Best Friend, Worst Enemy

by Menon, David

  ‘I will say one thing and one thing only’ said Yitzhak. ‘My wife Hettie knows absolutely nothing about anything. And that’s the truth’.

  ‘You’ve said that before, Mr. Goldstein but I’ll decide what she knows or doesn’t know after I’ve questioned her’ said Sara. She glanced fleetingly at the mirror on the wall. It was two-way and Superintendent Hargreaves was on the other side watching.

  Yitzhak slammed the palm of his hand down on the table between them. ‘There’s no need for that! She knows nothing. Just send her home!’

  ‘Let’s just concentrate on your interview, Mr. Goldstein, and we’ll focus on your wife later’ said Sara, sharply. ‘But I’d advise you not to let your behaviour become threatening’.

  ‘But she should be at home now!’

  ‘What is it that Mrs. Goldstein doesn’t know about, Mr. Goldstein?’

  Solomon Levy leaned forward. ‘My client will not be answering that question and please don’t try to trick him like that again’.

  ‘I don’t know what you mean, Mr. Levy’ said Sara.

  ‘Yes, you do. Just direct questions from now on, please’.

  ‘Very well’ said Sara. ‘Mr. Goldstein, I’m going to show you some photographs and I want you to tell me if you know the two individuals on them’.

  Sara placed on the table the photographs from the CCTV of the two men she suspected of having shot Faisal Hussein along with Melanie Sanders, Jim Mortimer, Stefan Wright, and for abducting and killing Robert Jackson.

  ‘Study them carefully, Mr. Goldstein’ said Sara who’d watched Yitzhak look down briefly at the prints but she couldn’t read the reaction in his eyes.

  ‘No comment’ said Yitzhak.

  ‘I ask you again, Mr. Goldstein, do you recognise either of the two men on these prints?’

  ‘And I say again, detective, no comment’.

  ‘I think you do recognise them’.

  ‘And I say no comment’.

  ‘Mr. Goldstein, this stance you’re taking will ultimately do you absolutely no good’.

  Yitzhak smirked but said nothing.

  ‘Mr. Goldstein, why were there guns in your house that neither you nor your wife have licenses for?’

  ‘No comment’.

  ‘Mr. Goldstein, that is already a serious offence’.

  ‘No comment’.

  ‘Who were you hiding those guns for, Mr. Goldstein?’.

  ‘No comment’.

  ‘Oh this is getting very tedious, Mr. Goldstein. Aren’t you getting rather bored of obstructing the police with their enquiries?’

  ‘My client will not be answering that question, detective’ said Solomon Levy.

  Sara ignored him. ‘Who were you hiding those guns for, Mr. Goldstein?’

  ‘No comment’.

  Sara sat back. Her patience was running out. She didn’t care about the superintendent watching. She was going to go out on a mighty long limb.

  ‘Mr. Goldstein, we already know that the guns found in your house were the ones used in the murders of Melanie Sanders, Robert Jackson and the young student at the book signing of Professor Jacob Abrahams plus the security guards Jim Mortimer and Stefan Wright’.

  Yitzhak’s expression turned more serious, less certain of his earlier flippancy. She’d caught him. Even without the proof she’d seen the admittance written all over his face. She was on to it. She’d struck oil. But she could see, out of the corner of her eye, Tim looking a little uncomfortable. He’d know she’d stretched the truth to suit the questioning of a suspect but who could blame her? The Superintendent watching on the other side of the mirror would blame her, that’s who.

  ‘Of course, I shouldn’t be surprised at the fact that you were hiding those guns’ said Sara. ‘After all, there’s a history of terrorist activity in your family, isn’t there. You told me all about it yourself’.

  ‘You are likening me to a terrorist?’

  ‘Well your own father was hanged for it. Now, what did he do? Ah yes, he abducted and murdered a British soldier on a tour of duty in Palestine. That’s what the fair minded people of the world call that part of the Middle East, Mr. Goldstein. They call it Palestine’.

  ‘Detective, I won’t tolerate you deliberately provoking my client in this way’ warned Solomon.

  ‘Mr. Goldstein, would you say that a proclivity towards terrorist activity is inherited?’

  ‘How dare you’ snarled Yitzhak. ‘You have absolutely no idea’

  ‘Oh I do’

  ‘How dare you tarnish the name of my family’.

  ‘Oh your father did that all by himself, Mr. Goldstein, and his actions were answered by an executioner’.

  ‘You’re not worthy of speaking his name’.

  ‘Oh enough!’ Sara demanded. ‘You recognise the two men on these prints and you know that they’re responsible for the deaths of scores of people, including my sister-in-law, so don’t even think about claiming the moral high ground with me. You’ve been protecting mass murderers and I don’t care how old you are I will make the charges stick and ensure that you die in prison. Now think about that whilst you have a little chat with Mr. Levy here’.

  As soon as they out in the corridor, Sara received a stern reprimand from Superintendent Hargreaves.

  ‘DCI Hoyland, if you lose control like that again I will withdraw my support for you coming back to work and order you to take more leave’.

  ‘Will all due respect, sir, I didn’t lose control’.

  ‘Have you or have you not received confirmation about the use of the guns you found in the Goldsteins’ home?’

  ‘No, but I took a chance to try and get a result, sir’ said Sara.

  ‘It’s hardly a tactic we haven’t ever tried before, sir’ said Tim, in support of Sara. ‘And it’s certainly got Goldstein worried in there. But if that confirmation does come through, which DCI Hoyland and I both believe it will, then he won’t be able to deny his involvement’.

  ‘Sir’ said Sara. ‘I didn’t lose control, I was merely pushing Goldstein hard because we need results and this is the first tangible lead we’ve had in this whole investigation. Why would a man like Goldstein be hiding those guns? And why didn’t he tell us about Gerald Hill?’

  Hargreaves paused. He knew she was right. ‘Alright’ he said. ‘But I still hope that for your sake, you proceed with caution’.

  ‘I have the support of my officers, sir, like DI Norris here. Do I have your support too?’

  ‘Oh I do support you, DCI Hoyland, especially behind the scenes. But there are limits’.

  ‘What do you mean by behind the scenes, sir?’

  ‘Just take heed of what I say, DCI Hoyland, and watch your step’.

  *

  June Hawkins phoned through the confirmation to Sara that she’d waited and hoped for. The guns found at the Goldsteins house were used in all the murders she and the team were investigating. Sara was both relieved and delighted. She didn’t think that Goldstein had pulled the triggers but he knew who had. That’s why she was going to keep him as long as she could before charging him. She could charge him now with illegal possession and withholding evidence in a police enquiry but that would be the easy way. She wanted to make Goldstein sweat. She wanted to put the kind of pressure on him that would get her the really big answers.

  ‘Ma’am’ said Adrian as he came into her office. ‘We’ve got a match on the prints taken from the letters sent to Craig Sutherland MP and Yitzhak Goldstein’.

  ‘And?’ Sara asked expectantly.

  ‘His name is Gerald Arthur Hill and he lives at 6 Kennington Way, Newton Heath, right in the middle of Craig Sutherland’s constituency’.

  ‘Very, very good, Adrian’ said Sara. ‘And why have we got his prints?’

  ‘He was arrested for allegedly causing an affray in a Salford pub last year’ Adrian explained as he handed Sara the file. ‘But there was no real case to answer and he was released’.

  ‘Well I shall give you the pleasure of goin
g to arrest him. DI Norris will go with you’.

  *

  Adrian and Tim ran straight up to the front door of Gerald Hill’s semi-detached as soon as they were able to leap out of their car. They were backed up by uniformed officers to the front, side, and back of the house. It was a desirable residential area. All pruned flowers and well kept lawns.

  The door was opened and a woman in her late forties who looked as if she’d been through it lately stood there looking lost and pale.

  ‘Mrs. Hill?’ Adrian asked.

  ‘Yes? What’s going on? Is it Gerald? Oh please don’t say it’s Gerald. I couldn’t stand it’.

  ‘Mrs. Hill, I’m Detective Sergeant Adrian Bradshaw and this is Detective Inspector Tim Norris. We need to speak to your husband urgently. Is he in?’

  ‘No’.

  ‘Well we have a warrant to search the premises’ Adrian went on as he gestured to the uniformed squad to go into the house and begin the search. They brushed past Juliette Hill who was looking increasingly lost and bewildered.

  ‘We’ve only just buried our son’ she whispered.

  ‘Oh?’ said Tim. ‘What happened to him?’

  ‘He was a soldier killed in Helmand province in Afghanistan’.

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that’ said Tim.

  ‘Look, why are you here?’ she asked, her voice and demeanour growing agitated. ‘Just why are you here? Don’t you think my husband and I have been through enough?’

  ‘Mrs. Hill, do you know if your husband has been in contact with your local MP, Craig Sutherland?’

  ‘My husband blames Craig Sutherland for my son’s death’ Juliette Hill revealed as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. ‘He says that if Sutherland hadn’t voted in favour of British troops being despatched to Afghanistan then our Jamie would still be alive. My husband’s family have history when it comes to this sort of thing, you see. Gerald’s grandfather had a best friend who was murdered by Jewish terrorists in Palestine in the 1940’s. Gerald and his grandfather were very close, so were Gerald and our son Jamie. He blames the politicians for putting the lives of both his grandfather and his son in danger because of a war decided in parliament by politicians who never have to risk their lives by going out to fight it. Gerald took our son’s death very badly’. She winced and tried to catch her breath. ‘We both did’.

  ‘Mrs. Hill, we are aware of your husband’s threatening contact with Yitzhak Goldstein’ Adrian revealed. ‘Do you know anything about that?’

  ‘I know he was very angry with Yitzhak Goldstein’ Juliette admitted, after she’d blown her nose and started to regain her composure. ‘It was Goldstein’s father who was hanged for the murder of my husband’s grandfather’s comrade. He was angry with Yitzhak Goldstein and my son’s death brought out that anger’.

  ‘Why do you think that was?’ asked Adrian.

  ‘Because, like I said before, it was history repeating itself in my husband’s family’ said Juliette, the tears still streaming down her face. ‘Working class lads going out and being slaughtered in faraway places because politicians decide it to be so and whether it’s 1947 in Palestine or Afghanistan today it’s the same. He’d seen what it had done to his grandfather and now it had killed his son. The same system, the same rules, the same lessons never being learned’.

  ‘Mrs. Hill, where is your husband now?’

  ‘I don’t know’ she wailed. ‘I just want my son back here where I can take care of him. I want my son back! I want my husband back as the man he used to be! I just want it all back!’

  Juliette Hill wept for her dead son whilst uniformed police officers took away many of her husband’s possessions.

  SIXTEEN

  Sara stepped in front of the cameras at the press conference, sat down and took a deep breath. Superintendent Hargreaves sat beside her and a representative from the police press unit was standing at the back of the room. Sara then cleared her throat and began to explain that she and her team were intensifying their enquiries into the murders of Robert Jackson and Melanie Sanders and that she wanted anyone who could identify the two men in the pictures that were handed round and issued on posters around the city, to come forward with any information they had on them. She also announced that a warrant had been issued for the arrest of Gerald Anthony Hill of 6 Kennington Way, Newton Heath, in connection with death threats being sent to the MP, Craig Sutherland, and to Mr. And Mrs. Yitzhak Goldstein in Prestwich.

  ‘DCI Hoyland, is it true that Yitzhak Goldstein is also a suspect in the investigation into the all four of the murders you’re investigating right now?’

  ‘Mr. Goldstein is helping us with our enquiries, yes’.

  ‘In what way can you say he’s doing that?’

  ‘By us asking him questions and him providing answers’.

  There was a ripple of amusement that passed through the press pack but the one who’d asked the question wasn’t embarrassed. These were hardened hacks who knew how to handle humiliation at the hands of someone who, potentially, was intellectually superior. She glanced at Superintendent Hargreaves who winked approvingly at her. Maybe he’d forgiven her for the way she’d pushed Yitzhak Goldstein. He tended to be like that. Once he’d bawled you out he usually forgot about it. She’d still like to know though what he’d meant by saying that he supported her behind the scenes.

  ‘There have been calls for his release on age grounds, are you sensitive to that?’

  ‘I’m sensitive to finding justice for the victims of the Piccadilly station bombings’.

  ‘So you’re not sensitive to Yitzhak Goldstein’s age?’

  ‘That’s not what I said’ Sara retorted. ‘I suggest you refer to the shorthand you were so avidly writing into your notebook at the time I was speaking’.

  ‘Do you have any leads on who these two men are?’

  ‘No, which is why we’re appealing to the public for help’.

  ‘Were guns found at Yitzhak Goldstein’s house and is that why he’s being questioned?’

  ‘Yes’ Sara confirmed.

  ‘What type of guns were they?’

  ‘I’m not prepared to reveal that at this stage’

  ‘What’s your advice for anyone who sees these two men in the pictures?’

  ‘Do not approach them, they are highly dangerous, and make an immediate call to the police. The same goes for Gerald Hill. If anyone sees him or knows where he is they should contact us straight away’.

  ‘And’ said Alec Heath, who’d remained quiet until now. ‘What’s your advice for any police officer having a relationship with someone who is at the centre of an investigation?’

  ‘My advice is to mind your own business’.

  ‘So how is your relationship going with Professor Jacob Abrahams?’

  ‘Has anyone got anything grown up and sensible to ask me?’

  ‘Why are you so touchy about it?’

  ‘I’m not touchy, I’m just separating my private life from a very public investigation’.

  ‘And how long has it been going on for now?’

  ‘That is my private business and has no bearing on these investigations’.

  ‘Well’ said Alec. ‘Can I ask the superintendent if he feels his DCI here has potentially compromised her own investigation by getting personally involved with Professor Abrahams?’

  ‘We have three murders and one abduction on our hands at the moment’ said Hargreaves. ‘Anything else pales into insignificance and that’s all either I or DCI Hoyland will say on the matter’.

  Don’t forget Andy Masters, thought Sara. He’s a victim of all this too and as if by magic, one of the hacks turned on to that very subject.

  ‘And what are you telling the wife of Andy Masters, a member of the anti-terrorist unit who was blown up with a car bomb?’

  ‘That we will investigate that murder along with all the others in Operation Daylight’ Sara answered. ‘Now I’m afraid there’ll be no more questions for me or the Superintendent, so we’ll leave you w
ith our press officer to answer any further points you may like to raise. Thank you ladies and gentlemen’.

  ‘That press officer won’t be very pleased with you’ said the Superintendent when he and Sara were safely down the corridor and out of earshot of the hacks.

  ‘It’s his job, let him do it. It’ll do him good to have a bit of a challenge’.

  ‘Sara?’

  ‘Yes, sir?’

  ‘On the whole you handled yourself well in there’.

  ‘On the whole?’

  ‘Your relationship with Professor Abrahams is giving them an open goal’.

  ‘Well I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t see that, I just don’t’ Sara countered. ‘It’s not like I’m having a relationship with a suspected criminal. Jacob is the victim here and if we like each other then why can’t we have a relationship? Why does it have to be frowned upon?’

  ‘They might say that it could compromise you in some way’

  ‘Oh, and what about all the married men, and women, in this service who have affairs with third parties? Don’t you think that compromises them in a far greater way than you think I might be compromised? At least neither Jacob nor I are married, sir. That’s something and I don’t have to justify my relationship with Professor Abrahams to anybody and I shall continue to see him whenever I see fit. Sir’.

  ‘You know, it’s your total lack of willingness to compromise on what you feel is important that makes you such an outstanding police officer’ said Hargreaves.

  ‘Thank you, sir’.

  ‘But it also makes you a pain in the fucking neck to those of us who have to manage you’.

  ‘I can see the difficulty, sir’ said Sara, trying not to smile. ‘And I apologise but it won’t make me change my approach’.