Gallows Drop

by Mari Hannah

‘Cancer,’ she said. ‘Terminal.’

  ‘Oh, Beth, I’m so sorry. I know how tough that is. I lost my mother to cancer too.’

  ‘Yeah, it’s pants. I don’t want to talk about it. I’m sick of talking about it. It’s the only conversation I’ve had for months. Everyone’s so concerned about how she feels. They forget I have feelings too. Can we get this over with? I’ll give a statement and then I’d like to go.’

  ‘Of course, but if you ever need a chat, confidentially, the two of us, I’m a good listener. You have my number. Ring me, day or night.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  ‘You ready to start?’

  Beth nodded.

  Taking her phone from her pocket, Kate accessed the voice memos app and pressed record. She had a feeling they would be there a while.

  25

  Kate taped the interview so she could write it up later, reassuring Beth that she wasn’t under arrest, and that any statement she gave was on a voluntary basis. She advised the girl to take it slow, starting with Elliott, her own attendance at Alwinton Show and what went on afterwards, giving as much detail as she could remember.

  Beth nodded, bloodshot eyes on Kate. ‘I’ve known Elliott my whole life. We always go to the show together. He was so excited about the wrestling this year. He was convinced he’d win and planned to treat his grandma with his winnings. It’s her birthday soon. That’s the kind of lad he was. Always thinking of others.’

  ‘One of my officers suggested that someone might have relieved him of his cash, a mugging. Do you think that’s possible?’

  ‘No, I’m sure it wasn’t that.’

  ‘We didn’t find his winnings on him.’

  ‘I’d check with his grandma.’

  ‘Thanks, I will,’ Kate said. ‘Go on.’

  ‘A few of us arranged to meet up afterwards. Some went on ahead. I dropped a friend in Morpeth and then drove to Elsdon where I was meeting Chris—’

  ‘Chris Collins?’

  Beth couldn’t hide her surprise even though she tried to. ‘I told him you’d find out he was there. I begged him to come forward before you came looking.’

  ‘Because he was a witness?’

  Beth swallowed hard, her colour rising. ‘Chris and Elliott were scrapping when I arrived, egged on by a crowd of others. I ran over and asked what was going on. Chris was all sweaty and out of breath. He said it was nothing. Just a bit of fun. It didn’t look like it to me. I asked Elliott the same question. He told me to ask Gardner—’

  ‘Gardner?’

  ‘Liam Gardner.’

  ‘Is he also a friend?’

  ‘No! I hate him. So does— so did Elliott. I told them all they should know better and begged them to calm down. Gardner was winding them up, shouting at his cronies to rip Elliott’s jeans off so they could see if he was still wearing tights underneath like a girl. That’s the kind of wanker mentality he has.’

  Kate leaned forward, nudging her gently. ‘And what was Chris doing?’

  ‘Nothing. He doesn’t like Gardner any more than I do. There was another scuffle. Chris wasn’t involved this time, just Gardner and his lot. They were laughing at Elliott. I shouted at them to stop. They wouldn’t. Gardner told his mates to hold him down while he took a photo. When they did, he put the boot in several times . . .’ Beth wiped a tear from her eye. ‘He didn’t hold back either. It was horrible.’

  ‘I can imagine.’ Kate paused, giving her time to compose herself. ‘Did Gardner actually take a photo?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Was Elliott conscious at this point?’

  ‘Just about. He managed to stagger to his feet, but he looked weird, like he was dazed or something. He lunged at Chris. I don’t think he was seeing straight. Chris yelled at him to get off. There was blood all over his shirt. Elliott hung on. He was incapable of standing up.’

  ‘He was using Chris as a prop?’

  Beth nodded. ‘Chris pushed him away and he fell backwards onto the grass.’ She blew hard into a fresh tissue, visibly distressed. ‘He got up and Gardner shoved him down again. He hit his head on the wall. I heard a crack. It was horrible. There was loads of blood. Gardner and his mates ran off laughing, got in their cars and drove off.’

  ‘And Collins?’ Kate asked. ‘What did he do?’

  ‘He grabbed me by the hand and we ran too. I don’t know why. I begged him to call an ambulance and stay with Elliott ’til it arrived, but there was an old man watching from across the village green. Chris said he knew Elliott and would call for help. He didn’t want to get involved, so we legged it like the other cowards. I’m sorry . . .’

  ‘Beth, this is really important. When you left, what was Elliott doing?’

  ‘Sitting on the ground, dazed and covered in blood.’

  ‘Conscious though, yes?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Where did you go afterwards?’

  ‘I dropped Chris at home in Otterburn. Drove to my dad’s and went straight to bed. I was exhausted and upset. I wanted to be on my own.’

  Beth had a guilty expression on her face. She knew she should have hung around and made sure her friend received medical attention. Kate suspected she’d live with that on her conscience for the rest of her life.

  Beth held her gaze. ‘It would be best if Chris talks to you, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, it would. Do you know where he is? We’re having difficulty locating him. He’s not at home or at work.’

  ‘You won’t find him.’ The statement was out of her mouth before she realized what it might sound like to a police officer.

  Kate looked at her pointedly. ‘I will if you tell me where he is.’

  ‘He didn’t do anything!’

  ‘Then he has nothing to fear.’ A gap opened up between them. It crossed Kate’s mind that Beth might be scared of grassing up Collins, that there might be consequences if she did. ‘He needs to hand himself in, Beth. Your father is organizing a search for him as we speak.’

  ‘What? That’s not necessary.’

  ‘He seems to think it is. You said yourself we wouldn’t find him. That sounds very much like he’s gone into hiding. People don’t do that if they’re blameless.’ Kate studied the girl as she protested her friend’s innocence. Beth was torn in two, wanting to stick up for Collins and quaking at the thought of the manhunt her father had instigated. ‘We’re also trying to trace Richard Hedley. Was he at the show on Saturday?’

  Beth shook her head. ‘If he was, I never saw him.’

  ‘And afterwards, at the scene of the fight?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Are you sure? Elliott’s grandma seemed to think that’s was who he was meeting.’

  ‘I wouldn’t know.’ Beth holding back.

  ‘You’ve had no contact with Richard since the weekend?’

  ‘No . . . I remember now: he couldn’t make the show. I think he had stuff to do elsewhere.’

  Convenient. ‘Any idea what?’

  ‘No, sorry.’

  ‘Out of the area, or locally?’

  Beth shrugged. She was hiding something.

  ‘Might Chris know?’ Kate asked.

  ‘I doubt it.’

  ‘They don’t get on?’

  ‘Don’t put words in my mouth.’ The girl’s teeth began to chatter. She was shivering in her wet clothes. ‘I’m sorry. I’m upset, that’s all. I haven’t got a clue where Richard is, but I can persuade Chris to come in of his own free will.’

  ‘I can’t let you do that,’ Kate said.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘He might lose his rag if he knows you’ve spoken to us.’

  ‘He won’t. We’re good mates. He’s not like that.’

  ‘We’ll go together then.’

  ‘No. He’s scared. We both are. Give me an hour and I’ll bring him in to talk to you. I’m leaving anyway.’ Beth stood up, suddenly full of bravado. ‘What are you going to do, arrest me? I came here because my mum said I could trust you. She said you’d help me.
Now I’m offering to help you. Trust is a two-way street. Are we on or not?’

  Giving the matter some thought, Kate checked her watch. It was gone two thirty. The next briefing wasn’t scheduled until five. Atkins was probably busy getting his notes together. And without Beth’s help, Kate was certain she wasn’t going to find Collins any time soon. ‘Your dad could be in a meeting, I suppose.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  Beth didn’t quite raise a smile but seemed satisfied, buoyed by the chance to bring Collins in voluntarily. Kate gave her two hours, telling her in no uncertain terms that if he didn’t show, the matter would be out of her hands and firmly in DCI Atkins’.

  26

  Kate returned to the incident room with every intention of having it out with Atkins, but he was nowhere to be found. When he failed to materialize, she asked around and was told he’d nipped out for a late lunch – somewhere local, she guessed, as she’d checked his office and found his overcoat hanging on the door peg.

  Pulling her mobile from her pocket, she called his number. It immediately switched to voicemail. She left a message: ‘I have important news you need to hear,’ she said. ‘It’s urgent. Call me.’

  Hank caught her eye from across the room, a worried expression on his face. Holding an imaginary cup in the air, he waggled his hand from side to side, asking if she fancied a coffee. Nodding, she pointed at her office door, invited him to join her. He arrived moments later, two steaming mugs in his hand.

  ‘How did it go with Beth?’ He set the coffee down, loosened his tie and made himself comfortable. ‘You look stressed to death. Am I to take it she has information about Elliott’s murder?’ Absolutely nothing got past him, let alone fazed him. For as long as she’d known him, Hank had always been a step ahead of the game, there for her whenever the going got tough. She was lucky to have such support.

  ‘I want you to listen to this.’ She pressed a button on her phone – the recording of her conversation with Beth – and set it to play on the desk between them. They listened to the audio clip together, then called Carmichael into the office. Taking her into their confidence, Kate gave her instructions to gather any information available on Christopher Collins and Liam Gardner.

  ‘Who’s Gardner?’ Carmichael asked.

  ‘One of a group of lads taunting Elliott Foster within hours of his death,’ Kate said. ‘We find him and I reckon we’ll find the others, so act quickly. Lisa, please don’t mention Beth Casey to anyone else until I’ve had a chance to speak to her father. Hopefully by then she’ll have returned with Collins in tow and Atkins will be semi-grateful.’

  Hank’s eyes held a warning. ‘Makes you think Collins will play ball?’

  ‘Beth seemed fairly confident she could talk him into it. Claims he’s done nothing to feel bad about.’

  Carmichael wasn’t persuaded. ‘So why’s he hiding?’

  ‘I asked her the very same question,’ Kate said. ‘I have to hope that he’ll cooperate. I’m not sure Beth is that confident. She said they’re close, but there’s something she’s not telling me. What other choice did I have but to trust her? She wasn’t going to volunteer the information. You should’ve seen her face when she found out her dad was after him. She was petrified.’

  ‘He’ll go apeshit when he finds out she was there,’ Hank said. ‘He’ll like it even less that she confided in you and not him. Doesn’t sound like they’re in a caring, sharing relationship, does it? Put it this way, I wouldn’t like to be in her shoes right now.’ He grimaced. ‘Or yours for that matter, boss.’

  Kate shifted uncomfortably in her seat. ‘I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.’

  ‘Atkins is an oddball,’ Carmichael said. ‘He gives me the creeps.’

  ‘Makes you say that?’ The hair on Kate’s head stood up like soldiers, a memory stirring deep within. She hid her anxiety well – at least she hoped she did.

  ‘We were talking earlier,’ Carmichael said. ‘One minute he was giving me a shedload of stuff to do, the next he charged out of the building like it was on fire. No explanation. No long goodbye. To be honest, he looked like he’d seen a bloody ghost.’

  A shiver ran down Kate’s spine, an awful thought occurring. ‘How long ago was this?’

  Carmichael screwed up her face. ‘Ten, fifteen minutes.’

  ‘Where were you at the time?’ Kate asked.

  ‘In the guv’nor’s office – does it matter?’

  ‘Shit! Tell me he wasn’t near the window—’

  Lisa grinned at Hank. ‘Watch her, she’s psychic.’

  ‘This is serious, Lisa.’ Kate felt her stomach heave. ‘I let Beth out of the rear door so Atkins wouldn’t see her from his office. It never occurred to me he’d be using Naylor’s. He must’ve seen her go. I don’t even know where she was heading. She refused to say. Said she could handle it.’ Kate put her hands on her head. ‘What a monumental fuck-up.’

  Hank and Lisa were nonplussed.

  ‘Jesus!’ Kate palmed her brow. ‘I have to find her.’

  ‘Boss, calm down,’ Hank said. ‘Assuming Atkins has the nous to put two and two together and come up with four, what’s he going to do? He’ll be angry with her, of course. So would I in his position – I’d be giving our Ryan a talking to – but he’ll get over it, eventually.’

  ‘With all due respect, you’re not Atkins.’ Kate tried hard not to panic, to keep things in perspective. She knew stuff about the SIO that the others weren’t aware of. No matter how hard she tried to put a positive spin on it, the fallout from her meeting with Beth Casey would dominate her last day in the office. The idea of leaving the lass in such difficult circumstances while she swanned off on holiday with Jo was inconceivable.

  27

  Beth turned off the main road into the Boe Rigg campsite. Chris’s blue one-man tent was pitched on high ground within sight of the car park, the flap pinned open so he could see her coming. From this distance, it was impossible to gauge what mood he was in, although he did wave.

  Always a good sign.

  Parking on the gravelled area beneath the camping field, Beth got out of her car and locked it. She climbed the steep hill, past a kiddies’ play area, arriving at his tent out of breath and anxious. He had a fire going and offered her a can of Coke from his haversack. She shook her head, telling him she didn’t want one, and slumped down on the ground, thoroughly miserable and exhausted. Since her trip to the cop shop, she hadn’t been home to change. Even her underwear was still damp.

  ‘You told your dad, didn’t you?’ Chris’s tone was scathing. The hate in his eyes frightened her. ‘You told him after I begged you not to. What’s going on, Beth? You got someone better lined up, someone Daddy approves of? It would be a damned sight easier for all concerned if I disappeared permanently, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘Don’t be daft! Why would you say such a thing?’

  He eyed her coldly. ‘What did you tell him? I want to know.’

  Beth reached out to touch him. Tried telling him how much he meant to her. He pulled away, said something spiteful. He was very angry. Understandably. She’d gone against his wishes. But then he hadn’t listened to a word she’d said. She had to find a way of getting through to him. Her first real boyfriend, Chris was by no means perfect. He’d lose his temper one minute and show compassion the next, especially where her mum was concerned. Unfortunately, that part of him was currently nowhere to be seen.

  ‘I asked you a question,’ he yelled.

  ‘I didn’t tell him anything, Chris. I swear!’ Under the intensity of his gaze, Beth was finding it hard not to avert her eyes. She decided to level with him and get her meeting with Kate Daniels out in the open. ‘I’ve spoken to someone else, someone I trust who I know can help.’

  ‘What? Who? Who have you fucking told?’

  ‘Don’t swear at me! You know I don’t like it.’

  ‘Pity for you.’

  He threw an empty fag packet on the fire. They both watched it shrivel and bur
n. Chris’s face was set in a scowl. When he looked at her, there was no understanding of what it was like to be the child of a copper, having to watch your Ps and Qs, never allowed to let the side down. Beth hated it.

  ‘Where have you been? You said you’d be here hours ago. I’ve been waiting all day in the pissing rain.’

  ‘Oh, it’s all about you, isn’t it?’ Beth snapped. ‘You’re a selfish git sometimes. I went to see my mum. She had a bad night. Thanks for asking.’

  ‘Don’t lie to me—’

  ‘I’m not! Where else would I be? I told you last night I was going. Not my problem if you weren’t taking any notice. Anyway, I don’t need your permission. I’m not your property.’

  He clearly didn’t believe she’d been to see her mum.

  They had drawn the attention of a family in the next tent. Beth was lost in the memory of their last argument and steeling herself for more to come. On that occasion, he’d accused her of being unfaithful. He was an insecure loser sometimes, not the canny lad he made out when others were around. She was beginning to think that all men were the same.

  He would never control her. No man would.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, after what seemed like an age. ‘I didn’t mean to upset you—’

  ‘Didn’t you? That’s what you said last time.’

  Shamefaced, he pulled her close, rubbing her upper arm. This time, it was Beth who pulled away. She was angry, nowhere near ready to make friends. If he continued to behave like a prick, she couldn’t see the relationship lasting. His mum and her dad were dead against it and, frankly, Beth didn’t want to work that hard.

  ‘I said I’m sorry!’ He grabbed her hand. ‘Beth, c’mon, I know I can be a twat sometimes, but only because I’m scared of losing you.’ He smiled, the old Chris returning. Dropping his head on one side, he gave her big eyes, like a lovesick puppy begging for forgiveness.

  ‘The police aren’t the only ones you’re scared of, are they?’ she said.

  ‘What? You reckon I can’t handle Gardner,’ he scoffed. ‘Think again.’