The Teacher: A shocking and compelling new crime thriller – NOT for the faint-hearted! (8 page)

The Murder

The banging on the door woke Adrian up.

‘Coming!’ he groaned, before falling asleep again.

‘Wake up, Miley,’ Grey called through the letterbox.

Adrian rolled out of bed on to the floor with a thump, he arched his back and stretched out before standing up.

‘I’m coming!’ he shouted as he ran down the stairs in his underpants to open the door before Grey busted it down. He pulled the door open to have Grey thrust a coffee in his face.

‘Get dressed, princess, we need to move.’

‘What time is it?’ Adrian noticed the street lamps still on even though it was clearly morning; must be early if they hadn’t timed out yet.

‘It’s six-thirty a.m. but trust me, you’re going to want to come right now.’ She had an excited look on her face as she pushed past him into the lounge, knocking back the last of her own coffee.

Adrian noticed she was wearing the same clothes as the day before. It occurred to him that even though they had been working together a little over a month now, this was the first time she had been inside his house. He felt exposed, and not just because he was actually half naked.

‘Did you even go to bed last night?’

‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead. I don’t know about you, Miley, but I am getting pretty sick of being in the doghouse.’

‘We just have to ride it out until they find another target.’

‘Yeah, well, maybe you can wait that long but I’m fed up of getting all the crap.’

‘So what do we do about it? I don’t know how things worked down where you were before but we really just have to keep our heads down.’

‘Sod that. I have been listening to the scanners, something big is going down.’

‘Big how?’

‘I don’t know, it’s all very hush-hush at the moment, but they called in the big forensic team and … I don’t know … I just know it’s a big deal.’

Adrian grabbed his black combats off the pile of clean washing on the sofa, he saw Grey doing her usual fingertip investigation of the room, she turned away from him as he got dressed and put her hands in her pockets.

‘You’ve already seen me in my pants.’

‘Nice place.’

‘You being sarcastic?’

‘These toys, yours or the kid’s?’

‘Still mine.’ Adrian laced his boots up with one eye on Grey, hoping she didn’t pick anything up or break it.

‘You dressed? Let’s go.’

Adrian got into Grey’s black Mini. As she put the keys in the ignition the stereo started up, loud, progressive rock blasted through the speakers, the bass thumping through the tan leather seats. She slammed the car into first and pulled out so fast Adrian’s head was firmly pressed against the backrest, he could only imagine what his neighbours were thinking.

They parked as near to the cathedral as they could, getting out on a cobbled road nearby. It was obvious to Adrian immediately that Grey had been right, something big was going down. In this town there weren’t many problems that required more than two police cars at a time, except maybe on a Saturday night when they utilised the meat wagon. This was a five-car problem, add to that the three unmarked cars and the DCI’s, Adrian’s interest was piqued.

‘What are you doing here?’ Morris called across the other officers to Adrian. He was standing in a doorway to the side of a vintage gift shop; the city was littered with them. The street light shone directly on Morris’ face, Adrian could see that he wasn’t happy, in fact he was livid. Adrian looked up above Morris and saw the silhouettes of people bustling in the flat above. Police officers, crime techs and a few other people Adrian had never seen before.

‘What’s happened?’

‘You need to go back to the station.’ Morris walked towards him, pointing, just to drive the statement home.

‘Hey, this is my free time, boss; I’m not even on shift for another four hours.’

‘This does not concern you, Miles.’

Grey shot Adrian a curious sideways glance; she was obviously thinking the same thing that he was. Clearly a murder, that much went without saying. The DCI was angry not concerned, so Adrian knew that whoever was dead in that apartment did not mean anything to Adrian personally. So who the hell was it?

‘Both of you get out of here now!’ Morris ordered, his grey eyebrows knotted together even more aggressively than usual.

‘OK, I’m going,’ Adrian said, backing away. Morris turned and walked briskly towards the flat; he spun around to check Adrian was in fact leaving before disappearing back inside.

Adrian wandered back over to Grey.

‘Something’s going on.’

‘Something to do with you, by the looks of it.’ She was looking around suspiciously, eyebrows creased, focused.

‘Me? I don’t see how.’

‘Check out the eyes, Miley, everyone’s eyeballs are on you, like they are waiting for you to go nuts or something. Seriously, look at the body language.’

Adrian turned to look at the other officers on the scene and she was right, as his colleagues exited the apartment building they would see Adrian and look away, wary.

‘I don’t get it.’

‘Come on.’ Grey pulled out a cigarette and lit it, she wandered over to one of the uniformed officers who was leaning against his car on lookout. ‘Hey, Jake.’

‘Imogen.’ He smiled, shifting the weight of his body on to his other foot and crossing his arms, classic defensive behaviour.

‘Who’s the stiff?’ she asked

‘Some businessman, I don’t know.’ He tried to look casual but it was evident he was trying not to look at them.

‘What’s it got to do with DS Miles?’

‘Best leave it, don’t get involved.’

‘This is ridiculous, we are going to find out in about half an hour when it gets logged in the system!’ Adrian’s frustration was evident.

‘You did not hear this from me.’ Jake checked around to see if anyone was looking at them and then looked straight at Adrian. ‘It’s Kevin Hart, pretty fucking horrible in there too, he’s been cut to shit.’

‘Kevin Hart, as in the father of Ryan Hart?’

‘One and the same.’

‘Are you serious?’ Adrian clenched his jaw and pulled the cigarette out of Grey’s hand before nodding at Jake. ‘Cheers mate.’

Adrian walked back over to the car and Grey followed him, he got in and waited for her to start driving. He dragged on the cigarette; the nicotine would have to do until he could get something stronger down him. She jumped in beside him.

‘Going to tell me anytime soon who the dead guy is? I’m guessing the name means something to you?’

‘You drive, I’ll talk.’

‘Where we going?’

‘Ryan Hart is a dealer, remember I told you about the dealer I let get away, he brings in most of the meth for this area and pretty much controls the entire marijuana trade in the city.’

‘Sounds like a useful guy to know.’ She smiled as she pulled out.

‘I had him, we busted a meth lab just outside the city and there was all kinds of evidence going on, we had some witnesses who were going to testify against him.’

‘So this is the case that got you suspended?’

‘There were documents, CD recordings of phone calls, rental agreements on the place, but they went missing. The witnesses pulled out or disappeared. I was drinking a lot. I don’t know what happened but the case fell apart.’ Adrian pulled another cigarette out of the packet lodged in Grey’s ashtray. ‘There was a gun …’

‘Shit.’

‘I still don’t know how all that stuff went missing, but I was in charge of the investigation so I copped the heat. I kind of lost it for a while. Then Kevin Hart threatened to file a complaint against me for harassment of his son. I almost got fired for misconduct. Boss went to bat for me, really stuck his neck out. I would have been fired if it wasn’t for him. He had no choice but to suspend me. Told me to get my head together.’

‘Harsh. So do you think this has something to do with Ryan?’

‘He was in bed with some pretty shady characters, so yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised, I need to talk to—’

‘Hold your horses, Miley, you probably shouldn’t get involved in this!’

‘We’ll see.’

They pulled up outside a row of small terraced houses just offset from the main road, not two miles from where Kevin Hart’s body had been found.

‘You’re going to get us both suspended.’ She rolled her eyes at Adrian.

‘I thought you were sick of the yard work?’

‘Yeah, but this is different. Why did this guy get to you so much?’

Adrian paused, deliberating whether or not to say anything. He had to trust someone at some point, and if not Grey then who? He couldn’t let himself withdraw again.

‘Have you ever seen what meth does to a person? It’s like watching someone decompose while they’re still alive.’ Adrian sucked in a deep breath and turned away before Grey noticed the glassiness of his eyes.

‘Are you OK?’ She put her hand on his.

‘My dad was an addict of some kind or another for his whole life. Women, gambling, alcohol, you name it. But when he got into meth things got a million times worse. Ryan doesn’t care if the people he’s dealing to have families, he doesn’t care if they are kids themselves. Getting people like Ryan Hart off the streets is one of the reasons I joined the force.’

‘I’m sorry, that must have been hard.’ Imogen looked over at the house then back at Adrian before nodding her permission.

‘I promise I will be careful,’ Adrian said as he got out of the car. He leaned back through the window. ‘I’m just going to take a look and see if anything’s off.’

‘All right,’ Grey acquiesced. ‘Just don’t get me fired.’

‘Look, I swear I’ll be discreet. I won’t talk to him, I promise.’ He handed his half-finished cigarette to Grey and approached the house with caution, trying to see inside. The lights were off, no movement. He walked up the path to get a closer look. There was a gap in the front-room curtains, the sound of the gravel crushing underneath him. As he got nearer to the window, a dog started barking and howling inside the house, its massive body silhouetted in the Perspex of the front door. Adrian could see the door frame shaking as the dog became increasingly agitated.

‘Shit!’ Adrian muttered to himself as he tried to back his way out of the gate as stealthily as possible, Grey’s car seemed so far away. It was too late, the door opened. Ryan Hart was standing there completely naked. He had the physique of a whippet, with only a thin layer of tattooed skin covering his lean muscular frame. There was an Alsatian sitting and panting by his side, waiting to be told what to do.

‘And here I thought you didn’t love me any more, Detective.’ Ryan smiled a toothy grin. Between the smile, the dog and the homicidal naked man Adrian realised this was the most uncomfortable situation he had ever been in.

‘Ryan. New dog?’

‘Yeah, this is Spike. I don’t believe you have met before. Is this an official visit, Officer? Only I’m pretty sure you aren’t allowed within five hundred feet of me.’

‘Where were you last night, Ryan?’

‘With your mother.’ Adrian watched as Ryan pulled open a drawer on the console table in the hall, he reached inside. Adrian’s life flashed before his eyes as he imagined the double-barrelled shotgun pointing at his face. Ryan pulled out a business card and handed it to him. ‘Look, whatever two-bit drug deal you think I may or may not have been involved in, I was at this guy’s place, all night.’

‘And he will verify that?’ Adrian saw a police car turn into the far end of the street, he had to leave.

‘Yeah, actually, him and about five other people, we had a poker tourney.’

‘OK, thank you for your time.’ Adrian tried to get back to Grey’s car as casually as possible before the police car spotted him. Being seen with Ryan was all he needed. He did draw one important conclusion from his little interaction. Adrian knew Ryan. He had spent months following him, watching his every move, questioning him – the whole stalking deal – and the fact was Adrian knew when Ryan was lying. He knew his tell. Only this time he was pretty sure Ryan was telling the truth, and, furthermore, Ryan had no idea his father was dead.

Miles and Grey walked into the incident room to be confronted with a mass of red. A wall of photos of Kevin Hart’s body, not even his body but his body parts.

‘Gather round, folks,’ Morris called out, and the chatter died down to a murmur, all eyes on him. ‘Kevin Hart was killed and then apparently dismembered, not entirely in that order. The pathologist is having a little trouble pinpointing the time of death.’

‘Why?’

‘Because every single one of his major organs is missing.’ Morris paused and sucked in a deep breath before continuing. ‘It’s looking like somewhere between six p.m. and basically this morning, but judging by how congealed the blood is it’s been a fair few hours. Kevin Hart was last seen at six p.m. by a traffic warden who got blasted for trying to give him a ticket.’

‘Does anyone look good for it?’ Adrian asked.

‘Miles, you come within a whisker of this case and I will ship you off to some remote Cornish fishing village where you will work out the rest of your career catching crab poachers.’

‘Where are the organs, sir?’

‘Absolutely no fucking clue, your guess is as good as mine. Some unis picked up Kevin’s son Ryan, he’s in holding.’ Morris looked directly at Adrian in that moment, a warning. ‘Daniels, I need you to get a statement from the wife, she’s up in North Devon. My money’s on the son, he’s a real piece of work. Fraser, you can interview him. We have a bunch of violent crimes that trace back to him somehow.’

He looked directly at Adrian for the second time. ‘Let’s get this right, people! Don’t let this fucker get away again!’

The incident room bustled as everyone returned to their stations. Grey sat on the edge of Adrian’s desk and he could feel her staring at his furrowed brow.

‘What now?’ Grey asked as Adrian slumped back in his seat, defeated, unsure what to do next. He knew more about Ryan Hart than anyone, but he also knew how much he had screwed things up last time. He was the reason Ryan was still out there. He wanted to get involved, he wanted to get him and put him away, but this is how it started last time, with the absolute certainty that he knew how to get Ryan off the streets. Followed by a dogged determination that practically drove him insane. He couldn’t put himself or anyone else he cared about in that position again. As much as he hated to admit it, his help on this case would be more of a hindrance. He would have to bow to other people’s instincts when it came to Ryan Hart, he had no perspective.