by Paul Charles
‘Well…let’s see,’ she replied. ‘He asked me when was the last time I saw Wilko? If Sean and I had discussed Wilko coming back into Circles? What I felt about Wilko rejoining the group? If William knew that Wilko was his dad? If Tracey knew that Wilko was William’s father? If Sean had given Wilko any money during his lean time? If I was aware of who may have given him money? He asked this when I told him that I thought Sean hadn’t given Wilko additional money during the solo years. I asked KP why he thought I might know who would have given Wilko money if Sean hadn’t. He also asked me if I had heard any of Wilko’s solo songs? If I knew what Sean was now planning for the group? What I thought should happen with the group? And let me see now, what else? Oh yes, if I knew whether Sean was planning to look after Susan? And I think that was pretty much it to be honest.’
‘And you replied?’ Coles quizzed.
‘I told him that the last time I’d seen Wilko was at a rehearsal about five days before the Dingwalls gig. I dropped Sean off at the rehearsal room; I think the place was called Joe Henry’s or something. It’s over Islington way.’
‘John Henry’s,’ Sean corrected her.
‘Yes, John Henry’s, that, was it. It would have been two Saturdays ago. I was out doing some shopping and Sean blagged a lift. When we got over there he said that I might as well come in and say hello to everyone. You’re very good at all that, aren’t you dear?’ Colette said, turning to her husband. ‘He’s always keeping the flow going between the team. He likes everyone to feel a vital part of it. So coming into a rehearsal room with him when I’m looking absolutely dreadful shows everyone that he and I…are really one of them. It gives the team a bit of cement. That’s what you think, isn’t it dear?’
‘I’m sure the detective didn’t come to hear about that side of the group, love,’ Sean replied, smiling.
‘Did you actually talk to Wilko on that Saturday?’ Coles continued.
‘Well, yes, I did speak with Wilko that day.’
‘What did you discuss?’
‘He thanked me,’ Colette began, and then hesitated.
‘He thanked you?’ Coles coaxed.
‘Yes, and we discussed how the rehearsals were going.’
‘Sorry, can we back up a bit?’ Coles interrupted Colette. ‘You said he thanked you, what was he thanking you for?’
The silence in the room seemed to last forever.
‘I think what my wife meant was that Wilko was under the impression that Colette had been the one responsible for him being invited to rejoin the band,’ Sean finally said.
‘Was Wilko correct in his assumption?’ Kennedy said, directing the question at Colette.
She looked like she was having a real struggle deciding which way to answer the question. Eventually she and her husband spoke simultaneously.
‘No,’ she said.
‘Yes,’ he said.
They both looked at each other in stage shock.
‘Actually, both of us are correct, in a way,’ Sean added. ‘You see, I discuss all major decisions, in our life, with my wife. This was obviously a major decision and Colette was all for Wilko coming back into the band. Apart from anything else she…I mean we, felt it would be good, in the long term for William. Wilko had somewhat botched his attempt at a solo career and I’m afraid the writing was on the wall and we knew that pretty soon he’d have blown all his money and wouldn’t have any income.’
‘Apart from his Circles’ royalties,’ Coles corrected.
‘Apart from his Circles’ royalties,’ Green agreed, ‘but he had a pretty expensive lifestyle and I’m not sure the royalties would have been enough to keep him in the pink. Keeping two women must have been terribly expensive. I know how much it costs to keep one,’ Green smiled at his wife without really looking at her.
‘Two women, sir?’
‘Yes, I’m sure you know about Susan and Tracey,’ Green replied giving his wife another little smile, still refusing eye contact.
‘Oh yes, you told KP to tell us about that little situation, did you?’ Kennedy said, sending out his own wild card. He was sure that Sean had mentioned Tracey’s name for Colette’s benefit.
‘No inspector,’ Sean began, quite firmly. ‘That’s not one hundred per cent accurate. KP and I were discussing the case and we both agreed that it would probably be better for you to have that piece of information, in case it was relevant. We also assumed it was a piece of the band’s history that Leslie Russell might not have passed on to you. He’s much too discreet for that. So we agreed that whomever spoke to you next would be the one to impart the information to you.’
And KP is no longer here to deny that, is he, Kennedy thought to himself.
‘Okay, Mrs Green,’ Coles began again, ‘can we move back to the questions?’ She checked her notes. ‘He asked if you and Sean had discussed Wilko coming back into Circles. I suppose we’ve covered that?’
‘Yes,’ Colette stole a glance at her husband, ‘I suppose we have.’
‘And how did you feel about Wilko coming back?’ Coles continued.
‘Well, as Sean said, we both felt it was the best thing all round.’
Kennedy wanted to let that lie for now, so he said, ‘Then KP asked you if William knew that Wilko was his dad?’
‘No, he didn’t know. We planned to tell him when he was older,’ Colette replied.
‘Next was, “Did Tracey know that Wilko was William’s dad?” Did she?’ Coles’ question this time.
‘I told him I didn’t know the answer to that one, but that I hoped she didn’t,’ Colette replied and then looked like she felt she must explain further. ‘You see, the more people out there gossiping about Willian and his father, the more chance of someone mentioning it to him. That wouldn’t have been pleasant would it? Did she know about William and Wilko?’ Colette addressed her question to Sean.
Kennedy was surprised that she hadn’t phrased the question, “Did she know about Wilko and me?” probably nothing, he considered, just a turn of phrase. But at the same time was she suggesting that her husband was communicating with Tracey? Was this all going to get even stranger?
Did people only push and pull in their relationships because they could and because they wanted to see what it felt like to be doing something which was wrong. What did “wrong” mean? Why should Wilko not have slept with both his wife and her sister? Both were apparently willing bed partners. He assumed there was no force involved. Wilko couldn’t have had something over Tracey to be blackmailing her with, blackmailing her into bed with? Could that something be that Sean and Tracey were also having a scene? God, Kennedy thought, all I would need then would be for Sean to be sleeping with Susan and that would tidy it up with them all playing happy families. But still he returned to his earlier niggle, why would it be wrong? If Wilko’s wife was not giving him comfort any more why should he not seek it elsewhere? So what if the person he chose to comfort him was his wife’s sister? It had happened before where men had married their wife’s sister, but you mostly heard of it when the wife died and the sister and husband were emotionally thrown together. Could someone have murdered Wilko because, with Wilko out of the way, the coast would have been clear for the murderer to have an affair with Wilko’s lover? So that could mean, for instance, that KP murdered Wilko to be with Tracey and then either Tracey or Susan discovered this, and, in revenge, murdered KP. Tracey, Kennedy felt, was somewhere there in the thick of all of this trouble. He still was amazed that one so plain could wreak such havoc.
‘Did you hear any of Wilko’s solo songs?’ Coles asked.
‘Yes, I did in fact. He sent me a tape of them,’ Colette replied proudly.
‘Did you know what Sean was planning for the group?’ Kennedy asked, moving things right along.
‘I think I’ve already answered that one for you, detective inspector,’ Sean cut in. ‘I told you that Colette and I discuss the major decisions in our lives before we make them.’
‘Indeed you did, Sean, indeed yo
u did. What about KP’s final question to Mrs Green, did you know if Sean planned to look after Susan?’ Kennedy said, leaning back in his chair.
‘Well, I told KP that I thought Sean was still thinking about it, which I believed he was. But, at the same time, I told KP that I thought Sean should,’ Colette started.
‘You told him that? You had…’ Sean obviously thought better and dropped the end of the sentence.
‘We shouldn’t really be discussing this in front of anyone, however,’ Sean began again. ‘And, listen, the band was dying when Wilko left. The reason the band’s fortunes turned around was because of all the energy I put in.’
‘Yes, Sean, I know,’ Colette sighed, ‘but you’d be annoyed if the band split up and someone at the record company found a way to sell your records and they were incredibly successful. How would you feel if they kept all the money except the little they’d agreed to give you in a deal made thirty years ago? You’d be annoyed times ten. You’d think, “they’re my songs and these so-and-sos are making all this money out of my songs” . That’s my point.’ Colette was obviously not going to politely let this drop, even with the police listening in.
‘Okay,’ Sean smiled generously at his wife, ‘we can leave this until later. We don’t want to waste police time. I will say, however, and I want this to be the last word on this for now, that I turned this whole situation around. Wilko jumped ship, and I still made sure he was looked after. I will continue to ensure Susan does not run into difficult times. We will make sure she is looked after. That’s never been an issue. Now, inspector, your next question.’
‘Well, the next one is for you, and it’s about your phone conversations with KP yesterday.’
‘Ah good, if that means we’ve finished with Colette, perhaps we…’
‘No, it’s fine, we promise not to disrupt your wife’s kitchen for too much longer,’ Kennedy offered a smile to Colette.
‘But I was thinking more of the stu—’ Sean started hopefully.
‘No, really, it’s fine, I’m comfortable here,’ Kennedy replied. ‘So you spoke to KP at around noon and then again about five p.m.?’
‘Yes, as I said, I’d a couple of chats with him yesterday. But that would be average for KP and me. We’d usually chat at least two or three times each and every day. Yesterday’s chats weren’t too long.’
‘The first one was six minutes’ duration and the second one was seven,’ Kennedy advised the pop star. He wanted Sean to know that they knew exactly how long he’d been on the phone to KP, so that he’d know “we had a brief chat and then he was off” wouldn’t suffice.
‘If you say so. You know what it’s like rapping with friends, you don’t notice the time go by. In the first one he was checking in with me to see what was happening, just a general chat you know. The first one, that was about noon, would have been early in the day for him. You know he was used to getting out of bed at the crack of noon.’
‘Did he have any specific questions he asked you?’ Kennedy asked.
‘Let’s see…’
‘You see,’ Kennedy began, ‘yesterday KP was a man on a mission, he was driven. Each and every person he spoke to had a list of questions thrown at them. So, I find it difficult to accept that he didn’t have some for your good self as well.’
‘Well, now that you mention it, he did want to know if Wilko had signed his new deal with the band. He hadn’t. He wanted to know if Tracey had ever been on to myself or to Leslie Russell, asking business questions about the band.’
‘A funny question.’
‘I thought so too. I advised him that she hadn’t. He asked me if Wilko had ever made any provisions for money to go direct to Tracey. I said he hadn’t. He also asked me a couple of the same questions he’d asked my wife. My answers were the same as hers. That’s pretty much about it, inspector.’
‘There were no other questions he asked you then?’ Coles asked.
‘Not that I remember,’ Green replied.
‘Well then,’ Kennedy concluded, ‘I think that’s as long as we need to detain you. Thank you for your time.’
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
‘Why did you let him off the hook so easily at the end, sir? It was obvious he was lying,’ Coles began, as they made their way in the unmarked car to the next interview.
‘Well, I think I’d like to talk to a few more people before taking another step with Sean Green.’
‘I see,’ said Coles.
‘Okay, next the McSisters,’ Kennedy announced.
‘This is going to be interesting, are we going to talk to them separately or together?’ Coles asked her boss.
‘Oh, you know what they say, WPC Coles, never break up a successful team, let’s just carry on the way we are,’ Kennedy replied. He couldn’t help notice that she blushed slightly.
Susan appeared to have more difficulty coming to terms with the news of KP’s death than Tracey.
‘Anyway,’ Kennedy continued, ‘we’re tracing KP’s movements from just before he died. It appears that he rang this house three times.’
‘Twice, detective inspector, and both times we were out and he left a message on the machine,’ Tracey replied.
‘Well, our information would lead us to believe that he left messages for you at twelve-oh-five and again at one thirty. But at three forty-five he had a three-minute conversation with somebody,’ Coles advised them after consulting her notes.
‘You must have got your wires crossed…’
‘Well, Tracey, actually no,’ sister Susan piped up timidly. ‘I had a brief conversation with him sometime just before four. You’d nipped out to Marks and Sparks and, well, I felt sorry for him. Wilko liked him you know. I realise you and he had your difficulties, but I think that’s because he genuinely cared for you.’
‘Not a possibility,’ Tracey cut in.
‘Ah, don’t Tracey. Don’t be like that, it’s not fair,’ Susan replied.
‘So what did you discuss?’ Kennedy asked.
‘He asked me a few questions about Wilko,’ Susan replied.
‘What type of questions?’ Coles prodded.
‘Augh, you know. Things like, had anyone ever come to the house looking for money from Wilko? They hadn’t. Had Wilko bad feelings towards Sean? They weren’t bad and they weren’t good, I told Kevin. He certainly didn’t love Sean Green. He saved his affection for another member of that family. Oh look, I’m sorry, that was a terrible thing to say and it was so long ago,’ Susan said chastising herself.
‘Oh, was it indeed?’ Tracey cut in.
‘What on earth are you on about, woman? You know that was years ago,’ Susan replied, more asking a question than stating a fact.
‘Now here’s a thing. When you have lots of money you can buy whatever you want. I know for a fact that Wilko was chasing someone at the time he died and, contrary to what Kevin Paul thought, it wasn’t me,’ Tracey announced. ‘I’m not saying another word on the subject.’
This was more than Kennedy had hoped for. He was unsure about where to take it next.
‘You see, Tracey, we’ve been checking into Kevin’s story and it seems you and Wilko shared a room at the Britannia Hotel the day he was murdered,’ Kennedy said softly.
‘Absolute crap! Yes, I was in the day room with him. But it was exactly that – a day room. You know detective, contrary to what you might think, you can do things in hotel rooms apart from bonk. I was hanging out with him, what else were we meant to do?’
‘But you told us that you spent time with him at the Queens,’ Kennedy said, persistently.
‘Well of course I did – so? What do you expect, you guys have minds like sewers. I’m not going to volunteer that I went to a hotel room with a bleeding pop star am I?’
‘So, you’ve never had a relationship with Wilko?’ Kennedy was nothing if not a trier.
‘Of course I had a relationship with Wilko, you stupid man, he was my bloody brother-in-law,’ Tracey spat back.
‘I didn’
t mean that kind of relationship, Miss McGee.’
‘Look inspector, a long time ago, when Wilko and Susan had split up, yes Wilko and I had a wee fling, sure we did, and our Susan knew about it. I mean, what do you take me for? But that was over, done and dusted a very long time ago,’ Tracey said. Susan nodded to both members of the police force that she was aware of the relationship.
‘So, are you telling us that there was absolutely nothing between you and Wilko at the time of his death?’ Coles piped in.
‘Not a dicky bird, love. It was all over.’
‘Are you further suggesting that Wilko’s love interest, at the end of his life, might have been Colette Green?’ Kennedy asked.
‘I’d say the interest was more the other way around. But I’ve nothing further to say on that subject. And that’s definite. Those that have eyes to see…’ Tracey stopped.
‘Mrs Robertson, by any chance did you refer to any of this in your conversation with Kevin Paul?’ Kennedy enquired.
‘I might have. I might have implied that our Tracey suspected Wilko and Colette were back up to their old tricks again. I didn’t say I agreed with her though.’
‘How did he, Kevin, react to that?’ Kennedy asked.
‘He said something weird actually,’ Susan began as she cleared her throat. ‘He said Sean felt he could live on through his music, Wilko obviously couldn’t.’
‘Kevin said that?’ Tracey said quietly.
‘Yes.’
‘What did he mean?’ Tracey continued in subdued confusion, ‘Do you think?’
‘Oh,’ her sister replied, more up-beat, ‘you know KP, a bit of an old hippie, probably didn’t even know what he meant himself.’
Kennedy and Coles had reached the end of their questions. Well, Kennedy still had one and fortunately Tracey gave him the opportunity to ask it when she accompanied him, without Susan, to the front door.
‘I have one final question for you,’ Kennedy began very quietly, as they reached the door step. ‘It’s a very important question. Please think very carefully before you answer it and whatever you say I will promise to treat your answer in total confidence.’