Hard Girls (38 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

‘Oh, Patrick, if what you say is true, how am I going to be of help? He loathes me, always has.’

Patrick was getting more and more aggravated by the second, and he knew he had to keep a lid on his anger. ‘All I want is your opinion, Kate. You know the best way to deal with nutters. All we need is advice.’

Kate felt his annoyance and, looking into his eyes, she said angrily, ‘My advice would be to phone the police.’

‘You are the police, Kate, that’s
why
I phoned you.’

‘Is the girl all right? Do you think she is in any danger?’

As she spoke, Lionel started ranting and raving again, and Kate looked up at the ceiling as if that would tell her something she didn’t already know.

‘It’s like the exorcist, he screams, we listen. Danny went up a ladder, but Lionel was standing there, holding a chair above his head ready to sling it at him. As you can understand, Danny retreated as quickly as he could. But he saw enough to see that the girl is unhurt. Frightened, but unhurt. I think Dart is a weak and stupid man who won’t open the door, so I have arranged for Georgie Twofer to come and open it for him.’

Kate nodded in agreement as Annie wondered who the hell Georgie Twofer was.

‘Good idea, Pat. But make sure he doesn’t go too far, you know what he can be like if he thinks it’s the Filth.’

‘All sorted. I’m pay { display: block; font-size: 0.75rem; text-align: justify; text-indent: 1em; margin-left: 8em; margin-right: 2em; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } .fmepivdut the secretly combinationing him, and I’ve given him the hard word. He just gets us in, we sort out the rest.’

As he spoke, a car pulled up in the drive and Simone answered the front door to reveal the biggest man Annie had ever laid eyes on. He was huge, over six foot seven, and he had a body that made Arnold Schwarzenegger look like a wimp. He was totally bald, and his face was not what could ever be called handsome, but his expression was one of affable kindness. That was until he spoke. ‘Where is the prick? I have to be in South London by ten.’

He walked up the stairs with surprising speed for a man of his build, and everyone followed him. He was shown the bedroom where Dart was holding the girl hostage and he said quietly to Kate, ‘OK. Lovely strong wood, mortice lock, piece of piss. I’ve knocked down fucking metal doors in both Durham and Highpoint. Love a fucking locked door, me. Move back, darling, and let the dog see the rabbit.’

He then took a few steps back and with a resounding shout kicked the door in with one heavy foot. The door was falling now, even the hinges were no match for this man’s physical strength. It was George’s incredible strength coupled with his expertise in breaking through any door he felt was offending his sense of freedom that was his talent. He had taken off a few cell doors in his time, and once he had even managed to break through a door on the punishment block in Parkhurst. Hence the name, Georgie Twofer. It took two doors to keep him locked away for any reasonable length of time, one for him to kick down and the second door so the officers concerned got a chance to run away from him and get the medic on call to inject him with the strongest drug they could legally find.

‘Fucking hell. That was excellent.’ Danny’s voice was filled with awe and admiration.

Georgie gave a mock bow. ‘All in a day’s work, my son.’

Lionel was standing in the room half naked, he looked demented. Kate saw that he was in no fit state for anything. He looked for all the world like a cornered animal which, in some ways, was exactly what he was. A wife-beating, bullying animal who had finally been found out. The room was completely trashed, and the young girl he had trapped was already running towards Simone, her face covered in mascara from her tears and her body wrapped in a sheet. Patrick went in and, drawing back his arm, punched Lionel Dart with all his might. He went down like the proverbial sack of spuds.

‘What shall we do now, Kate?’

Kate glanced at Simone and said archly, ‘Personally, I would remove the locks from any doors that the girls use for entertainment purposes, that will ensure this never happens again. As far as that little shit is concerned, you can do what you fucking like. I’ll ring the commissioner and fill him in on the latest developments. He’ll call you, Pat, and tell you what’s to be done. He knows the score so far and he’ll make sure this is kept as quiet as possible.’

Kate looked at Annie and saw the amazement and shock on her face and said gently, ‘Come on, let’s get going.’

‘Thanks, Kate. I didn’t know who else to phone.’ Pat spoke quietly.

Kate looked at Patrick as if she was seeing him for the first time. She saw his greying hair and his battered face and, walking to him, she kissed him gently on the lips. ‘’Course you didn’t, Pat. I’m the only Bill you have on speed dial.’

He grinned then. ‘Well, you took your time getting here if that’s the case.’ their nearest and dearest,3llt d

They looked at each other for a few seconds until Patrick said softly, ‘I’ll see you later then, Kate, at home.’

She nodded at him and, for the first time in what seemed like for ever, she felt as if things might actually be OK. ‘I can’t give you a time.’

‘So what’s changed?’

It was what he had always said to her when she was embroiled in a case. It was his way of saying that they were back on an even keel as far as he was concerned.

Georgie Twofer walked into the bedroom and, picking Lionel Dart up by the scruff of his neck, he said loudly, ‘He’s coming round, where do you want him?’

David Floyd was a tall man, thin to the point of emaciation, with kindly brown eyes. He had opened his front door wide, something Kate knew from experience was often the act of an innocent man, that, or the bravado of a guilty one. She always waited until she had spoken to the person directly before making up her mind. ‘Mr Floyd?’

He smiled easily, looking at them both expectantly, ‘Yes, can I help you?’

‘We were wondering if we could have a word with you about Brookway House?’

They both saw his face cloud over, he was immediately put on his guard. ‘And you are?’

Annie stepped forward and flashed her ID. ‘We are the police.’

He sighed then, a heavy protracted sigh. ‘Then you had better come in.’

They followed him into his hallway then, opening a door to his left, he waved them into his lounge with a flourish, like an old-time courtier. When they were seated, he said easily, ‘So, how can I help you?’

Kate looked him in the eye as she said, ‘This is not an official visit, we just need some information from you about Brookway House and, in particular, Alec Salter. Your name came up during our inquiries, and we would appreciate it if you could help us.’

‘Alec is dead, surely you know that?’

Kate and Annie both nodded. ‘We know that. You are aware, I take it, of the recent spate of murders here in Grantley?’

David Floyd looked at them both with well-disguised distaste before answering, ‘As they are the only thing about which the press will write at the moment, I think we can all safely assume I have heard of them. What I don’t understand is, how are they in any way connected to me?’

‘All the girls who were murdered had, at some point, been residents of Brookway House.’

David snorted then, and taking out a handkerchief he coughed violently into it before saying archly, ‘Some were. I recognised the names, but I didn’t know they were all there at some point. The others must have been there after I left.’

‘Have you ever seen any of the girls from Brookway in Grantley? Did you ever have any kind of contact with them?’

‘Oh God, no. If I had seen them I would have walked the other way. I mean, those poor girls really don’t want to be reminded of their early lives. If they had spoken to me, then that would be different, but I would never have approached them.’

Kate looked over at Annie. Annie raised her eyebrows as if their nearest and dearest,3llt dto say,
What do we do now?
Sometimes she got on her nerves.

‘I was given to understand that you were there at the same time as Alec Salter, did I get that wrong? Was I misinformed?’

David nodded, and Kate realised that he was not a well man, his wrist was all bone, and as he brought the handkerchief up to his mouth again, she saw his hands were shaking. Not the trembling of fear, but the shake of heavy medication or illness. ‘You did get that wrong, dear. Alec took over from me.’

Kate sensed he was hiding something from them. ‘I don’t want to bring up any unpleasantness from your past, but I have to tell you that we have been told there were certain accusations against you pertaining to Brookway House and the girls who lived there. Is that why you left?’

David Floyd turned white with anger. He was also having difficulty controlling his breathing. Eventually he said in a whisper, ‘Would you be so kind as to pass me that bottle of brandy on the dresser? I need a little nip before I carry on.’

Annie went to the dresser and poured him a generous measure, then she took the glass to him and waited as he swallowed it down in one gulp.

‘Thank you. Please help yourselves.’

He coughed again, only less hard. He was clearing his throat now, ready to speak. ‘Alec didn’t accuse me of anything, it was his girlfriend Miriam. She was not what you would call an easy person to get on with. They had both come through the care system together and they were so close it was sometimes uncomfortable to observe. She was very damaged and she was jealous of Alec. I got on well with him, then she came there on a volunteer basis. As I am sure you know, they were very religious, and she had a good relationship with the girls which, in some ways, was amazing. She was so different to them in every way but she seemed to have a knack of getting them to trust her.’

He looked at Kate and Annie then and motioned for another drink. Annie got up and was pouring it for him when he said, ‘I don’t really know what happened with her and me. She just seemed to take against me one day. I never understood why.’

‘I understand she said you were too friendly with the girls at Brookway House?’

He accepted another drink from Annie, but he sipped at it this time. ‘Oh yes. In fact, she actually accused me of a lot more than that. But no one ever took the allegations seriously, they knew she was wrong.’

Annie said quietly, ‘And how would they know that?’

Kate laughed gently. ‘Because I think, Annie, you will find that Mr Floyd is gay.’

David nodded and laughed with her. ‘Well spotted. What gave me away, the photos of me and my partner all around you, or the fact that I am in the final stages of Aids?’

‘Is that why you left Brookway House?’

‘Partly. My partner at the time, who contracted it first, was very ill, and I went part-time so that I could nurse him. Which I did. Alec took over from me, I recommended him. My partner and I bought this house years ago and we rented it out as an investment property. I moved here after I retired. It was smaller and without memories. I still do some stuff for the youth organisation. I help raise money et cetera. Nothing too strenuous, I just like to keep my hand in.’

‘Have you ever come across Miriam since?’ to the point of emaciationev the subjectlt d

David laughed, and Annie saw the difficulty he had in even speaking for any length of time. He was so weak, so fragile. ‘Once. She saw me a while ago at the doctor’s surgery. As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time there. I tried to say how sorry I was about Alec, but she cut me dead. She didn’t acknowledge me at all.’

He frowned then, and Kate knew he wanted to say more.

‘Mr Floyd, if you can tell us anything, no matter how small it might seem to you, we really would be grateful.’

He raised his hand to his mouth, cupping his lips as if the action might stop him saying a word. ‘I sometimes thought that Alec was not as good as everyone believed. Not that I ever saw anything that was untoward, of course. But he watched those girls, I mean,
really
watched them. It made me uneasy at times. But it was only a feeling, I had nothing to substantiate it. And as I say, he was never even
suspected
of anything, and none of the girls ever made a complaint as far as I know. He
always
went the extra mile for them, I can’t take that away from him.’

‘How do you mean, the extra mile?’

David smiled then, and it made him look younger, it wiped away the lines of pain. She could now see the man he had once been. The handsome, smiling man in all the photographs around the room. ‘He was very good. He had this contact he would use, she worked at the job centre I believe, and she was very good to the girls. She found them jobs and that was not easy I can tell you, not with their backgrounds. She was wonderful. I never met her personally, you understand, I only spoke to her over the phone. Her surname was James. I think Alec called her Jenny.’

Patrick smiled easily, he was relieved that everything was over at last. The Chief of Police had been a diamond. After a call from Kate, he had phoned Patrick and having been given the whole sorry saga, he had arranged for Lionel to be sectioned into a private facility. It was amazing what you could do with money and power.

As the ambulance left the drive, Patrick and Danny had looked at each other and they both started to laugh. It was nerves, they knew that. Laughter was nature’s way of relieving tension. They walked back into the house, and Simone handed them both a drink. ‘Thank God that’s over! Who would have thought he was such a nut-bag?’

Danny sniggered as he said half-jokingly, ‘The fact he fucking comes here. Let’s face it, this isn’t exactly a health farm, is it?’

Simone was not impressed by his words or his tone. ‘Listen here, you. We’re a top-class establishment and it ain’t the girls’ fault that some men are a bit touched. We provide a service, that’s all.’ She looked at Pat then as she said, ‘You tell him, will you? He needs a lesson in the real world.’