The Two Towns (The Lakeland Murders) (9 page)

‘Nice one, Andy’ said Styles, reaching over and shaking Hall’s hand. ‘That kid’s the only member of that whole bloody family who’s actually worth finding, I’ll tell you that for nowt.’

‘It was Jane, the new DC, who guessed where he was. Or rather worked out where he might be. All I did was drive the car and buy the kid breakfast. So Pete and the mum, Sally isn’t it, are they inside?’

‘They are.’

‘What have you told them?’

‘That you were bringing him home, and that you wanted a word.’

‘Right, let’s get on with it.’

‘You want me to join you?’

‘Is there anywhere else you need to be?’

‘No. I’m off shift now.’

‘There’s no need to come in then. You should get off.’

‘I’d like to, boss.’

‘Come on then. The more the merrier. And feel free to chip in. I want those two cretins to understand exactly what will happen if they don’t do what we tell them.’

‘Bastards like that, they won’t change. They’re beyond it, like.’

‘Maybe, but Johnny isn’t. And I want him to know that we will do everything we can to protect him, not just now but every day until he finally escapes from his bloody family.’

Sally Graham was dressed, and she even offered the officers a hot drink. They all said no. Jane pulled the living room curtains open, and Hall was glad. It showed up all the dust in the room.

‘You get off and shower’ said Sally. ‘Leave the grown-ups to talk.’

‘Not yet’ said Hall, firmly. ‘I need Johnny to hear what we have to say to you both.’

‘Well, straight after then’ said Sally, picking a pack of cigarettes up off the table.

‘If you wouldn’t mind not smoking while we’re here’ said Hall.

She looked as if she was about to say something, but she didn’t. She put the carton and the lighter back down with a heavy sigh and shrugged. Pete stood in the doorway, as if he was planning a quick getaway.

‘Be quick then’ she said.

‘This won’t take long, but I need both of you to listen carefully. You two put Johnny at very real risk, and we all know why. So let me tell you this. If either of you ever asks Johnny to get involved in any of your illegal activities, and that includes sending him to the corner shop to buy fags, then I promise you that we won’t just nick you, but we’ll never let you alone. As of today you are among Kendal nick’s target criminals, which means that we’ll be watching you all the time. There’ll be pictures of you both in the muster room, so no-one will ever forget who you are. And that’s not just PC Styles and his uniformed colleagues, but me and my team as well. Drugs too, I wouldn’t wonder. So Pete, if you were thinking of making a living as a career criminal then I’d suggest you move out of the county, because you’re a marked man here.’

‘All right, I get it’ said Pete Graham.

‘Good. And as for you, Sally. I’m going to expect to see you supporting Johnny properly, and I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. And this is nothing to do with social services, this is me talking now. I’m going to visit that school, once every term, and I’m going to find out how Johnny is doing. And if I find out that there have been any problems, anything at all, then we’re going to give you our undivided attention until we find out what the cause is. And you wouldn’t enjoy that attention, I promise you. Do you understand what I’m saying?’

‘Aye. Johnny’s the fucking golden boy and we’re just shit. We get it.’

‘He should be your golden boy, Sally. That’s all I’m saying. And you two had better do the right thing by Johnny, because he’s done the right thing by you. He didn’t grass you up to us, even though he should have, and he kipped in a bloody barn in the freezing cold for days. He did that for you two. He just couldn’t see any other way of not getting involved in your doings, without grassing on you. He’s a brave lad, and he’s too bloody loyal for his own good. You both need to remember that, and if you don’t I will remember it for you. PC Styles, is there anything you’d like to add?’

‘No, sir. I think you’ve been very clear. Personally I’d like nothing better than to nick the bloody pair of you here and now, but I’m just a front-line bobby. So all I can tell you is that I’ll be listening for any whispers on the street about either of you, and if I hear anything I don’t like then I’ll be all over you both like a rash.’

On the way back to the station Hall stopped at bakers and cleared their stock of cream cakes.

‘Tradition’ he explained to Jane, as he placed the box carefully on the back seat. ‘I’ll need to buy Ian a bloody apple or something, because he won’t touch a cream cake. And he complains like buggery if he’s left out.’

‘Well I will partake, and I approve of that tradition. But do you honestly think the lad will be all right, Andy?’

‘If you mean will Pete take it out on him, or try to get him involved in his criminal enterprise, if you can call his type of gutter-level hustling an enterprise, then I’d say no. God knows those two are stupid, selfish and greedy, but I don’t think they’re quite that stupid. They’ll know that we weren’t pissing about.’

‘And will you really do what you said? Go round and visit the school every term?’

‘You bet I will. Tell you what, why don’t we take turns? It was you who found the lad, after all.’

‘I’d like that, cheers.’

‘It’s a good feeling, isn’t it?’

‘Aye, it is.’

‘Well remember it, really savour this moment, because you’ll have enough crap days. And I wouldn’t mind if they were only caused by the bloody cons, because it’s in their job description to be shit to us. I quite like it, actually. It proves that we’re causing them some minor inconvenience at least. But what gets me is when it’s our own bloody bosses giving us grief. Take my tip Jane, avoid promotion at all costs. Ray Dixon may be a pension-obsessed clock-watcher, but he’s a shrewd old copper. He’ll finish his time as a DC, and with a bit of luck he’ll even have a few more days of feeling like this. You just can’t beat a good result, and that’s a fact.’

By the time she was ready to knock off for the night Jane had spoken to nearly everyone in the station, including the Superintendent, because Hall had insisted that she take the cakes round to everyone, including the civilian staff. And he’d obviously put the word out that it had been Jane who’d found the lad, because Superintendent Robinson had spent ten minutes burnishing Jane’s metaphorical tunic buttons, and saying that he expected great things of her in future. Even Ian Mann had insisted on a handshake, and he’d taken a bun as well.

‘Just this once, like. Seeing as it’s a special occasion. And well done again, Jane. Bloody good work, lass.’

But Jane still had one more thing to do, so she called Sarah Walker. When she answered Jane introduced herself, and asked how she could help.

‘Oh, hi mum’ said Sarah, ‘I’m just with Phil at the moment. Can I call you a bit later? About nine?’

Jane said that was fine, and rang off. She thought about mentioning the call to Andy Hall, but he had some people in his office that she didn’t recognise, and his door was closed. And, anyway, she didn’t really have anything to say. Not yet, at least. So she set an alarm on her phone for nine o’clock, even though she knew that she certainly wouldn’t need it. Because come 8:59:30 she’d be dialling.

Thursday, 10th November

DS Ian Mann and DC Ray Dixon were in the meeting room, drinking tea and chatting while Will, the posh lad from tech support, was making the projector work. It didn’t take him long at all.

‘What was wrong?’ said Dixon, as he was going. ‘On second thoughts, don’t tell me.’

The two officers were looking at a projected map of the town, and Dixon overlaid a pattern of coloured dots.

‘The blue is for domestic burglaries, green is for business premises, and red is for repeat offences. This is the last six months, and this is the last three years, excluding the past six months.’

Mann looked closely as Dixon flicked backwards and forwards between the two maps.

‘You’re right’ said Mann. ‘The Lakes View estate has definitely seen a big increase in break-ins recently. There must be ten at least in the last few months, and that’s more than in the whole previous couple of years.’

‘It’s twelve, versus five before.’

‘And you know who it is who’s doing them?’

‘Aye, I do. A lad called Billy Bartlett.’

‘Steve’s boy, is it? I wouldn’t have thought he’d be old enough.’

‘The lad’s fifteen.’

‘So we’ve nicked him recently, have we, this Billy?’

‘No. He’s never even had a caution. But it’s him, all right.’

‘Blimey, Ray, I thought I was the one who specialised in giving a dog a bad name.’

‘It’s a sensible policy in this job, is that. But I’ve got proper evidence, Ian.’

‘Amaze me.’

‘Here’s two lists of addresses of the domestic burglaries, and you’ll see that eight of the twelve are on both lists.’

‘Aye. So what?’

‘Well, mate, the second list is all the burglaries on the estate that Steve coughed to back in ’04. Look how well they match with the current crop, like.’

Mann laughed.

‘Very nice work, Ray. But isn’t it just the dad revisiting the scene of past glories? It has been known for a con to do the same house again, even years later.’

‘You haven’t seen Steve lately, have you?’

‘No, why?’

‘He couldn’t burgle anywhere, because he’s the size of a bloody house himself these days. He couldn’t fit in through a bathroom window, let alone climb up onto a flat roof. He’d need a bloody cherry picker, and that might be noticed, even on Lakes View.’

‘Any other siblings then?’

‘A girl, but she’s only seven. So I expect Steve’s only got her nicking the other kids’ milk. Well he does need something to go with his biscuits, like.’

Mann laughed again.

‘So the dad has been pointing the boy at a few likely targets?’

‘He has. And I checked, all the ones that have been done this time still have the same occupants as in ‘04. All older folks too.’

‘All right, I’m convinced. But how did you know? You’ve always had a good memory, but remembering a few domestic burglaries from years ago… Well, I’m impressed, Ray.’

‘Me too.’ Dixon grinned. ‘So we’ll be able to get a warrant to turn the house over?’

‘Aye, of course. When was the last of the current spate of burglaries?’

‘Night before last. He got some decent jewellery, did the lad. Steve will know how to dispose of it I don’t doubt, but he’ll have pies to eat first, won’t he? Pound to a pinch of snuff we’ll find it all in the cold water tank in the loft.’

‘That’s where we recovered gear from before?’

‘It is.’

‘All right. I’ll run it by Andy later on, but he’s bound to go for it. He’ll probably give me the usual talk about the virtues of intelligence led policing. But nice one anyway, Ray.’

‘Cheers. I don’t want to be outdone by the golden girl. Where is she, by the way? I thought she’d moved in here, the hours she’s been doing.’

‘Jane called in earlier. You know the boss had her looking at the Clark file?’

‘Aye. Waste of time, that is. If she gets a result I’ll buy the drinks for a month.’

‘You might just be shelling out then.’

‘No way. She hasn’t got a sniff, has she? The bloody husband did it, as sure as eggs, but he’s never going to cough to it. He’s not the type.’

‘I don’t know, mate. All I do know is that right now, at this very moment, Jane is chumming up with Clark’s new girlfriend. Going for a nice little stroll on Scout Scar in fact.’

‘That means nowt, Ian. I reckon my money’s safe. And talking of money, you owe me a fiver.’

‘Really?’

‘Aye. You got Jane’s cat count wrong and all.’

‘I had one to three, didn’t I?’

‘You did. Well I was right. No cats. Never had one.’

‘Shit, Ray, you didn’t come right out and ask her, did you?’

‘Of course not. I just asked her about her old job, in the lab, like. Then I got on to animal experiments, and asked if she ever used cats and dogs. She said no, then I asked her if she had any pets herself. And she said no, she didn’t. Case closed, like.’

‘Nice detective work, Ray.’ Mann reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.

Jane was sure she’d parked at the right place. It looked like a disused quarry of some kind, and there were a few other cars about. As she did up her boots a couple of vehicles came and went, carrying dog walkers and joggers. Then she heard her name being called out, and turned to see Sarah Walker approaching.

‘Thanks for meeting me.’

‘No problem. I was due a few hours off. It’s been a busy week.’

‘But I thought you’d only just started? Phil said…’

‘No, that’s right. I only started on Monday, though it seems like a month ago already. But we had something urgent, a missing child. All resolved now, thankfully. So are you off work today?’

‘Yes. We do flexitime, so I’ve taken the morning off.’

‘What do you do?’

‘I’m a claims handler, at the same place as Phil. But before you ask; no, I didn’t know him when his wife died. I didn’t come to Kendal until a month or so after, in fact.’

‘Have you been together long?’

‘Six months.’

Jane wanted to know more, but she knew that this wasn’t the moment to ask. She was impatient, she knew that, and another of her new job’s resolutions was to improve on that. And this felt like a good time to start.

‘So where are we going?’

‘Over the road, then up onto the top of the scar. The views are fantastic. From Morecambe Bay right round to the Langdales.’

‘Sounds lovely. Lead on.’

The two walked briskly up a gravelled path, then out onto the flat top of the scar.

‘Clints and grykes’ said Jane, pointing at an exposed area of limestone pavement.

‘You did geography at school too then?’ said Sarah.

‘I did. It’s funny how these things stick in your mind, isn’t it? But I still can’t remember which is which.’

‘Me neither. Like stalactites and stalagmites.’

‘Tites come down, don’t they? That’s what one of my old teachers used to say.’