This Little Piggy (32 page)

“What’s this got to do with Finn?”

“He was in that car, Clare. He was sitting in the back. Yeah, he had a baseball cap pulled down low and dark glasses on, but it was definitely him. I reckon that’s why his mate gave me the bloody nose. On his instructions.”

“For god’s sake. What a load of rubbish. It probably wasn’t even Finn, just someone who looked a bit like him.”

“I swear it was him. I know, I’ve never liked him and I wish you weren’t seeing him, but I wouldn’t make this up, I promise.”

Clare stood up. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. You think it might’ve been Finn in some car with some undercover policemen and you think he told someone to lamp you for nothing. You have to admit it sounds ridiculous.”

“Don’t I get any sympathy here?”

“Sorry. I can give you a packet of paracetamol, if you like.”

“I was thinking more about a curry and a stiff drink?”

“Not tonight. I’m still a bit battered and bruised myself, remember. I was going to have an early night.”

Slowly, Joe heaved himself up. “It’s bad enough when we get called Cagney and Lacey. But we’re more like Laurel and Hardy these days, eh? Seriously, though. I’m starting to think McKenna is not all he says he is. Just how did those charges get dropped, eh, Clare? I bet he’s never explained it. Watch out for him.”

Amy bounced out of the bedroom as soon as she heard the front door close. “Come on. You have to land on my hotels sometime.”

Saturday 4th August
Clare watched as Amy lined up with the other kids to get onto the coach. “Anyone you know?”

Amy looked up and down the queue. “Yeah, some of the kids.”

“You’ll be okay?”

Amy nodded.

They’d had to dash out as soon as the shops opened to buy Amy a swimming costume. Clare had tried to get hold of Tina, but the phone number she’d left didn’t work. Clare suspected that was deliberate. “I don’t suppose you know where Mickey lives?”

Amy shook her head.

“Do you know his second name?”

Amy scowled. “Gitface, I’d guess.”

Clare shook her head. “Sometimes your language is worse than I hear from grown men in the pub. I’ve managed to get you this trip as a favour, so don’t show me up by swearing in front of everyone.”

Amy made a face that was meant to look innocent. “Promise I won’t.”

Clare went up to Mary and gave her a hug. “Is Finn with you?”

Mary gave her a tight-lipped smile. “You haven’t heard from him, then? I was hoping he was with you.”

Clare shook her head. “Why?”

Mary sighed. “He’s done one of his disappearing acts. He does them from time to time. Just because he’s a grown man doesn’t mean I don’t worry about him.”

“Oh.” Clare felt her stomach clench a little. “So you haven’t seen him since…?”

“Yesterday morning.”

“Right.” Joe couldn’t be right, though. Finn was such a passionate strike supporter. “I’ll let you know if he calls, I promise.”

Mary looked at the queue of kids waiting restlessly to get on the coach. “He was a nuisance of a kid. Kind at heart, but he always did his own thing. We’ve been proud as punch since he came back to work for the union. But the older I get, the more I think your personality is set from a very young age. I bet I could make a few predictions about this lot here and how they’ll turn out.”

Clare looked at Amy, who was singing Jump at the top of her voice, with the younger kids jumping up and down on cue. I daren’t predict anything about you, she thought.

Clare got home to find her phone ringing and hoped that Amy hadn’t managed to disgrace herself before she’d even made it back to the flat. But it was Bob Seaton.

“I’ve been trying your office and getting no answer. Mr Ainsley told me you were having a couple of days at home. But there are some things I think I need to pass on to you. Can you call in?”

“Yes, I’m not doing anything in particular. Now?”

Clare couldn’t work out what was so important that it couldn’t wait until she came back from leave. Seaton made small talk until a secretary handed them the obligatory cups of tea, and then he asked her to close the office door.

“You’re rather fond of that kid you brought in the other day. Or so it seems to me.”

Clare tried to keep her facial expression as blank as possible. “She’s a sparky little thing. She’s interested in journalism. And, as you’ve said, the mother isn’t all that attentive.” Clare waited a moment and then said: “Why?”

Seaton didn’t answer directly. “That story you came in with the other day? What happened to Jason Craig and Steven Simpson when they were in custody? I’ve been looking into it.”

“Right.” Clare fished in her bag for a pen but Seaton held up a hand.

“This is off the record again, I’m afraid. Strictly for your ears only.”

Clare sighed and waited.

“There was what you might call an ill-judged attempt to get Jason Craig to confess to killing Jamie Donnelly.”

“In what way?”

“Those young officers on attachment here. They stunted something up to see what reaction it would get.”

“Stunted something up? What, exactly?”

“They dropped the body of a baby pig over the stairwell. When Mr Craig got highly distressed, they thought they were on to something. They tried to calm him down and lock him in a cell, overlooking almost every procedure under the sun, which is why he was allowed in there with the means to harm himself.”

“Hold on, go back a second. They dropped a baby pig down the stairs?”

“Not a live one, obviously. It was wrapped in a sheet and it’s entirely possible that it would look, at first glance, like a baby.”

Clare sat back, with her mouth slightly open. “You’re kidding me.”

“I wish I was.” Seaton took out a white handkerchief, the sort only used by men over a certain age, and blew his nose with a loud trumpeting noise. “Excuse me. I need a holiday, Miss Jackson.”

“What’s going to happen?”

“The officers involved have been suspended pending disciplinary action. Four of them, before you ask. Two of them from this station. You can imagine how I’m feeling about all this happening here. Just because I wasn’t on duty that night doesn’t mean it doesn’t stop at my door.”

Clare nodded. “And what about the families?”

“We’ve been in contact with a lawyer representing Steven Simpson. We’re discussing some form of compensation. Coupled with a confidentiality clause, I have to warn you. Jason Craig’s relatives are proving harder to find. He was in council care until a few months ago.”

“Right.” Clare breathed out. “Poor kid.”

“It gets worse. I had a young… I’ll say a young lady, although it’s stretching the term, who came to see me yesterday. She claims she was with Jason Craig the afternoon young Jamie was killed. And her evidence suggests that it couldn’t have been him.”

Clare bit the inside of her lip. “Go on.”

“She was with Jason in his flat. But she shouldn’t have been. Her boyfriend was sleeping off a hangover and she was playing away with his best mate. According to her, they spent a couple of hours in bed together. And she’d just got back to her real boyfriend’s house when all the shouting started, because baby Jamie had gone from his pram.”

“Right. Do you believe her?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. She was scared to come and see me and only did it on the understanding that her evidence wasn’t made public. Her boyfriend, by the way, is Steven Simpson.”

“So neither Jason nor Steven were around when Jamie was killed?”

“It would appear not. The hangover story tallies with what Simpson told us when we arrested him, as it happens. And there’s more. This young lady said almost no one was about that afternoon as she made her way home. It was a very hot day, you may remember, and the kids were still at school. But she did see one or two people.”

Clare wished she hadn’t let her tea go cold. Her mouth was feeling dry. “Who did she see?”

“She saw a couple of men wearing Support the Miners badges, walking off the estate. She didn’t know who they were, she said, but we’ve already tracked them down. They were dropping leaflets off about some sort of strike meeting, that’s all. We don’t think they had any involvement in what happened to Jamie. But this young lady also saw someone running away from the bins area where Jamie’s body was found. A child, who she did know.”

Clare looked down at her fingers. “Amy?”

“We think Amy Hedley might know more than she’s told us so far. And we’re sure that what she said about those two lads being responsible was completely false.”

“What are you going to do? I’m sure she told you what she thought she saw, even if she got it wrong.”

“We’d like to talk to her again, obviously. But there’s no one at the flat. What’s more, the officers reported that the place was not fit to live in. There was no food in the cupboards, there was dog mess on the floor and the kid’s bedroom was a health hazard. Mildewed bedding and swarms of flies. We’ve sent a report to social services. Amy’s mother is going to have to answer to them, when she turns up. We’re wondering if she’s taken the kid away on holiday somewhere.”

Clare nodded. She didn’t volunteer that Amy was staying with her. She decided that she could chat to the child first, bringing the subject up as gently as possible. “Annie Martin always said she thought it was some sort of payback for Rob Donnelly breaking the strike.”

“I remember.” Seaton rubbed his chin. “That still doesn’t make any sense to me, though.”

“No. Me neither.” Clare twisted a strand of hair around her finger. “But then there’s Debs Donnelly, too. Someone had it in for the family, I think.”

“There’s been a development there,” said Seaton. “We got the reports. It turned out she did take an overdose, after all.”

Clare sighed. “She wasn’t suffocated?”

Seaton shook his head. “We looked into it. That wasn’t the cause of death. She died because she took too many tablets. Simple as that.”

“Poor Debs.” Clare was about to get up. “Can I ask, why are you telling me this, if so much of it is confidential?”

“Couple of reasons. One, you helped me out, trading some of your information. I got to the bottom of what happened here a lot quicker thanks to you. And two, you’re quite friendly with Amy Hedley. I thought I should just put you in the picture.”

“Right.” Clare hoped Seaton didn’t know any more about her friendship with Amy than he was letting on. “Thanks.” She stood up.

“And three, when I’ve wrapped this up I am definitely going to retire. You can come to my send-off. Add a bit of glamour to the proceedings, eh?”

Clare gave a little laugh. “I’m not sure about that. But I’ll be there to buy you a pint.”

Clare constantly checked her watch for the rest of the day, longing for Finn to call and wishing it was time for Amy to come back. Poor Amy. She’d obviously been much more traumatised by baby Jamie’s death than anyone had thought. Maybe in her child’s mind she was confusing the teenagers who were causing trouble on the estate at nights with the two Support the Miners men spotted walking around at the time of the murder. It seemed almost unfair to ask her anything about it, dredging the whole thing up again. She worried about whether Amy was enjoying the trip, and hoped the other kids hadn’t isolated her for not being one of them.

But at five-thirty, as the coach opened its doors, Mary beamed at Clare. “Your Amy was something of a godsend for us today.”

“She was?” Clare gave Amy a look.

“She’s so good with younger kiddies, isn’t she? She just organises them and plays with them and distracts them when they’re feeling travel sick. Quite the little mother, isn’t she?”

Clare felt irrationally proud. “Hey, well done, Amy.”

Amy jumped up and down on the spot. “It’s been brilliant. The splash park was am-
aaaa
zing. I ate so much at the picnic I thought my belly would burst.”

“Good, so you’re not hungry?”

“Yes, I’m hungry again now. That was ages ago.”

Clare thanked Mary.

Mary shook her head, smiling at Amy. “I gather she’s staying with you for a few days, is that right?”

“Er, maybe. Nothing’s really been decided. We need to speak to your mum, don’t we, Amy, and the phone doesn’t seem to be working.” Clare touched Mary’s arm. “Has Finn been in touch yet?”

Mary gave an exasperated shake of her head. “He does this from time to time. I never get a straight answer about where he’s been. If he turns up, I’ll send him your way.”

Clare drove Amy back to her flat. She found herself glancing furtively around as she turned her key in the door, hoping that as few people as possible had noticed that this long-time single woman had suddenly acquired a child.

She’d got food in, although she rarely cooked. But the last thing she wanted was for some police officer to spot her out for dinner with Amy. The little girl seemed to have had such a good day, so Clare didn’t want to spoil it by insisting that she went back over what she’d said in her statement. And she knew that Amy was a little afraid of the police, thanks to Tina’s unhelpful attitude. She just couldn’t help feeling like someone who was harbouring a fugitive.

“I figured you’d had quite a long day, so I thought we might just watch some TV and play cards, if you like.”

“Yeah. And what will we do tomorrow? It’s Sunday. You won’t have to go back to work yet, will you?”

Clare skimmed the listings page of the paper. “Not much on.
Born Free
, again. Even I’ve seen that a thousand times.”

“You should get one of them VCRs, though. Then you can buy films to watch.”

“Maybe I will.”

“Mickey has one. He brought it over to ours once. But he just has dirty films.”

Clare curled her lip. “I hope he didn’t let you watch them.”

“Not really.”

Clare decided not to probe what that meant.

By around nine, Amy’s eyelids were beginning to droop and Clare suggested that she had an early night, for a change. Amy didn’t object. Clare was busy closing all her curtains when she noticed a figure standing on the other side of the road. It was Finn.

He half-turned away, but she waved at him. He crossed the road towards her, almost reluctantly.