Afraid (32 page)

What disturbed him most was the damage that had been inflicted on the body post-mortem. And he sincerely hoped that it
had
been done after she had died, because he dreaded to think what the poor child would have suffered had she been alive when her attacker had battered her face almost to a pulp, smashed out her teeth, and crudely cut off her fingertips. It was an obvious attempt to prevent the police from making an identification, but the perpetrator had overlooked one crucial piece of evidence.

24

The list of missing children in the Greater Manchester area was depressingly long, but only seven of them matched the general description of ‘Canal Girl’ – as the victim had been dubbed by the police – in terms of gender, hair colour, approximate age, and height. No clothing had been found at or near the scene, and no potential murder weapon had yet been located, so the necklace that had been recovered from around her throat was all they had to go on, and each team of officers who had been tasked with visiting the missing girls’ families the following morning were given a photograph of it for identification purposes.

PCs Jones and Dean had been assigned the two families who lived local to their patch: those of Chloe Lester and Skye Benson. And as the Lesters’ place was closest, they went there first.

Dennis Lester wasn’t pleased to be woken by the police at such an early hour, and he made his displeasure clear by yelling, ‘Fuck off, I ain’t done nothing!’ through the door when they knocked.

Only when Dean had explained via the letter box that they were here about his daughter did he relent and open up for them. But after looking out and seeing no sign of Chloe on the landing behind them, he said, ‘Where is she, then? You usually fetch her back after she’s done a runner.’

‘Can we come in?’ Dean asked.

‘Nah, I’m not in the mood for visitors,’ Lester drawled, scratching his belly through a hole in his stained vest. Then, narrowing his eyes when something occurred to him, he said, ‘Here, I hope she hasn’t been telling tales, ’cos she’s a born liar, that one, and you don’t wanna be taking no notice of anything she says.’

‘We’ve found a body,’ Dean told him, opting for the blunt approach, because it was clear that nothing else was going to work. ‘So, if we could just come in for a minute …?’

Lester released a heavy sigh, as if he really couldn’t be doing with this, and said, ‘All right. But give us a minute to put the dogs in the kitchen. They don’t like you lot, and I ain’t gonna be held responsible if they savage you.’

He left the door slightly ajar, and Jones and Dean exchanged a bemused glance when they saw him go into the living room and come back out carrying two ancient, scabby-looking Jack Russell dogs by the scruffs of their scrawny necks.

After tossing them into the kitchen and slamming the door shut, Lester called over his shoulder for the officers to come in as he made his way back to the living room.

Both men wrinkled their noses when the stench of sweaty feet, stale cigarette smoke, and dogs hit them in the face, and neither of them particularly fancied sitting on the filthy couch when Lester waved for them to take a seat after himself flopping into a tatty armchair. But, mindful of why they were here, they pushed their concerns about their uniforms and the probability that they were going to be flea-bitten by the time they left to the backs of their minds, and sat down.

As Dean explained what little they knew and showed Lester the photograph to see if he recognised the necklace, Jones gazed around in disgust. The man clearly spent the majority of his waking life in that chair, because it was surrounded by heaps of crushed beer cans, dirty plates, and mouldy kebab and pizza remnants; and Jones guessed that the dogs, who were both barking now and scratching at the kitchen door, didn’t get out much, either, judging by the little heaps of shit he could see among the rubbish covering the floor. His eye was drawn to a stack of porn magazines partially hidden beneath Lester’s chair, and he frowned when he made out the title of the top one:
Teen Sluts
.

‘She ain’t got no jewellery, so it deffo ain’t hers,’ Lester said as he handed the photo back to Dean after glancing at it. ‘And even if it had been, it wouldn’t be no more, ’cos she never keeps nothing for two minutes, her. If it’s worth more than a quid, she’d have flogged it first chance she got.’

‘Would you be willing to come and do a formal ID of the body?’ Dean asked, adding, ‘But I have to warn you that it won’t be pleasant, and you wouldn’t be allowed to go into the room with her.’

‘What, go and look at a stiff?’ Lester pulled a disgusted face. ‘I don’t think so, mate.’

‘If you’re not up to it, you could always provide a sample of DNA for comparison,’ Dean suggested.

‘Yeah, right,’ Lester snorted, fishing a can of beer out from down the side of his cushion and tearing the tab off. ‘I know what you lot are like. Soon as you’ve got it, you’ll be trying to pin every robbery and mugging from the last fifty years on me. Fuck that for a game of soldiers.’

He paused to take a swig of beer. Then, rifling through the dimps in the ashtray that was sitting on the arm of his chair, he said, ‘It wouldn’t help, anyhow, ’cos her mam was a slag, so Chloe’s probably not even mine. I’ve always thought she was more like the cunt her mam was knocking off round the time she got caught. Ken Brown, I think his name was. And he had a few bob, if I remember right, so you’d be better off tracking him down if you’re after someone to pay for the funeral.’

Outraged by his callous attitude, Jones said, ‘A child has been murdered, and she could be your daughter. Don’t you care?’

‘Why should I?’ Lester shot back unrepentantly. ‘Bitch never gave a toss about me. She’s as bad as her mam, that one: coming and going like I’m running some kind of hostel for fuckin’ whores. If that body is hers, I’m just surprised it’s taken this long for someone to do her in, ’cos she’s always been more trouble than she’s worth.’

Dean saw the warning glint of anger spark in Jones’s eyes and stood up quickly, saying, ‘We’ll leave you to think about it. Just call if you change your mind.’

‘I won’t,’ Lester said adamantly, staying put as Jones too rose to his feet.

Jones gave him a scathing look and then stared pointedly down at the magazines. ‘That’s some hobby you’ve got there, fella. Always go for the young ’uns, do you?’

‘Fuck off,’ Lester growled. ‘Them’s all legal, them.’

‘I bet,’ drawled Jones, looking around the room now. ‘No computer?’ he asked after a moment. ‘I wouldn’t mind taking a look to see what kind of stuff you’ve got on there.’

‘Do I look like I’d know how to use a computer?’ Lester sneered. ‘Even if I could afford one, I wouldn’t want it,’ he went on. ‘Leaves you wide open for people to find you, that internet shit; and I’m fucked if I’m having all the birds I’ve ever shagged coming after me for child maintenance.’ He shook his head now, and smirked as he took another swig of his beer. Then, belching loudly, he raised an eyebrow. ‘You still here?’

Jones gave a snort of disgust and stalked out, and Dean gave Lester a curt nod before following quickly.

‘Lowlife bastard,’ spat Jones, still furious as they made their way down the communal stairs. ‘I’m going to look him up on the system when we get back to the station; see if I can get anything on him.’

‘Just leave well enough alone,’ Dean cautioned as they exited the block and walked back to the car. ‘You’re already facing a complaint of harassment if Jeff Benson decides to go ahead with that, so I wouldn’t be adding another one to the list if I were you.’

‘Yeah, well, let’s just hope this poor girl doesn’t turn out to be Chloe Lester,’ Jones muttered. ‘’Cos I’d hate to see what kind of send-off she’d get if it was left to that heartless cunt to arrange it.’

Dean nodded his agreement and climbed into the passenger side as Jones got behind the wheel. ‘Did you manage to find out where Jeff Benson’s staying?’ he asked as they buckled their seat belts.

‘No.’ Jones shook his head and started the engine. ‘His brief reckons he was going to try and get into a homeless hostel, but I didn’t have time to ring around before we set out. I thought we could call in at that garage where he used to work after we’ve spoken to Andrea; see if he’s been in touch with that friend of his – Shirley.’

‘Good idea,’ said Dean, reaching through the middle of the seats to put the photograph in the back. ‘If he’s contacted anyone, it’d be her, I’m sure. Nice woman,’ he remarked then, gazing out of the window as they set off.

‘Yeah, she is,’ Jones agreed. ‘Shame she had to go through all that shit with her neighbours after we arrested him, ’cos she didn’t deserve that.’

‘Neither did he,’ Dean said quietly.

Jones drove on without replying. But he couldn’t deny what Dean had said, and he’d felt guilty about the way he had treated Jeff Benson since it had come to light that he could not have murdered his daughter. Not only that, but Andrea had also confessed to having made up the abuse allegations to get back at him for his supposed cheating. And then she had retracted her statement about him trying to stab her, so Jones no longer believed a word she’d said and was actually beginning to wonder if Shirley had been right about Andrea being the real perpetrator all those times he’d been called out to domestics at their place.

Whatever the truth, Jones just hoped that the twisted bitch didn’t fall apart when they saw her now and told her about these latest developments, because he really didn’t think he’d be able to dredge up an ounce of sympathy for her.

25

Shirley had taken the rest of the week off work. Unlike her colleagues, who all regularly went down with mysterious illnesses the morning after a major football match or a hen or stag party, she had never taken one single sick day in the entire time she had worked for Ripley Autos. But she was damned if she was going to leave Jeff on his own at a time like this so she’d got up early and left a message on her boss’s answerphone, telling him that she had flu.

After making the call, she had gone back to bed and gazed at Jeff as he lay sleeping. She had always liked and respected him, but her feelings had deepened considerably after he had moved in that first time and she’d had a chance to really get to know him. She had never imagined that he might ever feel the same way about her, so she’d been stunned when he had kissed her last night; and the lovemaking that had followed had been incredible.

She just hoped he didn’t wake up with regrets and think that she had taken advantage of him when he’d been at his most vulnerable.

Determined not to ruin the beautiful memory of their night together by allowing herself to become paranoid about it, Shirley got up after a while and took a quick shower before going into the kitchen to make Jeff a cup of coffee and some toast. Prison had taken a huge toll on him physically but he was as proud as ever, so she knew she’d have a fight on her hands getting him to accept her hospitality. But he needed building up, and she was determined to get him properly back on his feet again.

She had just slotted the bread into the toaster and was reaching into the cupboard for cups when someone knocked loudly and insistently on the front door.

A slim blonde woman was standing on the step, and she looked Shirley up and down when she answered the door. Then, a sneer on her lips, she said, ‘So you’re the bitch who destroyed my life, are you?’

‘Sorry?’ Shirley folded her arms defensively, conscious that she must look a mess with the towel around her hair and her satin dressing-gown damp in patches from where she hadn’t properly dried herself. ‘Do I know you?’

‘I’m Jeff’s wife,’ Andrea informed her icily. ‘Where is he? And don’t say he’s not here, because I
know
he is.’

Thrown, because this was the first time she had ever seen the woman, Shirley wondered what to do for the best. She didn’t want to invite Andrea in, but she also didn’t want to leave her out here if she was going to cause a scene. Her nosy neighbours would be bound to notice, and the last thing Jeff needed right now was for it to turn ugly again.

‘Wait there a minute,’ she said, deciding that it would be best to let Jeff deal with it. ‘He’s in the spare room. I’ll go and get him.’

Cheeks flaming, Shirley closed the door and rushed back along the hall. She didn’t know why she’d thrown that in about him being in the spare room, and it was obvious that the woman hadn’t believed her. But she’d panicked, and the words had come out before she could stop herself.

‘Jeff, wake up.’ She shook his shoulder gently. ‘
Jeff!
’

He woke with a start and peered groggily up at her. ‘What’s up?’

‘Andrea’s here,’ she told him. ‘She wants to see you.’

‘
What
?’ Jeff sat up and rubbed his eyes. ‘Are you joking?’

‘No.’ Shirley shook her head and re-tightened her dressing-gown belt. ‘She’s on the step. I didn’t know whether I should let her in or not.’

‘No, you shouldn’t,’ Jeff said, an uncharacteristic hardness creeping into his voice as he pushed the quilt off his legs and looked around for his clothes. ‘She had no right to come here.’

‘I told her you were in the spare room,’ Shirley murmured as he pulled his jeans on. ‘I thought …’ She trailed off, shrugged, and then said, ‘Well, I didn’t think you’d want her to know about – you know.’

‘It’s none of her business,’ Jeff said, standing up to zip his fly before pulling his T-shirt over his head. ‘But I don’t really care who knows, ’cos me and her are done.’

‘I know you might feel like that now,’ Shirley said understandingly. ‘But you might change your mind when you talk to her, so please don’t say anything you might regret. She’s very beautiful,’ she added quietly, letting him know that she wouldn’t hold it against him if he took one look at Andrea and realised he’d made a huge mistake last night.

Jeff reached out and gently tilted her chin up. ‘She’s nowhere near as beautiful as you,’ he said softly. ‘She might look good on the outside, but your beauty is inside
and
out; and even if you change your mind about us and tell me to leave, I’ll never go back to her now I know how good it can be with someone decent.’