Dead Sweet: A D.I. Turnbull mystery (20 page)

"Not as far as we know," Todd agreed, "But remember what Mandy Thomas's boyfriend said about her meeting a modelling agent? Could have been glamour modelling, maybe he wanted her to do more than just get her tits out, that's why she was strapped to the bed."

"It's possible," Candace didn't look convinced.

"Well we'll just have to find out. Has he asked for a solicitor?"

"Can't ask for anything the state he's in." Sergeant Bird grimaced, "I'm afraid he's absolutely hammered Guv. You won't be able to interview him until the morning."

Todd felt deflated at the news. "How many hours before I can touch him?"

"He won't be ready till the morning; I need to get a doctor in to see him because he can barely lift his head, God knows what he's been drinking. He's spewing up every five minutes as well."

Todd felt very frustrated that he finally had somebody to interview about the murders and
that
someone was busy vomiting in the cell when he should be giving an account of his actions. He knew he couldn't do anything about it; the old days of dragging them out of the cells and throwing a bucket of cold water on them was long gone. Protocol had to be followed and if someone was unfit for interview they had to be given a reasonable amount of time to recover before Todd could go anywhere near them. He turned to Candace, "We might as well go home and get a good night's sleep Candy Cane; we'll probably be interviewing him for hours, so this is actually doing us a favour. I am knackered anyway."

"Yes Guv, shall we go for that drink then?"

"No sorry Candace, I want to be fresh in the morning, I've got one little bit of evidence on this guy, still not enough to get a conviction, I need to play this right or we'll be back to square one." He paused, "Again."

"Do you want me to come back to your flat with you, we can go over the paperwork so we're ready for interview."

Todd knew this invitation was more than just an offer of help; he cursed himself once more for being so weak the last time he had been alone with Candace.

"No sorry Candace, I actually really need to get a good night's sleep. Come in at six tomorrow morning, we can have an hour getting ready and then get in interview and nail this guy."

Candace looked very disappointed but said nothing, she just gave a small smile and a nod of the head then followed Todd out of the custody suite and up to the CID office so they could collect their belongings before heading home for what was left of the evening.

Saturday 13
th
July 2014

08:00 hours

Danny Bradford's head hung low over the interview table. His bloodshot eyes were tightly closed and a pounding in his head took over any sound that was coming out of the officer's mouth in front of him. He tried hard to ignore the banging, but it seemed to ease just a little if he focused on it. Danny brought his hand up to his forehead to hold onto it, the coolness from his palm and tight grip silenced the thrumming enough for him to concentrate slightly on what was going on around him.

D.I. Todd 'Todger' Turnbull sat facing Danny Bradford across the wooden desk, he had just placed the two audio tapes into the machine and had read out Danny's rights and entitlements, he was waiting for a reply to his, "Do you understand all that Danny?" when he realised that Danny had probably not heard a word of what he had been saying.

"Did you hear any of that Danny?"

Danny nodded and put his hand back in his lap, allowing the beat of the drum to continue inside his head.

"I can't speak at the moment, I have a really bad headache."

"Danny, this is a very important case, we need to talk to you." Todd said.

"Well I can't speak," The effort of saying those few sentences caused Danny to dry heave - he bent even further forward, resting his head on the desk in front of him.

"I think Mr Bradford needs more time." His solicitor said from beside him, "He clearly isn't ready for interview."

Todd shook his head in bewilderment. "You do understand this is a murder we are investigating?"

"Murder?" Danny sat up ramrod straight. "I thought you were kidding, what do you mean murder? I can't be in here for murder, it was a bag of Charlie for Christ's sake."

"We have just spent the last hour explaining the allegation to your solicitor, evidence we have found and circumstances of your arrest. You have had a consultation with him, did he not relay to you what you are here for?"

"I just told him to shut up and I'd go no comment, I haven't got the head for it today, I didn't want to hear what he had to say." Danny admitted. The solicitor nodded his head in agreement and shrugged.

"I assumed he knew why he was here, that he was told last night on arrest." He said.

"Unfortunately Mr Bradford was in no fit state to be told anything last night," Todd advised, "We've had to leave him to sober up overnight."

Danny began to dry heave again, "I need some water and a Paracetamol, can you give me half an hour and then we can come back in and talk?"

"Interview suspended," Todd said turning off the tapes. "Stay here I'll get your water and tablets but then we're having an interview, you've had enough time Danny, the doctor has considered you fit for interview, I need to speak to you and I'm not waiting any longer." He left the room and Candace, who had been sitting quietly by Todd's side, stayed in the room with Danny and his solicitor. Todd walked over to the custody sergeant and asked him for a cup of water and a painkiller, "Where was he picked up last night? I know it was in Twockford High Street but where exactly?"

The custody sergeant flicked through a document in front of him. "Down by the riverside," he said. "Someone who works in a pub near there said that Danny had been sitting by the river all day, leaving only to replenish his alcohol stock. Then he would sit and drink quietly by himself. He got absolutely paralytic and someone called an ambulance; police were called, we arrived and realised that he was who we had been looking for since the DNA report came through. Got him signed off by the ambulance and brought him back here to sleep it off."

"Did he say anything when he was brought in?"

"Just kept mumbling that he had been stupid, that he'd fucked it all up."

"Do we know what he meant?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"Thanks," Todd grimaced. Danny's actions weren't those of a killer. A psychopathic murderer was very unlikely to lose control of himself; it was very important for someone like that to be in full control of every situation, that's where their power came from, that's how they stopped themselves from getting caught. Amanda Thomas and Penny Baker were killed in a controlled, ritualistic and barbaric way by a man who would never allow himself to lose his mind. Todd was already not liking Danny for the murders he was about to interview him for, DNA evidence or not. He took the cup of water and small white tablets back to the interview room and placed them in front of Danny who gratefully accepted them and swallowed the tablets quickly before finishing off the water.

"Better?" Todd asked.

"Not really."

"Do you want to carry on?"

"No, but yeah I need to know what's going on." Danny nodded.

"Ok, you are here because two women have been murdered. Amanda Thomas, twenty one years old and Penny Baker, nineteen. There has also been an attempted murder of a young girl in Twockford - Moira Celeste and the murder of her partner Wayne Lewis, we believe he interrupted the killer and a fight ensued, culminating in Wayne's murder."

Danny's eyes grew wider and wider with every account of murder Todd laid before him, he swallowed hard once Todd had stopped and his eyes darted from side to side as he processed the information. "Attempted murder?" he asked.

"Yes, Moira Celeste is still alive." Todd said.

"And she said it was me?"

"She can't say anything at the moment," Todd informed him. "She is in a coma in hospital; drowned in sherbet, but revived by my officers. It won't be long before she comes around and gives us a full account of what happened to her, this is your opportunity to give us your account."

"Of what?"

"Of what happened, let's start with Amanda Thomas, Mandy, did you pose as a model agent to attract her Danny, is that what you do?"

Danny looked to his solicitor, "What do I do?" he asked quietly.

"Just remember the advice I gave you," his solicitor said.

"What; go no comment? Are you actually serious, they are accusing me of
murder
."

The solicitor cleared his throat and looked at his notepad, "Let the officers relay the facts of the case to you Mr Bradford and then we can have a further consultation if you wish."

"Ok I will do that." Danny agreed. "In answer to your question, who is Amanda Thomas and I am an escort not an agent."

"Amanda Thomas is a young lady who had her whole life ahead of her, she was a very young, slim, attractive looking girl with a desire to be a model. We believe she was approached by a male posing as a model talent scout. We think he may have agreed to meet her at her flat and then when she let him in, he raped and killed her. He handcuffed her to her bed, forced a funnel into her mouth and drowned her with sherbet."

Danny began to heave again.

"After she was dead, she was cut many, many times. Those cuts were forced open with lollipops which were pushed into every slice. If not a lolly then a liquorice twist. Her eyes were
pushed
into her head and she was left there to be found by anyone. This wasn't a murder that just happened, or a murder that was accidental, this was pre-meditated, controlled, cold blooded murder. I have
never
seen a murder like it before. Now we have some evidence from that particular scene which led us to you."

Danny shook his head, tears running down his face from the effort of heaving. Panting heavily, trying to draw breath. "I don't see how." He said.

"DNA Danny, do you know what that is?" Todd asked.

"Doesn't everyone nowadays?" his panting continued.

"Yeah you can't really get away from it on the TV, DNA Danny, we have your DNA at the scene, not only at the scene; we have your DNA
inside
Amanda Thomas's body."

"Impossible." Danny shouted, beginning to rise from his chair, his solicitor stood, grabbing Danny's elbow and whispering in his ear for him to sit down. Danny grabbed his head in his hands and sat. "Impossible," he said, "I want a consultation with my solicitor. Now."

"Interview suspended." Todd agreed and he and Candace left the interview room so Danny could speak once again to his solicitor.

"He's reacting well." Candace opined.

"I'm not sure about him," Todd disagreed, "What killer gets drunk and arrested? What killer gets caught walking down the street with three kilos of cocaine in a carrier bag? I haven't met many murderers in my time, agreed, but the ones I have met have never had a hangover unless it's been a domestic. I don't think it's him."

"But Guv, the DNA evidence is pretty clear, his semen was found in Amanda Thomas's body, that's pretty irrefutable."

"Doesn't mean he murdered her, she could have been one of his clients, or a one night stand." Todd shook his head. "I honestly think we're getting it wrong somewhere along the line." The interview room door opened and Danny's solicitor poked his head out, nodding to let them know it was ok to go back into the room. Todd restarted the interview.

"Danny before we suspended the interview I informed you of the fact your DNA was found inside Amanda Thomas's body. The DNA was extracted from a semen sample which had been discovered by our coroner. I am asking you to account for why your DNA may have been at the scene of a murder. Is there anything you would like to say?"

"I don't know how it got there." Danny shrugged. "But I sleep with a lot of women, one night stands and clients. I even do porn work, if she was a glamour model, she may have been into porn as well. Do you have a photograph of her?"

"I do," Todd opened the file in front of him and extracted a picture of Amanda Thomas which had been provided by her parents.

"She's a looker." Danny said. "A bit like you." He mouthed in Candace's direction, giving a slight wink as he did so. Candace looked away in disgust.

"Not appropriate Danny," Todd chided. "And she's not a looker anymore, unfortunately," he said, "Do you know her Danny?"

Danny picked up the picture and studied the face of Amanda Thomas for a short while. Her green eyes looked out at the world from beneath their well made up eyes, lips pouted and hair shimmered in the flash of the camera.

"I don't think so." Danny looked closer. "Wish I had though, she's just up my street."

"You've never met her?"

"No."

"Are you sure? I mean you go to dark places, clubs, bars, it is possible isn't it that in the night you may have met her whilst drunk and not remembered?"

"Possible, I have been known to get quite drunk." Danny agreed.

"So you may have slept with her?"

Danny giggled. "I may have slept with a lot of people. I may have slept with your wife. I'm a male prostitute for crying out loud, I've fucked everyone from here to Scotland, fat, thin, tall, short, good looking or downright pig ugly. Rich, poor, sober, drunk, female,
male;
if they are paying, I am playing. That's what I do. Maybe it would be better to ask her family if she ever got involved in porn or sex parties; that might be a good way of finding out if she ever crossed my path."

"I think her parents have been through enough for the time being, let's move on to Penny Baker, does that name ring a bell?" Todd asked as he produced a photograph of Penny, it was the same photo they had found of her looking a bit chubbier as a younger girl. Penny's parents had destroyed her photos when she left them and none others could be found in her flat.

"You need to think of her being a lot thinner than that and a bit older." Todd urged him. "Do you recognise her?"

"Are you being serious? A lot thinner and a lot older? I can barely see let alone think."

Todd produced a photograph of Penny's corpse as it lay on the Coroner's table, her eyes were half open and she looked alive, even though the colour of her skin and the vivid 'Y' shaped cut which ran from shoulders down to groin told the looker otherwise.

Danny heaved as he glanced at the picture. Todd put it back in the folder, he didn't want to leave it on the table for any longer than necessary, it seemed disrespectful to Penny in some way.

"Do you recognise her now?" he asked.

"I can't look," Danny mumbled, "Please don't show me again."

"Did you look?"

"No I can't."

"Danny, I need you to look at the photo," Todd said, producing it again. "Please, it's important."

Danny looked once again at the photograph in front of him. "I know her." He gasped. "Yes I do know her, she works at that hotel in Woodlinds Road. Her name's Penny."

"How do you know her?" Todd asked, surprised that Danny would admit to recognising the murdered girl.

"She works at that hotel, I get clients there all the time, and I have seen her cleaning. Poor cow, she was killed as well?"

"Yes."

"She was only a little girl really," Danny said, "I did ask her if she wanted me to get her some work, but she always said no; shame really I could have got her a lot of money."

"Mr Bradford, Danny; Penny Baker was murdered in much the same way as Amanda Thomas, although this time she wasn't cut. This time she was tied to a chair and the words 'Feed me' were written underneath her. She was once again drowned by sherbet."