Burning Greed

by Diane M Dickson

  The courses on interview techniques were compulsory. Tanya knew the right way to handle this, she had to give the girl time, coax her gently to talk about what was on her mind, be sensitive and non-confrontational. She glanced towards the half-open door. There was no sign of Mrs McKenzie.

  “There’s a body in the morgue, down where I live,” Tanya began. “We don’t know who she is because her face has been burned off.” The girl’s head shot up, her eyes were wide, shocked, her hands covered her mouth. She glanced towards the hallway where her mother might be waiting; she wasn’t. Tanya carried on, her voice low, no emotion, just facts.

  “Somebody poured petrol on her and then threw a match on top of that. She cooked, they left her to burn away to nothing, but it didn’t work, so we’ve got her body, black and charred, all twisted up. We don’t know who did it. My team is working as hard as they can to find out, but I need to be there, I need to be doing my job with them. Now, I don’t want to fart about up here looking for Serena, when there’s a poor dead woman down near Oxford waiting for justice. So, why don’t we just cut through the bullshit and you tell me what you know and let me get back to doing my proper job?”

  The girl’s eyes were swimming with tears of horror, she had hunched forward, folding herself over her knees so that when she began to speak Tanya had to lean in closer.

  “She’s my best mate. She said I shouldn’t tell anyone. She should have been back by now, I don’t know what to do.” She glanced up, her eyes wide with fright.

  Tanya pursed her lips. “Yes, you do know what to do, Estella. You must tell me everything. About the drugs...”

  The girl gasped.

  “The drugs and everything else, and don’t screw me around, just give me all the information you have. Quickly, now. All of it.”

  Chapter 22

  “She’s gone to Amsterdam.”

  “Amsterdam!” It wasn’t what Tanya had expected to hear.

  “Aye, with Iain. But she made me promise not to say.”

  “And who the hell is Iain?”

  “He’s the bloke with the drugs.”

  “Okay, stop. Don’t say another word.”

  Estella looked up, shaking her head in puzzlement at this change of tack.

  “Mrs McKenzie, could you come in here please?”

  Tanya had stepped quickly across the room and leaned out into the hallway. She heard the clatter of feet across tiles. Estella’s mother poked her head around the kitchen door.

  “What’s wrong? I’m coming. Is she alright?”

  “Yes, sorry.” Tanya held up a hand in reassurance. “Yes, she’s okay. It’s just that what she has to tell me now is important, and it needs to be done properly, officially. I need you here as her responsible adult so that, if we need to, this can be used in evidence.”

  “Oh, right. Oh lord.”

  * * *

  They were back in the bright garden room. Ruth McKenzie pulled another chair closer. She had taken one look at the pale, frightened face and wrapped an arm around her daughter’s shoulders, tutting quietly and patting at her back. Tanya hoped that what she was about to hear wouldn’t shatter any illusions she might have about her little girl. It happened too often, and it was never fun.

  “I’m going to record what you say now, Estella. Do you understand that?”

  The girl nodded. She had pulled a pink tissue from a box on the little table between them and was picking and shredding it between her fingers. Tanya’s gut twisted when she thought of what she’d just done. If the girl referenced the case in Oxford, the shock tactics employed in getting her to talk, then Tanya was deep in the mire. She clicked the record button on her phone and set it on the tabletop, noticing in passing that there were three missed calls.

  “So, you have just told me that your friend, Serena Watson, has gone to Amsterdam with Iain Laithwaite?”

  “Aye.” The girl answered quietly, and her mother automatically corrected the slip into dialect.

  “Yes.”

  They both ignored her. Tanya continued, “You have also described him as ‘the bloke with the drugs’. Tell me more about that?”

  “I didn’t take them. I’ve never taken them.” Estella turned to her mother, shaking her head. The older woman’s eyes had widened with shock. “I didn’t, Mum, honestly.” She turned back to Tanya, “I play hockey, it’s my favourite thing, and I’m good.” She turned again to her mother, “I am, aren’t I? I’m good and I have to be fit, and anyway, I don’t want any of that. I wouldn’t ever take them.”

  Tanya had heard it before from panicked teens with parents sitting alongside, but in this case she thought it was probably true.

  “Does Serena take drugs?”

  There was a loaded silence. Tanya noticed that Charlotte McKenzie’s arm had slipped from around the girl.

  Eventually Estella answered, “No. Well. I think she did once. She’s mad for Iain and that’s why. We met him at a club we went to. She thinks he’s good looking and she says she’s in love with him. So, I think that was why she took the pill. She hasn’t taken them since, she told me she hated it and she wouldn’t.”

  “We found some pills in Serena’s room.”

  Tanya was surprised to see the girl nodding her head.

  “Aye. She was pretending to sell them for Iain. She took them from him and told him she’d sold them to folk, but what she did really was to pay him from out of her allowance – she has plenty of money and her mum and dad don’t worry her about how she spends it.” Estella glanced at her mother, even now taking the chance to make some sort of point. The girl continued, “It was just a couple now and then. She told me she’d thrown them away though.”

  “So, why have they gone to Amsterdam? Do you know?”

  Estella shook her head. “Not really. I didn’t like Iain, well, I did at first but not when I found out about the drugs. Anyway, Serena just said that she was going with him and nothing I could say would change her mind. But it was only supposed to be one day, there and back. She should have been home by now.”

  It was all too much, and the girl began to sob and turned to her mother who gathered her into a hug.

  “Somebody will come and take a statement from you. You should have told us about this sooner, shouldn’t you?”

  There was an answering nod and Tanya held back her anger. She didn’t want to remind the girl about how she had encouraged her to talk, not now in the middle of all this emotion.

  “Do you know where he lives, this Iain?”

  “No, I don’t. Glasgow way I think. But I don’t have his address. He’s old, I bet he’s about twenty, so I guess he has his own place.”

  “Which club did you meet him in?” When Charlotte McKenzie heard the name of the club her loud tut and stiffened body language told Tanya all she needed to know about the place.

  She left the mother and daughter in the middle of a question and answer session, punctuated by tears, threats and recriminations. She went back out to the car and dialled the number for Detective Laird. With luck they might know who this Iain Laithwaite was.

  She brought him up to date and left it for him to send an officer to take an official statement, and to start the investigation into the man who was now at least a suspect in selling drugs, and maybe nastier things with a young girl. As she pulled around the corner to Fiona’s house she sat for a while outside in the car, listening to the quiet tick of the cooling engine and the faint rumble of traffic in the background. This wasn’t going to be pretty and her palms were damp with nerves. It was so much easier with strangers. She felt for them, of course she did, but she had nothing of herself invested in their lives. With a sigh she clambered out of the car and walked towards the house where she was about to shatter forever the image of their little girl.

  On the upside they knew what Serena’s intentions had been and at least where she had been headed. However, something had gone wrong. One night in Amsterdam, a bit of excitement in the company of an older bloke she fancied, se
emed to have stretched into something more and they had to find out pretty quickly just what that was. They had moved forward but Tanya wasn’t reassured.

  As she reached the door, her phone beeped, she opened the message from Charlie.

  ‘Victim identified. Plus, witness found. Big step forward. Call me soonest.’

  Chapter 23

  Tanya glanced towards the glossy blue front door of her sister’s house. She had to go in and tell them what she had found out. Maybe it would put some of their fears to rest, but there would be other things, new issues, to address. They would want to know everything. There would be soul-searching and discussions, there would be demands, and new anxieties. It could tie her up for hours. She looked at the phone in her hand. It was imperative to speak to Charlie. She wanted this information and would need to act on what the new developments meant for the case. Charlie was probably already on top of it and, being honest, that was one of the problems. She didn’t want to lose her grip, it had to look as though she was still driving the thing. Her finger hovered over the call button. Speak to Charlie, quickly, and then go into the house.

  The front door opened, and Fiona stepped out. She stood on the step, her arms wrapped tightly around her body, tension in every line. She took a step forward and Tanya pushed the phone back into her bag, beat back the fizz of irritation, and waved a hand towards her sister as she pushed open the car door.

  “You were ages.” Fiona’s tone was accusatory. “I tried to phone you.”

  “I was in meetings; my phone was switched to silent.”

  “Well, what are they doing? What did you find out?”

  Tanya looked at her sister. She saw the child that had made this woman: always the best, the preferred one; arrogant and entitled.

  “I’ll tell you in a minute, get Graham and I’ll see you in the kitchen. It’s under control, I’ve already got things moving. Right now, I need to go and talk to Charlie. I won’t be long.” She ignored the gasp and the affronted expression, pushed past and ran up to her room.

  She didn’t give Charlie a chance to speak before telling him she was in the middle of stuff and asking that he keep it as brief as possible. Tanya winced as she heard herself sounding like Fiona, but fortunately Charlie, ever the professional, didn’t waste time being offended.

  “We’ve had luck with the DNA. Our woman was on the database.”

  “Excellent. That’s quick with the result as well.”

  “Yes, I put Kate onto it, she has friends in useful places it seems. Apparently, she does Triathlons with a guy from the lab. Anyway, the victim’s name is Suzanne Roper. Picked up a couple of times for soliciting, known to a couple of the beat guys. Familiar story: drugs, prostitution, homeless on occasion, but recently off the streets as far as they could tell. They did think that things had improved for her lately, she had some help with detox after her last arrest and hadn’t been seen around much since then. Some of the other girls had said she was doing better. We have an address for an aunt up in Yorkshire so the local lads have agreed to deliver the hard news. This came in about two hours ago and that’s as far as we’ve got with it.”

  “That’s brilliant, Charlie. Please pass on my thanks to Kate.” The DC was a bit prickly about being overlooked due to her age and lack of progression through the ranks, but she and Tanya had formed a decent working relationship, and it was worthwhile letting her know her input had been noticed.

  “Now, the witness, a bloke called Freddy Stone. I’ve sent you the recording of our chat, by the way. There was a knock on from that. He mentioned he’d seen someone in the alley.”

  “Go on.”

  “Well, it seems there is a regular homeless guy who hangs around down there. Colin the Cartman they call him. He’s one of these with a stolen shopping trolley full of old bags and filthy duvets and what have you. The patrols are on the lookout for him now, but they had already noticed he hadn’t been around since the night of the fire. Not surprising really, what with the crime scene tape and all the other activity, but I reckon he’s worth looking at.”

  “Yes, I think we should make that a priority. Have Paul, Dan, and Sue doing a house to house,” Tanya said.

  “Yeah, I’m onto that, we made a start today. They are doing the pubs later. I have given them tomorrow off, it being Sunday. There won’t be much happening down near the warehouse. I thought it would be more productive on Monday, not many houses there but a couple of sandwich shops, little workshops and car repair places, that sort of thing.”

  He’d pre-empted her again. She felt frustrated as he continued.

  “How are things there?”

  She couldn’t criticise him, he was doing exactly what he should. She kept her voice light, positive. “I think we’ve had a bit of a breakthrough today. Apparently, my stupid niece was off to Amsterdam with a bloke she fancies. If Fiona had raised the alarm quicker they might have caught her at the port. We don’t know where she is now. She should have been back, but of course they wouldn’t be checking for her in Holland, and she would just be waved through customs at this end.”

  “Yeah, if she went.”

  “Good point, Charlie. I suppose we shouldn’t assume that’s what they did. Anyway, at least we have something more than we had before. They have issued a BOLF and we’re checking number plate recognition to see if his car was seen heading for the ferry. Listen, tell the team ‘great work’ will you. Keep me informed. I need to get back there and I’m working on it.”

  “Yeah, it’ll be good to have you back.”

  “Any news about your transfer?”

  “Seems they’ve put everything on hold until this case is sorted. Bob thought it made the best sense and Merseyside were okay with it.”

  Another slip of the investigation away from her. She hadn’t been told about this; she was sidelined. “Oh God, I’m sorry, Charlie. Is Carol okay up there with her sister?”

  “I think so. We talk a few times every day. I miss ’em, but I might have a quick trip up there as soon as you’re back, so hurry up, yeah.”

  “I’m doing my best, believe me. Everything okay at the house?”

  “Yes, miss, I’ve cleaned the bathroom and brushed the floors.” He laughed. “It’s fine, Tanya, honestly. Oh, a couple of parcels arrived for you, do you want me to send them on?”

  She took a moment and then said, “Tell you what, I haven’t got time to deal with them right now. Could you do me a favour and send them back, ask for a refund? There should be a returns label in the packaging.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, if you don’t mind.” It wouldn’t make a lot of difference to her bank account, but it made her feel as if she was at least handling one of her problems.

  “Okay. No probs. I’ll call you tomorrow. Unless anything breaks in the meantime.”

  As they ended the call Tanya sighed. She was losing it, things were happening without her. This arrangement wasn’t going to work for much longer. She had to finish things here and get back home. She went down to the kitchen where she could hear Fiona and Graham muttering quietly, friction hissed back and forth between them.

  Chapter 24

  They fell silent as Tanya came through the door. Fiona took a step forward.

  “Right. What’s going on? What have you found out? You could have called me. You could have kept me up to date,” she said.

  Tanya opened her mouth to fight back and explain that she had come immediately from her talk with Estella. She looked at her sister’s face, the tightness around her eyes, the thin line of her mouth and decided to let it go. It didn’t matter.

  “Well, here I am now,” she said, “and I do have some important news. Do you guys want to sit down?” As she said it, she saw the mistake. Her sister visibly paled; she gasped and covered her mouth with a shaking hand.

  “It’s okay, well no, it’s not okay, but it’s nothing too terrible. Look, just sit down.”

  “I haven’t got long.” Graham bit his lip as Fiona spun aroun
d on the chair seat.

  She snorted and shook her head. “He has to go into the office, apparently. In the middle of all of this and my husband, Serena’s father, has to go into his bloody office. On a Saturday evening as well.”

  Tanya looked at him, unblinking. His cheeks coloured, and he turned away, made a fuss pulling out a chair. “I won’t be long. I told you I won’t be long. Let’s stop this and just find out what’s happened. You were always a bit more understanding. You should be used to this.”

  Fiona snarled back, “Yes. When you were a junior doctor. Night after night on my own, weekends coping with the kids all alone. But you’re supposed to be somebody now, you’re supposed to be past all that.”

  Tanya coughed. “Okay, look you need to stop this. Just listen to me. All this other stuff can wait,” she said. She then told them all that she had discovered and sat in embarrassed silence as they turned on each other again. Accusations were flung back and forth, criticism about child care decisions. Past sins were spat out and dissected. The antagonism, fear and anger ratcheted up and with it, Fiona’s voice became a screech. It took Tanya back to the little terraced house when demands for the school trips that were essential to her fourteen-year-old sister, the new blazer, the better hockey stick had been demanded and financed, even though the family budget was already stretched.

  It had gone on long enough. She stood up, her hands braced on the kitchen table.

  “Okay, quiet both of you.”

  They turned to her in shock, Fiona opened her mouth to speak.

  “No. Listen to me,” Tanya said. “For now, you just have to let us try and find your daughter. I know this is hard, well I can imagine, but what is done is over. When she comes back you’ll have to find ways to deal with all this anger and resentment. You’ll have to put things right. Tonight.” She raised a hand as Fiona tried again to interrupt. “Tonight, I’m going down to this club. I’ve got a picture on my phone of this bloke and I’m going to try and find out just where he is now. All you can do in the meantime is wait. Graham, I don’t think you should go to the office. I think you should be here where we can contact you easily.”