Case One (9 page)

Holly nodded. “What's your name?”

The girl hesitated for a beat, then said, “Taz.”

“Taz?”

“Tamsin. Stupid, innit?”

“I don't know,” Holly said. “It's unusual. I've never heard of anyone else called that.”

“No, cos no one else'd give such a crap name to a kid – no one 'cept my mum anyway.”

“Do you live around here?” Holly asked, gesturing towards the blocks of flats.

“Not here: Penrice House. It's just as bad as this though.”

Holly didn't make any comment on that. Instead she said: “Does Ashleigh know anyone else on the estate? We're just trying to work out who she might have seen before she was hurt.”

Taz gave her a knowing look. “You don't mean hurt by the lorry, right? People say she was raped. That true?”

“We don't know yet,” Holly said, choosing her words carefully. “We're still making enquiries. Can you tell me anything about Ashleigh's friends – who she might've seen?”

She expected the girl to just say “no” and clam up like everyone else had done, but instead Taz made an odd kind of shuffle, as if she was trying to make up her mind about something. Then she cast a look around.

“Listen, I'm not saying nothing here, okay? People see me…” She pulled a face.

Holly took a moment, then pressed the girl. “Ashleigh was hurt pretty badly,” she said. “If you know her and you could help us find out who did it you'd really be helping. No one else needs to know.”

Taz hesitated, then she said, “What's your name?”

“Holly. Holly Blades.”

“Okay. I might go down the market later – Crisp Street, yeah? Might be in the caff. 'Bout an hour – just you, though.”

“Listen—” Holly began.

But Taz was already turning away and moving back the way she'd come. “I live here,” she was saying irritatedly and loud enough for anyone nearby to hear. “I got a
right
to go through. Stupid plods!”

And it was that – the smart way Taz had covered herself – that made up Holly's mind. She reached for her radio.

“DC Simmons from Seven-Six-Two, receiving?”

A few metres away Taz rounded a corner and disappeared from sight without a backwards look.

“
Go ahead,
” Simmons said over the radio earpiece.

“It's TPO Blades on the cordon. Could I talk to you for a minute?”

8.

CRISP STREET MARKET
11:34 HRS

As the car pulled in at the kerb Holly knew that DC Simmons wasn't fully convinced by all this, and now neither was she. Or at least, she was less convinced than she had been before.

To begin with she'd been pretty sure that Taz knew something about last night and was willing to talk about it. But the more Simmons and DS Woods had discussed it – along with the practicalities of a meeting – the more Holly had started to realise that she'd gone out on a limb. If Taz
had
just been spinning her a line and didn't turn up, this was going to be seen as a massive waste of time: her fault.

But, for good or bad, they were here now and instead of her uniform jacket and vest, Holly was wearing a dark grey fleece several sizes too large for her. It had a lingering scent of Danny Simmons's aftershave – not unpleasant, but definitely not Estée Lauder.

Simmons switched off the engine and turned to face her. He had a day's worth of stubble on his chin. “Scruffy”, her mum would call him, although he was good-looking enough.

“Okay, so you know how this works?” Simmons asked, his expression serious.

Holly nodded. “I think so.”

“Tell me again.”

“I'm not allowed to offer any inducements for information and I can't say anything about the rape. All I can tell her is that Ashleigh was attacked some time before she was knocked over.”

“Right,” Danny Simmons said. “You also need to find out her full name, an address if possible, and some way to contact her. It's no good if she tells you something useful and then we can't get hold of her again.”

Holly nodded. “What if she says she knows something but won't tell me unless I offer her money?”

“Best you can do is say you'll have to talk to someone senior, then make an arrangement to meet her again. But if she's only there because she thinks she can make a few quid she's probably going to be unreliable anyway.”

He looked at Holly, weighing her up, then seemed to thaw a little. “DS Woods says you're smart,” he said. “So just see what you can pick up, okay? Remember, the best way to get someone to talk to you is to keep quiet. People don't like silences. They want to fill them, so they tell you things.”

“Okay,” Holly said. She was a bit thrown by the apparent compliment DS Woods had paid her.

“You got any money?”

“Er, yeah, a bit.”

Simmons dug in his pocket and took out his wallet. He gave her a fiver. “Take that. Buy her a drink, and yourself.” He looked at his watch. “If she's not there already we'll give her half an hour.”

“Where will you be?”

“Getting cold. Ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay then.” And he turned to open his door.

9

Drew Alford had his arm round Bex's shoulders, drawing her closer so he could whisper in her ear. His other hand was inside her coat, out of sight. Bex listened to him for a moment, then giggled and hit his arm as if scandalised by what he'd said. She didn't pull away though.

Leaning on the railings, Taz watched the two of them, bored. She pushed her hands deeper in her pockets and chewed her gum, ignoring Skank as best she could.

She'd tried to persuade Bex not to go to the precinct. It would pay Drew back for standing Bex up last night, Taz told her friend: serve him right. Anyway, the precinct was boring and there was nothing to do: they should go somewhere else, sod Drew.

But Bex didn't have any money and she thought she could get Drew to buy her something to make up for not showing last night, so in the end they went to the precinct and hung around till Drew finally loped into sight with Skank.

If she could have left then, Taz would have. Drew had this way of looking at you like he could tell what you were thinking, and after talking to the girl copper outside the flats Taz was even less comfortable being near him. As it turned out, though, she needn't have worried about Drew's intuition. When he walked up he barely acknowledged her – instead offering a half-hearted apology to Bex for not showing last night. And when Bex finally let him off he put a possessive arm round her waist and slipped his hand into the back pocket of her jeans. The two of them stayed like that – walking like they were welded at the hip – while they all did a circuit of the shops and finally came to a halt at their usual bench in the square.

So now, after ten minutes of watching Bex and Drew snog and giggle and moving away every time Skank edged closer, Taz was restless, wanting to get away. At some point soon she knew Drew would decide he'd gone as far as he could with Bex in public and he'd want to go off somewhere more private – probably his place. That would leave Taz alone with Skank, who was harder to shake off than warts, so she knew she'd better make her move now.

“Listen, I'm gonna go, okay?” she said to Bex and pushed herself away from the railings. “I told my mum I'd be back. I'll see you later, yeah?”

Bex disengaged herself a little from Drew's arm. “Hang on. You don't have to go,” she said. “We can all do something.”

Drew leaned in again and whispered in her ear, and this time Bex hit him for real. “Get out!” she said. “No way!”

Drew shrugged. “Just asking,” he said.

“It's okay,” Taz said, already moving. “I'll see you later. Give me a ring, yeah?”

“Okay.”

“Hang on,” Skank said, moving to cut in front of Taz. “Madder's got some puff. If you want we could find him. You and me, I mean.”

Taz stepped aside, not bothering to hide the fact that Skank was the last person on earth she'd go anywhere with. “Get lost, Skank,” she said flatly. And with that she was away.

Drew Alford watched her go for a moment, then looked at Skank. “Told you,” he said, a malicious grin on his face.

“Told him what?” Bex asked.

“Nothing – so, we going to mine or what?”

“You sure she's out?”

“Yeah, I told you.”

Bex shrugged. “Okay then,” she said. “Can we go to Boots on the way? I need some nail polish.”

Alford shrugged, then grinned. “Better get a pack of three an' all.”

“You want me to come, too?” Skank asked as Alford stood up, pulling Bex with him.

“What for?”

“I dunno, I just thought…”

“Thought wrong then,” Alford said. “Go and find Tyler and Riz – give 'em their cut.”

“What cut?” Bex asked.

“Nothing,” Alford said, and to Skank: “Well go on then. Jesus!”

10.

PANTRY CAFE
CRISP STREET MARKET
12:02 HRS

There were a few other people in the cafe, one or two on their own, but most with someone else, chatting over food or drinks. The large plate-glass windows were thick with condensation and decorated with handwritten signs on luminous card: Breakfast special £2.99; Sandwiches Freshly Made and a dozen more like it. Holly had read each one several times over as she nursed the last cold inch of coffee in her mug. It was nearly half an hour since she'd sat down and by now she was pretty certain that Taz wasn't going to show.

She looked at her watch for the twentieth time and then the door opened and she saw Taz enter quickly, furtively, and look round. When she spotted Holly she hesitated for a second, as if she didn't quite recognize her without her uniform. Holly raised a hand in greeting though, and Taz came over to the table and sat down, her back to the door.

“Hiya,” Holly said brightly, as much with relief as anything. “Thanks for coming. Can I get you a drink or something?”

Taz nodded. “Coke,” she said.

“Okay, hold on.”

At the counter Holly bought another coffee, a can of Coke and two iced fingers from a display case. She carried them back to the table on a tray and sat down again. “I thought you might want something to eat. You like iced fingers?”

“They're all right,” Taz said, snapping her gum.

“I love them,” Holly said. “Go on, you'd better eat one or I won't be able to stop myself having both.”

For a moment Taz seemed to think about it, then she took out her gum, stuck it under the table and picked up an iced finger. Holly waited till she took a bite, then sipped her coffee.

“So what did you want to tell me?” she asked.

She hoped she was tackling this right – just coming out and asking the question – but there didn't seem any point in pretending that wasn't why they were here.

Taz chewed her bun for a moment or two longer, then said: “I don't know who did it, right? I wasn't there.”

“Okay,” Holly said, giving it time.

Taz nodded, as if she'd needed to make that clear before they went on. Then she pulled the ring on the can of Coke. “How long you been a copper?” she asked. “How old are you?”

“I'm a TPO – a trainee,” Holly said. “It's my first year.”

“So – how old?”

“Sixteen and a half.”

Taz snorted. “You sound like my little brother. Ask him and he says he's seven years and five months and three days.”

“What about you?” Holly said, wanting to turn the conversation back on to Taz.

“Guess.”

Holly pursed her lips and pretended to assess her. “Fifteen,” she lied.

“Near enough,” Taz said, but she seemed pleased. She hesitated for a second longer. “No one's gonna know I was here, yeah? Cos I wasn't – right?”

“No, it's just between us,” Holly said. Then she waited, remembering what Danny Simmons had said about silence.

For a moment Taz didn't say anything. She put her hand on the Coke can and began turning it, a fraction at a time, as if she was turning back a clock.

She said: “Me and Ash, we used to be mates. I mean, better mates than we are now.”

“You fell out?”

“Nah, not really. It was— I just started hanging out with Bex more. Bex don't really like Ash cos she's a bit – I dunno – a bit
young
. You know what I mean?”

Holly nodded. “So what can you tell me about yesterday?”

Taz pursed her lips. “Okay, listen,” she said. “All I know, right, is you wanna talk to Drew – Drew Alford.”

After she'd said his name she glanced round, as if to make sure no one had heard her.

“Why?” Holly said. “I mean, why do you think he might have something to do with what happened to Ashleigh?”

“I'm not saying he did, right? I'm just saying he could've. He could've thought Ash'd said something – you know, dissed him.”

“Did she?”

Taz shifted in her seat. “Listen,” she said. “Drew's going out with Bex, right? Least he's supposed to be. So yesterday lunch I'm with Bex and we're talking about Drew, right? I mean, Bex was. She was saying how he was messing her about, not calling her when he said he would, stuff like that. So I said maybe she should dump him.”

She looked at Holly. “I was only saying it cos Bex was being all down on him, right? But as soon as I said it she's all, ‘Why're you saying that? Is it cos
you
want to get off with him?' And I'm, like, ‘
No!
' But she's getting all worked up, so in the end… In the end I said it's not me she needs to worry about. And she says, ‘What's that mean?' And that's when I tell her how I've heard Drew telling Tyler about how he fancies Ash.”

She looked down at the Coke can and Holly recognised that this was important. Taz was feeling guilty.