The Vine Cross (The Vine Series Book 1)

by S P Dawes

  “What did she tell you about it?” Asked Martin.

  Jesse ran his hands through his hair and pushed his fingers into his neck, which was tight with stress. “She told me her dad gave her away to some bloke who tried to teach her a lesson, and he did that.” He said looking at the photo on the table in front of him. They sat in silence, both in their own minds with the nightmare abreast of them. “He sounds like some religious nut.”

  “Do you think it’s the same guy?” Asked Martin.

  Jesse just looked at him with a sad, knowing expression on his face.

  “Did she tell you who he was?”

  Jesse shook his head. “She only told me his dad’s name is Frank.”

  “Well, that should be easy enough to check,” replied Martin, attempting to sound hopeful.

  “There’ll not be two idiots using the same symbol,” conceded Jesse, looking at the image.

  Martin knew he was right. “Tell DCI Walker, somehow explain this fucking mess.” The other man stood up and sighed “If it’s the same, then there’s no way of getting around it. She’s involved in the case, especially with what happened at her workplace and home.”

  “What the hell do I do now?” Asked Jesse. He’d heard enough about Paul Gleeson to know he was bad news, but he hadn’t expected him to be the bloke behind Hayley’s torture.

  “If it’s just a fling, walk away. Just say it was a one-night thing, you’ll still get a bollocking, but as long as you say you didn’t know who she was.”

  Jesse shook his head. “I can’t, she’s stopping at Mum and Dad’s house, while her flat gets cleaned up.” He leant back in his chair and groaned. He couldn’t believe what a mess he was in.

  “You better get your arse in the office and beg for forgiveness then, either that or you use her as an informant.”

  Jesse looked at Martin across the table, like he’d grown two heads.

  “You could say that you were trying to get a lead, and she’s your way in. You’d still be on shady ground, and whatever you do, don’t say you’ve slept with her. But if she holds the key to this, she could help us get in.” Martin said, punching the picture with his index finger.

  “I can’t do that, he’d kill her.” Jesse felt miserable.

  “You’d be there to make sure he didn’t,” offered Martin.

  Jesse really didn’t like the idea of putting Hayley in harm’s way.

  “What’s his thing with her, anyway?”

  “No idea.” Jesse sighed, rubbing at the migraine forming.

  “Well, looks like he’s found her,” explained Martin. “What about the knife under your car?”

  Jesse shook his head again; it didn’t feel like he had any of the answers anymore, his world had turned upside down. “I don’t know, I’ve been trying to work it out, but I’m missing something, I must be. This Gleeson, if he’s the guy she’s told me about, then he knew Hayley when she was a kid. She got roped into this religious sect type thing and they chose him to be her husband. She ran away from him. Haven’t seen him for years and then my soon-to-be sister-in-law invited Leon Carter, her cousin, round for a party at her house. That was where I was making the meet, but then Rob told me Leon had brought some other guys with him, one of which scared the crap out of Hayley, so I got her out without him seeing her.”

  “When was that?” Asked Martin.

  “The night of the burglary. Early evening around seven.”

  “How long was she with you?” Inquired Martin.

  “About two hours.” Martin looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “I just walked her home.”

  “So, the next day you go back and then there’s a knife under your car with Leon’s fingerprints on, for apparently no fucking reason. Timpson’s house gets damaged after arriving at work to find out that someone hit that in the night. Then what?” Asked Martin.

  Then my brother invited his colleague to my mum and dad’s home to stop until the flat’s ready,” explained Jesse.

  “And then you two enjoyed sharing so much, you thought you’d bunk up?” Answered Martin, rolling his eyes.

  “It wasn’t like that. And I had no idea she knew Gleeson. And we’ve still only got Leon’s say so on that.”

  “Well, we’ll find out soon enough if she’s ever had dealings with him,” said Martin wearily. “So, do you think someone dropped the knife intending to kill her?” Martin was trying to work out where that came in. “We saw it at the Spa, he was holding it, it’s on CCTV.”

  “Or one exactly like it?” Offered Jesse. “Don’t you think that’s a bit fucking convenient?”

  “So, two knives, but both held by Leon, one for the robbery and one on a floor under a car.” Martin shook his head. “I don’t get it, convenient or not, you can’t keep her out of this case,” he warned

  “Unless it was there to implicate Hayley?” Offered Jesse, suddenly remembering what Caitlyn had said.

  “Why would it, it’s not got her prints on?” Explained Martin.

  “Swapped, maybe. Especially if it was to kill Hayley. No one’s been looking for a second knife, so we weren’t looking for someone to get back in time after the robbery?”

  “It’s farfetched, and even the motive’s flimsy, cus Hayley’s OK.” Martin looked across at Jesse.

  “She is OK?”

  Jesse nodded.

  Martin drew a sigh of relief. “If you want to keep your job, take this to the DCI as a line of enquiry. Explain she moved in without your knowledge and you’ve been tapping her for info.” Martin stood up. “Just tell him you realised she’s more involved than you thought and you’re bringing it to him, before it gets…”

  “Messy?” Finished Jesse.

  “Maybe she can lead us right to his door?”

  Jesse didn’t like the sound of that, but if he wanted to keep his job, he couldn’t see another way round it.

  “Whatever you do, we didn’t have this conversation.”

  “What if we bring her in, get her to tell us on tape what she knows? We could eliminate her from inquiries, then that’ll be it?”

  “Wow, she’s going to love you. Hope you weren’t planning on getting laid anytime soon,” smirked Martin.

  “What option do I have? She stays a person of interest whilst I’m involved in this case and I could send her to jail, anyway?” Jesse was losing his mind; his world was falling apart.

  “Or you just walk away from the case?” Martin offered. “Come clean and hand it over.”

  Jesse shook his head. “No way, not when I know she’s got nothing to do with it. And besides, if this fella is her ex, then I want to be the one to bring the fucker down.”

  “And that’s exactly why you hand it over,” cautioned Martin seriously. The look on Jesse’s face told him that was the last thing he wanted to do. “I’ll get Riggers to bring her in, she still at yours?”

  Jesse nodded, watching Martin leave him in the room alone. Dropping his head on the table, he cursed.

  Hayley sat at the table on a blue cushioned chair. In a room with just two seats on either side, and a tape recorder sat on top. With no windows, the white walls added to the dreariness of the room. She didn’t know why they’d brought in, but she felt nervous wringing her hands under the table.

  The door opened and a police officer in a suit walked in. She smiled nervously as he held the door for another officer. When she saw his face; she flushed slightly. He didn’t look at her though, only sat down across from her as the other took the seat next to him. The officer flicked the switch on the recorder and she watched as the tape whirled.

  “DI Jesse Hallam and DS Martin Wells are interviewing Hayley Timpson.”

  Jesse watched Martin, then shared a look that Hayley couldn’t read, before turning to look at her. “Interview convening at…”

  Whilst Jesse read out the monotone message to the tape recorder, she looked from one detective to the other, wondering what was going on. She had presumed it was to do with her flat, but something was telling her
she was in trouble.

  “Miss Timpson, can I call you Hayley?”

  She looked at him, as if he’d gone insane. He’d left her that morning in his bed. Why was he acting like he didn’t know her? She nodded slowly.

  Jesse inhaled deeply and placed an envelope on the desk. He opened it up. “For the tape I am showing Hayley a photograph taken from a packet found at the Garden of Eden on the day of the robbery. Evidence number KT438.”

  Hayley raised her eyebrows to what she had just heard him say.

  He flipped the photograph over and she looked. It was a closeup of a symbol, on a clear plastic bag. Hayley looked straight at Jesse, tears welling in her eyes. Jesse kept her focus, but he could feel the pain in her eyes as she stared at him in disbelief.

  Hayley glanced from the other detective back to Jesse.

  “Have you ever seen this symbol before, Hayley?” He asked, tapping to the picture.

  “No,” she lied, staring right through him. She could tell she had shocked him; he had expected her to just fold and admit it.

  Jesse realised she was going to make this harder than it needed to be. He couldn’t blame her, he could only imagine what she thought of him, he’d had no time to warn her. “Are you sure?” He asked sternly.

  “Yep, absolutely positive,” she answered, folding her arms across her chest, which helped to hide her shaky hands.

  “Have you, DI Hallam?” She asked, watching him shift uneasily in his chair.

  “Miss Timpson, this symbol has come up in a case. It’s very important we find out its origin, as it may lead us to finding the perpetrator of a very serious crime. I’m sure you want to help in any way you can? If you know anything about this symbol, could you tell us?”

  She knew it was DS Wells speaking, but she carried on staring at Jesse. He wasn’t giving anything away.

  Finally, she spoke, this time to Martin. “What serious crime?”

  “A potential drugs case,” Martin answered.

  “This is how they brand their merchandise?”

  Wells nodded, glancing to Jesse every so often, to check he was still listening. He looked distant.

  “And you’re both working on this case?”

  He nodded again.

  “For how long?”

  Jesse glanced at Hayley. He knew what she was doing, trying to gage if he had used her to get close to some information he required.

  “This only came in this morning,” answered Jesse, before Martin could answer.

  Hayley continued to look at Martin. "That true?”

  Martin nodded.

  “And you didn’t know until this morning that this brand existed?”

  Jesse just watched her as she measured everything up. He could tell she felt betrayed and angry.

  Leaning on his elbow, he brushed his mouth with his hand. He wanted to hold her and take all her pain away.

  “We’ve only just received this information this morning because of a link we may have in another case,” answered Martin carefully.

  “What case are you working on?” She asked.

  “Hayley, we can’t tell you. But the information we’ve got is very strong, and it’s meant that we really need to discuss this with you.” Jesse hoped he hadn’t broken protocol, but what he could say and what he wanted to say was completely different. He needed her to know he wasn’t doing this to hurt her.

  “If you know anything about this symbol, Miss Timpson, it could help put a very serious criminal behind bars,” added Martin, feeling her give slightly and wanting to make the most of it.

  Hayley spun round off the chair and lifted the back of her T-shirt up, pulling her jeans down far enough to reveal the brand. “You mean this one?”

  Jesse looked away.

  Hayley watched him as she turned back to face them. She could see the shock on Martin’s face even though he was doing his best not to look affected. “For the tape, I’ve just shown the police officers the brand I had burned onto my skin when I was fourteen years old. They look horrified. That do you?” She looked from one to the other, thinking they looked suitably ashamed.

  Pulling the chair back out, she sat down again. Jesse was finding the floor overly interesting. Martin cleared his throat.

  “You look like you have other scars too,” Martin remarked.

  “They’re lashes. Haven’t you a picture of them too?” She was as angrier than she ever thought possible, but trying to maintain her temper. It was obvious she was within a police station and she couldn’t afford to lose it, or show Jesse how betrayed she felt.

  “Taking a break at twelve-ten,” said Jesse. Leaning over Martin to shut the tape off. Jesse leant his face on his palm as he leaned on the table with his elbow. Martin looked from them both, feeling the atmosphere.

  “I think I’ll get a drink; you want one?” He asked Hayley. She shook her head. When Jesse did the same, he left them alone to get himself one.

  “How could you?” She hissed, trying to speak through the closing of her throat.

  “They gave me the photo this morning. I’d seen it on you, and I had to do this,” he tried to explain calmly.

  “Why couldn’t you just fucking ask me?” Tears dropped from her eyes and welled on the table in front of her. “You know where they came from.”

  “Someone’s using the same thing,” Hayley shook her head in disbelief.

  “Does he know you’re screwing the witness?” She pointed to the seat where Martin had sat only seconds earlier.

  Jesse didn’t answer.

  “How could you let me go through that, knowing how I feel about it, knowing how I got it?” she was trying not to cry but drops were falling, anyway.

  “It was the only way of eliminating you. I don’t want you caught up in this anymore than you do,” reassured Jesse, feeling useless.

  “Eliminating me? What do you think I’ve done?” She almost screamed.

  Jesse shook his head and leant across the table. “I don’t think you’ve done anything, but if you’re linked to the bloke that uses that symbol, you could help us catch him.”

  “What happens then?”

  He didn’t understand the question.

  “Well, do you keep me in your grass box and drag me out every time you need a shag? Or maybe I’m on a rota system now and I get passed around the team. He up next?” She enquired, nodding towards the empty chair.

  Jesse sighed and put his hands on his head, leaning back in his chair. What could he have expected, he understood how it looked? He’d betrayed her.

  “Hayley, I never slept with you to get close to you for this case. I didn’t know it even involved you. This is as much of a nightmare for me as it is you.”

  “I fucking doubt it!” Spat Hayley.

  “Hayley, I’m trying to get you out of this as quickly as possible, trust me,” pleaded Jesse.

  Hayley laughed mercilessly. “Trust, loyalty, honesty and respect!” She quoted him from the day before. “Oh, and ‘people shouldn’t make you do things you don’t want to do’ remind you of anything?” Her voice cracked again, trying to keep from crying anymore.

  “Hayley, I didn’t know! I swear.”

  Martin opened the door and glanced at both of them before taking his seat. “All OK?”

  Neither said anything.

  “OK to start again?” Martin looked to Hayley this time, and she nodded. “It is twelve-sixteen. DS Wells and DI Hallam are resuming with Miss Hayley Timpson after a brief refreshment break. Miss Timpson, do you have anything to say in relation to the brand you showed us a moment ago?”

  “What do you want to know?” She asked, conceding defeat. They would not let her out until they knew, so she might as well get on with it.

  “You said it happened when you were fourteen, that would make it seven years ago, right?”

  She nodded.

  “Can you tell us what happened?”

  Hayley rubbed her face to clear her head. She looked at Jesse and then answered Martin.


  “My dad was part of some religious group. They decided one day that I should marry one boy in the village, so they set it all up and…” Hayley bit her bottom lip to stop herself from crying.

  Jesse felt like his insides were being ripped out.

  “I was fourteen, I didn’t want to marry him, so I kicked off. The brand was my punishment.”

  “How old was the boy you’d have to marry?” Asked Martin calmly.

  “Nineteen,” replied Hayley.

  “He knew you were only fourteen?” Martin asked sympathetically.

  “Yes, he knew,” she answered for the tape.

  “Were there any witnesses?” Asked Martin.

  “Yes, plenty, but none that would talk to you, so you’d be wasting your time.”

  Martin smiled warmly, trying to make her feel less vulnerable.

  “Who did the actual branding?” Asked Martin gently.

  Hayley glanced across to Jesse. But he was in a world of his own. Staring into the corner, looking distraught, unhelpful and despondent.

  “My husband. His dad, my dad, his brother and my brother held me down,” Martin touched Hayley’s hand on the table timidly.

  Jesse’s jaw tightened. He could feel bile rising in his throat.

  “Can you tell me who your husband was?” He asked calmly.

  Hayley bit her lip. His name hadn’t crossed her lips in years. Taking a deep breath in. She released it before answering. “Dmitri Richards.”

  Jesse shot a look at Martin, and Martin’s eyes blew wide.

  “Where was this Hayley?” Asked Martin, sitting up in his chair excitedly.

  “Averham, we lived there,” answered Hayley, noting the difference in them both, wondering what she’d said to cause such panic in their eyes.

  “Interview suspended at twelve-twenty-one.” Martin clicked off the recorder and stood up. Rubbing his face with his hands, he looked down at the pair of them, shaking his head.

  “I don’t know what we’re going to fucking do now?” Bending down, he whispered in Jesse’s ear. “That’s the wrong fucking case.”

  Jesse knew that, he just didn’t know what to do about it.

  “What’s wrong?” Asked Hayley; realising something had changed.