The Dirty Dozen

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jane rang the doorbell of a terraced, two-bedroom Victorian property and Abby opened the door. She looked worried when she saw who it was.

‘Hi, Abby.’ Jane smiled. ‘You remember me? This is my colleague DC Johnson. Are your mum and dad in?’

‘No, they’re both out,’ she said with a frown.

‘I wonder if we could come in and have a quick word with you about what you saw on Thursday morning in Woodville Road?’

‘I’ve already told you everything.’

‘Have you told your parents about it?’

‘Yes, and my dad was angry with me, he said I shouldn’t have spoken to you without his permission.’

‘If you’d still been sixteen that would be true — but now you’re seventeen we don’t need his permission.’

Teflon threw Jane a warning glance, but she ignored him.

‘There are just a couple more questions I’d like to ask you, then we’ll be on our way.’

Abby sighed and opened the door.

They followed her into the living room, where her son Daniel was asleep in a bassinet on the sofa. Abby sat down next to him with a surly look on her face and her arms folded.

‘What do you want to ask me?’

Jane decided to get straight to the point.

‘I have reason to believe that the tall man you saw firing the gun at the police car wasn’t wearing a mask and I—’

‘He was so, it was a black balaclava with eye and mouth holes,’ she insisted.

Jane spoke softly. ‘Every witness to the bank robbery said the tall man with the gun was wearing a brown stocking mask.’

‘So? He might have changed into a balaclava after the robbery.’

‘Our forensic officer found drops of blood in Woodville Road leading to and from where the Cortina was parked. He believes the man with the gun took his stocking mask off before he got out of the car.’

Abby started biting her thumbnail. ‘I’m not a liar, you know.’

‘I can understand why you’re scared, Abby — but I can assure you those men will never know who you are. By telling us the truth you’ll be helping us to make sure they never do anything like that again and go to prison for a very long time.’

Jane looked to Teflon for support. He rolled his eyes, then crouched down so Abby had to look at him.

‘If you did see his face and would be able to recognize him again, it would really help us.’

Abby started to cry. ‘OK, his head was bleeding, right, then just before he started firing the gun, he wiped the blood with a stocking...’ Her voice trembled as she remembered the moment.

Jane sat down next to Abby, handed her a tissue and put her arm around her.

‘That’s great. you’re doing really well.’

Abby looked at Jane with floods of tears running down her face.

‘After he’d fired at the police car, he saw me looking at him and pointed the gun at me... I thought he was going to shoot me—’

‘What the fuck is going on here?’ Mr. Jones’s voice boomed as he marched into the room, quickly followed by his wife.

‘It’s OK, Mr. Jones. We’re CID,’ Teflon said quickly.

‘Get away from my daughter!’ Mrs. Jones shrieked, pushing Jane away.

‘Is this the detective woman you spoke to the other day, Abby?’ Mr. Jones asked, and she nodded. He glared at Jane. ‘How dare you come to my house harassing my daughter without my permission!’

‘I wasn’t harassing Abby, Mr. Jones, I was just asking her—’

‘I don’t care what you were asking her,’ Mrs. Jones snapped.

Jane took a deep breath. ‘Abby just told us she saw the face of the man who fired at the police car and he pointed the gun at her. Understandably she’s frightened, but I think she might recognize him if she saw him again.’

She looked at Teflon, who raised his eyebrows and shook his head. It was obvious he thought she was not helping the situation.

Mr. Jones turned to his daughter.

‘Did you see the man’s face?’

She nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes.

‘But you wouldn’t be able to recognize him again, would you?’

‘No, Daddy.’

Mr. Jones pointed to the door.

‘Get out of my house, the pair of you!’

‘I’m just doing my job, Mr. Jones. Your daughter, or other innocent members of the public, could have been seriously hurt. All I’m asking is—’

Teflon decided he’d had enough. He grabbed Jane by the arm and led her towards the front door.

‘I apologize for any distress we have caused you and your family, Mr. Jones — we won’t bother you or your daughter again,’ he said as they walked out.

‘You’d better not!’ Jones shouted as he slammed the door shut.

‘You can take your hand off me now,’ Jane told him icily. She brushed her arm down. ‘I know Abby saw his face...’ She held her finger and thumb a couple of inches apart. ‘We were that close to getting her on our side—’

‘Shut up and get in the bloody car,’ Teflon told her through gritted teeth.

He said nothing as he drove off, then took the first left turn and came to an abrupt halt, making Jane lurch forward.

‘For Christ’s sake!’ she exclaimed.

He shook his head in disbelief. ‘Can you not see Jones was only trying to protect his daughter? You should have walked away as soon as Abby told you he was mad that you’d spoken to her without his permission.’

‘Maybe, but—’

‘Then you go and tell him the suspect pointed the gun at her and she could have been killed. After hearing that I wouldn’t let my daughter go anywhere near a bloody witness stand.’

‘I said hurt, not killed, and I was just being honest with him.’

‘Sometimes honesty isn’t the best policy. Put yourself in his shoes... He already knew our suspects were hardened criminals who don’t give a toss about anyone or anything and are not afraid to commit murder to get away with their crimes.’

‘You don’t need to lecture me,’ she retorted. ‘I’ve dealt with witnesses to murder and many other serious crimes, so believe me I know what it’s like for them.’

‘Dealing with witnesses to armed robberies is different from a murder investigation. We’ve had loads of people in witness protection, but lost in court because of physical assaults and intimidation of their families and members of the jury. Even if Abby identified O’Reilly in a line-up, a good defense barrister would have destroyed the poor girl in court — and alleged that you coerced her.’

Jane threw her hands up. ‘Fine. You’re right — we shouldn’t have gone to see Abby.’

‘I should never have let you talk me into going there. Part of me wonders how much you just wanted to rub Murphy’s nose in it by getting Abby to admit she saw O’Reilly’s face.’

‘I said I’m sorry — and I can’t change what’s just happened.’

‘Next time think before you dive in head first, Jane. Why throw all your hard work away on a seventeen-year-old kid, who you already suspected had lied before you got there? If Murphy had told you to go and interview her then the blame for that fiasco would have been on his shoulders — not yours!’

He started the car and moved off.

Neither of them spoke on the journey back to Rigg Approach. Jane had time to think about what Teflon had said and she realized he was mostly right. Her biggest dilemma now was whether or not to tell Murphy what had happened.

As she drove home, Jane felt more and more annoyed with herself, knowing the fiasco at the Joneses’ house had damaged all her good work over the last three days and dented the respect Teflon had for her. She parked her car in a back street and trudged up the stairs to her flat. She’d never felt so tired and looked forward to a hot bath and going straight to bed. She managed to open the door a few inches before it got stuck and, after pushing harder, she opened it enough to squeeze around the door into her flat. She saw a plastic House of Fraser bag wedged between the door and carpet, and realized it must have been pushed through the letterbox. After closing the door, she picked the bag up and saw a bit of paper with Pam’s handwriting on it.

Jane opened the carrier bag and took out the grey newsboy cap.

‘Bollocks,’ she said to herself, annoyed she’d forgotten about going to her parents’ for supper. She picked the phone up and started to dial their number, but put the receiver down and banged her hand against the wall in frustration. She knew her mother and Pam would accuse her of putting her job before the family, which would be somewhat ironic after what she’d done for Tony. She couldn’t face any of her family after everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours and just wanted to be alone.

She went into the kitchen, poured a large glass of wine and drank half of it down in one. As she topped up the glass, she thought of Emma and Rachel cowering in a corner, watching their mother being beaten to death. Alone in the silence of her flat it was as if she was there herself, unable to do anything to stop it. She remembered Emma saying how her mother had tried to reach out to them as she lay on the floor in a pool of blood. Jane felt herself welling up with guilt. She snatched a tissue from a box in the kitchen and hurried to the phone. She dialed her parents’ number and her mother answered.

‘I’m so sorry, I let you all down tonight, I should have been there...’

‘That’s all right, dear. I didn’t make anything special, it was only roast chicken with mushroom sauce.’

Jane sniffed, trying not to cry. She realized that deep down, she had been worrying that one of her parents was ill, before a different explanation for Pam’s behavior had become apparent.

‘Are you all right?’ She could hear the concern in her mother’s voice.

‘I’ve had a distressing day, Mum, it’s all been a bit much and I’m really tired. I just feel so bad about not turning up again.’ She blew her nose loudly.

‘Don’t get so upset, sweetheart, your father and I understand how important your work is to you and we’re very proud of all you’ve achieved.’

‘Thank you, Mum, that means a lot to me.’ She wiped her eyes with a tissue.

‘We’re always here for you, Jane. You know we both love you very much.’

‘I love you too, Mum.’

‘Well, I’ve always been a good listener, and I want you to tell me what’s upsetting you.’

She knew she couldn’t say anything about Tony, but could still be truthful.

‘Oh, Mum, it’s just that I’ve been dealing with twin girls whose mother was murdered by their abusive father and they were put into a convent. One of them is deaf and mute, and I just thought how fortunate I am, and always have been, to have you both and I just feel so bad about not having your chicken and mushroom sauce.’

‘Well, I can cook that any time for you. Pam wanted to know if the cap she dropped off was the right one?’

Jane took a deep breath. ‘Yes, Mum, the cap was exactly what I wanted. Is Pam there so I can thank her?’

‘No, Tony picked her and Nathan up a little while ago. I’d hoped they’d stay for a bit longer. Your father and me love being with Nathan.’

‘I haven’t seen Tony for a while — how is he?’ she asked, hating how deceitful she sounded.

‘Funny you should ask, but he looked tired and was very withdrawn, which is unusual for him. I hope he’s not coming down with the flu. I wouldn’t want him to pass it on to Nathan.’

‘He’s probably had a hard few days at work and is feeling exhausted... like me.’

‘I know Tony works hard to provide for Pam and Nathan. Mind you, sometimes I feel she’s a bit harsh with him.’

‘Goodnight, Mum, thanks for your support.’

Jane put the receiver down and wondered if Tony was currently confessing to Pam. The thought that he might reveal her involvement worried her deeply.