Body by the Docks: detectives investigate a baffling mystery Page 5

  “Thanks. My dad always said I was munchkin-sized. He told me it was cute, but I promise you it does have drawbacks. I only just made it into the job. Isn’t it odd to say your mother’s dead when she isn’t?”

  “Yeah. Unless, of course, Molly knew she was.”

  “Yes. That’s it, isn’t it? Horrible to think of but that’s it.”

  “There was something off about the young woman. She was very emotional. But she has a baby and I know from my own experience that hormones can play havoc with your nerves.”

  “It was enough to alert you though, wasn’t it?”

  Jordan nodded.

  “How old is your little one? A boy isn’t it?”

  “Yes. Harry. He’s coming up to eighteen months now and things are great. But it was tough at the beginning, so we have to bear her situation in mind and be gentle. The brother is pretty antsy though. He could be difficult.”

  * * *

  Sandra answered their ring at the door. “Did you forget your key? Oh – sorry, I thought it was my sister. We don’t want anything, thanks.” She began to step back inside but paused as they held up their warrant cards.

  “I thought you were selling something. Sorry.”

  “It’s okay, Miss…?” Rosalind said.

  “McCardle. Just call me Sandra. What can I do for you?”

  “Could we come in, do you think? We’d like a word. Do you live here?”

  “No, I’m just visiting. It’s my mother’s house.”

  “Right, well. We need to speak to you and your brothers and sister.”

  “Molly’s not here. She’s taken the baby out for a walk.” Sandra stepped forward to glance up and down the road. “No, can’t see her. Sorry, come on in. Gary’s here anyway.”

  In the lounge, Gary sat in front of the electric fire staring at the rug. The room felt overwarm and stuffy. It was furnished with a grey three-piece suite and a coffee table, which was littered with baby paraphernalia. There was a row of small porcelain cats in a line on the windowsill, a couple of vases of silk flowers; a bit dusty. It was dull and uninspiring – very ordinary.

  As Jordan and Rosalind Searle entered the room, Gary groaned and shook his head. “Oh, bloody Norah. Not you again. What the hell do you want now?” He stood. Sandra had paused in the doorway.

  “Please, Mr McCardle, Sandra, won’t you sit down?” Rosalind waved a hand towards the empty settee.

  “No, just tell us what you want and then go away.” Gary had taken a couple of steps towards the door attempting to herd everyone from the room.

  “We have some upsetting news for you. I’m sorry, I really think it would be better if you sat down,” Rosalind said.

  Although Gary stayed where he was, his sister pushed past him and lowered herself slowly onto the sagging cushion of the nearest chair.

  “We believe the body found locally was Mary McCardle. She has been identified by her dental records. This is the address we have for her. Is that correct?” Jordan said.

  They had expected tears, perhaps shouting. Sometimes people reacted violently to the worst of all news. There was a short silence and then Sandra spoke, quietly. “He’s sure, is he, the dentist? I mean Mary didn’t have many teeth. So how would he know?”

  “According to the report, Mrs McCardle had three teeth on the bottom and five on the top and the denture we have fits that perfectly. Luckily for us your mother’s dentist is one of the few who marks the dentures he provides. Not all of them do but it helps if the person has to go into care, or into hospital. However, I’m afraid it means there is no doubt they are Mary’s.”

  Sandra pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at her eyes. Gary had still not spoken. Jordan and Rosalind waited but there was no reaction from either of them apart from a quiet sniff from Sandra. Jordan glanced at his detective constable, she shrugged back at him.

  “You didn’t report her missing. Were you not concerned about her?”

  “We didn’t think she was missing,” Gary said, his voice dull and flat.

  “The body was found late in the evening on Thursday. That’s two days ago. A woman’s body was found nearby yet you weren’t alarmed or concerned that your mum wasn’t home. So, where did you believe she’d gone?”

  “We don’t live here. Molly’s the only one who lives here – with her.”

  “Mr McCardle, why did your sister tell one of our officers your mother was dead?” Jordan leaned forward on his seat, staring directly at the younger man.

  There was another short silence. Sandra watched her brother.

  “I know what Molly said to the copper who came to the door. You have to understand. Molly is having a hard time right now and she was a bit panicked by everything that was going on. She was a bit hysterical,” Gary said.

  “But why would she say that?” Jordan said. “And, if your mum was missing from here, why did you not consider reporting it?”

  “I’ve told you we didn’t think of her as missing. Well, that was why Molly was feeling guilty,” Gary snarled. “Molly and Mam had been arguing. Molly was being a bitch. Mam had stormed out and that’s all there is to it. Look, you need to leave us alone. We need to get our heads round this.”

  “Where is Molly now?” Rosalind asked.

  “Out for a walk.” Gary rubbed a hand over his face.

  “I’m sorry, Mr McCardle, I’m going to have to ask you to come down to the station and give a statement. We need to clear this up. You have a brother. Eddie? We will need to speak to him as well,” Jordan said.

  “Good luck with that. He lives in Spain. He’s got a bar over there. Been there for years. We went over there once to see it. So soz. Anyway, there’s nothing to clear up. My sister’s away with the fairies at the moment. Post-natal whatchamacallit. She said something daft. Look, just leave us alone. We have to think about all of this in peace.”

  “I’m sorry, I can’t do that, and we need to bring in a team to have a look at this house. Sandra, is there anywhere you can go and stay while we do our job. You said you don’t live here, could you go to your own home? I’ll need Molly to come down and speak to us as well. Do you know where she is right now?”

  “No, she just went for a walk. I don’t know. But what about the baby?”

  “We’ll arrange for someone to look after him, if necessary,” Jordan said.

  “Oh no you bloody won’t. We’re not having him with the social services. I’ll take him. He can come back with me. You’re not taking him anywhere. This is all wrong, I don’t know why you need to go carting poor Molly off anyway.” Sandra stood and walked to the window. She pulled aside the net curtains to look outside.

  “Well, if you would just give us her number and we’ll give her mobile a call.”

  Jordan dialled and there was quiet while he waited. He shook his head. “It’s engaged. Is there anywhere she likes to go particularly?”

  “No, she just goes out, round the streets.”

  “Okay, we’ll try and get a few people looking for her.”

  “Am I under arrest? Do I need a lawyer?” Gary’s face was pale. For the first time the bravado wavered, and he gulped.

  “No, just come in and let’s get this sorted out,” Jordan answered.

  “Can I see her? Can I see Mam? It still might not be her,” Sandra asked.

  “I don’t think it would be a good idea really. The body was badly damaged. I don’t think you’d want to see her like that. And please, just take my word for it. It’s your mother.”

  The last statement proved too much and at last there was a reaction. Sandra flopped into the chair and began to sob.

  “Detective Constable Searle will stay with you for now, Ms McCardle. We might well have some questions for you later, but for now why don’t you just pack a few things for the baby and wait for your sister to come back?”

  Rosalind followed Jordan into the hallway. “I reckon Viv Bailey and her team will be here pretty quickly. In the meantime, don’t let Ms McCardle into the moth
er’s room. Help her to pack the baby’s things but that’s all, okay?”

  “Boss. This is weird, isn’t it? I mean, I don’t have much experience, but this feels weird.”

  “Yep. It’s very bloody weird.”

  Chapter 13

  Molly bent forward over the handle of her pram. She tucked the blanket closer around the baby. The tears that had been washing down her cheeks dripped from her chin and landed on Jakey’s hand and she rubbed them gently away. He was a bit cold and she was shivering now in her short jacket and jeggings despite the weak sun dipping down behind the houses.

  It was time to turn around and go back. She didn’t want to. The thought of the long evening in the house with Sandra and Gary was horrible. They would sit in silence staring at the walls, not doing anything, not really talking. Mam was dead and they’d done nothing. She didn’t understand what was going on and, as always, there was the feeling that her brother and sister knew so much more. It had always been like this. She was the youngest by a good few years and throughout her childhood she had known she was excluded from something. All she had were vague hints and half-truths from as far back as she could remember. Conversations that ceased when she entered a room; comments, and remarks she didn’t understand but that caused Mam’s forehead to crease with worry and Dada’s temper to be more frayed, more explosive than usual.

  It had always been there, the promise of a threat, the idea they were somehow all living in dread of a reckoning. Whenever she tried to find out more, she was put off with platitudes. She wasn’t to worry, they said, it was just life. Life was difficult and she should just be glad they were dealing with it. Then when Dada died, the sense of foreboding had lessened. Mam, Gary, and Sandra relaxed as if a great weight had been lifted. Eddie had gone. Years before, he had appeared one morning at the bottom of the stairs with his bags and told them he was going away. It had been ages until they heard from him again. Years of Mam standing by the window with the net curtains pulled aside, watching, just waiting for her first born to come home.

  Then they received tickets in the post for all of them, tickets to Spain. It was a budget airline out of John Lennon Airport, but it didn’t matter, they were going abroad. When they got there, he had rented them a villa and they stayed for five days in the sunshine with her big brother. It was the very end of the season, but they still spent their days lazing by the pool or strolling round the old town. In the evening there was eating and drinking at his bar. At Eddie’s bar. Mam had cried because Dada had never seen it, but it had been the best time of Molly’s life.

  Where was she? Where was Mam? Lying somewhere on her own in a hospital basement or a mortuary. Would she be in one of those horrible metal drawers they showed on the TV? Would she have a label on her toe? Molly couldn’t bear it. This couldn’t go on. She was going back to the house and it was time for them to tell her just what they knew, what they feared. It was time for them to explain why, when this terrible thing had happened, they weren’t screaming from the rooftops, demanding action from the police. Why they weren’t doing something.

  Her phone rang. She didn’t bother to read the screen. She couldn’t see through the mist of tears anyway. “What?” It would be their Gary.

  It wasn’t.

  “Molly. It’s me.”

  “Eddie. Is that you, Eddie?”

  “Yeah. Are you okay, Molls?”

  “No, no I’m not. Eddie, something awful has happened. It’s horrible. You have to come back. Our Gary has been trying to phone you.”

  “I know. I know. Listen to me, Molls. Listen.”

  “I’m listening. But really, you have to come back. It’s Mam. Oh, Eddie, she’s dead.”

  “I know. I know, love.”

  “You know? How can you know? We haven’t been able to tell you?”

  “Never mind that for now. Just listen. Where are you right this minute?”

  “I’m out with Jakey. I had to get out of the house. I had to get some air.”

  “Right. Okay, good. Now then, you need to keep going. Don’t go back to the house. Just go away now. Do you understand me?”

  “No. What are you talking about? I can’t go away. Listen to me. Mam was killed and she was on the field and Gary wouldn’t let us tell the police. I don’t know what’s happening and I can’t go away, don’t be so daft.”

  “Yes, you can. You must. Look, take the baby and just leave. Go somewhere and stay in a hotel or something. Don’t let anybody know. Turn your phone off as well.”

  “Don’t be stupid, I can’t. I’ve got the baby. I’m out in the street. Tell you what, maybe I could come to you; to Spain.”

  “Molly. I’ve put some money in the bank for you. You’ve got your purse, haven’t you? You’ve got your bag?”

  “Yes, course I have but, Eddie, I don’t understand.”

  “I know. I know, love, but just do what I tell you. Don’t go back to the house. Go as far as you can. Maybe Scotland, the Isle of Man, something like that. I have to hang up now.”

  “What about Gary, and Sandra? They’re at the house.”

  “I know. Don’t worry about them. Just you go away, you and the baby. I’m switching off now. Do as I tell you. Turn your phone back on at ten o’clock and let me know where you are. Tomorrow, buy a cheap phone. There’s enough in your account, the one where I sent your birthday money. Buy a cheap pay-as-you-go and use that to call me.”

  He was gone. Her brother was gone. The street was empty, and she was scared and alone. Molly looked around her. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

  Chapter 14

  Jordan didn’t take Gary McCardle into an interview room. The man was already wound up. He picked at the skin of his fingers and chewed the inside of his cheek. Sitting in the low chair, he bounced his knee up and down and shifted edgily on the thin upholstered cushion. Jordan wanted answers, not a solicitor advising ‘no comment’ as the reaction to everything. Apart from that, this bloke had just been told his mother was dead. Jordan couldn’t begin to imagine how it must feel. So, although there was definitely something odd going on, for the moment at least he was in the more comfortable ‘lounge’. Terry Denn sat beside him, slouched on another low chair, his legs stretched out in front of him, casual, relaxed.

  There were precautions they did have to take.

  “Do you mind if I record our talk? If you prefer, I could have someone in to make notes,” Jordan asked.

  “Do I need a solicitor? Am I under arrest?”

  “No, as I told you back at your house, we just want to clear up a couple of things which have us puzzled. I’m sure you’re just as keen as we are to find out who did this terrible thing and why.” Jordan paused.

  “Well, it wasn’t me. If that’s what you’re thinking. I know that’s what you do. You assume it’s family. I’ve seen it over and over on the TV, in films. Anything so you can to tick the boxes and clock up a result. Like I said, it wasn’t me.”

  Jordan ignored the outburst. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t report your mother missing.”

  “I told you already, we didn’t think she was missing. Our Molly thought she was with me and I didn’t know she wasn’t at home.”

  “Okay. I understand that, but when you realised you were both wrong and then the body was found at the building site you didn’t come forward.”

  “No – well, we didn’t ever think it could be Mam. Why would we think that? That would be horrible.”

  “One of my colleagues reported seeing your sister very distressed at the crime scene and then later she told him your mother was dead. Now, you can understand how that looks odd to us.”

  “I’ve already said. Molly is upset right now, she’s on pills from the doctor. The baby is getting on top of her and I suppose he was winding Mam up as well. It’s not easy. Have you got any kids?”

  “I do and I know it can be very difficult, but nevertheless this all seems strange.”

  Gary shrugged. “Can’t help you, mate. I need to
go now anyway. I need to get back to the house. Have you heard if Molly has turned up yet?”

  Jordan glanced at Terry who shook his head. “Still looking for her, boss. It’s getting late. Have you no idea where she might be, Gary?”

  “No. I reckon I should get out there and look for her. I’m off.”

  They could have asked him to stay, they could have asked him to make a formal statement. They could possibly have gone further and interviewed him under caution, but it didn’t feel right. Not yet. Once they started down that route they were committed and they needed more, much more to try and convince the CPS that Gary McCardle had anything to do with the death of his mother.

  “I’ll arrange for a car to take you home,” Jordan said.

  “No thanks. The neighbours would love that. No, I’ll get a taxi.”

  “Mr McCardle, keep us informed about where you are until we have a chance to find out what’s happened.”

  Gary didn’t answer, he lifted his jacket from the back of the chair and stomped from the room leaving the door to swing closed behind him.

  “What are your thoughts, boss?” Terry asked.

  “Honestly?” Jordan shook his head “I haven’t got a clue. There’s something off but I can’t see what it is. One thing, though. We need to find Molly and I think we need to hurry up. She could be a danger to herself, or she could be in danger. From whom or what I can’t even imagine but I’m going to see if we can mobilise more troops.”

  Chapter 15

  Molly turned towards home. Maybe Eddie was there, he hadn’t said where he was. He’d just told her not to go back. Well, that couldn’t happen. He had no idea. She had the baby with her. You can’t just up and disappear with a baby.

  It was almost dark now and it was chilly.

  He’d sounded scared. He’d asked her where she was. Oh, wait. If he had to ask, then he couldn’t be at the house. He said there was money in her account. How had he done that? He was clever. He was probably the cleverest of them all, even though Sandra thought she was the cat’s pyjamas with her qualification in bookkeeping or whatever it was. Hadn’t got her very far, though, had it? Okay, a house in The Wirral and a car of her own. But she worked all the hours god sent for Brian and his heating business and he still hadn’t married her. But their Eddie – he lived in Spain, in the sunshine. He had a flat in a compound, with a pool and a gardener. He was the most successful. Mam had been so proud of him. He sent her money, regular.