‘Persuasive?’
‘Yeah,’ agreed Theresa, ‘we all went out a few times but she has to get really hammered and I don’t like that.’
‘That’s understandable,’ I said, ‘particularly if you have lectures in the morning.’
‘Louise doesn’t do lectures.’
‘So Louise went out every night and persuaded Gemma to do the same thing.’
Theresa started mimicking Louise’s voice, ‘You’re only young once Gemma, don’t be so boring, live a little, life’s too short,’ and for a second she looked like she might cry, ‘that’s a laugh isn’t it? Life’s too short.’
‘Did they always go to the same spot?’
‘Pretty much,’ she said, ‘some club where they could get free drinks because Louise knew all the footballers. By know I mean shagged, obviously. She met them when she worked up at the football ground, handing out drinks to stupid businessmen in suits in corporate hospitality.’
I asked her if they went to parties at Golden Boots’ house and she confirmed they had done on several occasions.
‘They were bragging about it. “Trees”, she calls me Trees, I hate it. “Trees you should have been there, it was awesome, they drink champagne like it’s tap water,” but they all sounded like wankers to me.’
‘Did you tell the police that Louise was the one persuading Gemma to be out partying every night?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘They never asked me. They didn’t ask me anything.’
‘They didn’t speak to you about your flatmate’s murder?’ I found this pretty hard to believe.
‘The morning after the night Gemma was killed, I took a train home for the week to see mum and dad. I just assumed Gem had spent the night with her footballer. I didn’t even know she’d been killed because I wasn’t here. I read about it in the papers days later. If the police came round to speak to Louise while I was gone, she probably didn’t tell them about me. She wouldn’t want me talking to them.’
The DC who’d questioned Louise was a numpty. He should have realised there was a third girl in the house and gone back to talk to her but Theresa was probably correct, Louise had thrown him a curveball to avoid any inconvenient facts from coming out.
‘But you saw Gemma and Louise before you went home? That weekend I mean? You saw them going out on the town?’
‘Yes. They both went clubbing together on the Friday night but Gem went out on her own on Saturday. She wanted to go to that footballer’s party again but she didn’t want to take Louise.’
‘Why not?’
‘They had a row.’
‘What about?’
‘Some bloke, obviously. It’s always a bloke with Louise. Some famous guy was after Gem, the one who killed her I suppose. Louise got jealous so they had an argument. Gem wanted to see this guy again the next night but she didn’t want Louise to know about it. I caught her creeping out late at night.’
‘You saw her go?’
‘I was up late, planning an all-nighter. We’ve got exams,’ she sounded defensive, like she didn’t want me to think she’d been snooping on her flatmates. ‘I went down to the kitchen to make some tea and she was just going out.’
‘And she told you what she was up to?’
‘She told me not to make a noise in case Louise heard she was going out again. She was all dressed up.’
‘But she wasn’t going to the club? She was going straight to his house?’
She nodded, ‘She was excited about it. She said he must really like her because he was sending a driver.’
‘Yeah, they do that.’
‘When they want a girl?’
I nodded.
‘But it doesn’t mean anything, does it?’ she asked me, ‘not what Gemma thought anyway?’
‘No, it doesn’t.’
‘He just wanted to use her and dump her, but she must have had a row with him and now she’s dead.’ She did start crying then, dabbing her eyes with a scrunched-up tissue.
I didn’t want to get into a discussion about the guilt or innocence of Golden Boots so instead I asked, ‘Did you see him? The guy who came to pick her up?’
‘No, he was waiting around the corner in his car. She asked him to do that so Louise wouldn’t see.’
That was bad news. If we knew who the guy was, if we had a description even, we could have found him and made him tell us what really happened when she got to the house. ‘So you didn’t see him at all?’
‘No,’ she admitted, ‘but I know who it was.’
‘You do?’
‘Yes.’
‘How could you know who he was, if you didn’t see him?’
‘Gem told me who was picking her up. She joked about him, because he was a bit weird looking. He was a regular at those parties, so he didn’t mind taking her.’
‘Do you know his name?’
‘No,’ she admitted, ‘but Gemma used to call him “Jaws”.’
‘Jaws? Like the shark?’
She shook her head, ‘Like those old James Bond films they put on the telly. There was a man in one with funny teeth.’
‘Oh yeah, I remember. He was a big guy.’
‘Yes,’ she said.
‘This fella was big too, I s’pose?’
She nodded, ‘I saw him once through the window when he called to pick the girls up.’
‘You saw him.’
‘Yes,’ she said.
‘And he was a big guy?’
She nodded. ‘Could you describe him a bit more, do you think?’ I was trying to sound like it wasn’t that big a deal, hoping I could coax it out of her.
‘He was really big and he had the funny teeth, like that Jaws guy?’
‘He had metal teeth?’
‘No,’ she scoffed, ‘just funny teeth.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘His front teeth were missing.’
She brought her finger up till it was right in the middle of the top row of her front teeth and pressed it against them, ‘Just there. He had a gap where his teeth should have been and it was just there.’
38
I could tell Kevin Kinane was pleased I’d sent for him. He looked relaxed when he walked into the Cauldron with his father. He’d done a good job investigating the death of Gemma Carlton; I’d already told him that, and he was expecting the reward that was coming to him.
‘Did you ever do any history at school, Kevin?’ I asked him, when he was seated opposite me with a drink in his hand. His father was to one side of him, nursing a good whisky while we talked. I made sure Palmer was in the room with us.
‘I didn’t do much school at all, if I’m honest,’ and he smiled self-consciously at that.
‘He was always out on the rob or twocking cars with his mates,’ said Joe Kinane.
‘I’ve read a bit of history,’ I continued, ‘there was a king once who fell out with his archbishop, who happened to be an old friend of his but, in a rage, he demanded of his courtiers “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?” Two knights got the wrong idea about that so they went round to see this archbishop and they cut him to pieces, thinking they were doing the king’s bidding. Of course when the king found out he was devastated. He couldn’t believe that a casual remark had led to a man’s death. Worse than that, everybody thought he’d ordered the killing, so his reputation was destroyed in an instant. It didn’t matter what he said or did, everybody just assumed he was a murdering bastard.’
‘Tough break,’ acknowledged Kevin Kinane and he sipped his whisky a little too casually.
‘It was,’ I said and I stayed silent for a while to see what he would do. When he said nothing in reply I asked, ‘Is that what you did Kevin, heard me say something about what a pain in the arse Carlton was, then went away and thought how can I really fuck up this copper’s mind and throw him off the scent, without actually killing him? I know, I’ll murder his daughter.’
‘What the fuck are you talking about?’ demanded Joe Kinane.