Cath Staincliffe - Ruthless

Vivien shook her head violently, not wanting to hear what Janet was saying. ‘I’ve lost my child. You have no idea what I’m going through.’

The tiny body, unnaturally still, blue lips, their first baby, Joshua. That raw terror, the endless black grief. Janet said nothing. This wasn’t a competition. She just needed Vivien to stop persecuting Elise. To see how wrong she was. ‘No one forced Olivia to go there, to take what she did. That’s the awful thing about an accidental death, there is no one to blame.’

Ken said, ‘I’m sorry,’ but Vivien did not relent. ‘Go away,’ she said, looking from Janet to Elise. ‘Get in your car and piss off and don’t come here again. You’re not welcome.’

Elise burst into tears and ran back to the car.

‘Vivien,’ Ken remonstrated.

Janet, stung, turned and walked away.

‘Oh, sweetheart,’ said Janet, ‘she’s mad with grief. She doesn’t know what she’s saying. She’s just lashing out. Come on, I’ll take you home.’

‘Can we go to Gran’s?’

‘Gran’s?’

‘Please. I want to go there. You could go back to work.’

‘I’m going nowhere,’ Janet said.

‘I want you to.’ She turned her tear-stained face to her mother. ‘I want things to be normal again. There’s nothing you can do now anyway, is there?’

‘I can be around.’

‘I know but you don’t have to be around all the time. You’ll be home tonight.’

‘I don’t know,’ Janet said.

But Elise seemed set on it and Janet felt like a spare part after half an hour sitting with her mother and daughter. Finally she stood up, said maybe she would call into work, just for an hour or so, if Elise still felt OK about it.

‘I do,’ Elise said, ‘I want you to.’

Dorothy arranged to take Elise home once Ade and Taisie were back.

‘I am sorry,’ Janet said as she was going. She kissed Elise’s head. ‘For all of it. Listen, it will get better. It might not seem like it now but it won’t always feel like this.’

Janet rang and left a message for Ade, telling him that Vivien had lost it, that Elise had sent her back to work and that she’d be home later. ‘Be gentle with her,’ she added, still aching for her daughter.

Gill said two words when she saw Janet in the office: ‘Go home.’

‘I’m fine,’ Janet said.

‘You’re on leave, go on.’ Gill tipped her hand towards the door. ‘You should be with Elise.’

‘It was Elise who sent me here, and I’ll be back there like a shot if she so much as whistles, but there’s no point in me sitting there twiddling my thumbs when she’s happier with her gran.’

‘How is she?’ Gill said.

‘Gutted, totally.’ Janet felt the pressure rise in her chest. ‘Vivien, Olivia’s mother, had a go at her. But this is what Elise wants.’

‘She’s made a statement?’ Gill asked.

‘Yes, this morning.’

Gill looked at her, apparently coming to a decision. ‘We could do with you. We’ve a double murder now as well, two bodies from the warehouse fire, young couple from Nigeria shot.’

‘Good God! Just give me something to do,’ Janet said, ‘please. Where are we up to with Kavanagh, with the Perry twins?’

‘Mea culpa,’ Gill said.

‘Really! They confessed?’

‘Singing in harmony and all consistent with the forensics,’ the boss said. ‘We’re about to get full statements, if you’re up to another round with the delightful Noel?’

Janet smiled.

‘Before you go down, get yourself up to speed.’ Gill nodded to the incident room where the latest reports were collated and displayed on the whiteboards.

When Janet went in, the indexers were typing away, inputting material on the HOLMES system, a web of information covering every last detail of the lines of inquiry. Invaluable for finding connections. Other staff, the readers, were analysing what came in.

Janet was familiarizing herself with the day’s developments, reading about Rachel’s encounter with Shirelle Young, when she felt a sting of recognition. She went to find Gill. ‘Where’s Rachel?’

‘In with Neil Perry, why?’

‘Shirelle Young, the description, that’s exactly how Elise described the dealer supplying drugs to the party.’

Gill’s face was intent. ‘Right, you leave that with me. We still don’t know exactly what Shirelle can tell us about the murders but she had a previous close relationship with the male victim in the double shooting and she has apparently lied to us on a number of points. We’re about to execute a warrant for her place. You can’t go anywhere near her.’

Janet was burning to find out more but had to distance herself. Anything related to Shirelle Young she must treat as though it had a great big No Entry sign slapped over it. That was the only way to ensure that further down the line there wouldn’t be any repercussions. ‘You don’t need to worry,’ Janet said, holding her hands up, ‘I don’t intend to.’

‘Better than monkey man, anyway,’ Noel Perry said once they were settled.

Janet ignored the comment, focused on getting down to business.

‘Mr Perry, earlier today you confessed to the murder of Richard Kavanagh. What we wish to do now is get a full statement from you about the events of that night, Wednesday night. Can you tell me what happened?’

‘We went to the chapel,’ he said.

‘You and-?’ She couldn’t put words into his mouth.

‘Our Neil. We went there and we shot him and then we set fire to him.’ His tone was gloating.

They needed more detail and Janet set about gathering it. ‘What time did you go to the Old Chapel?’

‘Half seven,’ he said.

‘And how did you get in?’

‘There’s a gap in the fence and then you go down these steps, to the cellar door.’

‘Did you know Mr Kavanagh would be there?’ Janet said.

‘Yeah. We’ve seen him, we was watching him.’

‘Why was that?’

‘’Cos we wanted to do him,’ he said.

Janet felt a chill at the casual nature of his words. ‘Do him?’ she said.

‘Kill him.’

‘Why was that?’

‘Old wino, i’nt he. Vermin. Needed getting rid of.’

Janet thought of the websites the twins had visited, the comments they posted, the twisted crap they espoused. Hate was what it boiled down to, hate and rage.

She took a breath, said calmly, ‘When you entered the building, could you see Mr Kavanagh?’

‘Yeah. He was dossing down.’

‘What did you do?’

‘Told him we were gonna kill him,’ he smiled.

‘What did Mr Kavanagh do?’

‘He stood up, started gabbing.’

‘Then what?’

‘I shot him,’ he gave a quick laugh, ‘and then I give the gun to Neil, and he shot him.’

‘You shot him where?’

‘In the chest, aim for the heart, head shot’s too risky,’ he said.

‘Then what happened?’ Janet said.

‘We chucked some petrol on him and round about and then we lit it.’

‘Who lit it?’

‘Neil.’

‘What with?’

‘Matches.’ He was grinning.

‘Then?’ Janet said.

‘We went up the shops, the precinct, could see from there, near enough.’ He made an explosive sound, gestured with his hands. ‘Didn’t take long to get going.’

‘Had you had any contact with Mr Kavanagh before this?’

‘No,’ he sneered.

‘Where did you get the gun?’

His face stilled. ‘No comment,’ he said.

‘Where is the gun now?’

‘No comment.’ A complete change of attitude.

‘Does the name Greg Tandy mean anything to you?’ Janet said.

‘Never heard of him.’

‘Even though we showed you film taken of you outside Bobbins on Tuesday, when your brother went in to meet with Mr Tandy? Do you remember now?’