Murder Ring (A DI Geraldine Steel Mystery) (24 page)

‘Did someone hurt Theo? Oh my God, if anyone hurt my kid, I swear, I’ll kill him.’

‘Mrs Bates, or whatever you call yourself, we want you to come with us right now,’ Adam barked suddenly. ‘We need to get moving.’

‘What’s your hurry?’ she asked, crossing her arms and leaning back against the door frame, sensing she might somehow have the advantage. ‘I ain’t in no hurry.’

‘If you want to see Theo again, you need to come with us right now,’ he said and turned away.

‘Wait!’ she cried out, alarmed. ‘I’m coming. I never said I wasn’t coming. Just wait while I get my coat, will you?’

She disappeared into the flat to re-emerge a moment later clutching a large brown handbag and a dirty pink mac. ‘I’m coming, I’m coming. Where we going anyway? What happened to my Theo?’ She pulled on her mac.

On the way down, Geraldine explained that Theo was being looked after at a police station after he had been picked up in possession of a hand gun. She refrained from adding that Theo was a suspect in a murder enquiry.

‘Is Theo your son?’

In the lift, the sallow-faced woman told them her name was Rosa. Theo was her son who lived with her. When they had Rosa safely in the car, Geraldine explained that they were having difficulty persuading Theo to answer their questions.

‘He doesn’t seem to be frightened, but we’re not quite sure how well he can hear us, and how much he understands of what he does hear.’

Rosa nodded without speaking. They drove for a few moments in silence before Geraldine tried again.

‘We haven’t been able to persuade Theo to cooperate with us. If this continues, we will need to recommend him for a psychiatric assessment. Does he suffer from any medical disabilities? Is he on any medication?’

‘You leave my boy alone!’ Rosa snapped.

She seemed insanely defensive about her son, but at least they had a responsible adult to sit in on his interview.

‘We need the name of Theo’s doctor,’ Geraldine added.

‘We don’t need no doctor. I take care of him,’ Rosa said fiercely.

‘I see.’ Geraldine sighed.

Theo’s situation was even sadder than she had realised. Although the young man clearly needed some kind of treatment or support, it appeared his mother wasn’t prepared to allow him access to medical attention.

‘Is he under any medical supervision at all?’ she asked.

‘We don’t need no doctor interfering with him,’ Rosa repeated. ‘I can take care of my son. You leave him alone. Ain’t no one taking him away from me.’

‘We’re not trying to take your son away from you,’ Geraldine reassured her. In the mirror she saw Adam raise his eyebrows at her statement, but he didn’t contradict her.

The justice system would take Theo away from his mother and place him in care; whether in a secure mental institution or a prison cell was for the courts to decide. Either way, his mother wouldn’t be taking him home with her. Geraldine stared straight ahead and didn’t say any more. Rosa was guilty of letting her son roam freely in the community, posing a danger to himself and others. What had happened had been inevitable. Rosa’s misguided motives had led to the deaths of two innocent victims and the incarceration of the son whose liberty she had been so desperate to protect. Despite her evident distress, Geraldine felt little sympathy for her.

45

L
ENNY SETTLED IN
again, like he had never been away. Glued to the football on the telly, he didn’t look up when she entered the living room.

‘Get us a beer.’

‘I ain’t your skivvy,’ she grumbled, but he ignored her.

Muttering under her breath she went to the kitchen. The fridge was empty.

‘We ain’t got no beers,’ she told him, sitting down.

‘Go get some,’ he replied, without taking his eyes off the game.

‘Go yourself.’

‘That’s a bloody nice welcome home, after all I been through, can’t even get a beer. Fucking hell. Might as well still be banged up.’

‘You got me.’

Someone scored a goal and he yelled in chorus with the supporters on the screen. ‘Get in there!’ He turned to her. ‘Go get us some beers.’

‘I ain’t got no cash.’

‘Get it on the card.’

‘I got no credit.’

‘Fucking hell.’ He reached into his pocket and fished around, finally pulling out a twenty quid note. ‘Here. Get us some fags an’ all.’

She took the money. ‘Where you get this?’

‘Mind your own fucking business. Now for fuck’s sake go and get us a beer. The bloody game’ll be over before you move your lazy arse.’

Hiding her anger, Gina hurried off to the corner shop. The more aggrieved she felt, the more determined she was to get what was hers. There was no point running off with nothing. Lenny had given her a ring that could be worth thousands of quid. Impatient to get away from him, she wasn’t leaving without it. That ring could set her up nicely. If he would only tell her where he had taken it, she would go and get it herself, but he was keeping his cards close to his chest. If she tried to wheedle it out of him, he only clammed up and snapped at her to mind her own fucking business.

‘It is my business,’ she had protested. ‘You give it me. It’s mine. I only want what’s mine.’

‘It’s yours when I say and not before.’

He wasn’t even grateful when she got back with his booze and fags. ‘About bloody time. It’s nearly half-time, you dozy bitch. I been watching without a beer or a smoke.’

By the time the game ended he was pissed. She laughed at him for slurring his words.

‘Don’t take much to get you wrecked.’

‘You try being inside for months. Shame no one bangs you up, it might shut your fucking face. Give me some peace for a while.’

Shaking with sudden rage he jumped up and swung his fist at her, but she wasn’t smashed and easily dodged out of his way.

‘Get over here.’

‘What? So you can hit me?’

‘I’ll teach you, fucking bitch.’

He made another attempt and lost his balance. This time, one of his flailing arms whacked her on the side of her head, knocking her off her feet. She yelled in alarm. Luckily she landed on the sofa where she lay still for a moment, stunned.

‘Get up, I’ll teach you!’ he bellowed.

For a second she thought about staying where she was, not moving a muscle. With luck he would think he had really hurt her. But she was afraid he was too far gone to worry about that, and if she didn’t move out of the way fast, she would be an easy target. With a screech she flung herself off the sofa and made a dash for the door. She wasn’t fast enough. He got between her and the door and stood, fists raised, poised to hit her. Terrified, she began to cry real tears

‘Don’t hurt me, Lenny, don’t hurt me no more. You really hurt my head.’ She put one hand to the side of her head and winced. ‘It’s gonna be a real big bruise there. Don’t hurt me no more. How about I roll you a joint and we have a smoke? I ain’t nothing but a friend to you, Lenny. Didn’t I come to see you every week all the time you was inside?’

Wisely she held back from adding that Cynthia hadn’t been to visit him in the nick once. Best not to risk antagonising him. He could be touchy about his mother. To her relief, he dropped his hands and his shoulders drooped.

‘I dunno what gets into me,’ he muttered. ‘You ain’t a bad girl. Come here.’

Trembling, she approached and he put his arms round her and pulled her very close, whispering in her ear.

‘I know it don’t mean nothing,’ she said. ‘Let’s have that smoke.’

‘You’re a saint, what you put up with,’ he said. ‘I dunno why you stay with me. A girl like you ought to find yourself a decent bloke, someone what’ll take care of you and not give you hell and get banged up. You deserve better than what I can give you, baby.’

There wasn’t going to be a better time.

‘What you talking about? You’re good to me. You give me that lovely ring.’ She kissed him on his slobbery lips. ‘What you done with it, Lenny? When you giving it to me? It’s mine, because you give it to me, and you got no right taking it off me again like you don’t want me to have it after all, like you decided to give my ring away to someone else.’ She bit her lip, aware it would be dangerous to bring his mother into it. ‘It’s like you said, Lenny, I been good to you, ain’t I? I deserve to get my ring back, don’t I?’

‘Tell you what, baby,’ he said, ‘that shop ain’t open tomorrow but first thing Monday I’m going back there to get it back for you.’ He kissed her. ‘You’re gonna have it on Monday. Now let’s get up to bed.’

For once, she had a genuine excuse because her head ached where he had hit her, but she didn’t want to annoy him now. Until Monday she was going to put up with him and then she’d be off.

46

Q
UESTIONING
T
HEO IN
his mother’s presence yielded no new information. Although he seemed willing to speak in front of her, what he said made no sense.

‘Who’s Jack?’ Adam asked, after Theo had repeated a phrase about waiting until Jack came home.

Rosa denied knowing anyone called Jack. Geraldine thought she was lying, but Theo was incapable of explaining what he meant.

‘Who’s Jack?’ Adam asked him again.

‘Wait till my Jack gets home,’ Theo repeated in his curiously high-pitched voice. ‘Wait till my Jack gets home!’

The interview dragged on all afternoon and through most of the evening, with frequent intervals. It was impossible to determine whether Theo was unwilling or unable to say who had given him the gun, or what he had been doing wandering around the streets of London with it. When Adam asked him point blank if he had been present when the two murders were committed, he babbled inconsequentially about a squashy football.

‘He don’t know what he done today,’ Rosa interrupted the questioning at one point. ‘He ain’t gonna tell you what he done any other day. Leave him alone with your questions. Let him come home.’

At last the lawyer looked at his watch and announced the interview was over for the day.

‘Thank Christ we got someone here talking sense,’ Rosa said. ‘Theo’s knackered and he needs to come home.’ She stood up, hands on hips, and stretched her back. ‘We been sitting too long. Come on, kid. You don’t look like you slept last night no more than what I did.’

No one else budged.

Geraldine spoke up as gently as she could. ‘I’m afraid that won’t be possible.’

‘Jesus, what now?’

‘Theo can’t go home yet. It’s just not possible.’

‘What you talking about? Theo, you get on up and walk right outa here. Ain’t no one gonna stop you. He ain’t done nothing.’

When Adam explained that Theo was helping them with a murder investigation, Rosa flew into a temper, insisting her son had nothing to do with any murders. He was harmless, she claimed, and the police were out of line if they thought they could use him as a scapegoat.

‘Pick on the weak ones,’ she ranted. ‘You loada bastards!’

‘Pick on de weak ones,’ Theo echoed cheerfully. ‘You loada bastards!’ He seemed to enjoy repeating everything his mother said.

‘What’s your bleeding murder gotta do with my kid? Nothing, that’s what!’

‘Nutting, dat’s what!’ Theo shouted gleefully.

Ignoring Theo, Adam explained to Rosa that her son had been apprehended in possession of a gun that had been used to shoot two people dead.

‘He picked it up,’ she replied dismissively. ‘He picks up all sorts of things, anything he can get his hands on.’

‘This was a gun,’ Geraldine said.

‘Don’t mean he used it. You got no proof. Theo ain’t no killer.’

‘So you’re telling us he is always in control of his actions?’

‘What?’

‘Do you mean Theo knows what he’s doing?’

‘Don’t you go putting words in my mouth. I never said that, did I?’ She turned a scared face to the lawyer. ‘I never said nothing.’

Theo appeared to have no inkling that he was suspected of murder. His mother, on the other hand, grew increasingly strident in her rage. Seeing Theo was becoming upset by her shouting, Adam directed that he be returned to his cell, and stood up to accompany the escort himself.

‘You leave him be!’ Rosa screeched. ‘You ain’t got no right touching him! Theo, get over here. You coming home with me.’

Theo turned to his mother and began to whimper.

‘Get him out of here,’ Adam barked.

Two constables promptly stepped forward and took Theo’s elbow, guiding him from the room. ‘Come on, son, there’s a nice dinner waiting for you back in the custody suite.’

Theo went with them quietly. Left alone with Rosa, it took Geraldine some time to quieten the angry mother. Furious that Theo was being held in custody overnight, being told that he was going to be assessed by a mental health expert did nothing to appease her rage. She insisted that she was the only person who understood her son, and she alone was fit to take care of him. They didn’t need strangers interfering in their lives. Only by resorting to threats was Geraldine able to persuade her to go home.