Blood Axe (8 page)

16

Uncle Tim threw
his head back and guffawed.

‘You should have seen your face when you saw me,' he spluttered.

Flustered, Dana muttered something about being caught trying on rings. The truth was that she hadn't expected him back in the shop until the next morning. Usually when he went out on a visit he was gone all day. Dropping her gaze, she saw that her fingers were still sparkling with gems. Quickly she pulled the rings off, one by one, and replaced them on their trays.

‘I was only trying them on. There wasn't anyone here. It was boring. I didn't do anything…'

‘Caught red-handed,' he said, and burst out laughing again. ‘Or should that be caught ring-handed?'

He took a deep breath, still grinning at her discomfort. ‘Look, I never said you couldn't try the jewellery on,' he went on, kindly. ‘You can try on whatever you want. If anything, I'm pleased. You should be familiar with the stock. You go ahead, try things on as often as you like, as long as customers aren't here to see. Just make sure you put them all back in the right places, with the right price tags. We wouldn't want to sell that for two hundred quid!' He held up a diamond ring with a four-figure price tag. ‘Though that might be closer to what it's worth.'

He winked at her and she smiled, relieved that he wasn't cross with her.

‘Isn't that cheating customers?'

He laughed. ‘We've been through this, before, love. Caveat emptor.'

‘What?'

‘Let the buyer beware. They can see what they're getting, and they know the price before they buy it. What they do about it is up to them.'

‘But aren't we lying about what they're worth?'

‘They're worth whatever people are willing to pay. Who is it puts a value on these trinkets? Some little stone dug out of the ground, why should it be worth anything?'

She frowned, trying to understand his point. ‘Because it's pretty?'

He laughed. ‘How do you put a price on that? It's just what someone's prepared to pay for it, that's all.'

‘But you're saying it's worth something.'

He smiled at her. ‘Well, obviously I want to get as much as I can for these things. But everyone knows that. I'm here to sell them for as much as I can get. That's what keeps me in business. Everyone knows the rules.'

Dana shook her head. She wasn't sure he was right about that, but she wasn't clever enough to argue with him. She wasn't sure what rules he was talking about.

‘Did you have a good day?' she asked, when she had taken all the rings off and returned them very carefully to the right trays.

They chatted for a while, did some tidying up, and then Tim told her she could go home early.

‘Are you sure?'

‘Yes. You deserve it. You did a great job today, holding the fort while I was out. We're hardly going to have a rush now.'

About to point out that it was the evening they stayed open late, when people sometimes popped in after work, Dana remembered she was going out that evening.

‘Thanks, Uncle Tim. You're a star!'

‘No worries. Take care on the way home.'

He had never said anything like that to her before. Catching sight of a headline in a newspaper someone had left on the seat at the bus stop, she wondered if there had been a reason for his concern. The headline read: ‘Axe Man Still at Large!' Underneath, in a smaller font, it said: ‘Police Baffled.'

Dana cast a covert glance around. There were three people waiting at the bus stop, two of them youths in hoodies, one an older man in a long grey raincoat. She had been nervous left alone in the jewellery store, but at least there was an emergency button there. She could have refused to unlock the door to anyone she didn't like the look of, and if someone had tried to smash their way in, which sometimes happened in jewellers, the alarm would have been triggered automatically as she ran out the back. It wasn't ideal, but she had some protection in the shop, apart from the CCTV which was supposed to deter criminals.

Out here on the street, she was alone. Looking around, she caught the eye of the man in the raincoat. The two youngsters were engaged in a good-natured altercation which involved exchanging insulting obscenities. The older man was staring at her. Bald, with a neatly pointed beard and thick eyebrows, he reminded her of the game she used to play as a child where she would stick plastic features on to potatoes to give them funny faces. Abruptly she turned her back, hoping the bus would come soon. If the bald man got on, she would sit as far away from him as possible and jump off at the last possible minute so he couldn't follow her off the bus. When her bus came, the bald man didn't climb aboard. Twisting round to stare out of the window, she caught a glimpse of his back disappearing into her uncle's shop as her bus drew away. Although he hadn't been interested in her at all, there had definitely been something creepy about him.

Fully recovered from her fright at the bus stop, Dana was all dressed up ready to go out when her father stopped her in the hall.

‘Where the hell do you think you're going, dressed like that?'

‘Dad, I'm an adult. I can wear what I want.'

‘You're nineteen, not much older than the girl who was hacked to death not far from here last weekend.'

Her mother joined them. ‘They still haven't caught him,' she added her weight to her husband's warning.

‘Well, no one's going to hack me to death,' Dana retorted. ‘I'm not going to be wandering around the streets alone at night. I'm meeting the others at eight and we're going to share a taxi home. Don't look like that. You wanted me to get a job, and now I can do what I want with the money I earn and you can't stop me.'

‘At least put on a coat over that skirt,' her mother said.

‘And you can't tell me what to wear!'

Dana flounced out of the house. Her bare legs trembled as she hurried to the station. She wouldn't feel safe until she was with her friends.

17

Before Ian had
finished speaking, Eileen reached a decision.

‘We need to try and get to the bottom of this. Let's bring him in.'

‘I'd like to speak to Zoe again first,' he replied. ‘I'm not sure I believe her story...'

‘This is an allegation of rape, Ian, from a sixteen-year-old girl. Angela may even have been underage when the alleged assault took place.'

‘We heard this from a girl who wasn't present... ‘

Eileen raised her eyebrows.

Ian pressed on. ‘I don't believe there was any sexual assault.'

‘Whatever we may think, we have received this allegation and it has to be investigated with full rigour.'

‘I'm only saying we shouldn't prejudge the situation. This alleged rape might not have actually happened. It could have been a genuine accident. It hardly seems likely he would have attempted to force himself on Angela on the stairs at a party with other kids around – and Zoe wasn't even there.' Eileen gazed at him stony-faced. ‘What I'm trying to say is that we don't know what really happened…'

‘Well, let's find out. One way or another we need to look into it. Bring him in, Ian, and let's put some pressure on him to tell us the truth.'

While Eileen had made it fairly clear she expected Ian to go straight to Gary's house to pick him up, she hadn't issued a direct order to go there right away. He wanted to take advantage of the ambiguity and speak to Zoe again first. He would have preferred to go alone, but under the circumstances that was awkward. He really had to take a female officer with him. He wasn't sure whether he could trust Naomi to be discreet, so decided against asking her to keep quiet about the return visit. He would be completely open about it, recording the details on his decision log. In any case, it was never wise to be underhand in his dealings with members of the public. Duplicity – or even secrecy – had a tendency to backfire. If he failed to record the visit and Zoe or her mother lodged a complaint about it, he could end up in serious trouble.

He was pleasantly surprised when Zoe's mother didn't slam the door in his face. She invited him in quite cheerfully.

‘Zoe's fine,' she assured them, as though the purpose of their visit was to find out how her daughter was.

‘I'd like to have another word with her.'

‘I'm not sure… you won't go upsetting her again, will you?'

Ian didn't say that he had done nothing to upset her on his last visit.

‘Don't worry,' Naomi responded quickly.

‘I only want to ask her if she knows who else was at the party when the alleged incident took place. The more witnesses we can find the better. We want to make sure we have a watertight case,' Ian lied.

With a nod, Mrs Drayton led them into a neat living room.

‘I'll call her.'

Ian looked around. The living room was, if anything, even tidier than he remembered it from his first visit. There was a pile of magazines neatly stacked on a coffee table, around which a sofa and two armchairs were arranged at right angles to each other. A coaster had been placed in each corner of the table, in a perfectly symmetrical arrangement. The carpet looked as though it had recently been hoovered, and every surface – table, television screen, window sills – gleamed as though everything had been wiped and polished only a moment before they arrived. Mrs Drayton was evidently house-proud.

At first Zoe said she couldn't remember who else had been at the party. Then she said it didn't matter, because no one else had been on the stairs when Gary had assaulted Angela. As gently as he could, Ian enquired how she knew that if she hadn't been present.

‘Because she told me! Angela told me!' Zoe retorted angrily before she burst into tears.

‘Now you've upset her again,' Mrs Drayton protested.

It was hopeless. Thanking them for their cooperation Ian left, more convinced than ever that Zoe was fabricating her story, but unable to challenge her. She had committed herself too far to retract now, and with Angela dead there was no one to confirm or refute her account. Ian couldn't put any pressure on her without her resorting to tears. He was rendered helpless. It was more than his career was worth to be heavy-handed with her. And it was still possible that she was telling the truth. There was just no way he could be sure, one way or the other.

‘She's only sixteen,' Naomi reminded him when they were back in the car.

‘And we're talking about a man's freedom,' Ian replied tersely.

Gary was at home when they arrived.

‘You're lucky, he's just got in,' his mother said, her eyes nearly closing in a scowl. ‘What d'you want with him this time? Can't you buggers leave him alone? He's done nothing.'

She turned and bawled at her son who came galloping clumsily down the stairs.

‘About bloody time,' he said. His expression darkened when he caught sight of Ian and Naomi standing in the hall. ‘Oh, it's you again. What now? I thought she was calling me for my dinner.'

Ian stepped forward. ‘Gary Farr…' he paused in the act of arresting the boy. At his side he heard Naomi draw in her breath. ‘Gary Farr I'd like you to accompany us to the police station for questioning.'

Mrs Farr began a shrill protest. ‘Questioning? What's that supposed to mean? What's he supposed to have done? He's going nowhere until he has a lawyer. You stay right where you are, my boy. You're not going anywhere.'

Ian was relieved that Gary was more amenable than his mother. ‘Oh leave it out, mum. They're the police. I got no choice.' He turned to Ian. ‘I expect you want a statement about Angela, don't you?'

Naomi stepped forward eagerly but Ian held up his hand to stop her.

‘What do you want to tell us?'

‘I already told you about it, didn't I? You know it was me buying them drinks. Look, I'm sorry. I never meant no harm. She was a nice girl, Angela.' He blushed. ‘I really liked her, you know? If I'd thought she'd get so pissed that she'd go off and get herself killed... Look, I'm sorry, all right. I don't know what else you want me to say.'

‘Why can't you leave the poor lad alone,' his mother interrupted. ‘He's not what you might call bright.'

‘I'm sorry,' Ian said, ‘but you're going to have to come with us.'

‘And we'll be sending a search team to go through your property thoroughly,' Naomi added.

She sounded narked. Ian glanced at her and she frowned up at him. She had been expecting him to make a formal arrest. Ian wasn't sure why he had changed his mind at the last minute.

‘I want to do what I can to help you find whoever did – that – to her,' Gary assured him.

‘Come on then.'

He took Gary by the elbow. As he did so, he caught a glimpse of the distraught expression on Mrs Farr's face. With a slightly sick feeling, he guided the suspect towards the car. No one spoke on the journey back to the police station. Gary stared disconsolately out of the window, but he didn't look nervous. Eileen set about interviewing him as soon as they had finished the preliminaries. She started out quite gently, but Ian could see a severity in her face to which Gary appeared oblivious. He leaned back in his chair and answered the questions in monosyllables. Only when Eileen raised the allegation of rape did he show any sign of animation.

‘We have a witness,' Eileen insisted, somewhat disingenuously.

Zoe had not claimed to have seen the incident. On the contrary, she had admitted she hadn't been there to see what happened.

‘Rape?' Gary blinked in disbelief. ‘What's that supposed to mean? Someone says they saw me rape Angela? You're having me on. That's the craziest thing I ever heard.' He paused while the lawyer muttered in his ear, then turned back to Eileen. ‘Who told you that pack of lies?'

‘We have a witness,' Eileen repeated calmly.

The lawyer whispered to Gary again, but he batted him away.

‘Why the hell would I ever want to do that? To Angela of all people? Someone's having a laugh. It's sick. I could've had her any time I wanted. I tell you, she was gagging for it. She was all over me. She was always calling me – you check my phone records. You'll see. She was after me. I could've had her any time I wanted.'

Gary sat back in his chair and folded his arms, as though the question was settled. Ian watched him closely throughout his speech. Even if it was all bravado, the Crown Prosecution Service would never try to build a case against him on such flimsy evidence. With Gary denying the accusation so robustly, it was his word against Zoe's. Ian, for one, didn't believe Gary's claim that he could have slept with Angela any time he chose, any more than he believed Zoe's allegation of attempted rape. They had wasted far too much time on a pathetic adolescent drama, when they should have been focussing on the murder investigation. All the same, he appreciated that Eileen had felt constrained to investigate the allegation.