Storms (16 page)

‘What?’ Rebecca questioned. ‘Are you serious?’

‘Deadly serious’ said Charlotte as she rubbed her stomach. ‘There was a whole gang of them. That’s how I ended up like this’.

‘So you’re pregnant because of having being raped on the order of Melanie Patterson?’ said Jeff.

‘Yes’ said Charlotte who started to cry. ‘Sorry’.

‘Don’t be’ said Rebecca who handed her some tissues. ‘I think you’re being remarkably self-assured’.

‘I don’t always feel it’.

‘No, I expect not’ said Rebecca. ‘But does your father know about you being pregnant?’

‘Yes’ said Charlotte. ‘During one of his many attempts to try and see me my mother said I’d been taken off by the Gorton boys and that he should ask them if he wanted to know anything about me. He came down to the Gorton estate. He saw me because even after the rape I didn’t feel like I had anywhere else to go. I told my Dad everything. He wanted to take me home with him but I still had faith in Leroy. Then after he disappeared and was found to have been murdered I didn’t know what to do. I knew that Melanie Patterson would try and blame me in some way so eventually I ran’.

‘We’ll get you some help, Charlotte’ said Jeff. ‘We will. But tell me, how angry was your Dad when you told him what had been happening to you?’

‘Very angry’ said Charlotte. ‘He was very angry. I think that he’s the murderer you’re looking for’.      

STORMS FOURTEEN

Melanie was beyond feeling terrified. She’d answered the door sometime in the previous hours and had immediately let the man in when he said he had information about the police that could help her fight against the charges that had been made against her and for which she’d been bailed pending further investigation and trial. The next thing she knew she was stuck in wherever the hell she was now. She was restrained to some kind of post with her hands cuffed together behind her. She was standing on what felt like some kind of platform and her ankles were strapped together too. Another strap was holding her head up against the post. Her eyes and mouth were covered in tape. It felt cold wherever she was like there was a lot of space around her but what she couldn’t work out what her feet were buried in. It felt like straw and it came up to her knees.     

She wanted to scream out for help but she couldn’t. She was going to die. She knew that. And if it was the same killer who’d got to the three boys then how in God’s name was he going to kill her? She could hear someone shuffling about near to her. It must be him.

And then that voice struck her. That cold, menacing voice she’d never heard before.

‘Melanie? Are you awake? Well of course you are because I can see you struggling against your restraints which incidentally won’t do you any good. I know what I’m doing and I do it well. But then you should know that considering what happened to three of your boys. Ooh sorry, yes, one of them was an undercover police officer who you knew nothing about. That was mighty careless of you, Melanie. He’ll have told his bosses everything before I got to him. But that’s why you were arrested and charges have been made against you, isn’t it Melanie? But that’s not why you’re here. No, you see you’re here because of my daughter. You know her. Her name is Charlotte Briers and she was going out with your son Leroy. But you didn’t like that, did you? You’re as racist as any white bigot and being the sadistic bitch that you are you ordered for her to be gang raped. Well I’m her father and I was denied the chance of watching her growing up thanks to another sadistic woman who used to be my wife. I couldn’t be there to protect her even though the courts found in my favour, eventually after years of case after case after case. But my ex-wife wouldn’t comply with the court order giving me access and the court wouldn’t enforce their decision. They said they had to think of my ex-wife’s distress but what about mine? What about my distress at not being able to see my daughter? Did they ever think of that? No! And then you and your Gorton boys come along and try and take her away from me just when she was getting to that age when she could make up her own mind about seeing me. She fell in with your boys and the police said they couldn’t help me because she was old enough to decide for herself who she sees. And yet they had one of theirs in there who could’ve saved her from being raped on your orders. Well I’ve saved the best till last, Melanie. Your execution is going to be the most spectacular. You’ll burn your way into the next world, Melanie. Death by fire’.

Monica Parkinson was apprehended when she tried to get back into her house. She was brought down to the station and interviewed by Jeff and Ollie. She made a full and tearful confession to the murder of Ralph Johnson. She said she liked Ralph and felt sorry for him because his family seemed to have abandoned him but when she knew he’d given details of the van registration number to the police something inside her just snapped because she wanted to protect her partner Joe. Even though she knew what he’d done she couldn’t let some interfering old man drop Joe right in it.

‘How did Joe get hold of a van that was registered to Tim Ryder’s brother?’ Jeff asked.

‘John Squires has a carpet shop in Cheadle’ Monica explained, still wiping away the tears. ‘He’s a very proud man and would never admit this to you but trade was bad and he was having severe difficulties with his cash flow. So he came to his brother Tim to see if he’d help him out financially. As part of the deal Tim bought that van off John and asked my Joe to change all the registration details. But I think Joe saw it as an opportunity to use the van to carry out his plans and if it was registered to someone else then it would take the police off the scent’.

‘And you knew all of this?’ Jeff pursued.

‘Yes. Tim Ryder confides in Joe about everything. Joe even knew about the affairs Tim had with teenage boys. Well if you can call them affairs, that is. It was Joe who delivered the pay offs to all the parents involved so that they wouldn’t go the police. Those parents were equally as guilty as Tim in my opinion for letting it happen and taking the money’.

‘And Joe wasn’t complicit in the cover ups by delivering the cash?’ Rebecca scoffed. She couldn’t stand people who were so much in the wrong like Monica try to claim some moral high ground somewhere. It made her want to slap her.

‘Yes, I know’ said Monica. ‘But I was in love with Joe and I’d have done anything for him’.

‘Did you know that Tim Ryder encouraged a flirtation to take place between Joe and a woman called Annabel Matheson?’

‘Oh he was always doing that’ said Monica, dismissively. ‘It was all part of the games they used to play. Joe is a very good-looking man and he likes to flirt. I don’t mind as long as it stays there and doesn’t develop into anything else’.

‘But why didn’t Joe go the police about Tim Ryder’s affairs with teenage boys when he knew it was all so wrong?’

‘Because Tim was paying him a lot of money’.  

‘It’s that easy’ said Rebecca.

‘Yes, it is’ said Monica. ‘Look, Joe has been through a really hard time over the years with his ex-wife and the constant battle for access to his daughter Charlotte’.

‘But why didn’t you try and stop him from doing what he did?’

‘Do you really think I could’ve?’ Monica pleaded. ‘Joe was determined. He said he had to speak up for the rights of fathers to protect their children from scum like the Gorton boys’..

‘Where is Joe now?’

‘All I know is that he was going after Melanie Patterson. He couldn’t believe that she’d got bail but saw it as a golden opportunity to go after her’.

Jeff went back upstairs to where several members of his squad were gathered. He was about to check on the progress in the search for the whereabouts and arrest of Joe Briers that was now several hours old when Ollie called him over to his computer.

‘Take a look at this, sir’ said Ollie.

‘Shit’ said Jeff. ‘Direct it to the main screen please, Ollie’.

The large main screen in the squad room was seconds later filled with the image of Melanie Patterson awaiting her execution on the stake that Joe Briers had built.

‘Where the fuck is that?’ said Jeff.

‘I’m checking the IP address of the signal now, sir’ said Ollie and moments later he was able to confirm that it was coming from somewhere on the Gorton estate.

‘It looks like some kind of warehouse’ said Rebecca.

‘Well there’s only one of those on the Gorton’ said Jeff. ‘It’s disused and right in the middle. Get the team down there now! Rebecca, you go with them and report back to me as soon as you can with anything. I want the fire fighters and an ambulance down there too and impress upon them the need for urgency. Ollie, has he set the link up for sound?’

Chief Superintendent Chambers walked into the room just in time to hear Joe Briers answer Jeff’s question to Ollie.

‘Yes, I can hear you policeman’ said Joe. He was looking into the camera from three or four meters back and in his hand was a gas cylinder burner with the flame looking clear and strong. ‘Can you hear me?’

‘Briers, there’s a team of officers on their way to you as I speak’ said Jeff. ‘You won’t be able to get away with this so why don’t you give up now? It’s over, Briers. It’s over and done with’.

‘Not quite, policeman. You see, I’ve got a few things to say. The police have never been my friend. All the years I spent fighting my ex-wife through the courts just because I wanted to be as father to my daughter and none of you lot helped me. All you ever told me to do was to keep calm Mr. Briers, don’t lose your temper Mr. Briers, it’ll only harm your case if you do, Mr. Briers. My ex-wife could throw all manner of emotional shit around and yet if I so much as raised my voice with sheer exasperation I was told it would harm my case. Do you know how that feels? Do you know how it feels to spend years fighting somebody who’s taken your relationship with your daughter away from you? Something so basic in life as that? And I wouldn’t mind if my ex-wife was such a good mother. But she isn’t. She’s a lousy mother. So bad she lets my daughter fall in with the Gorton boys. I’m Charlotte’s father. I should’ve been there to protect her. But it was taken away from me. They raped my daughter, policeman. They raped my daughter and I only found out because I went looking for her. I found her. But she told me to go away and leave her alone. She told me I was out of my depths and that I couldn’t help her. I told her I’d get them. I told her I’d get them for her and they’d all pay’.

‘Look, Joe’ said Jeff. If he could keep him talking until Rebecca and the major incident team arrive there might be a chance. But the local uniformed officers should be there by now. He’d be checking the local station’s response times after this. ‘I’m a father. If someone took my relationship with my son away from me I’d want to kill them. I’d be in a mess, Joe just like you were. I’d probably lose it … ‘

At that moment there was a commotion to the left of the picture. Jeff heard the familiar bellowing of officers making their presence felt ‘Police!’ He then watched in horror as Joe Briers lit the straw with the gas burner. Within seconds it was all the way round the edges of the mass of straw that was circled round Melanie Patterson’s feet. One of the uniformed officers grabbed Briers who lifted the burner and aimed it in the officers face. The officer screamed with pain and stumbled as he covered his face with his hands. The other officer who’d been frantically looking for something to put the fire around Melanie Patterson out then went for Briers and this time he managed to wrestle the burner out of his hands and get him face down on the floor. He then got the cuffs on him and left him lying on the floor before turning his attention to the fire which was now raging.

‘See to your fellow officer first!’ Jeff shouted.

And then the screen went black.

‘Ollie! What’s happening?’

‘We’ve lost the connection, sir’.

‘Well get it back!’

‘It’s no good, sir. Something must’ve happened at that end’

‘It was one of the biggest fires ever attended by the Greater Manchester fire brigade’ said Chief Superintendent Chambers in her office. Jeff was with her.

‘There were all kinds of inflammatory materials in that warehouse’ said Jeff. ‘And fire seems to move quicker than water. The sad thing is that four people lost their lives including two uniformed officers at the start of their careers. I don’t break my heart over Joe Briers or even Melanie Patterson though. They got what was coming to them’.

‘I don’t think anybody would argue with you about Briers or Patterson’ said Geraldine. ‘A case of natural justice taking its course with regard to those two’.

‘Although Briers was an embittered man’ said Jeff. ‘I don’t condone what he did but I could understand him. With some people if they don’t feel they’re getting the justice they deserve they let it ride for years and then they explode with frustration. The criminality of Melanie Patterson is one thing but with Briers it goes back to one woman thinking she has the right to stop a father from seeing his daughter just because she can and him losing his head because of it. It’s wrong, ma’am. It’s so very wrong’.