A Mersey Maiden

Chapter 5

Chapter 5Jerome Decker III

No one in Autopsy Room 2 needed to look further than the face of the tall man who blustered into the room to know he was the father of the young man who lay on the stainless steel autopsy table in front of them. The facial resemblance was clear for all to see. With swift presence of mind, Paul Ferris stepped quickly towards the advancing man and despite being considerably shorter and of a lesser physique, stood his ground directly in front of him, his arms spread out to form a physical barrier.

“Sir, you really don't want to some any closer. Please, just wait here a minute.”

“That's my son,” the man shouted, the anguish clear in his voice. “I want to see my son.”

Ross quickly joined Ferris and the two of them managed to force Jerome Decker to back-pedal until he was standing with his back against the wall beside the double doors.

“Mr. Decker, I'm Detective Inspector Ross, and this is Detective Constable Ferris. You do not want to see your son at this moment, I assure you. Please allow the doctors to complete their work and then I'm sure Doctor Nugent will arrange for you to see your son.”

“Aye, of course I will, Mr. Decker,” said Nugent, “but the inspector is quite right about not seeing him just now. The inspector will talk to you while we finish here. Inspector Ross, you can use my office if you like. You know the way, of course.”

“Yes, thank you, Doctor,” Ross replied, gratefully. “Please, sir, come with me. I know you're upset and grieving, but we really do need to talk to you.”

Somehow, Ross and Ferris managed to shepherd Decker senior from the room and along the corridor. Ferris opened the door to Nugent's office and Ross guided the father into the room, Ferris closing the door as he followed them inside. As soon as the door closed, without invitation, Jerome Decker slumped into one of the visitors' chairs in the office and held his head in his hands, his grief palpable as his shoulders shook and tears began to fall from his red-rimmed eyes.

“Take your time, Mr. Decker,” said Ross, passing a box of tissues across the desk, obviously kept there by Nugent for just such occasions, which Ferris handed to the distraught man. Decker looked up, saw the box and took out a single tissue which he used to dab at his eyes.

“Thank you. I'm real sorry for bursting in like that. I was just … hell, I don't know what I was doing.”

“You're upset, you want to lash out, and you want answers, am I correct, Mr. Decker?”

“Well, yes, you're right, Inspector. This news has devastated my wife and me, I can tell you.”

“Where is your wife, sir?”

“She's still in London. I didn't want her to come here just yet, not until things are clearer. Do you have any idea exactly what happened to my son, Inspector…?”

“Ross, sir. Andrew Ross is my name.”

Ross turned to Ferris and asked him to organise tea and coffee for them all. “Maybe young Michelle can help,” he said as Ferris rose to leave,

With Ferris gone, Ross leaned forward and looked into the eyes of the grieving father. He decided the out and out truth was his best option in dealing with the American.

“Mr. Decker, I won't hide anything from you. All the evidence we have so far points to the fact that your son was murdered.”

“Murdered? My God, we were told he'd been found dead, but nobody at the embassy said anything about murder. Please, tell me what happened. Aaron was so popular; I just can't believe anyone hated him enough to murder him.”

“Your son was found dead in his bed by one of the young men who shared the house in Wavertree with him. His girlfriend, Sally Metcalfe, was still asleep beside him apparently, and when woken up, she became hysterical on finding Aaron had died in the night. We've since discovered that both Aaron and Sally were given some sort of d**g intravenously to knock then both out, after which Aaron was asphyxiated with his own pillow. Toxicology tests are being carried out as we speak to determine the d**g that was used to knock them out. That's about it, so far, Mr. Decker. My team were only called into this investigation this morning, though we have the file from the officers who first responded to the emergency call.”

Decker looked stunned. Maybe he thought his son had died from an accident or natural causes. To be told your child has been murdered must be a terribly traumatic experience, Ross thought, glad at that moment that he and Maria had no children of their own,

“You have no suspects?” Decker asked.

“Not as yet, no sir. It's early days, yet. Tell me, do you know of anyone who might have wished Aaron harm?”

“Not a soul, Inspector Ross. Like I said, Aaron was popular, gregarious and easy to get along with. This is a nightmare, a real nightmare. What the hell am I going to tell his mother?”

“I'm sorry. I know this isn't easy for you, for we have to know as much as we can about your son if we're to find his killer.”

“I understand. Ask away, Inspector Ross.”

“Do you have any enemies, Mr. Decker? Could someone have tried to get at you through your son? Could killing Aaron have been meant to send you some kind of message? I understand you're something in the U.S. State Department?”

“I'm nothing special, Inspector, just a simple Cultural Attaché.”

“And what exactly does that entail, Mr. Decker?”

“Nothing sensitive, I assure you,” said Decker. “My job simply involves furthering positive relations between my country and yours, and any others who happen to come into contact with our embassy in London.”

“So you don't have any kind of political agenda that might have made someone think that hurting Aaron could influence you in some way?”

“No, Inspector Ross, definitely not. You need to look elsewhere. What about the guys he was rooming with, or house sharing or whatever you call it over here?”

“You never met them?”

“Hell, yes, once or twice, I think, when Aaron first moved in up here. We came up to help him get settled and met the two other guys then. I never got to know them. It was just a few minutes here and there. Aaron said they were both studying at the university too, and I thought that was good enough as a recommendation.”

“Okay, and the girlfriend, Sally Metcalfe?”

“Met her a few times. Seemed a nice enough girl, a little stuck-up maybe, but nice enough. Aaron said she was studying Marine Biology, and I thought that a bit odd for a girl like her, but he said she wanted to help preserve the oceans for the future, so maybe not so odd after all, huh?”

“I'd have to agree with you,” said Ross. “Would Sally have any reason to harm Aaron?”

“Oh, come on, Inspector Ross. Now you're clutching at straws. You said she was knocked out too, so how could she have killed my son? And as far as I know, she adored him. Why would she hurt him? And what possible motive could she have? She came to visit us in London at least a dozen times, with Aaron. No way would that girl have hurt him.”

“Okay, so, thank you for your patience, Mr. Decker,” said Ross, as Ferris entered the room, carrying a tray, followed by Michelle the receptionist with a second tray. Between them, they'd made tea and coffee, and now brought them in to the inspector and the diplomat.

* * *

Ross allowed a lull in the questioning as they sipped their tea or coffee, and in those few quiet minutes, Decker seemed to relax slightly, the tension of earlier releasing itself a little.

Sensing a good moment, Ross began again.

“Do you have any other children, Mr. Decker?”

“Yes, Peter and Kelly. Peter is twenty seven and Kelly's just eighteen. She's at home with her Mom, in a totally distraught state.”

“And Peter?”

“Back home in the States, Inspector. Peter's in a rock band, not quite the career choice I'd have picked for him after his years at Harvard, but then, what can we parents do nowadays, huh?”

“So, he doesn't know about Aaron yet?”

“Oh, he knows alright. I caught him between gigs when his band stopped over in Seattle last night. They've cancelled the rest of their tour and Peter is on a flight across the Atlantic right now. He's gonna check in with his Mom in London and then grab a flight up to your John Lennon airport to join me here.”

“You do realise, Mr. Decker, that there's little you can do up here, unless you have information that can help the investigation? Don't you think you'd be better staying in London with your family while we do our jobs and find your son's killer?”

Decker's face seemed to change in that moment, displaying a hardness that hadn't been evident a few minutes earlier.

“Inspector Ross, if you think I'm leaving Liverpool before my son's killer is found, then you sure as hell don't know me. When Peter arrives he'll be bringing his Mom and sister up here with him and we'll be here for the duration. Any way we can help, we will, but I do promise not to get in the way of your investigation.”

“I see,” Ross replied. “It's a free country, Mr. Decker and you and your family will be welcome here in Liverpool. I just hope it doesn't distress your wife too much, and your daughter of course.”

“They'll be fine, Inspector, just fine. Now, is there anything else I can do for you right now? I'd like to see my son, and carry out the formal identification you require, if that's okay.”

“Go and see if they're ready for Mr. Decker, would you, Paul?” Ross asked Paul Ferris who went to check on the status of the remains, returning a minute later with Doctor Strauss in tow.

“We're ready for you now, Mr. Decker,” Strauss said, as Decker rose from his seat, following her from the room, with Ross and Ferris close behind.

Nugent and Strauss had worked quickly to make Aaron Decker's remains suitable for viewing by his father, the Y incision having been quickly closed and the skin and hair on the skull replaced so the elder Decker wouldn't see that his son's brain had been removed for autopsy purposes.

Decker stood stoically at the viewing screen window with Straus and the two police officers as William Nugent himself performed the ritual display of the body, covered in a discreet white sheet, and Ross could almost feel the grief emanating from every pore of Decker's body as he nodded and almost in a whisper, confirmed that the body was that of his son, Aaron.

“What happens now?” Decker virtually whispered as his voice faltered.

Ross placed a hand on Decker's shoulder, slowly managing to turn him away from the viewing window as the curtains on the other side automatically slid across to block the view into the room, Ross having pressed a small button beside the glass that lit up an indicator in the laying-out room, letting the attendant know identification was complete.

“Well, for now, I think you should go back to your hotel. You've told us what you know about your son's housemates and his life over here, unless there's anything else you can add.”

There were three burgundy upholstered upright chairs in the room, placed against the back wall, and Decker suddenly sat down heavily onto one of them, his face appearing even more ashen than before, having looked at the dead face of his youngest son.

“He was a good son, Inspector Ross.”

“I'm sure he was,” Ross replied sympathetically.

“He made friends easily, but I never knew him make any enemies.”

“Well, we understand from his girlfriend's original statement to Detective Sergeant Meadows that he received some news that day that had upset him slightly. Would you have any idea what that was?”

“No idea at all, I'm sorry. Heck, it might just have been something to do with his cricketing for all I know.”

“Tell me, Mr. Decker, whereabouts in the USA do you and your family live?”

“What? Oh, we live in Washington D.C. Aaron was at Georgetown University before we transferred over here. He was quite a rising star for the college baseball team and they sorely missed him when we moved, I can tell you.”

“I've heard he didn't take long to make a name for himself with the University cricket team when he got here too, Mr. Decker?”

“So he did, though I can't for the hell of it figure out that crazy game of yours, Inspector.”

“Neither can a lot of us, please believe me, sir.”

Decker seemed to have calmed down and Ross was glad he'd been able to turn his thoughts away from the cold, lifeless cadaver in the next room with talk of his son's achievements on the sports field. He needed to press on with the investigation and for now, Jerome Decker III needed to go to his hotel, eat something and try to relax, maybe phone his wife, do anything to give Ross the chance to get on with the job of finding his son's killer.

Thankfully, Ross was able to convince Decker to return to his hotel soon after, hoping that the imminent arrival of his family might keep him occupied for a little while, and Ross had Michelle arrange for a taxi to collect Decker and ferry him to his hotel.

Ross and Decker parted with a firm handshake and soon afterwards, Ross and Ferris made their way back to headquarters, where Ross intended to step up the pace of the investigation. Something was eating away at the back of Ross's mind and he believed he knew just the man to answer his questions.