No Questions Asked Page 5

  ‘I couldn’t care less about fitting in, Adrian’ Joe retorted, a little sharply. ‘Sorry. I’m not particularly in the right frame of mind for making friends and influencing people this morning’.

  Adrian saw there was a small empty office coming up on the left and he pushed Joe into it when they got level. He closed the door.

  ‘What the fuck?’ Joe demanded.

  ‘Now look, Joe, I’m your mate and I’m worried about you. What happened last year happened and you’ve got to leave it there. Yes, you shouldn’t have been placed in that position, yes it was a total fuck up from beginning to end that could’ve got you killed but it didn’t. You’re here and you’ve got to get on with it. And that means showing your worth to this new shout as the bloody brilliant police officer that you are and dropping this attitude you’ve got that there’s somehow unfinished business going on. Do you get me?’

  ‘Yes’ said Joe through clenched teeth. ‘But you weren’t the one who almost died’.

  ‘No’ said Adrian. ‘But my wife died the year before. Remember? Penny was murdered because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time so don’t talk to me about demons and how they’re hard to slay every flaming day because I know, mate’.

  ‘Alright, alright, I’m sorry, mate. I’m just finding it all a bit of a struggle at the moment’.

  ‘Have you been back for counselling?’

  ‘What do you think?’

  ‘Well you need to get some form of help, Joe. Otherwise God knows where you’ll end up’.

  ‘Alright, that’s as far as I’ll let you go’ said Joe. ‘By the way, what’s put the smile on your face this morning?’

  Adrian winked. ‘Need I spell it out? Miss Kate Branning the sexy geography teacher?’

  ‘She gave in to your hidden charms eventually then?’

  ‘What can I say, mate? The old dog has still got it’.

  ‘Yes well this old dog would like to get a lick of the bone but he never does’ said Joe who’d slipped back into his old routine of work, telly, pub, parents, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, everything the thirty something slightly overweight single heterosexual man does when there’s that big gap in his life and time is running through him like a car speeding towards a brick wall. His previous girlfriend had ripped his heart out when she’d left after admitting that she’d used him to get away from her ex husband and had never had any intention of staying with him for long. He was fed up of being single but women were so like a closed book to him. All he wanted was to share his life with someone who didn’t end up shitting on him from a great height and accusing him of being ‘too nice’.

  ‘You’ll find someone desperate enough eventually, mate’ Adrian chided. ‘Give up the pies for a day or two and take yourself down the gym and you’ll attract a better class of woman’.

  ‘Now I know you’re taking the piss’ said Joe. ‘Come on you big stud. Let’s go and be the new boys’.

  ‘That’s more like it, Joe. That’s more like it’.

  Jeff went to see Gary Mitchell at his butcher’s shop on the Bury new road just before the M60 Manchester orbital motorway crossed over it. After the cavernous branch of a nationwide supermarket chain had opened on what used to be waste ground across the road Gary had seen a worrying drop in trade and takings aside from the ultra loyal customers who’d been with him since the Pope was an altar boy. But he’d responded by diversifying and now he was one of the few butchers in the area who went beyond the standard supply of beef, pork, lamb, and chicken. He had an arrangement with a Lancashire farmer who held shooting parties on his land. Now Gary had a regular stock of game including guinea fowl, pheasant, pigeon, and quail. He also offered rabbit and duck and imported foie gras from France. And with all the other improvements he’d made to his offer to customers his trade was now buoyant again. He still had his regular crowd who wouldn’t even think of venturing past pork chops or taking his advice and not cremating their joint of beef on a Sunday, but he’d also drawn in a slightly more adventurous crowd most of whom had travelled and been happily exposed to the idea of trying different types of meat. Gary’s view was that if you ate meat then it was stupid to be squeamish about what kind of meat you ate. But then he’d found that was the British all over. A cow was there to be eaten. A chicken was considered a mainstay of any British food cupboard. But a lovely little bunny rabbit was a member of the family and it was cruel to eat it. That was why Gary had never gone in for pets of any kind.

  They walked the couple of hundred meters to a small local park set between two rows of terraced houses. Two early middle aged men sat there amongst the swings and roundabouts looked decidedly dodgy but that fact didn’t concern them.

  ‘Do you think Bradley was your son, Gary?’ Jeff asked.

  Gary replied with an almost wistful look in his eye. ‘I could sometimes see in the way he walked, the way he moved his head, the way he smiled, the way he talked. I could see my own mannerisms in him. But then other times I didn’t think he even looked like me’.

  ‘But what’s your gut instinct?’

  ‘I believe Lucy when she says he was mine, yes’ said Gary. ‘It’s almost too much, Jeff, you know. Debbie and I have been trying for so long and she’s become so frustrated. Then I find that my own kid was right across the road and now the poor little sod’s been murdered and being his father I should’ve been there to protect him. But I didn’t know, Jeff. She honestly didn’t tell me’.

  ‘And you didn’t ask?’

  ‘I didn’t want to know’ Gary admitted. ‘I was like any married man having a fling with another woman. I was high on the pleasure, the passion and the excitement of it all. I didn’t want anything else to come between any of that and the moments me and Lucy shared’.

  ‘Even if it was your own flesh and blood, Gary?’

  ‘Alright, alright, I was a bastard, I admit it. I put it to the back of my mind and tried not to think about it when I was fucking his mother. There, that’s what you wanted to hear, isn’t it? You wanted to hear me admit to being a shit of the highest order’.

  ‘Actually that’s not what I want, Gary’ said Jeff. ‘I want to find Bradley’s killer and however you or anybody else comes out of it is of no consequence to me, although I do think that Lucy is shouldering more than her fair share of the grief’.

  ‘Do you think I don’t know that? Do you think I don’t care that she’s in absolute pieces over there and that the press are having a field day portraying her as a single mother scrounger on benefits who was a lap dancer and having sex with a married man at the time her son was being murdered? Do you not think that the thought of all that kills me too? I know that Lucy isn’t the woman she’s being made out to be. I know she was a good mother because I’ve witnessed it and so have you. You know she was a good mother’.

  ‘She was one of the best of the single mum’s I’ve ever come across’.

  ‘There you are then’.

  ‘But what I think or what you think doesn’t matter at all when the gutter press have got the bit between their teeth, Gary. Did you know that Lucy had once been lovers with Bernie Connelly?’

  ‘Yes, I knew’.

  ‘And that she was once on the game for him?’

  ‘Yes, I knew that too’.

  ‘And neither of those things bothered you?’

  ‘I like to deal with the here and now, Jeff, as you know’ said Gary. ‘And look, ‘I’ve been plastered across the press too as you know’ said Gary. ‘They’ve been after me here and at home. I’ve not been able to get away. What do you think that’s doing to Debbie?’

  ‘What do you think it’s doing to Lucy?’

  Gary put his head in his hands and then brought his face back up again. ‘I don’t know what to do, Jeff’.

  ‘Well for a start we need to take DNA samples from you and match them up with Bradley’s DNA. That’ll prove once and for all whether or not you were his father. In the meantime, Gary, can you think of anyone who might’ve held the kind o
f grudge against you that would lead them to doing something like this?’

  ‘But nobody else would’ve known that I was Bradley’s father’

  ‘But they might’ve known of your affair with Lucy and decided to get to you though her’ Jeff countered.

  ‘Oh for God’s sake no!’

  ‘You were having a lot of trouble with the animal rights people a while ago. You were a butcher and surprise, surprise you were selling meat’.

  ‘Meat that carries some stupid sentimental value for some Brits’ said Gary. ‘You know what it’s like, Jeff. We’ve talked about it many times’.

  ‘They might’ve turned nasty enough to do something like this’.

  ‘Really?’ asked Gary, incredulously.

  ‘It’s been known, Gary’.

  ‘What, that bunch of public school dropouts who wouldn’t know a real principle if it leapt up and smacked them across the face?’

  ‘A little simplistic but I get your drift’.

  ‘Well there’s nobody else, Jeff. Not to my knowledge’.

  ‘How many other affairs have you had, Gary?’

  Gary went bright red. ‘A few’.

  ‘How many?’

  ‘Well if you include one-night stands as well as full blown affairs then about twenty’.

  ‘Well then I’ll need the names and addresses of all of them’ said Jeff, trying to work out if he was appalled or jealous. ‘You may have twisted the mind of some psycho husband or boyfriend of one of them’.

  ‘Aw, Jesus, if this all comes down to me not being able to keep it in my fucking trousers I swear I won’t know how to live with myself’.

  ‘Well don’t jump to those conclusions yet’ said Jeff. ‘But I will need those details and you will need to come down to the station so we can take that DNA sample’.

  ‘Suppose I could come now’ said Gary sounding a little reluctant which irked Jeff a little. He’d been trying to keep it level and as much as he could forget that Gary was his friend with an outside chance as a possible murder suspect.

  ‘Look, I’m not out to get you or pin anything on you, Gary’.

  ‘No, I know that, mate’.

  ‘But I do need you to co-operate with me’.

  ‘I know that too, Jeff’ said Gary. ‘You know all I can see in my head is Bradley’s face the last time I saw him. If I’m responsible for this then I’ll never be able to forgive myself’.

  ‘Well let’s see what we can conclude before you start going down that road’ said Jeff. ‘By the way, what are the approximate times you were at Lucy’s place on Sunday morning?’

  ‘I went over at ten just after Debbie drove to her brother’s place’ Gary explained. ‘I had a shower at Lucy’s before going back home around midday’.

  ‘Then we’ll also need to take a detailed statement from you at the station’ said Jeff.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because the timeframe you’ve just given me places you within the realms of possibility for being the killer, Gary. That’s why’.

  It was gone three o’clock in the afternoon by the time Jeff was able to convene a meeting of all the members of the squad, including the two new ones, Adrian and Joe. He welcomed them both, flattered their egos by saying that they’d come with impeccable references from his old friend, DCI Sara Hoyland, even though that was perfectly true, and then told them that they’d be expected to hit the ground running on an investigation that was growing with seriousness and intensity the longer it remained unsolved. He then turned to DS Oliver ‘Ollie’ Wright, the member of his team he trusted most after Rebecca, to give an overview of where they were at in terms of catching Bradley Thompson’s killer.

  ‘As yet we have no leads on the lost rucksack that Bradley Thompson was carrying at the time of his murder or that we believe he was carrying’ said Ollie as he addressed the room. ‘Of course he may have dropped it after getting off the bus but why would he unless he was in some kind of distress and running away from someone’.

  ‘Could he have known his killer?’ Joe asked. ‘Is that what we’re thinking?’

  ‘We’re not thinking anything at this stage, DS Alexander’ Ollie replied. ‘But it’s more than probable that Bradley did know his killer. As we know random acts of murder, especially of children this age, are still thank God extremely rare in our country. All the neighbours have given statements and we’ve gone through them all. There’s nothing in any of them that would give us cause for any kind of follow up but we’re now widening the net to his classmates and teachers at school. We’re also waiting for the DNA test results on Gary Mitchell to see whether or not he was Bradley’s father’.

  ‘I don’t know which would be worse’ said Jeff. ‘Finding out that Gary is Bradley’s father or finding out that he wasn’t’.

  ‘There is a possibility that it could be Bernie Connelly?’ asked Rebecca.

  Just the mention of Bernie Connelly’s name was enough to wind Jeff up and he’d been thinking that if he was involved in anything to do with this then it would prove a game changer. Jeff wouldn’t be able to resist using the situation to get to Connelly who he’d been waiting a very long time to bring down. Lucy Thompson had been involved with him as his lover and his employee. That suggested to Jeff that there would be more to find out about Connelly and his connection to this murder.

  ‘Well we do know that Lucy Thompson did have a sexual relationship with both Gary Mitchell and Bernie Connelly at the time that Bradley would’ve been conceived’ Ollie went on. ‘But until we get those DNA results we won’t know’.

  ‘And Lucy Thompson is adamant that Gary Mitchell is the father?’ asked Adrian.

  ‘Oh yes’ said Jeff. ‘She’s told me, she’s told my sister and she’s told the FLO’.

  ‘It could be that she’s trying to convince herself as well as us’ said Joe. ‘You can tell yourself something over and over again but it doesn’t alter the fact that it isn’t true’.

  ‘But until we can prove otherwise then Gary Mitchell is our only suspect so far’ said Rebecca. ‘He would’ve had the time to do it and he did have the motive. If he thought that Bradley was his son and knowing how desperate his wife Debbie is to get pregnant it might’ve sent him over the edge to protect her feelings?’

  ‘I’d have said that about a lot of people but not Gary’ said Jeff.

  ‘Don’t forget how close you are to this, Jeff’ said superintendent Chambers.

  ‘I do understand that, ma’am’ Jeff replied who wasn’t sure whether Chambers was referring to the fact that Gary Mitchell was his friend or the feelings that she knew would’ve been inspired by the spectre of Bernie Connelly. ‘Look, I know where you’re going with this DI Stockton and I don’t like it but that’s not to say that it might not be true. It’s time to get Gary Mitchell back in and when he is I want you, DI Stockton and you, DI Wright, to handle him. I also want his house searched and his butcher’s shop on Craven Road. Our new boys, DC’s Bradshaw and Alexander, I want you both to go down to the Paradise club. Find out what you can about Lucy Thompson’s time working there. Do we know what the opening times are for the club, Ollie?’

  ‘Well it just so happens that it opens at three in the afternoon, sir’ Ollie replied, looking at his watch. ‘Just about now’.

  ‘Good’ said Jeff. ‘So get down there now please gentlemen and don’t even think of sampling the goods on offer’.

  After the briefing Adrian followed Ollie into the gents where Ollie was drying his hands under a machine that was fixed to the wall.

  ‘Thanks’ said Adrian.

  ‘Thanks? What for?’

  ‘Ollie, you know damn well what for so stop messing about’.

  ‘Adrian, I promised you when we had our little fling that I would never kiss and tell and I meant it’.

  ‘So you’ll keep it that way?’

  ‘Yes Adrian’ said Ollie, smiling. He’d been surprised to see Adrian walk into the squad room with such a confident swagger. They’d had a fling three months p
reviously that had nevertheless been exciting and good with snatched afternoons in Manchester hotels. ‘Nobody will ever find out from me what a great kisser you are’.

  Adrian blushed. ‘Thank you’.

  ‘Credit where it’s due’ said Ollie. ‘But we do have to work together. So I hope it’s not going to be a problem?’

  ‘Not as far as I’m concerned’

  ‘Good’ said Ollie who was relieved that there wouldn’t be a difficult work situation to deal with. ‘And that goes for me too. So how are you anyway? Dare I ask if you’re seeing anyone?’

  ‘I’m seeing ... well I’m seeing a woman now called Kate. She’s a teacher at my kids’ school’.

  Ollie couldn’t help but smirk. ‘Now why doesn’t that surprise me’

  ‘Look, Ollie, don’t be like that. You know I wouldn’t have missed what happened between us for the world but I just can’t see myself settling down with another man. It just wouldn’t work for me. Having sex with men is one thing and I love that ...’

  ‘ ... yes, I remember’.

  ‘But Ollie, settling down with another man and living as a couple is something else entirely and something I just couldn’t handle’.

  ‘Adrian, I understand and it’s not as if I was ever offering you the chance to settle down with me. My body may not be spoken for but my heart very much is and I’ll be with my partner for life. But I got to know you well enough over those few weeks we were seeing each other to know that you can’t hide that part of you away forever. I hope it works out for you and this Kate, I really do. But sooner or later you’ll feel that need again. I know it and so do you, and then you’ll be living a secret life behind her back. If that’s what you want then fine go for it. But I can’t help thinking that one day it’s all going to explode in your face’.

  ‘Not if I’m careful’.