Howard Linskey - The Dead

‘No, he was waiting around the corner in his car. She asked him to do that so Louise wouldn’t see.’

That was bad news. If we knew who the guy was, if we had a description even, we could have found him and made him tell us what really happened when she got to the house. ‘So you didn’t see him at all?’

‘No,’ she admitted, ‘but I know who it was.’

‘You do?’

‘Yes.’

‘How could you know who he was, if you didn’t see him?’

‘Gem told me who was picking her up. She joked about him, because he was a bit weird looking. He was a regular at those parties, so he didn’t mind taking her.’

‘Do you know his name?’

‘No,’ she admitted, ‘but Gemma used to call him “Jaws”.’

‘Jaws? Like the shark?’

She shook her head, ‘Like those old James Bond films they put on the telly. There was a man in one with funny teeth.’

‘Oh yeah, I remember. He was a big guy.’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘This fella was big too, I s’pose?’

She nodded, ‘I saw him once through the window when he called to pick the girls up.’

‘You saw him.’

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘And he was a big guy?’

She nodded. ‘Could you describe him a bit more, do you think?’ I was trying to sound like it wasn’t that big a deal, hoping I could coax it out of her.

‘He was really big and he had the funny teeth, like that Jaws guy?’

‘He had metal teeth?’

‘No,’ she scoffed, ‘just funny teeth.’

‘How do you mean?’

‘His front teeth were missing.’

She brought her finger up till it was right in the middle of the top row of her front teeth and pressed it against them, ‘Just there. He had a gap where his teeth should have been and it was just there.’

I could tell Kevin Kinane was pleased I’d sent for him. He looked relaxed when he walked into the Cauldron with his father. He’d done a good job investigating the death of Gemma Carlton; I’d already told him that, and he was expecting the reward that was coming to him.

‘Did you ever do any history at school, Kevin?’ I asked him, when he was seated opposite me with a drink in his hand. His father was to one side of him, nursing a good whisky while we talked. I made sure Palmer was in the room with us.

‘I didn’t do much school at all, if I’m honest,’ and he smiled self-consciously at that.

‘He was always out on the rob or twocking cars with his mates,’ said Joe Kinane.

‘I’ve read a bit of history,’ I continued, ‘there was a king once who fell out with his archbishop, who happened to be an old friend of his but, in a rage, he demanded of his courtiers “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?” Two knights got the wrong idea about that so they went round to see this archbishop and they cut him to pieces, thinking they were doing the king’s bidding. Of course when the king found out he was devastated. He couldn’t believe that a casual remark had led to a man’s death. Worse than that, everybody thought he’d ordered the killing, so his reputation was destroyed in an instant. It didn’t matter what he said or did, everybody just assumed he was a murdering bastard.’

‘Tough break,’ acknowledged Kevin Kinane and he sipped his whisky a little too casually.

‘It was,’ I said and I stayed silent for a while to see what he would do. When he said nothing in reply I asked, ‘Is that what you did Kevin, heard me say something about what a pain in the arse Carlton was, then went away and thought how can I really fuck up this copper’s mind and throw him off the scent, without actually killing him? I know, I’ll murder his daughter.’

‘What the fuck are you talking about?’ demanded Joe Kinane.

There hadn’t been a reaction from Kevin at all, not even a glimmer, so I continued, ‘A senior policeman once told me that he didn’t like my organisation but he couldn’t believe I was stupid enough or so far beyond redemption that I would arrange to have a young girl murdered to further my own ends. You are though Kevin, aren’t you?’

‘What did you just say?’ asked Joe Kinane sharply and he was leaning forwards in his seat now like he was about to launch himself at me. I could sense Palmer tensing in readiness.

‘It was him Joe, your son. He killed Gemma Carlton. Your eldest here heard me ranting about DI Carlton getting in our way. There I was, wishing this annoying copper would just pack up and fuck off out of it, because his obsession with bringing me down was getting to me, so he decided to solve the problem, though he had a funny way of doing it. I can understand your shock Joe, but Kevin has to account for it.’

‘Don’t be bloody stupid,’ Kinane told me, ‘you’ve got this all wrong…’

‘Kevin hangs out at Cachet all the time, meets loads of girls there, always chatting to them, so who’s gonna remember one more, eh? And the CCTV doesn’t cover the VIP bar, only the lift, so he could meet anyone he liked up there. One day he hears about Gemma Carlton. Maybe she’d mentioned to someone that her dad was a copper so Kevin took an interest, then he realised who she was. He figured getting rid of her would knock the stuffing out of her old man, and he was right about that. So he got to know her, just a little bit, enough to slip her a VIP pass on the QT and give her a lift home. He was seen doing that. Did you get her to introduce herself to Golden Boots too Kevin, or just encourage Louise to do that for you? I reckon so. She was his type wasn’t she; young, pretty and a bit naive, the way he likes them. When he shagged her you had the perfect patsy; a suspect that surprised nobody.’

‘I’m warning you,’ Joe Kinane told me and he got to his feet. Palmer took a step towards him and they eyed each other.

‘Hear me out Joe, you’d be wise to. We’ve been looking for the driver, the one who took Gemma Carlton from that party out into the woods but I found him. I’ve had Kevin looking for the guy and it was him all along. That’s why he volunteered to work with Sharp to hunt for the killer. It was him and he didn’t even take her to the party. He didn’t have to. Kevin arranged to pick her up at her student house, drove her somewhere and killed her in the car. That’s why nobody really remembers her being there. Not because they were all off their tits on drugs but because she really wasn’t there. Kevin told everyone she’d been seen there that night but she couldn’t have been. She was already dead.’

‘You’re out of your fucking mind,’ Joe Kinane told me. He looked at his son, but Kevin was saying nowt. Instead he was listening intently so he could learn what I had against him before he tried to deny it.

‘Kevin stuck her body in the boot of a car he’d lifted from Golden Boots’ place, leaving traces of her hair and fibres from her clothes all over it. His too, probably, but then nobody was looking for him and he could just say he’d driven it before, loads of people had. The important thing was leaving traces of Gemma for the police to find, so they could build a case against Golden Boots.

‘Kevin drove her out to the woods and dumped her body. It looked like someone had panicked and ditched her there but Kevin wanted her to be found. The bit he thought was really clever was taking her phone and handbag and planting them at Golden Boots’ house later. That, and the DNA in the boot of the car, is doing the work of the Prosecution for them.

‘Gemma’s dad was out of the picture and we had a fall guy he knew the police would love to put away. Trouble was, DI Carlton immediately thought it was me who’d killed his daughter. You see he thought she was a blushing virgin, tucked up in bed at night with her school books and a hot-water bottle for company. He knew nowt about Golden Boots and his parties, so obviously he thought I was responsible for her death and he was right, wasn’t he Kevin? I was, indirectly.’