When Gardner got back to her office, Barnett was just coming off the phone and scribbling down notes. He hit the keyboard again, made a few sounds of approval, and wrote something else down too.
There was a knock at the door and Rice poked his head in. ‘Ready?’
Gardner looked at Barnett, who nodded.
Gardner and Rice sat opposite Barnett, readying their own notebooks.
‘Interesting beginnings for our victim, Mr James Curtis Sykes,’ Barnett began. ‘His parents, Derek and Agnes, were social workers. In 1980, Leeds council believed the homeless issue was getting out of hand. They handpicked Derek and his wife to run a new homeless shelter, which still exists today. It’s called Bright Day. They housed them and their then thirteen-year-old boy, James, and his four-year-old sister, Elizabeth, in a separate property just behind the shelter. To begin with, Bright Day achieved some acclaim for the council, and Thatcher’s government.’
Rice guffawed. ‘Probably for cleaning up the streets rather than helping anyone! The north of England too, eh? Now that was unusual for them lot back then!’
Barnett continued, ‘At eighteen, in 1985, James finished his schooling and opted to work at Bright Day with his parents while he acquired the necessary qualifications for social work. Because of ill health, Agnes retired in 1988, and Derek in 1989 to care for her full-time. James, who’d been attending night school for the relevant qualifications, took over the gig.’ Barnett checked his notes. ‘That made him twenty-two. And this is where it gets interesting.’
Gardner leaned forward. ‘James Sykes only lasted two years before he left Bright Day. The details surrounding his exit are still unclear. However, James spent the rest of his life as a factory worker, earning little. It makes you wonder why he suddenly left that job, and why his entire family had to uproot from that house behind the shelter.’
‘A family of social workers, eh? What do you expect?’ Rice asked. ‘All sounds suspicious to me. You can’t have that many do-gooders in one place. Recipe for disaster.’
‘The sister, Elizabeth, wasn’t a social worker,’ Barnett said and sighed. ‘She was institutionalised at fifteen for severe mental health issues. She attempted suicide on three occasions. However, before her seventeenth birthday, she made it out briefly, but…’ Barnett looked down, clearly affected by what he’d been reading. ‘She got caught up in a house fire that killed her parents and left her burned and catatonic. She still has round-the-clock care to this day.’
‘Poor girl,’ Gardner said. ‘Is this James Sykes’ only remaining family?’
Barnett nodded.
The phone rang. Barnett took the call, greeted someone called Carrie, held up a finger to apologise to Gardner and listened intently. He made more notes.
As he did so, Gardner regarded a notable change in his expression. At first, his eyes widened before a misty glaze passed over them. His face then seemed to crumple. ‘Are you sure, Carrie?’
After hearing her response, Barnett gave a gentle shake of his head.
Gardner nodded over at him, trying to catch his attention. She wanted to mouth, ‘Are you all right?’, but he was evading her eyes.
His expression darkened further as he listened. ‘Thanks, Carrie.’ He ended the call.
‘Ray, is everything all right?’
Barnett didn’t look up. He rubbed his temples, shook his head again and then rose to his feet. He marched for the door, catching Gardner’s eyes en route. ‘I’m sorry. Give me a minute.’
‘Of course,’ Gardner said.
After he left the room, Rice said, ‘Whoa. Did you just see that?’
Gardner rose and went over to the desk. She looked down at Barnett’s scribbled notes.
Shelter name (1991) Bright Day. Original name—
‘The name of the shelter only changed to Bright Day in 1991,’ Gardner said, looking at Rice. ‘Some kind of fresh start? Maybe, after getting rid of James Sykes following the controversy, the council and government wanted to put as much distance between the old and new order as they could.’
‘Must have been one hell of a controversy,’ Rice said. ‘So, what do you think spooked Ray?’
‘Something about the original name, I think… He hasn’t written it down. How does Ray have any connection to a homeless shelter before 1991?’
‘Beats me,’ Rice said.
Gardner’s office door burst open. It was Suggs, looking as white as a sheet. ‘It’s Ray…’
Gardner moved towards the detective ‘What Cam?’
‘He’s in the corridor… I don’t know… he’s clutching his chest… We’ve called the ambulance.’
Shit. Gardner ran.