Bad Moon Rising (#1 - D.I. Paolo Storey Crime Series) (12 page)

“No, don’t try to say anything, Dad. Not now. I’ll see you downstairs.”

***

Paolo looked at the strange concoction on the tray in front of him and tried to convince himself it was exactly what he wanted to eat, but his mind was fighting back. He picked it up, took a bite and was surprised to find it tasted much better than it looked.

He waited until Katy had devoured half of her Big Mac and fries and then asked her whether she wanted to go home to talk, or chat in the car.

“We can talk here as far as I’m concerned. I’m sorry, Dad, I get that you see him differently to me, seeing as you’ve known him for, like, forever, but I know for a fact that Father Gregory is evil. He’s always going on about God and doing what’s right, but he’s just a pervert.”

Paolo looked around, but no one seemed to be interested in Katy’s outburst. “That’s the second time you’ve said that to me. Has he...?” He stopped and shook his head, unable to put his revolting thought into words. If Father Gregory had touched Katy he’d ... he’d what? He pushed his tray to one side.

“This isn’t the place to talk, Katy. It’s too public. Let’s finish eating and go for a drive.”

As they walked out to the car park Paolo’s thoughts were in still in turmoil. If Father Gregory was abusing Katy would she have attacked him in class like that? It wasn’t usual for a victim to confront their abuser in public, but clearly something was going on for Katy to act as she did.

He pressed the button on his key to release the car’s internal locking mechanism and opened the passenger door. Katy climbed in and smiled up at him. God, she was so young, he’d have trouble keeping his fists to himself if he found out that Father Gregory had laid a finger on her.

Walking round to the driver’s side he took a deep breath. He had to stay calm. If he showed any anger Katy might clam up. He opened the door and slid behind the wheel.

“You want to go to the park, drive around a bit, or go home?”

“I don’t mind.”

“Okay,” he said, “let’s sit here and chat. It’s as good a place as any. Has Father Gregory done anything to you, Katy? I mean...”

“I know exactly what you mean, Dad. I’m fourteen, not four! No, he hasn’t done anything to
me
.”

Waves of relief rushed through Paolo, but then her emphasis on the
me
registered.

“Has he abused someone else?”

She nodded.

“Who?”

“I can’t tell you. I promised I wouldn’t.”

“Katy, if I don’t know who it is how can I do anything about it?”

“Who asked you to? You don’t need to do anything. I’m dealing with it.”

“By getting yourself expelled? How is that dealing with it? Come on, Katy. Tell me. Let me help.”

She sighed and turned her head away. They sat in silence for what seemed like eternity to Paolo, but finally she looked back at him and nodded.

“Okay, Dad, I’ll tell you what I know, but you have to promise to do something about it without... without the girl being named. She’s not to know I broke my word, okay?”

“Katy, I’m a policeman, I can’t make that sort of promise, you know that. If I’m going to investigate...”

“You have to promise or I’m not telling you anything,” she said, her eyes filling. “Dad, she told me in confidence. I can’t tell you unless you promise.”

He groaned – she’d left him with no choice. “Okay. I promise not to mention your friend’s name, but you have to give me enough to start an investigation, Katy. This isn’t like in a novel or on TV. I can’t go off and arrest him with no proof. What do you know for a fact?”

“Well, I know he’s got a creepy way of looking at us.”

He shifted in the car seat. “Katy, that isn’t fact, that’s what you feel, but I can’t accuse him of creepy looks, now can I?”

“I don’t see why not, I did,” she shot back.

“Yes, I know, and look at the result. Unless we can find a way round what you said to Father Gregory you’ll most probably end up being expelled.” She opened her mouth to speak, but Paolo continued before she could argue her case. “And do you know what would happen then? If your friend is being abused, or any of the other girls are, we won’t be able to do a damn thing about it because we won’t be able to prove it. If you get chucked out, Katy, do you think any of your classmates will speak out against Father Gregory?”

“No, but-”

“There are no buts, Katy. You can’t accuse someone in public unless you can back up what you’ve said with proof. Now, tell me what you know, not the stuff about how Father Gregory looks at people. The facts, Katy, and then maybe I can help.”

“Okay, Dad, but I can’t tell you the girl’s name. I’ll tell you all the rest, but not her name.”

Paolo realised he wasn’t going to be able to push her on that, not at the moment anyway. He nodded for her to go ahead.

“A couple of weeks ago we had hockey practice after school and I’d almost reached home when I realised I’d left my hockey stick back in the changing rooms. You know the old ones next to the playing fields, not the new ones inside the gym?”

Paolo pictured the changing rooms. They were on the far side of the school grounds, a long way from any of the buildings – a long way from anyone hearing if something was going on in there. He nodded for Katy to continue.

“I went back for it and found... someone... crying. She’s not in my class, she’s a year younger than me, but I know her quite well because our class practises with hers. Anyway, she was all on her own in there and sobbing her heart out. I asked... her... what was wrong and she went mental, saying she couldn’t tell me, she couldn’t tell anyone or he’d kill her. All that sort of stuff. Anyway, I calmed her down and just sat there with her, you know? Just talking crap, sorry, talking about this and that. Anyway, it turns out she’s had sex. And she’d been forced, Dad. Not just once, either, loads of times by someone much older, but even though she told me that, she still wouldn’t tell me who’d done it because he’d kill her. She was hiding out so he wouldn’t find her.”

Paolo waited for Katy to continue, but she was looking at him as if she’d reached the end of her story.

“But what happened next, Katy? How does Father Gregory come into it? Did she tell you it was him?”

“Not exactly, Dad, but I know it was.”

He kept his irritation under control, but it was getting harder. “How can you know if she didn’t tell you?”

“Because he came in. How could he even know she was in there if he hadn’t been following... her?”

“He might have seen a light on, or even heard your voices if he’d been checking the school buildings; it could have been for any reason.”

“Yeah, he tried to make out it was all innocent, but I saw how V... she reacted to him. She was terrified! And he offered to take her home and speak to her mother without even asking what was wrong with her. Of course he didn’t need to ask because he already knew and no way was he really going to speak to her mother.”

“Katy! I can’t believe you’ve built this entire story around Father Gregory without any proof.”

“But, Dad, listen to me. When he tried to make her go with him she begged him to leave her alone. Said she’d kill herself if he didn’t.”

“So then what happened?”

“The creep acted all concerned and asked me to walk home with V... her.” She glared at Paolo. “I know what you’re going to say, but it
wasn’t
normal behaviour, Dad. You’ve got to believe me. There was something weird going on between them, I could see it. And, what’s more,” she continued on a note of triumph, “you know I said it was really obvious that he knew why she’d been crying? Well, when he went to take hold of her arm, she went absolutely mental, screaming at him to keep away and not touch her. Now why would she do that if
he
wasn’t the one she was scared of?”

“I don’t know, Katy, but surely that isn’t all you have to go on? There must be more. Have you spoken to the girl since?”

Katy shook her head. “No, she’s avoiding me. But not only me, she’s avoiding the creep, too.”

“Don’t call him that! Not yet anyway. How do you know she’s avoiding him?”

“Because I was walking behind her the next day and she saw Father Gregory and ducked behind a bush until he’d gone past. Now, you tell me, Dad, why would she do that if she wasn’t scared of him?”

“Okay, let’s say you’re right. I can’t do anything without proof or a complaint from the girl herself. Here’s what I want you to do. Apologise to Father Gregory...”

“You must be joking.”

“Just listen to me, will you. You apologise to Father Gregory. With a bit of luck that will satisfy the school and your case won’t come up before the board.” He smiled at the furious look on her face. “Cheer up, I haven’t finished yet. Once we know you won’t have to worry about getting expelled, I want you to get friendly with the girl and see if you can talk her into making an official complaint. If she does that then I can step in.”

“But what if she won’t? She’s really scared of him, Dad.”

“Don’t worry; I’m going to keep an eye on Father Gregory without him knowing. If you watch out for your friend and I keep tabs on him, between us we should find a way to discover the truth. Okay?”

C
HAPTER 
T
EN

Paolo stood opposite Chief Constable Willows and wondered how the first good Monday morning he’d had in months had turned into a nightmare. He should have seen it coming after the weekend he’d had, but no, he’d believed his luck had changed at last and life was finally looking up. When he’d taken Katy home on Saturday to work out how they should handle her apology to the school, Lydia had been so relieved at Katy’s change of heart that she’d actually thrown her arms round Paolo and kissed him. He’d been floating on air ever since – until now.

He looked around the chief’s office, hoping to find something he could comment on to stop the flow of angry words firing at him from across Willows’ incredibly neat desk. There was nothing. The man didn’t have so much as a photograph Paolo could ask about. Everything was rigidly in its place; even the coat hanging on the rack next to the door had been smoothed into a neat shape. Willows was known to be anally tidy and compulsively private. Paolo doubted that many, apart from him, knew that Dave was the man’s nephew. In Willows’ eyes, the biggest sin a copper could make was to allow private lives to impact on cases. And now he seemed to think that Paolo was guilty of that particular crime.

“You have a grudge against Matthew Roberts, Paolo, and it’s affecting your judgement.”

“That’s not the case at all, sir. I think his client is a piece of scum, that’s all.”

“That isn’t all, damn it! Matthew Roberts tells me that you have been questioning Azzopardi again, Paolo. He’s complained that you are conducting a vendetta against his client. We’ve discussed this, Paolo. You have no proof of Azzopardi’s involvement in any of these recent killings. If you can get the man on something concrete I’ll be the first to back you, but right now it looks as though Roberts has right on his side. You’re hounding Azzopardi on a hunch and Roberts believes it’s to get at him rather than his client. You’d better have solid proof before you go within yards of Azzopardi. Roberts has promised to take action against you personally if you step over the line.”

Well of course I’m pissed at Roberts, Paolo thought. The man has an above reproach persona and yet he works for scum. He forced himself to keep quiet, to stop the words from spilling out of his mouth. He wasn’t after Azzopardi to get at Roberts, he was after Azzopardi because the bastard was evil through and through. Telling Willows that he knew how Azzopardi operated because he’d known him for years wouldn’t cut any ice. Bradchester was too small for crooks on a national scale, but it was plenty big enough for Azzopardi’s set up. The problem was proving his crimes. Anyone who could testify against him was either too scared to do so or already dead.

Maybe he wasn’t directly involved in killing the prostitutes, but it certainly benefitted him that his opposition’s girls were dropping out of sight. Paolo wondered if Dave had been able to establish a connection between Azzopardi and Liverpool. Unfortunately he’d been hauled up to Willows’ office before he’d had a chance to ask.

“Sir, I promise I’ll keep my distance and not give Roberts any ammunition he can use against me.”

“Good. I’m sure you have your reasons for believing Azzopardi has a hand in these murders, Paolo, and I’d love to see the man behind bars where he belongs, but you need to move very carefully. Roberts is extremely well connected, nationally, not just locally, as you know only too well. He appears on just about every talk show up and down the country. Heed my warning on this and keep me up to date on your progress. Good day.”

Paolo heard the words of dismissal with relief and left the room. First things first, find out if Azzopardi had any Liverpool connections.

He entered the main office expecting to see Dave sitting at his desk, but his chair was empty.

“Anyone seen Dave?” he asked of the room generally, but only received negative responses.