex had moved so her body blocked his entry into the room. She folded her arms as though stressing the point she was making. ‘I can’t let that happen, Kevin. You do this and he as good as walks away from any conviction and you’ll likely be out on your ear. You know that.’

  Coupland slumped against the corridor wall. Alex was right but it didn’t make it any more palatable. It would mean putting his faith in a justice system he’d spent his whole life upholding. A justice system that didn’t always get it right. He shook his head as he walked away.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Lynn had sent him a text reminding him she had Zumba after work. She’d uploaded a photo of four bottles of beer she’d left in the fridge for him along with a smiley face. Coupland took one out gratefully before making his way through to the front room. He’d think about sorting dinner later; right now he had neither the appetite nor the inclination for food. The DCI had sent him home, told him he was neither use nor ornament brooding at his desk.

  ‘We’ll keep you posted regarding any developments,’ he’d promised as he walked with him to his car, as though making sure he was no longer on the premises.

  Ashcroft had telephoned him not long after. His contact at the Care Commission confirmed that Barbara Howe had alerted them to concerns relating to the welfare of patients at Cedar Falls, which sparked their initial inspection. He’d re-interviewed Johnny Metcalfe with an independent appropriate adult and he’d admitted to being abused by Alan Harkins. The care home manager had sworn him into silence by threatening him with a transfer to prison to complete his sentence – all he had to do was say he was well enough to serve time.

  ‘Make sure DS Moreton is brought up to speed,’ Coupland demanded.

  ‘Already done,’ Ashcroft told him.

  The doorbell rang. Coupland cursed as he made his way into the hall, frowning as he eyeballed the figure on the doorstep. ‘Christ, shouldn’t you be at home watching Pointless?’

  ‘I can go if you like.’

  ‘You’re here now.’ Coupland stood aside to let him pass. Indicating they go through to the front room where his tell-tale beer bottle awaited him. Amy was having a nap upstairs while Tonto slept; he made a mental note to show his old man the door if he started to get on his nerves. Coupland waited for him to sit down before choosing the seat furthest away from him.

  ‘There’s no easy way to say this,’ his father began.

  ‘You’re dying?’ The words came out without thinking; Coupland felt his neck go red. He’d meant it, just not meant to say it aloud.

  ‘We’re all dying, Son,’ Ged said evenly, ‘but no, I’m sorry to disappoint you, it’s not that.’

  ‘Okaaay….’

  ‘Suppose I might as well come out and say it.’

  ‘F
ill your boots.’

  ‘Your mum kept in touch with me…Not often,’ he said quickly, registering the look on Coupland’s face. ‘Once a year maybe at first, slowing to every couple of years as you got older.’

  Coupland struggled to take in his next breath. He opened his mouth but the air wouldn’t come. He stood, tried pacing the room, willing himself to stay calm. The room began to tilt and he bent forward, hands on hips like a marathon runner after crossing the finish line. He made a gasping sound, like a fish out of water. He tried to make sense of the thoughts jostling for attention in his head. ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’

  ‘What good would it have done? Anyway, you never spoke about her.’

  ‘I was scared of you…’ His honesty shocked them both, though it was his old man who recovered first.

  ‘Not when you were older,’ he said. ‘By the time you left home you knew how to stand up for yourself.’

  ‘I left home because I was frightened of what I might do to you.’

  A sneer. ‘Save your hard man act for the locker room. You were a soft lad. I toughened you up.’

  ‘You were a bully. A nasty, foul mouthed drunken bully, I’m not surprised she left you.’

  ‘So what was her excuse for not taking you, then, if you were so perfect?’

  He had him there. ‘Why didn’t you tell us she’d kept in touch? Why the hell didn’t she want to keep in touch with her kids?’

  A sigh. Ged eyed Coupland’s beer. ‘You got anything to drink?’

  It had taken all of Coupland’s energy to drag himself over to the seat beside his father. He slumped into it, his head falling back until he was staring at the ceiling, ‘I’m not budging until you tell me everything.’

  ‘And then we’ll share a drink?’

  Coupland grunted a yes.

  ‘Your mother had been restless for a long time, Kevin. I knew she was unhappy, I just didn’t know the reason why.’

  ‘You didn’t look in the mirror then.’

  Ged carried on as though he hadn’t spoken. ‘The day she upped and left I was distraught. She’d packed a bag and left me the briefest of notes. She’d written down your schedule beneath it, what day you had swimming, when I needed to get your games kit ready. She’d bought school trousers in larger sizes for when you grew out of the ones you had. School shirts too. Gifts she asked me to wrap up and give you at Christmas. There was nothing in there about me. It was all about you and how she didn’t want your life disrupted because she wouldn’t be there.’

  Coupland swallowed.

  ‘I didn’t hear anything for six months, in that time I threw out most of her stuff. In a way I suppose it was like she’d died. She was dead to me, at least. Then a letter came out of the blue. No address on it, which I don’t blame her for. Not now, anyway. She finally told me the reason why.’

  Coupland lifted his head and turned to face him. ‘You used to bloody hit her, what other reason did she need?’

  ‘It’s never as simple as that, Son, you should know that. Turns out there was someone else.’

  Coupland furrowed his brow, waiting for his father to continue.

  ‘A woman. I know your generation reckon it’s no big deal these days, fashionable even, but you need to think about what it was like back then, me a serving officer too. She knew I wouldn’t be able to cope with the shame of it. Besides, I had loved her.’

  Coupland regarded his father and sighed. If Lynn ever left him, whether for another man or woman it wouldn’t matter, it would break him.

  ‘The woman’s name was Lillian. They’d met at work. She never said anything else, but I could tell she was happy. Her letters always arrived on your birthday. She asked after you and the girls but it was you she worried about. She thought her being in your life would be a complication. I suppose she thought I’d meet someone, someone else you’d start to call mam, but who’d have me? By then I’d pretty much let myself go. She started using a PO Box address, so I could reply. My letters were short and to the point, answering the questions she asked, nothing more. I suppose it was one of the reasons I didn’t move on, I got caught up in the past every time I replied to her and I took it out on you. She didn’t write so much once you’d left home. I think she wanted the peace of mind knowing you’d turned out alright. I told her you’d married, and sent her a photo Pat had given me when Amy came along.’

  Coupland felt as though his insides had been wrung out. ‘What did she say?’ he managed.

  ‘She said you deserved to be happy.’

  ‘Did you ever meet up with her?’

  Ged shook his head. ‘No. Remember she never gave me her proper address. She was right not to. I would have gone over, tried to make her see sense.’

  ‘Like love is something you can switch on and off,’ Coupland found himself saying. ‘So why did she get a job that required her to live in if she was so loved up?’ He couldn’t fathom it.

  ‘Lillian got dementia,’ Ged explained. ‘She died several years back. I reckon that’s how your mum got into health care, daresay the live-in arrangements would have helped. Stopped her feeling so alone.’

  ‘Did you hear from her when she moved to Cedar Falls?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Do you think she was planning to get in touch?’

  ‘Who knows? I suppose it’s possible.’

  Coupland ran his hands over his face. He felt as though he’d been hit by a wrecking ball.

  ‘About that drink…’

  Coupland pointed to the dining room and several bottles Lynn had bought for their ill-fated dinner. ‘Take your pick, just so long as you bring two glasses.’

  *

  The call he’d been waiting for came just after 9pm. He woke with a start, eyeing the empty gin bottle opened once the wine had run out. There was no sign of his father. In the kitchen, Lynn was talking in hushed tones to Amy. He heard the words, ‘rat-arsed’ and ‘ungrateful sod’ though he wasn’t sure whether she was referring to him or his old man.

  He stared as Alex’s name flashed up on the screen. ‘Yes?’ His voice came out as a whisper.

  ‘Alan Harkins has admitted the charge of murder. He’s also admitted to one count of rape and sexually abusing several unnamed patients at Cedar Falls during his time as manager.’

  Coupland swallowed.

  ‘Are you still there?’

  ‘Yes,’ seemed all he was able to say.

  ‘Barbara wasn’t on shift on the night of the fire. Harkins hadn’t expected to be interrupted when he made his way up to the isolation room where he’d sent Johnny. Bernie Whyte was off his face in the garden so he thought the coast was clear. He’d drugged Johnny to disorientate him, removed his clothes…’

  ‘Then in walked my mother…’

  ‘Yes. She accused him of hiding Catherine’s headphones in Johnny’s room just so he had an excuse to isolate him from the others. She told him she’d been keeping tabs on him; said he wasn’t fit to run a home. There was a struggle and Harkins shoved her. She hit her head as she fell backwards against a table. He knew straight away she was dead. Johnny must have run out while they were fighting, Harkins doesn’t remember him going as all he could think of by then was getting rid of her body.’ Alex stopped. ‘We don’t need to do this now.’

  ‘Yes we do.’

  A pause. ‘The drugs had disorientated Johnny; we already have on record he didn’t know what day of the week it was. Harkins later threatened him to keep silent.’

  ‘What did Harkins do with my mother?’

  Alex cleared her throat. Made a swallowing noise. ‘The fire alarm going off was the answer to Harkins’ prayers. He saw smoke coming out of Catherine Fry’s bedroom and saw his chance.’

  ‘Let me guess. A chance to literally burn the evidence?’

  ‘He carried Barbara into Catherine’s room and left her there. Catherine was already unconscious, yet he had the presence of mind to drag her outside in case anyone came looking for her and found Barbara instead.’


  ‘Bastard wasn’t as stupid as he looked.’

  ‘Kevin, I’m so, so—’

  ‘—Don’t be,’ he said, ending the call.

  Two Weeks Later

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  It was the day of the Professional Standards hearing. One month since his mother’s death at the hands of Alan Harkins. One month since four vulnerable patients became victims of Liam Roberts’ arson attack. Two weeks since James McMahon’s killer, Sean Bell, began his stint at Strangeways, pending his trial.

  One week since Tonto had started teething, and they were all suffering the consequences.

  Coupland had arranged to meet his union rep at the station. With time to kill he’d popped out to buy a sandwich that didn’t taste as though it had been made a week ago. Besides, he’d needed to stretch his legs, he was getting on everyone’s nerves pacing round the CID room though they’d been too good natured to say it. Walking back to the station Coupland froze. Kieran Tunny’s car couldn’t have been parked closer to the entrance if he’d tried. The vehicle wasn’t causing an obstruction but it was turning heads. Coupland sucked in a breath as he moved towards it. The rear window slid down as he drew level.

  Tunny eyeballed him. ‘I am in your debt, Mr Coupland. Is there anything I can do for you?’

  ‘All part of the job, Kieran, let’s leave it at that.’

  ‘I hear you’re still getting grief from Reedsy. I can take care of him if you like, make him withdraw his complaint.’

  ‘Like I said before. I can fight my own battles.’

  ‘If you change your mind.’

  ‘I won’t.’

  Coupland stepped back from the window to indicate the conversation was over, clocking, too late, the Super observing him from an upstairs window, Sergeant Ross, his federation rep, beside him.

  *

  The mood was sombre in the CID room. ‘I’ve just heard from Donna Chisholm,’ Alex muttered. ‘Sarah Kelsey’s kids are going into care.’

  Coupland looked up at the ceiling and swore. ‘Seems bloody wrong when it’s down to lack of money rather than love.’