by Adam Carter
“Have it your way, then,” Mullin said and headed once more for the door.
“Hold on, where are you going?”
“To the station, like you just told me to.”
“Then I’m coming with you.”
Lees hastened into the hall, where Mullin was already disappearing out the door. It did not take a genius to tell he was up to something and she did not believe for one moment he was handing himself in. It took her a few moments to realise he was parked outside; he had the car door open before she had even properly assessed how much of a scene she was willing to make in front of all her neighbours.
“You’re doing a runner, aren’t you?” she asked.
“No. I’m doing what you told me. God, you people are never satisfied, are you?”
“The police?”
“Women. It’s like we have to bleed gold before you’re happy with us.”
He slammed the door and drove off. Lees considered following him, but her priority was that Harry seemed to have wandered out the door after her. Scooting him back inside, she closed the door and said, “Your friend has anger issues.”
“Well, he’s not exactly my friend.”
“He’s what?”
“I only met him last night. He was a friend of Dave’s.”
“Hold on, he was what?”
“Yeah. I’m lucky I had his number so I could call him about last night. I got it from Dave when I dragged him out of there. Figured it was a good idea to be able to stay in contact in case there was any comeback. Come to think of it, I could have got Dave’s as well while I was …”
“No, go back. You don’t know Sean Mullin?”
“Well, not before last night, no.” He paused. “You’re looking a little pale, Carrie.”
“David Straw said … he said he didn’t know you, that you were a friend of Sean’s.”
“Really?” He frowned. “I wonder why he said that.”
“How long have you known David?”
“Since last night.”
Now Lees really was confused. “Harry, you need to start making sense. Did you know either Sean or David before last night?”
“No. I met them in the pub. I was out with the lads and I sort of ended up by myself. And I was a little drunk. Then I met Sean and Dave and we had a few laughs. They dared me to go over and make trouble with some hot girl and I was in such a mess I figured what the hell?”
“So they were together when you met them?”
“I’m not sure actually. It’s all pretty much a blur.”
Lees did not understand what was going on, but she had a feeling there was more happening than she realised. Straw hadn’t looked up Mullin’s name in the phone book, and he hadn’t run from Barden just because he’d panicked. One thing of which she was certain, however, was that they needed to speak with David Straw again before he was released.
“Stand there and be silent,” she said as she punched a number into her phone. Barden answered it on the second ring. “Ray? Don’t let Straw go. I have some questions for him.”
“Ah,” Barden said. “Might be a problem there. His solicitor insisted we either charge him or let him go, and we didn’t have anything to charge him with.”
“Damn.”
“What do you have?”
“Not a lot, other than that Straw lied to us. I have a few more leads to check, so I’ll talk to you later.”
As she hung up, Harry looked annoyed. “Dave was protecting me by not saying anything, you know.”
“Possibly, but I don’t think so. There’s something going on here, Harry, and I mean to get to the bottom of it.”
“That’s the policewoman talking.”
“I am a policewoman, you dolt.
“Well maybe you’re more a policewoman than my woman.”
“I’m not your woman, and if you weren’t my man you’d be in a prison cell by now. Do you understand that?”
Harry backed down and nodded meekly.
“I’m going out,” Lees said angrily. She had nowhere she really needed to be, but away from Harry Gorman would have been a good start. “I’ll say this again: do not leave the house until I get back. Do you think you can do as you’re told, or do you fancy organising another party?”
“I’ll stay.”
“And burn those damn shoes.”
She stormed out, angrier at herself than she was at Harry. She was trying to make something of herself, trying to establish a proper career in the force, and Harry was all set to screw that up for her. He wasn’t worth it, he really wasn’t worth it, but it was too late to do anything about it now. As soon as Harry was arrested, her chance of promotion was over. She had to save the man, but that did not mean she had to like it.
For the want of somewhere to go, Lees drove back to the station. Maybe there was a chance Mullin had handed himself in after all.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Harry Gorman,” Barden beamed, slapping a written statement onto the desk. Lees’s eyes widened, her lips parted as she grabbed the paperwork and devoured it eagerly. Proud of himself, Barden leaned back in his chair and even thought about putting his feet up on his desk. “Now that,” he said, “is having good contacts.”
“I …” Lees was staring at the papers, but Barden could see she was not reading them. Her hands were shaking and she was hardly able to take in the concept, let alone the words. “Who’s the girl who made this statement?”
“Arlene Jeffers,” Barden said, watching his partner carefully. “It took a bit of effort to track her down, but I knew there was something more to all of this. I spoke to witnesses, informants, I even went to see my priest and got a few confessions off my chest. Short story is I eventually turned up a name. Arlene Jeffers. It seems Jeffers was at the pub that night as well, but she wasn’t there alone. Harry Gorman had gone there with her; she was his date.”
“Harry was on a date?”
“Well, whatever you’d call it. It’s been a while since I was down with the kids, but that’s what we used to call them. He took the girl to the pub at any rate.”
“He didn’t just meet her there?”
“Nope. Gorman and Jeffers went to the pub together, had an argument and Jeffers stormed off, left him to it. Only she stayed in the pub, so she saw him approach Appleton as well.”
“What was the argument about?”
“Is that relevant?”
“It might be.”
Again, he could see she was nervous and he made himself as comfortable as possible. “Gorman’s girlfriend,” he said. “Turns out he already had one and let something slip while he was there. The argument, come to think of it, was probably the reason for his getting stinking drunk and then aggressive with the first pretty lady he saw. That and being urged on by his two friends of course.”
“Harry was … The cheating …”
Barden raised an eyebrow. “Of course, we still don’t know where Harry Gorman is. If we knew that, we could move in and arrest him.”
“I can’t believe he’s …”
“So if we knew someone who knew where he was? Even anonymously would be fine.”
“All this time I’ve been … and he’s been …”
“Like, for instance, if we knew who was hiding him. Quite innocently, of course. After all, you can’t be arrested for hiding someone, so long as you give them up when the situation turns to murder.”
“That rat-faced … Say what?”
Lees was looking at him now, her face etched with the expression of a cat which has just wandered into the wrong exercise area in Battersea Dogs’ Home.
Up until that moment, Barden was not certain whether he was having a good time, but murder was a serious business and he could no longer afford to let Lees play this however she saw fit. “You didn’t read the whole report,” he said, tapping a particular section of Jeffers’s statement. “Harry’s other girlfriend is called Caroline.” He leaned back. “Not that I didn’t already know, of course.”
�
�There are plenty of Carolines in … Already know?”
“Come on, you’ve had guilt plastered across your face ever since this thing began. I knew you were involved somehow; I was just praying you didn’t have anything do to with Tanner actually going over the rails. A while back I figured you knew Harry, that you were hiding him. Then I remembered you mentioning one time the name of your boyfriend and I didn’t need much more.”
“You … If you knew, why didn’t you say anything?”
“I was kind of hoping you’d come to me on your own.” He was angry, but there was no sense in showing it. He had himself done some pretty stupid things in his time, but hiding suspected murderers was not something he had ever even considered. “We’re on the same side, Carrie. And, unless you didn’t realise, cops don’t have a particularly good name any more. The fewer criminals we hide, the better it is for our image.”
“I’m sorry.”
To be fair to her, she did look sorry. She also looked a little lighter and he could see just how badly the thing had been holding her down. With any luck, now it was all in the open, she might actually show him what a good police officer she could be.
“Remember, Carrie, we’re a team. I share with you, you share with me, and hopefully along the way we avoid any more murders.”
“Harry didn’t kill anyone.”
“Right. So, we’re getting back to work at last. You said you suspected Straw of something else?”
“Straw and Mullin know each other. Harry only met them last night.”
“Straw said the same thing.”
“I know. But I believe Harry.”
“Why? He’s been lying about everything else.”
“Because Harry’s never been able to lie when I ask him a straight question.”
It was not a good enough reason, but if Lees believed it, it was something Barden knew he was going to have to accept. After all, he had been the one who wanted them to work as a team; and disregarding her intuitions and decisions was not a good basis for that relationship.
“I think I should talk with Harry,” Barden said. “But I’m giving you the opportunity to bring him in yourself.”
“Arrest Harry?”
“Or have him come in of his own accord. In case you really can’t see how serious this is, your boyfriend tossed someone in the river. All right, you say he didn’t stab anyone, but we know for a fact he threw Tanner in the river. And for that, yes, I have to talk to him. So either bring him here or I’m going to go get him.”
It was something, he could see, that Lees had already herself considered many times. When she spoke, it was with a resigned voice. She knew this was over. “You’re right. Of course you’re right, Ray. I’ll drive home and fetch him.”
Barden’s desk phone rang and he picked up the receiver, noticing that Lees had stopped to see what it was. “Barden,” he said.
“Detective? Detective, please, he’s here.”
The woman’s voice was terrified and familiar. “Miss Appleton? Who’s there? Someone’s in your house?”
He heard a crash, a scream and the line went dead.
“Miss Appleton?” Barden called, but there was no answer.
“What’s happened?” Lees asked.
Barden was already on his feet and grabbing his coat. “Someone’s attacking her. We have three suspects so it could be any of them.”
“How could they even know her name, though?” Lees asked.
“You tell me. You happen to tell any of our suspects the name of the victims?”
Lees blanched.
“Great,” Barden said. “We’re taking my car.”
While Barden drove, Lees put in a call to uniform to get some bodies their way, but Barden knew he and Lees would arrive on the scene first. They did not speak during the journey, for there was nothing to say. Lees had screwed things up and did not need the lecture that went with it. What this would mean for her future, Barden could not say, but right at that moment he was more concerned with the woman being attacked in her own home.
“What are you doing?” he asked when he saw her produce her mobile.
“Calling Harry.”
“Leave off.” He grabbed her phone and tossed it on the back seat, never once taking his eyes off the road down which he screamed. “One in three chance he’s the one attacking her and you want to phone him?”
“Harry’s not a murderer,” Lees said defiantly.
“Tell that to the guy he tossed in the river.”
No further words were spoken and Lees made no attempt to retrieve her phone. They pulled up outside the house of Jennifer Appleton for the second time that day. The front door was open and there was already a small crowd outside; the ghouls who always gather but never find courage enough to venture inside to see whether they can actually help. Barden and Lees charged in, heedless of any danger, and found the house silent.
Stopping in the hall, Barden listened hard, but whatever travesty had occurred, it was all over. His eyes trailed through the hall, taking in the tidiness of the shoes lined up like dutiful children, the pictures hanging from the wall without a single degree’s tilt. There were several photographs sitting atop a small cupboard, depicting Jennifer Appleton with a woman of marginally lesser years. That, Barden knew, was Jennifer’s sister. They were so happy in the picture that he prayed they would be able to have many more such photos taken.
His heart was racing as he prayed for a kidnapping but, as he took a few more steps, he detected the sharp, coppery scent of blood in the air.
They found Jennifer Appleton in the bathroom. There was blood pooled upon the floor, dirty red stains streaking across the tiles where she had flailed with useless arms, her bleeding fingers finding no purchase that might help her. The porcelain sink was slick with goo, blood slowly draining down the plughole. Appleton’s body lay in a crumpled pile on the ground. Her clothes were saturated with blood, her hair was matted and untidy. Her eyes stared out sightlessly, vital fluids pumping out the side of her head where someone had cracked it against the sink as though it was an egg.
“Ambulance,” Barden told Lees, knowing it was already too late. “Lees, ambulance!”
Lees tore her eyes from the body and called in the request on her radio. She stepped out the bathroom to do so and Barden knew what she was feeling. This was her fault. Not totally, of course, but it was enough her fault for it to make a difference. Someone had killed Jennifer Appleton and Lees could have prevented it, or at the very least not told the murderer the name of the woman to go after next.
He walked from the bathroom and found Lees in the kitchen, head over the sink in case she needed to throw up. Barden perched himself against the counter beside her. “Rough day.”
“This wasn’t Harry,” Lees wheezed.
Barden had at last had enough. “Carrie, I don’t much care who it was. We have three suspects and I’m pulling them all in. We leave here and go straight to your place. I want three men in three cells by the end of the day and I don’t want any more bodies turning up. And you, you little idiot, are going to pull yourself together. Do you understand that? You’re not going to be any use to me if you keep on like this.”
“You’re still using me on the investigation?”
“I don’t have much choice. You know at least one of the suspects and you’re familiar with the case. My options are to carry on as we are or arrest you for stupidity and go on alone.”
“I won’t let you down.”
“This is beyond letting me down, Carrie. Let me get this straight; what you’ve done is hamper a criminal investigation and the result is lying on the bathroom floor. This isn’t a second chance for you, this isn’t a way to make amends. This is damage limitation. You told a suspect the name of the next person he should kill, and he went and killed her. Right now you’re a resource and that’s all. Now go wait in the car; and if you even think of calling Harry Gorman I’m going to personally see you’re sent down for murder.”
Lees was wise
enough not to reply and Barden did not feel at all bad when she ran from the house, her head bowed. This was hard for her, but he did not care. A woman had died and there was no coming back from that. The investigation had become a whole lot messier and Detective Barden knew from this moment on the only person he could rely on was himself. Constable Lees was finished, and if he protected her now it would be no different to how she had protected Harry Gorman.
Yet Barden still had no idea whether he was quite ready to abandon her entirely.
CHAPTER NINE
Her hand hurt from where she had punched the steering wheel. It had not made her feel any better, but it gave her something else to concentrate on. Lees had never ruined anything in her life as badly as she had Barden’s investigation. Only a few hours earlier this had been a simple brawl. A man had fallen in the river and Harry needed to stay out of trouble for a while. Then a body had turned up, stabbed, and now another. If she had known this would happen, she never would have covered for Harry to begin with.
Especially if she had known from the outset he was cheating on her.
The car door opened. Barden dropped into the driver’s seat and buckled on his belt. The paramedics had arrived and pronounced Jennifer Appleton dead, which meant forensics could now get on with examining the crime scene and seeing what DNA evidence they could pull.
Without a word, Barden drove and did not stop until he had reached Lees’s house. “Get him out here,” was all he said.
“You’re not coming in?”
“He sees me coming towards the front door, he’ll do a runner out the back. Get him out here and don’t tip him off.”
Lees made no remark about not trusting her. She was lucky she was still in the same car with Barden and knew from now on she would have to do precisely what he told her to, as soon as he told her. She left the car and walked to the front door, trying to remain as casual as she ordinarily would have done. She missed the lock with her key several times before cursing herself for her nervousness. When she finally managed to open the door, she found Harry standing there looking anxious.