‘Lisa was using drugs?’
‘Yes,’ he said.
‘Heroin?’
‘Amongst others,’ he said.
‘Her mother thought she had been introduced to drugs while she was in care.’
‘It happens,’ he said. ‘We’re dealing with very vulnerable kids. Drugs can be a way of fitting in, buckling under peer pressure, or an escape, a way of checking out for a bit. Most teenagers experiment, ours even more so.’ His phone rang.
‘Do you need…’ Rachel said.
‘Voicemail’s on.’
‘What can you tell me about Sean?’
‘He wasn’t helping, that’s for sure.’ James Raleigh closed the file and sat back in his chair. ‘They’d met before she began living independently. He was known as a small-time drug user. We got her the flat on the understanding that it was a sole tenancy, so he couldn’t just move in there wholesale, but he had his feet under the table from the get-go.’
‘And their relationship?’ Rachel said.
‘He was an enabler. Without Sean, Lisa might have kicked the drugs into touch. An outside chance. With Sean, forget it. Like trying to stop smoking when someone’s waving a full pack of King Size in front of your face, lighter at the ready.’
Rachel instantly craved a cigarette. ‘We’ve had reports of domestic violence,’ she said.
He gave a nod. ‘According to her records, Lisa had a reputation for violence when she was in Ryelands. Now and then she’d explode. A lot of anger.’
‘Can’t think why,’ Rachel said.
He smiled. ‘Sean, I don’t know so much about, but he doesn’t have any compunction about hitting a woman.’
‘But it wasn’t necessarily Lisa who was the punchbag?’
‘No, though he’d be stronger than her.’
Rachel agreed. He wasn’t a big lad, but he wasn’t a weed either, and Lisa had been slightly built. ‘Did Lisa ever use a knife?’ She thought of the crime-scene album, the blood. Had Lisa gone for Sean and he’d wrested the weapon from her, used it?
‘Not that I’ve come across. Anything to hand, I’d imagine. You think he might have done it?’ Raleigh asked.
‘Too early to say,’ Rachel said. ‘Would it surprise you?’
‘No, not at all,’ he said frankly.
‘OK. Lisa was signing on?’
‘That’s right, we were looking at access courses and improving her literacy and numeracy skills. Getting Lisa into a job and getting shot of Sean would have been the way to turn it all around, but it’s hopeless out there. That age especially. Dozens of kids after every minimum-wage vacancy.’
Rachel tried to imagine the girl on the mortuary trolley in a job interview. Failed.
‘Things weren’t great between Lisa and her mother. It was all or nothing. Denise veered from being a wreck unable to cope with anything to wanting to be best buddies. That inconsistency, it’s very difficult for a child. Denise would get drunk and emotional and ring Lisa, and either Lisa would hang up or they’d end up in a shouting match. Our aim is to keep families together as much as is possible, but sometimes the family isn’t a healthy unit. The relationships get stuck in a self-perpetuating cycle that doesn’t help anybody.’
‘Sounds hopeless,’ Rachel said.
‘Sometimes I think it is, but I’m not a complete pessimist.’ He smiled. ‘With the right sort of intervention, sustained and well resourced-’
‘Throw money at it,’ she said.
‘Couldn’t the same be said in crime prevention? Early intervention, working with the family as a whole? Tough love?’ He was smiling, teasing her.
‘How often did you see Lisa?’
‘Every fortnight at first, then once a month. She could phone in between if there were problems.’
‘Did she?’
‘Couple of times. Cock-ups with the housing benefit, that sort of thing.’
‘Was she involved in any other sexual relationships?’ Rachel asked.
‘No.’ He looked curious.
‘Prostitution?’
‘No. Though she wouldn’t necessarily tell me.’
‘She didn’t confide in you?’
‘Not much. Conflicting view of social workers. She knew I was there to help, to give her support, but that can be read as bossing her about.’ His phone rang again and he glanced at his watch. ‘Timewise…’
‘Nearly done,’ Rachel said. She skimmed back over her notes. ‘And when did you last see her?’
‘The twenty-fifth of November.’
‘And how was she then?’
‘I had no particular concerns – nothing new, anyway,’ he amended. ‘I’ve tried talking to her about rehab, but it’s got to come from them.’
‘Was anyone threatening her? Did she have any enemies?’
‘No.’
‘Thanks. If anything else occurs, just give us a ring.’ Rachel passed him a card, the MIT number. It didn’t have her name on yet, something she’d have to ask Gill about – or Andy. As sergeant, he might be more approachable.
Raleigh got up to show her out. His phone was bleating and she signalled that she could make her own way and left him to his work.
Rachel was still out when the mobile phone company came back to say they had just emailed the data the team were waiting on, so Janet printed off all the details, waded through it and relayed the crucial bits to Gill. Incoming text at half past twelve, from a number not yet known to the inquiry. Outgoing text to that number immediately after. No way of knowing the content of the texts. Outgoing call at twelve fifty-five p.m. to a local landline number. Two incoming calls, the first at thirteen ten from Sean Broughton.
‘As he told us, backed up by his phone log,’ said Gill.
‘And the second, thirteen fourteen from Denise. Which also fits,’ Janet said. The FLO, true to his word, had got Denise’s mobile charged and then checked the calls she’d made.
‘Who’s the landline?’
Janet shrugged. Gill picked up the office phone and dialled.
‘Taxi?’ came the answer. Janet could hear from where she was standing.
‘Bingo,’ Gill mouthed. She handed the receiver to Janet so she could get details from the dispatcher and locate the driver who had picked up Lisa.
When she came off the phone, Gill nodded: ‘Put Kevin out of his misery.’
Janet looked, Do I have to? Kevin still working his way through the directory – T for taxi.
‘Be nice,’ Gill warned. ‘What about cell site location?’
‘Later today, maybe first thing tomorrow,’ Janet said. ‘Right, I’m off to see a man about a cab.’
‘Rachel still out?’ Gill looked at her watch.
‘Still with the personal advisor,’ Janet guessed.
‘If she’s done, take her with you,’ Gill said.
Oh, bloody marvellous. Gill was determined to force them together at every opportunity. Janet phoned Racheclass="underline" ‘Where are you?’ Hoping she’d be busy.
‘On my way back,’ Rachel said, an edge to her voice, as though she thought Janet didn’t trust her.
‘Meet me at Speedy Cabs.’
‘We got the taxi!’ Rachel suddenly alive and excited.
11
SPEEDY CABS OPERATED out of a railway arch close to the canal in Ardwick. Either side were a welding outfit and a pallets store. Janet wondered if the curved roof caused a headache for the pallets firm, space they paid for and couldn’t use, not ideally suited to the square shape of the stock.
Rachel was there already having a fag by the railings. ‘Kevin came through?’ She sounded surprised.
Janet shook her head. ‘’Fraid not. Cell-phone provider.’
Rachel dropped her cig and ground it out. They crossed the cobbled street to the front of the archway, went in through a steel door that led in turn to the dispatcher’s office and a small rest area where a couple of drivers were having lunch. The telly in the corner was showing a rerun of the latest Manchester derby.
‘Ladies,’ said the dispatcher.
Janet and Rachel showed their warrant cards.