Chapter 20: Chapter 20

FORTY-SIX

Gina rushed through the main entrance with Jacob closely following. The couple from the chip shop were standing in the queue waiting to be booked in. Behind them, their wavy haired young dealer nervously bit his dirty nails. Darren Mason skulked at the back, avoiding her gaze. Desk Sergeant, Nick, began the formalities. ‘When they’re all booked in, let me know,’ Gina said to Smith as he herded them all into the right area.

‘Will do.’

She pulled him aside. ‘As soon as you have their prints run them and send the results to Bernard. I want them crossmatched against our case.’

‘Will do, guv.’ Smith went back to the line and gestured for Kapoor to assist him.

As she went to leave, she heard the dealer speak when asked what his name was. ‘Westley Young.’

Gina turned back, almost bumping into Jacob. ‘Julia Dawson mentioned that her daughter had left with someone called Westley. It could well be him. You don’t hear the name Westley mentioned much.’ Gina walked over to the desk and checked the paperwork Nick was filling in. Westley was currently living in Worcester. She pulled Smith aside. ‘When

he’s booked in, I want to interview him and then we need to speak to Darren Mason.’

Smith nodded. ‘I’ll give you a shout when he’s ready.’

Gina continued along the corridor towards the incident room. ‘Looks like O’Connor and Wyre have headed home.’

‘Lucky them. Of course, they have good reasons to want to go home,’ Jacob replied as he turned the desk fan on. A few of O’Connor’s loose papers flew off the desk. ‘I’m just going to head back out the front, keep an eye on what’s happening. I could do with getting away some time tonight.’

‘Date with Amber?’

‘Definitely not. She said we’re over. She’s apparently met someone else. Oh well. I’m just tired, I guess.’ Gina could understand that. It had been a long day for them all.

As Jacob left, Briggs walked in, eating a slice of pizza. ‘I heard the place is packed out. Nice operation, looks like we nailed a dealer.’

‘Yes. It’s was Smith’s victory and a good stakeout. Guess what?’

‘Go on.’

‘The dealer is called Westley. A missing girl, Christina Dawson, left with someone called Westley. It’s too much of a coincidence. And that’s not all, one of the punters is only Darren Mason. The young man with the van our mystery girl came from. What is going on? They must know something. I’m hoping our partial print found on the cellophane in van girl’s clothing matches one of them. Their prints will be going right over to Bernard and Keith for cross-checking.’

‘Let’s hope for a match. Our dealer may show himself to be the one who supplied the girl in the van.’

‘From what I read earlier, we have spoken to a lot of people in the Winyates area of Redditch, spoken to pubs, shops, gone door to door and not one person remembers seeing a girl of her description just before she turned up in Darren’s van.’

‘It’s odd that our Darren turns up again in the same investigation. Coincidence or not?’

Gina looked at the strip light reflected in the darkness of the smeared window before turning her attention back towards Briggs. ‘That’s what I’m hoping to find out. You look tired.’ It made a change, her having to tell Briggs he looked tired. She was almost pleased for getting that statement in before he did.

‘I suppose I am. The other night when you called…’

‘I hung up, sorry.’ She didn’t want him to know that she’d heard Annie speaking in the background.

‘I can tell when you’re hiding something. You forget how well I know you. You heard her, didn’t you?’

‘Who?’ Their eyes met in the silent incident room. ‘Okay, chief detective, so I heard her. It doesn’t matter. We’re friends.’

‘Are we?’ He smiled. ‘Just so you know, it was a mistake.’

‘Like we were?’ She could have kicked herself. Her jealousy was now showing. He’d know.

‘That was never a mistake. You gave me some wonderful memories. The other night was a mistake.’

‘You don’t have to tell me, really. I don’t want or need to know any more, sir.’

‘I want us to stay friends. Friends talk about things like this so I just thought I’d tell you. Want some pizza? It was a mistake, but I can’t say it won’t happen again. I get lonely now and again, what can I say? Anyway, Harte, I have half a big pepperoni in my office and it’s just waiting to be scoffed. It will be a good half hour before you get to speak to anyone. They’re probably having their prints and mugshots done as we speak.’

‘I don’t know—’

‘It’s just pizza. Are you hungry?’

She nodded. ‘Starving,’ she replied as she followed him down the corridor, the smell of grilled cheese hanging in the air. The biscuits she’d eaten in Smith’s car hadn’t even touched the edge of her hunger and she’d burnt off a fair bit of energy chasing their dealer. Just as she reached his office, Jacob came running down the corridor.

‘Young is ready for his interview.’

Gina took a large bite from a slice of pizza and swallowed. ‘Right, I’ll interview Westley Young with Smith and you can take Darren Mason with Kapoor? We can pool findings after. It’ll be quicker.’

Gina dragged her phone out of her pocket, almost dropping it as it slipped through her greasy fingers. ‘Damn.’ She’d missed a call from Hannah two hours ago. She read the message.

Why is Gracie using the words bloody hell at the end of every sentence, Mum?!!

Damn it. She should’ve have known that slip up would come back to haunt her.

FORTY-SEVEN

The recorder was running and the young male was hunched over the table, tracing his finger over the grain in the wood as Gina joined Smith in the interview room. He announced for the tape that she had joined them.

‘Westley Young, twenty-two years old. You live in Worcester, is that right?’ Gina scraped her chair across the floor until she was positioned comfortably at the desk, placing her notepad in front of her.

‘I sleep rough in Worcester.’

Gina pulled out the photo of Christina that Julia Dawson had given her. ‘Do you recognise this girl?’ The man looked up through his scruffy brown locks. Most of his long fringe was tucked behind his ears. She slid the photo across the desk. He stared at it and looked away.

‘Never seen her.’

‘Are you sure? Take another look?’

She could tell he was getting nervous. He began to tap his fingers on the desk, drumming away. ‘So what if I have?’

‘It’s a simple question, Mr Young. Have you seen this girl?’

‘Okay. Will I be in less trouble if I tell you about the girl?’

‘I can’t promise you anything but it will be on record that you were cooperative.’

He leaned back and slumped in the chair. As he moved, Gina could smell the sweat wafting from his old grey T-shirt. He clearly hadn’t bathed for a long time. ‘I haven’t seen her for ages. She used to hang out around Worcester, looked a bit lost. A couple of times she gave me some of her food. We chatted and became friends; that is all.’

‘Were you in a relationship with her?’

‘God, no. She was a kid. I’m not some paedo. She just liked to hang out with me.’

‘Do you know her name?’

‘I always called her Pipsqueak. I did find out her name after though. I saw her mother putting posters up.’

‘And you never called to say you’d seen her?’

‘She’d run away. She didn’t want to be found. You don’t tell on friends. When I left her, she was fine. I thought she’d just go home when she got fed up. Has something happened to her?’ Westley couldn’t look directly at her. His gaze shifted between her and Smith before resting on the wall behind them.

‘That’s what we’re trying to establish.’ Gina opened a fresh page in her book. ‘Tell me about the last time you saw her.’

He smiled. ‘She’s a good kid. She always cheered me up.’ Gina noted that he referred to her in present tense. ‘It was a few months ago, March, April, I don’t even remember, my brain is addled. She did say she’d had another argument with her mother about being grounded all the time. I always hung around by the river come early evening. I like the peace, believe it or not. She had her bag with her and said she was

leaving, that she couldn’t take any more and would I go with her? I didn’t want to go but I didn’t want her to go alone either. She needed to get out of Worcester so we went to the station and she bought us both tickets to New Street. I spent a couple of days with her and I suppose I got fed up. I asked about work at the market, had no luck and hated it there. I tried to persuade her to come back with me but she didn’t want to come, said she’d go it alone. She got a bit huffy and walked off.’ He started twitching. Gina knew he probably needed a fix. She looked over Smith’s notes and saw that a doctor had been called to attend to him after the interview.

‘Did you sell her any drugs?’

‘No, what do you take me for?’ He ran his fingers through his messy hair.

‘A drug dealer. You were brought in tonight for dealing drugs.’

‘I don’t sell to kids. She was a kid.’ ‘A dealer with a conscience.’ ‘Stuff you!’

Gina ignored him and pulled out another photo, one of Simone Duxford. It was a long shot, but if he was involved, then he’d show some recognition. ‘Have you ever seen this girl?’

His brow furrowed as he examined the photo. ‘No, I don’t recognise her at all. Never seen her in my life.’ His reactions matched what he was saying. Gina couldn’t even see a hint of recognition in his eyes. He began to fidget in his chair and tapped his foot on the floor as his agitation worsened. ‘I don’t want to say any more, I feel sick and if you don’t let me out of here, I’ll chuck up all over the table. I know my rights. Get me

a solicitor. Oh, one thing, when I left Pipsqueak in Birmingham, she hadn’t taken any drugs and she told me to shove off and that’s what I did, I shoved off. All because I didn’t want to stay in Birmingham. That’s all I know. I don’t even know when this was. I can’t remember. That’s your lot. I need the bog now.’

Gina nodded to Smith. ‘Interview terminated at twenty- three fifteen. We’ll continue shortly.’

As she left the room, she began collecting her thoughts. He had seen Christina Dawson but she wasn’t quite sure how much of what he’d said had been truthful. If he’d left Christina in Birmingham like he’d said, where had she gone? It was as if the girl had just disappeared.

FORTY-EIGHT

‘Right, Jacob. What did you get from Darren Mason?’

He entered the kitchen and took one of the coffees she’d just poured. ‘With what we have on him already, this is his second offence over the past week and he’s breached the conditions of his bail. But it was only weed. The other officers who arrested him, said he was tracked all the way down the street until he was out of the dealer’s sight. He didn’t offload anything once he spotted them. The area was well searched and nothing else was found.’

‘The girl who fell from his van had definitely been on heroin, her blood results have confirmed that. I know we found anabolic steroids in his room but we know where he obtained those from after checking his browsing history. We searched his boyfriend, Callum Besford’s flat and again, found nothing.’

‘Oh, I forgot to say, his father, Dennis Mason, is waiting for his son in reception with a solicitor and he’s in a foul mood.’

‘Probably peeved because we still have his laptop and one of his vans. More than likely wants his porn collection back.’

Jacob sniggered as he swigged his coffee. ‘Smith and Kapoor have moved on to interviewing the woman and the

couple.’

‘Do you know any more about them?’

Jacob pulled his little notebook from his back pocket. ‘I did grab a bit of info to keep us going before they update the system. Smith assures me it will all be updated as soon as they’ve finished the interviews. Ellen Simpson and Aaron Dunn, the pair in the chip shop. She is forty-one, he is forty- five. It looks like they’d prepared for a good night in. A bag of beer, bottle of vodka, kebab and chips and a few grams of cocaine. Ellen Simpson is carer to her elderly mother whom she lives with. Aaron Dunn stays with her most of the time but lives in a bedsit at the back of the High Street. He works at a biscuit packing factory on the industrial estate. That’s all I have on them so far. The other woman was scoring heroin. She looks high functioning, maybe she’s a new addict. She’s in her late fifties, at a guess. She’s also refusing to speak at the moment. Won’t even confirm her identity. I’m sure a night in the cells will change her mind. We’ll know more tomorrow. I seriously think we should be going home and getting some sleep.’

‘I seriously think you’re right,’ Briggs said as he entered and threw his empty pizza box into the bin. ‘I’ll catch you both tomorrow. If you want to run anything by me, call me when you get home.’ Briggs smiled at Gina and left.

‘“Call me when you get home.” I think he likes you.’

Gina playfully slapped Jacob on the arm. ‘Don’t be daft.’ If only he knew how right he was.

As Gina headed towards the door, car keys in hand, she passed the corridor to the cells. She headed down towards

where Darren Mason was being held and opened the flap on the door.

‘Oh, it’s you,’ he said as he lifted his head off the thin mattress. ‘When’s my dad getting me out of here?’

‘I can’t answer that, sorry. I just thought I’d check on how things went with the council. I did call them to mention the abuse, you know the kids with Callum.’ Despite what was happening, she wanted to make sure Callum had been looked after.

‘You’re concern overwhelms me. I told my dad about Callum. You should’ve seen the disappointment in his face. That look will stay with me forever. Are any of you surprised that I need weed to escape, that I take steroids to make myself fit in with what a proper son should be? What my dad thinks I should be. Macho tree surgeon. It’s him. My dad’s a twat. Mommy saved the day though, couldn’t bear her boy being unhappy and moving out to a place where other people want to hurt him. She let Callum move in to ours for a bit until the council find him somewhere.’ He paused and smirked but Gina could see his eyes watering up. ‘It’s far from pleasant. My dad keeps scowling at him. You’ve met Callum, you know what a quiet, person he is. He was upset. I thought I’d score us a bit of weed so we could chill. He doesn’t deserve to be treated like that.’

‘People come round. Your dad just needs time to take it

in.’

All of a sudden Darren Mason looked like a scared child.

He drew his legs up and hugged his rolled up hoodie. ‘I doubt it, but thanks for calling the council.’

‘Goodnight, Darren.’ She closed the flap and left him pondering about all that had happened as she headed out past

the front desk.

‘I hope you’re getting my computer back to me soon,’ said Dennis Mason. Some of the buttons on his shirt had come undone, revealing his bulbous hairy belly. His dirty work shorts skimmed his dusty knees.

‘Don’t worry, Mr Mason, we’ll get your porn collection back to you very soon,’ Gina said as she left, giving him no opportunity to answer back.

It was the end of a long day. She checked her phone as she walked to her car. A woman stared back from another car. She’d recognise that face anywhere. Lyndsey Saunders, reporter for the Warwickshire Herald was topping up her red lipstick in her rear-view mirror. Gina had no idea why. Lipstick or no lipstick – that woman would have to go through the right channels to get a statement. The reporter caught her eye and quickly got out of the car. ‘Detective Harte, could it be that a serial killer is lose in Cleevesford? The public have a right to know. Human remains. A girl, emaciated, falling from a van, since died. Too much of a coincidence, I’d say.’

Gina could easily punch the woman after the last case she worked on. She had no empathy for the people whose lives she reported on and that included Gina’s. Lyndsey Saunders was never getting a morsel of information from her lips. ‘You know the score. Contact Corporate Communications. Don’t call me or don’t approach me again or I will haul you in for harassment.’

‘It’s a free country and I’m on public land.’

Gina walked up to the woman. ‘The world doesn’t need people like you. I will never tell you anything. Do you hear me?’

The woman grinned. ‘Oh, I hear you. It’s all right when you need us for your appeals, one sniff of a real story and you shut us out. I’ll call you.’

Gina got into her car, slammed the door and drove off, knuckles gripping the steering wheel, revving the engine as she exited the car park. Maybe Lyndsey was right. What if they were looking for a serial killer? And van girl’s last words were telling them of girl number three. All girls involved had red tones to their hair and insect cases had linked their two dead girls. She shivered, wondering if the insect cases had been picked up accidentally or if a kidnapper had left them deliberately for forensics to find. Her head was awhirl with all the information.

As she sped down the country roads, a fox darted from the bushes, its eyes fixed on hers as she slammed the brakes on, stopping just in time. She gasped for breath as the creature ran, disappearing in the hedge. Calm it down, Gina. She put the car into first and started driving again as jumbled elements of the case flashed through her mind.

There were too many people involved. The drug dealer, the Masons, the others who had been booked in. Images of distraught parents flashed through her mind. There was Josh and Angela Smith, Simone’s foster parents. Julia Dawson and her boyfriend, Roy, and she had yet to visit Simone’s biological mother. Bryn Tilly and the Norths. What was Mr North hiding? That was a question that kept playing on her mind. Her own daughter – she’d let her down again. She couldn’t bear for Hannah to be mad at her forever, but she couldn’t face her either. As she pulled up on her drive, the security light came on. She fiddled with the splinter that was now causing a major irritation.

‘Got you, you bastard,’ she said as she slid the splinter from her hand and flicked it out of the window.

FORTY-NINE

THURSDAY, 19 JULY 2018

Julia placed her rucksack on the floor and pulled out the sunscreen. The overnight storms had cleared the humidity but she still felt the morning rays penetrating the back of her neck. Her long summer dress reached the floor, covering her legs. She spread the cream over her arms and nose then stopped. The back of a thin scruffy girl wearing a cap stood beside the bull statue. It had to be Christina’s friend, the one the homeless chap said had been hanging around with her. She was skinny and she looked young. Julia grabbed her rucksack and darted as fast as her sandals would allow.

The girl started to walk away. ‘Wait,’ Julia called.

The girl turned. Julia stopped, open-mouthed, staring at the woman who had to be in her sixties. From the back, she looked so young and tiny. ‘Sorry, I thought you were someone else.’

‘Nanny!’ a child called as she ran from her mother, into the woman’s arms.

Julia half smiled and half wanted to cry. She held her hand up and left the family to continue with their day out.

Grabbing the paperwork from her bag, she read the first address on her list. It was for a small homeless centre that offered food and was only two streets away.

She brought up Google Maps on her phone and followed the directions, weaving through the crowds of people trying to get to work in the centre of Birmingham. As she passed, she made a mental note of where the Big Issue sellers stood. ‘You have reached your destination,’ her phone told her.

Entering through the main door, she was faced with a makeshift cafe in some sort of small community hall. ‘Can I help you?’ a woman asked as she placed a knife down. The tower of buttered bread balanced next to the chopping board almost toppled. She grabbed half and placed it safely down.

‘I… err… I’m looking for my daughter. You help the homeless people around here. Have I got the right place?’

‘We’re underfunded but we do what we can. Offer advice, washing facilities, connection to other services and—’ she held her hands out, ‘food.’ The middle-aged woman wore her hair high on her head in a messy bun.

Julia pulled the photo from her backpack and passed it to

her.

She removed her blue gloves and put her glasses on.

‘Have you seen her? She’s been missing since the fourth of

April. I’ve been told she came to Birmingham.’

‘I see so many people and a lot of them young. It’s so sad.

How old is she?’

‘Fifteen. She’s just a kid.’

The woman bit her bottom lip. ‘She looks familiar. I don’t know where from or when from but I feel as though I’ve seen her at some point. I don’t think I’ve seen her here. I normally remember the people who use the centre. We do go out on food runs. Actually, the more I look, the more familiar she

seems. Before you go, I’ll give you a list of places that we deliver to.’

‘That would be really helpful, thank you.’ Julia felt her heart rate pick up. She might actually find her daughter that day. Her slight smile turned back into a frown. What if her daughter ran from her? What if she was still angry? For so many years, Julia had felt needed by Christina but, recently, Christina hadn’t wanted a thing from her, apart from more money and freedom. She had left their home in search of her freedom with the small amount of money that she had access to, and now she was gone. ‘What’s your name by the way?’