Chapter 15
Saturday 20th April
That morning, I left home with some trepidation. I’d gone over the plan I’d made with Sasha the day before, and I didn’t think it would be too difficult to do what she’d asked, but I was still concerned. There was a possibility that I’d be putting myself in harm’s way, or at least making myself known to someone with a dubious reputation. Still, if I didn’t do it I knew Sasha would be annoyed with me, and I didn’t want to wind her up, at least until I could work out why she’d been so secretive with me.
Just before ten that morning, I got in my car and headed up to Frodingham Road, to Worx gym. I’d packed a bag with the nearest things I could find to gym gear – a T-shirt and some leggings – and made an appointment online for a tour. If any of my friends had seen me they would have suspected that I was up to something, because I hadn’t set foot in a gym in at least ten years. The whole environment was my idea of a nightmare, but I needed to look like I was there for a reason other than finding out more about Roy.
After getting home from the funfair the previous evening, I’d spent some time looking up Roy online. I’d started with the local paper, but the only mentions I could find of him were focused on the gym – a couple of articles about it opening, and one about the members contributing to a local fundraising project. The most promising story was about a drugs raid eight months earlier: one of his employees had been bringing drugs back from regular trips to Europe and then selling them from the gym, but it looked like the police hadn’t found any connection to Roy himself. Was that because he hadn’t known anything about it, or because he was good at keeping his hands clean? I couldn’t imagine that a business owner wouldn’t notice someone dealing right under their nose, but without any evidence I couldn’t go very far down that route. I wanted to ask Singh if he’d be looking into it, but I knew my interference wouldn’t be appreciated.
My next avenue of investigation had been social media. Worx had its own Instagram account, Facebook page and a private group for members, but I wouldn’t be able to access that without joining the gym myself. Instead, I searched for references to the gym and Roy. On Instagram it was all positive, usually people’s workout photos, mirror selfies with muscles on display, or occasionally photos of the outside of the gym. Facebook was a different story, however. There was a group for the local area that I joined without needing to be approved by an admin, and after a quick search I found a couple of posts from last year about the drugs raid. It seemed that some people weren’t surprised by it, and said they’d suspected the owner of dodgy dealings for a while. One person expressed surprise that Roy hadn’t been arrested and said they’d often seen people going in and out of the gym late at night when it was supposed to be closed.
There was no reference to violence of any kind, though. I didn’t imagine someone like him could go from no criminal record to murder, but whatever search terms I tried, there wasn’t anything to suggest he’d so much as had a parking ticket. Pulling up a photo of him from the gym’s website, I tried a reverse image search, but it only brought me references to Worx. It had been a long shot. If I was going to be visiting the gym in person I wanted to have as much information about Roy as possible before I went.
As soon as I walked in I realised I was out of my depth. This wasn’t the sort of gym I was expecting, the sort with rows of identical cross-trainers and rowing machines, and a small free weights section in the corner. This was completely different. The centre of the room was dominated by a red and black boxing ring, two men sparring while a couple of others stood at the edge shouting advice. There were several punch bags and rows of boxing gloves on one side of the room, while two of the other sides were taken up with weights and ropes hanging from the ceiling. Glancing around, I couldn’t see another woman in the room, and I immediately wanted to turn around and run.
A huge, muscled man wearing a tank top with ‘WORX’ in capital letters across the front saw me and began heading in my direction. I barely had a moment to make a decision, and I froze. As he approached me, I could see a couple of men in other parts of the room stop what they were doing and turn to stare at me. I’d never felt more out of place anywhere in my life; even if I’d been an exercise fanatic I don’t think I would have felt welcome, but as it was I wondered if this was the last mistake I’d make. The threat in the air was palpable and I knew if one of those men turned on me I wouldn’t be able to get myself out. Why hadn’t Sasha warned me about what it was like? I thought about the things Sasha had been keeping from me and instantly regretted putting myself in danger for someone who hadn’t even been honest with me.
‘You Paige?’ the huge bloke asked me when he was within earshot.
I nodded, unsure if I could make my voice work or if it would come out at a strangely high pitch. I was also regretting using my real name when I signed up for a trial session online.
‘You here for a look around?’ He looked me up and down, clearly wondering what the hell a woman like me would be interested in this gym for. ‘You know the Best Western’s got a gym, right? Got a pool and sauna and everything. Might be more your thing.’
Part of me wanted to agree with him, but then there was the part that refused to be spoken to as if I was a silly little girl who’d wandered into a man’s world. If he wanted to intimidate me he was doing a good job, but I was damned if I’d let it show.
‘I don’t really like saunas,’ I replied coolly. ‘If I’m going to sweat I want some muscles to show for it.’
He raised his eyebrows and inclined his head slightly, though clearly wasn’t fooled by my bravado. Another scan of my body made me feel uncomfortable, but I tried not to flinch. He was obviously wondering where the hell my muscles were.
‘Right, well, I can show you around,’ he said with a slight shrug. I knew he thought I was wasting his time, but I had to keep up the pretence if I wanted to speak to Roy.
‘You wanna get changed, have a workout now?’ he asked, with a suggestive leer.
‘No, I’ll just have a look round first,’ I said, gritting my teeth to stop my disgust from showing on my face.
He shrugged. ‘Suit yourself.’
As he led me over to the other side of the room, I glanced around to check if I could see Roy. I’d studied his photograph on the website so I thought I’d recognise him if I saw him, but there was no sign of him. I spotted a door in the far corner marked ‘Private’, and I assumed it led to Roy’s office and the staff area.
For ten minutes, the huge guy pointed out different bits of equipment and explained the day-to-day rules for members. He didn’t make any effort to hide his boredom, throwing the odd expletive at his mates on the other side of the room when they heckled him.
Wanting to get out of there, I decided to try a different tactic.
‘Is Roy in today?’ I asked. The guy frowned at me.
‘Why do you want to know?’
‘I just wondered if I could see him.’
There was a pause while he looked at me, then looked over his shoulder at the door to the office.
‘Nah, you can’t see him. Does he know you?’
I shook my head. ‘No, but we have a mutual friend.’
‘Who would that be?’ he asked with a sneer.
‘Lukas Nowak.’
A look of understanding passed across the guy’s face and he laughed, though there was no humour in it. ‘That why you’re here, to argue Lukas’s case for him?’ Another harsh laugh. ‘Roy wants his money and he’s going to get it, one way or another. He doesn’t give a shit that Lukas has got himself banged up. He can hide in there for as long as he likes, but he’s still got a debt to pay. Now, if that’s all …’ He pointed towards the door, still smirking.
I stood frozen to the spot for a moment, until he made a move towards me and I flinched. He laughed, and I picked up my bag and hurried back out of the building, cursing myself for being so stupid. Getting in my car, I rested my head on the steering wheel and felt tears welli
ng up behind my eyes. This made me even angrier with myself; if it wasn’t bad enough that I’d put myself in a difficult situation, now I was crying about it like a child.
Taking a deep breath and scrubbing the heel of my hand across my eyes, I reached into the glove compartment and pulled out my notebook. On the page where I’d written about the gym and the drugs raid I made some notes about what I’d seen inside, and what the man had told me. Sasha would want to know that part, even though I hadn’t been able to speak to Roy himself. I was partway through a sentence when someone knocked on my window, scaring the hell out of me.
I blinked at the man on the other side of the glass: it was Roy. My instincts told me to drive away without speaking to him, but I had to know what he wanted. I wasn’t going to open the door, but I rolled the window down a little so I could hear him.
‘Hi. Paige, is it?’
I nodded, wondering again why I’d been stupid enough to use my real name.
‘I wanted to apologise for the rudeness of one of my employees just now. He doesn’t really understand boundaries, at times.’ He flashed me a bright white smile that had definitely had some cosmetic enhancement. ‘Would you like to come into my office and we can chat about Lukas?’
His eyes dropped to the notebook sitting open on my lap, and I hurriedly pushed it onto the passenger seat, but not before he’d had time to see that his name was written across the top of the page. I saw a shadow cross his face as he realised what he’d read and I had to swallow a lump in my throat.
Struggling to find my voice, I said, ‘I’m sorry, I have an appointment I need to get to.’
He raised his eyebrows, obviously unused to people saying no to him. ‘You came into my place of business on false pretences. I think it’s only polite if you give you me five minutes of your time to explain.’
Swallowing the hard lump that had appeared in my throat, I thought about my options. I really didn’t want to go back inside that gym; if Roy Chapman wanted to harm me, he would have no problem doing so. But if I refused, what would he do to me? I didn’t want to risk putting anyone else I cared about in danger, so I reluctantly agreed.
I got out of the car and followed him back through the gym, keeping my head high but avoiding meeting the gaze of any of the patrons. Roy led me through the door at the back of the room and into what I assumed was his office.
‘Please, take a seat,’ he said, indicating a low chair to the side of his desk. If I sat on it, it would put me at a lower level than him, and I saw the power play straight away.
‘I’ll stand, thanks,’ I replied. If he was bothered by my defiance he didn’t show it, but sat down at his desk and leant back casually, stretching his legs in front of him.
‘What can I do for you?’ he asked. He was well spoken, but his words had a hard edge to them that I knew I shouldn’t ignore.
‘Tell me about your connection to Lukas.’
He raised his eyebrows in amusement at my command, but chose to humour me.
‘Last year, Nadia’s father became ill. Lukas wanted to send money back to Poland to help with his medical care, but the bills were far more than he could keep up with. He tried to get a loan from the bank but his credit rating was too poor. I offered to help him out.’ Chapman spread his hands to suggest he’d done it out of the goodness of his own heart.
‘How much does he owe you?’
He laughed, a sharp bark that made me want to get out of there as soon as possible.
‘He sent you to talk to me and you don’t even know that?’
‘How much?’ I repeated. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of explaining who I was or what I wanted to achieve.
‘Fifteen.’
‘Thousand?’
Chapman rolled his eyes at me. ‘I’m a generous man, but I’m hardly going to be lending a friend fifteen million.’
I felt my face flush but tried to hide my embarrassment at my own question. ‘How much had he repaid?’
‘A little over three thousand.’
I nodded, thinking. There wasn’t much more information I could get out of Chapman, I knew; I could hardly ask him where he was at the time Nadia was murdered. He sensed my hesitation and gave me a wolfish grin, his teeth perfectly straight and gleaming.
‘Is there anything else I can help you with?’
I shook my head, so he stood and took me by the elbow. I tried to pull my arm out of his grip but it was like a vice. He steered me back through the door, across the gym and to my car, then watched as I got in.
‘Please, let Lukas know that if there’s anything I can do to help him out, I’ll do it. Yeah, he owes me a bit of money but that can wait. It’s awful, what happened to Nadia.’ He shook his head sadly.
‘I will, thank you.’ I tried not to choke on the words, forcing myself to be polite to him out of a sense of self-preservation.
‘If you want to talk more, you’re always welcome here,’ Roy replied, glancing at the yellow notebook I’d left on the passenger seat before taking a step back and walking away. Without wasting any time, I put my car into gear and drove away. Glancing in my rear-view mirror, I saw him standing in the gym entrance watching me leave.
Chapter 16
I was nearly home when my phone rang. Sasha. She probably wanted to find out what happened with Roy, but I was still shaking slightly from my encounter with him. I did consider ignoring the call, but I knew I’d have to speak to her eventually.
Even though I wasn’t far from my flat, I pulled over in a lay-by. I wanted to get the conversation over with. Answering the video call, I sat up a bit so I could sign clearly.
Hi, Paige, Sasha said once her face popped up on my screen. How’s it going?
I winced. It didn’t go well at the gym. I briefly described what it had been like and she pulled a face.
Well, at least we tried. There’s another reason I’m calling though, she told me. One of the other social workers has let me know about an incident that happened last night.
What is it? I asked, concerned that something had happened to Lukas, or another of Sasha’s clients.
There was another fire, one street over from Lukas and Nadia’s house. I don’t know many details, but I’m going to go over there and see what I can find out. Do you want to come?
After my experience at the gym I really wanted to go home and curl up in a ball, but I saw an opportunity to find out why Sasha had been keeping things from me. Sure, I replied. Text me the address and I’ll meet you there.
Before I turned my car around, I sent a brief text to Singh, asking what he knew about the fire. I wasn’t sure if he’d give me any information, but if I brought the latest fire to his attention it might give him second thoughts about Lukas’s guilt.
The house I was looking for was obvious as soon as I pulled onto the street. There were plenty of people milling around, including a Police Community Support Officer who was talking to someone wearing one of those white paper suits. I assumed they were investigating the cause of the fire, and I wondered if we’d be able to speak to either of them or if they’d tell us to get lost.
Sasha was already there, leaning against a wall a few houses down from the one that had caught fire. I joined her and saw she was watching the people hanging around being nosy.
Do you have any clients on this street? I asked her, wondering who she was looking for.
No. I just thought I’d have a look at who was around, see if any of them might be willing to speak to us. She looked back at the gathered crowd. I think they’re all just here for the gossip, but one of them might know something, or they might have seen something.
Do you think this fire is linked to the one at Lukas’s house, then? I asked, and she sighed.
I have no idea, but it seems a bit strange to me. Two house fires so close to each other in less than a week? It doesn’t seem like a coincidence.
I looked back at the house and the PCSO posted outside.
Was anyone hurt? I asked Sasha.
What makes you think they might be connected, then?
She started ticking off points on her fingers. Both houses had council tenants who were on social services’ caseload, both fires were extinguished before they caused damage to neighbouring houses, and they happened at almost exactly the same time of night.
That’s a bit tenuous, isn’t it? I asked, not wanting to question her but also wondering if she was grasping at straws a little.
I can’t explain, but something feels off. It won’t hurt to talk to some of the people in the street and see what they know.
I agreed, and we walked closer to the house. I nodded at a young woman who had been keeping her eye on us, and we went over to talk to her.
‘What do you want?’ she asked as soon as we were within earshot.
‘Do you know anything about what happened here?’ I asked her, getting straight to the point.
She sniffed. ‘Who’s asking?’
I explained who Sasha and I were. ‘One of her clients had his house set on fire just a few days ago. We were wondering if they were connected.’
The woman turned away slightly. ‘I haven’t a clue. It’s nothing to do with me.’ She took a step away from us and looked over her shoulder. ‘Someone probably left the gas burning. Or fell asleep with a fag on.’
I signed this for Sasha, but by the time I’d finished the woman had walked away. An older man had been watching us from the other side of the street, but when I caught his eye he too walked away. I wondered if he’d overheard me talking to the young woman. Clearly, questions weren’t welcomed in this area, particularly from strangers.
I grimaced when I realised my own stupidity. I shouldn’t have told them you were a social worker, I explained to Sasha.
The Silent Suspect Page 12