Liar Liar

‘He’s dead, isn’t he?’ Tears pricked Lily’s eyes.

‘No, no,’ he replied, shooting Grace a cold look. ‘He’s gone to the hospital.’

Grace grimaced. She couldn’t question the girl now. It was plain to see she was traumatised by what had happened. It could wait until they had more details about Tyler’s condition.

‘Will he be okay?’ Lily’s voice was low and trembling.

‘We’ll know more soon,’ Luke replied. ‘But for now, I need you to be a big girl and stay here with Norma.’

Norma sat down beside Lily and smiled. ‘You can stay over-night, if you like? We can have hot chocolate and marshmallows.’

‘I want to go home, really,’ Lily whispered.

‘I’m sure you do and you’ll be able to soon,’ Luke said, ‘but I expect we’ll be at the hospital for a long time.’

‘Can I see him?’

Norma’s smile dropped from her lips momentarily before appearing again.

‘Once the doctors have examined him and fixed him up, he’ll be under everyone’s feet again in no time,’ Luke soothed. ‘You’ll see.’ He gave her a hug and said his goodbyes.

Grace went onto the walkway ahead of Luke and waited for him there. Once in the fresh air again, she let out a huge sigh. It was heartbreaking to see Lily’s face. But she would always keep an open mind. For all she knew she might have something to do with what happened and her parents may be covering for her. It could even be one of them.

Luke came out moments later and they walked downstairs. There was something she wanted to know.

‘I heard Lily call you by your first name back there,’ she said.

‘I’m not her father, although I treat her like my own daughter. I’ve known her since she was four. She’s a great kid.’

Grace had felt a pang of agony for the child. Lily reminded her of herself as a fragile eight-year-old when she’d been living with her late father, afraid to do anything for fear of retaliation; trying to protect her mum without getting into trouble herself. Always unsure if she was saying the right thing or digging a deeper hole.

As they got to the car park, Luke took out a set of keys.

‘I can give you a lift, if you like,’ she offered.

‘Thanks, but I’ll need to get back so I’ll take my car.’

She looked at her watch: quarter to eight. ‘I’ll follow you shortly.’

As she observed Luke driving off, she got out her phone to ring Simon. It was going to be a late one.

‘I had a call from work about it,’ he said once she’d told him about the accident.

‘I was there by chance when it happened.’ She gulped, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose to stop her tears from falling.

‘Christ, Grace – are you okay?’

‘Not really.’ She appreciated that he was upset for her. ‘I didn’t see it but I was there straight afterwards. He was so quiet.’

‘How is he now?’

‘He was taken in an ambulance about half an hour ago. I’m heading to the Royal Stoke now.’

‘Do you want me to come to you?’

She shook her head, even though he couldn’t see her.

‘It’s news for me regardless,’ he added.

Simon was the senior crime reporter for the local newspaper, Stoke News. Sometimes Grace resented that fact, like now when his journalistic nose was twitching for a story. Other times it had come in useful. It was such a hard line to toe, keeping the balance of professional and personal between them, but so far they had managed it well.

‘I’ll let you know more when I get home,’ she said. ‘Although I’m not sure how late I’ll be.’

They spoke a bit longer and then she disconnected the call. Stomping her feet again as she could barely feel her toes, she rammed her hands in her pockets. Her gloves were useless in this weather.

While she waited to warm up, she looked around. Crime scene tape flapped around the site where Tyler Douglas had lain. More officers were arriving to investigate the fall and she’d been briefing them as and when required. An hour ago, there were lots of people around, probably coming to have a nose. All she could see now were closed doors, no one talking to the police. And what had all that noise in the car park been about earlier? Whatever it was had gone quiet when Tyler Douglas had fallen.

As Frankie came over to her, Grace pointed across towards the scene of the incident.

‘Luke Douglas. Have you seen him before?’

‘I haven’t met either of them. I don’t know what to make of it.’

‘Me neither. I’ll get more of a sense of them when I go to the hospital, I expect. Hard to tell anything when they’re both in shock.’ Her phone rang. She wrestled it out of her pocket and removed a glove. Before answering it, she checked her watch and then looked at Frankie.

‘This is Allie. Why don’t you finish for the evening? I’ll take it from here. I’m going to the hospital to see both parents and put my mind at rest.’

‘If you’re sure.’

Grace waved him away and answered the call. It would be her DI’s shout whether it was a police incident and worth them pursuing more, but the case would be referred to Children’s Services to see if the children needed to be assigned a social worker, or even added to the at-risk register, regardless.

It was good to have Allie as her line manager now. After the last case she’d worked on had become personal, she’d had a chat with her previous DI, Nick. It had been suggested that she join the Community Intelligence Team to work with Allie for a twelve-month period. Grace had been pleased at this outcome. She had enjoyed getting to know Allie. The woman had a vast knowledge of Stoke-on-Trent and its occupants.

Grace still worked alongside her old team and when they needed any kind of involvement with the public, she headed up the meetings and house-to-house enquiries. Not being directly involved in the murder cases had been good for the past ten months and if truth be known, she hadn’t been looking forward to getting back to the team. She’d enjoyed talking to people, forming relationships, and it had made her realise her skills were more suited in the community at large. She liked wheedling information out of people, coaxing out secrets and lies. Sometimes it was easy to get intel, sometimes not. It was these latter times she enjoyed the most.

PC Michael Higgins, also known as Frankie, had moved to join Grace as a trainee DC two weeks earlier. It was change everywhere.

Since last summer, her time had been busy but more relaxed. So far, she had cleared up a sexual assault, two muggings and helped put numerous domestic violence and neighbourhood nuisance incidences to bed. She’d even visited a number of schools and chaired many Neighbourhood Watch meetings. People needed to feel safe on the streets. Here was no exception.

The previous eighteen months as Detective Sergeant on the team had certainly given her food for thought and she’d been ready for a different challenge. It had made things easier for her too, knowing she might not have to work alongside her estranged family, the Steeles. That had been awkward to say the least during her first murder investigation, and even the second case had put someone she dearly loved in danger. So it hadn’t come as a surprise to anyone when she’d asked to stay on to head the Community Intelligence Team when Allie had been successful in getting Nick’s job after he’d taken early retirement from the force.

Grace knew some of her colleagues would see her move as a side-step. Allie had been an acting DI doing the role, with several PCs covering the six towns. Now the positions had been changed to a DS and one DC but Grace didn’t mind. She was much more comfortable with the hands-on aspects of the role, and she would still be on call to work with the Major Crimes Team when necessary.

It was a clean resolve, and Nick was happy too. His wife had been badgering him to take early retirement for a while. Now Sharon would have him all day. Grace smirked to herself, wondering how long it would be before she was moaning that she’d preferred it when he was at work. Not that Nick was one to finish completely; Grace knew that he was taking some part-time work at first.

The move had given her more time for a home life. Before, when she’d been Detective Sergeant, she’d blamed the long hours on a need to do the job, rather than a necessity to be with people because she was lonely after the death of her husband. But now she had Simon, things were working out well and it was nice to work more regular hours. He had moved in with her a few months ago, and so far, so good. Grace had even got to know his daughter, Teagan, who at seventeen knew her mind and had accepted Grace in her life. It was good.

After the call had finished, she walked towards her car. Time to visit her least favourite place.

2010

Ruby Brassington was a ball of excitement as she sat on her bed doing her make-up. Most of what she would be wearing that night was in her bag as her dad would go nuts if he saw anything more than a lick of mascara and pale lipstick.

Underneath her sweatshirt, she wore a slinky halter-neck top that showed off her cleavage in her new Wonderbra. She would change when she got to her best friend Naomi’s house, and she was borrowing her shoes too – red heels that she could hardly walk in, but were well worth the pain.

It was Naomi’s sixteenth birthday. She was having a party at her home. Her parents were going out and she had the run of the house until midnight.

Their friendship had always been something Ruby had treasured, especially after her mum died when she was just starting high school. It was hard on her own with her dad. She had lost her mum to talk to and the girls at school couldn’t take her place. Slowly she closed herself off from them all, except Naomi – the one person who had always been there for her.

Ruby’s mum had had breast cancer. She’d been diagnosed only six months before her death but it had left mental scars on Ruby, seeing her suffer so much. Since then it had been just the two of them – her and her dad. Before, when Mum was around, her dad was always there and did a very good job of looking after her. But trying to be both parents had broken him. He couldn’t do either very well, choosing to spend long hours at work instead of trying. Her mum had only had a part-time job, fitted around school hours, so was always there for her. At twelve, Ruby was neither a child nor a grown-up, and she’d required supervision and guidance. Consumed by grief, her dad had shut himself off from her when she’d needed him the most.

Now she was older and more independent they got on better, but the closeness they’d had when she was a child had been lost forever. Ruby didn’t mind so much. There was always food on the table, and they kept the house clean between them.

‘Are you ready yet, Ruby?’ A voice came up the stairs.

‘Just a minute.’ Her stomach flipped over as she glanced at her watch. It was nearly seven thirty. Dad was giving her a lift and even though he insisted on picking her up earlyish, if it meant she could go, then she was fine with that. She was up for a good time, no matter what.

She picked up her phone and sent a message to Naomi to say she was on her way. The handset she had was embarrassing; it didn’t even have a camera on it. She couldn’t wait to have a newer model for her sixteenth birthday, just three weeks away.

Naomi’s house was set in its own grounds off a main road. A dilapidated Victorian detached house had been knocked down and her father had built a modern rectangular family home in its place. Most of its frontage was glass with chrome panelling. Ruby had never seen anything like it before. It was definitely a one-off.

A sweeping gravel driveway led to an area at the front where her dad swung his car around in a circle easily. She never felt envious when she visited – it was like her second home, given the amount of time she spent there – but she often wondered what it would be like to have so much money. The house had five bedrooms and four bathrooms. The garage housed several cars and there was a stable block out the back, though they had no horses now.

Her dad turned to her in the passenger seat. ‘Make sure you’re out front here at eleven.’

She grimaced as she had already opened the door and people might hear.

‘I promise!’

He was so annoying at times. Sometimes he’d only allow her to have certain friends, people he was happy with her seeing, even though she had the house to herself a lot. She could easily slip them in and out without him knowing, yet she hardly ever did. He went through phases of being overprotective one moment to leaving her to her own devices the next. She often wished she hadn’t been an only child. If she had brothers like Naomi then maybe her dad wouldn’t be like that.

The music from the house became louder as she walked towards it; lights on in every room downstairs. In the hallway, which was as large as two rooms in her own home, she smiled at a few people as she made her way through the crowd.

‘Ruby!’ Naomi waved at her from the kitchen.

Ruby pointed to the ceiling. ‘Just going to change.’

Naomi nodded before turning back to get another drink.

She nipped upstairs to Naomi’s room. Every time she went into it she had to stop herself from jumping up and down on the colossal bed covered in white drapes and cushions. Naomi was a lover of lilac and it was everywhere. She had her own ensuite so Ruby could change in there and also stash her bag.

Once she’d applied full make-up, and changed her lipstick to Vampire Red, she slipped on the heels and gave herself the once-over in the mirror.

‘Looking good, Rube.’ She pouted and blew herself a kiss.

Downstairs the music had changed to a more R&B vibe. After grabbing a can of lager, she wandered around until she found Naomi. She draped her arms around her friend.

‘What time do you have to leave?’ Naomi shouted to her.

‘Eleven.’ Ruby rolled her eyes. ‘My dad’s picking me up.’

‘Ugh, well at least you’re here. Let’s dance!’

As Naomi pulled her to the middle of the room, Ruby felt glad to have her. As a friend Naomi was so understanding of her controlling father and often covered for her with the odd white lie so that she could stay out late.

She danced along to the music, sipping from her can and waving it in the air. It wasn’t long before she felt eyes on her and turned to see someone standing on the far wall. The boy looking at her was tall, with a tight black T-shirt showing off an athletic build. Dark sultry eyes and hair shorn close to his head. A stud earring glistening in his right ear, and a gold chain around his neck were the only things she didn’t particularly like. She reckoned he was no more than a few years older than her.

Ruby recognised him vaguely too. She continued to dance before chancing another look. He was still watching her – not in a leery way, she decided, but in an interested way.

‘I need another drink,’ she shouted to Naomi. ‘Want one?’

Naomi shook her head.

When she glanced in the boy’s direction again, he was gone. Disappointed, she made her way through the crowd to the kitchen. There the music was quieter, the crowd thinner, and after grabbing a can of coke this time, she decided to go out into the garden to get some air.

The night was warm, the garden lit up and inviting. She wandered over to sit on a bench, looking back at the house. The music was blaring and it was lit up like Blackpool illuminations, but there were no neighbours nearby to complain.

It was there that he found her. She watched him walk along the path, and looked up as he stood in front of her.

‘I think we had the same idea,’ he said. ‘Loud in there, isn’t it?’

She nodded.

‘Mind if I join you?’

‘No.’

He sat next to her, throwing his long legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles.

‘You’re Naomi’s best friend, aren’t you?’

‘Yeah, we’ve grown up together since junior school. I don’t remember who you are, though.’

‘I’m a few years older than you, and as you’re sixteen that makes a huge difference.’

‘I’m not sixteen for another three weeks. July fifteenth. I’m starting sixth form in September.’

‘You look so grown up.’

She smiled, looking away for a moment.

‘I used to hang around with George and Will.’ George and Will were Naomi’s older brothers. ‘I’m Finn.’

‘I’m Ruby.’

‘Yeah, I know.’

She smiled shyly at him, wondering where the night was going.

FOUR

In the relatives’ waiting room, Luke Douglas kept his head in his hands, unable to look at his partner Ruby for fear of breaking down. How had things gone so terribly wrong?

He gave an involuntary sob as he pictured his son lying on the icy ground, unable to make a sound. Usually Tyler was so vocal they were always telling him to be quiet. He was a real live wire. And now his boy, his two-year-old son, might not even see his third birthday next month. He might not even get through the night.

Luke would give anything to be telling him off right now. It had been such a shock to see him lying there. But when the police had turned up so quickly, well, he could have easily run the opposite way. This was all down to Seth Forrester, he knew it. But he couldn’t say anything about him or Ruby would find out what he’d been up to.

He ran through what he’d been doing over the past few months. Who knew about it? He’d been clever to cover his tracks, or so he thought.

Getting involved with Seth had been a mistake. Like a fool, he’d ignored all the rumours about him putting people in hospital. Despite seeing how much damage Seth had done on a mate of his, Luke had still gone along with getting reeled in. There was even talk of Seth being involved in the disappearance of a few men. He worked for the Steele brothers, a known criminal family who should never be crossed. But Luke had been desperate for money.

Seth lived next door but one from him at Harrison House. He could do whatever he wanted to Luke – or Luke’s family – as he lived so close. Luke had never been more aware than he was right now that he couldn’t protect everyone. He needed to be at home, to keep an eye on Lily: Seth hadn’t threatened her, nor Ruby, yet he wouldn’t put it past him.

But he couldn’t leave the hospital. Not without Tyler.

The room they’d been put into was drab, all pale creams and beiges. Luke wondered how many other families had sat in here waiting to hear good or bad news. He couldn’t even think of the possibility of Tyler dying. He closed his eyes and held back his tears. He couldn’t be responsible for his son’s death.

He just couldn’t.

Allie had told Grace that it was fine to go and see Tyler Douglas’s parents. Usually, she wouldn’t be investigating this type of incident but as she was first on the scene, Allie had given her instructions to speak to them and report back to her in the morning.

On the drive to the hospital, a message from control came in for her.

‘Go ahead,’ Grace answered.

‘Just to update you, there’s been an anonymous call about a commotion in the car park at Harrison House as well as the incident you’re dealing with. We have nothing reported on that but we do have a witness who said they saw a man running away from the scene shortly after the little boy’s accident. The caller wouldn’t leave a name, nor any contact details.’

‘Copy that, thanks.’

Grace wondered what, if anything, either of them could have to do with Tyler Douglas. Could the man have been someone late to be somewhere else – racing across to their car, or running for a bus? Could the commotion be kids hanging around making too much noise?

It was during regular visiting hours so the car park at the Royal Stoke was busy. Once she found a space, she headed to A&E. Before going to the parents, she asked how the little boy was. A nurse on the station went to check for her. Grace sat down while she waited, immediate memories of sitting in hospital anxious to hear about Matt flooding back to her. She didn’t think about her late husband all the time any more. There were days when she hardly thought of him at all, which both saddened and pleased her as she had to move on. But it was times like these that brought her right back to a period in her life that was wracked by so much pain she sometimes wondered how she had got through it.

It had been unbearable to see him suffer. Acute myeloid leukaemia had taken him when he was thirty-five. She had been thirty-two and even now, five years later, a smell of disinfectant could bring back instant memories of loss and grief.

‘DS Allendale?’ A man dressed in blue scrubs, wearing round rimmed glasses, and white clogs on his feet approached her. He sat down beside her and crossed one leg over the other, turning to her slightly.

‘Yes, how is he doing?’ she asked, checking out the ID badge that hung around his neck to discover he was a paediatric consultant.

‘Tyler’s brain is swelling at the moment so we’ve sent him off for a CT scan. We may need to put in a peg to reduce the pressure and drop him into an induced coma, but for now we’re monitoring him closely.’

Grace blew out a breath. ‘Any life-changing injuries?’

‘We’re running tests. Physically he has a fracture to his left ankle, which we’ve put in a cast for now.’

‘Is that it?’ Grace frowned. ‘He fell nearly five metres. I know he landed on grass but it would have been hard owing to the weather we’ve been having.’

Winter storm Nigel had been with them for two days before leaving a cold blast of air behind. Temperatures for the past few nights had dipped below zero. Grace recalled not wanting to get out of her warm bed that morning.

‘You’d be surprised how many children are fine afterwards. I’m sure some of them bounce.’ The man’s smile was warm. ‘But most children tend to break the fall themselves, catching on something else on the way that stops them landing so hard. In Tyler’s case there was nothing to do this and he dropped in almost a straight line. My guess is he landed on his feet and then fell to his side where he hit his head. It’s this that we’re most worried about.’

Grace grimaced. ‘Is he likely to have damage to his brain?’

‘It’s possible and we won’t be clear on that for a while yet. Like I said, we’ll know more in the morning.’

Grace nodded as the doctor turned to leave and then spoke again, calling him back. ‘Wait a minute, you say he fell in a straight line?’

‘Yes.’

‘Surely he would have gone head first and landed on his hands, or flipped over onto his back?’

‘I don’t think he fell over. He would more than likely have landed on all fours if he’d done that. Although nothing is certain.’

Grace said her thanks and stood up as he left. Gut feeling had told her at the scene that this wasn’t an accident, and now she felt even more certain. It was crucial they get to the bottom of things as soon as possible.

It was time to speak to the parents.

FIVE

Ruby Brassington sat across from Luke, her right leg jangling as it rested on her knee. The skin around her thumbnail was bleeding, she’d been biting at it so hard; the tissue in her hands balled up, wet and almost in shreds.

A sense of déjà vu came over her as she sat waiting. Things happening around her that were beyond her control. Another loved one in danger. She pushed away the images trying to settle in her mind.

She glanced across the room, to where Luke was sitting forwards in his chair, head in his hands. She wanted to talk to him, to see what story he thought they should stick to until they had time to be alone and she could deal with things the only way she knew how.

Luke was good-looking when he wasn’t under duress, appearing to be a lot younger than his thirty-four years. With olive skin and dark hair, he had a look of an Italian without any of the nationality in his blood. Their son had the same dark colouring too, with brown eyes that would melt any heart.