Paparazzi

by Jo Fenton

  I take a deep breath as I hang up my coat in the hall cupboard, and the scrumptious aroma of garlic bread assails my nostrils.

  “Mum! You’ve been out for ages. Are you okay?” Cheryl appears in the hall, and I wrap my arms around her. She responds by hugging me back fiercely, and I feel her sobbing against my shoulder.

  “I’m sorry, darling. I’ve had a busy day with the investigation. Why don’t we sit down, and you can tell me what’s happened?”

  There’s a sniff and a hiccup from my daughter, as she extracts herself from the hug. She wipes her sleeve across her eyes, but pops into the downstairs loo to get some tissue for her nose. She’s still in there sorting herself out when Matt emerges from the kitchen holding a takeaway box.

  “Garlic bread. Fourteen inches. You’re going to have to help us eat it, Becks.”

  “Did you get any pizza?”

  “Obviously. Nine-inch veggie for you – no olives, but with pineapple.”

  “Perfect. What are you and Chezz having?”

  “Sharing a fourteen-inch cheese feast. Oh, and some chips. And there’s Phish Food ice cream in the freezer.” Matt gives me a sheepish look. “I might have gone a bit overboard. Sorry.” He lowers his voice. “She’s had a shitty day at school. She needed a treat. You look like you need one too.”

  “It’s been intense. Don’t worry about the food. It will hopefully provide lunch and dinner for tomorrow as well, otherwise we’ll all end up in hospital having heart surgery. We might need to work on improving the nutrition in this house, but that’s something we can worry about tomorrow or Wednesday. Let’s take this in the lounge and eat, and you and Cheryl can tell me what’s happened.”

  Cheryl appears at this point, with a red nose and red-rimmed eyes. “I need to eat.”

  We settle in the lounge with Big Bang Theory playing on TV, as we guzzle an extremely unhealthy but tasty feast. I’m desperate to ask my daughter about what’s happened today, but she seems a bit calmer now she’s eating, and I don’t want to upset her again. Instead, I fill them in on the case so far. They’re interested, but that elephant is lurking again, possibly lured by the smell of pizza. Now we’ve eaten, it’s time to address Nellie directly.

  “So, Cheryl, you’ve had a bit of a respite, but there’s no point you going to bed without discussing this. You’ll only stew all night. What happened today?”

  “I guess you’re right, Mum. But we’ve not had ice cream yet.”

  “That can be your reward for telling us everything now. Come on, love. You’ll feel better.”

  “Okay. Wendy did her bit, and must have contacted the head first thing this morning, cos we had a ‘special assembly’ straight after lunch.” Cheryl makes inverted commas in the air with her fingers. “The whole school was made to attend, and Wendy stood there talking about cyber-crime and bullying.”

  “Did she keep quiet about your involvement?” asks Matt.

  “Yeah of course. She said her team are always on the lookout for this sort of thing, and will soon have the names of the people who posted these images.” She has a mouthful of lemonade, swallows hard, and takes a deep breath. “It was after she’d gone that things got weird.”

  “In what way?”

  “At afternoon break. Elaine and Karen apparently called all the girls over to them. I was with Dan, and didn’t know, cos obviously she was excluded, but at the end of break, Elaine cornered me, and said, ‘It had to be you. No one else would tell on us, and you’ve refused to stop being pals with Fat Danni.’. I said, ‘Stop calling her that. Why are you being so horrible to her?’ I didn’t want to get into a discussion about what I might have said to anyone.”

  “What did Elaine say to that? I assume she’s one of the girls who posted this picture?”

  “Yeah, I think she’s probably the one who did it, cos she’s the real leader of the two. Karen just does what she’s told. Elaine turned really nasty when I stood up for Dan. There was no one around. She’d cornered me outside, and the bell had gone for the next lesson. She spat in my face, and said, ‘You’ll be next. I don’t give a…’ – she swore at that point; I don’t want to repeat it – ‘who you tell. You can sneak to the… er… queen of England for all I care. My dad’s a barrister, and he’ll make mincemeat of you in court. He’ll prove that you and Fat Danni planned it all to get us into trouble.”

  “And no one saw this and interfered?” Matt’s face is scarlet. I can see he’s working himself into a state. I agree in principle, but it’s so recently that he was in hospital, I need to defuse the situation.

  “I assume you got away from her?”

  “Yeah, I stamped on her foot, moved away, and ran inside. I popped into the loos and cleaned my face and then went back to class.”

  “Didn’t the teacher say anything?” Matt still sounds angry. I glance at him, but he seems otherwise fine.

  “I slipped in when she was busy with one of the other girls. I don’t know how, but she didn’t see me come in late. The other pupils in my class kept quiet. Karen and Elaine aren’t in my stream, and the rest of the girls are okay when they’re away from them.”

  “So what are you going to do about those girls? Do you want me or your mum to go up to school and get this sorted?”

  “No way! I’m already terrified about what they might be preparing to send round.”

  “How about a counter-attack? Are you friendly with any of the other girls who are perhaps in that crowd, but not so under the leader’s thumb?” I have an idea forming, but need to hear that my daughter has some backup first.

  “Yeah, a few. But some were giving me dirty looks on the tram home today.”

  “What about the ones in your stream? And how about the boys?”

  “There are three or four girls in my stream who are on the edge of that gang, but gave me kind of friendly smiles when I got back to class. The boys are in my stream are mostly okay. A bit geeky some of them.”

  “Perfect. I think there might be a way out of this.”

  An hour later, the seeds are sown. Several of Cheryl’s classmates have agreed to back her up, and are now in a WhatsApp group, and we’ve got several parents involved, who are furious at the attempts to draw their offspring into criminal activities, and eager to wipe out the impending evil. With the scene set, and a large tub of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream devoured, we all head upstairs for an early night. It’s not quite ten, but I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s exhausted.

  ***

  On Tuesday morning I borrow Matt’s car to drive Cheryl into school. We’re both insured on both cars, but as Matt’s not driving at the moment, it will be good for the engine for me to give his a run. Mine is still outside Joanna’s.

  As agreed the previous evening, I park the car after dropping Cheryl at the side of the road, and walk back to see her meet a few of her classmates at the school gates. They walk in together. Danielle is amongst them. One of the mums stops me as I turn and head back to the car. She’s sitting in a 4x4 watching her son join Cheryl’s crowd.

  “Becky White, isn’t it?” She puts her hand out through the wound-down window. “I’m Lesley Goldstein, Joel’s mum. We liaised last night.”

  “Hi Lesley,” I shake the proffered hand. “Lovely to meet you. Thanks for offering to help. Cheryl says Joel’s a nice lad.”

  “You’re welcome. And thanks. I think I recognise you, and I’m not sure it’s from school.”

  Damn. I think I recognise her too, although I’m not used to seeing her without a wig.

  “You’re a barrister, aren’t you? I think I’ve seen you in court.” There shouldn’t be any harm in admitting my past to her, although I’m still trying to keep a low profile. “I was in the police force until last year. I do private detective work now.” Out of habit, I survey the area, but there’s no one within earshot now. Most of the cars have cleared, and the kids have gone into school.

  “Of course. And your name came up, at least I think it was you, in connection with a recent c
ase. Didn’t one of your colleagues get killed? I think you were Becky Wiseman previously?”

  “Yes. One problem with my line of work is that it’s impossible not to make enemies. When I left the force, I decided it would be better to change my name. Cheryl’s stayed as she was for the sake of school and to reduce questions.”

  “It’s fine; you don’t need to justify anything to me. I’ve got a late start today. Do you fancy a coffee? We can get a quiet one at M&S in the Fort.”

  “That sounds good. I’ll follow you down there.”

  We agree to meet there as soon the traffic permits, as we both know the Manchester Fort shopping precinct well. I text Matt to let him know what’s going on, as far as I can, but I’m very curious to hear what Lesley has to say.

  Fifteen minutes later, we’re seated with a large cappuccino each, in the corner of M&S café, as far away from the checkout as possible. It’s quiet, and there’s no one around us. Lesley looks around with a satisfied grin.

  “This is perfect. Thanks Becky. So we’re going to bring down those bitches Elaine and Karen? They used to pick on Joel so badly in primary school, and they still make nasty comments when they see him. So I’ve got a slight grudge, you could say.”

  “They’re both in a lower stream, I believe.”

  “Yes, they couldn’t get into Solomon, although I believe Elaine is clever enough if she applied herself. Her dad works in Chambers – not in my firm, I’m relieved to say – but he’s a vicious bastard, and not above taking bribes in certain areas.” She seems to notice my raised eyebrows. “Obviously nothing I can prove, otherwise I’d bring him down too, but it would be my great pleasure getting his daughter charged, or at the very least expelled. And I think we can do this between us.”

  I appear to have made a powerful and useful ally. Further conversation enables me to understand a bit more about the background. For a talented high-flying professional, Lesley has a surprising love of gossip. Couple that with an engaging grin and a wicked sense of humour, and I find myself liking her more and more as the coffee cups empty.

  She’s a single mum, widowed when Joel’s dad died from bowel cancer three years earlier. She shakes her head as she tells me.

  “Poor Joel didn’t have the bar mitzvah that all his friends had. He lost his dad two months before, and to be quite honest, we’d spent the previous six months so busy with chemo that no one had any time to think about celebrations. When we knew it was nearing the end, the rabbi allowed Joel to say his bar mitzvah portion at Barry’s bedside, and gave Joel a blessing, even though it was too early. When he turned thirteen, he didn’t want to go through the fuss. He repeated his portion in shul in front of a small but select congregation, but we were all too upset for a party.”

  I make sympathetic murmurings. It’s so hard to know what to say in these circumstances.

  “So anyway, I owe it to Joel to get those girls sorted out. You made a brilliant start last night, getting the nice kids on board, and also their parents. So much easier for bullies to pick on one or two kids by themselves, than to attack a crowd. But I think we can expand on it and turn the tables.”

  “Sounds interesting. I’m all ears.”

  She outlines a proposal that involves getting the weaker members of Karen and Elaine’s crowd to switch to ‘Cheryl’s new gang’. Once that’s done, and the girls are left friendless, Cheryl and Joel are to give them two options. Either they take down all fake photos and issue a public apology on Facebook and in Assembly confirming that the photos were fake, or they’ll get shopped to the police and they’ll never have any friends again, throughout the whole of their school careers. In the latter case, they’ll also be reported to the school authorities, in which case they might get expelled.

  I like it. It’s thorough, conclusive, and gets Danielle her friends back. Although it could be argued that she now knows who her real friends are. I mention this to Lesley.

  “Agreed, but it’s still nice at that age to be part of a crowd. I’m sure she’ll be much happier if these cows publicly apologise and confess to faking the photo.”

  The idea of faking a photo jars me. It seems connected with the case I’m working on, but I’m not sure how or why. I shelve the thought for the moment.

  With a plan of action agreed, and time waiting for no one, we say our goodbyes and arrange to meet at her house tomorrow night – with Cheryl, Danielle and Joel in attendance – to discuss the next steps. Meanwhile, Lesley promises to set up a secret Facebook group with all the parents and kids on Cheryl’s side, so that key aspects can be discussed and we can keep everyone informed.

  Back in the car, I check my phone. There’s a message from Finn.

  “Joanna says you’ve been busy. It would be good to catch up and compare notes. Are you free for lunch?”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  It’s only been four days since I last struck, but the message does not seem to have got through. Time to deliver another.

  I wait for nightfall again. It would be stupid to attack in daylight. I choose dark clothes. A trip to Primark at the weekend replenished my stocks. In case of multiple actions being required, I may need to destroy outer layers again. Cheap, dark items are expendable.

  When the time is right, I don a dark hoody and jeans, with black trainers. This time I might need to run. The black rucksack blends right in.

  I get a bus to reach my destination. It’s not very full, and I’m able to choose a seat by myself, upstairs at the front. A good observation post, and one where I’m unlikely to be disturbed. Just a quick journey, and then I get off the bus, taking the precaution of alighting a couple of stops early. It’s only a ten-minute walk from there to the house.

  The property is in darkness, shielded from the street lamps by trees. From my rucksack I withdraw the tools: a lock-pick and my trusty knife. It may be a risk to use the same weapon as last time, but it’s sharp, light and effective.

  A roll of masking tape slides easily and conveniently on to my wrist. A strip of tape over each mouth while they sleep will reduce the chance of them waking the neighbours. Recent surveillance has confirmed they go to bed early, and with no lights on in the house, I’m confident they should be asleep by now.

  There’s no alarm, and I emerge from the house a short time later, with the job completed. I was more accurate this time, and there’s less blood spatter – certainly nothing that shows up on the black clothing. I walk the short distance back to the bus stop and catch the next bus home for my shower.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Finn and I agreed to have lunch at the Village in Bury again. It’s convenient for both of us, as he’s a member of the gym there. Joanna and Will declined to join us, so we are alone in a booth. We order salads and diet cokes and sit down to wait for the food to arrive.

  “Good to see you, Becks. Are we good now?”

  “Of course. How’s the case?”

  “Not progressing as fast as I’d like. The autopsy was done yesterday and confirmed what we already suspected.”

  “You mean that she died from multiple stab wounds?” I raise an eyebrow. It’s difficult to imagine that the autopsy would come back with anything interesting.

  “Yeah, pretty much.” His mouth twists into a wry grin. “There was one thing though.”

  “Oh?”

  “There was significant recent bruising, around the ribs and legs, that didn’t appear to be connected to the stab wounds.”

  I take a minute to process this, as a waiter brings our food. When he’s gone, I look at Finn.

  “You think maybe Troy, for all his protestations of love, might have been beating her?”

  “I’m sorry, Becks, but that’s the obvious answer.”

  “It doesn’t feel right. It might tie in a bit with the story of one of his fans, but to be honest, we had her down as an over-imaginative liar.” I tell him about Sarah, and her apparent conviction that Troy wanted to have an affair with her.

  I’m about to add in the detail
s of the visits to Dean and Gemma, when Finn’s phone rings. He takes the call, going instantly into the professional mode that I remember so well.

  “What’s happened?” I ask as he puts the phone down on the table and shakes his head.

  “Troy’s parents have been found dead in their home. Sorry, I need to sort this out. I’ll call you later to fill you in. Sorry about lunch.” He leans across and gives me a quick peck on the cheek before grabbing his phone and his jacket and leaving me with two plates of salad.

  Rather than eating alone and wasting food, I call Joanna and invite her and Will to join me. They agree and arrive ten minute later to polish off Finn’s untouched salad, and to join me in demolishing coffee and sundry desserts. It feels naughty ending lunch with sticky toffee pudding and custard, but my disappointment at being abandoned by Finn is greater than it should be. Serious carbs are required to compensate. Seeing Joanna devour tiramisu and Will eat a huge chocolate fudge sundae helps to relieve some of the guilt. While we indulge, I update them on the latest developments, both with Cheryl and Troy.

  We’re leaving the restaurant when I spot a familiar figure in the corner. We seem to have been under observation.

  “Guys, meet me back outside my house in about twenty minutes, will you? That way I can drop this car off and pick mine up. I just need to deal with something first.”

  I see Joanna glance across to our observer, and she looks back at me with raised eyebrows. I nod.

  “Sure. We’ll pop home and pick you up. Make it half an hour.”

  I wait for a few minutes until they’ve gone, then walk up to Roger, who’s pretending to read the newspaper.

  “May I join you for a moment?”

  “Please do.” He waits while I sit on the chair opposite him. “You’ve been busy.”

  “How long have you been watching me?”