Death In The Closet (Edward Crisp Mysteries Book 3)

by Peter Boon

  I could see the mischief in her eyes. ‘This is his life, Fiona. It could destroy him.’

  ‘Relax, I don’t know what kind of monster you think I am,’ she snapped, her tone changing now. ‘Ellie apparently said something about him admitting it, and she’d seen a draft coming out statement or something. I’d only publish if he was wilfully coming out, anyway.’

  My cheeks reddened as I felt my usual deep embarrassment in situations like this. ‘Ah, sorry.’

  ‘Believe me,’ she said, softening a little. ‘I know what this business is like, and you’re right. If he wasn’t ready for it, they could destroy him.’

  ‘Thanks, Fiona,’ I said with a smile. ‘And thanks for taking a chance on Noah, it’s doing wonders for him.’

  ‘Enough of this soppy crap, Edward Crisp, before you make me blush,’ she joked. ‘Actually, I need to go soon, I think my boss wants me to go cover a crash at Beachy Head.’

  ‘I thought you were the boss?’ I was sure she was the editor of the Chalk Gap Observer.

  ‘I am, but we belong to the regional newspaper group. They can contact me pretty much 24/7 to cover something locally,’ she said, before pausing. ‘I’ll take Noah with me in fact, he’ll like that.’

  As she spoke, I spotted Danny walk away from his table and leave the function room. Patrick and I exchanged a nod, and we stood up to follow him as we’d previously agreed.

  We spotted him in the foyer outside, texting on his phone. Patrick made his approach.

  ‘Excuse me buddy, sorry to disturb you,’ he said politely and with his charming smile.

  ‘Yes mate, can I help you?’ Danny said distractedly, only half looking up.

  ‘Firstly, big fan of yours, it’s an honour to meet you. But that’s not why I’m speaking to you. My name is Patrick, I’m an old friend of Kieron’s. Well, his brother actually, but anyway I spoke to him earlier. He was a bit upset.’

  Danny whipped his head up instantly from his phone. ‘You saw Kieron? When, where? No one’s been able to find him all night. I can’t get hold of him.’

  ‘We saw him in the toilets, an hour or so ago. He was devastated. Weight of the world on his shoulders.’ He stopped for a second and must have realised he’d not introduced me. ‘Sorry, this is my friend, Edward.’

  ‘Nice to meet you, mate,’ Danny said, giving us both a firm handshake before turning back to Patrick. ‘How did he seem, what else did he say?’

  ‘Not a lot, just that he had a big dilemma,’ Patrick replied. ‘Look, it’s not my business, but whatever happens now, he needs you.’

  ‘I know he does.’ I could see the concern on Danny’s face as he spoke. ‘This is all my fault.’

  ‘I don’t know what happened and I don’t need to know, but if this is true it was a ticking time-bomb waiting to go off,’ Patrick consoled him.

  ‘Even if the story got to Ellie through you and your girlfriend, you weren’t responsible for the big public scene she made,’ I added.

  ‘Yes, that’s between them and he’s obviously hurt her, but no one should be forced to come out before they’re ready,’ Patrick said.

  ‘Thanks, guys,’ Danny said with a smile. ‘It’s all such a mess. This is going to be national news if it isn’t already. He doesn’t deserve it.’

  ‘No, then he’s going to need you, buddy,’ Patrick said. ‘Go and find him.’

  ‘He’s probably driving round the Downs, he does that when he needs to clear his head,’ Danny replied.

  A terrible thought struck my mind. ‘Wait a minute, what did you say?’

  ‘I said he drives round the Downs to clear his head. Why?’

  ‘And he was driving tonight?’ I asked in a panic. ‘Was he?’

  ‘Yes, why, what’s going on? Has something happened?’ Danny asked with urgency now.

  ‘Edward, what is it?’ Patrick asked.

  ‘It might be nothing,’ I started, though I knew in my heart it wasn’t. ‘But Fiona Turtle just told me there’s been a car crash at Beachy Head.’

  7

  We all looked at each other as realisation dawned on us.

  ‘No, no, no, no,’ Danny repeated in a horrified, hurried whisper. I could see the terror on the poor man’s face, and hoped that he wouldn’t have a full-blown panic attack. I allowed myself a release of breath as I remembered that my own were never too far away.

  ‘It’s okay, we don’t know anything,’ Patrick said, taking charge of the situation. ‘But we need to get there. Danny, do you have your car?’

  ‘No, Kieron drove us all, I’ve been drinking,’ he blurted.

  Luckily, I had an idea. ‘It’s okay, I know who can take us. But we have to be quick.’

  ‘Fiona, wait!’ I bellowed across the car park as we all ran towards where she and Noah were getting into her car.

  ‘Oh my god, what is it?’ she asked as we reached her and I tried to remember how to breathe properly. I explained between pants and the three of us jumped into the back seat.

  ‘What else do you know, tell us!’ Danny shouted, crammed in next to me behind Fiona (I was squashed in the middle seat, as I always seem to be when there’s three people in the back of a car). He grabbed the back of her seat as he addressed her.

  ‘Nothing much, I told Edward,’ she replied, as I noticed her calm tone. ‘Just that there’s been a car crash at Beachy Head.’

  We’d turned out of the stadium onto Warren Hill Road and had just passed the junction which turned into Beachy Head road, leading to the famous cliffs themselves.

  ‘We’ve come the same way Kieron would have driven,’ Noah said. ‘The junction would have been a potential site for a crash, but obviously we’ve just passed there. Therefore, the next most likely place is the bend before the cliffs where the Beachy Head pub is on the right.’

  I saw the look on Danny’s face and knew what he was thinking about the mention of the cliffs. Noah’s logic was impressive, though; following this route, it was the next most likely place for the crash. In fact, he wasn’t even a driver yet, but had still worked out a likely scenario. And he hadn’t made an inappropriate, cringeworthy comment, either.

  ‘Yes! I was right, I knew it was going to be here!’ Maybe I’d spoke too soon.

  Sure enough, a few hundred meters later, we met the police cordon and couldn’t go any further. Even though it was dark, I could see a hive of activity: professionals of several fields all working together in what was clearly a major incident.

  Danny jumped out of the car and ran towards the cordon, and before I realised what was happening, everyone had followed suit.

  ‘What is this, what’s happening?’ Danny called out to the first uniformed officer.

  ‘Who are you lot, the Scooby Gang?’ the officer replied. To be fair, the five of us running towards him must have looked a sight.

  ‘Chalk Gap Observer,’ Noah said, stepping forwards proudly before anyone else had a chance to say anything.

  The officer looked across the group incredulously before stopping at Fiona. ‘Oh, it’s you. Well, we can’t release any information to the press, you’ll have to wait.’

  Danny stepped forward. ‘No, you don’t understand, I’m’

  The officer took him in. ‘Oh wait, I know you, you’re…’

  I saw his expression change as the penny dropped. ‘Oh. Oh, I see. So, it must be him then. I knew he had a flash motor like that, and one witness claimed it was him.’

  ‘Must be who? Kieron? Was it? Is it Kieron Juniper who’s had the crash? Tell me! And where is he? I can’t see his car anywhere?’ Danny’s barrage of questions hit the police officer one after the other.

  I could tell the officer was considering what he could say. ‘I’m really sorry, Danny. I can’t tell you anything, it’s more than my job’s worth.’

  ‘Edward!’ I looked over to see who was calling me: it was PC Wood, now DC Wood. Dean Wood was from our village and I helped him in the snow day case when the rest of the police force couldn’t get through. I
excused myself from the group and went further along the cordon to meet him.

  ‘I bet you’re wondering why I’m at an accident scene now I’m a DC,’ he said as I reached him.

  I wasn’t, but was polite. ‘Yes, what are you doing here?’

  ‘Uniform were short on numbers so they sent me, plus we don’t know the circumstances yet, it might end up coming to our team, anyway.’ That didn’t sound good. ‘What are you all doing here?’

  ‘We were at a function at the stadium. We heard about this and were worried it might be someone from there. We’ve got Danny Higgins with us.’

  Wood looked in recognition, but otherwise didn’t make a fuss. ‘Ah, it is Kieron Juniper then.’

  ‘What’s him, what’s happened?’ I asked. ‘If he was in the crash, where’s his car?’

  Wood’s face changed, and I realised what was coming. ‘I’m really sorry, Edward. Kieron went straight over the edge of Beachy Head in his car. Coastguard is still working down there but he’s almost certainly dead.’

  8

  It was after midnight when we got home to find Becky, Kat and Beaumont sitting in the kitchen waiting for us. Becky often stayed over with Patrick; Kat and Beaumont had travelled back with her and waited to see what further news we had. Fiona had driven us all home and dropped us off. Noah was also still with us; we’d tried to drop him back at Mum and Dad’s but he insisted on coming to our house in case he missed anything, though he’d immediately gone into the living room by himself, saying he needed to work on something.

  ‘Patrick!’ Becky cried as she threw herself towards him and hugged him tight. Kat busied herself making drinks for everyone, while I noticed Beaumont looked particularly shaken.

  ‘You doing okay, buddy?’ Patrick asked him as he freed himself from Becky and patted the young footballer on the shoulder. Patrick ran the school football team and I remembered the two had a good relationship.

  ‘I’ve always looked up to him. Even before tonight. He’s the reason I wanted to play for this team.’ This was a lot for an eighteen-year-old to deal with. Being thrust into the spotlight so young was trying enough, but having his role model die on what was the biggest night of his own career was not something he could have ever expected. Not to mention the drama that happened before that. Whether or not that information would become public, Beaumont and the entire team were sure to garner widespread media attention either way.

  ‘And you’ll be able to honour him by having a brilliant career,’ Kat said as she put a steaming cup of tea in front of him. ‘But for now, it’s okay just to grieve him.'

  ‘Thanks, Kat,’ he said, as he put his hands round the hot cup before pausing ominously. ‘Do you think it was an accident then?’

  The question hung in the air for a few seconds, as if no one dare answer it. It seemed very unlikely to be an accident. No other vehicles or people had been involved, and two witnesses coming out of The Beachy Head pub had seen the car go off the road onto the embankment and straight over the edge of the cliff.

  ‘We’ll have to wait and see what the police say,’ Kat said quietly.

  We’d stayed for a couple of hours at the police cordon before we got moved on once more senior officers had arrived. DC Wood had kept checking in with us during that time but had little other news other than the basic details. The coastguard search and rescue team had apparently recovered a body but would be working long into the night on the car, and the body wouldn’t be formally identified until tomorrow.

  ‘I’ve got some information to share with you all,’ I heard from the hallway before Noah even entered the kitchen. Noah had been silent while we were waiting in Fiona’s car, engrossed in reading on his phone, then every so often switching to his notes app to write something. I guessed that this was what he’d gone into the living room to finish working on.

  ‘What’s that, Noah?’ I asked, unsure what the answer was going to be.

  ‘I was really intrigued about the news of Kieron Juniper being gay, even before the crash,’ he started as he took a seat at the table. ‘Especially with him having a girlfriend and everyone seeming so shocked. So I started researching the history of gay footballers.’

  Oh dear. ‘Maybe we should leave this for another time, we’ve had a long day.’

  ‘No,’ Beaumont said, putting his hand up. ‘I’d like to hear it. It might be an interesting distraction.’

  ‘Yeah, it’s an interesting topic,’ Patrick added. ‘It’s quite a short list, though, isn’t it, Noah?’

  ‘Yes, it is,’ he confirmed, clearing his throat and picking his phone up, ready to read from. ‘Firstly, we have Robbie Rogers; an American who played for Leeds United, but only came out in 2013 after a brief retirement. He played again in his home country of US but never again over here once he was openly gay. Similarly, there’s Thomas Hitzlsperger, a German player who appeared for various Premier League teams, but only came out in 2014 after his retirement.’

  Patrick nodded in recognition at the names, while Beaumont listened intently. Kat and I exchanged a look, neither of us knowing who these men were. Noah continued.

  ‘Liam Davis is the only current player on the list. He also came out in 2014 and still plays football, but it’s at semi-professional level for lower league teams. And most recently, Thomas Beattie: an English footballer but played for teams in Canada and Singapore, he came out after retirement.’

  ‘Is that everyone?’ Beaumont asked.

  No, not everyone,’ Patrick said ominously.

  ‘Justin Fashanu was a famous footballer in the 80s and 90s who played for various top flight football clubs, but before the current Premier League was formed. He came out midway through his career and was the first and currently only player in the UK to be openly gay while still playing top flight football.’

  I recognised the name and felt like I vaguely knew his story. I had a feeling it didn’t have a happy ending.

  'Unfortunately, he lost his life to suicide after several personal troubles, it wasn’t directly linked to his sexuality,’ Patrick added gently. He jumped in quickly, probably before Noah could tell us in a possibly less diplomatic way.

  It didn’t seem to make a difference to Beaumont’s reaction. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. Without saying a word, he got up and walked out of the room.

  ‘I’ll go after him,’ Kat said, as she followed him.

  ‘I can’t believe there’s no successful examples of players coming out and continuing to play professional football here while being openly gay,’ Noah said. I could tell he was only just considering this. Noah liked facts and evidence, but often he would gather it first, then process it later.

  ‘I can believe it,’ Patrick said sadly. ‘This is what I mentioned before, Edward. This is how it’s always been. I think it says a lot about where we are in the sport and what we need to do. But, the frustrating thing is...’

  He tailed off before he said anything more. ‘What were you going to say?’ I asked.

  ‘No, it seems insensitive when the guy’s just lost his life,’ he continued. ‘But I was going to say the frustrating thing is, we’ll never know now. Because I have a feeling, if he was gay and he’d have come out openly, it would have been fine. More than fine, actually. The sport needs a gay role model like Kieron. He would have been fantastic. But now we’ll never know.’

  ‘Maybe we aren’t meant to know,’ Noah said in his usual dramatic fashion.

  ‘What do you mean?’ I asked. I had a feeling I knew where his mind was going, though.

  ‘We’re assuming it was suicide,’ he said. I flinched. No one had actually said it was that yet, but that was the assumption.

  ‘But what if it wasn’t?’ he continued. ‘What if someone wanted to stop him becoming a gay role model? Maybe someone killed him to stop him from coming out.’

  9

  BREAKING NEWS: SHOCK DEATH OF KIERON JUNIPER

  A body recovered at Beachy Head, East Sussex, last night is thought to be that of well-
known footballer and celebrity, Beachy Head United captain Kieron Juniper.

  The body was discovered at around 11pm last night. A vehicle was also thought to be at the foot of the famous cliffs, but is still being recovered by the Coastguard Search & Rescue team.

  Kieron, 25, is survived by girlfriend Ellie Marsden, 24, also well known in celebrity circles. The pair were at a private function at nearby Beachy Head stadium, the home of Kieron’s football club. It is rumoured that an incident occurred at this function but this newspaper is not making further comment until this is confirmed.

  Beachy Head FC were not available for comment at this time.

  The death is not thought to be suspicious, but we are still waiting confirmation from Sussex Police.

  Comments

  What a shock. RIP Kieron.

  ‘Not thought to be suspicious’… ‘incident at the club’… I hope this isn’t what I think it is.

  A player of a generation. RIP.

  No, this can’t be real. Not Kieron Juniper. RIP.

  A young life gone. These rich young footballers, they get too much too soon. It’s too much for them to cope with.

  Chloe and Danny were best friends with Kieron and Ellie. Poor Chloe, hope she is okay xoxo

  There’ll be a lot more to this. You watch.

  10

  I woke up much later than normal the following morning: nearly 11am. At least it was a Saturday. We’d had a late night discussing Kieron’s death, and I’d then spent much of the night awake thinking about what Noah said.

  It’s very easy to take Noah’s ideas with a pinch of salt; he is obsessed with murder mysteries and sees potential cases everywhere we go. But he had been correct the two previous times he’s said this, so it was possible that he was correct again.

  And I was struggling with the idea that Kieron had taken his life. When we saw him, he was upset, conflicted, confused. But I saw nothing to suggest that he was suicidal, though I’d obviously only met him once and briefly.