Nothing but Meat: A dark, heart-stopping British crime thriller Page 13

  He was in deep shit and the situation was on the verge of becoming as bad as it could get. He was already racked with guilt and fear, fear not only for himself and his future but also for the man in hospital. If the man died, Nathan wasn’t sure if he could live with himself, and if he got caught, he would have to deal with the shame, he would have to look his father in the eye and admit what he had done and his father would have to live with the fact that his son was a criminal, maybe even a murderer and watch him go to prison.

  He spoke out-loud to the empty room while the radio played Tracks of my Tears. ‘I think I’ve ruined my life,’ he said.

  13

  When Simone teamed up with her new unit she found that she had been partnered with Kris Jung and she was okay with that. She had worked with him before, in her early days shortly after she finished her training and joined the Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

  She remembered that she had found him difficult when they first worked together but she thought it had more to do with her attitude than his. Whereas she was eager and keen to get to know people Jung was aloof and quiet, and she found it damn near impossible to make small talk with him. He was content to sit in silence and gave the impression that he was all business. At first she thought it was because he didn’t like her and, not understanding why, found herself resenting it. In the end she finally gave up trying to make a connection and sometimes found herself on the offensive, taking a hard edged attitude, one rooted deeply in the vein of - if you don’t like me, then you can fuck off. But as she got to know him a little more she began to understand that his attitude towards her was nothing personal, he was like that with everyone; it was just the way he was and people had to deal with it. Throughout her time at the station she hadn’t heard anyone suggest Jung was anything other than a decent guy and a solid, trustworthy police officer.

  Simone knew he was one of the good guys and had the feeling that once he really got to know someone he would be as forthcoming as the next person, but considered that the reason he clammed up around people he viewed as outsiders most likely stemmed from a lifetime of being judged on the way he looked and was probably deep rooted as far back as childhood.

  Jung was about as distinctive as a person could be; an intimidating man-mountain, six-two and wide as a house, with huge muscular arms and shoulders, a dark, pointed goatee beard and a massive bald head. He had lightly tanned skin and slightly narrow eyes – both gifts, he once told Simone during one of the rare occasions she got him to talk about himself, from his Nepalese father who fought as a Ghurkha in the British Army.

  His nickname around the station was The Rock, a name based on his similarity to the American wrestler-cum-actor. As nicknames go, it definitely wasn’t unjustified and even Jung couldn’t deny the similarity between himself and The Rock and completely understood why people were more likely to refer to him by his adopted sobriquet than they were by his real name.

  Once seen he was never forgotten, and Simone once heard another officer, on seeing him for the first time and waiting until he was well out of ear shot, sum him up in one simple sentence by saying, ‘God wasn’t fucking around when he made that one.’

  Jung wasn’t a loner, not by any means; he had friends, and work colleagues that could trust him and rely on him whenever they needed to but, as far as she knew, he never got too close and rarely confided in anyone.

  He was a good cop but a private one and in many ways that suited her now as her situation had changed since she last worked with him, she now had things in her life she wanted to keep to herself and she knew she could relax in his company, safe in the knowledge that he wouldn’t probe her or ask trying questions about her private life as he was no more interested in gossip than he was small talk.

  Simone was glad not to have been assigned to the same unit as Lucy as there was a high chance they would have been partnered up together. Lucy was Simone’s closest colleague and she enjoyed spending time with her but she was the complete opposite to Jung, Lucy was a gossip and liked to talk, she asked questions and kept digging until she got the answers she wanted. The more Simone considered it; it was definitely a blessing in disguise and she looked forward to the peace and quiet that would come from working with Jung.

  Simone and Jung contacted Gary Stevens’ fiancé, Caroline Sheppard and arranged to meet her at the hospital where Stevens’ was being treated for the injuries sustained in the attack.

  Simone attempted small talk with Jung but even though she knew there was little chance of stimulating a reaction she couldn’t help herself, it felt strange to sit in a car with someone and not talk. Jung responded with one-syllable answers and changed Simone’s irrelevance into discussion about the case. Simone had no problem with it; in fact she felt secure in the knowledge that although her life had been drenched in blood and murder over the last few weeks she was sitting next to someone who had hardly changed at all during all the years she had known him, and that gave her a sense of wellbeing and safety that surprised her and cheered her up in equal measure.

  Gary Stevens’ fiancée was by his bedside when they arrived at the hospital and they invited her to the canteen for a coffee.

  ‘What do you want from me?’ she snapped suddenly at Simone while Jung busied himself with the coffee machine. ‘Dragging him to the station and parading him on television like some psycho killer. Who do you lot think you are? You make me fucking sick.’

  There was a resemblance between Caroline Sheppard and Victoria Redman that Simone found unnerving. Except it was strange, even though she was only somewhere in her mid-twenties, Caroline Sheppard looked how Victoria Redman would have looked if she had lived to see her late thirties and had ruined herself with drug and alcohol addiction. Beyond that, they were so similar they could have been the same person with only years and weight that separated them.

  Caroline Sheppard was thin, with a pallid, tight skinned face, she wore cheap stonewashed jeans that covered a behind small enough to make a seventeen year old girl jealous. Her hair was home coloured in an unusual and probably unintended shade of red and her nose was pierced on both sides, with a ring on one and a stud on the other. Simone didn’t judge on appearance; in her younger years, she herself used to have a pierced nose and went through phases of dyeing her hair. Simone judged her on her attitude and aggressive behaviour and noticed that her hands shook and wondered if it was in anger or some uncontrollable post-addiction affliction.

  Simone asked calmly, ‘Can we sit down and have a chat?’

  Caroline snorted, ‘I ain’t got time.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Gotta leave for work soon and besides I didn’t see nothing. Just found him laying there outside on the pavement.’

  ‘When you found him did you see anything at all? Was there anyone else around?’

  ‘No. Listen I have to go home, I have to change into my uniform.’

  ‘I’m sure work will understand if you’re late.’

  ‘I’ve gotta keep working haven’t I? Gotta pay the fuckin’ bills. How else are we going to get through this? He’s not going to be earning any time soon is he? Not now, not after what’s happened to him.’

  ‘Listen to me.’ Jung intervened, ‘Calm down or we’ll take you in and do this at the station.’ Simone knew instantly that Jung’s attitude was the wrong approach for such a volatile interviewee and she was right Caroline Sheppard erupted furiously at him.

  ‘Don’t you fuckin’ tell me to calm down!’ she snarled. ‘What? You want to arrest me? How about you go and arrest the bloke that attacked my Gary? Try doing some proper police work for a change. Fucking Rozzers.’

  Simone caught his eye and flashed him her disapproval. ‘Miss Sheppard,’ she said, ‘Caroline, I can assure you we’re doing all we can but we need your help too, we need you to help us catch whoever did this to Gary. We don’t want to hold you up any longer than necessary so maybe if you go home and get ready for work now you might be able to spare five minutes of your time before you leave. We’re perfectly willi
ng to meet you at your home a little later on.’

  Caroline Sheppard looked at Jung with fire in her eyes but Jung just stared down at her with a blank expression. So she looked back to Simone and sighed. ‘Okay, fine,’ she said.

  Simone nodded and they began walking towards the exit with Jung heading up the rear.

  ‘Where do you work?’ Simone asked her as they crossed the car park. Jung kept his distance and let Simone become her confidant.

  ‘Starbucks,’ she said. ‘I work part time.’

  ‘What time do you start?’

  ‘In an hour and a half, but I’ve got to get home, I’ve got to get changed, I’ve got to-’

  Simone interrupted her and tried to reassure her, ‘Here’s what we’ll do, you go home, shower, change, do whatever it is you have to do and we will pop round in an hour. I promise we’ll be in and out in a matter of minutes; all that I ask is that you run through what happened that night while you get ready for work. Don’t force your memory, just replay it your mind as you go through your routine. You may remember something new; some small detail that ends up making a big difference.’

  ‘Okay, okay, I will, but I can’t be late for work.’

  ‘You won’t be, but if you are, I will call your work and explain to them that it was my fault, I delayed you.’

  She looked panicked. ‘I’ve got to keep everything together. He saved my life, got me back on my feet. He was a decent bloke Gary was. Still is, still will be. I can’t afford to lose this job.’

  ‘You won’t.’

  Simone confirmed Caroline’s address and phone number against her notes, reassured her again and walked back to the car with Jung. ‘You came on too heavy earlier,’ she said to him.

  ‘It worked though didn’t it?’

  Simone suddenly realised that his earlier attitude was a deliberate ploy to get Caroline Sheppard to trust Simone. She couldn’t believe she fell for it too. She shook her head at her own naivety and glanced at him with a slight hint of embarrassment. ‘Clever,’ she said.

  ‘Not really,’ he said. ‘She distrusts the police so I just acted how she expected us to act and pushed her closer to you. But you gained her trust and I’m sure she’s on her way home right now trying her best to remember every little detail about the night Stevens was attacked. It wouldn’t surprise me if she even makes notes about it for when we see her later on.’

  After a moment of silence she said. ‘She’s so concerned about losing her job, and it’s so unnecessary; no employer in their right mind would sack her after what’s happened to her fiancé.’

  ‘She met him at The Shelter right?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Which means there’s a high probability that she used to be homeless, and now her only connection with safety and security is critically ill in hospital. Not to mention that she probably loves him,’ he said. ‘She’s dealing with a lot of shit at the moment and can only imagine things getting worse. Everything good about her life is unravelling and slipping away from her. I’m sure her boss told her to take some time off but I’ll bet she insisted on working.’

  ‘That’s actually quite insightful,’ Simone conceded.

  ‘Yeah well, maybe after today,’ he said as he walked around the car, ‘you’ll realise that I’m not the blundering idiot you think I am.’

  ‘I don’t think you’re a blundering idiot,’ she protested.

  It was his turn to shake his head. ‘You are so easy to fuck with Connelly; I’m going love working with you.’

  Simone wanted to go back to the station in the spare hour before meeting Caroline Sheppard at her home. Jung dropped her off and went to get some lunch and fuel for the car. She checked her desk for paperwork and felt the need to see West but he wasn’t in the building.

  She waited in the sun for Jung to return and considered that revisiting Caroline Sheppard may not reward them with any more information but Simone hoped that her suggestion that Caroline may be more likely to remember something if she was able to be alone with her thoughts for a while, going through her daily routine away from the pressures of police interrogation may just tease one significant detail from her memory and point them in the right direction.

  At Caroline Sheppard’s home the sight of a car in the driveway caused a slight feeling of relief to subconsciously nudge its way into the back of Simone’s mind. She was glad Caroline had waited for them to arrive but even so she wondered whether they should have called ahead just to make sure she was still okay with their visit and to reassure her again that there was no need to worry about her job.

  Simone’s phone rang just as they were getting out of the car and Jung hesitated on the pavement while she answered it.

  She saw on the display that it was West. ‘Connelly.’ she said.

  Silence. Just a few seconds but enough to signal something was wrong. ‘Hello?’ she said into the dark abyss of the receiver.

  ‘He’s dead,’ said West. ‘The old bugger’s died.’

  Her body felt suddenly weak and loose at the news of Jack West’s death and she turned her back to Jung and said, ‘Oh Nathan, I’m so sorry, are you okay?’

  ‘I just thought you should know,’ he said and hung up. She stared at her phone an image of West grieving alone floated terribly in her mind.

  ‘You okay?’ said Jung yanking her back to reality.

  ‘Yeah. I’m fine,’ but her voice was phoney and betrayed her.

  Jung knew she was lying and Simone could see it in his face but he let it go. Simone tried to put the news to the back of her mind as they made their way to the house.

  Jung's knock received no answer so Simone tried calling but the phone rang inside as if no one was home.

  ‘Could she have walked to work?’ Simone said, thinking out loud.

  Jung shrugged, ‘Where’s the nearest Starbucks?’ he said and knocked loudly on the door again.

  ‘No idea. Miles away,’ Simone said and then called through the letterbox, ‘Caroline, it’s PC Connelly. Are you home?’ Beyond the letterbox Simone could see down the corridor and through to the rear of the house. ‘The French doors are open round the back,’ she said.

  Jung took her cue and led them towards the back garden.

  ‘This is wrong,’ he said to her quietly and she gave him a look of agreement as they entered the rear of the house.

  ‘Stay alert,’ she whispered.

  The house was small, boasting nothing more than a lounge, kitchen and toilet downstairs and they checked each room quickly but carefully.

  ‘Miss Sheppard?’ Simone called out. ‘Are you home?’ They stood in the silence and looked at each other until Simone whispered, ‘Upstairs.’

  Jung nodded and took the stairs ahead of her, creeping slowly upwards, filling the stairwell with his huge frame. When Jung stepped onto the landing it creaked loudly in the silent house and they both paused and waited, listening for something, anything.

  They entered the upstairs corridor and Jung pushed open the door of the first room they came to. It was the spare room and it seemed empty, Jung stood by the doorframe, covering both the corridor and the room and motioned for Simone to go in and quickly check the areas they couldn’t see. She looked behind the door, the bed and a tall wardrobe and then she flung the wardrobe open and stepped back in case someone was hiding inside, ready to pounce. Nothing. She shook her head at Jung and they moved on to the next room.

  They found Caroline Sheppard inside the master bedroom. She was sitting at a dressing table with her back to the door as they entered. They could see straight away that her hands were bound behind her back and her naked arms were dark with blood.

  ‘Shit!’ said Jung and made to move towards her but Simone stopped him by quickly grabbing his arm to get his attention. ‘Jung,’ she whispered and shushed him, she mouthed silently, ‘We need to check the room!’ Jung nodded back and pointed out the wardrobe and the en-suite.

  ‘I’ve got it covered,’ he said quietly. ‘You help her.’


  As Simone approached Caroline, she stayed alert and continued to look around the room for signs of movement. She pulled her mobile from her pocket, hit the speed dial and called for backup.

  She pressed her fingers into Caroline’s neck. Searching for a pulse but couldn’t be sure if she could feel one or not, she took her fingers away and pressed again. She could feel her own heart pounding in her chest and couldn’t tell if what she felt was Caroline’s pulse or her own transmitting into her fingertips.

  Jung came back from the en-suite. ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Backup will be here in ten,’ she said.

  ‘I’m going to check the rest of the house. Keep an eye on the door until I get back. Don’t let anyone creep up on you.’

  ‘I can’t find her pulse,’ she said, she was frustrated with herself for not being able to tell if it was simply too late to help Caroline.

  Jung touched Caroline’s neck, paused and said, ‘She’s alive. Just. Stay with her and stay alert’

  Simone acknowledged him with a grateful nod and turned her attention back to Caroline.

  Caroline was naked and her hands were bound behind her back with nylon cable ties. Her flesh from head to toe had been slashed with a knife. Multiple stab wounds and hundreds of cuts lacerated her entire body and the handle of what looked to be a bread knife jutted from deep within her belly.

  Caroline’s droopy eyelids fluttered when Simone lifted her head gently from her chest to help clear her airway. When her head was upright and her throat unobstructed she suddenly took a huge, wheezy intake of air and exhaled wearily, causing bubbles of bloody spittle to pop and spray onto Simone’s white shirt.

  This sudden sign of life sent Simone into overdrive. ‘Caroline! Stay with me!’ she said, and still holding Caroline’s head upright with one hand, scrambled her other across the dressing table sending make-up and other products clattering onto the floor until she found what she was looking for. She took the nail scissors and snipped the cable ties from Caroline’s bloody wrists and as soon as they were cut free from each other her arms fell limply by her side. Simone gently lifted Caroline’s blue twisted hands and rested them together in her lap. She wanted to lay Caroline on the bed, to make her more comfortable but knew there was no way to move her with a knife sticking from her stomach. Simone stood behind Caroline and supported her head by holding her gently under the chin and cradling her into her hip. Simone shushed her softly and told her to hang on, to stay with her over and over again. She could hear Caroline breathing with a slow quiet rattle and she coughed blood again. Simone felt it drool over her hands and seep through her dark trousers onto her skin.