book title

Accompanied by CSI Jeff Foxhall, Jess and Rose walked Leek’s streets, alleyways, and known haunts of the homeless community in the hope someone knew who their murder victim was, but many of these men and women had complex problems mostly with alcohol and drugs, which only exasperated their mental health making them reluctant to speak to the police about anything.

A couple in their thirties didn’t recognise the description of the victim but still gave DNA, fingerprint and hair samples without reluctance, so they left them to their White Lightning cider.

A middle-aged bloke with dreadlocks accompanied by a cute Jack Russel wearing a filthy bandana around its neck said he'd heard rumours about the murder, but he had no knowledge of the victim, and as far as he was aware, all the homeless he knew were still alive.

On Church Street, they bumped into Destiny outside the Foxlowe Arts Centre and café.

‘Hiya, how did it go last night?’ Jess asked.

The girl glanced nervously around as if she didn’t want to be seen talking to the cops. ‘Yeah, it was good, thanks.’

‘How many nights have they given you?’ Jess asked.

Grinning she said, ‘I can stay until they get me a room in shared accommodation.’

‘That’s lovely to hear,’ Rose said.

‘Would you mind if we took some samples from you, DNA, fingerprints and hair?’

A shocked look appeared on Destiny’s face. ‘Do I have to do it; I didn’t kill that bloke, honestly?’

‘I’d sincerely hope not, but no, you don’t have to its voluntary. We just want to eliminate as many people as we can from our inquiries. All samples are destroyed afterwards; they can’t be used against you,’ Jess said, reassuring her.

‘OK,’ she nodded nervously.

Jess led her to Jeff’s van parked opposite in Market Square.

‘Really appreciate that, Destiny,’ Jess said after she’d given them the samples.

Foxhall named and dated the samples and placed them in a secure box alongside the others they’d collected.

Reaching in her coat pocket, Jess pulled out her purse and fished out a tenner. ‘Treat yourself to some lunch,’ she handed the note to Destiny.

‘Wow, thanks. Have you been to the new homeless drop-in centre on St Edwards Street?’ she asked them.

‘Drop in centre?’ Jess asked surprised they’d not heard about it. Why hadn’t anyone at social care told them, she thought.

‘It used to be at St Marys, only opened a couple of weeks ago at the new place. Everyone goes for the free tea and nosh. The Bible Bashers are running it,’ she informed them.

‘I see.

‘I'm going down there now, you can come after. If I rock up with the cops the others would give me loads of grief,’ she said pacing off down the street in front of them.

Five minutes later, Jess and Rose entered the converted shop; there were six round top tables, a scaffold plank shelf with high stools running the length of the right-hand wall. At the end of the room, the serving counter was made of pallets painted white. There was no sign of Destiny, the place was empty apart from an elderly gent with a shock of white hair wearing a dog collar and a woman in her early fifties with brown hair speckled with grey, cut into a short bob.

The pensioner approached them, ‘Hello, can I help you?’

Jess studied his portly frame. ‘Yes, I take it you're a man of the cloth?’

‘It’s a bit of a giveaway,’ he sniggered fingering his collar. ‘I’m Father Doyle, how can I help?’

‘I’m detective Jessica Ryan this is DS Martina, and Jeff Foxhall from Stoke forensics. Take it you've heard about the homeless man found murdered in a derelict engineering works yesterday?’

‘Of course, it's the talk of the town,’ he said, offering out a hand.

‘We've been speaking to your flock around town but conveniently, no one seems to know whom the man was. Have any of the homeless who use this place mentioned a name?’

Father Doyle turned to the woman. ‘Has anyone mentioned a name to you, Mary?’

‘No, I don't think he was one of our regulars.’

The CSI took a seat behind the detectives and listened.

‘Thought you'd only been open a couple of weeks?’ Jess asked.

‘It's almost three weeks now,’ Father Doyle said, but initially we opened on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Maybe this poor unfortunate soul was new to the area. The homeless community is nomadic at times; new faces come and go all the time. May I ask what happened to him?’

Jess looked at Rose. ‘His body was discovered by an unfortunate dog walker around seven a.m. Sunday. Our investigation is in its early stages so I can't share too many details, but I can tell you he was brutally murdered, Father.’

He glanced upwards as if searching for an answer from the big man above. ‘That's terrible who’d want to kill a defenceless homeless man?’

‘That's what we're trying to find out. Young lady named Destiny told us about this place, said she was coming down here before us,’ Jess said.

‘Hmm, is she about five three, messy brown hair in a ponytail poking out of a cap?’ he asked.

‘That's her,’ Rose said.

‘Did she say anything else?’ Mary asked.

‘Not really, apart from telling us you’d only been open a week and like every other homeless people we've spoken to around town, didn't know the victim.’

‘I'm afraid anything Bethany says needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt. Don't get me wrong she’s a lovely girl, harmless as far as we can tell but she's known for embellishing the truth inspector.’

‘So Destiny is an alias?’

He smiled. ‘She uses that moniker when anyone in authority speaks to her. She’s street savvy and would have spotted you ladies as police from fifty-yards away.’

‘Well, we fixed her up with a bed at the Samaritans last night. Naturally she was nervous at first, but she seems like a lovely girl.’

‘Lovely to hear, it’s getting colder by the week. Have you manged to find her anywhere long term? Believe me we’ve tried but she’s got some issues unfortunately, then again most of these poor souls have.’

‘Issues?’ Jess said.

The priest gave her a lacklustre smile. ‘Prone to violent outbursts if anyone winds her up.’

‘I see. How long has she been in Leek?’

‘Maybe six-months, hard to say for sure; like I said she’s a nice girl, but bends the truth at times.’

‘Right, we didn’t get that impression, but you know her better than us; we’ll keep an eye out for her,’ Jess said.

Rose interjected. ‘It's very quiet today, where is everyone? We were hoping to get some elimination DNA and fingerprints.’

‘Really? you can try, but I’d be surprised if many cooperated with that,’ Father Doyle said sceptically. I'd put their absence down to this man’s murder; it spooked them all.’

‘This morning before we started, I’d have been inclined to agree, but we’ve spoken to four homeless people already and they’ve all given us their samples,’ Jess said.

‘Hmm, that is surprising, but pleasing to hear. People often think of the homeless as faceless drug addicts, when in reality they are often victims of damaging life events, making them vulnerable people with complex needs. Thankfully, the Lord never abandons the weak and those in need,’ Doyle said sermonising.

‘Quite. Okay, how many rough sleepers use this place a week?’ Jess asked.

Father Doyle turned to Mary, lowering his voice he uttered something the two detectives couldn’t make out.

Turning back to them he said, ‘We think there's about forty or so at present.’

‘What's the gender mix?’ Jess said.

Father Doyle raised his right hand and began to count with his fingers. ‘Thirty males and ten females, including, Bethany. We can get you a list of names if that helps?’

‘We've got a list of the people who've registered with social care, but given what you just said, that’s not everyone, so that will really help, thank you.’

‘Father, how long have you worked with the homeless in Leek?’

‘Now you're asking, I'd say it's about eight months but don't really keep tabs these days. But I've been doing God's work in the Moorlands and Stoke ever since I retired from my Parish Church.’

‘Which was?’ Jess asked.

‘My last post was over in Stoke, at St Francis’s in Etruria, before that, I was over in Cannock for a few years.’

‘My you do get about,’ Rose said.

‘I go wherever God sends,’ he said righteously.

‘Okay, I'd be very grateful if you could get me that list of names. I can call back later to pick it up if that's convenient,’ Jess said hoping to catch a few of the homeless in the cafe to get a measure of them.

‘No problem, do you have a card inspector, I’ll call you as soon as we've compiled it, Doyle said.

‘Oh, Father. Do you know of any places where we’re likely to find people? We’ve already done several alleyways and Mills around town,’ Jess said.

He paused for a minute. ‘Have you been in Brough Park, and…?’ He turned to Mary. ‘The Big Mill on Mill Street, I’ve heard a few of our occasional doss down in there. Dangerous place that though.’

‘Thank you, Father, we’ll check those out,’ Jess said.

Mary Delaware called out to them as they were about to exit the drop-in centre, ‘Oh, Inspector, one fella you should definitely speak to is Shaun Brighton.’