Tennison (22 page)

‘You may laugh but the drug squad found a load of new ladders, sponges and buckets at the address – even an MOT for an old van, but nothing for a Jag.’

Everyone in the room knew the window cleaning was probably a front for dealing drugs.

Kath commented that Chalk Farm was a stone’s throw away from Camden Town and Jane asked if Dwayne’s girlfriend knew where the two of them were. She heard some sniggers in the room and someone whisper, ‘She’s so naive.’

‘Yes she did,’ Bradfield said, and frowned at the whisperer, which brought a chuffed smile to Jane’s face.

He continued, ‘She said they were both in Coventry and had been there for well over a week, which conveniently puts them both out of town during Julie Ann and Eddie’s deaths. And before you ask, she doesn’t know where this Josh lives and was adamant he’s not Big Daddy, but the drug squad officers said it was obvious she was talking a load of bollocks.’

‘What the hell are they doing in Coventry?’ Gibbs asked.

For the first time Bradfield smiled. ‘Apparently the window-cleaning slash drugs business is doing so well, they are looking to expand and set up there as well. Big Daddy is most probably this Josh, and if originally from Moss Side that’s a real tough drug area, so my guess is he still has contacts there and he runs drugs from Manchester to London, with drop-offs in Birmingham and Coventry on the way – all whilst
cleanin’ windows
, haw haw.’

‘What a load of cock,’ Gibbs replied.

‘I know that, Spence. Dwayne’s tart is obviously lying through her teeth about the alibi, but we’ve no bloody evidence to disprove it at the moment. The drug squad showed her a picture of Julie Ann, but she said she’d never seen her and, “Dwayne don’t mix with white trash”. She’d never heard of Eddie Phillips either.’

‘If she’s been primed as to what lies to tell us maybe they know we are looking for them, which means Eddie Phillips must have blabbed,’ a detective commented.

‘Stop telling me the bloody obvious as it’s really beginning to piss me off! What I want to know, but clearly don’t, is exactly where Big Daddy and Dwayne are right now,’ Bradfield said, and lit another cigarette from the one he was just finishing.

‘Are the drug squad making enquiries in Coventry?’ DS Gibbs asked.

‘No, Spence – you are. Go up there and—’

‘I thought you wanted me to cover the canal?’

‘I said organize a team to do it, then you can link up with the Moss Side and Coventry drug squads. If you find Big Daddy, Dwayne and or this Josh bloke, nick ’em and transport them back down here for questioning.’

Gibbs sighed. He didn’t fancy schlepping all the way to Coventry, but he had no choice.

Bradfield told everyone that now the drug squad knew about Eddie’s suspicious death they’d put pressure on known hard-drug users and informants in and around a square mile of where his body was found, in an effort to get more on ‘Josh’ and Dwayne Clark. They had also organized a team to keep surveillance on Dwayne’s flat and Bradfield had agreed that if any drugs were seized when they were arrested the drug squad boys could deal with that after he’d interviewed them.

‘So far we’ve got Jack Shit on this case and I’m getting it in the ear from the DCS to get results. You need to start pulling your fingers out of your backsides and work harder. I want those two black bastards found and banged up in a cell downstairs within the next twenty-four hours. Overtime is not a problem – now get out there and graft.’

As everyone went about their business Bradfield approached Jane.

‘I need you with me this afternoon now that Spence is off to Coventry,’ he said irritably.

‘May I ask where we are we going, sir?’

‘It’s a memorial service for Julie Ann.’

Jane thought he may have made an error. ‘Do you mean funeral, sir?’

‘If I did I’d have said funeral, wouldn’t I, Tennison? Her parents were informed that it’ll be at least eight weeks, maybe more, before the coroner releases the body. So they decided to have a memorial service in the meantime. Get yourself spruced up then meet me in the yard in ten minutes.’

Jane grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and a roll of Sellotape from the desk before hurrying down to the cloakroom. She wrapped a load of tape round her hand so the sticky side was facing out and brushed down the back of her jacket removing the bits of fluff and cotton. Having put the jacket on she did the same with the front and then combed her hair. She was about to retie it back with an elastic band when it suddenly snapped.

‘Shit, shit.’

She didn’t have another one so grabbed her hat from her locker and putting it on pushed her hair up inside it, but strands of it slipped out. Frustrated, she recombed it and tucked it behind her ears before giving her cheeks a pinch and doing up the buttons of her jacket. She did a quick check of her tights, and with her handbag over her shoulder scurried out towards the station yard where Bradfield was waiting impatiently in the driver’s seat of an unmarked red Hillman Hunter. She opened the passenger door.

‘Get in, get in,’ he said tetchily.

She was still shutting the front passenger door as he pulled away at speed.

‘We are just going to make an appearance out of respect, sit at the back, give our condolences and be visible for as long as necessary. Then we get back here – I’ve got a lot to do.’

Bradfield drove in silence and Jane wondered if she should make some polite conversation or if it was best to keep quiet. Eventually Bradfield started talking, not turning towards her but staring directly out of the windscreen.

‘God, I hate these things. Whoever killed Julie Ann and her baby is still out there. If I’d got something to tell them like we’d caught the bastard responsible it might have helped soften their grief. I don’t know – pregnant and a junkie at her age: I’m surprised she didn’t want an abortion.’

There was an awful pause, before Jane decided to say something.

‘Apparently drugs can disrupt menstruation, especially heroin. So even if she missed some periods she might not have connected it to being pregnant. Then there was that phone call Anjali O’Duncie overheard. If Big Daddy was her dealer and the father, maybe she was asking for money for an abort—’

Bradfield turned and stared at her. ‘You think he’d give a shit? He’s got kids littered all over the place by God knows how many women. Why would he bother to help a teenage hooker who was passed round to his cohorts to feed her addiction? All she cared about was the next fix.’

There was another lengthy pause before Jane tried again.

‘Do you think that Eddie was murdered because he’d told you about this Big Daddy character?’

Bradfield sighed and ruffled his hair. ‘I dunno. The toxicology results might show he overdosed on heroin which caused him to accidentally fall into the canal and drown. Who knows – maybe he was so high he thought he’d swim upriver and sneak into London Zoo,’ he said with a hollow laugh.

Jane continued, ‘It’s another no-witness case like Julie Ann. Although it is different because we know he was at the station the day before and if this Big Daddy did kill Eddie then I guess you have a possible motive. Eddie was the last person to see her two weeks before her body was found. Professor Martin said she had bruises from a bad beating prior to her murder, so if we could find out where she was for those two weeks it would really help because—’

He interrupted her. ‘Thank you, WPC Tennison – I’m aware of the time frame and have been doing everything possible to trace her movements and whereabouts during that missing period.’

‘Sorry, sir,’ Jane said, deciding it was best to keep her opinions and thoughts to herself.

The church was already half full of mourners by the time they arrived. Bradfield and Jane were surprised to see a white coffin on a plinth in front of the altar. It had a long plaited wreath of white lilies and a picture of Julie Ann on top of it. Mr and Mrs Collins entered arm in arm. They glanced towards Jane and Bradfield who were standing side by side in the back row. As they passed Mr Collins gave a small bow of his head to acknowledge their presence and then continued along the church aisle to sit in the front pew. A vicar in a black cassock, white surplice and black tippet that hung down to his knees entered from the vestry and stood at the lectern as the organ played an unrecognizable short piece. He gave a light cough before he began the service.

‘I’m sure you are all aware that the body of Julie Ann cannot, for legal reasons, be here with us today and a full funeral service will be held at a later date. However, we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient but the things that are unseen are eternal. I welcome George and Mary Collins, family and friends, to this special service for God’s beloved child Julie Ann, who is here with us in spirit. A regular at our Sunday service she enjoyed singing with the church choir, a delightful spontaneous young girl, who was blossoming into a beautiful young teenager. We all share the grief of her parents at a young life so tragically cut short.’

The vicar continued and Jane could sense Bradfield’s impatience as he stood beside her sighing and shuffling his feet and twice looking at his watch. The vicar announced the hymn ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’, which they sang before Mr Collins stepped up to the lectern.

‘I thank you all for coming today. My wife and I have been touched by the care and kindness so many of you have shown us. Your words, cards and letters of sympathy are helping us both come to terms with our tragic loss, although I am unsure if we will ever recover fully from losing our only daughter. We have been able to recall and keep in our minds the joy Julie Ann brought to us. She was an adorable little girl, always full of fun and with so many gifted talents. She especially loved to dance and we were proud beyond words to watch her progress through her dance classes and grade exams, but the sadness that . . . ’ He faltered and took a moment before he continued, recalling how much hope they had had for her future and how they believed that one day she would dance professionally on stage.

Bradfield turned over the page of the order of service card, trying to estimate in his head how long it would be before it ended. Two more hymns and a psalm to be read by a relative, and a solo hymn by one of the girls in the choir. Jane kept on flicking glances at him and he leaned close to her.

‘I reckon we won’t get out of here for at least another half-hour!’

It was longer, three quarters of an hour later, when the vicar ended the service with a bidding prayer and he and Mr and Mrs Collins left the church to stand outside and thank everyone for coming. Mrs Collins was visibly upset, her eyes red-rimmed from weeping.

Jane and Bradfield were the last to exit the church and George and Mary Collins were just getting into a friend’s car. The vicar approached Bradfield with a weak smile.

‘Thank you for coming to pay your respects to Julie Ann. It meant a lot to Mr and Mrs Collins. They are having a small gathering at home, family and close friends, and they asked me to say that you’re both welcome.’

‘Well, I’m not sure—’ Bradfield started to say.

‘I think it would be most helpful to their state of mind if you were there. I know they are finding it difficult to cope with the fact Julie Ann’s body has not yet been released for burial, and they feel there are still so many unanswered questions.’

‘Yes I understand, but—’

‘Good. I’ve a few things to attend to, but I will see you there,’ the vicar interrupted and sauntered off.

‘Shit, I suppose we have to show our faces now,’ Bradfield said belligerently.

‘Well, if it helps Mr and Mrs Collins through the day it can’t be a bad thing,’ Jane said.

‘All right, we stay no more than ten minutes and I’m only speaking to them about the case. You can fend off anyone who’s nosy and wants to know how the investigation is going.’

‘But what should I say?’

‘That it’s
sub judice
to talk about it with anyone other than the parents.’

‘I thought that only referred to a case already under judicial consideration?’

‘I know that, but they don’t. If you don’t like it then you can stay in the car for all I care.’

It took a while to get to the address as Bradfield made a wrong turning, which didn’t help his already irritable mood.

Cars were parked in the Collinses’ drive and on the road. Bradfield parked opposite in the street, got out and ran his hands through his hair before heading towards the house. He stopped and turned to see where Jane was and she was still sitting in the car. He walked back and tapped on the passenger window, which she wound down.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked.

‘I thought you wanted me to wait in the car.’

‘I was being sarcastic, Tennison, but please yourself. I won’t be long anyway.’ Bradfield walked off.

Jane was upset by his attitude and, feeling she’d be a hindrance rather than a help, stayed put.

The front door of the house was wide open, people going in and some still parking outside. Jane sat looking from the car window, watching the mourners walking sedately up the path. Ten minutes passed and Jane crossed and uncrossed her legs as she desperately needed to go to the bathroom. She began to feel uncomfortable and eventually couldn’t wait any longer.

She left the car and entered the house where she saw the young girl who had sung the solo holding a tray of white wine ready for the guests to take into the living room.

‘I need to use the bathroom,’ Jane said, feeling embarrassed.

The young girl grinned. ‘The vicar just went into the downstairs one. He’ll probably be a while, what with his cassock and surplice to contend with, but if you go straight up the stairs there’s a bathroom just along the landing.’

‘Thank you,’ Jane said and hurried up the stairs.

Bradfield felt cornered as Mr Collins stood close to him. Everyone else was talking quietly and Mrs Collins was sitting on the sofa crying profusely. Mr Collins was eager to know if there were any developments in the police investigation. Bradfield told him that they were still trying to track down whoever supplied Julie Ann with drugs and they had a couple of positive leads they were currently following up on. Mr Collins asked what had happened to the young boy they had arrested. Bradfield knew he was referring to Eddie Phillips and not wanting to distress Mr Collins further just said he had been released pending further enquiries, but it would seem he wasn’t involved in her death.