Follow the Leader

by Mel Sherratt

  Kelvin Porter was staying at his parents’ house. Allie wondered if he might not ever go back to live in Red Street. She knew she wouldn’t be strong enough to live with the memories; she’d already had quite a job compartmentalising the image she had of Suzi Porter slumped on the chair. Every time Kelvin went into their kitchen, he might see her sitting there, dripping blood, tied up for all to see.

  Allie had learned that Suzi Porter had two sons. The youngest one, Oliver, was five and from her marriage to Kelvin, and the oldest, ten-year-old Jayden, was from her previous marriage to Joseph Tranter. Both boys had lived with their mother. Allie thanked the Lord for small mercies that neither of them had been home that evening. But she hadn’t ruled out the possibility that the killer might have known this – was it convenience or coincidence that he’d struck on that particular night?

  Trentham was in the south of the city and a couple of miles from the Porters’ home in Longton. Allie walked up a path beside a well-kept garden and knocked on the door of a large semi-detached house. A minute later, she was shown into their living room by Kelvin’s mother.

  Mr Porter stood up as he spotted her. ‘Is there any news?’ he asked.

  Allie could hear the plea in his voice. ‘We’re making lots of enquiries at the moment, Mr Porter.’ She pointed to the settee. ‘May I sit down?’

  ‘Yes, of course.’ He sat down again across from her.

  ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’ Mrs Porter asked.

  ‘Yes, thanks.’ Allie looked up with a smile, instinctively knowing the woman would feel better if she had something to do.

  ‘It’s a good job I have her at the moment,’ Kelvin sighed as Mrs Porter bustled from the room. ‘My father died a few years ago now and she’s been like a rock ever since.’

  ‘Did she get on well with Suzi?’

  ‘Not really.’ Kelvin’s eyes dropped to the floor momentarily. ‘I think they tolerated each other, mostly.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘Mum never felt good enough. I couldn’t tell her otherwise. But Suzi had a way of doing that to people, making them feel small without trying. She always needed to be the centre of attention and, well, you know kids when they visit their nan. She spoils them and Suzi didn’t like it.’

  ‘I thought that’s what nans were for,’ Allie smiled kindly, noting the box of neatly piled toys in the corner of the room. ‘I wanted to ask you a few more things about Suzi. About Joseph Tranter, too.’

  Allie watched him nod his head in recognition, waited for a reaction. But the mention of Joseph’s name didn’t stir up any kind of emotion.

  ‘I’m not much for the bloke but I got on quite well with him, despite Suzi’s attempts to make me do otherwise.’

  Allie nodded. ‘Divorces often leave couples unable to communicate without becoming angry.’

  Kelvin shook his head at this. ‘She tried to twist Jayden against him, too – that’s the elder boy, their son.’

  ‘That’s a shame.’ Allie paused. ‘How did she do that?’

  ‘She’d often bad-mouth him, try to stop Joe having access – you know, the usual nonsense. But, like I mentioned, I always found him okay.’

  ‘When was the last time you saw Mr Tranter?’

  Kelvin frowned. ‘A couple of weeks back. It would have been on a Sunday, when he picked Jay up. He sees him every other weekend; collects him on Sunday morning and drops him off around six the same evening. As far as I can see, he dotes on the boy. I’m sure he would have seen him more if Suzi had let him.’

  ‘And how do you think he felt about your wife?’

  ‘Jay or Joe?’

  ‘Both, really. How was she with them?’

  ‘Jay’s a good kid, considering his earlier upbringing.’

  ‘And Mr Tranter?’

  ‘I’m not sure they ever got on that well. Two big egos together – it doesn’t work, does it?’ Kelvin’s shoulders rose up defensively. ‘From what Suzi told me, he used to knock her about a bit. I think that’s why she’s insecure now. It was all an act – I loved her for it but hated it too.’

  ‘She was a little difficult at times?’ Allie hoped to sound sympathetic rather than probing.

  Kelvin smiled tenderly. ‘She often tried my patience.’

  ‘Do you think Joe still had a lot to do with Suzi?’

  ‘Personally I think he was glad he was out of it but he still wanted to see his son. Although he was always badgering Suzi for cash. She was always bailing him out for something or other. We used to argue about it all the time. But she defended him, saying he’d helped her get to where she was today.’ Kelvin shrugged. ‘I didn’t like it, but what could I do?’

  ‘And you, Mr Porter? How did you find Suzi?’

  ‘Sometimes lovely, sometimes crazy, depending on her mood.’

  ‘Did it not bother you what she did for a living?’

  ‘Not really, but she hadn’t been getting much work in lately. Said they were always going for younger models now. She’d been doing lingerie ads only for the past couple of years.’

  ‘You mentioned in your statement that you’d been arguing. Was Suzi in a bad mood when you left the house?’

  ‘She’d come home from work feeling sorry for herself. She was going to come to the club and have a meal with me but as soon as she got home, she started drinking. She’s not an alcoholic,’ he said quickly. ‘There was a bottle of wine open. I told her not to have too much as she would be driving over to meet me, and she started arguing. So I left her to it.’

  He looked away then, tears welling in his eyes. Allie waited while he composed himself before asking him any more questions.

  ‘Where did you meet?’ Before he could reply, she continued, ‘Suzi went to Reginald High School. Did you go there too?’

  ‘No, I went to Trentham High, not far from here. I met Suzi at work when she started going to the gym.’

  ‘Do you know any of her school friends?’

  ‘I knew a few on sight but we didn’t have anything to do with any of them, apart from Joe, obviously.’ Kelvin shook his head. ‘Suzi was called Sandra at school. Did you know that?’

  Allie nodded, glad when Mrs Porter came in with drinks. She wasn’t sure what reason she would have given if he had asked why she wanted to know about the school.

  Chapter Twelve

  Joseph Tranter’s name hadn’t been as familiar to Allie as Mickey Taylor’s or Suzi Porter’s when she had first heard mention of him going to Reginald High School too. She made a mental note to check with Perry once she got back to the station, see if he could remember anything more about him now.

  As she was shown into the living room of his home, Allie realised she wouldn’t be seeing Joe in his best light anyway. He was a tall and broad man with greying, sharply cut hair, but his dark eyes were bloodshot, and he had the ashen look of shock on his face.

  ‘Mr Tranter?’ Allie produced her warrant card again. ‘My name is Detective Sergeant Shenton.’

  The woman who had shown her into the room moved to stand next to Joe in front of a marble fireplace, eyeing Allie with an expression she couldn’t quite fathom yet. She looked mid-twenties at a guess, with blonde wavy hair, far too much make-up for Allie’s liking and not enough meat on her frame either. She’d obviously been a smoker in her time, lines already appearing above her top lip, which might explain why she was stick-thin apart from an enormous bust.

  Allie sat down at Joe’s request, her eyes drawn for an instant to a collection of studio photos of a young boy on the wall, next to several of the couple. A black gym bag was on the floor in front of an armchair with a fleece jacket flung over it. Joe moved them out of the way before sitting down too.

  ‘I assume you know why I’m here,’ Allie told them. ‘I’m investigating the murder of Suzi Porter.’

  ‘Who happens to be his ex-wife.’ The young woman
spoke matter-of-factly.

  ‘And you are?’ Allie stared at her pointedly.

  ‘Rhian Jamieson. I’m Joe’s girlfriend – have been for some time now.’

  ‘Two years,’ Joe quantified. ‘We’ve been together for two years.’

  ‘And we’re totally in love and happy, aren’t we, Joe?’ Rhian walked over to him and slipped her hand into his, immaculate nails sparkling with a layer of silvery glitter. ‘So you can’t get him for murdering her as he was with me last night.’

  ‘I assume the police are here to eliminate me from their enquiries,’ Joe pointed out, looking at his girlfriend with barely concealed impatience. ‘Isn’t that right?’

  ‘Yes, that’s right.’ Undeterred by the sudden outburst, Allie opened her notepad and addressed him. ‘I believe there was no love lost between you and your ex-wife, Suzi Porter, Mr Tranter?’

  ‘You could say that. The only good thing to come out of the marriage was Jayden, our son.’

  ‘Where did you meet Suzi?’

  ‘We’d known each other since we were at school.’

  ‘Which school was that?’

  ‘Reginald High.’ Joe frowned. ‘You don’t think that has anything to do with this, do you? Except that, well, I knew Mickey Taylor too. We both did – me and Suzi, that is. We used to hang around together in a big group.’

  ‘Were you in the same class?’ Allie asked another question instead of answering his.

  ‘No, but we were in the same year. I think there were five forms in each one, if I remember rightly. We did share lots of lessons, though.’

  ‘And did you date at high school?’

  ‘A couple of times. But we started seeing each other seriously once we’d left.’

  Allie wrote in her notepad before looking up again. ‘Can you tell me where you were last night around seven p.m.?’

  ‘Here,’ he replied. ‘We were both in at that time.’

  ‘Doing?’

  ‘I’m sorry but that’s hardly any business of yours,’ Rhian retorted.

  ‘What usually happens here,’ Allie’s tone was just as sharp, ‘is that if you say you were watching television, I would ask you what you were watching – specifically around seven p.m. – and then you would tell me.’

  ‘I can’t remember. I bet she had that One Show program on, though.’ Joe laughed, and then tried to hide behind a cough.

  ‘So you were both at home at seven p.m.?’ asked Allie.

  ‘Yes,’ said Joe.

  Allie looked at Rhian.

  ‘Yes,’ she said finally.

  If the pregnant pause wasn’t enough for Allie to deduce that she was lying, the blush that was spreading up from her chest was.

  ‘Yes,’ Rhian repeated before Allie dropped her eyes. ‘I remember now. We were watching The One Show.’

  ‘Did you get on with Suzi’s parents, Mr Tranter?’ Allie turned back to him.

  ‘I hadn’t seen them in years before we split. I don’t think Suzi had either.’ He raised his eyebrows and looked at her meaningfully. ‘They didn’t like what she was doing.’

  ‘Well, would you like it if your daughter got her kit off for every Tom, Dick and Harry?’ Rhian scoffed. ‘It must have been right under their nose every time they went into a shop!’

  Allie ignored her again. ‘But it didn’t bother you, Mr Tranter?’

  He shrugged. ‘She brought in the money. That was all I was interested in at the end. And Jay.’

  ‘What do you do now for work?’

  ‘I run a chain of car washes.’

  ‘Car washes?’ Allie bristled. There was only one successfully run chain in the city that she knew of, with a base in each of the six towns. ‘As in Car Wash City?’

  ‘Yes, I oversee them all from the Longton office. You know of them?’

  Momentarily thrown by memories rushing at her, Allie took a moment to compose herself. ‘Your boss would have been Terry Ryder?’ she said, trying to keep the shake from her voice.

  ‘My boss is Terry Ryder,’ he corrected.

  ‘That’s hardly likely, considering he’s in prison.’

  ‘I’m keeping an eye on things until he comes out.’

  ‘Good luck with that,’ Allie muttered. It was her turn to blush. She turned to focus on a bemused-looking Rhian.

  ‘When did you last see Mrs Porter?’ she asked.

  Rhian baulked. ‘Don’t tell me I’m a suspect too! I hardly know the woman. She never lets me near her precious son.’

  ‘He’s my son, too,’ said Joe.

  ‘Whatever.’ Rhian sat down next to Joe and folded her arms. ‘I haven’t seen her in months and even then it was from the passenger seat of his car. I was never allowed near her, Miss Bloody Perfect.’

  ‘Did she see you as a threat?’

  Rhian smirked. ‘Of course she did.’ She swept a hand over her figure. ‘She was getting on and I was taking her man.’

  ‘For God’s sake, Rhian.’ Joe shook his head. ‘Show a little respect – the woman has been murdered.’

  ‘I know and I’m sorry about that, but I’m not going to be treated like a suspect. I had nothing at all to do with her death. I can’t see –’

  ‘Why are you so angry, Miss Jamieson?’ Allie interrupted. ‘I’m establishing facts: it’s my job. It’s what I do.’

  ‘It’s her – Suzi.’ Rhian sat down and folded her arms. ‘It’s always about her. Everything we do – everything we want to do. Suzi comes first. She was such a bitch at times. Always demanding – always getting her own way.’

  ‘Sounds like someone else I know,’ Joe mumbled.

  Rhian glared at him.

  ‘When did you and Suzi split up?’ Allie turned to Joe again.

  ‘Ten years ago, just after Jay was born.’

  ‘And how did you get on with her once you’d split? You divorced, I assume?’

  Joe nodded. ‘She couldn’t wait to get rid of me. But she wouldn’t let me take Jay. Not sure what will happen with him now. I’m going to see him this afternoon.’

  ‘How did you find things after you’d left? It must have been hard going to collect Jayden and seeing her too?’

  ‘Not really. I picked him up on the corner of the street most of the time. Or Kelvin, her husband, would bring him here. It saved falling out.’

  Allie took a moment to write down a few more notes and then looked up at him again. ‘Just one more question, Mr Tranter. How did you feel about her . . . career choice?’

  Rhian tutted but they both ignored her.

  ‘She started off modelling clothes but when someone suggested she could make more money going topless, she was all for it. If you knew Suzi, if she wanted something she got it, no matter what. I wouldn’t have been able to stop her. She was stubborn, didn’t care if it upset anyone. I knew a bloke who’d take a few photos and hooked her up with him. If anyone was going to take those kinds of photos, I wanted to be present.’

  Allie closed her notebook.

  ‘What happens now?’ Joe asked as they all stood up.

  ‘We’ll be in touch if we need to clarify anything,’ Allie told her.

  Rhian glared at her. ‘Christ, you still don’t believe us.’

  ‘Everything has to be checked, Miss Jamieson.’ Allie threw her a warning look in return. ‘This is a murder enquiry.’

  In the hallway, before she left, Allie turned back and handed Joe her card. ‘If you need to talk about anything – in general or in relation to the conversation we’ve just had – call in at the station, or ring me. I’m based at Hanley. Ask for DS Shenton.’

  ‘He doesn’t know anything,’ said Rhian, folding her arms again.

  In front of her, Joe’s face was screwed up with rage. At least he was trying to keep his thoughts to himself, Allie noted.

  Steppin
g outside, she heard raised voices before she was at the bottom of the drive. She shook her head slightly. What were they lying to cover up? She doubted Joe Tranter had anything to do with the murder of Suzi Porter.

  But they were hiding something.

  Rhian closed the door after Allie with a bang. When she turned round, Joe had disappeared. She marched into the living room to find it empty, then headed into the kitchen. He stood with his back to her, hands either side on the worktop. As she stepped closer, Rhian noticed they curled into fists but it didn’t stop her.

  ‘What’s going on?’ She prodded him in the shoulder. ‘If you were with that . . . trollop last night, then I need to know. I think I have a –’

  ‘The woman is fucking dead.’ Joe turned towards her quickly. ‘Can’t you give it a rest? Of course I wasn’t with her.’

  ‘Well, what was all that with the sergeant? You let her walk over you just then, being all nicey-nicey!’

  Joe shook his head in exasperation. ‘I don’t want to give the police any reasons to start snooping around, here or at work. Of course I’m going to be nice to her.’

  ‘You really think you can fool the police?’

  ‘I don’t fucking have to. I haven’t done anything wrong!’

  Rhian folded her arms. ‘I want to know,’ she said. ‘Were you screwing Suzi?’

  Joe’s face twisted in a snarl. He pushed past her and disappeared into the living room.

  Rhian followed him quickly. ‘You were, weren’t you?’

  ‘I’m warning you – leave it!’

  ‘No. If you want me to lie for you, then I want to know –’

  Joe came so close to her face that Rhian flinched. She stepped back, her heel catching the settee behind her, and fell backwards onto the cushions.

  Joe placed a hand on either side of her and leaned in closer. ‘You need to mind your own business.’

  Rhian turned away from his menacing eyes, heard him taking deep breaths as she tried to steady her own.

  Eventually, Joe spoke. ‘I knew I couldn’t trust you.’

  ‘Don’t say that,’ Rhian whispered. ‘You can always trust me.’