Free Witchmoor Edge by Mike Crowson

Cruikshank was not exactly unhelpful in
his attitude, though Goss hadn't seen or heard any reports of the
drugs incident, but he was evidently impatient to get on.
    "No," he said abruptly. "I was busy."
    "I don't suppose you know where they
went."
    "I was inside and they were outside. As far
as Koswinski is concerned, that's the way I like it."
    "Well, thank you Mr Cruikshank. Unless
someone saw them after they left here I'm afraid it looks like a
dead end."
    "You could try Gloria. She was at the door
selling tickets. She may have seen which way they went. It would
still have been light."
    Cruikshank went to the office door and called
his assistant, a wide-eyed, bleached haired woman of
thirty-something.
    "You remember I threw out Koswinski last
Saturday and he left with three others?"
    "Yeah."
    "I don't suppose you happened to see where
they went."
    "No. I didn't see them go," she said. Then,
just as Goss had that sinking feeling, she added as an
afterthought, "But I remember Koshwinski did say summat about the
Apocalypse having a better disco anyway. He gives me the creeps,
Koswinski does. They say he was behind that gang rape of the girl
in Shipley and I wouldn't be surprised."
    "I told you he was a nasty bugger,"
Cruikshank remarked.
    "We know all about Koswinski, but we can't
seem to get any evidence against him, "DC Goss admitted. "Well,
that's a useful lead. I'll try the Apocalypse next."
    "If you don't mind me asking, why do you want
Koswinski?" Cruikshank asked.
    "I don't think we're exactly looking for
Koswinski, but Musworth was pulled out of the canal drowned on
Sunday morning and Sansom is missing. There was a body in that fire
and we have to investigate the possibility that it was either
Sansom or this other youth, Barker."
    "Jody Barker?" Gloria asked.
    "Probably," Goss said, "Do you know where he
lived?"
    "Naw," Gloria said shaking her head.
    "Or his age?"
    "Naw. He's left school though. About
seventeen I'd guess."
    "Well, I've done better than I thought I
would," DC Goss said. "Thanks for your help."
     
    At the Apocalypse there was only a manager
around at that time of day and he was a little wary of the
detective. The Apocalypse was a full blown nightclub with a no
under 18s policy and a reasonable reputation for co-operating with
the police and for keeping drugs under control. Inside they seemed
to have things fairly well under control, but there sometimes
fights outside.
    The manager was a dapper little man with a
moustache called Norris. He was in his late thirties and a
reasonable sort of bloke. Goss was shown into the office and sat in
a comfortable chair, while Norris settled himself behind the
desk.
    "Now, what can I do for you?" he asked the
detective.
    "I'm trying to trace the movements of four
youths who may have tried to get in here last Saturday evening,"
Goss explained. Norris relaxed a little to discover his part was at
most indirect.
    "I always ask the bouncers for a full report
of any incident," he said. "It's just a case of fireproofing my ass
if anything goes wrong."
    "Last Saturday the four set out to come here.
They left the East Witchmoor Youth Centre about nine and I wondered
if they'd turned up here."
    "Photos?"
    DC Goss pulled out a print of the school
photo of Sansom and the scene of crime shot of Musworth. "That's
two of them, he said. "One is tentatively identified as Jody
Barker, but I don't have a photograph yet."
    "They look too young," Norris said shaking
his head. "I don't think they'd get past the bouncer at the
door."
    The fourth was Koswinski.
    Norris brightened. "Oh well," he said. "I can
tell you about him. I banned him three weeks ago after a fighting
incident. The bloke at the door stopped him coming in on Saturday.
Apart from the ban he was pretty well loaded."
    "Drunk?"
    "Yeah. He'd had too much. He's a belligerent
little bugger when he's sober, but drunk ..." Norris shrugged
meaningfully.
    "What time was this?" DC Goss asked. "We're
trying to piece together the