Desperate Measures - [12]

Day Two – Wednesday

Chapter 10

As soon as Janine heard that Fraser McKee was in police custody for his own protection, she arranged to have him transferred to her station for interview as a victim and potential witness.

Her first impression was that the man was scared witless, tension evident in the set of his shoulders, the light in his eyes. Wounds on his face had been cleaned up but Janine doubted that he’d got any sleep.

‘I’m DCI Janine Lewis,’ she told him, ‘in charge of the inquiry into the murder of Dr Halliwell.’

McKee nodded, rubbed a finger under his nose.

‘DI Richard Mayne,’ Richard introduced himself.

‘You’ve seen a doctor,’ Janine said. ‘Is there anything else you need?’

‘No.’ McKee kept blinking, pale lashes against pale blue eyes. He seemed to find it hard to maintain eye contact.

‘Perhaps you could tell us what happened?’ Janine said.

‘I…erm…’ he was jittery, a fist tapping on the edge of the table as he talked, ‘I left work and went home and my house…they’d completely wrecked it. It was… it was incredible, the scale of the destruction. I knew what it meant – they were after me. I had to get away, so I… erm, I got in the car and started driving. I didn’t know where to go. They’d be looking for me.’ His breath was uneven, panicked.

Janine wondered who ‘they’ were but didn’t want to break the flow yet. She nodded for him to continue.

‘Then the news about Don came on the radio. They’d killed Don, oh God, and now my house and I didn’t know what to do.’ He splayed his hands, imploring. ‘Then this car was right up behind me, he forced me off the road. My car turned over, I thought I’d had it… I got out and I just ran, there were woods nearby and I hid there for a while until it got dark, then I made my way to the police station.’ He stopped, his breath uneven and noisy in the small room.

‘What time was it when you left work?’ Janine said.

‘About five thirty,’ McKee said.

‘Dr Halliwell was still there?’ Janine said.

‘Yes.’

‘You sound as though you know who’s behind all this,’ she said.

McKee hesitated, his eyes intense, then said, ‘It’s the Wilson Crew, you’ve heard of them? They broke into the surgery before and now they’ve come back and Don’s got in their way.’

The Wilson Crew were notorious, one of several Manchester gangs who made money primarily from drug pushing and robberies and maintained their power by intimidating anyone who they perceived to be a threat. Gangs were responsible for the majority of shootings in the city. The police operation Xcalibre had been set up to try and purge them from the city streets.

‘No-one was convicted for the previous break-in,’ Janine said.

‘But everyone knew it was them, and stuff like this: shooting, the state of my house, who else could it be?’ His voice was high with fear.

Janine couldn’t make sense of what he was saying. ‘Dr McKee,’ she said, ‘if we accept for a moment that Don Halliwell was shot because he interrupted an attempted break-in, I don’t see why these same people would then set out to vandalise your property and threaten your life.’

He looked incredulous. ‘Because they can, because that’s how they work isn’t it? They intimidate people.’ As an explanation it didn’t hold water.

Richard shifted in his seat. Janine could tell he wasn’t convinced either.

‘What can you tell us about the vehicle that ran you off the road?’ Richard said.

‘It was dark, some sort of 4x4, with those blacked-out windows,’ McKee said.

‘Could you see how many people were in it?’ Richard said.

McKee shook his head.

‘Was there any actual impact? It might help us with forensics,’ Richard said.

‘I’m not sure. I was just trying to get away, it all happened so fast.’ McKee swallowed, rubbed at his nose again.

‘Was the road busy?’ Richard said. He was wondering about witnesses, Janine thought.

‘No,’ McKee said.

‘And the other car didn’t stop?’ Richard said.

‘I don’t know. I think I was unconscious but I don’t know how long for,’ McKee said.

Janine leant forward, ‘Have there been any threats made in the past to you or to other staff by these people?’ she said.

‘No,’ said McKee.

‘And they’re not personally known to you?’ Janine said.

‘No,’ McKee said, his eyes darting away.

Janine asked him if he’d be happy to wait as they made further inquiries and would want to talk to him again.

‘I can stay here?’ he said.

‘Yes,’ she said and he gave a nod.

‘What do you think?’ Janine said to Richard as they travelled up in the lift.

‘His story’s a bit of a dog’s dinner,’ Richard said.

‘Yes. I’m not sure he was being straight with us,’ she said.

‘In fear for his life,’ Richard said.

‘Yes, I believe that but he seemed paranoid. All that stuff about the Wilson Crew targeting him just because they can. I don’t buy that.’

‘Do you think he knows something about the murder?’ Richard said.

‘I can’t tell but he’s holding something back, something that scares him enough to bring him here,’ Janine said.

Chapter 11

Once the reference to the Wilson Crew had been entered into the inquiry log and before she could brief the team, Janine was contacted by DCS Roper from Xcalibre, the gun crime operation. Roper wanted to know where her interest in the Wilsons stemmed from. After she’d explained, he invited himself over to the briefing. Her inquiry had blundered into Xcalibre territory and Roper sounded hell-bent on making it clear where they could and couldn’t tread. ‘Sounds like it does involve the gang,’ Janine said to Richard, ‘at least something’s becoming clearer.’