Part 7 (1/2)

Address: Flat 14b Darlington Rd, Tooting Previous Offences: Speeding caught on camera doing 42mph in a 30 zone. 3 points on license and 80 fine. Caught in possession of a small amount of cannabis a.s.sumed for personal use.

Additional Notes: McCann was a teacher until about 3 years ago. Thomas was suspended as a teacher for suspected s.e.xual a.s.sault of a minor. The incident allegedly took place on a field trip to Euro Disney in France. A 14 year old girl accused McCann of sneaking into her room and attempting to have s.e.x with her while she was sleeping. McCann was spotted in the room by another student, but the evidence was not strong enough to convict him. The alleged incident formed a string of events involving inappropriate behavior around young girls that the school had on record. McCann was caught by police attempting to break into the school, some suspected that he was attempting to access the schools central records, but for what purpose is unknown. Although the evidence was not strong enough to take McCann through the court system, there was enough doubt for the General Teaching Council to rule that McCann was not safe to work with children and his teaching license was officially revoked.

Since leaving the teaching profession McCann has been doing odd jobs: bar work, shop a.s.sistant in a hardware store and even in the local library. He doesn't seem to be able to hold down a job in the long term, which may be related to reports we have received that McCann has started to drink quite heavily.

McCann divorced from his wife Emily shortly after losing his job and has been single since.

McCann's medical records show that he was recently diagnosed with a stomach ulcer, most likely caused by excessive alcohol intake. He has also been referred by his GP to receive psychiatric help having recently experienced a number of panic attacks and palpitations.

McCann has been on and off the dole for a number of years. For the last 6 months or so he has been working for a removal company and it appears that he was just about to move out of the address above and into the address where we discovered his body.

The house where McCann was discovered belongs to his grandfather who is 94 and lives in a home for the elderly (see attached details). We have informed McCann's grandfather of his pa.s.sing. McCann's parents live in North London, they have also been notified of their sons pa.s.sing.

Stevens tidied the notes away and pulled a second file towards him, located the summary sheet, took a sip of the cooling coffee and began to read.

Craig Mandeville DOB: 30/6/85.

Address: 57a Farrell Drive, Tooting Previous Offences: Lots of juvenile minor offences anti social behavior, possession of cannabis, drunk and disorderly behavior, minor vandalism and possession of amphetamine sulfate.

Additional Notes: Mandeville is a confirmed alcoholic. Up until about 2 years ago Mandeville worked for his Father selling cars at a local showroom. His father bought the car selling business with the insurance money he collected after the death of Mandeville's mother. Mandeville's mothers death deeply affected him, most likely leading to his alcoholism. As a child he was rarely in school, often getting himself caught up in trouble and dabbling with a range of drugs. Mandeville has recently started attending an alcoholics support group in an attempt to kick the habit.

We managed to contact Mandeville's father and gave him the news of his sons pa.s.sing, the response was unexpectedly very negative. His father explained that they were already dead to each other. He went on to explain that his son was a mess and getting more and more into drinking and drugs. He also stated that he had heard rumors that his son had also started to deal drugs in an attempt to help him feed his habit but that this had not really worked out as he was taking far too much of his supply, leaving him significantly in the red to some undesirable characters. He dad closed by saying that at least his son was at peace and n.o.body could harm him now.

Mandeville had been admitted to hospital on several occasions, most recently on New Year's Eve, where he had to have his stomach pumped with charcoal after drinking 2 bottles of vodka.

Mandeville was a competent guitarist and has played in a number of bands over the years including a Pink Floyd cover band that used to tour the UK.

Neighbors of Mandeville have informed us that they also believe that he has recently started dealing drugs. This does in fact look to be true as a search of his flat revealed a few kilograms of cannabis and a few large sheets of LSD tabs with smiley faces printed on them. The quant.i.ties we discovered at the property were larger than we would expect for 'normal' personal use, so it is highly likely that he has been dealing.

Mandeville has never married and we have no reports of any previous partners at this stage.

Stevens sat in silence and reflected upon what he had read. He reached forwards, picked up the coffee and took a sip. It was stone cold. Stevens tidied the contents of the file away, got up from his desk, stretched and left his office to make a fresh cup of coffee in the staff room. He returned, set the coffee down and pulled the final file towards him, took out the summary sheet, took a large sip of his bland coffee, winced as the molten liquid scorched as it ran down his neck and began to read.

Howard Phillips DOB: 23/2/85.

Address: 167 Bellingham St, Tooting Previous Offences: None Additional Notes: Phillips was an orphan, both of his parents were killed in a car accident on the A3. Phillips was 2 at the time and suffered a broken pelvis and fractured skull in the accident. Phillips also suffered some irreparable nerve damage and his injuries left him requiring constant pain relief.

The only relatives we have managed to locate are an Aunt and Uncle who live in Manchester. They claim that they only met him once when he came to visit following his GCSE's.

Phillips lived in a bedsit at the above address, other residents describe him as a bit of a loner. They state that that he does occasionally have visitors, but not often. They also say that Phillips was into recreational drugs in a big way. They would often come across him in a variety of unusual states in the communal areas in the house. Officers have done a sweep of his bedsit and found a small quant.i.ty of a range of different recreational drugs: cannabis, amphetamine sulfate, cocaine and a small sheet of LSD tabs on smiley face blotting paper. Some of the tabs were missing. The small quant.i.ties found do suggest they were solely for personal use. Along with the recreational drugs they also found a large supply of different pain relief which has been confirmed as his treatment for his nerve damage.

Phillips seemed to spend the majority of his time listening to records, the bedsit he was living in was stacked with 1000's of vinyl records and some quite expensive audio equipment. Phillips has worked at a small record store in Balham since he left school. The owner of the store was positive about Phillips and explained that he had been saving for the last 5 years or so in an effort to open up his own record store in Mitcham, he had recently visited a number of properties in the area and was looking specifically for one with a flat above it. His bank statements would confirm this to be the case as he had savings in excess if 15,000 at the time of his death.

One of Phillips' housemates has informed us that Phillips was jumped recently by a gang of teenagers in hoodies. He had a few pounds stolen from his wallet and a few b.u.mps and sc.r.a.pes but nothing too serious. The incident was not reported to the police and he did not seek medical attention. His flat mates did state that since the attack he had been in a 'bit of a trance' and wandered around the house asking why everyone had yellow eyes. Some were considering seeking medical help for him.

Two Ouija boards were found at the property along with a large number of texts about the occult.

'That's a little harsh.' Stevens thought to himself. 'Looks like this fella pa.s.sed away on his birthday.'

Stevens placed the last file on top of the other 2 and clicked open his email for one last check before he set off home. There was 1 new message, he clicked it open, it was from Taylor.

Just 1 final thing sir, we did some more poking around this afternoon and it turns out the 3 are in fact close friends, all having gone to the same high school, McCann being a few years younger and joining in the second year after moving to the area from North London. We also have a confirmed sighting of the 3 of them drinking heavily and laughing and joking at The Old Railway (a public house situated halfway between Tooting and Earlsfield) 2 days before we discovered the bodies. The punters we spoke to seemed to think that the 3 men were out celebrating the birthday of 1 of the 3, that must have been Phillips.

Let me know if you need anything else. See you in the morning sir.

Regards, Taylor Stevens turned the monitor off and stood to leave, as he started to pull his coat on Taylor walked into the office, he looked fl.u.s.tered and his breathing was slightly labored as if he had jogged to the office and broke into a walk just at the last minute to retain an air of aloofness.

”Sir, I have the lab reports back. You are going to want to look at this immediately, it makes very interesting reading.” Said Taylor.

Stevens took his coat back off and beckoned Taylor to pull up a chair.

”Pull up a seat son, it doesn't look like either of us are going to be going home at any point soon.” Said Stevens.

He looked at his watch, 8:05pm was the time. Stevens had been at his desk ploughing through case after case since 7:00am and was tired. He desperately wanted to get home, eat and then get off to his local for a pint or 2. But this was important and he was desperate to know how the 3 men in the lounge pa.s.sed away.

”Ok Taylor, what have you got?” Asked Stevens.

Chapter 26.

Thomas gingerly got out of bed still clutching the bottle of scotch, pulled off his pajamas and dressed himself, occasionally taking another swig, occasionally setting the bottle down momentarily to use both hands.

Thomas finished dressing. Jeans, his old level 42 T-s.h.i.+rt with its fresh black charcoal stain and a thick hoody over the top. Thomas checked the time, ”Ok guys, 16:32, school day over, cla.s.s dismissed.” He said to himself.

He walked to the kitchen and forced himself to eat a couple of cereal bars which he washed down with more gulps of scotch. He opened the kitchen draw and pulled out the huge chef's knife. He spent a few minutes sharpening it before wrapping the blade carefully in kitchen roll to avoid cutting himself. He retrieved his moped keys, threw the knife in his backpack, threw the empty bottle of scotch on the sofa, grabbed his mobile phone and walked outside.

It was dry outside, but very cold and Thomas considered going back in to collect a coat. Instead he chose to press on and began his routine to fire the moped to life. It started on 5. 'must be my lucky day.' Thought Thomas.

The traffic on the roads was as busy as ever and it too Thomas over half an hour to arrive at his school. He had made one stop on the way as the knife in his ruck sack was joined by a bottle of vodka, packet of cigarettes and a lighter.

The car park at the school was already pretty empty when he arrived, but not empty enough for his liking. He locked up his bike and walked a few steps until he arrived at the boiler room. He opened the door and went in. The boiler room was a regular place for the teachers who smoked to hang out. But school had finished for the day and Thomas guessed that he would be undisturbed and warm if he waited here. He settle down in one of the few old chairs that had been dragged in and pulled out the vodka, cigarettes and lighter. As he drank and smoked, he examined the chair. It was an old brown leather armchair. It had acquired a bit of a sticky texture after years of having things spilt on it. There were holes from cigarette burns and areas that were starting to go bald where naughty fingers and picked away at the leather. But the chair was comfortable and Thomas soon found himself drifting off.

Thomas woke with a jump. The boiler room was pitch black. The phone in his front right jean pocket was buzzing. He pulled out the phone and stared blurry eyed at the screen which illuminated the darkness around him. The first thing he noticed was the time,10:24pm. Then he moved his eyes to the display. Janet was calling him, he could also see that he had a further 7 missed calls, all from Janet. The buzzing stopped and a message popped up on the screen confirming he had 8 missed calls. He also had a message. He opened it and a photo appeared of Billy dressed as an elf, the message below the photo read: hope you are in better elf! Speak later, love you Janet x Thomas held up the phone as a torch and used its light to help retrieve his vodka, cigarettes and lighter before making his way out of the boiler room. Thomas began walking around the school building as quietly as he could. He had walked half way around before he noticed a window left slightly ajar on the ground floor. He popped the catch up, lowered the rucksack to the cla.s.sroom floor and hauled himself in.

He was stood inside a languages room, which by day was occupied by the French teacher Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones had the biggest b.r.e.a.s.t.s that Thomas had ever seen. She was a tiny lady, probably not much bigger that 5 foot, but Thomas guessed that she was nearer 6 foot when she laid down. Right now Thomas was not interested in the contents of Mrs. Jones's bra, he was however very interested in the contents of Mrs. Jones's computer. He located it, sat in the chair behind it and turned it on.

The computer fired up and started making a series of beeping and whirring noises as it went through its various loading cycles. The familiar blue of the windows operating system came into view closely followed by the message: 'Locked.' Thomas cursed the French teacher for not logging off and held his finger down on the power switch, a few seconds pa.s.sed and the computer powered off. He tried again. The same loading cycle ensued, but this time the result was the school log in screen that he hoped to see. He entered his school log in details and clicked the return key.

'User not identified' was the reply on screen. Thomas feared that this may happen, it had only been a couple of days, but already they had frozen him out of the schools information system. He sat and thought, drumming his fingers on the desk. 'What about Parris? I'm sure I can guess that t.o.s.s.e.rs pa.s.sword.'

He entered Parris's user name in the correct format and began trying different pa.s.swords.

smurf nothing papa nothing papasmurf nothing ryan (his first name) nothing ryandavies (his middle name) nothing daviesryan nothing ryanparris nothing Thomas was beginning to realise that perhaps it was not going to be that easy after all. He began drumming again and thought about Ryan Parris, he placed himself back in his office and looked around.

Tap tap tap An idea hit him as he remembered the picture on the wall in Parris's office. He started to type.