CHAPTER 14

Dan Parker knocked on Jess’s office door and entered with an animated look on his face. ‘Boss, I've just had a call from Hanley CID. We’ve got an ID on our victim. Gary Turner forty-eight; been registered homeless for five years, alcoholic who moved from Hanley to Leek when the Macari Centre booted him out for dealing heroin.’

‘Great work. Anything else on him: known associates etcetera?’

‘Yeah, apart from dealing in small amounts to other rough sleepers he was arrested on suspicion of giving Monkey Dust to an eighteen-year-old with special needs. Tragic case over in Stoke; the poor lad died when he jumped off a bridge on the A500. Turner was arrested and questioned. Hanley drug squad even found the exact same Monkey Dust compound on him that killed the lad, but he got off based on a retracted witness statement from another addict. Turner denied he'd given the lad the drugs and the case fell apart through lack of evidence, but listen to this. The boy's dad, Paul Meredith was arrested after he kicked the shit out of Turner.’

‘Did Turner press charges?’

‘That's the thing, no charges were brought against Meredith, which is odd. The CPS suspected he had mates in the Drug Squad S who somehow managed to get Turner to say he'd attacked Meredith after he accused him of killing his son. Claimed it was a fight he lost!’

‘Hmm, does Paul Meredith have previous?’

‘No, but it was his only child, naturally, he and his wife were devastated.’

‘Right, I think we need to speak with him, he has a strong motive. It's beginning to look like Gary Turner's left a legacy of hate, with several people wanting him dead. We need to track down his next of kin before the press release goes out.’

‘Ok, I’ll do a births deaths and marriages search on the council database.’