Sorcerer (16 page)

‘Don’t let it go to your head’.

‘I’m a big lad though. I didn’t hurt you, did I?’

‘I had to flinch a couple of times but I didn’t mind. It was part of the pleasure. It was part of what I wanted to give to you’

‘It felt bloody good to me’.

Jack smiled. He loved all this. He loved Mick being there and filling the room with himself. His life had been full of men he couldn’t have. This was a rare glimpse into another world where he could’ve been happy if fate had been kinder. He should’ve made a stand to protect all those boys. Maybe that’s why he’d never found lasting happiness, after all, they say that God doesn’t pay debts with money.

‘What are you thinking about?’ asked Mick.

‘Oh this and that’ Jack replied, nonchalantly.

‘You know I don’t believe what they’re saying about you in the papers’.

‘What, that I was a paedophile like Griffin?’

‘Yes’ said Mick. ‘You’re no more a paedophile than I am’.

‘Thanks, Mick’ said Jack. He ran his hand up and down Mick’s big hairy arm. ‘I really am glad to hear you said that’. He was glad because Mick would be the sort of person who’d go down the pub and find Jack guilty as charged just because it had been in the papers.

‘They don’t know you like I do’.

‘Not many people do’.

‘What’s up, mate? You look really sad and far away’.

‘I didn’t want to let that show whilst you were here’ said Jack. ‘I’m felling as guilty as Hell, Mick, and I deserve to. I should’ve told the police what was happening at Pembroke but I didn’t for the sake of my career’.

‘It was a different time back then, Jack. And at least they’ve got the filthy bastard now’.

‘He’s supposed to be burying his wife tomorrow’.

‘You’re not going to the funeral?’

‘What? I’d rather have my eyes poked out with a blunt knife’.

Mick pulled a face. ‘Ouch’. He then placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder. ‘You don’t have to pretend to be happy for me, Jack. I want you to talk to me if you need to’.

Jack could’ve cried. Why couldn’t he have met someone like Mick thirty years ago? They could’ve had a wonderful life together. Meeting him now was like fate rubbing Jack’s nose in it. It was telling him that this is how it could’ve been if it hadn’t been decided that he would never find true happiness that was meant to last.

‘Thank you, Mick’.

Mick clipped the end of Jack’s nose. ‘Don’t mention it’.

‘Mick, would you mind if you found out that Pauline had been up to no good?’

‘No’ Mick answered. ‘I’d just hope she was having as good a time with hers as I’m having with you’.

‘So what would you like to do now?’

‘Well I’ve got a beer in my hand, I’ve been fed and I’ve been well and truly seen to. So what do you think a man like me would still want after all that?’

‘Live football on the telly? That can be arranged and you don’t have to move a muscle’.

Mick’s face lit up. ‘Really?’

Jack picked up the remote control and pointed it at the bottom of the bed before pressing. A flat screen TV rose up from inside the bottom board and with one more click on the remote, the channel that was going to show the football came on.

‘Happy days!’ cried Mick. ‘I never get near the remote control in our house and I pay for the thing. This is paradise’.

Jack propped himself up against the headboard and Mick leaned back against him. Just for that moment Jack was the happiest he’d been in his whole life. The football was due to start next and they were just catching the tail end of the local news. Usually it didn’t mean much but this time a repeat of the headlines made Jack’s heart leap into his mouth.

‘ … Greater Manchester police have issued a warrant for the arrest of George Arthur Griffin on murder charges relating to the discovery earlier this month of three skeletons, including a baby and a child, at Pembroke House which was formally a care home for boys. Griffin is already on bail after being charged recently with the rape and sexual assault of Ronnie Wiseman and seven other men who were residents of the home when they were young boys during the late eighties and early nineties. But when detectives, led by detective superintendent Jeff Barton arrived at the central Manchester flat where Mr. Griffin had been staying, they found he wasn’t there and nobody knows where he is. With his bail conditions now broken George Griffin is now a wanted man and police have appealed to the public for any information they know that could lead to Griffin’s apprehension …. ‘

‘He’s done a runner’ said Jack.

‘Too chicken to pay for what he’s done’.

‘He’s going to be mightily pissed off with me’.

‘Why?’

‘Never mind’ said Jack. ‘But I’m going to move out. I’ll book into a hotel until they find the bastard. I don’t want to be here alone when I know he’s out there. I’m not going to make it easy for him’.  

Jenny had never been anywhere near a police station before, let alone inside one. It frightened her. She had no idea how to behave.

‘Where is he, Mrs. Lake?’ Jeff asked, firmly.

‘I don’t know where he is’ answered Jenny, somewhat feebly.

‘Mrs. Lake, I am in no mood for your lies and evasions now. When we came to arrest George Griffin this morning, you told us he’d gone to buy the morning paper. That was a lie, wasn’t it, Mrs. Lake?’

‘I really don’t know what you’re talking about’ said Jenny, nervously. Trouble with the police was something that happened to people on council estates. Solid, law abiding working class women like herself didn’t get onto the wrong side of the law. This was ridiculous. 

‘You knew full well that George Griffin had caught wind of the fact that we were coming for him and done a runner’ said Jeff, his voice raised and sharp.

‘I don’t know what you mean’.

Jeff raised his eyes to the Heavens. ‘Where has he gone, Mrs. Lake?’ he demanded.

‘I don’t know!’ Jenny snapped back.

‘This is getting very tedious, Mrs. Lake’ said Jeff. ‘His car has gone and he’s not picking up on his mobile. And you’re really expecting us to believe that you don’t know anything about it? Come on, Mrs. Lake. Help yourself by telling us the truth’.   

‘I don’t know where he’s gone’ said Jenny. The tears began to roll down her cheeks and she wiped them with a tissue. ‘And no amount of you shouting at me is going to change that’.

‘Mrs. Lake, this is a murder investigation, people have been murdered’.

‘All I do know is that he needed to get away from the likes of you and your lies. I don’t expect anybody to understand’

All Jenny had ever wanted was to be happy. She’d never chased fortune and she’d never gone for anything that could be deemed to be out of the ordinary in any way, shape, or form. When she’d fallen in love with Ed it had been true and genuine. There’d been nothing fake about her feelings. She knew he was a bit on the awkward side and that he could be moody. But she was a woman and she could change him. She made the mistake that thousands and millions of women the world over still make when it comes to their man. She’d thought she could fix everything she saw as an imperfection. She’d thought she could turn him into something he never wanted to be. She’d watched all her friends doing it to their men who’d all complied with the manipulation of their character in return for sex and permission to go down to the pub. But it didn’t quite happen that way with Ed. She’d wanted to change him. She’d always wanted to change him. But she’d never been able to get past all the inner demons he’d always seemed to love cherishing more than he’d loved her. And George had always been there. For years now she’d conducted a sometimes platonic, sometimes physical affair with George behind the backs of both her husband Ed and George’s wife Mary. But she’d needed George. She’d needed him to hold onto when all she could see ahead was darkness. He’d always been there. He’d always been there for her.

‘What do you want us to understand, Mrs. Lake?’ Rebecca asked, sternly. ‘The fact that you slept with your father-in-law?’

Jenny looked up in a state of shock.

‘Ah, so you did sleep with your father-in-law even though serious allegations of sexual abuse had been made against him?’

‘Look’ said Jenny, trying to compose herself. ‘Nobody can appreciate just what it was like living with my husband. George was the only one who tried’.

‘Because he was the one who gave your husband all his problems’ said Jeff, his voice high with incredulity. ‘Could you not see that?’

‘No, that’s not true!’

‘So your husband is a liar, is he? The very detailed statement he made to us about his step-father’s abuse was all fantasy as far as you’re concerned?’

‘He’s always had it in for George’.

‘Oh come on, Mrs. Lake, you’ll need to do a darn sight better than that!’ said Jeff. ‘Have you no compassion for the father of your daughter? He’s had a breakdown, Mrs. Lake. He’s been in a mess for years because of your lover George’.

‘Look, believe it or not I do retain some thought for the health of my husband but it’s like I said before, I’ve endured years of trying to keep my marriage together and I’m exhausted. I’ve borne my own unhappiness in order to try and make Ed happy and I’ve had enough’.

‘Is this a recent thing?’

‘What?’

‘Your affair with your father-in-law?’

Jenny bowed her head in an almost shameful expression. ‘No. It’s been going on for some time’.

‘So you’ve spent years lying to your husband and your daughter’ said Rebecca. ‘That must’ve been tough’.

‘You’ve no right to judge me’.

‘Oh I’m not judging you, Mrs. Lake’ said Rebecca. ‘I just pity you’.

‘George is not what Ed has made him out to be!’

‘So he’s not a child abuser?’ said Jeff. ‘Everybody is lying? That’s funny because that’s just what he said when he was in here’.

‘Not to mention his alleged involvement in the murder of Leroy Jackson and his son Ben’ Rebecca added. ‘And the fact that he effectively conspired to swindle your husband out of his inheritance from his family’s engineering company. Oh I’d say you’ve got yourself a real catch in George Griffin, Mrs. Lake. I’d keep hold of him if I was you’.

‘You know nothing!’ Jenny screamed. ‘George was there for me and despite what they’re all saying I am not going to let him down!’

‘Where’s he gone, Mrs. Lake?’

‘He just said that he was going away and that I wasn’t to worry’ said Jenny, tearfully. ‘But I love him so how can I not worry?’

Jeff had heard enough of this shit. ‘Mrs. Lake, did Mr. Griffin tell you he had another daughter?’

‘Yes’ said Jenny. ‘You mean Anne?’

‘And do you know what happened to her?’

‘I’ve no idea’ said Jenny. ‘But she could’ve gone to Hell for all I cared. She was another one who told lies about my George’.

Rebecca looked at Jeff who gave her the nod.

‘Mrs. Lake’ Rebecca began. ‘I’m arresting you for conspiring to pervert the course of justice. Anything you say  … ‘

All Jeff and Rebecca could hear as they walked away and left Jenny Lake in the charge of the custody sergeant was the sound of her yelling that all she did was fall in love.

‘I’ve never wanted to slap a suspect more than I want to slap that stupid bitch’ said Rebecca.

‘And I’d be right behind you in the queue’ said Jeff. 

Owen had worked a really hard shift at the hospital and when he got home just after half past ten he was exhausted and fell straight into bed. Gabby was out at Aunt Jocelyn’s and she’d promised to try and not wake him when she came in.

He woke with a start the next morning and when he looked at the clock on the bedside table it showed that it was just coming up to eight o’clock. He must’ve slept through right from when he got home. He couldn’t hear any activity in the house. Usually Gabby was either in the shower or having some breakfast at this time before she went to work. He looked across to her side of the bed. It was untouched. The sheets and pillows weren’t even ruffled.

He sat up and checked his mobile. There were no messages from her and no texts either. He rang hers and it went straight to voicemail. What was going on? 

He quickly got dressed and as he did so he looked out of the window and saw that Gabby’s car was parked a few houses down the street. Now he was starting to get seriously worried.     

He called Aunt Jocelyn who said that Gabby hadn’t turned up at her house for dinner as arranged and that she’d rung her mobile too and only got her voicemail. 

‘What on earth do you think has happened?’ she asked anxiously.

‘I really don’t know, Aunt Jocelyn’.

‘But we’ve only just found each other’ said Jocelyn, trying to hold back her tears. ‘I can’t lose her again so soon’.

‘How do you think I feel, Aunt Jocelyn? I’m about to marry her’.

‘Then we both stand to lose a great deal’.

‘I know what you mean. Look, I’m going to try and look for her’.

‘And what if you can’t find her?’

‘Then I’m calling the police’.