But Jimmy kept his eyes on Gus, ignoring Carlton. ‘I’ll tell you everything if I can just see Coco – one last time.’
Gus was already getting to his feet, shaking his head, his dreads bouncing around his ears. ‘No way. No way are you ever going to see my mum.’
Something faltered in Jimmy’s eyes. Sadness? Anger? Confusion?
Gus couldn’t be sure, but he shook off Carlton’s hand and made to stride through the open doors back inside, when Jimmy’s voice stopped him in his tracks. ‘Coco taught me above all else that you look after your family. She looked after me. She protected me all through my early years and, when I was old enough to think about finding her and making sure she was all right, she was with your dad.’
Jimmy’s voice cracked a little and Gus turned round. His head was bowed as he continued to speak. ‘You could see that they loved each other. That he’d look after her. I was happy with that. Didn’t want to drag her into my crap, so I didn’t even say hello to her.’
Wafting a hand in Carlton’s direction he said, ‘You best get your phone out. I’ve got a lot to tell you. You’ll want to record it.’
He sniffed and for a moment Gus wondered if he was crying, but when Jimmy looked up again, the eyes Gus had first thought of as cold and dead, were filled with determination. ‘I did with my own family what Coco tried to do. I worked hard to protect them and that’s why I ended up here. I was trying to be like her. She put me first, so I tried to always put my boys first. I suspect that was a mistake. I suspect that whatever has brought you here now, is because of what I did all those years ago to protect my sons.’
As he spoke, he pulled at the restraints, his fists clenched as he strained to hammer them into his face.
Bernie reached over. ‘Jimmy. You need to stop struggling. You know that.’
Yanking at the restraints a few more times before exhaling, Jimmy finally unclenched his fists. The scabs over his knuckles had cracked open again and when he turned over his hands to hide the wounds from his visitors, Gus noticed that Jimmy’s fingernails had penetrated his palms.
‘I’m fine, Bernie. I’ve got to do this. I’m OK.’
Gus couldn’t begin to guess what his uncle was going to say. He hoped it had some pertinence to the women who were being hanged in such a horrible way in Bradford, but was prepared to be disappointed. This man had been in a secure psychiatric facility for years, he was a murderer, and who knew what sort of toxic fantasies he could come up with. Although, he looked as rational as the next person, Gus was well aware that this could all be a façade. Carlton on the other hand, seemed overly excited. As if he was expecting a mega breakthrough. Gus wondered if he just had his eye on writing another paper for some forensic psychology journal or other.
Chapter 64
Bradford
Alice looked down at the pale face of the CSI. She lay at an awkward angle, one leg bent off to the side and her eyes were closed. A multitude of thoughts clamoured in Alice’s head – relief that Karen Smith’s body had already been removed and that most of the forensic evidence had been tagged and bagged, but mostly she was concerned that the woman lying in the stairwell wasn’t breathing.
‘Come on, come on, Jules. Come on, breathe. Breathe, breathe.’ Alice kneeled beside her, chanting the words in a low voice. Then Nancy shoved her out of the way and began alternating heart compressions with mouth to mouth resuscitation. One of the CSIs took over the mouth to mouth and Alice was led away from the fallen CSI to allow them more room to work.
Anger sparking through her, Alice spun round and confronted Sid, ignoring his pallor and the way his anxious gaze focussed on his prone colleague. ‘What the bloody hell were you thinking, Sid? You know better than to leave a ladder unattended. What was going through your stupid fucking mind?’
‘DCI Chalmers – she called me. She was having trouble getting into her suit – and the other CSIs were too busy recording her yanking her skirt up round her arse so she could pull the overall up.’ His words faded … ‘Look what I’ve done.’
Alice cast her mind back. She’d been annoyed that Nancy had wanted to come to the scene. This wasn’t her domain and Alice’s nose was put out of joint. When Nancy suggested she come along, Alice pretended she hadn’t heard and had moved upstairs to observe the scene. She’d heard Nancy calling to Sid but hadn’t realised Sid had left the ladder unattended. Not until one of the CSI photographers had backed into the ladder, sending it sliding to the side, leaving Jules dangling from the pulley. When Jules had landed, everyone rushed over at once, coughing in the dust from the plasterboard and trying to reach their colleague.
Alice rested her hand on Sid’s arm. ‘It was an accident, Sid.’
The ambulance sirens came closer followed by a screech of brakes and seconds later the thundering of the paramedics boots as they ran into the scene. Nancy, still only half suited-up, got to her feet with difficulty, her hair dishevelled, and her brow furrowed.
She turned to Sid. ‘She’s breathing, Sid, she’s alive.’
The unspoken words ‘for now’ hung in the air as they vacated Karen Smith’s house to allow the paramedics space to transport her to safety. Lining the path as the paramedics wheeled their unconscious colleague to the waiting ambulance, Alice tried to readjust her thoughts. Jules was in safe hands now, but they still had a job to do.
After the ambulance door slammed shut, Alice took off her suit, bagged it up, and got re-suited before moving
