Cut the deck, p.17
Cut The Deck, page 17
part #1 of DCI Cooper Series
“And as a staff member, Pete Parke would be well aware of this?”
“Of course, look, these boys that complained, they were probably miffed that a teacher broke the no phone rule when they’d get disciplined for it.”
“Or, they were rightly concerned that someone who should know better, entered the changing room when they were getting undressed and that he was carrying a device that can take images and record film.” Cooper got to her feet. “Please excuse me for a moment.”
Alone in the corridor, Cooper placed a call to Superintendent Nixon.
“Cooper?”
“Sir, I’m at Tynemouth Comp. I’m going to bring one of the teachers in for questioning. A man named Pete Parke. His car’s currently at the lab. I heard it was very recently valeted, which is suspicious enough, but I found graffiti concerning him and Rachel Pearson in the girls’ toilets here as well as a report about a safeguarding violation.”
“Be more specific, Cooper.”
“Yes, sir. The graffiti implied Parke and Rachel had a sexual relationship and a report made by two boys accused Parke of bringing his smartphone into the changing rooms. I think this, combined with the fact he drives an estate car that’s enough—”
“Bring him in,” said Nixon. “Do you need assistance?”
“Kowalski and Andrews are stationed here. I’ll have them escort him to HQ.”
“Okay. But Cooper, don’t arrest him unless it’s necessary. Try to get him to come in voluntarily. That way we can run some background and give the lab time to work on the car without eating into the twenty-four hours we’ll get if we arrest him.”
“Good shout, sir. I’ll see what I can do.” Cooper knew she might not have a choice. If Parke refused to leave the school or suspected something was up he’d be unlikely to come to the station voluntarily. It was worth a shot though. She hung up and dialled Sam Sutherland’s number.
“Boss?”
“Hey, Sam. You got a minute?”
“For you, I have two. Keaton and I are putting together a plan for tomorrow. We’re going to find out who ordered the three pope outfits.”
“Great, let me know what you decide. Anyway, you spent the most time with Rachel Pearson’s diary, didn’t you? Did you find anything about the school’s PE teacher in there?”
“Parke? Not that I can recall. Want me to go back through it?”
“Please. Can you ask tech about her phone too, see if there was any romantic communication between her and anyone other than Will Harper.”
“Aye, no worries. What’s going on? You suspect the PE teacher?”
Cooper sneezed and hoped she hadn’t caught something. “Yeah. I’ll have him in HQ within half an hour. Can you do me a favour and ask Tennessee to run a background check on him and have him pull up the guy’s latest DBS check?”
DBS stood for the disclosure and barring service and was the standard check used in the UK for individuals working in schools and organisations where children and vulnerable adults were present.
“Aye. Anything else I can do you for?”
“No, that’s it. I’ll see you in a bit.”
She hung up and re-entered Hutchins’s office. “Brian, I’m going to ask Mr Parke to accompany me to the station.”
“Good God. Are you arresting him?”
“Not yet. I understand he’s teaching at the moment. Can you take me to him?”
A look of worry passed over the man’s face. Having a member of his staff escorted off the premises while OFSTED were present was all he needed right now. He nodded, got to his feet and silently guided Cooper out a side door and across the school field to the sports hall known as the shed.
A basketball lesson was in full swing with rows of teenage boys and girls taking turns to dribble their balls up to the various hoops fastened to the walls and take their shots.
“Mr Parke,” said Cooper as she approached. The man’s eyes narrowed and he wiped his palms on his Adidas joggers. Cooper spoke quietly so as to not attract too much attention from the class. “I’d like to ask you a few questions. Would you please accompany me to the station?”
“Now? I’m teaching a class.”
“Mr Hutchins will have someone cover for you.”
“But… Wait, am I…?” He looked around nervously. “Am I…?”
“You’re helping us with our enquiries,” suggested Cooper. “You want to help us, don’t you?”
“Well, yes, of course.”
“Then follow me.”
The sound of basketballs being bounced off the wooden floor came to an abrupt stop and thirty pairs of eyes followed Pete Parke as he shuffled out of the shed.
Cooper walked ahead and had a quick word with PC Kowalski before turning back to Parke. “This is Mr Parke, he’s kindly agreed to help us with our enquiries. Could you drive him to HQ?”
Kowalski nodded and held the door to his squad car open. Parke’s posture shifted and he swallowed. Cooper wanted to keep him onside as long as she could so she adopted a softer voice and tried to put the man at ease, even though every instinct she had told her to cuff him.
“Mr Parke, this is PC Kowalski and PC Andrews. There’ll give you a lift to the station and make sure you’re comfortable. If you want tea, coffee or anything while you wait for me, just ask. We really appreciate your help. She laid a hand on his arm and the gentle gesture was enough to persuade Parke to get in the squad car.
* * *
Cooper kept Parke plied with tea and chocolate digestives for over an hour while Tennessee worked his magic trawling various databases. The first thing he noticed was that Parke’s latest DBS check should have been renewed two and a half years ago but it hadn’t.
“What else can you tell me?” asked Cooper.
“Peter James Parke, aged fifty-two, married to Heather Parke, three children, two girls and a boy, youngest is sixteen, eldest is twenty-four. He left school at sixteen and played cricket professionally for Durham and Yorkshire, has two caps for England.”
Cooper pulled a mildly impressed expression. “Go on.”
“He retired from cricket at twenty-one after a rotator cuff injury - I got that from Wikipedia - before going back to college to train to become a teacher and has been at Tynemouth Comp for the last fifteen years. No criminal record, couple of speeding fines and police have been called to his home in Cullercoats a number of times over an ongoing dispute with his neighbour.”
“What’s the dispute about?”
“Anti-social behaviour. Loud music, keeping a Shetland pony in the back garden and letting it shit everywhere, throwing fag ends over the garden fence—”
“You’re talking about the neighbour, right? Not Parke.”
Tennessee laughed. “Yeah, the neighbour. Have you heard from Atkinson about the car yet?”
Cooper’s chest warmed at the sound of Atkinson’s name. She checked her phone and shook her head. “They’re doing their best, but it takes time. Shall we pay our guest a visit then?”
Cooper and Tennessee headed to interview suite four where they found Parke dunking a chocolate biscuit into his tea. Around his mouth was a thin circle of dark chocolate. Cooper handed him a tissue and sat down opposite him.
“Thanks again for coming in and helping us, Mr Parke. This is DS Daniel. I hear you were quite the cricketing wiz? Played for England no less.”
Parke studied Cooper. “Have you been running some sort of background check on me?”
“Not at all,” she lied. “Leroy MacDonald mentioned it earlier while I was chatting to him.”
The answer seemed to placate him and he returned to his packet of biscuits.
“What was it like teaching Rachel Pearson?”
Parke sighed. “It could be challenging. I mean, you know about her accident, right? I had to adapt a lot of the lesson plans so that she could still join in. We’d play walking football sometimes and I’d give her easier alternatives for some of the exercises.”
“That’s very inclusive of you.”
“Well I didn’t want her to feel left out, you know.”
“Did you ever give Rachel one-on-one training?”
He shook his head, the circle of chocolate was back around his lips.
“I saw on your desk, that you have pictures of the netball and athletics teams. You must be very proud of their achievements.”
“Oh yes.” The man’s eyes lit up. “Very proud. Well, you’ll know how well the netball team are doing. Tina’s one of the best wing attacks I’ve ever had the pleasure of coaching. So quiet off the court and so aggressive on it.”
Cooper wanted to slap the man and tell him to keep her daughter’s name out of his mouth. Tennessee must have sensed a change in Cooper because he took over the questioning.
“Shelly Smith was on the netball team too, wasn’t she?”
“Yes, she was. Poor soul. Very talented girl, very talented. She was the team captain. Really understood tactics.”
“The last time I spoke to you, you called her bitchy.”
The corners of Parke’s mouth turned down and he lowered his eyes. “Yes, I did, didn’t I? I’m not proud of that. Even if she could be that way inclined, it’s no way to speak about a student, especially after what happened to her.”
“And what about Jasmine Lee?” continued Tennessee. “You must have spent a lot of time with her?”
Again, his face lit up. Parke clearly loved talking about his prize athletes. Was he living vicariously through their achievements or did he enjoy talking about these girls for other reasons?
“Jasmine didn’t run. She flew. She was like a comet. I called her The Bullet. She was devastated to only place second in the county trials. A real perfectionist, she was. Second was just never good enough for that one. I know she didn’t apply herself as well as she could in some of her other subjects but she was an angel when it came to PE and games.”
Cooper crossed her legs and smiled too as if she was sharing the memories with Parke. “You must be very proud of what Jasmine and Shelly achieved?”
“Yes, of course, I am. When Shelly joined Tynemouth she couldn’t catch a ball to save her life but by year ten she was captaining the school team.”
“Is that why the photos are on your desk?”
Parke met her eyes and scrutinised her as if he wasn’t sure if she was accusing him of something or not. Cooper kept her face neutral and waited to see how he would react.
“Yes,” he answered with a questioning look. “I am extremely proud of the kids on the sports teams. Some of these kids, they’re not good at academic stuff, struggle with maths and science and the like. If I can help them excel in sports it gives them a sense of achievement that they’re otherwise lacking. A purpose, if you will.”
Cooper nodded in agreement and slid her phone across the desk. “I took this photograph earlier today. It’s from the girls’ toilets on the ground floor corridor.”
Parke’s face flushed beyond red. His cheeks turned to a purplish blue. “I… I…” He swallowed. “I heard I was this year’s punching bag but I’d… I’d never…”
“What do you mean by punching bag, Mr Parke?” asked Tennessee.
“It’s just kids being kids, you know what teenagers are like, there’s always one teacher who gets more than their fair share of rumours being spread about them. It’s obviously my turn.”
“Obviously,” repeated Tennessee, not letting an ounce of sarcasm slip into his voice.
“It was Catherine they went after last year. The rumour was that she was a lesbian. She’s not, but she’s not homophobic either so when she brushed off the rumours and showed she wasn’t bothered the kids must have got bored and moved on to me.”
“Paedo Pete,” said Cooper. “Not a good nickname to find yourself with. Do you think these rumours started after you took your smartphone into the boy’s changing rooms?”
Parke slid his chair back a few inches and shoved his mug of tea away. “That was dealt with internally. How do you know about that?”
“Why did you have your phone on you, Pete? The changing rooms are designated no phone zones, correct?”
Parke looked from Cooper to Tennessee and back again. “Do I need a lawyer?”
“You’re not under arrest.”
“Well, it feels like I am.” Parke stood up and took a step towards the door but found his exit blocked by Tennessee. Cooper now had no choice. If an individual helping police with their inquiries wanted to leave at any point they must be allow ed to. If the police tried to stop said person from leaving they must arrest him or her and let them know their rights.
“Mr Parke, I am arresting you on suspicion of four counts of murder. You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”
Parke’s mouth hung open and he made a futile attempt to manoeuvre around Tennessee. Before Parke even knew what had happened, his hands had been cuffed behind his back.
“I want a lawyer!” His voice quivered between a snarl and a sob.
“And you are entitled to one, Mr Parke,” said Tennessee. “I’ll take you to the custody officer who will brief you on your rights.”
* * *
It took Parke’s lawyer two hours to arrive and a further hour to be fully briefed by his client. Cooper used the time to check in with Sutherland and Keaton about their plan to intercept a delivery of pope outfits the next day. They’d been assigned a handful of PCs, had been in communication with the Royal Mail and seemed to have the whole thing under control. She grabbed a sorry looking sandwich and a packet of salt and vinegar crisps from the canteen and called Atkinson from a quiet corner of the incident room.
“Erica.”
“Hey, Justin. I’m just calling to keep you in the loop. We’ve arrested Pete Parke. I’m hoping you have some news regarding his car.”
“I do actually.”
Cooper’s heart raced.
“The car was thoroughly cleaned. I’d say it underwent two back to back valets given the amount of cleaning solution we found. Anyway, I can tell you that the tyre prints don’t match any of the ones we found at Priors Haven.”
“Shit.”
“But,” he continued, “I did find a long dark hair trapped between the cushions on the back seat.”
“Jasmine Lee had long dark hair, so did Rachel Pearson.”
“We’re checking against the DNA samples we took from Jasmine and Rachel to see if they match.”
“Any chance we can get those results in the next twenty hours?”
Atkinson made a sound as if stifling a laugh.
“It was worth a try,” said Cooper. “Keep doing what you do and call me if you find anything else. Okay?”
“Naturally. Oh, and Erica?”
“Yes?”
“I’m really looking forward to this evening.”
Cooper’s heart raced again and she glanced around the room to make sure no one had noticed her Cheshire Cat grin.
“Me too.”
Across the room, Keaton waved to her and called out, “Boss, the lawyer wants you.”
Cooper picked up her files and made her way back to the interview suite, making sure to sweep the crisp crumbs from her suit jacket. She recognised Zach Hodge at once. He was a squat, mousy-haired man who spoke with a lisp and walked with a cane.
“I’m afraid this has been a waste of both of our times, DCI Cooper. Had you asked the most important question first, you’d know my client’s alibi is airtight and you must release him at once.”
Cooper felt as if she’d been sucker punched. She rested her back against the wall and cursed at her feet. “Go on then,” she said, inviting Hodge to pass over the information he had gleaned. He was probably going to relish in it as well.
“At the time of Rachel Pearson’s murder on Tuesday the thirteenth, my client was at home with his wife and three kids. At the time of Michelle Smith’s murder, he was, as you can probably guess, already at work. The school operate an electronic signing in system. His time of arrival will be logged on the system.”
“And on Monday night? I know he was involved in the search party, what about before and after?”
“My client was coaching an inter-school football match when he heard Jasmine and Reuben had gone missing. He went straight from the game to the search, where he helped until ten p.m., afterwards he had a drink in the Salutation Inn on Front Street. He’s confident the barman will remember him as not many men drink rosé wine. He was back with his wife by ten fifty.”
A string of expletives exploded in Cooper’s head. The lawyer was right, this had been a massive waste of time and instead of bumbling on about photographs and graffiti, her first port of call should have been to establish any alibi. Zach Hodge’s cane tapped against the floor as he waited for Cooper’s response. No doubt his lawyer buddies would get a good laugh out of the stupid female detective who was letting her standards slip.
“He’s not leaving until I can confirm his version of events with his wife, the school and the Salutation Inn. You’re welcome to wait.”
Hodge scoffed. “I have better things to do, detective. However, I will be calling to check up on my client. If he hasn’t been released by four p.m. I will be back and I will be very annoyed.”
Cooper turned so he couldn’t see her rolling her eyes.
- CHAPTER 28 -
After a refreshing shower and a liberal application of aromatherapy oils, Cooper joined Tina in the dining room where she found her daughter stirring a pot of massaman curry whilst simultaneously flicking through the Tarot Card Killer’s case file.
The scent of lemongrass and coriander crashed over Cooper. “It smells like heaven in here,” she said, taking the file from Tina. She stopped short of chastising her or even giving her a reproachful look. Tina was inquisitive by nature and telling her off for reading the file whilst she was cooking up a storm on her behalf would be ungrateful at best and shitty parenting at worst.
