by Martina Cole
Kate looked at Patrick as if she was seeing him for the first time. She saw his greying hair and his battered face and, walking to him, she kissed him gently on the lips. ‘’Course you didn’t, Pat. I’m the only Bill you have on speed dial.’
He grinned then. ‘Well, you took your time getting here if that’s the case.’
They looked at each other for a few seconds until Patrick said softly, ‘I’ll see you later then, Kate, at home.’
She nodded at him and, for the first time in what seemed like for ever, she felt as if things might actually be OK. ‘I can’t give you a time.’
‘So what’s changed?’
It was what he had always said to her when she was embroiled in a case. It was his way of saying that they were back on an even keel as far as he was concerned.
Georgie Twofer walked into the bedroom and, picking Lionel Dart up by the scruff of his neck, he said loudly, ‘He’s coming round, where do you want him?’
David Floyd was a tall man, thin to the point of emaciation, with kindly brown eyes. He had opened his front door wide, something Kate knew from experience was often the act of an innocent man, that, or the bravado of a guilty one. She always waited until she had spoken to the person directly before making up her mind. ‘Mr Floyd?’
He smiled easily, looking at them both expectantly, ‘Yes, can I help you?’
‘We were wondering if we could have a word with you about Brookway House?’
They both saw his face cloud over, he was immediately put on his guard. ‘And you are?’
Annie stepped forward and flashed her ID. ‘We are the police.’
He sighed then, a heavy protracted sigh. ‘Then you had better come in.’
They followed him into his hallway then, opening a door to his left, he waved them into his lounge with a flourish, like an old-time courtier. When they were seated, he said easily, ‘So, how can I help you?’
Kate looked him in the eye as she said, ‘This is not an official visit, we just need some information from you about Brookway House and, in particular, Alec Salter. Your name came up during our inquiries, and we would appreciate it if you could help us.’
‘Alec is dead, surely you know that?’
Kate and Annie both nodded. ‘We know that. You are aware, I take it, of the recent spate of murders here in Grantley?’
David Floyd looked at them both with well-disguised distaste before answering, ‘As they are the only thing about which the press will write at the moment, I think we can all safely assume I have heard of them. What I don’t understand is, how are they in any way connected to me?’
‘All the girls who were murdered had, at some point, been residents of Brookway House.’
David snorted then, and taking out a handkerchief he coughed violently into it before saying archly, ‘Some were. I recognised the names, but I didn’t know they were all there at some point. The others must have been there after I left.’
‘Have you ever seen any of the girls from Brookway in Grantley? Did you ever have any kind of contact with them?’
‘Oh God, no. If I had seen them I would have walked the other way. I mean, those poor girls really don’t want to be reminded of their early lives. If they had spoken to me, then that would be different, but I would never have approached them.’
Kate looked over at Annie. Annie raised her eyebrows as if to say, What do we do now? Sometimes she got on her nerves.
‘I was given to understand that you were there at the same time as Alec Salter, did I get that wrong? Was I misinformed?’
David nodded, and Kate realised that he was not a well man, his wrist was all bone, and as he brought the handkerchief up to his mouth again, she saw his hands were shaking. Not the trembling of fear, but the shake of heavy medication or illness. ‘You did get that wrong, dear. Alec took over from me.’
Kate sensed he was hiding something from them. ‘I don’t want to bring up any unpleasantness from your past, but I have to tell you that we have been told there were certain accusations against you pertaining to Brookway House and the girls who lived there. Is that why you left?’
David Floyd turned white with anger. He was also having difficulty controlling his breathing. Eventually he said in a whisper, ‘Would you be so kind as to pass me that bottle of brandy on the dresser? I need a little nip before I carry on.’
Annie went to the dresser and poured him a generous measure, then she took the glass to him and waited as he swallowed it down in one gulp.
‘Thank you. Please help yourselves.’
He coughed again, only less hard. He was clearing his throat now, ready to speak. ‘Alec didn’t accuse me of anything, it was his girlfriend Miriam. She was not what you would call an easy person to get on with. They had both come through the care system together and they were so close it was sometimes uncomfortable to observe. She was very damaged and she was jealous of Alec. I got on well with him, then she came there on a volunteer basis. As I am sure you know, they were very religious, and she had a good relationship with the girls which, in some ways, was amazing. She was so different to them in every way but she seemed to have a knack of getting them to trust her.’
He looked at Kate and Annie then and motioned for another drink. Annie got up and was pouring it for him when he said, ‘I don’t really know what happened with her and me. She just seemed to take against me one day. I never understood why.’
‘I understand she said you were too friendly with the girls at Brookway House?’
He accepted another drink from Annie, but he sipped at it this time. ‘Oh yes. In fact, she actually accused me of a lot more than that. But no one ever took the allegations seriously, they knew she was wrong.’
Annie said quietly, ‘And how would they know that?’
Kate laughed gently. ‘Because I think, Annie, you will find that Mr Floyd is gay.’
David nodded and laughed with her. ‘Well spotted. What gave me away, the photos of me and my partner all around you, or the fact that I am in the final stages of Aids?’
‘Is that why you left Brookway House?’
‘Partly. My partner at the time, who contracted it first, was very ill, and I went part-time so that I could nurse him. Which I did. Alec took over from me, I recommended him. My partner and I bought this house years ago and we rented it out as an investment property. I moved here after I retired. It was smaller and without memories. I still do some stuff for the youth organisation. I help raise money et cetera. Nothing too strenuous, I just like to keep my hand in.’
‘Have you ever come across Miriam since?’
David laughed, and Annie saw the difficulty he had in even speaking for any length of time. He was so weak, so fragile. ‘Once. She saw me a while ago at the doctor’s surgery. As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time there. I tried to say how sorry I was about Alec, but she cut me dead. She didn’t acknowledge me at all.’
He frowned then, and Kate knew he wanted to say more.
‘Mr Floyd, if you can tell us anything, no matter how small it might seem to you, we really would be grateful.’
He raised his hand to his mouth, cupping his lips as if the action might stop him saying a word. ‘I sometimes thought that Alec was not as good as everyone believed. Not that I ever saw anything that was untoward, of course. But he watched those girls, I mean, really watched them. It made me uneasy at times. But it was only a feeling, I had nothing to substantiate it. And as I say, he was never even suspected of anything, and none of the girls ever made a complaint as far as I know. He always went the extra mile for them, I can’t take that away from him.’
‘How do you mean, the extra mile?’
David smiled then, and it made him look younger, it wiped away the lines of pain. She could now see the man he had once been. The handsome, smiling man in all the photographs around the room. ‘He was very good. He had this contact he would use, she worked at the job centre I believe, and she was very good to the girls. She found them jobs and that was not easy I can tell you
, not with their backgrounds. She was wonderful. I never met her personally, you understand, I only spoke to her over the phone. Her surname was James. I think Alec called her Jenny.’
Patrick smiled easily, he was relieved that everything was over at last. The Chief of Police had been a diamond. After a call from Kate, he had phoned Patrick and having been given the whole sorry saga, he had arranged for Lionel to be sectioned into a private facility. It was amazing what you could do with money and power.
As the ambulance left the drive, Patrick and Danny had looked at each other and they both started to laugh. It was nerves, they knew that. Laughter was nature’s way of relieving tension. They walked back into the house, and Simone handed them both a drink. ‘Thank God that’s over! Who would have thought he was such a nut-bag?’
Danny sniggered as he said half-jokingly, ‘The fact he fucking comes here. Let’s face it, this isn’t exactly a health farm, is it?’
Simone was not impressed by his words or his tone. ‘Listen here, you. We’re a top-class establishment and it ain’t the girls’ fault that some men are a bit touched. We provide a service, that’s all.’ She looked at Pat then as she said, ‘You tell him, will you? He needs a lesson in the real world.’
Patrick didn’t answer her, he was looking around him at the sumptuous décor and he knew that getting rid of his involvement in the houses and flats was the best thing he had ever done. ‘Oh, don’t worry, Simone. I think he’ll learn all he needs to know soon enough.’
‘Hello, Kate. I wasn’t expecting you.’ Jennifer sounded nervous.
Kate pushed her way past her without saying a word. Jennifer shut the front door gently and waited patiently for Kate to say something. Anything.
‘How could you, Jenny? How could you not tell us who was providing you with young girls? Did you think we wouldn’t find out?’
Jennifer nodded, her face tight with anger. ‘Yeah, that is exactly why. Alec is dead. So what’s the fucking difference? He provided me with loads of girls over the years, and a lot of them are still alive and kicking.’
‘Did Miriam ever know about it? Was she involved?’
Jennifer laughed. ‘’Course not. For every girl he put forward I gave him a couple of hundred quid.’
‘How did you meet him? How the hell did you and him ever come to meet?’
Jennifer walked into her lounge and Kate followed her.
‘It’s a long story, but as you’re here now, can I get you a drink? I’m having Scotch, can I pour you one?’
Kate nodded. ‘I fucking need one.’
Jennifer put two glasses and a bottle of Grant’s on the coffee table. She poured out two generous measures and then lit a cigarette. Settling herself down in her white leather chair, she said nonchalantly, ‘I met him when he came to a flat I had years ago. Ugly fucker he was and all. He was a regular, he liked this particular girl. Turns out she had been at that Brookway House. She had got in touch with him for some fucking reason or another, and that was what brought him to the flat. Anyway, we got talking, and I said as a joke, any more like her at home? And he said yes. The rest, as they say, is history.’
Kate was scandalised and disgusted at what she was hearing. ‘And that was it? That easy?’
Jennifer shrugged and, opening her arms wide in a gesture of puzzlement, said, ‘Yes, it was that easy, as it happens. He had a fucking constant stream of girls willing to work for the right person. He sounded them out, and if they were agreeable, then he led them to me. They were all over the age of consent, and they did it willingly.’
‘And you honestly didn’t think that this information was relevant? You knew the dead girls, you knew how they had died. You recruited them and yet you are honestly telling me that you didn’t think that any of this was worth mentioning? They died in absolute terror, they were paralysed, but they still knew what was happening to them. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?’
Jennifer laughed again, but it was a false laugh; she was ashamed, embarrassed now. She knew she had been caught out by someone she genuinely liked. Someone who had always treated her with respect. She knew any friendship they had, however tenuous, was now finished. She was also worried about Patrick’s reaction when he heard all about it. She knew he would not find her reticence too clever. Like Kate, he would want to know why she didn’t tell everything she knew. She attempted to justify her actions. ‘Alec is dead, Kate. Why would I think he was involved and, for that matter, why would you? He is dead and gone, mate. He was still feeding me girls right up until he died. They were the girls he counselled through his church. He knew the type. He was a fucking scavenger, he could see a troubled teen from thirty paces. But as he was dead, I didn’t think he would be a suspect, know what I mean? The dead part being the giveaway.’
‘You stupid, stupid woman. Do you realise what you’ve done? How you could have stopped all this if you had told me?’
Kate stood in the dark, chilly night air, and wondered how long it would take for Annie to get to her. She felt sick with apprehension as she waited for the warrant to arrive. She knew she had to make sure everything was legal and above board. There could be no room for a clever barrister to tear their case apart.
As Annie pulled up in a small squad car, Kate nodded to the uniforms around her. They all stood out of range of the front door so it would look like they were there alone. Kate rang the doorbell, and they waited patiently for the door to be answered.
Miriam opened the door and, looking at Kate’s serious face, she said quietly, ‘Is it Hayley? Is she all right?’
‘She’s fine, really. I was wondering if I might come in? Only I need to have a little talk with you.’
‘What about? What do you want to talk to me about?’ Miriam’s voice was querulous now, frightened. ‘Why can’t this wait until the morning?’
She stepped out of her hallway and peered through the darkness around her. She saw the panda cars parked nearby, saw the uniforms waiting quietly for the word to move in. She saw Annie walking towards her with a warrant.
‘It’s over, Miriam, it’s all over.’
Stepping back into her house, Miriam walked heavily into her lounge, Kate and Annie following her. They motioned to the uniforms to wait until they were needed.
Danny and Patrick were sitting in Pat’s kitchen drinking expensive brandy and smoking expensive cigars. ‘I want all this, Pat. I want a nice drum and a nice life.’
Patrick nodded. ‘’Course you do, son. Who wouldn’t? But this - ’ he waved his arm round to encompass his whole life - ‘doesn’t guarantee you happiness. It’s family, good friends, someone to share your nights with. That is what gives you the real happiness in your life. I would gladly give everything I possess to have my Mandy back. Even for just one day, for one hour. So I could hold her in my arms, tell her how much I miss her, how much I love her. You can replace things, son, but you can’t replace people.’
‘I know that, Pat. I ain’t ever lost anyone that close though, have I? Me and Eve, we always had each other, looked out for each other. We had to, we were all we had.’
Patrick nodded in understanding. ‘I have Kate. I have my Kate back. She is an awkward mare at times, and she is argumentative as well. But she is also clever, funny, and she is the only person in this world who can make me forget my losses. She can make me forget, for a while, my heartache.’
Danny heard the raw sadness in Patrick’s voice and knew that his loss was so vicious, so destructive, that it would never truly heal. A child murdered would always leave the question, why my baby. Why my child? A question that, of course, could never really be answered.
Danny held his glass up for a toast. ‘To Mandy, always in your heart.’
Patrick clinked glasses. Then he smiled, remembering her lovely face. ‘To my girl.’
Miriam sat at the small kitchen table and she was calm, too calm. Kate sat opposite her, and Annie stood by the back door. The house was filthy and the smell overpowering.
‘You know why
we’re here, don’t you, Miriam?’
She nodded slightly, her face resigned as if she had known that this would happen eventually. ‘You want to ask me about the girls.’
‘What about the girls, Miriam? What can you tell us about them?’
Miriam stood up quickly and her chair made a loud scraping noise as it was pushed away from her cumbersome body. Annie and Kate both waited to see what she would do next. She went to the kettle and filled it with water, then she turned to put it on the gas.
As she sat down, Annie said softly, ‘I’ll make the tea, shall I?’
Miriam smiled. ‘Thank you. That would be lovely. A nice cup of cheer, that was what Alec used to call it. A cup of cheer. He was like me, he loved a cuppa. We might have had to scrimp for some things, like everyone has to at some time, but not on our tea. Lipton’s, that was our favourite. Not that it was that expensive, mind. But we never bought the cheap supermarket own brands. It was our favourite, you see. Now he’s gone, it seems to bring us together again. Our cup of cheer.’
Kate nodded and smiled. ‘I can see that. But, Miriam, what can you tell me about the girls? The girls that Alec used to help.’
Miriam sat up straight in the chair and she shook her head angrily. ‘Fucking whores, all of them. He was a good man, he was a good man, Kate.’
She was wiping her hands across her face now as if she was trying to wipe away a stain of some kind.
‘I know he was, Miriam. How did he know the girls?’
‘Do you know, all the years we were together, all those years, we never once did anything we shouldn’t do. We had decided that we would stay pure, all our lives. Like the Bible, the people in the Bible. We were above the sins of the flesh. Because it’s a sin, you see, even if you’re married. It’s a sin. But he was tempted, like many a good man before him, he was tempted. I saw the result of his sin, you see. I saw it all.’