by Menon, David
‘You were in business with the Curzon’s. Helen Curzon told it all to Sharon Bellfield. But you had your people watching. You don’t like the press sniffing round your business interests. That’s why you had Sharon Bellfield beaten to within an inch of her life. You wanted to scare her into not going into print with what she’d found out’.
‘An interesting theory. But the reality is that you can’t make it stick’.
‘Is that right?’
‘You know I’m right, detective, just like you’ve always known’.
‘I’ll get people back from the other side of the world if I have to, Connelly’.
‘Yes, yes, I know it was Anita Patel who blabbed to Miss Bellfield in the middle of a fit of conscience over her affair with the married Brian Curzon. Full marks to him for being able to pull a lovely young girl like Anita at his age, by the way. But do you really think she would come all the way back from India where she’s safe in the arms of her family to testify against me in a city where she knows she wouldn’t be safe anymore? Come on, detective, I think you may be losing the plot. Anyway, let’s change the subject. How’s Andy Kirkpatrick’s wife? Has she met someone else and moved on with her life?’
‘She is none of your damn business!’
‘I was only asking a question out of natural human concern’ said Connelly. He could see how much he was rattling Jeff and he was enjoying it. ‘You see, that’s another damning indictment of today’s society. People are always thinking you’ve got an ulterior motive for showing that you care for your fellow men and women. I find that sad. Don’t you find it sad, detective?’
Jeff had never wanted to kill someone as much as he wanted to kill Connelly right at that moment. ‘One day I will get you for the murder of Andy Kirkpatrick, Connelly. You can bet your sordid little life on it’.
‘Really? This sounds more like a vendetta than a quest for justice, detective’.
‘Don’t try and twist it, Connelly’.
Bernie Connelly expanded his arms out. ‘Why do you think so badly of me?’
‘You’ve got the nerve to ask me that question?’
‘It’s a fair question as far as I’m concerned’.
‘And one of these days someone is going to ask you certain questions and you won’t be able to hide the answers anymore’ said Jeff. ‘One day, Connelly’.
‘Well I hope you’re a patient man because you’ll have a very long wait, detective’ said Connelly, grinning like the proverbial cat who’d got the cream. ‘Now if you don’t mind, illuminating as this conversation is I do have things to get on with so would you like to let yourself out?’
‘I concede defeat this time, Connelly. But even a cat only has nine lives and you’re chalking them up rapidly’.
‘A very amusing analogy’ said Connelly. ‘Have a nice day, detective’.
‘Chief Superintendent Chambers is still off sick’ said Jeff who nevertheless had to produce a report on his most recent investigation for the elected crime commissioners examination of procedures within the force. Although with Chambers off sick it had removed the immediate urgency. ‘So I have the pleasure of telling you, Ollie, that Jonathan Freeman has dropped all charges against you’.
Ollie slumped in his chair and breathed out a massive sigh of relief. It took a moment or two to steady his breathing.
Jeff smiled. ‘I thought you’d be pleased’.
‘I’m just glad it’s all over, sir’.
‘You and me both, Ollie’ said Jeff. ‘You’re a bloody good police officer and I’m proud to have you on my team. I never believed for one moment that any of this was true, Ollie’.
‘Thank you, sir. I appreciate that’.
‘Jonathan Freeman has made a full retraction’ Jeff revealed. ‘And I will make sure that this does not have any bearing on your future career’.
‘None of us really knew Freeman, sir’.
‘I know, Ollie, I know’ said Jeff. ‘And I’m sorry I brought him into the squad’.
‘You weren’t to know’.
‘And Ollie, next time we all have a get together bring your partner. It would be good to meet him’.
Ollie smiled. ‘I will do, sir. Gladly’.
‘If it takes my entire career I’ll get Connelly’ said Jeff who was sitting with Rebecca in the pub down the road from the station. He was working his way through a pint of Guinness and Rebecca was on her second glass of white wine. ‘He sits there knowing that he virtually runs this city through all the fronts for his real activities. That’s something that simply cannot carry on’.
‘He’s bound to trip up sometime’ said Rebecca. ‘He slipped through your fingers this time but he won’t forever, Jeff’.
‘Well we’ll see’ said Jeff. ‘You know, when I went to see him he didn’t even mention the fact that his sister was in custody. He must’ve just washed his hands of her’.
‘They’re a pretty dysfunctional family’ said Rebecca. ‘But then look at the Curzon’s. They must be one of the most dysfunctional families of them all’.
‘Yes, and I don’t think we got even close to seeing the full characters of Sophie Cooper and Clarissa Dalton-Wood’ said Jeff as he looked into the dark Irish liquid in his glass. ‘They effectively took Andrea Kay over. They truly are an evil pair of manipulators’.
‘I can’t help feeling a bit sorry for Andrea Kay’ said Rebecca. ‘I know she killed all those people but talk about being screwed up. Losing her mother so tragically and then watching her father go off with a woman who clearly didn’t want Andrea around’.
‘Some would say she should’ve just got over it and got on with her life’.
‘And there’s a certain amount of truth in that but it clearly wasn’t that easy for her’ said Rebecca. ‘All the hurt and the pain twisted everything in her head’.
‘I’m glad she never found out about Melanie Cartwright’s baby’ said Jeff. ‘Or else she’d have been on her killing list’.
‘Brian Curzon will go down for that’.
‘Oh I’m sure he will’ said Jeff. ‘And good fucking riddance to the stupid, weak bastard’.
‘I hear the airline have given Melanie Cartwright a warning instead of sacking her?’
‘Yes, under the circumstances and all that’ said Jeff. ‘They decided to be lenient with her. Seamus says she’s off sick with stress at the moment though. Can’t say I’m surprised. She’ll have the court case coming up with Brian Curzon to go through as well as those involving Cooper and Dalton-Wood’.
‘How did you work out that it was Helen Curzon who helped Andrea Kay?’
‘It seemed to me that it was too obvious for it to be Brian Curzon’ said Jeff. ‘And because of his affair with Anita Patel he became the common enemy of both Andrea and her step-mother. His murder was then the ultimate aim of them both. That’s when I knew it had to be Helen Curzon’.
‘And then there’s poor old Tina Webb’ said Rebecca. ‘She was an innocent who got caught up in it all’.
‘I feel like we let her down’.
‘No we didn’t, Jeff’ said Rebecca. ‘All the evidence pointed to her being the killer of James Clifton. It was only as the case went on that we were able to say for certain that she wasn’t’.
‘I’m going to make so damn sure that Toby knows all about what bullying is and what its long term effects can be’ said Jeff. ‘Andrea Kay was bullied all the way through school until Cooper and Dalton-Wood came along and replaced that with a different and altogether more sinister kind of manipulation’.
‘And Jonathan Freeman used the tragic history of the Jewish people to bully Ollie Wright just because Ollie is black and gay. The bullied became the bully. Strike at them before they get a chance to strike at you’.
‘That’s called paranoia’ said Jeff. ‘It’s pretty twisted too’.
‘You’re right there’.
‘How did you get him to withdraw the allegations against Ollie?’
‘I confronted him’ said Rebecca. ‘Told h
im some home truths’.
‘It worked’.
‘Yes it did’.
‘Thank you’.
‘You’re welcome’.
‘He wasn’t worthy of you, Becky’.
Rebecca ran a hand through her hair and finished off her glass of white wine. ‘That’s the trouble with my life at the moment, Jeff. I don’t know if I’m worthy enough for the one I want. I don’t know if I ever will be’.
‘That sounds like you know who the one you want is?’
‘I do’ said Rebecca. ‘But I’m waiting for him to wake up to it’. .
THE END
But Detective Superintendent Jeff Barton will be back soon in ‘STORMS’.
STORMS PROLOGUE
Leroy tried to struggle against the restraints. He was sitting at one end of what felt like some kind of bench. There was a straight metal pole against his back and a thick metal collar round his neck that prevented him from lowering his head. Something was touching the back of his neck. He couldn’t figure out what it was but it also felt like metal of some kind. His arms had been pushed back and his wrists cuffed tightly to the metal pole although his hands had been forced too far apart to be able to touch and that was causing excruciating pain in his shoulders. His knees were bent and his ankles chained to something behind him. He’d been stripped naked and he was cold. He was really cold. Tape had been placed over his mouth and eyes.
Then the man’s voice filled him once more with fear.
‘You may as well save your strength’ said the man. ‘You’re really going to need it’.
Leroy heard the man step closer and then he lit a cigarette. ‘You may as well face up to it, Leroy. You won’t be getting out of here alive. You’ve come here to die my friend. Or rather you’ve come here for me to execute you. That’s when the fun will start. Well it will for me anyway but for you it might not be so much fun. More like the unbearable torments of hell. You think you control the streets. You think you can take whatever you want and give absolutely nothing back. Well let me tell you, Leroy, it isn’t going to happen anymore because I’m going to pick you all off one by one and teach the Gorton boys a valuable lesson in an eye for an eye’.
The man paused whilst he took a drag on his cigarette. Leroy was breathing rapidly and was totally consumed with terror. He didn’t recognize the voice of the man but he sounded like he was probably white.
‘Do you know what, Leroy? I was so keen to get down here and fill you in on what’s going to be happening during your last hours on earth that I forgot to bring an ashtray. Still there are always other places to stub your fag out’.
The man grabbed Leroy’s penis, pulled back the foreskin and stubbed his cigarette out on the end. He kept it there grinding the hot tobacco into the sensitive flesh. Leroy struggled once more in his restrained position. He was desperate to get away from the onslaught of sudden pain and could feel himself crying. He tried to scream but the tape across his mouth muffled the sound.
‘Try and get some sleep now, there’s a good boy’ said the man. ‘You’ll need some rest whilst you contemplate your last night here on this earth’.
Leroy was hungry but the need for food and especially water was being savagely repressed by the pain that felt like it was tearing his muscles apart. He’d barely been able to sleep but when his body had given in to the need for some kind of close down he’d immediately woken up again with a start and started crying when he remembered the situation he was in.
It was true that he’d been a pretty bad boy in his time. But the Gorton boys had been his crew. More than that they’d been his family and they’d been his future. Everyone had expected him to fail at school. And he had failed. So he’d taken up arms against that same system that had predicted and orchestrated his failure. He’d beaten people up. He’d beaten up young children who’d disrespected the laws of the Gorton boys. He’d answered his mother back. He’d answered his grandparents back. He’d never told his mother just where or how he made his money. But he’d give anything to be able to tell her now.
Every time he tried to move, even a slight movement of his arms or legs, his body almost seized up with pain. He’d pissed himself. He’d had to. He’d had no choice. He could smell the pool of urine on the floor below him. It was stone cold wherever he was and yet he’d been sweating. It felt as if his legs would snap away from the rest of his body at any moment. His shoulders felt like they were on fire as they struggled to keep his arms fixed in their sockets.
He heard the door open and his body almost went into spasm with fear.
‘So how was your night?’ asked the man. It was the same voice as before. ‘Sorry. That really was a silly question. I’ll shut up and get on with preparing your painful means of death’.
Leroy heard the man walk behind him. Oh Christ what was he going to do to him? He couldn’t help pissing himself again.
‘Oh the waterworks’ said the man. ‘Still, I can’t say I blame you. You must be terrified. Well you should be because this is really going to hurt’.
Leroy started crying. He could feel the tears roll down from underneath the thick tape across his eyes and across his cheeks.
‘Oh’ said the man. ‘I suppose you want your Mum now, don’t you? Well don’t worry. You see I’m filming this whole thing and I’ll be sending a copy of the DVD to your dear, sweet Mummy. The DVD won’t show me of course. I pause the camera when I come into the room. Now, in the best traditions of all executioners I’m now going to let you have your final words’.
The man walked up and ripped the tape from Leroy’s mouth. Leroy let out a loud scream and was finding it difficult to breathe.
‘It’s a good job nobody can hear you’ said the man. ‘Now, what do you want to say?’
‘Please, man … please don’t do this. I’ll do anything … ‘
‘Did you give any of your victims the right to a final few words? I don’t suppose you did’.
‘I’m … I’m sorry’
‘Oh sorry is a bit late, my friend’.
‘Why are you doing this to me?’
‘Because you and the rest of the Gorton boys have got away with too much for too long’.
‘I’m begging you, man’.
‘Oh this is getting boring!’ said the man who then taped Leroy’s mouth up again. He watched Leroy try to struggle and got great satisfaction from seeing him twist and contort with frustration and terror.
Leroy heard some kind of mechanism twisting behind him and then the cold metal he’d been feeling against the back of his neck began to move forward and force his neck up against the metal collar. He flinched. He was finding it difficult to breathe.
‘Do you know what a garotte is, Leroy? Well you’re strapped to one right now. I turn the wheel at the back here and you can feel there isn’t much room for maneuver so it’ll take about four or five twists for it to break your neck. Then you’ll be dead. Each twist will increase the pain you feel and you’ll struggle more and more to breathe. Goodbye Leroy. You could’ve had a truly meaningful life but as it turns out your life was pretty pointless really. Better luck next time. Now here’s the second twist and with it you’re just that little bit closer to death’.
ALL ABOUT SIMON
Just because a man is fifty-one and unmarried doesn’t mean to say he’s gay. People don’t say that about fifty-one year-old unmarried women. They feel sorry for them and say things like ‘oh it’s a shame she never met the right one’ or ‘it’s a shame he was married because she’s never got over him’. But they never say that about fifty-one year old unmarried men. They whisper about them and assume they must be some kind of sexual deviant. Or they imagine some kind of deep seated personality deficiency that stops them from forming normal relationships with women. They think they probably sit in their house late at night downloading child pornography. In other words, women can get away with being unmarried and single at fifty-one and indeed, at any bloody age. But fifty-one year old unmarried men don’t get away with it
. They’re condemned to one unfounded assumption after another.
‘Yes, but you are gay, Simon’ said Harry who was sitting next to him in the taxi. ‘So what’s the fucking point of all this?’
‘I was comparing myself to Damien, Lucy’s new boyfriend. He’s fifty and unmarried but nobody whispers about him being gay’.
‘That’s because he has relationship history’ said Harry who’d never quite been able to work out why his mate Simon had been on the receiving end of such bad luck. He was an intelligent man for sure, not a geek or a boring bastard, but someone with a thoughtful eye on the world. But his personal life had always been like a speeding car crashing against a brick wall. ‘Damien has been in two long-term relationships with women both of which lasted for years and that’s normal for unmarried straight men of his age. They’ve normally had a couple of long-term serious relationships with women that didn’t work out in the end but at least they had them. You haven’t had any serious relationships’.
‘Don’t mince your words’.
‘But it’s the truth, Simon, and I think the last thing you need at the moment is for me to give you warm words that don’t mean shit’.
‘I’ve had sex’ said Simon in the way people claim to have eaten suchi. ‘I’ve had more than my fair share of other people’s boyfriends and husbands. I’ve been quite good at being the other woman. The only way I’ve ever been able to keep anybody is by them calling the shots and me not being able to rely on anything. There’s always been someone else ahead of me in the queue for first prize. I was always the bit on the side. I would’ve loved to have had a crack at feeling what it’s like to come first in someone’s life’.