Snow Kills (36 page)

‘Well done! I’m impressed,’ he said.

‘Yeah but with our luck he’ll probably have a proper heart attack then.’

‘He’s been examined, he’s okay,’ Dylan grinned. ‘We’ll also need to arrange a debrief, or at least an update with the team, before we knock off, so everyone is up to speed before tomorrow. We must speak to Mrs Harwood and the boyfriend. I’ll get them brought down here to save us some time after the post mortem.’

‘And you never know, if we’re lucky we might just catch the pub before it shuts,’ Vicky said with a false smile. ‘I’ll need a double by then.’

‘I need a drink now,’ he said.

‘Dylan?’

‘Yes.’

‘Is it just me, am I just weird?’

Dylan cocked his head. ‘Do you want me to answer that truthfully?’

‘Serious.’

‘Go on.’

‘I always come out of a post mortems feeling hungry.’

‘Yes, me too, I guess it’s because we don’t eat before we go in, for obvious reasons, and then we’re usually stood about for hours – so we’re bound to be hungry aren’t we?’

‘Or it may be that I’m just glad it’s all over and thankful I’ve got through it,’ she said. ‘Isn’t it funny how most people think that once a body is found and someone is locked up, the job’s over? My mum always says, ‘Well you’ve got them now love that’s a good job done.’ Done? Done? The general public don’t know the half of it, do they?’

‘Perhaps better they don’t. Once it’s out of the news it’s out of sight for many, unless of course they’re involved. Truth be known, it’s only then that the work really starts isn’t it? Well, obviously with the file preparation and the court case later. Like I said before, let’s just take it one step at a time. For now we have to concentrate on the two fish we’ve got already in the net and getting Kayleigh’s body formally identified.’

‘And the other remains, boss?’

‘They’re not going anywhere, are they? We’ll deal with them later.’

Dylan and Vicky walked into the cell area interview room. Barrowclough was already there with his solicitor, who had a back as straight as a poker. As predicted, the prisoner took over a vast amount of space in the little room and there was a distinctive strong body odour. Vicky covered her mouth, breathed in deeply and gagged, the smell couldn’t be absorbed by her mucus and it felt like there was something stuck in her throat. Dylan looked at her for reassurance that she could continue. She nodded. ‘He reminds me of a block of lard,’ she whispered.

Barrowclough must weigh over twenty stone, Dylan thought, and the muscles on him made him look like a heavyweight wrestler. He had an unpleasant face, Dylan noted as he took the seat opposite, with red patches over his nose and cheekbones, and his little angry eyes were indeed close together. His beard made him look like a tramp who had not shaved for many days. In contrast, his solicitor was a little, squat, bullet headed man with a very red face. He wore a pin stripe suit, with a silk tie and hanky to match, peeping out of the top pocket.

The solicitor stood, held out his cold, chubby hand and introduced himself. ‘Marshall Richmond,’ he said. The skin over his face was taut and he had an aggressive stare. Richmond sat down with his head thrust forward on its short truculent, neck.

After the mandatory introductions for tape followed by the caution, Dylan made a start.

‘Earlier today you were arrested for the abduction and murder of nineteen year old Kayleigh Harwood,’ he said, solemnly.

‘No comment,’ said Barrowclough, staring straight ahead, his hands clasped tightly together.

‘Since your arrest, we have discovered the naked body of a girl in a freezer in your garage, would you like to explain that?’

‘No comment’ he said, seemingly unmoved, but Dylan caught him taking a sly glance towards his solicitor, who remained stony faced.

‘We will be able to positively identify the body in due course. Is it Kayleigh Harwood?’

‘No comment,’ Barrowclough said, his eyes cold.

‘If I may intervene, my client has requested that on his behalf I make the following statement at this time,’ he said. Richmond’s face remained wooden as he put on glasses taken from his breast pocket and picked up a sheet of paper from the table in front of him. ‘I have not abducted or murdered anyone. However, I do own up to concealment of a body on behalf of a friend, who informed me that the person had died accidentally. I realise now that this was a totally stupid thing to do. I realise that I have been naïve and acted insanely.’

‘Okay,’ Dylan said. ‘Now would you care to enlarge upon that statement for me, Mr Barrowclough?’

‘No comment,’ he said remaining outwardly calm, cool and collected – although Dylan had a feeling behind that cold exterior, white fat was boiling inside.

‘Are you going to name your friend and tell us when this took place?’

‘My client has named his friend as a Mr Norris Regan. He called upon Mr Barrowclough in January, on the night of the heavy snow fall when he was out working.’

‘I think your client, Mr er…’

‘Richmond.’

‘Mr Richmond. I think your client is more than capable of answering for himself, don’t you?’ Dylan said.

‘After this morning’s events, as you can well imagine he is still in a state of shock – and like I said I have taken instruction from him to speak on his behalf, Detective...?’

‘Detective Inspector Dylan,’ he said. ‘Well, to give your client more time to come to terms with his situation, we will terminate the interview for now,’ Dylan added with a half smile. ‘But we would like your client’s consent to a medical examination and to provide us with the necessary samples.’

Mr Richmond looked at his client and Barrowclough nodded.

‘He can go back to the cell,’ Dylan said not taking his eyes off the monster of a man before him. Barrowclough struggled to get to his feet and slowly walked towards the door of the interview room.

‘Mr Richmond, a word please,’ Dylan said.

Dylan told the solicitor about the other human bones found at Barrowclough’s property, and he could see that Mr Richmond was taken by surprise. He wiped his large roman nose with a pristine handkerchief from his pocket.

‘I will make myself available for what will no doubt be quite a few more interviews then, Detective Inspector,’ he said.

‘Well, put it this way, I wouldn’t plan anything for the near future, Mr Richmond,’ Dylan said, leaving him in the cell area.

A short break and he and Vicky would be going into interview with Norris Regan.

‘Do you want a brew, boss?’ shouted Vicky as she rushed ahead of him down the corridor towards the CID office. He nodded.

Dylan was stood with his back to the filing cabinet in his office, reading, when she walked in with two steaming mugs in her hand.

 ‘Pilsbury Dough wasn’t up for saying much, was he?’ Vicky said.

‘Pilsbury Dough?’

‘Barrowclough. Rolls of fat? Dough?’

Dylan rolled his eyes. ‘Not for the moment, but he was quick enough to come up with a reason for the body being there,’ he said, taking the drink from her.

‘Yeah, a fucking crap one,’ she said, sitting down on the corner of his desk.

‘True. If we give him enough rope, he’ll hang himself,’ he said wafting the papers in front of her. ‘They always do.’

Dylan was outside the big grey fire door of the interview room again thirty minutes later. He put his hand on the handle, felt in his pocket for his phone, looked at the screen and switched it off. He turned the door knob and pushed the heavy door open to allow himself and Vicky to enter. Yvonne Best was sitting with her client Norris Regan beside her. Dylan checked that Regan was feeling well enough to continue before they began.

‘I think it is only right to inform you that, since you have been in custody, Paul Barrowclough has been arrested and his home and outbuildings have been searched. In a concealed chest freezer we discovered the naked body of a female which we believe is Kayleigh Harwood. Formal identification will take place later today. We have at this stage only had a brief interview with Mr Barrowclough and he tells us that he hid the body for a friend, naming you as that person. He says he was told by you that she had died by accident. Is he telling us the truth?’

Dylan had Regan’s full attention. He was silent as tears ran unchecked down his face.

‘He’s lying,’ he said. ‘She came to my house. I lied to you. She did sit on my settee. Barrowclough had been working on the Manchester Road that night and he came into the house after I left her sleeping on my settee. He went into the front room. When I heard the commotion that followed, I came downstairs to find him on top of her. Her clothes were hung off her and he was knelt across her, shouting at me to have a go. I was excited,’ he said.

‘And?’

‘Yes.’

‘Yes, you raped her?’

Regan nodded. ‘For the purpose of the tape, Mr Norris Regan is nodding in the affirmative,’ said Vicky.

‘His hands were around her neck. She was trying to scream. He told me to shove her coit in her mouth to stop her making a noise.’

Dylan raised his eyebrows.

‘I panicked. The next thing I know her clothes were off. She’d gone quiet. He told me to fetch him a drink.’

‘Alcohol? He was drunk?’ said Vicky.

‘No, tea. He wanted a cup of tea. He said she’d seen us, we couldn’t let her go.’

‘And?’

‘He told me to put my hands over her mouth and nose and he knelt across her neck. Her head flopped to one side...’ Tears were rolling down his cheeks unchecked. Yvonne Best sniffled into a tissue that she pulled from the sleeve of her cardigan.

‘Then what?’ Dylan said.

 ‘He said he would get rid of her. No one was out to see and nobody would ever know. He took her and her clothes away but I found one of her boots in the house and her coit so I called him. He came and took them away.’

‘So you killed her?’

‘No. I didn’t kill her, he did.’

‘But you tried. You’ve admitted to us that you were the one who stuffed her coat in her mouth, then put your hands over her airways so she couldn’t breathe. She was strangled, suffocated. You may have broken the poor girl’s neck. You both killed her.’

‘I didn’t mean to kill her. I just wanted her to be quiet.’

‘So what you’re telling us is, this version of events is the truth and the other stuff, lies?’ said Dylan.

‘On my mother’s life, that’s what happened that night.’

‘You obviously have no morals whatsoever have you Mr Regan? You’re lying again.’ Vicky spoke for the first time.

Norris Regan looked shocked. ‘No, this time I really, I swear I am telling you the truth.’

‘Then why did you ring Barrowclough that night?’ she said.

‘I didn’t. The phone was dead, I told you.’

‘Not at your house. Your phone was not dead. Not unless you unplugged the phone, because we have proof that you made a call from your telephone that night. Barrowclough’s number was written on the wallpaper next to the telephone in your house. You called him because you had a young girl in your house and you fancied the look of her. You wanted his help, didn’t you?’ Vicky said.

‘No, that’s not true.’

‘The truth is you weren’t strong enough alone were you? The books, the magazines, the photos and even the leg irons weren’t enough any more, were they? How did you get her to your house, Norris? Did you drag her there?’ Vicky continued.

‘She came of her own free will, to use the toilet. To get warm.’

‘Into your trap, then you terrified her, viciously raped her and when you were done, you killed her. You were nothing more than animals toying with their prey, were you?’

‘No! I had sex with her. I admit that. But I didn’t kill her. She enjoyed it.’

‘What?’ Vicky said, shaking her head in total disbelief, ‘She told you that, did she? She actually said she’d enjoyed having sex with you?’

Dylan looked anxiously in his partner’s direction. Her eyes were slightly glazed.

‘Since your arrest, you’ve done nothing but lie to us about Kayleigh Harwood, who was tragically stuck in the severe weather on White Wednesday outside your home. When, and only when, we could prove it, did you come clean to us that you had seen her that night, been to her car and offered her a drink. Then when, and only when, we could prove it did you admit that she had been in your house to use the toilet. Again, only when we can prove beyond doubt, did you confess that she had indeed been in the lounge. When asked if you knew a man called Paul Barrowclough, you told us you didn’t. Then when we verify you do, you admit it. Now we have found a body and Mr Barrowclough is accusing you of her death. Now you decide to tell us what you say is the truth?’ Dylan leaned forward and didn’t move his stony eyes from the man’s face. ‘What do you want to lie to me about now Norris?’

Regan leaned back in his seat as far as he could. The men’s hackles were up. It reminded Vicky of a cock fight. ‘I’ve told you I had consensual sex with her and I tried to keep her quiet.’ Regan said quietly.

‘Is there anything else you wish to say?’ said Dylan with an air of finality.

‘Sorry?’ Regan said.

Dylan wanted to rip the evil, twisted man apart, but somehow he controlled his emotions.

‘There will be further interviews in the not too distant future about other matters.’

‘There will?’ said Yvonne Best.

‘There have been more human remains discovered at Barrowclough’s address.’ he said coldly and clinically. ‘I am now going to conclude this interview – and Norris Regan, you will be taken back to your cell.’

‘Are you okay?’ Dylan asked Yvonne Best as they stood in the corridor afterwards.

‘Thank you. Yes, I’m fine now but I have to admit that for a minute I got drawn into all the sadness and fear for that poor girl. What must she have gone through that night?’

‘It’s understandable. Are you sure I can’t get you a cup of tea or a drink of water?’

‘No, no really, I’m fine,’ she said. ‘Don’t fuss. By the sound of it, you suspect this might not be their first murder?’

‘Sadly not, but once I have more information and the confirmation of some tests we’re running I’ll let you know.’