by Ann Bloxwich
‘We were told that you were on your way, sir, so thought it best to wait,’ PC Griffiths said. ‘We’ve checked around the outside, no signs of disturbance, but PC Marshall said he could see someone inside through a gap in the curtains.’
‘I saw someone sitting on the floor in the lounge, sir.’ PC Marshall confirmed. ’I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman though.’
Craig leaned on the doorbell but got no response. Alex tried the handle and the door swung open.
‘Hello, Mr Diamond? Is anyone home?’
Alex nodded to Craig and the two of them led the way, followed by the two uniformed officers. Craig and PC Griffiths went towards the kitchen and Alex and PC Marshall headed to the lounge, where they found Ray sitting on the floor, leaning against the back of the upturned sofa. He had a nasty bruise on his cheek and his nose looked as if it was broken. His long blond hair had been hacked off and lay scattered on the floor all around him. He was making feeble stab marks at the parquet floor with a pair of scissors.
Alex knelt in front of Ray, both knees cracking loudly and making him wince. ‘Ray, how about I take those?’ he said gently.
Ray didn’t look up as he placed the scissors in Alex’s outstretched hand. Alex passed them to PC Marshall and gestured for her to leave the room. Craig poked his head around the doorframe and waved an empty brandy bottle at Alex. Alex nodded, and Craig disappeared again.
‘Why don’t you tell me what happened, Ray? Who did this to you?’ Alex asked. He sat down on the floor next to Ray to take the pressure off his knees.
Ray shook his head. ‘They wouldn’t listen,’ he mumbled. He wiped his eyes on the back of his hand and winced when he caught the bruised part.
‘Who did you fight with?’ Alex asked.
Ray gave a snort of derision. ‘Those fuckers jumped me. If it had been one-on-one, I would have wiped the floor with them. Trust me, there will be hell to pay. No-one does that to Ray Diamond and gets away with it. I’ll make sure they never work again.’
‘Which one of your friends did this to you?’ Alex tried again.
Ray tried to stand up but stumbled and sat down again. ‘Friends? Fucking leeches you mean. Always round here, being nice to my face then stabbing me in the back. I gave them their break and they repay me like this. Just because Michelle batted her fucking eyelashes at them. Well, she needn’t come crawling back here because I’ll fucking kill her, just like I killed her old man!’
He waved a fist in Alex’s face and Alex jerked his head back but said nothing. Ray scratched his head and looked surprised at finding bare scalp. He picked up a handful of hair from the floor and looked at it, then put it down again.
‘What do you mean, you killed her old man? What was his name?’ Alex shook Ray’s shoulder.
‘He approached me in a pub one night, after I’d got drunk and started taking my kit off. He gave me his card and said to call him as he had a job I might be interested in. I just laughed at him, I figured he was an old pervert who fancied his chances. I soon found out that he was a promoter, and he was looking to do something new. He gave me my big break. You are looking at the original male stripper, all others are cheap copies.’ Ray laughed at the memory.
Alex said nothing and waited for Ray to continue.
‘Steve Gifford thought he was something special, but he was just a user. He would have been nothing without me!’ Ray seemed to realise he was shouting and stopped abruptly. ‘He was at my place one night, we’d both had a bit to drink, and we were chatting about shit, as you do. I told him I wanted to be a photographer when I was at college. He seemed interested, so I showed him the photos I’d taken for my A-levels. He threw them at me and said I was a sick bastard. He tried to fire me, but I’d signed a five-year contract and it still had two years to run. Steve tried to get out of it, but it was watertight.’
Ray drifted off in a daydream and Alex shook him by the shoulder. ‘What was so bad about the photographs that would cause Steve to try and fire you?’ he asked.
Ray didn’t answer but stared at a point on the far wall. Alex touched his elbow and startled him.
‘You said that Steve tried to fire you,’ Alex prompted.
‘Steve knew he couldn’t cancel my contract, so he started bringing newer guys in and cutting me out that way. He teamed up with that knobhead John, and between them they squeezed me out.’
‘Do you mean John Jackson? I’ve met him, he seems very fair,’ Alex said.
Ray shrugged. ‘He might be now, but he was quite young back then and Steve had a lot of pull. If he said jump, John would ask how high. One night I’d turned up at a gig to watch my mate, but Steve wouldn’t let me in the room. He got his goons to throw me out. The worst part was that he stood and laughed at me while they escorted me off the premises. I’ll tell you now, no-one laughs at me. I went to another pub and had a few beers because I was so pissed off. I was heading home when I saw him walking along the road, like he didn’t have a care in the world.’
‘So you ran him over,’ Alex said.
‘I didn’t mean to, I was just trying to scare him,’ Ray insisted. ‘The stupid fucker saw me driving towards him and he didn’t get out of the way. What a twat.’ Ray blinked heavily a few times then closed his eyes. ‘God, I’m tired,’ he said.
‘What about the woman from The Leamore Club, did you kill her too?’ Alex asked, watching Ray closely. He couldn’t seem to focus properly.
‘Vicky? No of course I didn’t. I had sex with her, and she struggled a lot, but she was trying to make it feel real for me, she knows it turns me on.’
‘Do you know a woman called Elizabeth Callendar?’
‘Arjan’s bird? Sure, I’ve seen her a few times. She had the hots for me, but you don’t shit on your mates. He would have killed me if I’d touched her.’
‘She was the woman who was murdered. Could you have mistaken her for Vicky? They looked very similar that night.’
‘No, I’d recognise Vicky anywhere. I took a photo on my phone, it’s here somewhere,’ Ray looked around him but couldn’t see his phone. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand, making it bleed again.
Alex winced when it made a crackly sound. ‘That looks painful. We should get you to hospital.’
‘No, I’m fine.’ Ray said. He looked at Alex as if seeing him for the first time. ‘The lads came around. They called me names and beat me up.’ Ray looked angry. ‘Don’t they know who I am? I’m Ray Diamond, the best in the business, the number one. I just have to click my fingers and they’ll be out of a job like that.’ He let out a long, shuddering breath. ‘Leave me alone, I need to sleep.’ His eyes started to close so Alex shook him awake.
‘Ray? Talk to me Ray, I can’t help you if you don’t,’ Alex pleaded.
Ray looked up at Alex as if seeing him for the first time. ‘I’m Ray Diamond, the one and only.’ His face went slack, and he slid to one side.
Alex shook him again but got no response. ‘Craig!’ he shouted, ‘Get an ambulance, now!’
68
Dawn drove across the city in her usual style, and Gary had to hang on to the door handle with one hand while holding his mobile phone to his ear in the other. After several attempts he gave up and tucked the phone back in his pocket. Dawn shot across the roundabout, narrowly avoiding an oncoming van. The driver blared his horn and made rude gestures at her. She ignored him and braked sharply before turning left at the next junction. Gary closed his eyes and prayed he wouldn’t die before his wedding.
‘Still no answer?’ she asked as she slowed a fraction before driving into the station car park. She pulled up next to Craig’s car. ‘Well, he’s not here,’ she said, nodding towards Alex’s empty space.
Gary climbed out of Dawn’s car and straightened his tie. ‘Maybe he’s still in Wombourne,’ he said. He opened the station door for her, and she gave him a mock curtsey.
They headed to the office but there was no-one there. Gary looked
at his watch. ‘It’s only half past three. Don’t say they’ve all gone home early.’
‘Nah, they’ll be around somewhere. Try the canteen,’ Dawn suggested, sitting down at her desk. She tried ringing Alex but got voicemail. ‘Bugger,’ she said. She tried Craig and had no luck there either. She was about to try Alex again when her phone rang, so she snatched it up.
‘Hello? Hi Jayne. No, Alex isn’t here at the moment. Is there anything I can do? Okay, I’ll be sure to tell him as soon as I get a hold of him. Thanks, ‘bye.’
‘No-one in the canteen,’ Gary said as he came back in. ‘Who was that?’
‘That was Jayne. She’s been trying to reach Alex, she says it’s urgent. I told her I’d get him to ring her as soon as we track him down. She didn’t sound very happy.’
‘I hope everything is alright,’ Gary said. He made them both a drink and had just sat down when Mo came in, a folder in her hand.
‘What’s that you’ve got?’ Dawn asked.
‘Alex wanted some background done on Ray Diamond, so I traced him back to his college days,’ Mo said. She stuck her thumb up at Gary when he pointed to his mug. She opened the folder and took out the papers from within. ‘He was a naughty boy, as you can imagine, with a few black marks against his name.’
‘What sort of things did he get into trouble for?’ Gary asked, handing Mo her tea.
‘Cheers. There were some incidents of fighting, just minor scuffles, two reports for bringing alcohol in, and one for lewd behaviour. Apparently, he flashed his tackle at one of the female lecturers.’
‘I’m not surprised he became a stripper. I’m amazed he wasn’t expelled though,’ Dawn remarked.
‘Oh, he was very clever, and passed all of his exams with flying colours. He got a commendation for art, the only one in his class to do so,’ Mo said.
‘I was rubbish at art,’ Gary admitted. ‘What use is being able to draw bowls of fruit?’
‘There are lots of different types of art besides drawing, Gary,’ Mo said. ‘It seems that young Raymond chose photography as his medium.’
‘I could have done that, I’m quite handy with a camera,’ Gary admitted.
‘Ray was pretty good at it too, he produced a series of photographs titled: Forbidden Fantasies. It was deemed very controversial at the time, but his tutor said he was a genius.’
The phone rang, and Dawn picked it up. After a brief conversation, she hung up and looked at her colleagues. ‘That was Craig. Ray Diamond is in hospital, it looks like he’s taken an overdose.’
‘Blimey,’ Gary said. ‘Is he okay?’
‘Not sure, the ambulance has only just left. Craig said Alex is trying to get a search warrant sorted out, and we’re to head out there once it’s been executed. Mo, you’ve to go to the hospital and stay with Ray. Oh shit, I forgot to tell him that Jayne called.’
She tried to call Craig back, but it went straight to voicemail.
69
Alex called his boss. ‘That’s right sir, he’s on his way to hospital now. I’ve asked DC Ross to go to the hospital and stay with him.’ He listened to the voice on the other end for a moment. ‘I think a search warrant is a good idea. Something really fishy is going on.’
He hung up the phone and turned to Craig. ‘DCI Oliver has authorised a warrant, it’s on its way now. He says to wait here in case Michelle Simmons turns up.’
‘No problem, boss,’ Craig said. He handed an envelope to Alex. ‘I found these photos in the kitchen bin. I think you need to look at them.’
‘You should have left them there and waited for the warrant, you know that,’ Alex said sternly. He fished a pair of gloves out of his pocket and put them on before taking the envelope from Craig. He opened it wide enough to see what it contained before pulling the first photo out.
‘Jesus Christ!’ he said when he saw the picture. ‘How many are there?’ he asked as he flipped his thumb along the stack.
‘Around thirty I think,’ Craig answered. ‘There are numbers on the back of each one, but I don’t know what they mean. Serial numbers perhaps?’
Alex turned the photo over and had a look. There was a six-digit number written in pencil, so it was very faded. He put the photo back in the envelope and handed it to Craig. ‘Bag it and get it to the lab. Ask them to send us a list of the numbers so we can try and figure out what they mean. Ray mentioned some photos from his college days, I think these may be them.’ Alex wrinkled his nose in disgust. ‘It’s a pretty sick topic though.’
PC Marshall came in. ‘Excuse me, sir, DS Redwood and DC Temple are here with the warrant. There are also some more uniformed officers.’
‘Great, let’s make a start.’
***
Mason Manor was a hive of activity, with police swarming all over the house and gardens. Alex had been astonished to find out that Michelle was Steve Gifford’s daughter, but it made a lot of sense. The search team had been instructed to seize anything drug-related as well as anything that could link either Ray Diamond or Michelle Simmons to the death of Elizabeth Callendar or Steve Gifford.
Alex sorted through the chest of drawers in Ray’s bedroom. It was an unpleasant experience. Alex had queried out loud why a man of Ray’s reputation would need so many vibrators until PC Marshall had explained that they were butt plugs. Alex had dropped them like they were on fire, thankful he was wearing two pairs of gloves. He found Ray’s phone under the bed and checked the photo files.
Among the many unsavoury pictures was the one of Vicky Wilson at the Leamore Club. She was posed in a similar way to the women in the photos that Craig had found. Her clothes were pulled up, and her naked lower half was on show. Alex noted the rose tattoo that Ray had mentioned, confirming that it was Vicky. The likeness between her and Elizabeth Callendar was striking.
A search of the wardrobes turned up half a dozen small bags, each containing a selection of multi-coloured pills, some tubs of white powder and several bags of weed. Everything was logged and taken away. Alex collected up a pile of photographs and looked through them. He found the one that Michelle had seen, the woman in the bar with her face circled. She looked very familiar, but Alex couldn’t place her. He logged the photograph along with all the others in the wardrobe.
‘Where next, sir?’ Penny asked once they had finished. They walked out onto the landing. All the other doors were open and appeared occupied, apart from the one facing them at the end of the corridor.
‘I guess we take that one,’ Alex said.
70
Michelle started the car and held her breath, hoping that the noise of the engine turning over wouldn’t wake Si. He’d fallen asleep on the sofa after dinner, partly due to the sleeping tablets that Michelle had slipped into his energy drink. She put the Porsche into gear and crawled slowly out of the quiet road, waiting until she was out of sight of Si’s house before switching the headlights on.
Instead of taking the A460 from Cannock to Wolverhampton, Michelle drove along the smaller B-roads, taking extra care to avoid any traffic cameras. She circled New Cross Hospital, with its complicated parking system until she found a space in the East Car Park. Michelle followed the maze of corridors until she found the short stay ward that she’d been directed to by a harassed-looking porter.
She scanned the information board by the nurses’ station to see whereabouts Ray Diamond’s bed was, then walked down the hallway behind a small group of people, trying to look as if she belonged there, just another visitor on a drab January evening.
Ray was lying in bed on his back with a drip in his arm. His nose had been taped and his face was a palette of bruises. As Michelle approached the bed, he groped for the buzzer, but she grabbed it and moved it out of reach.
‘Not so high and mighty now, are you?’ she said in a low voice.
‘Get lost Michelle, you’re fired. I want you out of my house now.’
‘Not gonna happen, big boy. I’m not done with you yet, I just wanted
to tell you a few things so you might understand why I set you up.’
Ray closed his eyes again. ‘Fine, tell me. Then fuck off.’
Michelle smiled at him in pity. ‘That’s what Vicky said when I tried to tell her the truth about you. Shame she didn’t listen.’
Ray’s eyes flew open. ‘Are you telling me you killed her? Because if so, you got it wrong. Vicky’s still alive, you murdered the wrong woman.’ He settled himself back against the pillows with a smirk. ‘You always were stupid, Shelley.’
Michelle leaned in close to his ear and lowered her voice. ‘No Ray, I’m not. When I came back to the club to pick you and your car up, you were with a woman in the back alley. I knew Vicky had left because I’d seen her go. Don’t worry, I gave your lady friend a good battering first before I strangled her. I wasn’t even worried when you shouted at me to ask what I was doing, because I’d seen how much you’d had to drink and knew you wouldn’t remember a thing. The only DNA they’ve got is yours.’
Ray shook his head. ‘The police have no evidence that I did anything other than get her to suck me off. I’ll tell them it was you who killed her.’
Michelle smiled. ‘Do you really think they will believe you? It’s possible, but they now know that you killed my dad, so at least you’ll go down for that.’ She patted him on the head and started to walk away before turning back to him. ‘Oh, and I’m sure that a certain security man will want a word about you shagging his girlfriend.’
***
As she approached Bay Five, Mo Ross came from the opposite direction, her phone in her hand. For a split second their eyes met, then Mo started walking quickly towards her. Michelle turned and fled, almost knocking over a young couple coming the other way. She picked up her pace and ducked into the next ward.