Death and Deception (26 page)

‘Yes sir. We will wait until you have secured the building and then bring the children out. We’ll wait in the farmhouse yard until you give the all clear.’

Sally Ellis slipped into the room and beckoned to Dan. He moved across and she whispered in his ear. A brief frown flittered across his face before he spoke.

‘Ma’am, you may have to start without me and Sally – Jamie May is talking and he wants to tell me what happened to Carly Braithwaite. I think we’re getting somewhere.’

Oliver could see that he was desperate to be at the farmhouse where the action would be happening, but this was his case and he had to be here.

‘Join us later if you can.’ She gave a wry smile. ‘I think we can just about manage without you. Getting a confession for Carly Braithwaite’s murder is still top of our list.’

The Flowerpot Men, who had been silent until that point, stood up.

‘Ma’am,’ said Bennett, ‘can we take DI Hellier and Sergeant Ellis’s places?’

Oliver didn’t answer straightaway.

Larcombe spoke, ‘DCI Gould was our friend and colleague. We want to do this. We want to be part of the attack team.’ Oliver stared at the floor. She had already lost one close colleague, and these two were like her uncles.

‘I know how you feel,’ she said, ‘we all want to avenge Ian’s death, but it could be dangerous and I don’t know if…’

Dan came to her rescue.

‘I think it would be a great idea if we had an extra body in two of the patrol cars, ready to give chase if the targets run. Still got your Advanced Driving certs up to date, lads?’

Oliver nodded in relief. That would do. They would be there, part of the action, but safe. With a bit of luck, the gang wouldn’t be running anywhere.

‘Ok, sort out which patrol cars you’re going in and position yourselves near the farm entrance.’

The Sergeants smiled and nodded their thanks at Dan.

‘Dan and Sally, off you go. If you do come along later, let me know and follow protocol. OK?’

They left in a rush, heads down to hide their disappointment.

‘Right, ladies and gentlemen, body and head protection is ready. Sort yourselves out, we’re leaving in one hour. And remember, no noise, no flashing blue lights, and no heroics. We’ve got DCI Garrett’s team for that kind of back up if we need it. Good luck. See you back here afterwards for a de-brief.’

The little Interview Room was stuffy and warm. The only sound as Dan and Sally entered was the quiet snuffling of Sandra May and the shuffling of the solicitor’s papers.

‘Sergeant Ellis told me that you would now like to tell us how Carly Braithwaite died, Jamie,’ said Dan. ‘Why don’t you begin with the party on Saturday night?’

Jamie’s voice shook in time with the rhythm his hands were beating on his knees.

‘When Carly won the competition it was great, we were all dead excited, because she said that we would still be her band and everything, even if she got famous. She made Mr Westlake let us have a party at his house, because his wife’s left him.’ He glanced up at Sally. ‘It’s really hard to say no to Carly when she wants something. She just goes ahead and does it anyway, doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. So me and the band and Carly and a few of her mates went over on Saturday night.’ He hesitated.

‘Go on, Jamie, you’re doing fine,’ said Sally.

‘You’re gonna think this is really stupid, but I … I bought her a ring. To show, well, to show she was my girl, but … but she laughed at me.’ He screwed his eyes shut to stop tears escaping. ‘She said I was just a friend. A fucking friend.’ He scrubbed his arm across his face and wiped the tears onto his hoody sleeve. ‘I knew that wasn’t right, we’d been more than friends since way before Christmas.’ He shook his head from side to side, as if trying to shake out the feelings of betrayal that had found him again. ‘I walked off round the back garden. I was really mad. It was a right kick-back.’ He turned to his mother. ‘I loved her, Mum.’ Sandra May took his hand and squeezed it.

Dan held his breath. Please let the kid keep on talking he prayed, to any god that might be listening. Don’t let him stop now.

‘Go on, Jamie,’ murmured Sally. ‘You’re doing really well. Tell us what happened then.’

He stared at the wall, not blinking, lost in the memory.

‘Then I saw her with Sir, Mr Westlake, through the kitchen window. It was obvious, then. She was hanging round his neck and kissing him, and he was kissing her, too. It was disgusting. He’s a teacher!’

Eyes closed and face screwed up in pain he said, ‘I think I was the last one to know.’

Dan allowed a moment’s quiet while Jamie’s breathing calmed.

‘What did you do next, Jamie? Did you argue, or fight with Carly? Did you do anything to show them how upset you were?’

Dan aimed to match the quiet, restrained tone of the other adults in the room as it seemed to calm the boy, and his previous technique had been a spectacular failure.

‘Do anything? No, I didn’t do anything.’ The boy’s voice rose in frustration. ‘How can I compete with a teacher, a grown man? Who’d have believed me anyway? I’m just a kid with a bad attitude, aren’t I? A trouble causer.’ His hands balled into fists, which he banged down hard on the table. ‘Who’d believe me against a fucking teacher?’ He stared around the room, daring them to disagree with him. The lack of response took the bite from his voice.

‘No, I just got pissed and slept in the baby’s room. I went home on Sunday morning. But the more I thought about it, the more angry I got. He’s married, he’s got a kid and he’s messing about with my girl.’

‘So, what did you do on Sunday?’ Sally asked.

‘I was supposed to be at Carly’s house for four o’clock to help her get ready and have a quick practice before we went into town for the recording session. I said I’d be there because she wanted to have a word with Jenna about something before we went out. But I was really pissed at her, so I didn’t go.’

‘Where did you go?’ Dan tried for eye contact but the boy’s eyes swerved around him to look at the floor.

‘I went to the graveyard for a walk round. I like it there. Mum was on shift, so I went home and got something to eat. And I suppose I calmed down a bit. Then I thought like, I was letting her down, on her big day, so I went to her house later.’

Dan watched Jamie’s eyes jump from him to Sally. Was that a calculating glance, or a frightened one?

‘What time later?’

‘I dunno. Maybe five o’clock? Does it matter? I could hear a real screaming row coming from upstairs. Carly and Jenna were shouting and chucking things - I could hear it from outside on the street.’

‘What were they arguing about, Jamie?’ Dan asked.

Jamie flushed a deep, punishing crimson and stared down at the gnarled table-top. ‘I can’t…’ He cast a desperate look at Sally. ‘I can’t say. Not in front of my mum. It’s totally embarrassing. Can I just talk to you? Please?’

Sally hesitated and looked to Dan.

‘Jamie, I can ask your mum to step outside but you are in a formal interview, so both of us and your solicitor have to stay.’

‘It’ll be alright, Jamie,’ said Sandra May, squeezing his hand. ‘I’d rather hear it from your mouth, and I won’t be embarrassed, I promise. Just tell us what happened, love.’

‘And I promise you I have heard it all before, Jamie,’ sighed Vanessa Redmond. ‘There are very few things that surprise me anymore.’

Jamie shrugged then, and sagged back into the chair.

‘I knocked on the door but they couldn’t hear me so I went in. I didn’t think their dad would be there or he’d have stopped them fighting. I could hear what they were arguing about as I went in.’ He glanced at his mother. ‘Jenna’s been doing porn.’

His mother barked out a laugh. ‘Porn? Young Jenna? Are you sure, love?’

Jamie pulled his hand away from her grasp. ‘I’m not stupid, Mum. Of course I’m sure. D’you want to hear this or not?’

‘Go on,’ urged Dan. ‘Tell us what happened. Take your time.’

Jamie grunted his assent. ‘The arguing stopped, just like that. So I ran upstairs to Carly’s room first, but they weren’t in there. They were in Jenna’s room and when I got through the door she was kneeling on top of Carly. Carly was on the bed, flat out. She wasn’t fighting back or anything.’

‘What did you do, then?’

‘I was shouting at Jenna to let go. Jenna had her arms round Carly’s neck and was strangling her. Carly was going purple. I had to drag Jenna off her. She was like a mad bitch - screaming and crying and laughing. It was horrible.’

The self-control he had been working hard to maintain was lost. Jamie sobbed like a small boy.

‘I was too late. Too late. Carly was just lying there. All still.’ He took a gulping sob of air. ‘If I’d got there earlier, I could have saved her. I could have saved her.’ He dropped his head onto his arms, and they watched his shoulders shake as he released the pain.
      
      

Sandra May sobbed once with relief and rubbed her son’s shoulders. ‘I knew he didn’t do it. That girl has got everybody feeling sorry for her but look, look what she did. I’ll be able to take my boy home now, won’t I?’

‘Let’s not be hasty, Mrs May,’ said Dan. ‘We still have many questions for Jamie.’

Sally could control her disbelief no longer.

‘Jenna? You’re saying that Jenna killed her sister?’ She shook her head. ‘Are you telling us the truth, Jamie? Because if you’re lying to cover up for whoever did kill her…’

‘Don’t threaten my client, Sergeant Ellis.’ Vanessa Redmond
interrupted and glared at Sally over her glasses.

Sally glared back. ‘Just trying to get to the truth. It’s what we’re here for.’ She turned and stared at the boy. ‘Well, Jamie?’

Jamie flinched under her attack, but held her gaze.

‘I’m not lying. It really did happen like that. It was horrible.’

‘Are you sure it wasn’t her dad, making her cover it up for him?’ asked Sally, still unwilling to accept the boy’s version.

Jamie looked confused. ‘No. He wasn’t even in the house.’

‘So what happened then, Jamie?’

Dan stayed calm, flashing a warning glance at his Sergeant to back off and let the boy tell it.

‘I had to scream at Jenna to shut her up. Then she realised what she’d done. We tried to give Carly mouth-to-mouth but she didn’t breathe. We were both panicking.’

‘Why didn’t you ring the Police? Or find Mr Braithwaite? You must have known he was in the pub. That’s what normal people do,’ said Sally.

Jamie stared at her and shook his head. ‘You don’t know what her dad’s like. He’d have killed Jenna if he’d found out. And, probably me, too. He’s insane.’ He turned back to Dan. ‘We didn’t know what to do, or how to hide her. I wrapped her in the duvet at first but you could see it was her and I couldn’t keep it rolled up. And Jenna was no use, she was in a right state. So in the end, I rang Jed Abrams and asked him to help us because he’s got a van.’

‘What?’ interrupted Sally. ‘Why on earth would you ring this bloke, who you hardly know, and expect him to help you move a dead body? The body of a girl who should have been at his studio at that very minute?’

‘I hardly know him, yeah. But Jenna probably knows him from Youth Matters. Alright?’

‘Probably knows him? Probably isn’t going to make someone break the law and put themselves in the frame for a murder.’

She raised her voice, and Dan noticed that the softness had disappeared. ‘Tell us the truth, Jamie. Why did Jed Abrams agree to help you? What is your relationship with Jed Abrams?’

‘I haven’t got a relationship with him.’ The boy looked horrified. ‘I don’t know what you mean. What you trying to say? I’m not gay.’ He looked to Dan again, fellow male in a room full of women, trying to find a shared disgust at what she was implying.

‘I just met him at the competition. I didn’t have a relationship with him. I’m not gay.’ He looked at the solicitor. ‘Is she trying to say I’m gay?’ He swung back to Sally. ‘I’ve had enough of this. I’m supposed to be helping you and you have a go?’

‘Calm down, Jamie,’ Dan said, ‘Sergeant Ellis is just doing her job. We need to be sure we have all the facts before we do anything else. You’re doing really well, just hang in there.’

‘Hold on,’ said Sally, shuffling papers on her knee. ‘There are no calls to Abrams on your phone log.’

‘There won’t be,’ Jamie replied, voice twisted by sarcasm, ‘because I used Jenna’s.’

‘So Jenna has Abram’s phone number on her phone? Why? And where is Carly’s phone?’

‘I don’t know, alright? I don’t fucking know all the answers to all your fucking questions. I’m doing my best, alright?’ He furrowed his eyebrows. ‘Yeah, I think Carly’s phone got broken when they were fighting. There was glass on the floor. But I don’t know where it is.’

Vanessa Redmond cleared her throat. ‘I doubt that this mode of aggressive questioning is going to help engender trust between the two of you, Sergeant. You can hardly expect my client to remember tiny details after such a traumatic incident. Why don’t you just listen to what he has to say and then we can go back over anything that you don’t like, later?’

Sally subsided with a sniff. She cast a sidelong glance at Dan. He could see she was quite enjoying playing nasty cop. He hoped she’d shut up though, and let the boy tell it.

‘And then,’ Dan asked, ‘what did you do?’

‘We had to wait 'til it got dark. Jed came over with his van about 9.00 o’clock. He helped me to take her to the woods at the top of school in his van. It was the only place I could think of. We were going to go back on Monday night and take her somewhere and bury her properly.’

The boy’s shoulders began to shake and he faltered. He looked at the black ballet shoe, still on the table in its evidence bag.

‘I don’t even remember taking the shoe. I must have just put it in my pocket.’

‘What? You were just going to stick her in the ground and forget about her? Didn’t you think her dad might notice she was gone?’ Sally’s face was picture of disgust. ‘Not very convincing so far, Jamie.’

‘I’m telling the truth. Why don’t you believe me?’

‘I know when someone’s lying, Jamie.’ She glanced at him, and looked back down at her notes.