by Mike Crowson
DC Tommy Hammond, DC Gary Goss and the three uniformed men didn't exactly rehearse their little play, but they did discuss what they intended to do before they left HQ at Witchmoor Edge.
Millicent's instructions, approved by CDI Cooke, were to make the pick up of Koswinski on supposed suspicion of murder as realistic as possible. Her idea was to try and put the frighteners on the young villain, using police bail if necessary. Although she didn't really think the yob was guilty of a crime beyond breaking and entering, there seemed no other way to find out what had happened in the old warehouse between eleven o’clock and just turned twelve on the night of the fire.
The two police cars swerved into the parking area in front of the walk-up flats, blue lights flashing, and screeched to a halt. The two detectives jumped from the cars and started to run for the stairs, followed by the two uniform men. The fifth PC stood watch over the cars, standing with doors wide open and lights still flashing.
The four policemen stormed up the steps to the second floor and banged at the door of number 32. A scruffy youth of about twenty or twenty-two opened the door. He was wearing a stained T-shirt, jeans and rather seedy Nike trainers. He stood there blinking.
"John Koswinski?" Hammond asked, though he knew full well it was .
"Yeah. Why do ..."
"Get your coat. We're taking you in to answer questions about the murders of Kevin Musworth, Simon Hunter, Wayne Sansom and Jody Baker."
"But I never even met ..."
"I said get your coat," Hammond snapped. "We'll talk about it at the station."
Koswinski fetched a jacket and was marched down the stairs between the two uniformed men, Goss leading and Hammond following at the rear. In the back of one car he was seated next to a uniformed PC with a silent Hammond in the front with the driver. The others used the second car.
At Witchmoor Edge HQ Koswinski was marched to an interview room and left there with a different officer. Hammond and Goss entered and Goss set the tape recorder going.
"DC Hammond and DC Goss," Hammond said into the microphone. "First interview with John Koswinski about the murder of Simon Hunter, suspected murder by drowning of Kevin Musworth and an unidentified male at about midnight on August 11th. Time is nine fifteen a.m. on Thursday 16th of August."
"Now," Hammond said. "Where did you go with Musworth, Sansom and Baker last Saturday between ten thirty, when they wouldn't let you into the Apocalypse, and arriving at the warehouse on Cartwright’s Wharf?"
Koswinkis jaw dropped slightly. He was taken aback by Hammond's apparent knowledge and uncertain just how much was guesswork. He stalled belligerently.
"I don't have to tell you nothing," he said, shaken by the speed of events and sullen. "And you can't prove I was there," he added
"Look son," Hammond said. "You were seen together near the warehouse just before the fire. You were seen from the bridge climbing out of the canal, dripping wet, the bloke saw you close to, just three minutes later. Musworth could swim, but he was drowned and they pulled Hunter out of the canal with his head smashed in. "
The remark about the bridge was a lie to cover for the old lady and the bit about them being seen earlier was a downright lie, but it was not a serious one, he thought, and anyway, witnesses might be found.
"It doesn't matter anyway," the DC said, "We know you were there, but I was just curious."
Hammond pressed on. "What am I supposed to think?" he said. "You're seen with three live blokes and now one of them is dead and one is missing. Either you did it or you didn't. If you didn't do it, tell us what happened and we'll try and prove you didn't do it."
Koswinski weighed up Hammond's words. He thought they wouldn't be able to prove anything, but they could give him a lot of hassle and grief. Moreover, they didn't seem to know anything about him being there earlier in the evening and he needed to keep that quiet. Since he didn't do anything, at least nothing much, later that night, maybe he could get rid of them by telling them more or less what happened.
"All right," he said. "I didn't do nothing so I may as well tell you what happened, though it were a bit funny in places."
"Funny?" Goss queried.
"Odd. Like the fire. That wasn't nothing to do with us. There was this sort of deep bang and a huge blaze started everywhere at once."
You think someone started it deliberately?
"Sort of," Koswinski said. "More like a terrorist bomb."
"I think," said Hammond, "that you'd better begin at the beginning. You went from the Apocalypse to the warehouse?"
"We stopped by an off-licence for some more cans, but yeah, we went more or less straight to t' warehouse."
"Why?"
"We hadn't nowhere else to go," Koswinski said. "They wouldn't let us in the Youth Centre, but that's a crap place anyway. Then this bouncer wouldn't let us in the Apocalypse."
"Why not?" Hammond asked.
"He said Sansom and Barker were too young and Musworth and me were too drunk."
"Did he say you were banned?" Goss asked.
"I never gave him chance. Drunk? I give him drunk. Then another bouncer came and joined him, otherwise I'd' ve creamed him."
Goss agreed with Cruikshank and Norris, who had both described him as ... 'an aggressive little bugger, even when sober' ... All the same, he prudently said nothing.
"So what happened at the warehouse?" Hammond asked.
"We got in through a ground floor window and sat in a corner having another bevvy."
"How did you know about the window?" Hammond asked.
Koswinski swallowed and tried to sound casual. "Musworth knew about it," he said. "He’d been in there before with Sansom. The whole thing was his idea."
Hammond rather doubted that, especially as neither was likely contradict Koswinski. It was possible anyway. "Go on," he prompted. "What happened next?"
"Musworth starts wandering around. He says he's found some tramp dossing in a corner and starts kicking him. Barker and Sansom went to have a look and joined in."
"But you didn’t?"
"I were finishing my can and I'd had a few anyway. I was pissed off with t' whole evening."
"But you did go and look?" Hammond insisted.
"In the end I did, just as Musworth hit this bloke over the head with an iron bar."
"Then what happened?" Hammond prompted again.
"I had a close look at this bloke and saw he was dead. No pulse nor nothing. I told them they'd really done it this time. Sansom was scared and said maybe they could drop him in t' canal and everyone would think he'd cracked his head falling in or summat."
"And they dragged him to the canal door?" Hammond suggested.
"Sort of. Sansom and Barker ran off to Sansom's uncle Olu. For owt I know they're there still. I had to help Musworth drag the body and I had to force the doors open. I thought it was a pretty crap idea, but I couldn't think of owt better and anyway it wasn't me what done it."
"So you dumped him in the canal," Hammond mused. "You didn't think he was a bit too smartly dressed for a tramp?"
"It were dark," Koswinski said. "I couldn't see much, Musworth were scared and t' other two were so scared they'd run off. I wanted out of there in a hurry as well, though I hadn't done nothing to be scared of."
"And when did the fire start?"
"I ain't exactly sure, because everything happened real fast. There was a bit of a splash as this bloke hit the water and I think I'd started closing the doors, when I heard the bang or the boom or whatever you call it. It was more a feeling than a noise. Anyway, flames spread out where this bloke had been and all along the street side. I said we'd better jump. Me and Musworth jumped out through the loading doors where we'd dumped the body. I swam to the far side and climbed out. I don't know what happened to Musworth."
"Too drunk to swim?" Goss suggested.
"Happen so," said Koswinski. "But he were a good swimmer."
"And Sansom and Barker had gone before the fire started?" Tommy asked.
"Aye," Koswins
ki agreed. "They'd be away five minutes or more before t' fire."
"What was Sansom's uncle called?" Goss wanted to know.
"No idea," Koswinski said offhandedly, his confidence returning a little. "He just said Uncle Olu."
"Where did he live?"
"How the hell; should I know?" Koswinski said belligerently. "I've told you all I know."
"Right son," said Hammond. "Your story fits in with what we know, so I believe what you've told us is pretty near the truth. I'll have the statement typed up from this interview and once you've signed it you can go. I'm not promising we won't want to ask any more questions later, though."
Koswinski let out a sigh of relief. He'd bent the truth a bit here and there, but the story was more or less true, as Hammond had said. About the other matter earlier in the day, the police seemed ignorant and he wanted to keep it that way.