Rough Justice (Justice Series Book 10)

by M A Comley

  The door, tethered to the jamb by a chain, opened a crack. “Hello?” a woman called.

  “Sorry to trouble you. We’re looking for this young man.” Katy shoved the photo through the crack, and the woman took it. “We know he lives in this area. We’re just not sure of his address.”

  “I know him. Why do you want him? Who are you?”

  Katy winced and put her ID through the doorway. “I apologise, I should have shown you my warrant card before asking about Gary.”

  “That’s okay, dear. You can’t be too careful nowadays, can you? Let me take this chain off. Hold on a minute.”

  The woman opened the door and smiled at them. “Gary James lives in the house opposite with his mum, Maureen. I do hope he’s not in any kind of trouble. He has a heart of gold, that boy. He’s just misunderstood by people who don’t know him.”

  “That’s brilliant. Thank you for the character reference. That’s a great help. Sorry to bother you.” Katy retrieved the picture from the woman, and they headed across the road to knock on the Jameses door.

  “Well, that turned out to be far easier than anticipated,” Lorne stated, turning to survey the residential area.

  “Let’s hope our good luck continues once we’re inside.”

  A woman wearing an apron opened the door. Flour decorated the tip of her nose and half of her right cheek. “Yes?”

  “Mrs. James? I’m DI Katy Foster, and this is my partner DS Lorne Warner. We’re from the Met. Would it be all right if we came in for a chat?”

  “Chat about what? What have I done wrong? If it’s about that tiff I had with that shop assistant, we sorted it out there and then.”

  “No, it’s nothing like that. Please, it would be better if we talked inside,” Katy insisted.

  The woman held open the door, allowing them to enter the house, and closed it behind them. “Go through to the living room. You’ll have to excuse the mess. I like to do my baking just after lunch before I do my other chores. I’m out cleaning offices first thing in the morning. Must stick to my routine, or things have a tendency to go awry and I end up accomplishing nothing.”

  They walked into the room to find the young man they had come to see, sitting in his pyjamas, watching daytime TV.

  “Gary, turn that bloody thing off. Can’t you see we have guests? And go and put some flipping clothes on.”

  Gary hit the standby button then threw the control on the sofa next to him. His arms crossed sternly in objection, he bowed his head until it rested on his chest, his eyes sneaking a look at Lorne and Katy.

  “It’s okay, Mrs. James. We’re actually here to see Gary.”

  “What? Why?” Mrs. James asked nervously.

  “Can we all sit down and talk about this calmly?” Katy said, offering the woman a reassuring smile.

  “Of course. Let me turn off the oven, and I’ll be right with you. Gary, go and get your dressing gown on at least.”

  “He’s fine,” Lorne assured the woman before she scurried out of the room.

  Mrs. James returned a few seconds later and sat in one of the easy chairs, her hands fretfully playing with her apron in her lap. Her gaze darted between the other three persons present in the room. “Okay, what’s this about? Gary is ill. Anything he might have done wrong might be attributed to his illness.”

  Gary scowled at his mother. “Mum! I ain’t ill. I ain’t done nothin’ wrong.”

  “At the moment, we’re just making enquiries, Mrs. James.” Katy turned her attention to Gary while Lorne took her notebook from her pocket in readiness. “Gary, do you work?”

  “Yes.” He buried his head deeper into his chest to avoid eye contact with the detectives and his distressed mother.

  “It’s his day off today, hence his laziness. He’s a good boy. Why are you here, detectives?” Gary’s mother pleaded.

  “Where do you work, Gary?” Katy continued, ignoring his mother.

  Mrs. James wriggled out of her chair and stood in the middle of the room with her hands digging into her sides. “I asked a question of my own. Gary, don’t answer her question.”

  “It’s all right, Mum. Chill out.”

  “Detectives?” her voice boomed and reverberated around the small space.

  “There’s no need to get irate, Mrs. James. Please be patient,” Katy responded, her own tone riddled with frustration.

  “Then get to your point, Inspector. Why do you want to know where Gary works?”

  “I’m trying to get some background information about your son. Okay, here’s the thing—please take a seat. I don’t think you’re going to like what I have to say.”

  Mrs. James threw herself into the worn-out easy chair again and stared expectantly at Katy. “Go on.”

  Katy revealed why they were there. All the time, her gaze remained glued to Gary, gauging his reactions. “How often do you visit the Tickle Club, Gary?”

  “What? He doesn’t go there! Do you, love?” Mrs. James interrupted. Her face dropped when her son refused to deny the claim.

  “I’m afraid your son quite often frequents the club. Don’t you, Gary?”

  The young man raised his head a little and raked a hand through his hair. “I… umm… sometimes go there.”

  “You don’t. Oh my! How could you?”

  “Mrs. James, please try and remain calm. Otherwise, I will have to ask you to either leave the room or insist on Gary accompanying us to the station to answer our questions. What’s it to be?”

  The woman reluctantly nodded and sat back in her chair. She stared at her son through narrowed eyes as Katy continued to question him.

  “How often, Gary?”

  “Once or twice a week—when I can get out, that is.”

  Lorne cringed when she heard his mother tut. She knew how disgusted the woman was with the revelation that her sweet, innocent son preferred to venture into the seedier parts of the town rather than spend the evening at home with her. Thankfully, Mrs. James suppressed her anger.

  “How can you afford the entrance fee?”

  “Rob on the door lets me in for free most of the time. Is that wrong? Is that why you’re here to arrest me, for getting in there free?”

  Katy smiled at the frowning young man. “No, we’re not here to arrest you for anything, Gary. We’re here to try and piece a puzzle together. That’s all.”

  “Oh! I see. I like puzzles.” He pointed at a shelf stacked high with boxes. “I do them all the time. Don’t I, Mum?”

  “Huh! Yes, when you’re not going to indecent places like that club. Oh, son! How could you?” his mother’s voice rose a few octaves.

  “It’s fun, Mum. Lots of men go, even a few women sometimes,” he replied with all the innocence of a teenage boy.

  Katy interrupted their conversation with another pertinent question. “Gary, I need you to cast your mind back about six months ago.”

  “I’ll try my hardest.”

  “We have this picture of you at the Tickle Club the night Noelle Chesterfield was dancing. Do you remember Noelle, Gary?”

  His cheeks flushed a crimson colour. “Yes. I haven’t seen her lately. She’s lovely.”

  The way he said the words made Lorne shudder inside. The guy seemed innocent enough, but when someone with his subdued mental capacity was confronted with a girl wiggling her bits, who’s to say how he should react?

  “Well, still casting your mind back, can you tell us about that night? The last night you saw Noelle at the club?”

  His brow furrowed, his mouth moved from side to side as he thought, and he scratched his temple. Lorne noticed that his hand was shaking.

  Well, that isn’t a good sign.

  “Gary? Do you need me to refresh your memory some more?” Katy asked, her gaze widening as she glanced at Lorne then back at the suspect.

  His mouth remained tightly shut until his mother’s voice broke him out of his reverie. “Do as the detectives say, Gary, or I’ll ban you from watching the TV for a month.”

&nb
sp; At the thought of losing such a privilege, the incensed young man glared at his mother as if she’d just risen up from hell itself to punish him.

  “All I know is there was trouble that night,” Gary eventually admitted.

  “Go on,” Katy prompted, issuing Mrs. James with a grateful smile.

  “One man jumped up on stage to talk to Noelle. I watched him. Noelle screamed, and the staff grabbed him. Threw him out of the club.”

  “What happened next, Gary?”

  “Then another man climbed onto the stage…”

  “And, Gary? Is that when you took your chance to get on the stage, too?” Katy asked calmly.

  Silence filled the room for an instant. Then Gary shot out of his chair and began pacing the worn-out carpet in front of them, his trembling hand running through his greasy hair. “I didn’t mean to do it. I wanted to say hello to Noelle. That’s all.”

  “But you ended up scaring her. Is that right?” Katy asked.

  Lorne’s gaze drifted from her partner, to Gary, then his mother. She had a feeling things were going to become tricky and the young man was about to take flight. This time, she would ensure the suspect didn’t get away, not that he’d probably get very far in his pyjamas anyway.

  His mother opened her mouth to chastise Gary again, although a warning glance from Katy put paid to that idea.

  “Answer me, Gary. You’re not in any trouble. We just need to hear the truth, the facts about what took place that evening. Can you enlighten us? Fill in some of the gaps, please?” Katy corrected herself.

  This statement only seemed to make Gary even more agitated. He upped his pace and began tugging at clumps of his hair with clenched hands, a pained expression pulling at his face.

  “She smiled at me… I wanted to kiss her… to touch…” Gary paused and searched out his mother, possibly seeking her forgiveness.

  Mrs. James’s hand covered her cheek. “What are you saying, Gary? Did you attack that girl? Detectives, please tell me what this is all about. I don’t think my son should say anything else without a solicitor being present.”

  Katy raised a hand. “We’re not accusing Gary of anything, Mrs. James. At the moment, we’re simply following up on a lead in this case. It’s entirely up to you if you’d like to take this down the station and call in the services of a brief.”

  “No! I don’t want to go to the station. I’ve done nothing wrong,” Gary pleaded, fear resonating in his voice as the tears welled up in his terrified eyes.

  “Then tell us what happened,” Katy urged with a coaxing smile.

  “Nothing. As soon as she screamed, I ran, jumped off the stage. I didn’t want to hurt nobody.”

  “What about the other man?” Lorne asked before Katy could ask the same question.

  “He stayed up there with her. He had his hands all over her. I wanted to pull him off…”

  “Why didn’t you, Gary?” Katy asked quietly.

  “I was confused. The shouting… I couldn’t think straight… he was bigger than me.” He looked in his mother’s direction and shrugged. “I forgot to take my medication that day. I was excited and forgot it.”

  His mother inhaled and let out a long shuddering breath. She reached out her hand. Gary walked hesitantly towards her and knelt. Mrs. James cradled her son and rocked him back and forth, his head resting on her large breasts. “There, there, love. Everything will turn out all right.”

  Lorne was of two minds whether to cringe at the obvious mother-son bond or feel sorry for the young man and his mum for living with his condition daily. By the looks of things, Gary regularly needed a comforting and a guiding hand to cling to.

  “Gary, I can see how upset you are. Don’t give up now. Try to answer our questions honestly,” Katy said.

  He sat back on his heels and stared at Katy. “I am answering them honestly. I’ve told you all what went on. I swear I have.”

  “Okay. What happened when you left the stage? Did you go back to your seat?”

  He shook his head and cast his eyes down to the floor. “No. I left the club.”

  Lorne and Katy exchanged worried glances. “Can you recall what time that was, Gary?”

  He pondered a while then said, “About eleven, I guess.”

  “When you left the club, did you come straight home?”

  He nodded and said abruptly, “Yes.”

  “Can anyone back that up?” Katy asked.

  “I don’t think so. Mum was in bed. She always goes to bed at ten. I try not to wake her if I go out and come home late.”

  “I’m always awake, listening out for him, though,” Mrs. James added, quickly jumping to his defence.

  “There’s a problem with that as you probably won’t be able to remember what occurred the night in question,” Katy pointed out.

  “Agreed. Detectives, I will say one thing—Gary might be ill, but he’s not a liar. Telling lies would destroy all the hard work the doctors have put in to his treatment over the years. You can check with the specialist at the hospital if you don’t believe me. They run yearly tests to ensure nothing has changed within his brain. He has good days, mostly good, and bad days, those are the killers. He throws a bigger strop than a two-year-old child. It’s his escape mechanism, his way of getting it out of his system. If he didn’t vent his feelings, he’d go downhill rapidly. Like I said, Gary isn’t a liar. He might be guilty of being misled at times, but can never be deemed a liar.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. James. That helps us to understand a lot. The thing is, we have to ask these questions of your son because the next day, Noelle had a problem with an intruder at her flat. When she left the flat to drive to a friend’s house, she vanished. The young lady hasn’t been seen or heard from since that day.”

  “Oh Lord, I had no idea,” Mrs. James said, eyeing her son with suspicion. “Gary? Look at me. Gary?”

  Her son’s head turned in slow motion to face her. “Mum, I don’t know anything about this, I promise you.” He wiped away a tear dangling from his long lashes.

  Mrs. James nodded. “Then that’s good enough for me. Detectives, no one knows my son better than I do. Not the doctors prescribing his damn tablets. No one. He’s not, and never will be, a liar.”

  Katy stood, and Lorne copied her partner.

  Extending her hand, Katy told the woman, “Then that’s good enough for us. One final thing before we leave, if I may?” She approached Gary and touched his arm. “Gary, if you hear anything about Noelle, will you promise to tell your mum?” The distraught man nodded. “And if that happens, Mrs. James, will you give me a call right away?” Katy handed the woman one of her business cards.

  “You have my word on that, Inspector. I hope you find this poor girl, and soon.”

  In the car, Lorne turned to Katy. “What’s your take on the lad?”

  Katy leaned back against the headrest. “I’m not sure. Maybe we should keep him in mind as a distant suspect. I’ve got differing feelings about him right now. What about you?”

  “I’m thinking along the same lines. There’s no way that lad should be visiting a place like the Tickle Club. Even if he’s not guilty of doing something to Noelle, someone with his disposition could easily end up carrying out a sexual assault only because they don’t really know what’s right and what’s wrong. I’m not tarring all people with learning difficulties with the same brush, but really, introducing them to something that could incite such strong emotions or desires of a sexual nature seems a dangerous mix. Sorry, that’s just my point of view on the matter.”

  Katy glanced her way. “I’m with you one thousand percent…” Katy’s mobile rang. “Yes… that’s great. Slap some cuffs on him. We’ll shoot over there now.” She hung up and started the engine. “Simms has turned up at his workshop. Let’s see what he has to say for himself, shall we?”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Colin Simms was incensed when they returned to the mechanic’s workshop. The look on his face reminded Lorne of a wounded bull ready to defen
d his last ounce of blood.

  Katy and Lorne walked up to the man, who the two uniformed police at the scene had restrained in handcuffs that attached him to a metal workbench off to one side of the garage. “Mr. Simms, glad to make your acquaintance at last. I’m DI Katy Foster, and this is my partner, DS Lorne Warner.”

  “What am I supposed to have done wrong? You can’t just come in here and slap these things on me, for shit’s sake.” He rattled the cuffs against the bench, and the noise of metal hitting metal circulated the area.

  “For a start, you ran from us. To us, that’s a good indication that you have something to hide. What is that, Mr. Simms?”

  His gaze dropped to the concrete floor, and he shuffled his feet. Embarrassment chased away the rage from his features, but he refused to speak.

  Katy took a step closer to the suspect. “Mr. Simms? You’re only going to make matters worse for yourself if you clam up.”

  Still, the man refused to talk. Lorne could tell he was busy thinking carefully about his predicament, presumably telling himself how foolish it would be to open his mouth and drop himself in the mire. “This is obviously going to waste more of our valuable time, Inspector. I think we should head back to the station and place Mr. Simms under caution. We’ve got a heavy day ahead of us. Not sure we’ll be able to squeeze in an interview today, though.”

  “Hmm… you’re right, Sergeant.” Katy clicked her fingers, playing along with Lorne’s suggestion. “We might have a spare hour first thing in the morning, I suppose. Of course, anything could happen in between now and then. You know the nick’s reputation for dodgy food and sharing cells with criminals yet to have their sanity assessed by the police surgeon, but he should be all right. We’ll just have to take that risk, won’t we?”

  Lorne tutted and shook her head. “Never thought of that side of things, Inspector.” Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Simms’s head swivel rapidly between the two detectives.

  “I’m not sitting in any cell overnight. I’m telling you, I’ve done nothing wrong.”

  “If that’s right, then why have you run away from us twice in the last twenty-four hours?”