by Menon, David
‘Well I thought he might’ve confided in you and sometimes when you do that situations that weren’t real before suddenly become very real to you’ said Annabel. ‘And he’s constantly sending and receiving messages on his mobile phone. I mean, if I didn’t know any better, the way he’s acting would make me think he’d fallen in love or something’.
STORMS TWELVE
It was the way Tim had looked at Annabel when she said that if she didn’t know any better she’d think that Kyle was falling in love by the way he was acting. It made her suspicious. Tim was a highly successful businessman who was loaded. Regardless of his sexual leanings he should’ve been well spoken for when you consider that and the fact that he isn’t exactly ugly.
It was all starting to fall into place now and she didn’t like the picture it was painting. Tim had seemed particularly enthusiastic about getting to know Kyle and about having him over to stay. She hadn’t wanted to believe anything as gross as what was playing out in her mind now. But maybe she’d been such a bloody fool. She’d had her suspicions about Tim right from the start because of how he seemed to want to hide himself away. She understood why when it came to taking over the business. But now she had to face the fact that her son had fallen into the trap of a sexual manipulator. And she’d let it happen.
She sat in the kitchen staring at Kyle’s mobile phone. She’d never looked at it before. She’d never had cause to before. It was one of those lines you don’t cross with teenagers. Or maybe she’d got that all wrong. Maybe she was the most useless mother in the history of useless mothers. No, she didn’t think that. She was a good mother to Kyle. She’d just made a serious error of judgment where Tim was concerned and now she couldn’t forgive herself.
Kyle was upstairs in the shower. She knew it was a total invasion of his privacy but did she really have any choice? Ever since he’d come back from his weekend stay with Tim he’d had his mobile virtually strapped to him and he’d been on it almost constantly. Was it Tim he was exchanging messages with? Had he met someone else whilst he was there? She was going out of her mind and in the end she just grabbed it and pressed the message key.
And then she got all the proof she needed to make her feel sick to her stomach.
From Tim: Saturday night was sensational. You’ve turned a light on inside me.
From Kyle: I can’t believe all those things we did. You’re like a magician.
From Tim: You feel good then?
From Kyle: I feel absolutely fucking fantastic!
From Tim: I told you I’d make you feel that way.
From Kyle: And you weren’t kidding.
From Tim: We have to keep it to ourselves though, my dear Kyle. Nobody else must know, especially not your Mum because they wouldn’t understand.
From Kyle: No, I know and I understand. But when will I see you again?
From Tim: Can you invent a sleepover at one of your mates?
From Kyle: Yeah, that should be easy enough. Mum won’t suspect anything.
From Tim: You’re her angel child.
From Kyle: I felt more like a devil in your arms.
From Tim: I’ve been walking around ten feet off the ground.
From Kyle: Me too. I didn’t think it was possible for me to feel like this. Thank you.
From Tim: We’ll just have to keep it quiet until you’re sixteen. Then we can be open about it.
There were many more messages along the same lines but Annabel had read enough. She couldn’t help though looking at two video messages but immediately wished she hadn’t. The first one was from Kyle and was a full-frontal nude of himself. The second one was from Tim. He was masturbating to the nude picture of Kyle. She ran over to the kitchen sink and threw up. She wretched deep inside her stomach and brought back everything she’d consumed that day. She wiped her mouth and then looked up when she heard Kyle come into the room.
‘What’s the matter, Mum?’ Kyle asked. He was dressed in his dark blue bathrobe and was drying his hair with a towel as he walked towards her. ‘Are you okay?’
Annabel could feel the colour draining from her face. ‘We need to talk, Kyle’.
‘This sounds serious’ said Kyle who then noticed his mobile phone was still in her hand. ‘That’s my phone’
‘I needed to know what you’d been doing, Kyle’.
Kyle grabbed his phone from her. ‘You read my messages? They’re private!’
‘Kyle, I’m not angry with you’ said Annabel. ‘But you must understand that what you’ve been doing with Tim is wrong’.
‘Why is it? It makes me happy’.
‘But you’re too young, Kyle’ Annabel pleaded. ‘Son, it isn’t your fault’.
‘It isn’t Tim’s fault either’.
‘He took advantage of you’.
‘I wanted to be taken advantage of! Don’t you see? I wanted this as much as he did!’
‘But he’s the adult and he should’ve resisted’.
‘Like you should’ve resisted when you started shagging the married hotel handyman?’
Annabel slapped his face. The look on his face said it all. Wrong move.
‘Oh Kyle, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have done that’.
‘No, you shouldn’t. Because it’s made me more determined than ever to carry on with Tim’.
‘No you can’t because you’re underage and I absolutely forbid it!’
‘See if I care what you think’.
‘Kyle, he’s breaking the law’.
‘Then it’s a stupid law if it stops people loving each other’.
‘But you’re only fifteen and he’s forty-three. It is all absolutely wrong and I’m going to put a stop to it’.
‘Mum, if you make trouble for Tim over this then I promise you I’ll take off from here and you’ll never see me again’.
Annabel could feel tears running down her cheeks. ‘Kyle, what the hell has happened to you? I could never imagine you’d speak to me like that’.
Kyle started to feel guilty. He loved his Mum. He always had done. It was his Dad he despised and really didn’t want to upset his Mum. She’d been there for him all the way. She always had been. But now he felt like he was kicking her in the teeth.
‘I’m sorry, Mum. Okay? I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you. But this thing with Tim has made me feel so much better about myself and about life. It’s lifted me right up there and I just don’t want to come back down’.
‘But you have to, son’ said Annabel. ‘And I’d be failing you as your mother if I didn’t take steps to put a stop to all this’.
Kyle started to cry. Annabel tried to comfort him but he pushed her away.
‘You do that, Mum. You do that and I will hate you for the rest of my life!’
Kyle ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Annabel was crying herself now but there was only one person who could help her. He always said he’d be there if ever she needed anything. Well she’d never been more in need of help than now and so maybe it was time to see just how good his word was.
Ollie Wright pinned the pictures of the three murder victims on the white board in front of the entire squad. First Leroy Patterson, then PC Tyler Moore and finally Aidan Richards. He then put up a picture of John Squires who remained the chief suspect. Chief superintendent Geraldine Chambers was also in attendance.
‘Thanks, Ollie’ said Jeff, stepping forward. ‘John Squires is an angry man. He’s also an unapologetic racist. As you all know his mother Evelyn Squires was prevented from getting to hospital by a mob from the Gorton estate that prevented the ambulance she was in from moving. She died as a result. He had every motive to carry out a vendetta campaign against the Gorton boys gang and I’ve always said that this was something personal. This is something aimed fair and square at the Gorton boys because they’ve done something that’s ripped the heart out of the killer in some way. And I suspect it was something that the police either couldn’t do anything about for some reason or wouldn’t do anything about. I’ve s
poken to DCI Mike Phillips who the senior officer who placed PC Tyler Moore into the undercover operation as Melanie Patterson’s nephew Jackson Williams. As far as he’s concerned there was no crime that his team overlooked in order to protect PC Moore’s identity.
Then there’s the matter of the white transit van that was seen by Ralph Johnson who lives in a flat on the second floor of Wavertree Gardens over the road from the main route into the Gorton estate. His front room window gives him a clear view of the entrance into the estate and he’s written down many of the comings and goings of the last few weeks. He’s been trying to get in touch with us for a while apparently. He saw the van drive into the estate last Tuesday night and watched the driver get out and dump the body of Tyler Moore. He didn’t get a close look at the driver but we’re bringing him in this afternoon to view some pictures that will include John Squires’.
‘And what if Mr. Johnson doesn’t positively identify John Squires as the man he saw last Tuesday night?’ asked Chief Superintendent Chambers. ‘Where would that leave us?’
‘Ma’am, John Squires has no explanation for the van being registered to him other than it is registered to him because it’s his’ said Jeff. ‘And like I say he has the motive’.
‘But?’
‘Where did he take them? Where did he get hold of the gruesome equipment he used to kill them? These are questions he will have to answer if Ralph Johnson positively identifies him but if Johnson doesn’t then we’ll keep going back to the basic questions until we find a way to the end of this’.
Rebecca smiled as she led Ralph Johnson through the station. He was clearly enjoying the attention and why should she bother about that. The old bloke was probably as lonely as fuck and hadn’t had any real attention for months, maybe even years. He had told her that he had two daughters and a stack of grandchildren none of whom he saw on a regular basis. That was the trouble with families these days, thought Rebecca. Nobody seems to give a shit. He said he’d put his best clothes on but he still had that smell of an old person who’d given up taking any real care of himself. He was lovely though. She’d really quite taken to him.
‘I’ve got a nurse who looks a bit like you’ said Ralph.
‘Oh yeah?’ said Rebecca.
‘Her name is Monica and she comes to dress the ulcers on my leg twice every week’ Ralph announced proudly. ‘She’s a good sort although I don’t think she posted the letter I’d written to the police’.
‘Why do you think she didn’t do that, Ralph?’
‘Well she said she was worried I might get into bother with that whole Gorton boys gang and whoever was doing them in’ Ralph explained. ‘She thought I should just lead a quiet life and not get myself involved with anything’.
‘She was only looking out for you’ said Rebecca.
‘But I could have given you that registration number long before I did and you could have been working on it sooner’.
‘Oh well’ said Rebecca. ‘You were trying to do the right thing. What’s Monica’s surname by the way?’
‘Her surname?’
‘Yes. Just as a matter of interest’.
‘Well it’s Parkinson. Yes, that’s it. Monica Parkinson. She works out of the surgery on Palatine Road’.
‘Oh yes I know that place’ said Rebecca. ‘My aunt Shirley goes there’.
‘Is she pretty?’
‘Behave’ said Rebecca. ‘Yes, she is pretty but she’s been well spoken for to my uncle Dennis for nearly forty years’.
‘Pity’.
‘You’re incorrigible’
Ralph chuckled. ‘Well I’m sure I am if I knew what that meant’.
Jeff and Rebecca set Ralph up in a more comfortable room than the standard ones they used for interviews and showed him several pictures of known criminals who might’ve had reason to want to ‘score’ against the Gorton boys. It was all subterfuge however. It was when they got to the pictures of John Squires that their interest in Ralph’s answers really picked up.
‘Was this the man you saw driving the transit van, Ralph?’ Jeff asked.
‘No’ said Ralph. ‘As I said to you before I didn’t get a good look at him but I do remember his build as being more stocky than that. And he was shorter too. This man here is too tall to be the man I saw’.
Jeff got home that night in time to read his son Toby a bedtime story before tucking him in for the night. He always tried to get home in time for this and felt guilty when he couldn’t. After Toby’s Mum died Jeff had made every effort to be there for his son whenever he needed him. But it wasn’t always easy with the job that he had.
‘Goodnight, soldier’ said Jeff who then kissed his son. ‘How many weeks now to your sixth birthday?’
‘Twenty-two, Daddy!’
‘Only twenty-two? That still leaves me lots of time to plan our little trip to Disneyland’.
‘I can’t wait, Daddy’.
‘Me neither, mate. Now before you go to sleep is there anything you want to talk to me about?’
‘I don’t think so, Daddy. Everything’s cool really’.
Jeff smiled. ‘I’m glad about that, mate. Now have a good night’s sleep and I’ll see you in the morning for breakfast’.
Jeff then went downstairs and poured himself a glass of red wine from a bottle he’d already opened. He then asked Brendan his live-in nanny and housekeeper if he’d like one too. Jeff didn’t think of Brendan as just an ‘employee’. He’d become part of the family.
‘That would be great thanks, Jeff’ said Brendan who was warming up Jeff’s dinner of lamb casserole with a selection of roasted vegetables.
‘That smells wonderful’ said Jeff who wasn’t very hungry but didn’t want to tell Brendan that after he’d gone to all this trouble. Ralph Johnson declaring that John Squires was not the man who’d been driving the white transit van had proved a blow to the whole case. He’d had to let John Squires go. Chief Superintendent Chambers was getting edgy. The higher reaches of the force and the press were both on her back. It was Jeff’s job to produce a result that she could then go to all the hungry wolves with. He’d have to get all the heads together again in the morning. Somewhere in all the stuff they already knew there was something for them to go on.
‘Well I hope you’ve got an appetite because I made plenty’ said Brendan. ‘But no pressure. I can freeze what you don’t eat’.
Brendan sat talking with Jeff at the table whilst Jeff ate. Something about the flavours in the casserole ignited Jeff’s appetite and he managed to eat most of what Brendan had dished up for him without feeling like it was a chore. Jeff had to smile. They were a right pair of sad fuckers sat round the dining table like an old married couple. Jeff knew that Brendan wanted to find himself a boyfriend but couldn’t seem to find the right guy and Jeff himself had reached the stage of grief where he was ready to smell a woman on his sheets again. But it wasn’t as simple as that. He’d have to go through the whole dating thing before any of that happened.
Jeff was just about to open another bottle of wine for them to share when the doorbell rang. He sighed heavily.
‘Do you want me to get that?’ asked Brendan who was already making for the door.
‘Would you mind? Whoever it is can get to bloody fuck. I’m not in the mood tonight’.
A few seconds later when Jeff had opened the second bottle of wine and poured a glass each for himself and Brendan, he felt the draft come through the house from the front door still being open. Brendan than reappeared in the dining room.
‘Who is it?’ Jeff asked.
‘Jeff, there’s a woman here with her teenage son. She says she’s your sister Annabel and the boy is your nephew Kyle’.
Ralph was feeling very pleased with himself that he’d made some sort of a contribution to a police investigation. It had raised his spirits no end and he couldn’t help boasting about his experiences to Monica when she came round with his new set of tablets to control his blood pressure. He didn’t even notice at first ho
w cross the news was making Monica.
‘What did you tell them, Ralph?’ she asked.
‘I told them everything I knew. They were very impressed’.
‘What was it exactly that you told them, Ralph?’ Monica demanded in a sharp voice.
‘I gave them the registration number of the white transit van and … anyway, what’s it to you what I told them?’
‘You gave them what?’ she asked as she stepped forward towards him.
‘What the hell has got into you? You’re making me nervous’.
‘You couldn’t help yourself, could you?’ she sneered. ‘You’ve got such a sad fucking excuse for a life that you couldn’t help meddling in things that don’t concern you. Don’t you understand? Are you too thick to see? I didn’t post your stupid letter to the police because I didn’t want you to get involved. But now you’ve left me no choice, Ralph’.
‘What are you talking about? Get out! Go on, get out and send me a different nurse’.
Those were the last words spoken by Ralph Johnson before nurse Monica Parkinson punched him in the face and carried on punching and kicking the old man until she could confirm that he was dead.
STORMS THIRTEEN
Jeff was driving Annabel up the M61 to Blackpool. Kyle had stayed at Jeff’s house in the care of Jeff’s brother Lewis.
‘I’m really sorry for dropping all this on you, Jeff’ said Annabel.
‘Nonsense’ said Jeff who almost felt like he was playing truant. He’d rung Rebecca and Ollie to say he would be taking some time this morning to see to a personal matter. The timing was beyond lousy and he really should be leaving it to his Lancashire CID colleagues. But this was personal. This was family. He shouldn’t be investigating but he had to at least start the process of sorting it all out even if it wasn’t entirely professional. ‘You’re my sister, Annabel’.
‘Half-sister’ said Annabel. ‘Same Dad, different Mum, remember?’
‘I don’t keep it in mind, Annabel’.
‘I’ll bet your Mum does’ said Annabel. ‘I’ll bet she wished I’d never come along’.