Mel Sherratt - Hush Hush

Grace took a deep breath and asserted herself once more. ‘I believe DC Wright knows you all, so if I can get on with the questioning, we can do the formal things later.’ She turned to Perry. ‘Can you go and talk to Trent Gibson?’

Perry frowned, but she waved him away politely. She wasn’t sure if the Steeles would blow her cover. On the one hand, it might be a good thing because then she wouldn’t feel so deceitful. But then again, she could be removed from the case and she didn’t want that either. ‘Tread carefully’ would have to be her motto for today.

She followed the siblings into a small and dimly lit hallway, its red carpeted flooring having seen better days. Walls were painted cream with the odd scuff mark. To the right was a door with a sign for toilets and changing rooms. Paint was peeling off the corner of the ceiling and the smell of artificial air-freshener lingered unpleasantly.

Grace looked around. She could see no security barriers, the kind accessed by a swipe card like the gym she used to be a member of in Salford, so there must be something else.

‘Is there a signing-in book?’ she asked.

‘Inside the main building,’ Eddie told her. ‘We have lockers too. Things have a habit of going walkabout unless we put them away, if you catch my drift.’ He pointed to a set of double swing doors. ‘Be careful, the swing might come back and hit you,’ he warned. ‘Don’t want to knock you out on your first visit.’

Grace forced a smile as he held the door open for her to walk through.

‘We’ll be saving that for the second time,’ he muttered.

She turned to him, seeing no friendliness in his features. Up so close, her resemblance to him was uncanny. More noticeably, Grace could see how much he looked like George Steele as she remembered him from around the time she and her mother had left. Eddie must be about the same age as her father had been back then. It unnerved her: this was going to be harder than she had imagined.

Once through the doors, the room opened out into a large area. To one side was an array of gym equipment around the outer wall. On the other was a boxing ring with several punchbags and weight benches around the side. Grace wondered why they weren’t separated. If she was working out, she wouldn’t want to see anyone punched to the floor, friendly or not. It would put her off completely.

‘And you say you only have the one establishment in the city?’ she asked Eddie.

‘That’s right.’

Walking inside Steele’s Gym made Grace realise why they hadn’t branched out across Stoke-on-Trent. Not everyone would like this set-up. It was intimidating, to say the least. Nick had mentioned that this wasn’t its only selling point. She hoped she could find out more about what was going on behind the scenes.

Eddie showed her into a smaller room on the right of the building. It had three doors leading off it. He pointed to the first on the left.

‘Come through into the office and we can discuss things further.’

It was a tight fit to squeeze everyone in. The room held a desk and computer, a filing cabinet with paperwork piled on its top and a small settee squashed in front of an opaque-glass window. Leon and Jade sat down on that, while Eddie went behind the desk.

Grace cleared her throat as they all looked at her, once again waiting for her to speak first. The atmosphere was loaded, but she wanted everyone to know that today was about Josh Parker, not anyone else’s grievances.

‘First of all, let’s get this over and done with,’ she started. ‘Any questions about why I am back are really none of anyone’s business but my own. I’m sorry to hear of your father’s death but I come here representing Staffordshire Police.’

‘As if we’re interested in anything that brings you here,’ Eddie snapped. ‘Your lot weren’t in the slightest bit concerned when our father was murdered.’

‘I doubt that is true,’ she interjected, her tone firm, before turning to the matter in hand. ‘Is there an overall manager or is it a joint effort?’

‘It’s a family -run business,’ he said. ‘Leon, alongside Josh, looks after the general running of the gym and the boxing club. Jade and our mum run Posh Gloss, and I oversee the finances and day-to-day running of everything. Has someone gone to tell Christa, Josh’s wife?’

Grace nodded. ‘We will need her to make a positive identification of the body. Can you take me through what would have happened at closing time yesterday?’

‘Josh was on duty with two other trainers until the gym closed at ten p.m. He usually stays behind to do his own workout then, so my guess is he was in the building for about an hour.’

‘Are your staff left to work alone?’ Grace frowned. ‘Haven’t you heard of the lone worker policy?’

‘You’ve seen the size of Josh Parker?’ Eddie scoffed as he pointed to a photo on the wall behind them.

Grace turned to see a recent image of Eddie, his arms around their as-yet-unconfirmed victim, who was built like the proverbial brick house. From the photo, she plainly recognised him as one of the men she had seen at Spice World on the night out with her team last month. Parker was tanned with shorn hair, a huge smile revealing a gold tooth. He was wearing a tight black T-shirt that was clearly a size too small and showed every curve of a torso that Grace had to admit was impressive. An image of a cartoon character flashed in front of her eyes as she noted his square chin. And no, she wouldn’t want to mess with him. Josh’s killer must have some guts. Imagine if it had gone wrong.

‘He was taken by surprise for someone to do that to him,’ Eddie added. ‘And it was outside the building, so don’t come all high and mighty with the lone worker policy thing. We look after our staff here. We always look after our own.’

She pulled her shoulders up that little bit higher, trying not to show how intimidated she felt.

‘So Mr Parker was the last one to leave the building?’ Grace started her questioning again.

‘We didn’t murder him, if that’s what you’re implying,’ Leon almost growled at her.

‘Was Josh the last one in the building?’ Grace repeated, ignoring his sarcasm.

‘I expect so,’ Eddie replied.

‘We’ll need access to any security footage you have, inside and out.’

‘We have a camera that covers the reception area but not the gym itself.’ Eddie went over to a machine, pulled out a CD and handed it to Grace. ‘And outside we have a camera on each corner of the building, but it doesn’t cover all of the car park at the back.’

Grace raised her eyebrows. It all seemed pretty convenient. And if their suspect knew this, he or she might have known where to carry out the attack with less likelihood of being seen.

‘You mentioned a signing-in book,’ she said. ‘Can you get me a list of everyone who was in the building yesterday evening – say, from six p.m. onwards? Staff, customers and guests, please.’

Eddie sat forward. ‘There’ll be around a hundred people in here during that time. It’s our busiest period.’

Leon whistled under his breath. ‘That’s a lot of people to question.’ He folded his arms and stared at Grace.

Just as she’d thought when she’d first seen them the month before, Leon was so much like Eddie that he could pass as his twin. If it hadn’t been for the faint two-inch scar visible to the side of his right eye, they might even have been able to use each other as alibis.

She had a feeling over the coming days she would get to know them regardless. Once the investigation was going at full steam, they would be sick of the sight of her and the rest of the team, who were probably already here by now.