“No comment.” Rachel started crying. She couldn’t help it, and she felt quite stupid with Miller watching her. He didn’t look as though he had any sympathy for her whatsoever.
“Last chance Rachel. Who else was there?”
“No comment.”
“That’s such a silly thing to do. Right, well I’m not spending anymore time on this nonsense. Rachel Alice Birdsworth, of number sixteen Fir Trees Avenue, you are charged with the murder of Graham Ashworth. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention something that you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”
*****
“Hello again Michael.” Miller was shattered now. He just wanted to get home and crawl into bed. But first he needed to charge Michael Crossley, and let him know that he was going to be staying in a cell for a considerable amount of time, and so would Rachel.
“Hello again,” said Mick. Miller could see that his bravado had slipped. Michael Crossley was missing a bit of his confidence.
“I’ve got bad news.” Said Miller.
“Right?” Mick looked down at the floor.
“I’ve got this picture.” Miller pulled it out of his file. “It clearly shows you and another person, Rachel Birdsworth, your common-law wife, at Asda in Accrington, buying five rolls of the tape that was used to wrap Graham Ashworth’s body. As you can see from the picture, the date is the fourth of June. The time is three thirty in the morning.” Miller pointed to the date that was printed in red digitals along the top left hand side of the picture. “That’s the date upon which you told me that you, and you alone killed and disposed of Graham Ashworth.”
Mick’s foot had started tapping. His eyes were filled with tears. He could see how scared he and Rachel looked on the picture. How out of their depth they were. How fucking stupid. A tear broke free from Mick’s eye and landed next to the damning photograph.
“It’s an honourable thing you’ve tried to do, I guess.” Said Miller.
“No comment.” Mick was properly crying and his words sounded more like noises.
“It’s a bit late for all that. I’ve just shown this to Rachel. She’s given me a full confession. She told me that it was her, who killed Graham. She told me that you wanted to help her. She told me that you wanted to take the blame.” Miller didn’t care if he told the odd white lie in pursuit of the truth, but Mick wasn’t buying it.
“That’s fucking bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit. She’s sensible enough to see that you haven’t got away with your scheme. So she’s taking the blame for the murder, that she did.”
“I don’t believe you!” Mick was sobbing properly now, his shoulders were heaving, and his face was full of hot, stinging tears. He was confused, he had no idea what was what now.
“Well, listen. That’s not my problem. But you’re going to be in a load of shit for this. Murder, aiding an offender, concealing a body, perverting the course of justice, attempting to pervert the course of justice. You’re snookered Michael.”
“Just leave me alone!” said Mick as he wiped his face with his sleeve.
“This is your last chance to tell me who else was there. Who was the other person, or other people who helped you?”
“Fuck off.”
“Okay. Well, I don’t know who you’re protecting, or why. But I don’t think that you and Rachel managed to wrap that body up so well on your own. But that was your last chance to tell me. Michael Crossley, along with Rachel Alice Birdsworth who I have just charged, I am charging you with the murder of Graham Ashworth.”
Chapter 40
“Right, come on you.” Miller was talking through the hatch on the cell door. Suzanne Ashworth was lay on her back on the mattress, staring up at the ceiling.
“I hope you’re releasing me.” She said, snottily as she pulled herself up off the floor.
“Depends on your answer to one question.”
“Oh? Go on…”
“Not here. You need to come down to the interview room.”
“Oh for God’s sake,” said Suzanne. “I need to get home, I want to wash my hair. Look at the state of me.”
“You’re nearly there. Come on. Don’t be horrible to me now, I’m tired out.” Miller was being nice, he put his arm around Suzanne’s shoulder as he walked along the corridor with her. He could see the finishing line ahead. He just needed to get this final part of the job done, and he could finally go home and fall into bed. “Shouldn’t take long,” he said, as they walked through the custody suite and onto another corridor. Moments later, they were inside interview room four, and Miller had set the recording machine going.
“Okay, last question from me at this stage Suzanne. If this is all true, what you’ve said, why didn’t you just dob them in? You could have phoned the police.”
Suzanne didn’t blink, she just answered the question straight off. “I saw what they did to Graham, the night he went to hospital. He was beaten up, badly. They said no police or we’ll set you on fire.”
“So the injuries that Graham sustained, the ones he went to hospital with, were caused by Rachel and Michael?”
“Indirectly. Yes.”
“What do you mean, indirectly?”
“It wasn’t them personally, but it was quite obvious. After he’d started calling them names, they had him beaten up. I didn’t fancy the same treatment.”
“And so, you carried on, playing friends, letting them think they had you on side?”
“What else could I do? I knew it was only a matter of time until Graham was discovered, until they were caught.”
Miller looked as though he didn’t believe her. He blew out an exasperated breath and wiped his face with both hands.
“But that contradicts everything you said at the beginning.” He said, concerned that Suzanne was just trying to annoy him.
“You do know what all this means for me, don’t you?” she asked.
“What?”
“Well, I’m finished round here. My life is going to be made a misery. I’m going to have to move away.”
“Well I’m sure that you’ll have enough money. I mean, you’ll be okay financially Suzanne, won’t you?”
“Oh yes, I’ll be fine from that point of view. But I mean, I’ll be in danger living in Manchester now. I need to get away, tonight.”
“Well avoid Liverpool. It’s even worse there.”
“Oh I know. I’m thinking Cornwall or somewhere. Maybe the Cotswolds.”
“Okay, Suzanne Ashworth I am releasing you on bail. You must return to this police station at nine o’clock on Monday the tenth of September. Interview suspended at sixteen forty four hours. You’re free to leave.”
“And what about Mick and Rachel?” asked Suzanne as Miller turned off the recorder and wrote down the digital read out details on the paperwork.
“I’ve just charged them. They’ll appear before magistrates on Monday morning. After that they’ll be remanded in custody.”
“Thank God for that.”
“Eh?”
“I thought they’d kill me next. I’ve been waiting for it. They said that if I do anything, say anything, I’ll be shot in the face. God, what a relief. Thanks Detective.”
*****
After walking out of the police station with a see-through carrier bag that contained her belongings, Suzanne fished about in the bag for her mobile. She grabbed it, turned it on and checked her messages as she walked briskly towards the taxi rank by the bus station. It bleeped with one text message.
“FRIDAY 16:20 Rachel: Suzanne where are you babe? Your cappuccino is going cold! R xxx”
“Ha ha Rachel, you silly bitch!” laughed Suzanne as she looked through her contacts. When she found Tania’s number, she pressed the call icon.
“Hi, how’s it going?” she said into the phone. “No, I’ve been banged up all night. It’s all sorted though. Mick and Rachel have been charged with killing him. Yeah, I know. It’s perf
ect. Come and pick me up and we’ll get something to eat. Yes, don’t worry, it’s all sorted. Everything’s sorted. I know! Amazing. Bury bus station. I’ll wait by the taxi rank. Okay, see you in fifteen. Byeeee.”
EPILOGUE
The television screen showed the now infamous CCTV photograph of two pale, frightened looking people in their early thirties, buying several rolls of duct tape at the supermarket check-outs.
“Life imprisonment for the killers of the much-loved Bury council executive Graham Ashworth. The couple dubbed “The Neighbours From Hell” will serve at least eight years each. Welcome to North West Tonight, I’m Roger Thompson. And, with this news story still breaking, we can cross live now to our reporter Denise Braithwaite who is at Preston Crown Court. Denise.”
“Thank you Roger. Yes, The Neighbours From Hell trial has this evening concluded with a guilty verdict against both defendants, and as you have pointed out, the judge has handed down life sentences to the killers, Rachel Birdsworth and Michael Crossley, after a trial that has lasted six weeks. The victim’s widow, Suzanne Ashworth spoke to the press a few moments ago.”
The screen changed from the reporter’s solemn face, to a clip of Suzanne Ashworth talking to microphones and reporters amid bright lights and photographers flashes, outside the famous red brick court house. Her eyes were hidden by large sunglasses, and her hair was obscured by a vivid white head scarf. She was dressed like a celebrity.
“My husband was a kind, supportive, selfless human-being who did so much for the community. His death has left a massive void in my life, and in the lives of all the people that he helped. The killers, people that I thought were my friends, will be able to get on with their lives again in eight years. I’ll never be able to get on with mine.”
The screen returned to Denise Braithwaite.
“That was the widow of Graham Ashworth, speaking a couple of minutes before we came on air. Now, to re-cap, the killers were moved from a caravan site to the high-class Haughton Park estate last summer, as part of a widely-criticised and unpopular re-housing scheme run by Bury council, which brought homeless families to the expensive development. It was here that the neighbours from hell couple first came into contact with the Ashworth’s. The judge said that from the moment they had arrived, Birdsworth and Crossley viewed Graham and Suzanne Ashworth “with envious eyes” and had been turned “green with jealousy” by the lifestyle that the couple enjoyed.
On the screen, a photograph of Graham and Suzanne Ashworth appeared, showing the couple looking happy and relaxed on a cruise, clinking champagne glasses together.
“You are wicked beyond words,” said the judge, as he summed up – highlighting an incident that took place just a few days after Birdsworth and Crossley moved into the luxurious property that they were renting. Graham Ashworth was severely beaten up and was taken to Accident and Emergency at Bury General Hospital. It was a beating that had been organised by Birdsworth and Crossley.”
The holiday image on the screen changed to depressing video footage of police activity by the canal in Accrington.
“No charges were brought in relation to that incident, it wasn’t reported, because Mr Ashworth was threatened with being set on fire if the police were called. Just one month later, Mr Ashworth was dead, his body dumped in the canal in Accrington.”
Roger Thompson, in the studio asked the reporter a question.
“What about a motive Denise? What reason was given for this awful crime?”
“Well, that’s the really shocking aspect that has emerged from this trial Roger. The defendants had both tried to argue that Mr Ashworth was killed by accident, after he had beaten his wife unconscious in the Ashworth home – but this explanation was dismissed as fantasy, and was vehemently denied by Mrs Ashworth, who said that that her husband was a kind, gentle, loving man who wouldn’t harm a fly. Rather than being beaten by her husband, Mrs Ashworth said that she was drugged by the pair, and while she was sleeping off the cocktail of sleeping tablets, her neighbours were killing, and disposing of her husband. The judge said that “in their desperation to try to justify their despicable crime, they were prepared to tarnish the reputation of a much-loved and well respected man, a man who had over thirty years exemplary service with the council, and who had done a great deal of work for the local community in that time. In answer to your question Roger – the jury have decided that there was no motive, that there was no reason, other than the extreme jealousy that Birdsworth and Crossley had of a lifestyle that they craved so much, but knew that they would never enjoy. It was a jealousy that would turn them into cold-blooded killers. The couple’s four children have now been taken into local authority care.”
“And what have Bury council had to say about the matter Denise?”
“There has been no official statement from them as yet, but their website does state that “the social housing deal that had been set up with Haughton Park’s developers was terminated several months ago, and the last of the social housing service users have been moved off the development, and into more suitable accommodation.”
“Denise, thank you. In other news now and a thousand new jobs have been created at…”
(To be continued…)
THE END
Is Maureen about to lose her shit over the outcome of this case?
Watch out for MILLER 3 – out in Spring 2016
Thank you for reading.
© COPYRIGHT
MMXV
STEVEN SUTTIE 2015 ;)
ALSO BY STEVEN SUTTIE
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m Hell : DCI Miller 2: The gripping Manchester thriller with a killer twist
Neighbours From Hell : DCI Miller 2: The gripping Manchester thriller with a killer twist Page 32