Thicker Than Water (25 page)

Jessica saw the initial burned-out car at the end of the road – the first of half-a-dozen. There was a host of officers crowded around, with a fire engine parked on either side blocking
the roads. Stones and broken glass littered the tarmac as Jessica tried to step around the debris.

She realised quickly that the only reason Cole had asked her to attend was to keep up appearances. The chief superintendent was strolling around the scene with two news cameras in tow and there
were officers massed throughout. She could guess the way things had happened that morning, with the high-ups requesting every district from across the city send an officer or two to at least make
it appear as if they were reacting to what had gone on the previous evening.

A man in a suit Jessica recognised as a detective sergeant from their neighbouring North division caught her eye and she weaved her way around one of the vehicles, making sure she stayed out of
the camera’s view.

‘You got the short straw too then?’ he asked. He was at least fifteen years older than Jessica with curly grey hair and a slouch that made it look like he’d long since given
up.

‘I’m thinking of changing my middle name to “shat upon”,’ she replied with a weak smile.

The man laughed. ‘If nothing else, it will get you funny looks at the airport.’

‘What are we even doing here?’ Jessica asked.

‘Just follow me and look busy.’ He turned and walked away from the cars. ‘I’m Geoff,’ he said, offering his hand.

‘Jessica,’ she replied, shaking it.

Geoff began pointing at rocks as they walked. ‘If we stay together and walk around pointing at rocks and bottles like this, anyone watching from a distance might think we’re
gathering vital evidence, rather than simply making up the numbers in a show of force.’

Jessica copied him, pointing at a broken piece of glass. ‘Haven’t we got specialist teams to go through scenes like this?’

He crouched, picking up a rock and showing it to Jessica, then holding it up to the light as if he had noticed something important. ‘They’ve already got most of them in custody,
it’s just kids, teenagers and young blokes who fancied a tear-up. We’re only around because the cameras are here – people will want to see lots of officers on the news this
evening and in the papers tomorrow.’

Geoff stood again, walking back towards the cars with Jessica by his side.

‘How long do you think we’ll have to hang around?’ she asked.

He nodded towards the chief superintendent. ‘As soon as the cameras go, he’ll be off within five minutes, then we’ll get back to some proper work five minutes after that. Then
the local lot can get on with things without us trampling around in the way.’

‘What happened? I saw some of it on the news yesterday but it wasn’t a good night for me.’

‘Did you hear about Nicholas Long being killed?’

Jessica didn’t want to say how involved she was in the case, replying with a simple ‘yes’.

‘He came from around this area,’ Geoff continued as they walked. Every now and then, he would point at a random half-brick, just in case the cameras were focusing on them. ‘He
paid for some social club around here and apparently lots of kids looked up to him and so on. As soon as word got around that he had been killed, the rumour mill went into overdrive and, before you
know it, every little scroat and thieving shitbag was on the street moaning about “feds” and “cops”, plus every other Americanism you can think of.’

Jessica tried to give most people the benefit of the doubt, especially when they had grown up in an area of poverty, telling herself it was easy to look down on others when she had parents who
loved and cared for her. That didn’t mean she didn’t sympathise with and largely understand Geoff’s cynicism.

‘I saw some of them in town yesterday,’ Jessica replied.

‘Aye, someone sent all of the riot squad into the centre. As soon as this lot realised they wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble there, they all came home and smashed their own area
up instead. I doubt many of them had even met Nicholas Long, let alone knew he came from here. He was just an excuse to go out and cause trouble.’

‘Anyone hurt?’

‘Not really. Lots of scared locals but I think they mainly damaged objects rather than people. I heard a few of ours got carried away. Still, you never know if someone’s going to
pull a gun on you when you’re out this way, do you?’

Jessica didn’t reply as she wasn’t entirely sure what she thought about that. They arrived back at the burned cars just as the chief superintendent was leading the cameras away to
talk to some nearby locals. She wondered if they had already been screened by a press officer to prevent them saying anything unexpected on camera. A few of the other members of CID began to make
eye contact with each other, wondering if they could return to their real jobs yet, as uniformed officers waited around, wanting to get to work properly.

‘Do you think there’ll be anything else tonight?’ Jessica asked.

‘Have you been to your station yet?’ Geoff asked with a smile.

‘I came straight here.’

He turned so he was facing away from where the cameras might be and broke into a laugh. ‘Where are you based?’

‘Longsight.’

He laughed even harder. ‘Just down the road then. Wait until you get in, then you won’t need to ask that question.’

As Jessica walked through the station’s front door, she knew instantly what Geoff had been trying to tell her. A queue of people was winding out of the door as she
pushed her way through to reception. She offered the desk sergeant a sympathetic grin, heading towards the main floor where the constables worked. She had a quick look from side to side to make
sure Rowlands was nowhere to be seen, then moved quickly across to Izzy’s desk and swapped car keys.

‘Are we full downstairs?’ Jessica asked.

Izzy smiled. ‘Everyone’s full. They arrested everyone out on the street last night but there wasn’t anywhere to fit them all. The cells are jammed at all the local stations and
we can’t get people in and out quickly enough. There aren’t enough duty solicitors to go around and we’ve had angry parents storming in and out all morning. Some of them have
already been processed and shipped off to the magistrates but their parents are still turning up here. Some of the ones involved in the more serious stuff are being kept downstairs too.’

‘I got sent out to the estate this morning to make up the numbers.’

‘Is it as bad as it looked on the news?’

‘Not really, most of it happened at the end of one road.’

Izzy didn’t appear too relieved. ‘Still, one riot a year is one too many, we’re not going to hear the end of this for months. Next thing you know, we’ll have a five-step
plan about how to spot a riot and what to do about it. Step one: is anyone throwing stones? Step two: where are the stones coming from?’

‘So young, cynical and purple,’ Jessica smiled back, before straightening when she saw Rowlands entering the room. ‘I’ve got to head back to Nicholas’s club to talk
to the staff. Are you coming?’

Izzy seemed confused. ‘Aren’t you taking Dave?’

‘No.’

Jessica’s reply was deliberately firm, meant to end the enquiry, rather than to invite more.

Izzy took the hint. ‘Whenever you’re ready then.’ She paused before adding: ‘My car is in one piece, isn’t it?’

‘Why wouldn’t it be?’

‘It’s just . . . your reputation . . .’

Jessica rolled her eyes. ‘Let’s go. I’m driving.’

On the surface, Nicholas Long’s club looked the same as it had on every other occasion Jessica had visited it but by the time she reached the back set of offices and
rooms, it had changed dramatically. A thick piece of chipboard had been bolted in place of the old fire door. Jessica led Izzy through the hallway, showing her how everything had been. The toilet
was unrecognisable, the sink ripped out and exposed water pipes sealed off with a plastic stopper.

After checking how everything had been left, Jessica and the constable went back through to the main part of the club. Half-a-dozen women were sitting on the sofas in the same spot as the first
evening Jessica had come by. Their attire was very different on this occasion, tight jeans and combinations of jumpers and tops, rather than skimpy underwear.

Jessica and Izzy stood next to the security door as the assembled workers eyed them suspiciously.

‘Do you fancy talking to them?’ Jessica asked quietly, not wanting them to hear. ‘I don’t think I give off the right vibes.’

‘Why would you think I would?’

‘You just look . . . trendier.’ Jessica indicated Izzy’s tied-back purple hair.

The constable narrowed her eyes before responding. ‘“Trendier”? Is that a nice way of saying I look a bit like a stripper?’

‘If that’s how you want to think of it.’

‘I’m not sure if I should take it as a compliment.’

‘Either way, I think they’ll talk to you more than they will me. I’ve had a bunch of dirty looks already.’

Izzy nodded. ‘Who are you going to talk to?’

‘The bar manager, Liam, and the guy who works on the front desk – Scott. I’ve already taken a look at their statements and I want to go over a couple of things. The times are
all over the shop.’

Izzy nodded at the women. ‘We’ve already got statements from this lot too, haven’t we?’

‘That’s not really why we’re here. This is supposed to be a less formal thing to discuss wider issues of what it was like working for Nicholas.’

‘Is there anything you want me to ask specifically?’

‘Skirt around it and do your girly thing but see if you can find out if any of them were sleeping with him. Just bear in mind it might not have been entirely a two-way thing.’

‘Is it going to matter now if they were?’

Jessica shook her head. ‘Probably not but there are so many people that may have had it in for him, it wouldn’t do any harm to know if he was having an affair.’

Izzy took a deep breath, readying herself. ‘Is this why you brought me instead of Dave?’

‘Well, that and the fact Dave’s a dick.’

Izzy laughed, thinking Jessica was joking. ‘What’s new about that?’

Liam and Scott were both sitting on stools at the far end of the bar talking quietly. As they saw Jessica approaching, they stopped, standing as if she had commanded them
to.

The dim light glinted off Scott’s styled spiky hair. Instead of the smart clothes he had been wearing at their last meeting, he was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. In his suit he had
looked like an usher at a wedding, thrust into the job at short notice with a suit one size too big, bought by his parents so he could grow into it. If anything, the casual clothes made him appear
even younger.

On the other hand, there was little Liam could do about his brutish appearance. He too was wearing jeans with a T-shirt but his arms were practically bursting out of it. While Leviticus was
well-defined, he had a charm about him that Liam certainly didn’t. With a voice that was squeaky and held no authority, Jessica could see why Nicholas had been happy to bring Liam in on work
experience. He was someone who could be moulded into something far more useable.

‘How can we help?’ Liam asked in a tone higher than usual.

‘I’m going to talk to you one at a time in the reception area,’ Jessica said. ‘You first,’ she added, pointing at Scott.

She led him through to the porch, sitting on one end of the sofa and nodding for the man to sit at the other.

‘Am I in trouble?’ he asked nervously. ‘I did speak to you yesterday.’

‘I wanted to run through your statement and to clarify a few things about your relationship with Nicholas Long.’

‘Okay . . .’

‘How did you come to work here?’

Scott answered instantly without thinking. ‘Word gets around when Nicholas is looking for someone to hire. He had a bunch of us in on work experience, not here, at one of the pubs he owns
out Rusholme way. I helped out with the barrels.’

‘How long ago was that?’

Scott ummed for a few moments, his slight frame shrinking into itself as he glanced at the ceiling, counting on his fingers. ‘Three years or so?’

‘How did you end up working here?’

Scott looked away nervously. ‘I’d been here a few times just for, y’know . . .’ He peeked up to catch Jessica’s nod. ‘Anyway, through that I’d started
chatting to Liam. A few months back he told me they’d be looking to take someone extra on and that he’d put in a word with the boss.’

‘Is Liam your best friend?’

‘I suppose . . .’

‘What’s he like?’

Jessica saw a minor look of panic shoot across Scott’s face but she recognised it as the expression most males gave when they were asked to talk about other men, as if admitting they liked
someone as a mate meant they were secretly attracted to them too. She stared at him, eyebrows raised, letting him know she wasn’t in the mood for immature blokes on this particular day.

‘I guess . . . he’s a good guy . . . ?’ Scott’s inflection made it sound like a question.

‘Is he or isn’t he?’

Scott squirmed awkwardly and Jessica wanted to shout ‘
it doesn’t make you gay
’ in frustration.

‘He looks out for you,’ Scott finally replied in what Jessica guessed was about as ringing an endorsement as she was likely to get from him.

‘Talk me through what happened the night before last.’

Jessica already knew from the CCTV that the club had been serving drinks after their licence said they were supposed to have closed for the night. Because it was something Liam should have been
on top of – and because it didn’t matter in the bigger picture – she didn’t say anything as Scott told her a white lie about everything being ‘normal’ and them
closing ‘on time’.

Aside from those issues, he said they had gone to his own flat after locking up to play computer games until the early hours, something they did regularly. As he pointed out, they worked odd
hours.

Liam’s version of events on the night Nicholas had died matched Scott’s. He had been hired in a similar way to Scott, but had moved up quickly in Nicholas’s organisation to the
point that he was now some sort of right-hand man. As well as being the bar manager for the club, he worked one day a week as a regional manager, visiting the other pubs and clubs Nicholas owned to
ensure everything was running as it should be. Jessica didn’t push what exactly that might mean, although she thought the Serious Crime Division might be paying him a visit sometime soon to
ask more probing questions.