Storms (10 page)

The hotel manager Marilyn Kent walked up to reception with an apparent smile on her face. Annabel thought she must’ve run over a puppy on the way to work.

‘Good morning, Marilyn’ Annabel greeted just to make the effort. Being good at customer service meant you could put on a big smile and a happy face even when you wanted to call the person you were talking to a complete cunt. That’s how she was with Marilyn who was dressed in her usual striped trouser suit and low cut top that was struggling to accommodate her well heaving bosom. High heels completed the ensemble and she of course was carrying her radio so that she could be reached quickly if need be.  Annabel rarely saw her actually talking into it. She thought it was more for effect than anything else.

‘Good morning each’ Marilyn responded. 

Annabel and Janette might’ve expected Marilyn to tell them something useful to do with their contracts now that the new owners, who still hadn’t revealed themselves, had taken over. But no. She instead treated them to a five-minute description of the row she’d had with her husband the previous evening and about how if her marriage suddenly ended she wouldn’t ever be interested in seeing other men. Annabel smiled at the way reptiles like Marilyn try to use personal experiences to make you think they were human like you but the fact remained that they were still reptiles.

‘I don’t suppose you’re much interested after your experience with Clive?’ Marilyn asked Annabel. ‘It must’ve made you wary at the very least’.

Annabel was proud of herself that she hadn’t let her personal experience with her ex-husband Clive make her all bitter and twisted against the entire male gender. But she’d never been like that. Just because her step-father had been distant and remote from her all the way through her childhood didn’t mean that she could take that out on all men. The same applied to her own weak willed father who was completely unable to build an emotional bridge with her. And even though she’d never been unfaithful to Clive and had been devastated when she’d found out that he’d been unfaithful to her, she would still take a risk of being happy with someone else if someone else came along. Just because she was seeing her lover Dermot for sex and friendship didn’t mean to say that she wasn’t open to a single man coming along and sweeping her off her feet.  

‘Not really, no’ said Annabel. ‘I don’t think you should let one bad experience with one man affect your whole experience with men in the future. They’re not all like the one who did you wrong’.

‘No I suppose not and that’s a very intelligent way of looking at it’ said Marilyn.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever been accused of being intelligent before’ said Annabel, laughing.

‘Well make the most of it’ said Marilyn.

‘Have you heard from Tim in the last couple of days, Marilyn?’ Annabel asked as casually as she could.

‘No? Should I have done?’

It was well known around the hotel that Tim wasn’t in favour with Marilyn. It was because he’d challenged the way she ran the place. Not in a particularly confrontational way but by making suggestions about changes to some working practices that would be more efficient and by opening his mouth when he didn’t think someone was being treated fairly. But Marilyn was one of those managers who was forever saying that she wanted people to use their initiative and that she was always open to suggestions but when people did either of those things she tended to slap them down. Annabel thought that Tim could probably run this place without any bother. He’d once confessed to having many years of managerial experience in a rare moment of candid disclosure. Marilyn had probably seen that herself which was another reason why she’d turned off him. She mustn’t have some receptionist making it look like he knew more than she did.   

‘Oh I just wondered that was all’ said Annabel, lightly. ‘I haven’t been able to get hold of him the last couple of days’.

‘Well he’s in for a surprise when he comes for his afternoon shift later’ said Marilyn. ‘As are you all. The hotel’s new owners will be revealing themselves to us in a staff meeting at three o’clock. I’ll be sending round an email when I get back to my office. Exciting isn’t it?’

Both Annabel and Janette stood there wondering why on earth she hadn’t told them that when she’d first walked up to the desk instead of boring them rigid with all the shit about the row with her husband. So they were all finally going to know who the new owners were. That would be a surprise for Tim when he came in later.

When Rebecca and Ollie went back into the interview room they’d been told that another of the Gorton boys had gone missing. His name was Aidan Richards and he was seventeen. But they weren’t planning to question Melanie Patterson about that. They now had information from the intelligence work of Tyler Moore that would lead to her detention on charges of conspiracy to murder and living off immoral earnings but some of it still needed to be backed up and they were running out of time before they had to either charge her or release her. Melanie Patterson wasn’t waiting patiently. She immediately turned her fire on Ollie after they’d sat down and switched on the interview tape.

‘You’re an absolute disgrace’ she spat. ‘Sitting there joining in the oppression of your own black people’.

‘You mean to say that because I’m an officer in the law enforcement agency of this country that somehow I’m turning my back on my race? You’ve got a pretty warped vision of what that all means, Mrs. Patterson’.

‘You see’ she sneered. ‘You’re even talking like a white man now. You’ve been lost, brainwashed, taken over. I don’t know why I’m even talking to you’.

‘Well that’s easy’ said Rebecca. ‘You’re here talking to us because we’re police officers and you’ve been required to’

‘And let me point something else out to you, Mrs. Patterson’ said Ollie. ‘You attack me with the bogus and downright insulting claim that I’ve betrayed my race by becoming a police officer and yet you’re here because we believe you’ve been taking the law into your own hands and getting away with it’.

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Well let’s make it clear for you’ said Rebecca who delighted in seeing that Melanie looked like she was nervous all of a sudden. She was also relishing the chance to wrong foot Melanie with what she knew from Tyler Moore’s undercover work. ‘Melanie Patterson, you are the power behind the Gorton boys, aren’t you?’

Melanie laughed. ‘To believe in fairy tales at your age is so desperate and sad’.

‘Oh I have the facts to back it up, Mel’.

‘I am Mrs. Patterson to you’.

‘Okay, Mrs. Patterson’ said Rebecca. ‘Then let me spell it out for you because you’re in serious trouble’.

‘I don’t think so’.

‘Oh I know so’ said Rebecca who wanted desperately to wipe that self-satisfied grin off Melanie Patterson’s face. It really was getting under her skin. ‘Alan Chaplin and Reggie Clayton?’

Melanie sighed wearily. ‘Not them again. I told you I don’t know anything about them’.

‘But you’re lying, Mrs. Patterson’.

‘I told you before that I want my lawyer!’

‘You ordered the murders of Alan Chaplin and Reggie Clayton. They’d gone against you. You wanted to use them to set an example’.

‘Oh carry on with your nonsense’ said Melanie, ‘It’s your breath you’re wasting not mine’.

Rebecca consulted her notes before continuing. ‘It was about eight on the evening of 28 August last. You instructed your son Leroy to pick up Chaplin and Clayton and make them believe they were going on a normal raid to deal with someone who wouldn’t behave themselves. When they picked you up on the way the boys didn’t even question why you were going with them. You drove them to a piece of waste ground on the other side of Salford where several other members of the Gorton boys were waiting. It was dark. The nearest houses were too far away to be able to see what was happening but when Chaplin and Clayton realised they were the targets of that evening’s operation they tried to escape. They were stopped and you instructed your son Leroy and one of the other boys to break their legs so they couldn’t try and run again. They were in agony but you then gave the order for a car tyre to be placed round each of their necks. You accused them of talking to the police about your activities. They were screaming as they protested their innocence. But you were having none of it. So you gave the nod and the tyres were doused in petrol and set alight. You watched them die, Melanie. Two young boys who were barely out of school. You gave the order for them to be murdered and you watched as their bodies burned’.

‘Prove it’.   

‘Then there’s the question of the thousands of pounds you hold in an offshore account’ said Ollie. ‘More money than I or my colleague have ever seen in our lives. You have an accountant, someone with a somewhat questionable list of clients, who has made sure that you don’t pay any tax on your immoral earnings’.

‘And where do you think an ordinary woman like me has got that kind of money from?’

‘There’s nothing ordinary about you, Mrs. Patterson’ Ollie went on. ‘Not unless you somehow count forcing drug addicts to prostitute themselves so you make even more money out of them as something an ordinary woman like you would do’.

‘Have you found my son’s killer yet?’

‘That is an ongoing investigation, Mrs. Patterson’.

‘Liar’.

‘Excuse me?’

‘You have no intention of finding my Leroy’s killer’.

‘I can assure you we are making every effort to do so, Mrs. Patterson’.

‘Classic tactics of the white run police force to try and turn the tables on a grief stricken black woman’ said Melanie, bitterly. ‘But you won’t win. The odd battle here and there to play to the white gallery but the war will be won by us eventually because we have justice on our side’.

‘You can try and talk round it all you like, Mrs. Patterson’ said Rebecca. ‘But we have dates, places, names. We also now have statements from other members of the Gorton boys who’ve been talking to us. They confirm all the information we already have and indeed, they go further. It’s funny how people start talking if they think it can help them get out of trouble’.

Melanie leaned forward purposefully across the desk. ‘They wouldn’t betray me!’

‘Oh but they would and they have’ said Rebecca who couldn’t help a smirk. ‘Like I said, they thought they could help themselves by dropping you right in it’.

‘I’ll deal with them’.

‘And how will you do that? With necklaces? Just like Chaplin and Clayton?’

‘Nice try but you’ll never get any confession out of me’.

‘I don’t think we’ll need one’ said Rebecca. ‘We have enough in the way of evidence, statements and witnesses to events. It’s over, Mrs. Patterson. Your reign of terror in which you used the Gorton boys to carry out your unlawful deeds is over. Once you’re behind bars then the people on the Gorton estate will be able to sleep easy for the first time in years. You’ve tried to pull the wool over our eyes. You tried to make out to detective superintendent Jeff Barton that you were a respectable woman grieving over the loss of her son and blaming the police for not having apprehended the killer yet. But you and I both know that it was all an act designed to throw us off the scent. Well it didn’t work, Mrs. Patterson. All it did was lead to you being discovered in all your unlawful glory’.

‘Where did you get all this so called evidence from?’

‘We had someone on the inside’.

‘What?’

‘Your nephew Jackson Williams? You won’t have heard because it’s all happened whilst you’ve been in here talking to us. He’s alive and well and living in America after being adopted by a family in Philadelphia when he was five years old. The young man you knew as your nephew was in fact an undercover police officer who gathered up a lot of very useful information for us’.

Melanie knew she was trapped now. She’d confided everything to Jackson especially after Leroy had been murdered. She started to cry.

‘My son is barely cold in his grave after being murdered in horrific circumstances and you hit me with all of this and then top it all by telling me the young man who I thought was my nephew come back to me was one of yours? You sick excuse for a human being’.

‘I recommend you find yourself a lawyer, Mrs. Patterson, and fast. I’m afraid this is not going to end well for you’.

Jeff and DCI Mike Phillips had been watching from the other side of the two way mirror.

‘She’s impressive’ said Phillips. ‘DI Stockton? I’ve heard she wants to leave your squad, sir? Why is that?’

Jeff paused and then said ‘She has personal reasons’. 

Monica went round on her regular visit to dress the ulcers on Ralph’s leg and she found him in a pretty agitated state. 

‘What’s wrong, Ralph?’ she asked. She was kneeling down and unpeeling the old dressing from the affected area just above his ankle. He was usually full of chat and had a jovial nature which was why she looked forward to her visits. Some of the oldies on her list were like the walking dead. It wasn’t necessarily their fault and she did feel awful for thinking it but Ralph liked to make an effort to stay vibrant and aware. Too aware when it came to the activities of the Gorton boys.

‘Why are you asking?’

‘Because you don’t seem like your normal self’.

‘That’s because I’m not’.

‘Well then tell me what’s wrong? I might be able to help you’.

‘It’s the death of that young policeman who was working on the estate’.

‘Oh I know that was awful’ Monica agreed. ‘I read all about it in the papers. But don’t upset yourself about it, Ralph’.

‘You don’t understand’ said Ralph. ‘I saw him’.

‘Who?’

‘Well it must’ve been the murderer’ Ralph went on. ‘I saw him dump the poor lad’s body across the road. He was in the same car as before. Why haven’t the police responded to my letter? They need to know what I know’.  

STORMS NINE

Sending that police officer in undercover had been a master stroke. He would concede that. In fact he would congratulate the police for showing some initiative that otherwise was seriously lacking from their pathetic empty spaces they call a brain. How sweet it was that the police officer in question had fallen into his hands. That would really send a message to them. One day when all of this comes out they will realise the consequences of not taking action when they should appreciate how much they should do. It will make them wake up to themselves and their failings. That’s what he hoped anyway.

He opened the door into the chamber. He could hear his latest victim shaking with fear. He could smell the urine that had dried into the floor. Fear always makes them piss themselves and he was well used to having to work around it. He could hear the poor misguided creature struggling against his restraints. They always do that too even though it was pointless.

Aidan was upright and his arms were bent and raised so that his hands were level with the top of his head. His wrists were cuffed tightly to the structure that he sensed surrounded him. His ankles were cuffed to the surrounding structure too and his feet were strapped to the floor. He also had a belt round his waist that also seemed to be attached to something close. He was naked and tape had been placed over his eyes and mouth. He wanted his Mum. He wanted his Dad. He wanted his annoying little sister. He wanted to be back with his crew working their streets on the estate. He knew he wouldn’t get out of here alive. But how would he die? He knew the horrors that the other two had been through. He’d read all about it in the papers how Leroy and that traitor police officer they’d all known as Jackson had gone. He cried. What the hell did this maniac have in store for his leaving party?

‘Hello Aidan’ said the man as if he was just greeting him on the street. That’s how it had happened. The man had asked for directions and before he knew it he was out cold and then the next thing he was here. ‘Not very comfortable in there is it? But then you see it isn’t meant to be. It’s meant to be very uncomfortable. It’s meant to make you reflect on why you ended up in here. Do you know why you ended up in here, Aidan? Could you hazard a guess at all? Could you maybe pinpoint a time when a certain young girl needed your help? And what did you do? You did nothing, Aidan. You did absolutely nothing. A vulnerable young girl like that and you’ll have to go to your maker and explain to Him why you didn’t save her. Think you’ll be able to manage that, Aidan? Think you’ll be able to explain yourself without appearing like a stupid jabbering idiot? If you think that I and what I’m planning to do to you is terrifying wait until He sends you down to the fires of Hell. That’s when your nightmare will really begin and it’ll go on for eternity. Your torment will last, literally, forever. Are you religious, Aidan? Do you get a kick out of the word of the good book? But enough of all these questions. I can tell they’ll be tiring out a tiny little brain like yours. But before I leave you to what I know will be a sleepless night I’ll just explain what fun I’m going to have with you tomorrow. Ever heard of an iron maiden, Aidan? No? Well then let me explain. Imagine an upright coffin made of … yes you guessed it, iron. Well all over the inside are small daggers and I say small but they’re mightily sharp and could cut through silk if need be. Anyway, I digress. The daggers are all connected to each other and when I switch on the mechanism at the back they all start to move forward. The apparatus is designed very cleverly so that it pulls each dagger back then shoots it forward, pulls it back and then shoots it forward. It keeps on doing that until the daggers that will come from behind and to each side of you have met in the middle. The only thing is you’ll be slap bang in the middle so of course they will have to just stab their way through your body. It will take a minute or two before you reach the point of death and during that time you’ll be in absolute agony from all the stab wounds. Think about it and I’ll be back in the morning’.

He started to make his way out of the room and could hear Aidan struggling once more against his restraints.

‘It won’t do you any good, Aidan. You may as well just not bother my friend’.

The man went back in the next morning. Aidan tried to struggle some more but it was no good. This white man monster knew exactly what he was doing when he’d restrained him. The last few hours had been like Hell. There was no way he could’ve even tried to sleep. He was so terrified. This was it now. This was the moment. He’d never been religious but now all Aidan wanted to see was his Grandma who’d died a few years ago. He hoped she’d be waiting for him whenever he got to whatever the other side meant.

‘I’ll be filming your execution, Aidan and sending a DVD of it to your parents’ said the man. ‘I’m sure they’ll always remember the look of sheer terror on your face. Now before you go I need to show you that I do have a decent side so I’m going to take the tape from around your mouth and let you have a few last words. But don’t yell for help or call out in any way. Nobody out here will hear you anyway’.

The man then pulled the tape from Aidan’s mouth and as soon as he did Aidan began pleading for his life.  

‘You don’t understand, man, I never did anything to no girl and whatever I did do it was all because of Melanie Patterson. She gave all the orders and we just had to follow otherwise we’d go the same way as Alan Chaplin and Reggie Clayton. She’s bad news, man, she’d do anything to hold on to what she sees as her power. Please man, I never did anything … ‘

‘ … oh don’t start weeping like a stupid little baby’ the man ordered sharply. ‘And don’t tell me lies, Aidan. You said you didn’t do anything to any girl but that’s not true is it. You should’ve known, Aidan. You should’ve known after I’d come for Leroy and then the fake Jackson, you should’ve known that you might be next. I was just wanting to fill you all with fear until I did come for the next one’. Aidan started to weep again and the man lost patience. ‘Oh shut up!’ he placed the tape back across Aidan’s mouth and then said. ‘Did you ever see the film ‘Hannibal? I loved that scene when Lecter has his victim who he’s about to execute and he offers him the choice of being emboweled or disemboweled. Know that scene, Aidan? Well I’m going to make you star in your own version of it’.

With leather gloves on his hands the man lifted Aidan’s cock and balls and chopped into them with one of the kitchen knives. Blood spurted out all over the place and with a couple more stabs they were separated from the rest of Aidan’s body.

‘Goodbye Aidan. I hope you find what you’re looking for in the next life’.

The man then switched on the mechanism and the daggers began stabbing their way towards Aidan’s body. His death followed shortly afterwards.

STORMS TEN

The atmosphere amongst all the staff at the hotel had lifted considerably since the new owners had revealed themselves and made it clear that the only job losses would be amongst the managerial staff.

And that meant that Marliyn Kent was told to clear her desk by the close of business that day. What had made her departure even sweeter for all of them is that when she was receiving her dressing down from the new caretaker manager he left the intercom button on in her office which meant that all working areas of the hotel could hear what he said.

‘ … you have absolutely no idea about managing people, no idea at all. You say your door is always open but you close it as soon as any trouble might be brewing. You keep telling the staff to use their initiative and yet when they do you don’t like them coming up with a good idea because you hadn’t thought of it first. If there are any staff problems you never want to know about them even though you have a responsibility through the duty of care to sort out any hard feelings that rise up between staff members or if they have a grievance against you their employer. I have been through many companies in my career and I have never known a management structure so incompetent and so ill-equipped to manage people in a customer service environment. You really do abuse the privilege of being useless. You’re only interested in the title and not the responsibilities towards your staff that go with it and let’s face it, you only got the job because you give blow jobs to a member of the board of the previous owners. That’s probably how you’ve always had to get your promotions. I’ll give you a reference but it will reflect the truth of what I see and not the superficial colours you’d like me to paint you as being. I may not be a gynecologist, Marilyn but I know a cunt when I see one’.