by Ann Bloxwich
She took out her ID card and held it up to Ray but before she could speak, she felt hot breath on her neck. One of Ray’s mates had come up behind her and was standing very close. He put his hands on her hips and pressed against her, swaying in time to the music from the television and humming into her ear. When she turned around to face him, he grinned at her, showing very white teeth.
Dawn gave him an award-winning smile of her own and flashed her warrant card at him. He let go as if he’d been scalded, stepped back and promptly fell over the rubbish bag that Michelle had left on the floor.
He got up to laughter and jeers from his friends. Despite being slightly shorter than the others, he was bulkier, with larger biceps and a palette of colourful tattoos snaking down each arm. His black jeans hugged his body as if scared to let go, and his black vest top looked painted on. His blond fringe fell lazily over his forehead and his green eyes twinkled in mischief. He winked at Dawn and jogged back towards the pool table.
‘Well done Si, you twat,’ the taller of the white guys said, clapping him on the back. Si turned, gave Dawn a sweeping bow and blew her a kiss. Dawn bit back a smile and told Mo to go and talk them.
‘Yeah, come on Detective, see if you can beat the reigning champion,’ Si laughed, pointing at the tall black man.
Dawn waited until Mo had gone into the other room before turning her attention back to Ray.
23
Ray stood watching Dawn, his smile wavering slightly. He clearly had no idea why she was there, either that or he was a bloody good actor, Dawn thought. She identified herself, showing him her warrant card. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Ray suddenly seemed to wake up and, shoving the pile of clean laundry onto the floor, invited Dawn to sit down.
Dawn perched on the edge of the sofa and Ray surveyed her through half-closed eyes as he retook his seat.
‘I’m making enquiries about a suspicious death on Friday 20th December at the Leamore Club on Stafford Road. I’ve been led to believe you were working there that night.’
Ray looked blankly at her. ‘I dunno, was I? It’s possible, but I’ve had a drink since then,’ he said. He glanced around the room. ‘Michelle will know for definite. Shelley!’ he bellowed for his assistant and she stuck her head around the kitchen door.
‘You called, O Master?’ she replied, her sarcasm lost on Ray. ‘How can I best serve thee?’ She spotted the clean laundry on the floor and hurried over to pick it up.
Ray’s face lit up. ‘Ah Princess, there you are. Where was I working last Friday? Be a good girl and bring me the diary, will you? Then, can you pop to Asda and get some more beer, we’re nearly out. Don’t worry about cooking tonight, we’ll get a curry in, again. If you’re quick I’ll let you suck my cock again, I know how you love it.’
He erupted into fits of laughter as Michelle stuck her tongue out at him and went back into the kitchen. She came back a few seconds later, dropped a red diary onto the sofa with a thud, scooped up the bin bag that Si had fallen over and left again. She looked angry and embarrassed. The front door slammed and a few seconds later a car roared off.
Dawn made a note to speak to Michelle in private as soon as possible.
Ray saw Dawn’s expression and laughed. ‘Don’t mind her, she loves it really. Shelley’s like a mum to me – with added benefits, if you get my drift. Lads, tell the nice police officers how much Michelle loves me.’
The guys shouted that Michelle loved him loads, and he saluted in return. Dawn gave an inward shudder and returned to the task in hand.
‘Right, Mr Diamond, the reason for our visit is, as I said before, to discuss the incident that took place at the Leamore Club,’ she said. She looked up and saw that Ray wasn’t listening. He was watching the television screen and idly stroking his crotch.
Dawn reached for the remote control and flicked the television off. The room was plunged into silence, apart from the murmurings coming from the other end of the room. Ray looked as if she’d slapped him. ‘I do need your full attention, if you don’t mind.’
Ray looked contrite and sat up a bit straighter, picking up a new beer bottle as he did so. ‘Okay babe, I’m all yours. Do with me what you will.’
He twisted the top off the bottle and took a long drink, his eyes running over Dawn’s body.
Dawn resisted the urge to punch him in his smug face. She pointed to the diary lying between them and he shrugged. ‘Go ahead, no secrets in there. I keep my naughty stuff in my bedroom,’ he said with a wink.
Dawn picked up the diary and scanned the pages until she found the date in question. ‘It says here that you were working with four others, is that right?’ She pointed to the entry. ‘Can you talk me through what happened that night, starting from the time you arrived?’
Ray took the book from her and read through the details. ‘I remember now. It was a straightforward show. I got there around 8.30 p.m., had a few beers out the back with the lads.’
‘The ones who are talking to my colleague?’ Dawn asked.
Ray nodded. ‘Yeah, you can ask them, they’ll tell you. I got ready while they were doing their spots. Chad and Des have a terrific double act, well worth watching. Si’s not bad, he’s lost his edge recently though. If I were him, I’d quit now while I was ahead. No-one wants to see you when you’re past your best. I always go on last, seeing as I’m the star. I did my stuff, nipped backstage to put some shorts on, then went back out to do photos with the women.’
Dawn wrote it down. ‘What time did you leave, and was anyone with you?’
‘I left around half eleven, I think. Michelle drove me home, I was really drunk by then. The drag act will vouch for me – although I think he’d already gone by then, probably had rent boys to pick up. Have you asked Michelle? Where is she anyway?’
Ray looked surprised when Dawn reminded him that she’d gone to the shop.
‘Look, what’s this all about? Has some little tart shouted rape or something? If she has then she’s lying, because no-one says no to me, they all want a piece of this.’
He cupped his crotch arrogantly and glared at her.
Dawn slowed her breathing down to calm herself. She really wanted to beat the shit out of him. ‘If you’d been listening, you’d know that we’re here about a suspicious death that occurred that night. I believe you knew the victim, a Miss Vicky Wilson?’
‘Vicky? Cute little redhead? Oh yeah, she’s been at all my shows for the past six months or so, and for the last couple she’s been backstage with me. She’s sweet, mouth like a vacuum cleaner. Is she in trouble? If she is it has nothing to do with me,’ Ray stated, as if he hadn’t heard what Dawn had told him.
‘It’s clear to me that you’re not listening to me. I’ve just informed you that she’s dead, Mr Diamond. You may have been the last person to see her alive,’ Dawn replied, getting more and more irritated by the minute.
‘Don’t be daft, of course she’s not dead!’ Ray laughed at the idea. ‘I saw her on Monday, she came around when Michelle was . . . well, wherever she was, and I spent all morning screwing her brains out, first on the pool table, and then right there on that rug.’
He pointed to a spot in front of the fireplace. ‘She left before Michelle got back, then I went for a shower.’
Dawn looked hard at him. ‘Are you sure that was Vicky? Because her friend has positively identified her body at the morgue.’
Ray tried to run his hand through his hair, but it was too tangled, so he pushed it back off his face instead. ‘Maybe you’re right, it could have been a different bird.’ He laughed nervously. ‘I have a few on the go, it’s hard to keep track sometimes. I’ll tell you what, check the inside of her thigh. I gave her a cracking love-bite, you should still be able to see it. There’s probably a couple on her tits as well.’
His eyes strayed back towards the television and he groped blindly for the remote control.
Dawn stood up, her patience at its limit. ‘
We’ll no doubt have further questions for you, so I’ll need a contact number if you don’t mind. I’ll let you get back to your video.’
She picked up the remote and tossed it back to Ray, who fumbled and dropped it on the floor. As he scrambled to pick it up, she walked towards the other end of the room, turning to close the double doors behind her so that the sudden increase in volume from the television was lessened. She stood for a second and took a few deep breaths, before joining Mo at the pool table.
They had abandoned the game now and were sitting on stools next to the bar in the corner. Si looked furious, he’d obviously overheard what Ray had said about him and he gripped his pool cue tightly.
Des had a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down. ‘Listen man, you know your routine knocks spots off his, don’t let him wind you up.’
Si smiled at him gratefully, his colour starting to return to normal. ‘Cheers dude, nice to know someone appreciates me.’
‘I love you man, you’re a credit to the profession.’ Chad put his hand on his heart, then pointed to Si.
Si blushed to the roots of his hair. ‘Shut up you poof, I know you fancy me but there’s no way that massive dick of yours is going anywhere near my ass!’
The men fell about laughing, their amusement rubbing off on Dawn and Mo.
Chad stood up and offered his stool to Dawn, and he leaned against the pool table. The three men listened carefully as she repeated what she’d told Ray. At least they were taking her seriously, judging by the look on their faces.
‘Poor woman,’ Chad murmured, when she’d finished speaking. ‘She seemed like a nice kid. I hope you get whoever did it.’
‘Me too,’ Dawn agreed. ‘Now, let’s get some details if that’s okay. Des, can we start with you?’
Des was tall and broad, with short dark hair, and had that weathered look about him that came from working outside. His brown eyes had a sharpness about them, and Dawn figured he didn’t miss a thing. He wore a red polo shirt and faded blue jeans. His brown boots bore traces of concrete dust. ‘Actually, do you mind if I nip to the loo first?’ he asked, giving them an apologetic smile. ‘I think that curry last night has rotted my insides.’
He stubbed his cigarette out in the ashtray and left the room in a hurry.
Dawn turned to face Chad. He was so tall that she had to crane her neck to see his face.
‘Hang on, let me sit my black ass down so we can talk face to face.’
He smiled, his dark eyes twinkling, before dragging another stool over to sit next to her. He was slimmer than his friends; almost whippet-like. His tangerine-coloured tracksuit was from a high-end retailer and he wore hi-tops to match his clothes. His black hair was corn-rolled into tiny rows across his scalp.
Mo turned to a clean page in her notebook and waited.
‘I didn’t have my kids that weekend, so I knew I could get a bit of a lie-in on Saturday morning,’ Chad explained. ‘I think it was around midnight when I left. I talked to Kitty for a while, she was on about setting up some self-defence lessons at the local LGBT club. I’m a Karate master, so I said I’d be happy to get involved, but it would be after New Year, I’m having my kids over Christmas this year, so my ex can get a holiday with her fella.’ Chad looked sheepish. ‘Sorry I can’t be of more help.’
‘That’s fine, we may need to come back to you at some point, so make sure we have your details. That goes for all of you,’ Dawn said. ‘Right, your turn,’ she said to Si, indicating for him to sit with her away from the others as Chad had, so they couldn’t influence each other.
‘My bloody car broke down, so I was late,’ Si explained. ‘By the time my brother had come to get me I was cutting it too fine to make the first spot, so I rang Chad to tell him. He suggested switching the running order, so I didn’t lose any money. They had just come off when I arrived. I threw my gear on and went out. I was debuting my fire-eating act, nearly burned the place down. Hey, do you want to see it? I’ve got my stuff in the car.’
He went to stand up, but Dawn held her hand up to stop him. ‘Maybe another time. Did you see Vicky at all?’
‘Very briefly, when she came backstage. I went out to talk to the DJ so didn’t spend very long in the dressing room. I was out front when Ray called her through. She pissed off the security bloke though, I heard him slagging her off to his mate. He said she was a right bitch.’
‘Interesting, thank you. What time did you leave?’
‘I stayed till the DJ finished. He offered me a lift home, so I said I’d help him pack up. The place was almost empty when we went. I’ve got his number here,’ he said, pulling his wallet out and removing a card. He handed it to Mo.
‘Thanks. Did anyone see Ray arrive, and was he with anyone?’ Dawn asked.
‘I did,’ Chad said, ‘It must’ve been around 9.30 p.m. or maybe later. Si was onstage when he came in. Michelle was with him; he was shouting at her for making them late. She told us later that he’d made her follow him in her car, then he stopped for cigarettes. He’d spent twenty minutes getting Michelle to take photos of him with the shop assistant. He was chatting to some of the women out the front for a while, and Michelle had to call him a couple of times before he came in to get ready. As a result, Kitty didn’t start her final spot until after 10.30 p.m. She normally likes to be done and out the door by 11 p.m. at the latest. She was furious with him, but he just laughed in her face.’
Des came back in, looking ashen. ‘I really must stop eating all this crap,’ he said. ‘It’s playing havoc with my insides.’
He reached behind the bar for a bottle of water, opened it and drank half of it in one go. Within minutes his colour had returned to somewhere near normal. ‘Sorry about that. What did you want to know?’
‘Did you see Ray turn up?’ Dawn asked him.
‘I didn’t, I was at the bar with Kitty,’ Des admitted. ‘Some of the women bought us a drink, so we were chatting to them while we watched Si do his fire-eating. He was brilliant, apart from when he nearly took that poor bird’s eyebrows off.’ He laughed.
‘It was an accident,’ Si said, ‘I told her to stay really still but she grabbed my cock, and I wobbled a bit. She was fine, I was the one who nearly roasted my own chestnuts!’
The guys fell about laughing, and Dawn and Mo tried to hide their smiles. Si winked at them both.
Des picked up his jacket from a nearby stool and put it on. ‘I’m sorry, but do you mind if I head off? I really don’t feel too good. I’m going to walk round this way, so we don’t have to disturb Ray.’
‘We still need your account of events, but you can pop into the station if it’s easier. We’ll need to speak to Michelle too. Have any of you got a number for her?’
Si picked up his phone and showed the number to Mo, who wrote it in her notebook.
Des threw open the patio doors that led out into the back garden and fresh air came rushing in, clearing the fog of cigarette smoke that lingered in the room.
Si and Chad said they may as well leave too, so the five of them followed the overgrown gravel path around to the front of the house. The back garden was immense, stretching as far as the eye could see and blending into the treeline at the bottom where it met the woods.
‘Beautiful place,’ Mo said as they all approached their cars. ‘Pity it’s a mess.’
‘Glyn would go mental if he saw it,’ Des said. He explained that the house was owned by Glyn Mason, local casino owner and self-made man. It had been a wreck when Glyn first bought it, but it was being brought back to its former glory with the help of Ray’s daughter. Hope had recently graduated from University. She divided her time between living with her mother in America and with Ray in England. She loved old houses, so Glyn had bought Mason Manor specifically for Hope to restore.
‘Glyn is Hope’s godfather,’ Des explained. ‘He dotes on her. Rumour has it that when he pops his clogs he’s leaving everything to her. Ray told Hope that he had nowhere to
live after his last girlfriend kicked him out, so she asked Glyn if he could stay at the house. Glyn’s been in Jamaica for the last few years, but he’s due back soon. Hope is studying to be an architect, so Glyn has pretty much given her his chequebook. He trusts her to do the job properly.’
‘They named their baby Hope Diamond? Was that Ray’s idea?’ Mo asked.
Chad laughed. ‘I hadn’t even thought about it, but probably not, he’s not that intelligent. To be fair it suits her as she is both beautiful and precious, not at all like her old man.’
As they approached their respective vehicles, Dawn had one final question for them: ‘How did Michelle come to be working for him?’
Chad spoke up. ‘Ah, now that’s a story none of us knows. She turned up at a show with Ray around five years ago and has been working for him ever since. I think he put out an ad for a housekeeper when he moved in here. Michelle got the job, though why she stays is a mystery. You’ve seen how he treats her, yet she takes it all on the chin. All I can say is he must pay her very well.’
‘So, no romantic involvement then?’ Mo asked, looking up at him.
‘God forbid,’ Chad replied. ‘He reckons there is, but I asked her once and she was adamant that there never was and never will be anything other than a working relationship between them. She was upset that people thought it too, but given the crap she puts up with, you can see why they think it.’
He pulled out a bunch of keys and pressed a button on the key fob. A black sports car nearby reacted with a beep and a flash of the hazard lights.
Mo whistled. ‘Nice car. Dodge Challenger, 2008 model, if I’m not mistaken?’
Chad looked impressed. ‘Girl, you know your motors. 6.1 V-8 engine, 425 horsepower and after next months’ pay packet it’s all mine.’