“What is it you want this bleeding time anyway?” Derek had reached them now and stood next to them looking browbeaten.
“Harry Jones,” Joseph began.
“I heard he got himself into a spot of bother. Mother phoned up, said he’d be off for a while. Is he doing all right?”
“He’ll be fine,” Joseph went on. “What can you tell us about Harry?”
“He’s one of the good ones,” Derek nodded. “Doesn’t cause me aggravation, unlike some. Always willing to go that extra mile. He’ll go far.”
“You’ve never had cause to suspect he might be involved in anything involving criminality? Gangs or anything like that?”
Derek snorted. “Harry? Pull the other one. The lad’s a drip. He’s not got the backbone for that sort of thing. He gets his head down and does what he’s told. He’d be too scared to lose this job than risk it for a few extra bob to turn a blind eye. I’d say more than likely he took a kicking for saying no to something rather than doing anything untoward. He’s a good lad. Not the sort of lad to get himself mixed up in anything.”
“You like him then?” Ray asked.
“As much as some of the others.” Derek didn’t quite bristle at the suggestion that he might like one of his underlings, but the way he spoke hinted at disinterest rather than friendship. “Works for me, does what I say. I can’t ask for more than that. Never had cause to go for a pint with him. That’s not how I do things round here.”
“And the name Tommy Jay, that doesn’t mean anything to you?” Joseph asked.
“It means a hell of a lot to anyone who works around here. Man’s a menace and the sooner you lot put him behind bars the better.”
“I mean in relation to Harry Jones.”
Derek shook his head, a derisory look on his face. The sort usually used by disappointed parents or teachers. “Tommy Jay and Harry Jones. That’s honestly one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard. What are they training you young coppers for today? Certainly not to use an ounce of common sense. Thought some of the wogs and nig nogs we had coming in here had sawdust between their ears sometimes, but none of them would be daft enough to think that.”
Joseph waited for Ray to say something, but this time he didn’t. All three of them stood as if waiting for someone else to move the conversation along. Joseph licked his lips and forced himself to be that person. “Well, thank you Mr Nadderley,” he said, feeling completely craven as he did so. “Very helpful.”
24.
On the drive back to the station, the conversation turned to Harry and Tommy Jay’s relationship.
“Do you think there’s something in what Derek said, that he turned down Tommy Jay and that’s why he got beaten up?” Joseph couldn’t help but feel sorry for Harry. If anything, he reminded Joseph of himself. Another scared young man, looking for someone to tell him what to do. Joseph knew fear better than most.
“It’s something to keep in mind. We need to work out exactly what he was doing at one of Tommy’s places, and what he said that led to him getting seven barrels knocked out of him a couple of minutes later,” Ray said as he drove. “But now’s the time to put it all to Mr Jay. I want to get back in there with him as soon as we’re back,” Ray said, before adding, “Well, after we’ve got a cuppa in us. He’s not going anywhere.”
“I thought it was interesting, you know, what Robert Smith said about Gerald Trainer never being short of money.” They’d already found out that he wasn’t pulling a fast one on his room-mates, but if he was doing better than expected, they needed to know why.
“Working out how we do that won’t be easy. Can’t exactly ask him.”
“No, but we can ask people who knew him. His flatmates. People from his local. His girlfriend.”
“Janet Scott? I’m not sure that’s an avenue we should be rushing back down, do you?”
“Not even if it’s pertinent to the investigation?”
Ray sighed. “Tell you what. We’ll ask everyone else first, and if we can’t figure it out from them, we’ll ask her. The lady has got enough on her plate though. Pregnant and what have you. We shouldn’t be causing her any extra stress. And chances are, when it comes to money, anything he told her isn’t worth taking much notice of.”
“How do you mean?”
Ray shot him a bewildered glance. “Really?”
Once again, Joseph didn’t know what to say. Ray gave up waiting eventually. “Blokes lie to women, you know.”
“Why?”
Ray looked again. A different look this time. Still part bewildered, but there was something else. It looked a little like panic.
“I mean…”
“What?”
“Why do you think they lie?”
Joseph shrugged.
“When they’re courting them.”
“Why would they do that? Surely they just get found out?”
“Well, they do. But usually they’re not that bothered.”
“The women?”
“The men.”
“Why not?”
“Well, they’ve got what they wanted, haven’t they?”
