A Room Full of Killers, Michael Wood [best books for students to read txt] 📗

up against a wall. ‘It’s scarier when there’s no motive isn’t it?’ He smiled.

Rory swallowed hard. ‘Are you finished?’ he asked, quietly.

With Craig’s interview over, Matilda sat up in her chair when she saw Thomas Hartley being brought in. She was keen to hear his version of events about the goings-on at Starling House. For some reason, she felt she could believe him more over the other inmates. She hoped Richard Grover had kept his fat, grubby hands off him too. He was a disgrace.

‘Thomas, did Richard Grover ever bring in things from the outside for you?’ Sian asked.

‘Yes,’ he replied. His head was down, facing the table, his hands folded between his legs and his voice was barely above a whisper.

‘What did he bring you?’

‘Chocolate and sweets mostly.’

‘You’ll need to speak up, Thomas, for the recording. What did Richard Grover want in return?’

Thomas closed his eyes tight and squeezed out a tear. ‘Do I have to?’

‘Yes, Thomas, you do.’

‘He liked to watch us play with ourselves.’ He shook his head, embarrassed at what he had been forced to endure. His interview was a complete contrast to Craig Hodge’s.

‘How many times did he watch you?’

‘I don’t know. I can’t remember.’

‘Were you always on your own or with the other boys?’

‘On my own.’

‘When did this take place?’ Scott asked.

‘He’d sometimes come to our rooms at night. Or when he had stuff to give one of us he’d give us the signal and meet us in the toilets,’ he replied, disgusted he had taken part.

‘Did Richard Grover touch you or the others at all?’

‘He didn’t touch me. I heard he … you know … sucked off Craig and Lee and Mark sometimes.’

‘Why those three?’

‘They’re blond. He liked them because they were blond.’

‘Did anything else happen?’

Tears fell from Thomas’s eyes. The appropriate adult handed him a tissue from her jacket pocket, which he thanked her for.

‘Thomas,’ Scott leaned forward on the table. ‘Richard has been arrested and is in custody. He’s not going to get away with this and he won’t be able to hurt you again. You can tell us.’

‘He used Lee.’

‘In what way?’ Sian asked.

‘You’ve seen Lee. He’s very blond and slim and he used him as if he belonged to him.’

‘What did he make him do?’

‘Do I have to?’

‘It would help, Thomas.’

‘Lee said he sometimes had sex with him.’

Matilda chewed on her nails in her office while she watched Thomas’s difficult interview. She was furious. Richard Grover had been working at Starling House for more than four years. How many boys had he abused in that time?

ACC Masterson didn’t knock on Matilda’s door, she just pushed down the handle and stormed in.

‘This station is in chaos—’ Valerie began but was silenced as Matilda put up a hand to stop her.

‘Richard Grover has been abusing the boys at Starling House.’

‘What?’ Valerie moved around to Matilda’s side of the desk and watched the interview on the computer. ‘Who’s that?’

Matilda swallowed hard. ‘Thomas Hartley.’

‘So that’s Thomas Hartley. Nice to put a face to the name. Please tell me you have this Richard Grover in custody.’

‘We certainly do. He’s not going anywhere.’

‘Jesus! As if we haven’t got enough on our plate with the abuse scandal in Rotherham now we’ve got it in Sheffield too. How many victims are we talking about?’

Matilda shook her head. ‘I’ve no idea. We’ve got six downstairs that we know of. We need to look at the inmates who have been at Starling House during Richard Grover’s time there. We could be looking at dozens.’

‘Oh my God,’ Valerie stepped away from the computer. The worried look on her face said it all. It wasn’t the abuse of power or the disturbing stories she couldn’t stomach, it was what was going to happen to her and her career.

‘Could this Richard have killed Ryan Asher?’

‘I don’t know. If Ryan had been at Starling House for longer than forty-eight hours I would have said it was a possibility, but Richard would have needed to get to know Ryan, understand what kind of boy he was dealing with. After all, these are convicted killers. They’re not your usual timid boys you can warp.’

‘You will be questioning him about Ryan’s death though?’

‘Of course.’

‘Matilda, I want some order brought to this station. You’re not the only detective investigating a case here. Have you seen how disruptive these boys are being downstairs?’

Matilda pushed herself out from her chair and followed Valerie out of the office. The computer was still playing the interview with Thomas Hartley. On the other half of the screen the interview with Callum Nixon was about to begin with Aaron and Rory leading.

Matilda really should have been watching that interview.

FIFTY-FIVE

There were four inmates from Starling House in the custody suite and they were all being purposely difficult. They knew the abuse that went on at the hands of Richard Grover, but none of them ever talked about it. Now it was out in the open they wanted the gory details from each other.

‘It’s Lee he fancied the most,’ Mark said, nudging Lee and winking. ‘He knew he could mould you and get you to do anything he wanted.’

‘Piss off, Mark,’ Lee said. There was no force behind his warning. The timid boy sat in the corner, shoulders shrugged, head down, looking like he wanted to cry but couldn’t.

‘You know why he liked Lee best, don’t you?’ Lewis teased. ‘Because he was good at it. He’s been sucking cocks all his life.’

‘You can piss off as well,’ Lee said.

‘I bet you’ve got a right stash of stuff in your cell. Not just food. Games, iPad, mobile … ’

‘En suite bathroom, curtains, rugs,’ Mark laughed. ‘Fitted wardrobes, Jacuzzi bath.’

‘A balcony outside the window,’ Craig joined in. ‘A maid to turn down his bed at night.’

‘I think Lee would prefer a manservant to turn his bed down at night,’ Lewis winked.

Shrinking further into the corner, Lee clenched his fists together to hold in the rage he was feeling. He hated the fact he was different to the other