Chapter 3: Finding Daryls Dad

On Monday, Lewis had his school lunch then headed for the front gates. Aiden arrived soon after. As they drove to the prison Aiden told him, ‘I’m not expecting any problem getting you in, but sergeant Cline and I have agreed that you are on a week’s work experience with me. If they ring him to check, he will back us up.’

‘When we get in, I’ll leave you to sort everything out, I’m sure you have a plan.’ ‘I did prepare a few ideas just in case.’ Lewis said, ‘But I didn’t want to presume.’ Aiden just grinned at him.

Presenting themselves at the gate, Aiden’s warrant card soon gained them admission. They went through a security screen similar to an airport then they were escorted to an interview room.

After waiting for ten minutes or so, a prison officer ushered in a prisoner who they both recognised as both Gregory Williams and as Daryl’s dad. Aiden introduced himself and asked him to sit down at the table. He told the guard he could leave them to it.

‘Just press the alarm bell on the wall one brief touch when you’re done.’ he said. Once he had left and the door closed behind him, Aiden showed him his warrant card and introduced himself again. Then he introduced Lewis.

‘Lewis is not a policeman, as you have probably guessed from his age,’ he said, ‘But I have brought him here today to help you. I’ll leave Lewis to explain.’

‘Mr Williams,’ Lewis began, ‘I believe you are due to be released very soon?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied with a happy smile. ‘I never thought the day would come.’

‘Before I go any further,’ Lewis said, ‘I want you to know that we are not here today with any wish or intention to delay your release.’ ‘How do you mean?’ he said looking concerned.

‘We have become aware of several inconsistencies with the story you gave at your arrest,’ Lewis said. ‘But we accept that although you were involved with the crime, you were absent from the scene when the killing took place. For that reason, plus some others that I will come to, we are not here today to charge you with any additional crimes.’

‘There aren’t any additional crimes.’ he blustered starting to look worried. ‘The man whose name you used has since died of cancer,’ Lewis told him. ‘You look remarkably healthy for a corpse.’ Clive gave a sigh, ‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ he said, ‘I only met him once, but he was a nice guy.’

‘So do you want to tell us who you really are?’ Lewis asked. ‘No comment.’ he said. ‘Do you realise that if you were charged with giving a false name, your release would be stopped, and you would be returned to court under your real name?’ Lewis said. ‘You’d have to find what it was first.’ he said with a flash of defiance.

‘Ok Clive,’ Lewis said, ‘Let’s stop messing about.’ All the wind went out of him, and he put his head in his hands. ‘You are Clive Bassett of number eleven Mandela Court. You have a wife and a teenage son.’ ‘Do they know?’ Clive asked. ‘No, they don’t.’ Lewis told him, ‘And if you are completely honest with us, they may never find out.’

‘I’ve already told you we don’t want to do anything to stop your release unless we have to. You should realise that is true or you would already be under arrest. So, if you want to keep it from your family, you need us on your side.’

Clive looked really down. ‘Ok, it looks like I’ve got nothing to lose,’ he said. ‘First of all,’ Lewis said, ‘I want you to tell me everything that happened. Why it happened and why you used someone else’s name. I want the whole truth, otherwise you stay here.’

Clive gave a long sigh then said, ‘I worked for a big building firm for several years.’ he said. ‘I am a stone mason and bricklayer by trade. I had a lovely wife and a great son. Then out of the blue my firm lost several contracts in a row and around fifty men had to be laid off. They started with the last man in and worked back. I was the last man affected.’

‘I didn’t know what to do, I went to pieces a bit. I used to go out each day pretending I was going to work. I had some savings and managed to provide wages for a few weeks, but I knew it couldn’t last.’ ‘Why didn’t you tell your wife?’ Lewis asked. ‘I felt I’d let them down,’ he said, ‘I’d always been the wage earner.’

‘I went into the pub one day as my money was coming to an end. I bought a pint and sat in a corner wondering what I was going to do next. One of the other brickies who had also been laid off, came in and saw me.’

‘Just the fellow,’ he said. ‘I’ve just been offered a cash in hand job building the outside wall of a new house with random rough stone. It’ll take several weeks. We’ve got to move up to the far side of the county and go into lodgings for the duration of the job.’ he told me. ‘Plus, we have to work seven days. Also do some labouring at the start, to collect the stone.’

‘I always had men fetching and carrying for me when I was laying stone, but the idea of labouring didn’t put me off. I saw an answer to my cash problem and a hope that another job might come from it. I agreed and he took me to meet the guy who had hired him right away.’

‘I didn’t particularly take to him, but beggars can’t be choosers. When he heard I was a stone mason he gave me the job on the spot. We were to get full board and lodging provided and more pay per week than I’d been getting. Plus, it was all cash in hand. They were due to start that evening and we had to agree not to tell anyone where we were. So, I went there and then. We couldn’t take phones with us either.’

‘Although we weren’t supposed to contact anyone, once I got to my digs, I found a scrap of paper and posted a note to my wife to say I had to work away for a few weeks and would be back soon.’

The next day, me and one of the others were sent to hire two pickup trucks as we both had clean driving licences.’

‘That night we had to start collecting the stone. We were told the boss had bought a length of drystone wall to clad his new house with. We started a system of all loading one wagon, then whilst that one was delivering and emptying, we filled the other.’

‘I delivered the second and fourth load. It had crossed my mind at the start with us doing it in the dark we could be stealing the stone. But the boss had said he was in a rush to get his house finished and there seemed to be far too much activity for us to be doing anything wrong. Looking back, I suppose it should have been obvious but it’s too late for that now.’

‘As I was coming back from unloading my second trip, I saw police cars and blue flashing lights. It hit me straight away what a fool I’d been, I stopped, abandoned the truck and ran. I kept going for ages over fields and through hedges. I thought I’d got away. Then suddenly I was faced by a snarling police dog. A policeman came running up and calmed the dog then arrested me.’

‘On the way to the station I was thinking about what I’d done to my wife and son. Not only had I let them down financially, now I would bring the shame of being branded a thief on them. It wasn’t until I got to the station that I heard that someone had been killed and the charge would be murder.’

‘I don’t know what made me think about it. I had realised my driving licence had fallen out of my pocket whilst I was fleeing so I had no identification on me. When I was taken to the desk, I gave Gregory’s name and address. As soon as I’d done it, I realised it was stupid and I’d soon be found out. But as time went on, it seemed it had been accepted. I felt bad about abandoning my family but consoled myself that at least I had saved them from the shame.’

He went silent for a moment, then said sadly, ‘Thinking about them all these years and of what I’ve missed has been far harder than actually being in here.’ he said.

‘Thank you for that,’ Lewis said. ‘Now tell us what you are planning to do when you are released.’ ‘When I told them in here that my family wouldn’t want me back, the prison said they would arrange for me to go into a hostel, then they would find me a job and a flat.’

‘I did think of going back once, just to try to catch a glimpse of my son. In the end I thought there was too big a risk of being seen and it would break my heart anyway. I decided they would be used to it by now and I would just have to make a new life for myself.’