Mersey Murder Mysteries Collection

Chapter 30

As Dodds pulled up a couple of doors away from Phil Oxley"s address they saw a couple unloading bags of shopping from the rear of a Vauxhall Astra hatchback, parked directly in front of the Oxley address. In contrast with the home of James and Connie Doyle, this street, though composed of similarly aged terraced homes, had a far greater upmarket feel to it. All the houses were in excellent repair, with much modernisation having been applied to virtually every property in the street. Obviously no absent landlords here, and lots of middle earning blue collar types in residence, Izzie thought to herself.

Izzie exited the car and left Dodds to lock up as she approached the middle–aged couple who were intent on their unloading and who hadn"t noticed the car pull up not far from their own.

“Excuse me? Are you by any chance Mr. Phillip Oxley?” she asked the man, who had turned instinctively towards her as she"d got closer to the couple.

“And who wants to know?” the man replied.

Izzie flashed her warrant card and introduced herself and Nick Dodds, who"d joined her by now.

“Oh, I see. Hello, Sergeant, Constable. How can I help you?”

“Could we go inside, please, Mr. Oxley? We have a few questions we"d like to ask about something that happened a long time ago, and we think you may be able to fill in a few gaps for us.”

A knowing look appeared on Oxley"s face and he nodded slowly.

“Well, yes, of course, do come in. I don"t know how I can help you, but you can tell me inside.”

“Let me help you with these bags,” Dodds said, as he moved to take a couple of obviously heavy bags from the woman accompanying Phil Oxley. “Mrs. Oxley is it?”

“Yes, I"m Phil"s wife, and thank you,” the woman replied, allowing Nick Dodds to help with the laden shopping bags.

Minutes later, Phil Oxley was seated in his favourite armchair in his and his wife"s beautifully decorated and clean living room. The two detectives sat side by side on the sofa, and the three managed to make small talk for a minute or two until Mrs. Oxley entered the room with a tray, loaded with cups of coffee and a selection of biscuits. Although she must have been around fifty years old, Mrs. Oxley looked and dressed at least ten years younger. She was very pretty, with long, dark, wavy hair that framed her face perfectly, with a figure some twenty year olds would kill for, and now that she"d divested herself of her coat, was dressed in a cream, pleated blouse and a navy pleated skirt that ended just above the knee. After ensuring everyone was served with drinks and had helped themselves to biscuits, the petite and well dressed wife of Phil Oxley seated herself in the room"s remaining armchair and her husband said, “Now, Sergeant, you have our full attention. Please tell me how we can help you.”

Izzie Drake wanted to complete the introductions first.

“Yes, of course, Mr. Oxley…”

“Please call me Phil,” Oxley interrupted.

“Right, thanks. Can I please just ask your full name, Mrs. Oxley, for the record?”

“Yes, Sergeant. It"s Clemency Anna Oxley.”

Izzie Drake was stunned as Phil Oxley"s wife gave her name, and even Nick Dodds" pencil seemed to hover in shock over his notebook. Drake was the first to react.

“Clemency, as in Clemmy De Souza?”

“Why, yes,” Clemmy replied, equally surprised that the police sergeant knew both her nickname and her maiden name. “But, how did you know?”

“Perhaps I"d better explain exactly why we"re here,” Drake said to the couple.

“Might be a good idea, Sergeant Drake,” said Phil Oxley.

Izzie Drake spent the next ten minutes bringing the couple up to date on everything, from the original discovery of the skeletal remains at the old wharf, through the process of attempting to identify the bones, and the visit of the Doyle brothers to the police station, where they provided information that not only helped to identify Brendan Kane as a murder victim, but also brought the name of Marie Doyle into the investigation for the first time. Obviously, she explained, both Phil and Clemmy had been mentioned in the course of Mickey and Ronnie"s statement to the police about events surrounding the eventual disappearance of the couple. When she finished telling the Oxleys the story so far, she waited for a response, Clemmy looked on the verge of tears, but Phil Oxley didn"t hesitate.

“My God! We read the story in the Echo about the bones being found during a regeneration project. We"d no idea it could have been poor Brendan. All these years, I believed he and Marie had gone off somewhere together and were living a happy ever life far away from here, and now here you are, telling me poor Brendan never left Liverpool, and that someone actually murdered him. Who the hell could have hated him so much that they"d shoot him, beat him and throw him into the river?”

With his final words, Clemmy couldn"t hold the tears back any longer, and her shoulders drooped and her face became a mask of tears. Phil quickly moved to comfort his wife, sitting on the arm of her chair and placing a comforting arm around her shoulder.

“I"m sorry to have had to break it to you like this,” said Drake, “but there"s never an easy way to communicate these things.”

“It"s alright, Sergeant,” Phil replied. “I think deep down, we maybe knew we"d never see him again. It was always odd that he never got in touch after he left, especially after all I did to help them get away in the first place, but I can"t believe he was murdered. Who ever"d do such a thing? He was only a young man. We all were, little more than kids, really.”

Nick Dodds changed tack a little to allow them to recover their composure.

“And you two fell in love and got married? Brendan"s best friend and Marie"s best friend. That"s nice for you, isn"t it, Sarge?”

“Yes, very romantic,” Izzie agreed. “How did that come about, if you don"t mind telling us?”

Clemmy had managed to control her tears, and though she appeared pale and shocked, she replied to the question before her husband could say anything.

“It was romantic, really. When everyone first realised that Brendan and Marie had gone missing, I think either Mickey or Ronnie went to the police with Mr. Doyle to report Marie as a missing person. The two lads had been to my house, to see if I"d heard from Marie, which I hadn"t, and then a couple of days later, Mr. Doyle came round to talk to me and started to get a bit angry, saying I was her best friend and that if anyone knew where she was, it should be me. My Dad got mad at him for bullying me, Sergeant, and my Dad was a big man, and he got tough with Mr. Doyle and virtually threw him out of our house. I didn"t like him at all, and don"t know how Marie put up with living with him for so long, but he was her Dad, after all, so I suppose she loved him in her own way, and didn"t know any other way of life, until she met Brendan, of course. Anyway, after Mr. Doyle"s visit to our house, I was really worried about Marie and I knew from what she"d told me that Phil was doing his best to help Brendan find a way to get to America, so I went to see him a few days later and we got talking about everything. We started meeting in coffee shops and for the odd drink in the pub and gradually we became closer and closer.

Anyway, the longer Marie and Brendan were gone, the more we felt they"d finally got sick of waiting and Brendan had somehow found a place for them to go while he got things sorted properly. I know Marie would"ve followed him to the ends of the earth, Sergeant. She loved him so much. Me and Phil dated for a few months, and then, like young people do, we sort of drifted apart, and we split up and went our separate ways. We didn"t see each other again until about ten years later, when Phil walked into the record shop where I was working. We got talking, and Phil asked me to meet him for a drink after work. To cut a long story short, we started seeing each other regularly again and this time, one thing led to another, we fell for each other big time and we were married a year after meeting up for the second time. Two years later we had a child, our daughter, Carrie Anne. She pointed to a framed school photograph of a young girl, probably about the age of Marie in the photo her mother kept on the sideboard of their home. She goes to the same school where Phil teaches music, Our Lady of Sorrows. It"s a private Catholic School for Girls in Walton.”

“I know the school,” said Izzie Drake. “I remember playing hockey against them when I was at school. So you"re still involved with music, Phil?”

“Yes, I became a teacher when Carrie Anne was still a toddler. Clemmy was a big fan of The Hollies in the sixties, in case you"re wondering,” Phil explained. “She named our baby after one of their hit records.” The detectives nodded and smiled and Clemmy continued from where she was before Phil"s interruption.

“In the early days we"d talk about those days with Brendan and Marie and wondered what might have happened to them, but over the years they faded into the background of our lives, and now, well, I"m so sorry and upset to hear about poor Brendan. I don"t suppose you know what happened to Marie, do you?”

“Not at present, Clemmy,” Drake answered her honestly.” We hoped Phil might be able to help us, and we"d planned to seek you out next to talk to you too. Finding you here together has been a lucky break for us, really.”

Talking to Drake had produced the effect of calming Clemmy down and Phil now took his arm from her shoulder, rose and took a seat in his previous armchair. Scratching his head in thought for a few seconds, he seemed to be weighing up what he might or might not know that could be helpful and then said, “I"m not sure how I can help much after all these years. Is there anything specific I can tell you?”

“According to Mickey and Ronnie Doyle, you did a lot of the research for Brendan in finding ways to emigrate to America, is that correct? Drake asked.

“Yes, quite true. Brendan was useless at anything like that. I think he had a bit of a mental block when it came to dealing with forms and official documents. I can even remember him getting flustered when he first applied for a provisional driving licence. Anyway, I eventually told him it would take a couple of years at least for him to fill the requirements for immigration into the USA, and he couldn"t work over there without a Green Card. You have to understand, Sergeant, that Brendan really was quite talented and it was a shame we didn"t make the breakthrough over here, but he just might have made it in The States, which is why I was happy to help him as much as I could.”

“We"d heard something about that from Ronnie and Mickey,” said Drake. “How did your attempts to help end up?”

“Well, after a lot of research and some phone calls, I managed to convince Brendan of the most practical option left open to him if he was serious about making a new start in the music business in America.”

“Which was?”

“First of all, we contacted several music producers and record companies in the States, giving them information about Brendan and his career so far, and also sent copies of the demo disc we"d made as a group. I contacted the U.S. Immigration Service on advice from someone at the embassy in London, who told me that if, while on a holiday in the USA, Brendan received an offer of work or a contract with a U.S. recording company, they would view an application for residence favourably. A couple of the recording companies and music producers got back to us saying they would be happy to audition Brendan if he contacted them once he arrived Stateside. It was the best, and probably the only chance he would ever have, and he seemed to accept that. One night, I sat with him and Marie at his flat and together we completed applications for tourist visas for them both. He"d saved enough money to allow them to spend at least four weeks over there, and we applied for the visas to take effect from late October, I think. It"s a long time ago, I can"t be sure of dates and things, you know?

“That"s alright, Phil. Thanks for that information. We weren"t aware of any such applications being made. Tell me, did they receive their visas?”

“Yes, they did. I remember Marie being excited when she and Brendan showed them to me on another evening visit to his flat.”

“And she told me about it too,” added Clemmy. “They had passports, too, Sergeant.”

“That"s right,” said Phil. “All the lads in the group had passports of course, from when we first started out, in case we got any bookings on the continent, you know? Like The Beatles used to do Hamburg and that in the early days?”

Clemmy added, “Yeah, and people used to joke that Marie had never been out of Liverpool, but she had, once. A couple of years earlier, their parents took her and the boys on a self-catering holiday in Benidorm, so they all had their own passports.”

Nick Dodds quickly added their observations to his notes and now asked, “Did you tell the police about this at the time they talked to you after Marie had been reported missing?”

“Yes,” Phil replied. “A Sergeant came round in a big Ford Zephyr police car, like they had on Z Cars on TV. He seemed to think my information just confirmed his thoughts that they"d done a runner, left town and gone off to start a new life together.”

Z CarsDrake took over again, turning to Clemmy.

“Clemmy, one of the brothers told us he thought Marie was a little preoccupied, or on edge in the week or two before she disappeared. He assumed it was because she and Brendan were planning their sudden getaway from Liverpool. Can you think of any other reason why she might have felt worried or preoccupied?”

Clemmy Oxley thought about the question for a few seconds before replying.

“Now you come to mention it, she was a bit edgy around that time. I think it was mostly to do with her uncle.”

“What uncle would that be?” Drake asked.

“Well, he wasn"t really her uncle, he was her Dad"s cousin from Ireland, so strictly speaking I suppose that made him her second cousin, but because he was a lot older than Marie and the lads, they all called him Uncle Patrick. His name was Price or Bryce I think. Marie didn"t like him. She said he was bit of a bully, and really full of himself and what she called his "silly tales" about what he called "the old country". Marie was just happy he wasn"t staying at their house. He had a room at a B & B somewhere but was round at their house a lot she said, talking about all sorts of stuff she didn"t understand with her father.”

Drake was more than interested in this piece of information, as it placed another, previously unknown name into the mix, and could maybe open up another line of inquiry. She couldn"t help but wonder why one of James Doyle"s Irish cousins had suddenly appeared on the scene prior to the double disappearance. Coincidence? Maybe. Relevance? Quite possibly. She was certain this was something Ross would find of interest.

Another ten minutes passed by, with the Oxleys merely seeming to reinforce what the police already knew, until, just as Izzie was about to bring the interview to an end, she had a thought, like a light bulb flashing on in her mind.

“Just one more question, Phil,” she began.

“Yes, Sergeant?”

“We"ve been told that Brendan had a car, is that correct?”

“Yes he did, an old Hillman or Humber, something like that. I"m not too sure after all this time.”

“That"s okay. My question is, do you have any idea what happened to it? I mean, when he disappeared, was the car left parked near his flat, or at his work, or whatever? You see, he must have either used the car to get to the docks, if he was meeting someone there, or else he caught a bus into town. Now, if you had a car, would you bother using a bus if you could get to where you where going in the comfort of your own vehicle?”

“Good point, Sergeant, and I"m sorry I can"t give you an answer,” Oxley replied. “I"m sure the police must have spoken to Brendan"s parents and probably asked about the car, but after they"d interviewed me at the time, they didn"t come again or tell me anything about any other lines of inquiry they were following. Confidentiality I suppose.”

“Yes, of course, thank you Phil. I just thought I"d ask. Oh yes, another thought just sprang to mind. Clemmy, you worked with Marie, didn"t you?”

“Yes, in the typing pool at BICC.”

“Do you know if Marie gave her employers any notice she was about to leave?”

“No, I don"t know for sure, but if she had, I"m sure she"d have told me. You see, Sergeant, a lot of her Dad"s mates worked at B.I. too, and she wouldn"t have wanted to risk one of them finding out what she was planning and then telling her Dad, would she?”

“That"s true, thank you, Clemmy. Do you have anything else you"d like to ask, Constable?” Izzie said, thinking Nick Dodds may have also thought of something she could have omitted. Dodds thought for a second or two, and then his brow furrowed and he said,

“Well yes. We have on record that Brendan Kane apparently left his landlord a typewritten note saying he"d left the flat, and that he wouldn"t be coming back and saying the landlord could sell off anything he"d left behind. Now, knowing him as you did, would you say that was typical of the man, and do you know if Brendan owned a typewriter?”

“D"you know? I heard about the letter, and always thought it a bit weird at the time,” Phil replied. “First of all, in all the time I spent at his flat, I never saw a typewriter, and I doubt very much whether he could type anyway. I sort of thought that if it was a typewritten note then Marie must have typed it for him. That was her job after all.”

“Yes, that makes sense,” said Dodds. “Do either of you know the name of Brendan"s landlord back then?

“No, sorry,” said Phil and Clemmy shook her head. “But I can give you the address of the flat. If they haven"t bulldozed the place to make way for more urban redevelopment the place might still be standing and maybe someone in the area might be able to help you.”

“That might be helpful. Thank you,” said Dodds and the two officers waited while Phil Oxley wrote Brendan Kane"s old address on a yellow post-it from a pad by the phone, which he gave to Dodds.

Taking their leave of the couple, Drake and Dodds were soon motoring back across the city to headquarters. “First impressions of our lovebirds?” Drake asked Dodds as he drove.

“Well, Sarge, bit of a shock to find two of our persons of interest together like that. Saves us some time for sure. I liked them both though. I got the feeling they were both incredibly shocked to hear about Kane"s murder, and in Mrs. Oxley"s case, I think that knowledge only served to heightened her fears that Marie Doyle is probably also long dead. I don"t think they could tell us any more than they did. It all happened so long ago that I doubt anyone has a really accurate recollection of what took place at the time. You know how people"s memories degrade over time.”

“And there lies the crux of the problem with this case, Nick. Time, or rather the passage of time, has created so many barriers that we have to overcome if we"re ever going to solve this one, but I tell you now, D.I. Ross is determined to solve this case and if know him, together with the rest of us, that"s just what he"ll do, despite whatever obstacles we might come up against.”

“Is he really that good, Sarge? I"ve heard he"s like a dog with a bone when he gets his teeth into an inquiry. Do you think we can solve the case, even after all these years?”

“Short answer, Nick? Yes, he is that good, and yes, I really think with him in charge of the investigation, we"ll solve this case, and find justice for Brendan Kane at the very least.”

“And Marie Doyle?”

“You"ve got me there, Nick, I"m afraid. I just don"t know how to answer that one, at least, not yet.”