Suffer the Torment, page 22
“Do you live far?” Anna asked.
“Kind of. It’s outside southwest Sheffield. Those are the nicer parts of the city. Where I live, you’ll see the hills. It’s scenic out there.”
Anna nodded. “Sounds good.” She’d got her silver Duke of Edinburgh Award, and was going for Gold next year, which Roy felt a tinge of pride about. Trekking for three days with a forty-litre rucksack would test anyone. Anna was the active type, like him.
He thought for a while how the day might pan out.
“I have to go back to work, so you’ve got a choice. You can walk around in the city centre, and then I can give you a lift back when I’m free. Or I can drop you off to my place now. The house is out in the country though, and only buses come to the city centre. Up to you.”
Anna pondered for a few seconds. “Drop me off at the centre. I’ll have a nosey around. Then I’ll call you.”
Roy agreed. Secretly, he was happy that Anna wouldn’t be alone in the house. It was her first day, in any case. Sooner or later, she would be, and he would have to find a way of making sure she was alright while he was working.
They drove to the centre, chatting along the way. Anna was glad to have a break from school. It was her GCSE year, and she was studying hard for it.
“My rucksack’s full of books. Planning to get plenty of work done while I’m here.”
“The house is a nice place to revise,” Roy said. “You can have the upstairs study. It looks out over the garden into the Don Valley.”
“Cool.”
They parked in the multi-story car park. Roy switched the engine off, wondering whether to tell her about the strange envelope he had received. Would Anna get scared? He thought she’d take it in her stride, confident teenager that she was. In the end, he decided against it. Let her settle in, then he could tell her.
“What is it?” Anna asked. He glanced at her, distracted. The conflict must’ve been plain on his face.
“Just the usual stuff. Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t take a lift from anyone. Anything happens, call me.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “Jeez dad, I just came up from London on my own. Think I can handle myself.”
“I know you can. But just be careful, okay.”
“I will, don’t worry.”
Roy took out fifty pounds in cash and gave it to Anna. “This should be enough for now. Call me, okay?”
They got out of the car and took the stairs down to ground level. Roy’s radio chirped, and he turned the sound up.
“DCI Roy.”
“It’s me,” Sarah said. “James Ridpath’s been discovered in his car in Eyam Moor. He’s dead. On preliminary observation, MO same as Emma Purkiss. Sending you location now.”
“On my way. Where are you?”
“On scene.”
Roy hung up and turned to Anna. “Remember what I said.”
“I will, dad, don’t worry.”
He gave her a light kiss on the head, then hurried back to the car.
*****
Roy overtook cars and ran through a couple of red lights in the city centre. He didn’t have a detachable siren, which was his own fault. He made up for it with speed, the skill learnt in the old assault course coming back easily. The old VW creaked and complained, but somehow held it together on the handbrake turns. He got on the A625 finally, and wished he had a quicker car. The engine whined as he put his foot down, but the car was useless on the fast lane.
As he got closer to the hills of Eyam and Grindleford, he saw the flashing lights of the squad cars that had set up a roadblock. Road diversions were set up, and uniformed police were redirecting traffic. He pulled up on the verge and hurried to the cordon set up by the blue and white ticker tape.
The forest was dense here, but there was a path through the trees after a while. Roy was surprised how wide the path was. Wooden boards were laid on the ground, and they crunched under his boots as he followed the signs. He came up to the small clearing where the car stood. Sarah was standing at the car’s rear.
Melanie stood next to her, and the two women were deep in conversation. Roy saw the familiar shape of Dobson, in his white Tyvek suit and mask. One of his assistants, similarly attired, was setting up a tripod with camera to take pictures. More blue and white tape had set up a wider perimeter.
“Ey up,” Sarah said, when she saw him. “He’s in the driver’s seat. Definitely James Ridpath.”
“Who found him?”
“The helicopter pilot saw the car and alerted us. We arrived on scene half an hour ago. Same MO, by the way. Looks like the same guy.”
Roy nodded and went to have a look. He snapped gloves on, and waved back at Dobson, who straightened from a kneeling position at the driver’s seat. He pulled down his mask.
“Now then. Looks like you got your work cut out, eh?”
“Always that way,” Roy said. He peered inside the car. James’s head was tilted back against the seat headrest. His eyes were wide open, as was his mouth. The skin around his lips was turning a light shade of blue. But the rest of his visible skin was normal-coloured. That meant this happened recently, only a few hours ago.
A gash spread across the victim’s neck, a jagged and ugly knife wound. Blood congealed around the wound, and a crimson curtain spread down his neck, wetting his shirt. His feet and hands were tied to the seat. Masking tape fixed his head to the headrest.
The right forearm was nearest to Roy, and he could see the skin gouged out by a knife, in the form of the letters GLORIA. He looked at the rest of the arms as the sleeves were rolled up. Some bruises but no old, dry lacerations. James didn’t self-harm. Bruising spread down the right side of his head, and blood matted the right side of the scalp. Roy leaned in for a closer look. Blunt force trauma in the right skull, and it had probably rendered him unconscious. The skull was depressed, it was a massive blow. The killer didn’t do that inside the car. It happened outside. Roy stepped back and looked at the grass. There wasn’t much to see.
“Any blood samples from around the car?” He asked Dobson.
“Yes, but not visible to the naked eye. Some over here.” Dobson pointed to a small white circle behind him, which was the reason Roy had missed it. He had to crouch down, and then saw the smear of darkening blood on some blades of grass.
Sarah joined him, and together, they walked carefully around, directed by Dobson, who was still collecting samples.
“I can’t see that he was dragged over to the car. No marks in the grass. His shoes are still on, they would’ve left marks if he was pulled,” Roy said. “I think he was hit just outside the car.”
They stood in the clearing and looked at the car. It had some scratches on the paintwork, but otherwise it wasn’t damaged. The grass around them was unruffled. Roy straightened and looked around him. The surrounding forest stood as mute sentinels to the horror that had unfolded here.
“We found boot prints as well. Two of them, and one I think belongs to the victim.” Dobson pointed to the white circles around the car. “The other one is bigger, size 11. Hoping for a match. Taken prints from the car already. Hair samples around the car, and inside obviously.”
Roy stepped away from the vehicle and looked around the forest. “He’s still here,” he told Sarah. “The body’s not cold yet. Our killer’s hiding close by.” He pulled out his radio and requested the air support again. He wished the helicopter hadn’t gone back to base. By the time he finished, Sarah was ordering some of the uniformed officers to arrange another search party. Roy spotted Pickering in the midst, his face caked with sweat, breathing heavily. He must’ve been scouring around.
Sarah came up to him. Melanie had taken a couple of the uniforms and was going deeper into the woods.
Roy told her, “You head back to base and give Nugent an update. See if there’s anything new from scene of crime. I’ll hang around with this lot for a while.”
CHAPTER 54
As Roy pulled up in the station’s rear car park, he saw Sarah hurrying out of the entrance. Her lips were pinched tight, and the frown on her face didn’t bode well. Roy got out of the car warily.
“Now then,” Sarah said, no trace of mirth in her voice, and her eyes flashed. “You’re going to love this. Two blokes from the NCA are here. Inspector Rob Jackson, and Sergeant Martin Lewis. Jackson said he spoke to you.”
Roy groaned and looked skyward. There was no solace in the blue skies. He had never dealt with the NCA directly, but he knew they had a reputation for being intrusive. And he didn’t exactly part on good terms with Jackson the last time they spoke.
With Sarah, he walked back inside. “They’re in your office, waiting. They arrived after I spoke to you, by the way. I tried to call,” Sarah said. “Anything you want me to do?”
“No, thanks. Does Nugent know?”
“Yes, they had a chat with him. Not for long though. I saw them coming into the office.”
“I wonder what they want. Both Jason and Paul are now out, and we haven’t charged either of them. Paul will be charged by North Yorkshire Police when he gets back there.”
Sarah stopped. “Right. About that.”
The pensive look in Sarah’s eyes was unusual for her, as she normally spoke her mind. Roy lowered his eyebrows.
“What?” he growled.
“Paul Walker’s back in custody. He had an altercation with his sister in the car park, and Riz saw him act threateningly. He arrested him again, citing safety for the family. Paul knows his sister gave away his address in Leeds.”
Roy ground his teeth together, and his jaws flexed. “Damn it.”
“Well, uh, that’s not all.” Sarah pressed her lips together.
“What now?” Roy shook his head, the grimace on his face deeper.
“Paul was shouting his head off in the reception. Two of our lads had to take him downstairs. He kept saying about Riz, and I quote his words – that fucking arse is shagging my sister. Just ask him.”
Roy’s lips parted. He couldn’t speak for a while. “No. Really?”
Sarah sighed. “So, I took Riz to one side, and sat down with him. It’s true. He had a relationship with Sharon Gibson last year, but he swears he didn’t know anything about her brother. Paul has a different surname to his sister. Riz and Sharon broke up this year, till he saw her coming out of Paul’s house yesterday.”
Roy gripped his forehead. “This isn’t happening.”
“Riz isn’t lying. I know him, he’s a good lad. He’s gutted he didn’t tell us immediately. He thought he could manage the situation.”
Roy stared at her incredulously. “Manage? Manage what exactly? The fact that he knows the sister of a suspect in a murder investigation intimately, and never told us? What the hell do you think the top brass will do if Paul now makes an official complaint? The whole bloody investigation goes down the bloody drain!”
Roy kicked the ground, then looked skywards and roared out a few choice expletives. Two uniformed constables were coming out of the sliding doors, and they looked at them curiously.
“Come here,” Sarah said, pulling him to the side wall around the corner. Roy seethed and resisted, but Sarah was firm.
“Calm down,” she said.
“Don’t tell me to be calm,” he roared. He lowered his face to within inches of hers. “If this goes upstairs, then we’re all sullied by it. The Anti-Corruption Unit could get involved. Once that happens, we could get yanked from the investigation and a new team takes over.”
Sarah looked unsure, and her neck and cheeks were crimson. Roy closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.
“Right. First things first. It’s about damage control now. If Paul was shouting in the reception, then everyone heard. We have to declare it. Riz is out of the investigation immediately. I have to suspend him.”
Sarah’s jaws fell open. “Suspend him?”
A pain ripped across Roy’s heart. It’s the last thing he wanted to do. And yet, what choice did he have? Rizwan had placed the whole team’s integrity at stake. He cursed the young man and felt bad immediately. Riz probably had a lot on his plate. Still – he should’ve come clean as soon as he saw Sharon. What a stupid prat!
“I don’t want to,” Roy sighed. “But we won’t cover this up. And that means it’s best if Riz isn’t around for a few days. We need to investigate him, and then he can come back into the fold.”
“Guv,” Sarah said quietly. “I’ve known Riz for many years. He talks to me, and we just had a good chat. He cares about Sharon. He was just trying to protect her, while doing his job. He didn’t know Paul from before, as Sharon hardly ever sees her brother. Anyway, look…” Sarah raised a hand. “It’s complicated. Sharon wouldn’t convert, or move into the family home, hence they broke up last year. But they still have feelings for each other. He stays in touch and misses her. After three months, Riz sees her coming out of a suspect’s house – how do you expect him to react? He wants her back. And I think she wants the same. So, he speaks to her, tells her the truth, and she confides in him where she thinks Paul might be. That’s all that happened.”
Roy stared at Sarah for a while. He didn’t understand why, but she had a calming effect on him, which wasn’t easy, because he wasn’t the calm type.
“Okay, I get that. He’s between a rock and a hard place. But as the team leader, I still have to see this as an ACU officer will. Worst case scenario. We used a tip off from someone a detective was sleeping with. That’s the kind of thing lawyers love to make a stink about, and that whiff of corruption stays long after the prosecution’s case is kicked into the long grass.”
Roy leaned back against the wall and made a growling noise in his throat. Sarah touched his arm.
“Give him a break. He’s a young lad. He’s struggling with trying to make it work with Sharon, while keeping his family happy.”
Roy stared at her for a while. He wasn’t unfamiliar with the conflicts that Asian, and specifically Muslim kids went through. Religion, identity, fitting in between two cultures were all valid issues, but he couldn’t forgive Rizwan for not speaking to him.
“I know that,” he sighed.
“I thought you might,” Sarah said softly. “Just go easy on him. He’s scared of you anyway.” The last words made her smile.
“What’s amusing about this situation?” Roy grimaced.
“Nothing. So, what’s the next step?”
“Like I said, we have to suspend him.” He raised a hand to stop Sarah from speaking. “I have to. There’s no choice. I also have to report it to Nugent, or he’ll have a hissy fit. Hopefully, once he’s calmed down, it won’t go any further. Nugent and I will have an interview with Riz and get the disciplinary committee to have a word with him. No need for the ACU to get involved.”
He crossed his fingers. “As long as we’re sure Riz is telling the truth. I don’t think he's a bent cop, but I’ve seen them in my time. It’s always the ones you think you can trust.”
Roy felt bad about doubting Rizwan, and he looked downward at his shoes. Sarah came closer and lowered her voice.
“Trust me on this, okay? He’s a good lad. He’s not lying about this. He messed up, and he’s sorry as hell.”
“He should’ve come clean as soon as he realised. Ok, for now, we keep this to ourselves. Don’t say a word to anyone till the NCA officers leave. Once they do, we go and see Nugent and tell him.”
“Yes boss,” Sarah said.
CHAPTER 55
The two men sitting at his desk looked up when they saw him. The place was deserted apart from them as the rest of the team were over at Grindleford, helping the uniforms in their search for James Ridpath. Both men had short dark hair and were dressed in grey suits. They were middle aged, with sharp eyes, and a no nonsense look in their faces. The twins of doom, Roy thought to himself. He stood in front of them and cocked his head to the right.
“Can I help you?”
The slightly podgier of the two, with the hint of an incipient beer belly, stood slowly. He pulled out his warrant card. “I’m Inspector Rob Jackson, and this is Sergeant Martin Lewis from the NCA. We spoke on the phone.”
“Indeed,” Roy said, his face blank.
“Can we go into your office, please?” Jackson indicated the door behind the desks. Roy nodded and led the two men inside. They sat down and Roy shut the door, then took a chair opposite the two men. He noticed Martin Lewis had a tattoo on his left wrist. He had yellow nails and dark lips, which meant he was a smoker. He was clean-shaven, in his late-thirties, and had a mole near the hairline on his left temple.
Lewis pulled out his notebook and prepared to take notes.
Jackson cleared his throat. “We understand you have Paul Walker in custody still. Jason Smart has been discharged.”
Roy looked at Lewis. “Can I please see your warrant card?”
Lewis looked up, then stared at Jackson for a few seconds. Jackson nodded, and Lewis showed Roy his card. Roy leaned over and examined it, then handed it back. He noted the irritation in both the men’s faces.
That makes us even, he thought.
Jackson’s eyes were flat and cold. “As I was saying. Paul Walker’s still in custody. Why?”
“He’s still a suspect, and he behaved threateningly towards a witness. He’s back inside to cool off.”
“Cool off?” Jackson crinkled his nose like there was a bad smell in the room.
“We have to protect our witness, and he needs some time to consider his options.”
“You didn’t find him with anything. His house was empty.”
“We’ve got him on CCTV speaking to Jason Smart. Paul denies knowing Emma, but frankly, we don’t believe him.”
“I understand you have another suspect now, a man on the run, apparently. It’s the school principal from the victim’s school. Is that correct?”
They had spoken to Nugent, as Sarah had said. Roy nodded. “That doesn’t mean Paul or Jason are completely off the hook. We need to pursue all angles.”
