No Questions Asked

by Menon, David

‘So we’re treating her as a suspect now then, sir?’ Rebecca wanted to know. She was getting well used to separating her feelings for Jeff from the workplace. His apparent rejection of her though was still causing her to cry alone at night and she hadn’t yet decided if she could stay on in his team.

  ‘Yes we most certainly are’ Jeff confirmed. ‘Her movements certainly fit the timeframe and it could be said that she had the motive to cause pain to her husband’s lover’.

  ‘Even though she was engaged in an affair herself, sir’ said Joe.

  ‘I’ve known Debbie for a long time, Joe’ said Jeff. ‘She goes through life on one rule for herself and another for everybody else. I’ve heard her argue that black was white with Gary on occasions. She can never accept an opinion that’s different to her own’.

  ‘Plus we now have the murder of another known former paedophile, sir’ said Ollie. ‘According to our very own June Hawkins David Harrison died under torture’.

  ‘Not another torturer on the loose’ said Jeff, grimacing. ‘Not after that case last year’.

  ‘Well this one seems equally as enthusiastic to cause maximum pain, sir’ Ollie went on. ‘His arms were ripped from his shoulders and his limbs had been virtually ripped from his body. June Hawkins said he must’ve been strung up by raising his arms behind him and so causing his body to bend forward and put maximum pressure on those shoulder joints. She said it would have been a particularly slow and painful death’.

  ‘What’s the matter with people these days?’ said Jeff shaking his head. ‘It’s like we’re going back to the dark ages everywhere’.

  ‘Well I don’t think many members of the public wouldn’t shed any tears about the demise of David Harrison’ said Rebecca. ‘Considering the crimes Harrison committed in the past’.

  ‘Yes but we didn’t get to him quick enough either’ said Jeff. ‘He was taken before we could tell him to be careful’.

  ‘But the question that’s in my mind is this, sir’ said Ollie. ‘Terry Latham and David Harrison were both former paedophiles but who recently could claim a clean record. What prompted Latham, and we don’t yet know anything about Harrison, to go back into their old ways? Something or someone pushed them into it. But why would someone do something as abhorrent and despicable as that?’

  ‘Even if Latham and Harrison were guilty of having gone back into their old ways’ said Joe ‘Because we’ve no proof other than Latham’s DNA on Bradley Thompson’s body to say that he had returned to what had always defined his earlier life. We have nothing about any previous contact at all and Lucy Thompson says she doesn’t recognise him or any of the other former paedophiles he was supposedly looking after’.

  ‘I agree, Joe’ said Jeff. ‘Although we haven’t started yet to investigate Harrison’s movements before he disappeared but you’re right in saying that there is no evidence yet to suggest anything was going on’.

  ‘But Bernie Connelly still had Latham killed’ said Adrian. ‘I think we can safely say that and that he was probably behind the killing of Harrison too’.

  ‘Yes’ said Jeff. ‘It looks like he’s conducting his own investigation into what happened to his son Bradley Thompson and has targeted the group of former paedophiles who worked with and around Terry Latham. I take it Harrison was part of that group, Ollie?’

  ‘Yes he was sir and he was the only one we couldn’t account for when we were chasing them up’ said Ollie. ‘We know why now’.

  ‘What about the rest of them on the list in terms of their current status?’

  ‘They’ve all been warned but they tend to lead fairly secretive lives anyway, sir’ said Ollie.

  ‘Old habits die hard’ said Joe.

  ‘Precisely’ said Ollie. ‘And that would make it difficult to keep tabs on all of them all the time even if we could summon the resources to do that’.

  ‘Right’ said Jeff. ‘Well we’re bringing in Debbie Mitchell this morning so let’s start there and remember everybody this is all still wide open. But look for anything and there’s still the threat made in the note to the shadow home secretary. This is by no means over yet’.

  ‘Why have you released my husband?’ Debbie demanded as if she was the one who’d summoned Ollie and Rebecca to be interviewed. Jeff was watching on the monitor screen in the CCTV room.

  ‘Because we’re no longer certain he committed the crime of murdering Bradley Thompson’ said Rebecca. ‘And can I remind you Mrs. Mitchell that you’re here to answer our questions and not the other way round?’

  ‘I’m a senior manager in the NHS, dear’ said Debbie in her best condescending voice. Better to go for the attack as the best form of defence. It always works for her. ‘So don’t try and get the better of me’.

  ‘Alright, Mrs. Mitchell’ said Rebecca, firmly. She’d already had enough of the arrogant bitch and she wasn’t going to take her as a prisoner. ‘Cut the attitude because it doesn’t impress either me or my colleague DS Wright and when we ask you a question then you will give us an answer unless you want to make this more formal by having your solicitor present. Now do I make myself clear? Good. So, let’s start again. Were you in the woods at the back of your street last Sunday morning when Bradley Thompson was murdered?’

  ‘No I was not’ said Debbie in rather clipped tones. ‘And let me tell you that I will be lodging a formal complaint against Detective Superintendent Barton for betraying my confidence and telling my husband I was pregnant when I didn’t want him to know’.

  ‘Mrs. Mitchell … ‘

  ‘ … that was a private matter that I told Jeff … that I told Detective Superintendent Barton about in a private conversation between friends and I will make sure his superiors know about it’.

  ‘Mrs. Mitchell, this is an active murder inquiry and your confidences, intended or otherwise, are no concern of mine right now. Now I’m going to ask you again, Mrs. Mitchell. Were you in the woods at the back of your street last Sunday morning at the time of Bradley Thompson’s murder?’

  ‘And I repeat that no I was not’.

  Rebecca paused. Either Debbie Mitchell was playing for time in some way or she really did think they were idiots and somehow a lower form of intelligence to her.

  ‘Okay, we’ll come back to that’ said Rebecca.

  ‘You can come back to it all you like the answer will still be the same’.

  ‘Mrs. Mitchell?’ said Ollie. ‘Can you tell us what your role is within the NHS?’

  ‘I’m the senior manager for strategic planning for the North Manchester NHS trust’.

  ‘And what does that involve exactly?’ Ollie pursued.

  ‘Managing budgets mostly’ said Debbie. She didn’t know where they were taking this. She couldn’t even guess. Why did they want to know about what she did at work?

  ‘So do you spend a lot of time on the shop floor as it were?’ Ollie asked. ‘I mean on the wards and different departments?’

  ‘No’ said Debbie. ‘I can hardly find my way around the hospital where my office is. It’s an old hospital that’s had a lot of extra building added to it and we’ve got these coloured lines everywhere to direct people to various sections but people still get lost, including members of the non front line staff like me’.

  ‘I’m sure it can be difficult’ said Ollie though gritted teeth.

  ‘I’m sure you can’.

  ‘You have various clinics there, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes we do’ Debbie confirmed. ‘Though don’t ask me to name them all’.

  ‘But do you take an active interest in any of them?’

  ‘I’m a senior manager of strategic planning, I’m not medical staff. So why would I?’

  Ollie passed a photograph of Terry Latham across the table. ‘Do you know this man, Mrs. Mitchell?’

  Debbie grimaced. ‘Isn’t he that awful paedophile who was found dead? No I most certainly do not know him. Why do you ask such a ridiculous thing?’

  ‘Because Mrs. Mitchell you were seen standing very close
to him in the woods last Sunday morning and you have taken an active interest in the classes he ran at the hospital for the formerly convicted paedophiles. Is that correct?’

  Ollie sat still as Debbie’s eyes stared into his. He could almost hear her brain going round and round like a clock as she tried to figure out a way she could explain herself. They’d led her almost effortlessly into a trap and she’d fallen straight in. She looked away momentarily and then her eyes came straight back. She didn’t like someone getting the better of her.

  ‘Yes I’m sorry I’d forgotten’.

  ‘Forgotten what, Mrs. Mitchell?’

  ‘Forgotten that I wanted to see where the money was going that the hospital spends on such classes and I chose that one at random’.

  ‘You chose to sit in on a class full of men who were former paedophiles as just some sort of random thing? When you could’ve chosen other less harrowing subjects?’

  ‘I like to get in at the sharp end’ said Debbie. ‘I’m not fazed by much, detective’.

  ‘You really expect us to believe all this?’

  ‘Yes I expect you to because I’m telling the truth!’

  Ollie then presented three more photographs and passed them over the table so that Debbie could get a good look at them. He could see that she was trying not to look. It was like someone who had a phobia about snakes or something and was trying not to look at the picture of one but couldn’t help sneaking just the slightest peak. And with them the colour of her face completely changed and Ollie knew this was the beginning of the end.

  ‘I’m sure you recognise yourself in these pictures, Mrs. Mitchell’ said Ollie. ‘There you are standing close to a man, Terry Latham, who you claim you don’t know although that’s strange because he ran the classes you sat in on, then there’s you getting out of your car in a place you told us you didn’t g anywhere near, and there’s one of you getting back into your car holding the black and grey rucksack that belonged to Bradley Thompson and which we found hidden in your husband’s butcher’s shop. He didn’t put the rucksack there, did he Mrs. Mitchell? Because you did’.

  ‘Where did you get these pictures?’ asked Debbie, in a soft voice.

  ‘There was a gentleman there that morning with certain environmental concerns’ said Ollie. ‘You were probably so wrapped up in your own business that you didn’t notice him taking pictures of everybody’s car that morning. He thought these pictures in particular might be of use to us’.

  Debbie lifted the pictures up one by one and felt sick. ‘Could I have a glass of water, please?’

  Rebecca handed Debbie a small plastic cup that she’d filled with ice cold water from the large container by the door.

  ‘My colleague and I are going to go away and make some further enquiries now’ said Ollie as he stood up, ‘We’ll leave you to think about the implications of what these pictures tell us, Mrs. Mitchell. Perhaps you could use some of the time to call your solicitor?’

  ‘You’re not thinking of charging me?’

  ‘We’ll have to see how the evidence stacks up, Mrs. Mitchell’ said Rebecca.

  ‘But you can’t because I didn’t kill Bradley’.

  ‘It’s funny but they all say that at the start, Mrs. Mitchell’ said Ollie. ‘Like I say, we’ll be back’.

  TWELVE

  Adrian and Joe decided to go for a pint before they headed home. It had been a long day. There was a mountain of stuff to go through with regard to Debbie Mitchell who was now the new prime suspect in the Bradley Thompson case and it would probably grow in intensity over the next few days.

  ‘I thought you’d be heading straight back to your new girlfriend?’ said Joe after they’d got their beers and they sat down at a table.

  ‘No she’s not coming over tonight’ said Adrian. ‘I wanted a night off to be honest’.

  ‘Wearing you out is she?’

  ‘No it’s not that’ said Adrian who wanted to tease Joe with detailed stories of his sexual exploits with Kate but he thought better of it. He didn’t want to appear smug.

  ‘Some doubts starting to creep in?’

  ‘Yes’ said Adrian. ‘There are as far as I’m concerned’.

  ‘So what’s that all about?’

  Adrian sat back and sighed. He wished there wasn’t a problem with Kate but there was and he’d had half his mind on it all day.

  ‘Kate is a wonderful woman in many ways and everything works in all the right places’ said Adrian. ‘Ah you don’t want to hear all this’.

  ‘Look, I haven’t got my own relationship to fret about so indulge me and let me know there is a world of couples going on out there somewhere that maybe one day I might be a part of’.

  ‘She’s not getting on with Jess’ said Adrian.

  ‘Still?’

  ‘I know’ said Adrian. ‘It’s been right from the word go and it’s not getting any better. In fact it’s getting worse. I feel like I’m caught between the two of them and it’s doing my fucking head in. They each make accusations and then counter accusations. There doesn’t seem to be any bloody end to it’.

  ‘Look, is Jess still grieving over Penny and just can’t accept another woman in your life?’

  ‘Well I thought it was that at the beginning and that it would run its course the more Jess got to know Kate. I mean she knows her at school but it’s not the same’.

  Adrian had spoken to his mother and the rest of his family about the problem between Kate and Jess. None of them were particularly keen on Kate. They thought she was either trying too hard to be part of Adrian’s family or she was just rather insensitive when it came to Jess. But when really pressed they went for the insensitivity and when really, really pressed they confessed that they couldn’t stand Kate and couldn’t imagine ever taking to her.

  ‘You see, on the face of it Kate is okay’ said Adrian who felt like he had to try and defend her just a little.

  ‘So cut to the chase’.

  ‘Joe, there’s something about her’ said Adrian. ‘I can’t put my finger on it but she says that Jess is deliberately undermining her at school in front of all the other kids. Well that’s not our Jess. And I know I’m her Dad and people would expect me to back her up but it isn’t like her, Joe. It really isn’t. And from the way Kate talks it’s as if she’s building up to get me to make some kind of choice between her and my own daughter for God’s sake’.

  ‘And there’d be no contest’.

  ‘None whatsoever’ said Adrian. ‘Jess and my other two kids will come first for me every time today, tomorrow and forever’.

  ‘So coming back to these doubts you’re having about Kate? Are you sure you can’t figure out what they’re all about?’

  ‘I can’t at the moment mate, no’ said Adrian. ‘There’s just something that’s not sitting right with me, something in the tone of her voice sometimes and the things she says. I’ve no idea what it’s all about but it’s beginning to really play on my mind’.

  The next morning Adrian and Joe worked together and the spoils of crime were making a good impression on Joe. ‘Not a bad pile’ he said as he pulled up outside the Knutsford, Cheshire home of Bernie Connelly.

  ‘This is what you get with ill gotten gains’ said Adrian. ‘If you want to try it out then be my guest’.

  ‘I don’t think so’ said Joe. ‘I’m too far back on the other side of the mirror’.

  ‘The other side of the mirror?’

  ‘Wonderful album by Stevie Nicks from 1989’ said Joe who was a big fan of the rock goddess from Phoenix. ‘One of her best I feel’.

  ‘I’m still none the wiser’.

  ‘Well don’t worry’ said Joe. ‘Now, let’s get on with paying a call on a notorious Manchester gangster’.

  ‘The boss is really trusting us with this, isn’t he?’

  ‘Yes he is’ Joe agreed. ‘Otherwise he would’ve come down himself. It must mean that the poor bastard hasn’t worked us out yet’.

  Adrian wanted to talk to Joe about wha
t really happened the night Brent Collins died but he was beginning to feel that it was one of those things that go between mates and officers that were never spoken about again. Adrian knew that made him a bit of a coward and to protect the professional integrity of the force he really should challenge Joe on it, but if Joe had applied the kind of pressure on Collins that led to his death that day then he was prepared to put it down to a one off that would never be repeated. At the end of the day Joe was his mate and he would never drop him in it by arousing anyone’s suspicions.

  ‘Then I hope he never does’ said Joe. ‘But let’s get on with doing what we need to do. Any other discussions can wait’.

  Jeff was still watching from the monitors in the CCTV room when Debbie Mitchell was brought in and this time the questioning would need to be more intense. He knew that Rebecca and Ollie could do that. They were both more than capable.

  ‘We are now in the presence of your solicitor, Suzie Hilton’ said Rebecca. ‘So, Mrs. Mitchell, have you had time to reflect on what happened last Sunday morning?’

  ‘I didn’t need time to reflect’ said Debbie. ‘I know what happened’.

  ‘Then are you going to enlighten us finally, Mrs. Mitchell? With all of the events leading up to it too of course’

  With an eye glanced briefly at her solicitor Suzie Hilton Debbie began ‘I was desperate to be pregnant. I was desperate for my own child. At that time I believed that Bradley Thompson was Gary’s son and I didn’t think it was fair’.

  ‘What wasn’t fair?’

  ‘That Lucy Thompson had given him what I couldn’t seem to give him. That the two of them shared something so precious and wonderful and I couldn’t share that with him because I couldn’t get pregnant. I blamed my barren state on the pressures at work and on my mother dying of cancer a couple of years ago and on the stress that came from knowing that Gary was regularly unfaithful to me. I was going out of my mind with all the anguish that caused me. With all the times he said he was going to be late because he’d met up with a group of the lads and they were heading into town when really he’d picked up some tart and was going to go back to her place and fuck her? How do you think that made me feel, detective? It made me feel like less than nothing. It made me feel like I simply wasn’t worthy of anyone’s affection’.