Chris Simms - Killing the Beasts

He parked next to the incident van outside forty-six Lea Road and got out. Nikki stayed where she was. 'You coming or what?' he asked, leaning in through the open door.

'I can't enter another crime scene that's part of an investigation I'm involved with — it's regulations.'

Jon nodded. 'OK. I won't be long.'

The crime scene manager was inside the vehicle drinking a cup of tea. Jon signed his name in the log book and slipped on a crime scene suit. Squeezing past a couple of forensics guys in the hallway, he followed the footplates into the kitchen, going straight over to the second drawer down. There amongst the other odds and ends was the pack of X-treme chewing gum.

He dropped it into an evidence bag and returned to the incident van. Placing it on the table in front of the crime scene manager, he peeled off his suit. 'Could you catalogue that, please? Recovered from the second drawer down in her kitchen.'

Back in his car he said with a grin, 'Next stop, the Arndale.'

The shopping centre was crowded with the usual array of people. Young mums wheeled their pushchairs aimlessly around. Clusters of teenagers shuffled into the computer games shops, their nylon shell suits swishing as they went. Jon and Nikki headed straight for the escalator, taking it down to the lower level and walking past rows of shop fronts. At the end of the corridor they turned left, the tiled floor sloping down into a tunnel, cramped shopping units on each side. The air was coppery with the aroma from a butcher's stall selling cleaved-up chunks of meat, slabs of tripe and anaemic-looking sausages. They had entered the centre's economy shopping zone.

Emerging into the main hall, Nikki led Jon past a stall piled high with baby clothes and another almost buried under rolls of material. Next they passed one selling jokes and adult novelty toys. 'Fake dog turd?' asked Nikki with a grin, before stopping at a stall crammed with assorted items of food — bags of slightly damaged jaffa cakes for ninety-nine pence, dented cans of fizzy drinks for twenty pence, bottles of ketchup with German labels for seventy-five pence.

Nikki scanned the front of the stall. 'There,' she said, pointing to a tray of X-treme gum.

Jon nodded then looked at the stallholder. 'Excuse me?'

The man looked up from his newspaper to find a warrant card inches from his face.

'DI Spicer, Greater Manchester Police. This chewing gum you're selling — where did you get it?'

The man closed one eye, as if trying to recall. 'Probably from the cash'n'carry on the Oldham Road. That or a wholesaler's.' He waved a hand to signal that was the best he could do.

Jon knew the man was being deliberately vague. 'Listen mate, I'm investigating a murder. Do you think it will jog your memory if you close up for the day and come down to the cop shop with me? Bring all your books as well. We'll go through everything and make sure all your accounts tally up.'

The man folded his paper. 'OK. It was a one-off. This guy, he's always coming round with stuff.'

'So if it was a one-off, what's he usually selling?' The man looked uneasy. 'This and that.'

Jon leaned forward, 'Fuck me around any more and you're coming to the station. What does he usually sell?'

The man raised a hand to run it along his top lip as if in thought. From behind his fingers he mumbled, 'Car stereos.'

'Selling to you?'

'No! What would I want with them?' He gave the slightest of nods in the direction of the stall behind. 'Ed's Electrical Emporium. Behind you. Just this one time though, he had a few boxes of that chewing gum. I took the lot off him, ten quid cash I think.'

'What does this person look like?'

'I don't know. Always kitted out in designer stuff. Wiry ginger hair, top teeth stick out a bit. Thin.' His eyes shifted to the side of Jon's head and his words dried up.

Jon glanced over his shoulder, saw the Ferret sauntering across the hall. He looked back at the stallholder. 'That's him, isn't it?'

Reluctantly, the man nodded. Nikki started to turn around but Jon hissed at her to keep looking at the stallholder.

'He's coming in this direction?' asked Jon.

The stallholder watched from the corner of his eye. 'Yes… no… he's going over to Ed's. Looks like he's got some more stuff to sell.'

Jon took another glance over his shoulder. The Ferret was approaching the electrical stall, a sports bag in one hand.

'Who is it? Do you know him?' asked Nikki.

Jon nodded his head in reply, slipping his mobile out of his pocket, but the market was below ground and his mobile was flashing red. 'No bloody reception.' He thought for a moment. 'Right Nikki, I'm going to lift him. I want you to stand behind him and put on your stern face.'

Nikki took a deep breath. 'Oh, Jesus.'

'Don't worry,' Jon whispered. 'I'll do everything.'

Jon walked over to Ed's Electrical Emporium. The Ferret was talking to the stallholder with quick snatches of speech, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

Jon stepped up behind him and raised his warrant card. 'Excuse me.'

The stallholder's eyes went wide, his expression saying it all. Without even turning his head, the Ferret dropped the bag and bolted to his right, slamming directly into Nikki. Their bodies were in contact for an instant before she flew backwards to the tiled floor, head cracking against it. He stumbled into the corner of the stall, toppling a couple of CD players to the floor before regaining his balance and starting to run.

Jon took some stuttering steps after him, looking down at Nikki and shouting, 'You OK?'

Keeping her eyes closed, she yelled, 'Go!'

Jon was off. The Ferret had about twenty metres on him as he ran towards the steps leading up to Cannon Street. Jon kept his head bowed and pumped his legs, taking smaller steps to get his momentum going, only lengthening his stride and looking up when he hit sprinting speed.

By the time the Ferret reached the bottom step Jon was less than ten metres behind him. Halfway up, the man's toe caught and he half fell, scrabbling up to the top. But Jon had closed the distance and, after taking the first four steps in one bound, he dived upwards, shoulder connecting with the back of his quarry's knees. Jon's arms then wrapped around his legs, bringing him crashing down in a classic rugby tackle.

Keeping his arms locked, Jon yanked him halfway back down the steps. As soon as he released his legs and reached for his collar, the Ferret whipped an elbow up at Jon's face. He saw it coming and, rather than lean back and expose the underside of his chin, Jon dipped his head into the blow so it glanced harmlessly off his forehead. He replied with a powerful jab to the man's right temple that sent his molars clacking together and the side of his head bouncing off the edge of a step.

Jon's vision had narrowed right down: his sight was completely filled by the man beneath him, the man he had been chasing for so long. He was so pumped, everything happened a fraction slower than normal. His right hand shot out and closed around the Ferret's elbow as it rose up again, fingers crushing the soft flesh on the inside of the joint. As he let out a howl of pain, Jon's left fist cracked into the back of his head. The man's mouth was wide open as it connected with the top of the step and a fragment of tooth flew out followed by a spray of blood. Jon let go of his elbow, grabbed two handfuls of lank gingery hair and got ready to smash his face back down again. 'Jon, stop!'

The scream brought him out of his rage and he looked down the steps, eyes blazing.

Nikki shrank backwards and said more quietly, 'You've got him.'

Suddenly Jon became aware of other shoppers. They hovered behind Nikki, looking shocked.

'He was resisting arrest,' Jon growled. Yanking the Ferret to his feet, he whispered in his ear, 'That was for knocking my friend over back there.'