Fireflies (13 page)

‘That we’ve got the eye for each other but we’re repressing it’.

‘And who told you this?’

‘Jonathan’.

‘Oh’ said Jeff. ‘Classic’.

‘Why do you say that?’

‘Well Jonathan is stirring things because he’s jealous of our friendship’ said Jeff. ‘And for some reason he’s using Ollie to drive his wedge. And there was me thinking we always worked with grown- ups’.

‘But what about Ollie?
Isn’t he really the villain here?’

‘Becky, were you listening just then? I believe that Jonathan is lying because he’s jealous of our friendship and he’s using Ollie for some unfathomable reason to make himself look good. I mean, come on Becky, do you really think that Ollie Wright would spread gossip about his two senior officers especially when we’re on such good terms with each other?’

‘Well I agree it’s uncharacteristic’ said Rebecca. ‘And I was surprised. But Jonathan insists it’s him’.

‘No, I just don’t buy it’ said Jeff. ‘Although I’m not surprised there may be talk about us. I mean, even in this day and age a man and woman can’t be colleagues and friends without small minds reading something sordid into it’.

‘Wait a minute? Are you saying that if something was going on between us it would be sordid?’

‘No, Rebecca, I’m not saying that at all’ said Jeff, wearily. ‘I’m just making a general comment about people and the way they behave. I get the feeling that whatever I say in this conversation is going to land me in it one way or another’. 

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Look, will you just lighten up?’

‘You meant something by it, Jeff’.

‘It’s just words I threw out’.

‘Oh give me strength’.

‘What did you say?’

‘Nothing. Well are you going to speak to Ollie Wright about it?’

‘No, because I don’t believe he’s guilty of anything and I do believe that the more you protest that something isn’t true the more people will believe that it is’.

‘Jonathan told me that Ollie is gay too’.

‘Well hold the front page! Some of the officers of the Greater Manchester police force are gay? Now that will be news. I must tell my brother Lewis. He’s gay, you know? He’ll be thrilled to hear that’.

Despite herself Rebecca couldn’t help laughing.

‘There you are’ said Jeff. ‘The old Rebecca who laughs with me is back. I’d missed her. I’d beware of that jealous new boyfriend of yours though’.

‘He’s not my boyfriend, Jeff’.

‘Ah, so it’s just about sex’.

‘Do you mind?’ Rebecca exclaimed.

‘No’ said Jeff. ‘What you do in your personal life is none of my business, Rebecca’. 

Fred and Sue Clifton sat on their sofa in the living room of their three-storey Victorian house just off the main A6 north of Preston city centre. It was a relatively quiet street considering its proximity to the main road, thought Jeff. The
couple were holding hands. They both looked rocked by grief. Their eyes were moist and there was a grey pallor all around them.  

‘James was our eldest son’ said Sue Clifton. ‘We have a younger son and two daughters. It’s not just that he’s dead but it was the way … I’m sorry’.

Jeff leaned forward in the chair he was sitting in beside Sue Clifton. ‘It’s okay. We understand. We’re very sorry for your loss, Mr and Mrs. Clifton, and we’re doing everything we can to catch whoever was responsible’.

‘Mr. and Mrs. Clifton, we have to ask’ said Rebecca.

‘If our son had any enemies who hated him enough to kill him?’ asked Fred Clifton.

‘Yes, sir’ said Rebecca.

‘No’ he said as emphatically as he could give considering how he was feeling. ‘James was a good, hard working lad. We were proud that he was our son. We were proud of the way he’d turned out. Every time we watched North West tonight on the BBC we knew he was behind the scenes somewhere looking after things. He was a credit to us’.

‘He was living the dream as they say nowadays’ said Sue Clifton. ‘He’d always wanted to work in television but behind the scenes. He’d never wanted to present or act or do anything in front of the cameras. We’re just working class folk but our James took us into a whole different world with some of his stories’.

‘So nobody had a grudge against him as far as you knew’ said Rebecca.

‘No’ said Fred. ‘And we were close to James like we are to all our children. We speak to them all at some point every day’.

‘Now we’re going to miss those calls from James’ said Sue. ‘It just isn’t fair and I tell you this. I think you should look close to home for answers’. 

‘How do you mean, Mrs. Clifton?’ asked Jeff.

‘His fiancée Sophie set herself against our family as soon as she got together with James. She decided that she didn’t like us even before we’d met’.

‘We tried ringing Sophie to see if she was okay after we’d been told what had happened to James’ Fred went on. ‘So did our daughter Carol. We just wanted to see if she was okay
and if she needed company. But Sophie was so abrupt and downright rude that we haven’t rung again because in the circumstances we just don’t need it. Now she’s causing bother over the funeral. We want him buried up here naturally where we can tend the grave and take care of it. But she’s tried to get him buried near to her and we’ve once again had to put our foot down’.

‘How do you mean once again?’

‘Well’ said Sue. ‘When they started planning the wedding, or rather when Sophie started planning the wedding, she said it was going to be a cocktail reception in some swanky Manchester bar and that no kids would be invited. Well that was a direct hit against our family because we’ve got five grandchildren and James has always been close to his nieces and nephews. It really hurt that she was trying to exclude them from the wedding. She wasn’t even planning to ask one of them to be a bridesmaid or a page boy’.

‘And did that get resolved?’ asked Rebecca.

‘Only after James insisted that he wanted his whole family at the wedding’ said Sue.

‘And she didn’t speak to him for days after that just because he wouldn’t let her have her own way for once’ said Fred. ‘She can sulk for England that one’.

‘I asked James a couple of times if he really wanted to spend the rest of his life with someone who behaved like that’ Sue added. ‘But he said he was in love with her so what could he do? Then there’s the family connection. Talk about unfortunate’.

‘Why, Mrs. Clifton?’ asked Rebecca. ‘What is the family connection?’

‘Well don’t you know? I thought that would be one of the reasons why you were here? Sophie Cooper’s brother is one of the most notorious gangsters in Manchester’. 

‘What’s her brother’s name, Mrs. Clifton?’ asked Jeff.

‘Bernie Connelly! Have we got to tell you your job? Sophie has only got the name of Cooper because she and her brother had different fathers. Do you really not know any of this?’

‘Alright’ said Jeff as he tried to keep his voice level. His emotions were running high. Since he knew exactly why the name of Sophie Cooper had meant something to him he’d been on a painful journey into both his professional and personal past. ‘Was there no connection between Cooper and Connelly evident when we were digging?’

‘Well to be fair, sir’ said Jonathan Freeman. ‘I can’t let DC Wright take the rap for this’.

‘There’s no rap to be taken Jonathan’ said Jeff. ‘I knew that I recognized the name of Sophie Cooper and I should’ve made the connection there and bloody then. I just want to know why it wasn’t clear anywhere else’.

‘Well the link wasn’t obvious because of the difference in surname, sir’ Jonathan went on. ‘And I looked it over twice and I’m sure DC Wright would’ve got there in time if I’d passed on the complete information. If anybody is to blame, sir, it’s me’.

Ollie turned and looked at Freeman completely unable to believe he’d just had such a measure of support from him. There’d be something behind it though. He’d got to know his devious ways well enough to be certain of that.

‘
Well look, I’m not interested in playing the accusation game’ said Jeff. ‘But you can bet your life that Bernie Connelly will have his dirty little fingers all over this in some way. So, Ollie, tell everybody about him’.

Ollie stood up and took up the space left for him by Jeff at the mission board. He’d spent the last hour researching Bernie Connelly since the boss rang him from Preston.  

‘Ladies and gentlemen this is complicated so if I could please have your full attention’ said Ollie. He pointed to the picture he’d just stuck to the board. ‘Let’s start with Bernie Connelly. Now, as many of you will know we’ve been trying to bring him down for years. Under the disguise of his legitimate business, Connelly Security, who provide security guards to whoever wants them, we suspect that he runs a series of protection rackets across the city in a distinctly Mafiosi style. His latest offensive is against a gang of British men of Pakistani descent who want to muscle in on Connelly’s territory. We strongly suspect that he arranged to have the son of one of the Pakistani leaders abducted as an opener in a turf war. The fifteen-year old boy was returned to his family with both his legs broken’.

‘How do we know about the Pakistani boy?’

‘Because the organized crime unit have an informant in Connelly’s organization, sir’ Ollie revealed. ‘It’s his former brother-in-law Malcolm Barnes’.

‘His former brother-in-law?’
Rebecca questioned.

‘Yes, ma’am’ Ollie confirmed. He pinned some more pictures to the board and pointed at them whilst he talked. ‘Connelly was the son of Ted and mother Marie. Marie left the drunken, abusive Ted to move in with her lover Mike Cooper but didn’t take Bernie and his brother Tommy with her. She left them with their father. She and Mike Cooper had a daughter called Sophie. Both Marie and Mike Cooper are now dead. Sophie was once engaged to an old family friend called Malcolm Barnes who until recently owned Barnes financial services. But shortly before the wedding he dumped Sophie and went off with the wife of Bernie’s brother Tommy Connelly’

‘So splitting the family two ways’ said Rebecca.

‘Oh but there’s more, ma’am’ said Ollie. ‘Tommy’s wife was called Kim Connelly and shortly after she left him Tommy Connelly killed himself. Then on the wedding night of Malcolm and Kim Barnes three years ago, Kim was murdered in their suite at the Manchester Hilton whilst Malcolm was outside having a cigarette. And that’s a murder that remains unsolved’.

‘Ollie, was Malcolm Barnes on his stag night by any chance when he met Kim?’ Rebecca wanted to know.

‘By chance he was, ma’am’ said Ollie. ‘The other detail worthy of note is that Malcolm Barnes recently relinquished ownership of his financial services company to Bernie Connelly. But you might call it a hostile takeover. Barnes felt like he’d been swindled by Connelly out of his own company’.

‘Revenge for Barnes dumping Sophie three years ago?’ Rebecca suggested.

‘I think so, ma’am’ said Ollie. ‘And Barnes has now turned on Connelly because he resents him taking his company off him. We also believe that Connelly runs a number of prostitutes in the city based in some of the major hotels. The organized crime unit are pinning all their current hopes on Malcolm Barnes providing enough information for them to be able to sweep on Connelly and bring him down once and for all.

FIREFLIES TWELVE

‘Okay’ said Jeff. ‘Let me tell you why Bernie Connelly is significant to me. Andy Kirkpatrick was a dedicated and excellent police officer. He was also my friend. We were also professional partners until he moved over to the organized crime unit a year before he died’.

‘How did he die, sir?’ asked Rebecca.

‘It’ll be five years ago next February’ Jeff recalled. ‘He was sitting in his car on a surveillance operation when someone walked up and shot him. It was a classic professional hit and he was part of the investigating team trying to penetrate the iron curtain around Bernie Connelly. Andy was godfather to my son Toby. So now you know what nailing Connelly means to me’.

‘Not meaning to sound insensitive, sir, but how do you know it was Bernie Connelly who ordered the hit on Andy Kirkpatrick?’ asked Rebecca.

‘Well I don’t in terms of cold, hard facts’ said Jeff. ‘But Andy was getting close, very close, to getting enough information on Connelly to nail him and that’s what got him killed’.

‘What happened to the enquiries on the Kim Barnes murder case?’ asked Rebecca.

‘Well I wasn’t on the investigation team but my understanding is that they couldn’t find anything that could point to one individual having been the killer’ said Jeff. ‘On the one hand they had the husband Malcolm Barnes who was distraught as you can imagine but had no reason for killing his wife, especially not in such a brutal way. Then they had Sophie Cooper, the wronged woman who had every motive but there was no evidence linking her to the crime. All they had was a piece of CCTV showing what looked like a woman entering the hotel just before the time of the incident and leaving a few minutes later having spoken to nobody but looking like she knew where she was going’.