Cath Staincliffe - Ruthless

‘Boxing. The gym in town. They do boxing, self-defence.’

‘I can look after myself.’ He bristled, probably thought she was calling him a weed.

‘Not saying you can’t. Bet you’d be a good bantamweight with the right training.’

‘What’s this? Olympics crap?’

The country was awash with promotional stuff for the London Olympics. ‘No,’ Rachel said. ‘You should give it a go. There’s five-a-side too, table football. What else you going to do? Hang around here and end up getting into trouble?’

‘You a social worker?’ he said scornfully.

‘Try it,’ Rachel said.

‘Fuck off.’

‘I dare you.’

He looked askance.

‘Bring the bike, we’re building a stunt circuit. You can do stunts, can’t you?’

He glared at her.

‘Open three till ten every day. Doesn’t have to be like this,’ she said. Cursing herself as the words left her mouth, sounding all touchy-feely like Alison. He looked at her, raised eyebrows, a hint of humour in his eyes. Why did she bother? She’d tried this sort of thing with Dom and that had worked out really well, hadn’t it?

Janet sat with Elise and two detectives from division in the soft interview room at Middleton police station.

DC Goodman was doing most of the questioning. Young – well, young in Janet’s eyes – and mild-mannered with a slight stutter, he had explained to Elise her rights, why she was there and that she was free to leave at any time.

His colleague, DC Khan, spoke to introduce herself, then kept notes and listened intently to Elise’s answers.

So far Elise herself had been subdued, cooperative. No tears today, though she sometimes came close. There were tissues on the table, water and glasses.

‘Then we went to get a drink in the kitchen,’ Elise said.

‘What did you have?’

‘Cider,’ she said.

‘And Olivia?’

‘Same.’

‘And then?’

‘We talked to some people there and then went in the living room. Someone was playing music, on decks,’ she said. ‘We got another drink, more people came and then this girl was going round, talking to people and selling things, drugs.’ Her voice wavered. ‘Olivia said we should try some, to have a laugh. The girl stopped by us and she said, “What are you after?” Olivia said, “Something for the party,” and the girl held up some pills with smileys on. “Es,” she said. I said, “No, it’s all right.” I didn’t want to get them but then she said, “How about some Paradise?” We didn’t know what she meant. Then she showed us these tablets, said it was legal, there was no law against taking it or buying or selling it. And that it would put a smile on our faces like E. I thought maybe she was making it up, but she said check it online if you want to, everyone’s selling it, you go into Headspace in town and you can get it there. It just sounded better. So we said yes.’

‘How much did you get?’ DC Goodman asked.

‘Two each, ten pounds altogether,’ Elise said.

‘And who paid?’

‘Me, I did,’ she said, glancing at Janet, her face clouded with misery.

‘Can you describe the person who sold you the drugs?’ DC Goodman said.

‘She wasn’t as tall as me, she had black hair, wavy. I think she was mixed race. I don’t remember anything else.’

‘Did you hear anyone use a name?’ DC Goodman said.

‘No.’

‘What did she do after you bought the drugs?’ he said.

‘She carried on into the other room. Then she went,’ Elise said.

‘You saw her leave?’

‘Yes.’

Home delivery, someone at the party knew a dealer to call on for the occasion.

‘What happened then?’ DC Goodman said.

‘We took the stuff and we sat on the stairs for a bit, just hanging out and erm… Olivia said she felt dizzy, and I said…’ Elise gulped.

Janet could feel the mounting tension in her.

‘… “Isn’t that the point?” We thought it was really funny and laughed but then she said she felt worse. She said she was cold but when I felt her head she was really hot so I said to get a drink of water. We went in the kitchen and erm…’ a wobble in her voice, ‘then she, then she had the fit. Some people thought she was messing about but she wasn’t and then she wasn’t talking or answering. And I rang Mum and then the ambulance.’

‘You both took the drugs?’ he said.

‘Yes.’

‘And you didn’t expect there’d be any harmful effects?’ DC Goodman said.

‘No. We thought it would be fun.’

‘Thank you. We’re going to get your statement written up and then you’ll be asked to check it, tell us if anything isn’t correct or if you’d forgotten anything, and then you’ll sign it. If you do that you are also agreeing to testify in court, if required.’

Janet had lost count of the number of times she’d said the very same words. Elise nodded vigorously. Janet felt a flicker of fear. If charges were brought against the dealer, Elise could be in a vulnerable position, people might try to prevent her from giving evidence. Elise, naïve, sheltered, was unaware of this.

It might not get that far, Janet told herself, and they might not need Elise as a witness. Charges would focus on drugs banned by law, there must be other youngsters from the party who had bought illegal drugs, who would be witnesses to that. If it did come to a trial and they wanted Elise for some reason, they could ask for special measures, so she could give evidence anonymously from a video link or from behind screens.

‘Mum,’ Elise said, while they were waiting, ‘could we get a card for Vivien and Ken, is that what people do?’

‘Yes, if you’d like to.’

Elise gave a nod.

DC Goodman returned and Elise read through the statement and signed it.

‘What happens now?’ Janet asked him, for Elise’s benefit rather than her own.

‘We’ve some more inquiries to make. When those are completed, we consult with the Crown Prosecution Service as to whether there are any grounds for bringing charges.’

‘Like what?’ Elise said.

‘That would be up to them but in your situation, you didn’t break the law buying the Paradise or giving some to your friend. You had no reason to expect that the substance would cause harm, you took some yourself. So I really can’t see that any crime has been committed.’

Janet agreed and was very grateful that the man had tried to reassure Elise. But the irony kept hitting home; if Elise had bought weed or cocaine then she’d be liable for prosecution and in all likelihood Olivia would still be alive. The law-abiding option had proved the most deadly.

Rachel called at the newsagent’s first – to see if Liam Kelly knew the girl Shirelle’s address.

He shook his head. ‘I know who you mean but I’ve no idea which flat she’s in, sorry.’

Rachel was leaving when he said, ‘I hear you’ve arrested the Perrys.’

‘No names at this stage,’ she said.

He shook his head. ‘That poor bloke.’ Word had yet to reach the public that another two victims had been found.

Hawkins House was just across the way from the shops, beside Beaumont House, home to the Perry twins. A concrete pile with a buzzer entry system.

Rachel pressed a few buttons, a disembodied voice answered, ‘What?’

‘DC Rachel Bailey, Manchester Metropolitan Police.’

‘He’s not here,’ the voice said, ‘he’s still in Strangeways. Don’t they tell you anything?’

‘Who am I speaking to?’ Rachel said.

‘The Wizard of Oz,’ the woman said and the line went dead.

Rachel peered inside through the safety glass and could see the lights on the lift shaft changing, someone coming down.