Dead To Me

24

THE MOTHER HAD identified the cross and chain as belonging to her daughter. Gill asked Lee for the exhibit, she wanted to talk to Phil Sweet and Ranjeet Lateesh about it and the mark on Lisa’s neck.

‘It could have come off in the struggle,’ Ranjeet agreed. ‘Someone yanked it hard enough to snap the chain.’

‘Test for DNA traces,’ Gill said.

Phil picked up the exhibits bag. ‘There’s a reasonable chance of material being trapped within the links, or on the cross. In fact, if we dust we might get partial prints off the cross, too – it’s quite broad here, and that’s the part you’d pull at.’ He made the gesture with his hand. ‘It’s a shame it was removed from the crime scene; that could have contaminated any traces.’

‘Well, have a go,’ Gill said. ‘We’ve still nothing forensically on Sean Broughton. I don’t want a case that’s based on circumstance.’

‘Will Gerry approve it?’ Phil asked.

‘He’d bloody better,’ Gill said.

Benny Broughton’s appropriate adult arrived. Her role was to ensure that Benny understood the questions being put to him and to be there to support him during the interview process.

‘We want to talk to you about this phone, Benny.’ Janet put Lisa’s phone, in its exhibits bag, on the table. ‘Have you seen it before?’

‘Yes,’ he said.

‘When did you see it?’

‘On Tuesday. Sean said he wanted to sell it. And sometimes I do that.’

‘What do you do?’

‘Sell phones. To Desmond,’ he said.

‘Right. This phone – Sean showed it to you?’

‘Yes, and I said, “Desmond”, and Sean wanted me to take it but it was freezing and I didn’t want to go.’

‘So what happened then?’

‘He thumped me, said I was a mong, and I said, “Well, I’m not going now.” And that’s the truth. And I didn’t.’ He pursed his lips, still wounded by the treatment.

‘And what did Sean do after that?’

‘He went. I give him the address.’

‘What can you tell me about Monday?’

He looked stumped.

‘In the morning, did you go to the job centre?’ Janet said.

‘Oh yes,’ he agreed. ‘We signed on. And then we came back to the house.’

‘And what did you do next?’

He pulled a face. ‘Just hung out.’

‘Did you do anything else, apart from hanging out?’

‘I had to go to Dusty’s to do the carpet.’

‘Who’s Dusty?’

‘My cousin.’

‘What time did you go?’ Janet said.

‘I had to be there for quarter past three and not be late, so I went at three o’clock and I wasn’t late. I was early,’ he said cheerily.

‘Thank you, Benny. When you left to go to Dusty’s, where was Sean?’

‘In the living room.’

‘At your house?’

‘Yes,’ he sniffed. ‘He was in a bad mood. Because she was late and she should’ve been back and she wasn’t.’

‘Do you mean Lisa?’ Janet said.

‘Yes, she was late.’

‘And he was in a bad mood, just because she was late?’

‘He was, you know…’ For the first time he became coy, hesitant.

‘What?’ Janet said.

Benny twitched his shoulders, sniffed again. ‘He needed his stuff.’

‘You mean drugs, Benny?’

‘Yeah. She was bringing it.’

‘What time did you get back from Dusty’s?’

‘Not till late, about half nine.’

‘Did you know Lisa?’ Janet said.

‘Not really. She never came to ours much. Met her, you know.’

‘Did Sean say anything to you about Lisa, on Monday night?’

‘He said she was dead, someone had stabbed her.’ He looked crestfallen.

‘Anything else?’ Janet said.

‘No.’

‘Was he upset?’

‘Yeah, really upset, but then he had some stuff and nodded off.’

‘He had some drugs?’ From Lisa? Taken from her, from the flat?

‘Yeah,’ he yawned.

‘Do you know if he got them from Lisa?’

‘Dunno. Probably.’

‘Since then,’ Janet said, ‘has Sean said anything else to you about Lisa?’

‘No.’

‘Did Sean do any washing?’

Benny looked blank, probably wasn’t familiar with the concept. ‘Did he wash any clothes that day?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘When you came home, did you see any wet clothes anywhere, or any laundry bags?’

He thought. ‘No,’ he said finally.

‘Did Sean make a fire? Burn anything?’

‘No,’ he laughed, the idea tickled him.

‘Did you see any clothes in the rubbish bin?’

He shook his head.

Nothing there to suggest Sean had changed his clothes at the house, though he might have been wise enough to hide them well. If so, the team would find them. They’d not found anything yet, but they’d take the place apart. Still, there was increasing uncertainty about the clothes. From a call to the jobcentre, Andy had obtained CCTV of Sean and Benny attending their Jobseeker’s appointments. That footage told them that Sean was wearing a dark Puffa jacket with a hood, jeans and black-and-white trainers. They couldn’t tell what top he wore under the coat, but the rest of his outfit matched the clothes retained as exhibits when Sean had reported finding the body. That made it less likely that he had changed clothes that afternoon.

‘Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?’

‘Is there a reward?’ Benny said.

‘Sorry?’

‘You know, like a reward for saying stuff.’

Christ! Had he been trying to tell her the things he thought she wanted to hear, get brownie points and land a reward? ‘There isn’t, no. But everything you’ve told me today, that’s exactly what happened?’ Janet checked.

‘Yes.’

‘You didn’t make anything up?’

‘No.’ He smiled. ‘It’s all true.’ Like taking candy from a babe.

Kevin had revisited the neighbour, Mrs Kenny, who had seen the taxi drop Lisa off and who confirmed her account. It’s down there in black and white with my signature on it. I know what I saw. But although she had seen the taxi arrive and Lisa climb out without any shopping, Mrs Kenny had returned to her television, Heartbeat recommencing, and did not see the taxi leave. If it did leave then. Kevin passed all this on to Rachel in a bored monotone, adding, ‘The old bag’ll probably kick the bucket before we ever get to court anyway.’

‘You found him on the cameras?’

‘Not yet, no.’

‘What you waiting for, then? Jog on.’

Rachel wondered if Kasim would go no comment. From the interviews she’d conducted in Sex Crimes, she knew that hardened criminals could keep this up till hell froze over. But Kasim wasn’t known to them and was not involved in the gangs, according to their colleagues who specialized in gang-related crime. He was facing up to life and an unlimited fine for possession with intent to supply. He’d likely get something in the region of eight years. There was no way he’d get off. But they needed to establish whether his involvement with Lisa extended beyond driving her home and selling her drugs.

Then Gill gave her the news that they’d made a deal. No further drug charges would be preferred as a result of anything he said to them; in return, he would answer their questions.

He rolled his eyes when Rachel came in and went through the interview spiel. Not his favourite person, perhaps, the girl who’d outrun him, but she resisted the temptation to lord it over him. Gill had drummed into her how important it was to get every last bit of detail from the guy.

‘On Monday, you picked Lisa up from Shudehill and drove her to Fairland Avenue. Did you accompany Lisa into the flat?’

‘No, she got out and I left,’ he said.

‘How well did you know Lisa?’

‘She was a customer, that’s all.’

‘How often did you pick her up?’

‘Once a week, but it wasn’t regular. Not the same day or anything.’

‘Had a relationship developed between you?’

‘No.’ He didn’t like that suggestion.

‘We believe she swapped the shopping in exchange for drugs. Did she also pay you in kind, with sex?’

‘No way.’ He scowled.

‘We are comparing your DNA to traces found at the scene of her murder. Is there anything you can tell me about that?’

‘I never left the cab,’ he said.

‘You’ve already told us Lisa took two phone calls. In one of those, she allegedly told someone she wouldn’t be home until half past three. Yet you say you dropped her at quarter past one. And we know you did arrive at that time as we have an eyewitness who verifies it. Perhaps Lisa wanted some time alone with you?’

‘I just drive the cab,’ he protested.

And push heroin. ‘You were the last person to see her alive,’ Rachel said.

‘Yeah, she was alive, she got out, I drove away.’ He was irate, showing his teeth.

‘Can you remember anything else that afternoon? People in the area? Anything outside the flat?’

He shook his head.

The interview was interrupted with a request for Rachel to come to the office. It was Kevin. If he was wasting her time, she’d deck him. He said he’d captured Kasim’s taxi, driving away down Oldham Road at one twenty, which fitted his story like a glove. And meant he’d had no time to screw Lisa or undress her or anything else. He was alibied. When Rachel went back in she focused on anything he might have noticed on the avenue. Precisely fuck all. And then carried on asking about the journey. ‘We appreciate your help, is there anything else you can tell us about the ride?’

‘I told you everything,’ he said.

‘The phone calls – tell us about them. There were two?’

‘That’s right.’

‘What can you tell us about the content of those calls?’

He shrugged.

‘Were they practical, businesslike? Did Lisa talk or just listen?’

‘They were short, that’s all.’ He closed his eyes. ‘One of them, she was upset, like.’

Now you tell us, numbnuts. ‘You didn’t think this was significant?’

He gave a quick shrug.

‘Upset about what?’

‘Just saying stuff like, “I’m sick of you interfering, my life’s none of your business, I don’t want to see you any more” – that sort of thing.’

‘Thank you. Anything else?’

He shook his head.

‘And did Lisa talk to you about the call afterwards?’

‘No.’

It wasn’t much, but it was all she could get from him. Rachel couldn’t tell whether it was her fault, something lacking in her technique, maybe his resentment at her running him to ground, or whether Kasim was simply the unobservant prat he claimed to be.