by Linda Regan
‘I bet he won’t,’ Georgia said. ‘And that’s my recommendation for promotion down the Swanee if he makes it formal.’
‘Won’t come to that,’ Stephanie said shaking her head. ‘You won’t be the first detective to be bollocked, and you won’t be the last. If he does bollock you, it’ll just be his male pride, nothing more. He’s a chauvinist through and through, let’s face it.’ She put her burger down and looked Georgia in the face. ‘If you want my advice, take it on the chin, say “Sorry, sir.” And that’ll be the end of it. He’s got too many other things on his mind. He won’t take it any further.’
Georgia gave her a grateful smile.
‘You bollock me sometimes,’ Stephanie reminded her.
Georgia squeezed her lips together to try to stop herself laughing. Stephanie had blobs of tomato sauce around her cheeks.
‘And I don’t take it personally. It goes with policing,’ Stephanie carried on talking but her eyebrows moved towards each other. ‘Why are you laughing?’
Georgia handed her a napkin and pointed to Stephanie’s cheek. Stephanie wiped as she carried on talking. ‘There was a lot of tension by that tunnel,’ she reminded Georgia. ‘We had a fellow officer,’ she raised her voice, ‘a pregnant fellow officer, trapped underground in a hole that none of us knew the layout of. We were all concerned. You were SIO, so it was your responsibility, and Banham was wrong.’ She lifted her ungroomed eyebrows and looked sympathetically at Georgia. ‘He’s not above the rules.’
‘I still shouldn’t have shouted at him, or arrested him in front of everyone. I don’t know what came over me.’
‘Common sense, that’s what came over you! And anyway, you did it in the heat of the moment, so tell him that. He’s angry with himself, not you, because he thinks he should have got there sooner.’ She paused and said quietly. ‘Remember, he found his first wife and baby murdered all those years ago. That’s what it was really about.’ She frowned, then smiled sadly. ‘And it’s heartbreaking because of that,’
Georgia nodded. ‘Thanks.’
‘Anyway, you’re in the borough commander’s good books,’ Stephanie reminded her. ‘He’s very happy. Four murders solved, weapons off the streets, and Harisha Celik behind bars. He’s more than happy with the team you led.
Georgia nodded. ‘Melek Yismaz died, though. I just wonder if the press were right. Could we have saved her?’
‘We aren’t Wonder Women. We did what we could. She nearly killed Alison, and was responsible for the loss of her baby.’
Georgia broke a piece of her crispbread in two, and stared at the Miso soup she had bought at the Japanese deli around the corner. She should try and eat, she knew, but she didn’t have an appetite.
The phone rang and saved her the bother.
She checked the caller ID and then pressed the speaker button so Stephanie could hear. Stephanie picked up a pen and pulled some paper away from under her cup to write notes.
Mary in Forensics told them that they had completed the tests on Melek’s unborn baby. The DNA proved, without a doubt, that the father was Burak Kaya and not Harisha Celik – exactly the same as Zana’s baby.
‘Thanks,’ Georgia said, looking at Stephanie. ‘Confirms the motive for Melek killing Burak and Zana. He two-timed her. Any idea which foetus was the oldest?’
‘No, couldn’t say on that one, but I have got another piece of information I think will interest you.’
The testing on Harisha Celik’s clothing had produced Melek’s pubic hair. Backed up by the dried semen found during Melek’s post-mortem that tested positive to Celik, it was clear that intercourse had indeed taken place between them prior to her death. Crucially, though, the lab had found evidence of bruising and tissue damage consistent with Melek’s account of her rape. Together with Melek’s signed statement to Alison, which had been left in Alison’s car when Melek kidnapped her, it was the evidence they needed for the CPS to agree to go to court with the rape charge. Georgia lifted her thumb up.
‘Any DNA match from the weapons in the tunnel to link them to Celik?’ she asked.
‘No, it wasn’t possible to get any DNA from any of the weapons,’ Mary told her. ‘It was like someone had wiped every one of them clean before storing them down there. No trace of anything.’
Georgia did have the silver S charm from the lock-up, but she feared that wasn’t enough to link Harisha Celik to any firearms. Celik had, very predictably, denied all knowledge of the silver charm and the weapons. Still, Georgia had stuck her neck out and charged him with the offences, requesting that the judge did not allow him bail. If he got bail, both Georgia and Stephanie were aware he would go missing, and possibly harm Alysha Achter or her friends, who he would know had led the police to the tunnel. Georgia wasn’t taking that chance. Those girls were like gold dust to the serious crime department, they were, without doubt the best snouts they’d ever had.
The judge had agreed to her request for bail to be denied, and she had been holding her breath waiting on the DNA tests. If there was no DNA on any of the weapons in the tunnel, Georgia would have no concrete evidence to back up Alison’s statement, that Melek had assured her Harisha had imported them. Georgia’s heart momentarily sank, but then Mary added that there was an unexpected bit of good luck. Whilst testing Celik’s clothes, they had found traces of firearms residue, which proved he had been handling them recently. That would be enough, together with the statement from Alison, for the CPS to prosecute him. Georgia was now confident Harisha Celik was going to prison for a long time. This was turning out to be very, very good news.
The fact that the superintendent was delighted with Georgia’s team was great, it kept their morale up. However, Georgia knew the real truth was that without Alysha Achter and her friends, they may not have found Alison until it was far too late. So Georgia had kept her promise and had pressured the council’s parks and leisure department to again consider rebuilding the play area on the Aviary. The department agreed to reconsider. Deciding that wasn’t enough, Georgia had requested help from the borough commissioner, explaining that she believed it was an essential part of helping to lower crime figures. He had been happy to oblige and was told it was agreed. Beir then pushed for them the council to rebuild the community hall at the edge of the estate. This too the council agreed to. It hadn’t yet been started, but Georgia told Alysha to be a little patient.
‘These things take time, Alysha.’
‘Yeah, an’ if finding Alison Grainger had taken time, then she’d be dead.’
Georgia accepted the point. She was keeping up the pressure on the council.
The Metropolitan Police had also paid out the weapons reward money to Alysha and her friends. Georgia was delighted when she heard that Tink was using some of it for her hair and beauty plans. The girls were restoring the derelict shop at the edge of the estate that they had now bought from the council. When Tink qualified, the plan was to turn the shop into a hairdressing salon, using the back to give classes on nail sculpture and hair dressing.
When Georgia relayed the news back to the borough commissioner, he agreed it would, ultimately, help to lower crime figures around the area, something neither the police, nor the council or local residents, had managed so far. Yet four teenage girls had made a start.
The day got even better when later that afternoon TIU finally retrieved a deleted message from Zana Ghaziani’s computer, sent the day she was killed. The message was from Melek. In it she said that Wajdi had found out that Zana was pregnant, and was planning revenge. She said Zana was to come to the alleyway that day at 2 p.m., Melek had Burak’s green cigarette lighter and she wanted to give it to Zana, so it was crucial Wajdi didn’t find out where she was going or follow her. There was a PS saying that she was to delete the message from her inbox immediately after reading it, and then delete it again from her machine, so there could never be a trace of it. Somehow Zana had almost managed to do this, another reason it had taken the TIU so long to retrieve it.
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nbsp; ‘The lighter found at the murder scene was green,’ Georgia reminded the team at the closing meeting on the case.
‘It was even a little scorched from the blaze, and it had Melek’s finger and thumb prints on it,’ Stephanie added. With Melek’s confession to Alison, that was evidence enough to close that case.
‘And the forensic evidence on Burak Kaya and Mrs and Mrs Wilkins is sound,’ Georgia told them, lifting a piece of A4 paper, which despite her quick thinking Steph had still managed to stain with a large ring of strawberry milkshake. ‘The bloodstained screwdriver found in Melek’s handbag matched the stab wounds in Mrs Wilkins’ neck,’ Georgia told them, ‘And the bloodstained screwdriver found at the Ghazianis’ shop matched Wajdi’s blood only.’
‘What a horrible way to murder that defenceless old couple,’ said Grahame.
‘At least they died quickly,’ Stephanie said.
Georgia nodded. ‘And a bloodstained knife found in Melek’s underwear drawer was a match to Burak’s blood. The shape of the blade was a perfect match for the wound to his heart. We know he bled to death from that wound, and we now know for certain it was inflicted with her knife. We also have the confession.’
Stephanie shook her head. ‘She obviously tortured him too. His body was covered in machete cuts, and there were cigarette burns over his hands too. All those would have caused a hell of a lot of pain.’
‘Jealous attack, no doubting that,’ Georgia nodded. ‘Melek was sleeping with him as well as Harisha, and that was all right for her, but when she found out he was sleeping with her best friend, she went mad, attacked him with a machete, and then she stabbed him in the heart to finish him off. She knew what she was doing. It was calculated and cold-blooded. She then killed a vulnerable old couple because they saw her kill Burak. And she set her best friend on fire.’
Stephanie looked up at Georgia, ‘And she would have let Alison die if it wasn’t for those four estate girls finding the tunnel while they were looking for Melek, worried for her safety.’
‘Yes, we are very lucky to have those estate girls as snouts, there’s no doubting that,’ Georgia said. ‘And they are turning out to be such good citizens. After all they have been through, all the abuse, and forced prostitution when they were underage and vulnerable, they are making something of themselves, and fighting to clean the estate up. I’m so proud of them’
‘You sound like a surrogate mother,’ Stephanie teased.
Alysha, Lox, Panther, and Tink were, once again. gathered in Alysha’s flat on the thirteenth floor, all holding paper cups filled with champagne. There was a half-empty bottle of on the table.
‘Glad we kept this when we emptied Harisha’s stuff out of the lock-up,’ Panther said. ‘If we’d put it in the tunnel with the weapons, the feds would be drinking it now and not us.’
‘Yeah,’ Lox agreed. ‘But this is a one-off. We don’t waste money on booze or drugs no more.’
Alysha tapped the twinkling stud that Tink had pierced into the side of her nose. ‘This is a celebration. Tink’s going to college, and Harisha is going to jail. We wiped all his DNA and prints from the weapons when we carried them into the tunnel cos we had to wipe our own off, but now the feds have got other DNA of his, linking him to the firearms, that is what I call real good luck.’
‘And worth drinking to,’ Panther said looking up from studying the gold toenail extensions that Tink had just given her. ‘You know, Tink, I reckon I’ll never wear shoes again. I love my toenails like this.’
‘You need to sit still for ’bout twenty minutes,’ Tink told her, ‘while the glue on them dries.’
‘And you have to make sure you are up and out of the ’ouse, by eight o’clock sharp, every morning,’ Alysha told Tink, a proud mother hen. ‘School starts at nine, and you ain’t missing one bloody second of it.’
‘We’ll be your models, an’ we’ll look like popstars all the time, all shiny lips an’ great toenails,’ Panther said. ‘And I’m gonna have permanently straightened hair.’ She fingered her bright orange afro, and grinned her wide gappy grin. She had lost a side tooth in a fight but it had never bothered her.
‘I don’t think I can do miracles,’ Tink laughed. ‘But I reckon it’ll look fabulous with dark red streaks in it.’
‘You know, the council reckon they are gonna start on the play area within a couple of months,’ Lox said. ‘So I’ve ordered leaflets asking everyone to keep it clean.’
‘I’ll kick the shit out of anyone who graffities it,’ Panther told her.
‘The street girls are gonna keep watch on it, the ones that ain’t too addicted,’ Lox told them. ‘I’ve said they’ll get paid a bit for doing that. We’re still making good corn from our cut of the money they make on our streets. We’re gonna keep that side up, ain’t we?’
‘As long as the girls that work the streets want to,’ Alysha said. ‘They gotta be Alley Cat crew though, and fight with us when we need them, cause we will need them,’ She flicked her eyes around her lieutenants and became serious.
‘People are noticing that we’re making changes round ’ere,’ she said. ‘Gangs are coming after us, so we gotta be ready.’
‘What you mean, Queen, are you saying we got trouble brewing?’ Tink asked her.
‘Yeah, we ’ave got trouble brewing,’ Alysha nodded. ‘See, I did warn us that it ain’t gonna be plain sailing. Well it ain’t.’
‘But Harisha’s definitely going down, ain’t he? Lox questioned. ‘I mean that fed Georgia promised that he ain’t gonna be seeing daylight for years.’
‘We ain’t gotta worry ’bout Harisha,’ Alysha told her. ‘We’ve stitched him up like he well deserved, and ’e’s going down for it, but ’e ain’t dead, you know.’
‘What you saying, Queen?’ Panther pushed.
‘I’m saying,’ she took a breath, ‘I ran into Boss and Beat, Harisha’s cousins, when I went over to talk to the SLRs street girls yesterday. Them girls are gonna join us, by the way.’
‘Great,’ Lox said. ‘See, we got about seventy in our Alley Cat Gang now. And?’
‘And Boss and Beat tried to frighten me. Like I gave a shit, but they did say that all the East Is Best gang had joined them. Said they weren’t happy that they’d lost their weapons. Said they had more machetes coming over from Europe, and then they’re coming after us.’
The girls looked at each other.
‘What you say?’ Panther asked her.
‘I said, “Yeah, yeah”, and like they should try.’
‘Well they ain’t scarin’ us,’ Panther said. ‘Shall I beat the shit out of Yin, he runs the Chinese lot? The others’ll back down if I give ’im a kicking.’
Alysha shook her head. ‘I’ve got a better idea. Boss and Beat have been over this estate selling, did you know that?’
Panther jumped up, and one of her false toenails went flying across the carpet. ‘How they fucking dare?’
‘Careful,’ Tink told her. ‘I told you, you gotta stay calm till them nails are cool to go.’
Alysha lifted her hand. ‘Cos we are gonna let ’em, that’s how they can fucking dare,’ she said. ‘For now, we are gonna let ’em. They’ll think they’re cool, an’ are taking over this territory. We’ll let them, but we’ll watch ’em closely, and when they’ve been doin’ it for a bit, we’ll have sussed where they keep their stash. We’ll sell that info to Georgia Johnson, and get them stuffed up in clink with Harisha. We’ll do that wiv the next lot that try it too, an’ think they can stink up our estate, and we’ll make corn out of it and invest that corn in our tinies and the new youth centre. Eventually no one will mess with us and we’ll get a nice youth centre by then.’
‘What about the Chinese?’ Lox said. ‘Cos if they mess up the start of the new youth centre …’
‘We’ll run ’em a warning,’ Alysha said. ‘We’ll set fire to a couple of their family takeaways down the East End, and if they don’t back off after that, then we’ll go after this consignment that’s coming ov
er, we’ll nick it and we’ll hurt them wiv their own weapons, and then we’ll turn them in to the feds too. By then we’ll have an ’undred girls, and we’ll keep building on that, and getting this gang stronger and bigger, an’ then we can always guard it, an’ we’ll ’ave a safe and clean estate.’
‘Yeah,’ Lox agreed, ‘We’ll play as dirty as we ’ave to.’
‘But only with the bad guys,’ Tink said.
‘Yeah,’ Alysha agreed, ‘Eventually there won’t be no weapons, and no drugs around ’ere to tempt the tinies with, and they’ll have other choices too.’
‘I’ll get more girls then,’ Panther said.
Alysha nodded. ‘Yeah, and your job is to teach ’em how to fight strong, hard, and dirty. No one is better than you at it.’
‘No one is gonna take this estate,’ Lox said. ‘I want kids, and I want them to be safe. What about old Robert, the blind man on the Wren block? He got robbed again the other day. They took his radio, evil bastards.’
‘We’ll find ’em and get it back,’ Tink said. ‘No one ever is gonna suffer like them Wilkinses did, not ever again.’
‘An’ we’ve been clever, mate,’ Alysha reminded them. ‘Remember, we got the feds up our sleeve. We don’t ’ave to be afraid, cause the feds’ll always back us, they need us now. And we’ll kill, if we ’ave to, if it means protecting the young and old on this estate.’
‘We thought we’d killed Burak Kaya,’ Lox said. ‘Turns out it was Melek done him in.’
‘Yeah, but we would if we ’ad to, if it meant protecting our estate,’ Alysha said.
‘Why don’t we call our gang Alley Cat Killers?’ Panther said suddenly.
‘I like it,’ Tink said looking to Alysha for her approval.
‘Yeah,’ Alysha nodded and put her thumb in the air. ‘I like it a lot.’
‘Alley Cat Killers it is,’ Lox said, high-fiving Alysha and spilling the champagne from the paper cups they both held.
‘Let’s finish Harisha’s booze,’ Panther said. ‘And drink to Alley Cat Killers.’